Nicholas More (died 1689) was first chief justice of the colonial-era

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to Wi ...

Early life and education

More, also spelled "Moore" or "Moor", was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England, where he married his wife Mary. In 1682, More immigrated to the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centu ...

alongwith with

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

, and lived in the colonial-era

. More was trained in London as a medical physician, but he did not engage in that profession after immigrating to

British America British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which became the British Empire after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, in the Americas fro ...

. Soon after settling in the

Society Hill Society Hill is a historic neighborhood in Center City Philadelphia, with a population of 6,215 . Settled in the early 1680s, Society Hill is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Philadelphia.The Center City District dates the Free Soc ...

section of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, he set up "The Free Society of Traders", and became its president. Along with other English merchants, More obtained a parcel of land including just under ten thousand (9,815) acres from Penn for the society in 1684, which became known as the Manor of Moreland. Part of the land was in

Philadelphia County Philadelphia County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the most populous county in Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, Philadelphia County had a population of 1,603,797. The county is the second smallest county in Pennsyl ...

and part was in Montgomery County. More had a town house at the corner of Second and

Spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfam ...

streets in Philadelphia. He also had a country house at Green Spring, near the

Somerton Somerton may refer to: Places Australia * Somerton, New South Wales * Somerton Park, South Australia, a seaside Adelaide suburb ** Somerton Man, unsolved case of an unidentified man found dead in 1948 on the Somerton Park beach * Somerton, Victoria ...

section of Philadelphia.

Career

More became the president or speaker of the first provincial assembly of freemen of Pennsylvania, which assembled on December 4, 1682 in

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, it is the only city in Delaware County and had a population of 32,605 as of the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1682, Chester i ...

. He was secretary and clerk to the provincial council in 1683, and became a member of the assembly from 1684 to 1685. More was the presiding judge of Philadelphia county courts from 1683 to 1684. He claimed he was an attorney in London, so Penn appointed him to become the first chief justice of the supreme court of the

in 1684. Because of his arrogant and contentious demeanor he was

impeached Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

on May 15, 1685 for "high crimes and misdemeanors", charged with abusing his powers. Ten charges were brought against him in what was the first case impeachment case of a judge in America. A letter including More's impeachment was forwarded to Penn, who was then in England. He did not grant his official approval of More's impeachment, and expressed confidence in More's abilities. In 1686, Penn nominated him as one of the five commissioners for the executive branch of the Province of Pennsylvania's government. More was later given back his position as chief justice of the colony of Pennsylvania and his job as judge. More made a jail at his country home grounds at Green Spring, and developed a court for hearing cases for prisoners. Even though More was elected a member of the board of five commissioners for the executive government, he was unable to serve the position because of his poor health.

Death

More died in

, in 1689. He was survived by his wife and four children.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:More, Nicholas Date of birth unknown 1689 deaths English emigrants Impeached judges removed from office Members of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly Officials impeached by the Thirteen Colonies Pennsylvania lawyers People from colonial Pennsylvania Politicians from London Speakers of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly