Justice of Chester

The Justice of Chester was the chief judicial authority for the county palatine of Chester, from the establishment of the county[1] until the abolition of the Great Sessions in Wales and the palatine judicature in 1830.[2]

Within the County Palatine (which encompassed Cheshire, the City of Chester, and Flintshire), the Justice enjoyed the jurisdiction possessed in England by the Court of Common Pleas and the King's Bench.[3] While the legal reorganisation of Wales and the Marches under Henry VIII diminished the authority of the Earl of Chester (i.e., the Prince of Wales) in the County Palatine, the authority of the Justice was, in fact, increased. In 1542, the Great Sessions were established in Wales, that country being divided into four circuits of three shires each. Denbighshire, Flintshire, and Montgomeryshire were made part of the Chester circuit, over which the Justice presided. Under Elizabeth I, a second justice was added to each of the Welsh circuits,[4] after which the senior and junior justice are generally referred to as the Chief Justice of Chester and the Second or Puisne Justice of Chester.

Because the Cheshire justices were free to practise as barristers in the English courts or sit in Parliament, the post of Chief Justice was often awarded as a form of patronage by the Government to aspiring lawyers. The offices of Chief and Puisne Justice were abolished in 1830, as part of reforms that also brought Wales under the jurisdiction of the courts at Westminster.

## Justices of Chester

[edit]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

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* Philip Orreby 1202–29 [5]
* John de Grey c.1246 [6]
* William de Vernon 1229–?1236
* Richard de Vernon
* Earl of Lincoln
* John Lestrange 1241-1245
* John Grey 1245-1249
* Alan la Zouche 1250–1255 [7]
* Gilbert Talbot 1255– [7]
* Roger de Montalt/Mohaut (aka Mold) 1258–1259 [7]
* Fulk de Orreby 1259–1261 [7]
* Thomas de Orreby 1261–1262 [7]
* William la Zouche 1262– [8]
* Luke de Thaney c.1265 [8][7]
* James de Audley c.1265 [7]
* Reginald de Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Wilton c.1270
* Robert de Ufford c.1276– [9]
* Guncelin Badelesmere 1276-79
* Reginald de Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Wilton 1281-1290
* Reginald de Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Wilton c.1297
* Richard Massy c.1300 [8]
* Robert Holland, 1st Baron Holand c.1307–c.1320
* Pain de Tibetot c.1311 [10]
* Richard Daumary c.1325 [11]
* William de Clinton, 1st Earl of Huntingdon c.1330 [12]
* Hugh de Freyne c.1335 [13]
* Henry Ferrers, 2nd Baron Ferrers of Groby 1336–1342 [14]
* Thomas de Felton 1369–1381 [15]
* Sir John Holland 1381–1385
* Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York 1385–1387
* Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland 1387–1388
* Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester 1388–1391
* John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter 1391–1394
* Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk 1394–1398
* William le Scrope, 1st Earl of Wiltshire 1398–1399
* Henry Percy 1400–1403
* Gilbert Talbot, 5th Baron Talbot 1403–1419
* Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter 1420–1427
* Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester 1427–1440
* William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk 1440–1450 (jointly from 1443, murdered 1450))
* Thomas Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley 1443–1459 (jointly to 1450)
* John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury 1459–1460 (KIA 1460)
* in commission 1460
* John Needham 1461
* Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby 1461–1471
* Richard, Duke of Gloucester 1471
* Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby 1471–1504
* Sir Thomas Englefield 1505–1514?
* Sir Nicholas Hare 1540–1545
* Sir Robert Townshend 1545–1557
* Sir John Pollard 1557
* George Wood Esq.1558 of Hall atte Wood, Balterley, Staffordshire
* John Throckmorton 1558–1578
* Sir George Bromley 1564–1589
* Richard Shuttleworth 1589–1592
* Sir Richard Lewknor 1592–1616

## Chief and Puisne Justices of Chester

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Year | Chief Justice | Puisne Justice

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1603  | Sir Richard Lewknor | Henry Townshend
1616  | Sir Thomas Chamberlayne
1620  | Sir James Whitelocke
1624  | Sir Thomas Chamberlayne
1625  | Sir John Bridgeman | Marmaduke Lloyd
1636  | Richard Prytherg
1638  | Sir Thomas Milward
1648  | John Bradshaw | Peter Warburton
1649  | Thomas Fell
1660  | Timothy Turner
1661  | Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Bt | Robert Milward
1662  | Sir Job Charlton
1674  | George Johnson
1680  | Sir George Jeffreys
1681  | John Warren
1684  | Sir Edward Herbert
1686  | Sir Edward Lutwyche
1686  | Sir Job Charlton
1689  | Sir John Trenchard | Lyttelton Powis
1690  | John Coombe
1696  | Salathiel Lovel
1697  | Joseph Jekyll
1707  | John Pocklington
1711  | John Warde
1714  | Edward Jeffreys
1717  | Spencer Cowper
1726  | John Willes
1729  | Sir John Willes | William Jessop
1734  | John Verney | Richard Potenger
1738  | Matthew Skinner
1740  | John Talbot
1749  | William Noel
1756  | Taylor White
1762  | John Morton
1771  | John Skynner
1777  | Francis Buller
1778  | Daines Barrington
1780  | Lloyd Kenyon
1784  | Richard Pepper Arden
1788  | Edward Bearcroft | Francis Burton
1796  | James Adair
1798  | William Grant
1799  | James Mansfield
1804  | Vicary Gibbs
1805  | Robert Dallas
1813  | Richard Richards
1814  | Sir William Garrow
1815  | William Draper Best
1816  | Samuel Marshall
1817  | John Leach | Thomas Jervis
1818  | William Draper Best
1818  | John Copley
1819  | Charles Warren

Offices abolished 1830

## References

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1. ^ Yates, p. 6
2. ^ Yates, p. 7
3. ^ Yates, pp. 32–33
4. ^ The Penny Cyclopedia, p. 505
5. ^ Jones, Douglas. The Church in Chester, 1300-1540. p. 102.
6. ^ Gastrell, Francis. Notitia Cestriensis, Or, Historical Notices of the Diocese of Chester: Cheshire. p. 140.
7. ^ a b c d e f g Jones, Philip. In Search of Chester's Medieval Castle.
8. ^ a b c Hanshall, J.H. The history of the county palatine of Chester. p. 143.
9. ^ Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd Edition. p. 494.
10. ^ Public Records, Great Britain. Report, 1840-1908, Volume 36. p. 27.
11. ^ THE THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT. p. 370.
12. ^ Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, 2nd Edition. p. 691.
13. ^ Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, 2nd Edition. p. 332.
14. ^ Bothwell, James. Edward III and the English Peerage: Royal Patronage, Social Mobility, and ... p. App. 2.
15. ^ Institute of Archaeology and Natural History, Suffolk. Proceedings, Volume 4, Issues 1-4. p. 28.

## Bibliography

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* Yates, Joseph Brooks (1856). The Rights and Jurisdiction of the County Palatine of Chester, the Earls Palatine, the Chamberlain, and Other Officers. Charles Simms & Co. Retrieved 4 May 2007.
* The Penny Cyclopedia of the Society for the Dissemination of Useful Knowledge, Volume XXVI. London: Charles Knight & Co. 1843. Retrieved 4 May 2007.

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Judiciary of England and Wales

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Former|

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