Richard le Blond (or le Blound; died after 1325) was an Irish lawyer and

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

of the early fourteenth century. After serving for many years as

Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) This is a list of lawyers who held the rank of serjeant-at-law at the Bar of Ireland. Origins of the office of serjeant The first recorded serjeant was Roger Owen, who was appointed between 1261 and 1266, although the title itself was not us ...

he was rewarded for his services to the

English Crown This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself king of the Anglo-Sax ...

with a seat on the

Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) The Court of Common Pleas was one of the principal courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England. Common Pleas was one of the four courts of justice which gave the Four Courts in Dublin, which is sti ...

.Ball p.66 He was born in

Arklow Arklow ( ; ; ) is a town in County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. The town is overlooked by Ballymoyle Hill. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century. Arklow was the site of one of the Battle of Arklow, bloodiest battles ...

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...

.''Patent Roll 15 Edward II'' It is unclear whether or not he was related to David le Blond, or le Blound, who was a justice of the Court of the

Justiciar of Ireland The chief governor was the senior official in the Dublin Castle administration, which maintained English and British rule in Ireland from the 1170s to 1922. The chief governor was the viceroy of the English monarch (and later the British monar ...

during the same era;Ball p.38 (there is some evidence that David came from

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, not Wicklow).Hand p.138 Richard was appointed King's Serjeant, as the office of Serjeant-at-law was then known, in 1297, jointly with William of Bardfield. There is a reference to him as the King's "Serjeant Pleader", an early use of the term serjeant. He appears to have been diligent in arguing cases on behalf of the

:Hart pp.14-15 in 1301 he appeared for the Crown at the

assizes The assizes (), or courts of assize, were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...

and in the same year he was acting for the Crown in each of the Royal Courts in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. We have records of at least two of the cases he pleaded. The first, in 1301-2, concerned legal issues of some importance on the powers of the

Exchequer of Ireland The Exchequer of Ireland was a body in the Kingdom of Ireland tasked with collecting The Crown, royal revenue. Modelled on the Exchequer, English Exchequer, it was created in 1210 after King John of England applied English law and legal structure ...

.Hand pp.128-9 In the second case, in 1305, he sued on behalf of

King Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...

for the recovery of certain lands which belonged to him.Casey p.8 The official records show that he was highly regarded by the Crown. When he petitioned for custody of the lands of Thomas Bodenham, lately deceased, which had now vested in the Crown, and the guardianship and right of marriage of his

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

, his

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was granted: "the more quickly because the King acquired the lands at Richard's suit, and because he has acted in a praiseworthy fashion in the King's business as his Serjeant pleader". In 1309 he made the first of several official complaints about the maladministration of Geoffrey de Morton, a corrupt and unpopular local government official and former

Mayor of Dublin The Lord Mayor of Dublin () is the honorary title of the chairperson ( ) of Dublin City Council which is the local government body for the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The incumbent, since December 2024, is Fine Gael councillor Emma ...

. An inquiry was held into the allegations, but it ended inconclusively (a later inquiry upheld all the allegations of

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

against Morton). After a quarter of a century's service as Serjeant, le Blond was appointed to the Common Pleas in 1322. He was also appointed justice itinerant for

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

. He seems to have retired in 1325.Hand p.95 He has been described as a man who was "greatly knowledgeable in the law", and one "who gave the King praiseworthy service".

Sources

*Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926 Volume 1 *Casey, James ''The Irish Law Officers'' Round Hall Sweet and Maxwell 1996 *Hand, Geoffrey ''English Law in Ireland 1290-1324''

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

1967 *Hart, A. R. ''A History of the King's Serjeants at law in Ireland'' Four Courts Press Dublin 2000

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:le Blond, Richard 13th-century Irish judges 14th-century Irish judges Serjeants-at-law (Ireland) Justices of the Irish Common Pleas People from Arklow Lawyers from County Wicklow 14th-century deaths Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown