Sir John Pratt (1657–1725) was an English judge and politician. He was

Lord Chief Justice of England Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or a ...

from 15 May 1718 until 2 March 1725. He was appointed as an interim Chancellor of the Exchequer on 2 February 1721 until 3 April 1721.

Life

He was the son of Richard Pratt of

Standlake Standlake is a village and civil parish in West Oxfordshire about southeast of Witney and west of Oxford, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Brighthampton. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,497. The River Windru ...

, Oxfordshire. After matriculating at

Magdalen Hall, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colleg ...

, on 14 March 1672–3, he migrated to

Wadham College Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

where he was elected scholar in 1674, and fellow in 1678. He graduated B.A. in 1676, and proceeded M.A. in 1679. Pratt was admitted on 18 November 1675 a student at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

, where he was called to the bar on 12 February 1682. He appeared for the Crown before the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

in Sir John Fenwick's case, 16–17 December 1696, and before the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

for the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

in support of the petition for a charter on 14 June and 1 July 1698. He was made

serjeant-at-law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are wri ...

on 6 November 1700, and was heard by a committee of the House of Commons as counsel for the court of exchequer against a bill for curtailing the fees of the officers of that court on 25 February 1706. On 17 January 1710 Pratt was assigned, with Sir Simon Harcourt, as counsel for

Henry Sacheverell Henry Sacheverell (; 8 February 1674 – 5 June 1724) was an English high church Anglican clergyman who achieved nationwide fame in 1709 after preaching an incendiary 5 November sermon. He was subsequently impeached by the House of Commons and ...

, but declined to act. On 20 December 1711 he appeared before the House of Lords in support of the patent conferring an English dukedom on

James Douglas, 4th Duke of Hamilton Lieutenant General James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton and 1st Duke of Brandon (11 April 1658 – 15 November 1712) was a Scottish nobleman, soldier and politician. Hamilton was a major investor in the failed Darien Scheme, which cost many o ...

. On 28 December 1711 he was returned to parliament for

Midhurst Midhurst () is a market town, parish and civil parish in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother inland from the English Channel, and north of the county town of Chichester. The name Midhurst was first recorded in 1186 as ''Middeh ...

, for which he sat a silent (or all but) member until the dissolution which followed the accession of George I. Meanwhile, on Lord Cowper's recommendation, he was raised to a

puisne judge A puisne judge or puisne justice (; from french: puisné or ; , 'since, later' + , 'born', i.e. 'junior') is a dated term for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. Use The term is used almost exclusively in common law ...

ship in the

court of king's bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of common ...

, and was sworn in accordingly on 22 November 1714 and knighted. On the question of prerogative submitted to the judges in January 1718, whether the custody of the royal grandchildren was vested in the Prince of Wales or the king, Pratt concurred with the majority of his colleagues in favour of the Crown. He was one of the commissioners of the great seal in the interval (18 April–22 May 1718) between the resignation of Lord-chancellor Cowper and the seal's transference to

Lord-keeper Parker Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, (23 July 1666 – 28 April 1732) was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1705 to 1710. He was Lord Chief Justice from 1710 to 1718 and acted briefly as one of the regents befo ...

(later the Earl of Macclesfield). He succeeded the latter, 15 May, as lord chief justice of the court of king's bench, being sworn of the Privy Council on 9 October. In the case of Colbatch v. Bentley, in 1722 (see

John Colbatch John Colbatch (1664–11 February 1748), sometimes Colbach, was an English churchman and academic, professor of moral philosophy at Cambridge. Drawn into the long legal struggle between Richard Bentley and the fellowship of Trinity College, Cambr ...

, Richard Bentley) he resisted the combined influence of

Sir Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leade ...

and Lord Macclesfield, which Bentley had enlisted in his interest. Walpole could only explain it by supposing that Pratt was conscious of having "got to the top of his preferment". His treatment of the Jacobite

Christopher Layer Christopher Layer (1683–1723) was an English Jacobite conspirator, executed for high treason in 1723 for his part in what became known as the Atterbury Plot. Early life Born on 12 November 1683, he was the son of John Layer, a laceman, of Dur ...

has damaged his reputation. Pratt bought, about 1705, the manor of Stidulfe's Place, which he renamed Wilderness,https://www.wildernesse-estate.co.uk/history Wildernesse Residents Association in the parish of

Seal, Kent Seal is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. The parish is located in the valley between the North Downs and the Greensand ridge, and to the north-east of the town of Sevenoaks in West Kent. History In early d ...

; also, in 1714, Bayham Priory, in the parish of

Frant, Sussex Frant is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England, on the Kentish border about three miles (5 km) south of Royal Tunbridge Wells. When the iron industry was at its height, much of the village was owned b ...

, the ancient church of which he disroofed. He died at his house in Great Ormond Street, London, on 24 February 1725.

Family

Pratt married twice. By his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Gregory, rector of Middleton-Stoney, Oxfordshire, he had issue four daughters and five sons. By his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh Wilson, canon of Bangor, he had four sons and four daughters. His heir was John, his fourth son by his first wife (see Robert Tracy 1655–1735).

Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, PC (baptised 21 March 1714 – 18 April 1794) was an English lawyer, judge and Whig politician who was first to hold the title of Earl Camden. As a lawyer and judge he was a leading proponent of civil liberti ...

was the third son by the second marriage. Of Pratt's daughters by his first wife, the second, Grace, married Sir John Fortescue Aland; Jane, his second daughter by his second wife, married

Nicholas Hardinge Nicholas Hardinge (1699–1758) was an English civil servant, clerk to the House of Commons from 1731 to 1752 and then Secretary to the Treasury, and a Member of Parliament known also as a neo-Latin poet. Life He was the elder son of Gideon Har ...

; Anna Maria, his third daughter by the same wife, married Thomas Barrett Lennard, 16th Baron Dacre.

Cases

*''

Armory v Delamirie , (1722) 1 Strange 505, is a famous English case on personal property law and finder's rights. It is one of the first cases that established possession as a valuable property right and as evidence of ownership. The defendant in the case was Paul ...

'' (1722) 1 Strange 505

References

;Attribution

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, John Chancellors of the Exchequer of Great Britain Lord chief justices of England and Wales 1657 births 1725 deaths Justices of the King's Bench Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1710–1713 British MPs 1713–1715

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Serjeants-at-law (England) People from Seal, Kent People from Frant

Life

Family

Cases

See also

References

External links