Related Research Articles
Sir Ralph Sandwich (1235–1308),of Dene,Ham,and Ripple,Kent,Winchfield,Hampshire,etc.,was an English administrator and justice. He was Steward of the King's Demesne,Constable of Canterbury (1278),and Royal Warden of London.
Sir Ralph de Hengham was an English cleric who held various high positions within the Medieval English judicial system.
The Court of Common Pleas,or Common Bench,was a common law court in the English legal system that covered "common pleas";actions between subject and subject,which did not concern the king. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century after splitting from the Exchequer of Pleas,the Common Pleas served as one of the central English courts for around 600 years. Authorised by Magna Carta to sit in a fixed location,the Common Pleas sat in Westminster Hall for its entire existence,joined by the Exchequer of Pleas and Court of King's Bench.
Robert Passelewe was a medieval Bishop of Chichester elect as well as being a royal clerk and Archdeacon of Lewes.
William de Raley was a medieval judge,administrator and bishop. Most historians now believe that he was the author of the great law book Bracton.
Simon of Pattishall was an English judge and civil servant who is considered the first Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.
Martin of Pattishall was an English judge.
Henry de Bada was an English judge and administrator.
Roger of Thirkleby was an English judge. The "Thirkleby" of his name was a hamlet in the parish of Kirby Grindalythe,Yorkshire. The first record of his work in the judicial system is in 1230,when he was appointed a clerk of the bench. By the end of 1231 he was a clerk for William de Raley. He remained a clerk until 1242,when he was promoted to justice. He acted as a Puisne Justice until 1249,although he spent large amounts of time on Eyre,serving as chief justice on three eyres in the south-west in 1243 and 1244. Between 1245 and 1252 he and Henry of Bath served as senior Eyre justices,leading Eyre circuits on the brief circuit of 1245,the major country-wide visitation of 1246 to 1249,and a brief circuit of 1251 to 1252,before withdrawing from Eyres to concentrate on work at the bench. In 1249 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in succession to Henry of Bath,a position he held until 1256 when he himself was replaced by Henry. He returned to the job in 1258,serving until his death in 1260.
Sir Gilbert of Preston (1209–1274) was a British justice. He was the son of Walter of Preston,who was High Sheriff of Northamptonshire between 1206 and 1208. Gilbert acted as a collector of aid in Northamptonshire between 1235 and 1236,and in 1240 was appointed as a royal justice,acting almost continuously until 1254 as a Puisne justice on the Eyre circuits of William de York,Roger of Thirkleby and Henry of Bath,and in the common bench at Westminster. He also received many miscellaneous judicial and administrative commissions,but was not given a regular salary until 1253,despite having worked as a judge for 13 years.
Roger of Seaton (1230–1280) was a British justice.
John of Mettingham was an English judge. He served as a law clerk for Gilbert of Preston starting in 1265. After Preston's death Mettingham was appointed as a justice for the newly formed Assize Court in 1274. In 1278 a pair of permanent Eyre circuits were formed,and Preston was assigned to the northern one,sitting as a junior justice on every eyre on that circuit until 1288 and as Chief Justice for the Dorset sitting in 1288. Mettingham seems to have specialised in Quo warranto cases,but also heard ordinary civil litigation cases in at least five Counties. In 1290 he was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas,a position he held until his death.
Sir Thomas Jones KS was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1676.
Ellis Beckingham,named Ellis of Beckingham in some sources,was a parish priest for Warmington,Northamptonshire,which at the time was under the authority of Peterborough Abbey,and with which Beckingham had a close relationship throughout his life. He both assisted the Abbey legally and increased his wealth through their grants. He was also a royal judge,and is possibly best known for being the only English judge to keep his position when most of his colleagues were dismissed. As a result,he has been called "with one exception the only honest judge" of the time. The dates of his birth and death are unknown,but he is thought to have died in around 1307.
John de Ponz,also called John de Ponte,John Savan,or John of Bridgwater (c.1248–1307) was an English-born administrator,lawyer and judge in the reign of King Edward I. He served in the Royal Household in England for several years before moving to Ireland,where he practised in the Royal Courts as the King's Serjeant-at-law (Ireland). He later served as a justice in eyre,and then as a justice of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland). He was a gifted lawyer,but as a judge was accused of acting unjustly. A case he heard in Kilkenny in 1302 can be seen as a precursor of the Kilkenny Witchcraft Trials of 1324,and involved several of the main actors in the Trials.
Sir William le Deveneys was a Crown administrator and judge in late thirteenth and early fourteenth century Ireland,who served very briefly as Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.
Hugh Canoun,or Hugh Canon was an English-born judge in early fourteenth-century Ireland. He was a justice of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) and served as Deputy Justiciar of Ireland. As a judge he was praised for his good and faithful service to the English Crown,and as a lawyer he was known as "a man very knowledgeable about all the King's business". On the other hand,his loyalty to the Crown during the Scottish Invasion of Ireland in 1315-18 was said to be extremely doubtful,although he was saved from disgrace by his influential connections. He was murdered by Andrew de Bermingham of Athenry in 1317/18,during the last months of the Bruce Invasion,in the course of a private feud,of which little is known.
Sir John de Fressingfield (c.1260-c.1323) was an English knight,judge,diplomat and Privy Councillor,much of whose career was spent in Ireland. Though he is almost entirely forgotten now,he was a figure of some importance in English and Irish public life in the first 20 years of the fourteenth century. He also held judicial office in Jersey and Guernsey.
Sir Richard Duket was an English Crown official who had a highly successful career in England and Ireland,and enjoyed the confidence of two English monarchs,John and Henry III. In a career spanning more than forty years,he served variously as a judge,diplomat,King's Messenger,Sheriff and Royal Secretary.
Robert de Littlebury(died 1305) was an English judge whose last years were spent in Ireland. He shared in the general downfall of senior English judges in 1290,but was pardoned soon afterwards.
References
- Brand, Paul (2004). "Oxford DNB: Littlebury, Martin of" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/94450 . Retrieved 6 September 2008.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- Ball, F. Elrington (1926) The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 London John Murray