William Noy (1577 – 9 August 1634) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the U ...

. He was born on the family estate of Pendrea in St Buryan,

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. He left Exeter College, Oxford, without taking a degree, and entered

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in 1594. From 1603 until his death he was elected, with one exception, to each parliament, sitting invariably for a constituency of his native county. For several years his sympathies were in antagonism to the court party, yet every commission that was appointed numbered Noy among its members, and even those who were opposed to him in politics acknowledged his learning. A few years before his death he changed political allegiance, went over to the side of the court, and in October 1631 he was created

Attorney-general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

, but was never knighted. It was through his advice that the impost of

ship money Ship money was a tax of medieval origin levied intermittently in the Kingdom of England until the middle of the 17th century. Assessed typically on the inhabitants of coastal areas of England, it was one of several taxes that English monarchs co ...

was levied, resulting in a controversy that helped trigger the

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. Noy suffered from stones, and died in great pain; he was buried at New

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings wh ...

church. His principal works are ''On the Grounds and Maxims of the Laws of this Kingdom'' (1641) and ''The Compleat Lawyer'' (1661).

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