William le Petit, Petyt, or Lepetit (died after 1360) was an Irish judge who was very briefly

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge ...

. He is chiefly notable for having been pardoned for homicide. It is unclear if he had any connection to the Petit family, who had the title

Baron Dunboyne Baron Dunboyne was a title first held by the Petit family some time after the Norman invasion of Ireland. History Dunboyne was part of the Lordship of Meath. The Petit family also had land holdings in Mullingar. In 1227, Ralph Petit became Bishop ...

. Sir William le Petit, of

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the ...

, who came to Ireland with

Hugh de Lacy Hugh de Lacy may refer to: * Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Lassy (c.1020–1085), first recorded member of the Norman noble family de Lacy * Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath (died 1186), 4th Baron Lacy * Hugh de Lacy, Abbot of Shrewsbury (died c. 1215/18) *Hug ...

, was

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 monarch ...

in 1191.O'Hart, John ''Pedigrees of Ireland'' 5th Edition Dublin 1892 He is referred to as the Irish King's Serjeant in 1338 and as

Attorney General for Ireland The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. With the ...

in 1343, although the two offices are easily confused in this era, due to the lack of precision about their respective roles.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926 Vol. 1 p.83 In 1343, and again in 1344, he and his fellow Serjeant-at-law Hugh Brown (who was in office from 1331 to about 1346)Hart, A.R. ''A History of the King's Serjeants-at-law in Ireland'' Dublin Four Courts Press 2000 pp.16, 165, 179 received substantial fees for their "good and laudable services" in going with the Lord Deputy of Ireland to several Irish counties to "promulgate and expedite several affairs nearly concerning the King",Smyth, Joseph Constantine ''Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland'' Butterworths London 1839 p.182 in addition to the expenses they had incurred. In 1348 he and the Serjeant-at-law, Edmund of Barford, attended the session of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

held at Kilkenny, and were paid their expenses. He was a justice of the

Court of King's Bench (Ireland) The Court of King's Bench (of Queen's Bench when the sovereign was female, and formerly of Chief Place or Chief Pleas) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The King's Be ...

by 1347, and in 1359 briefly replaced John de Rednesse as Lord Chief Justice. Shortly afterwards he was appointed Deputy to the

.''Patent Roll 33 Edward III 14 October 1459'' The records refer to the inability of a single judge to cope with the volume of judicial business. Accordingly William, whose legal ability and loyalty were vouched for by his colleagues (including, it seems, John de Rednesse), was to have full authority to act as a judge in all the Royal Courts. He had two powerful patrons in James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond, and his wife Elizabeth Darcy, who employed le Petit as her attorney. It was at their request that le Petit in 1351 received a royal pardon for killing Robert de Lynham; little is known of the circumstances of the crime.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:le Petit, William Attorneys-General for Ireland 14th-century Irish judges Lords chief justice of Ireland Serjeants-at-law (Ireland)