Sir Francis Bacon (1587–1657) was an English judge.

Life

He was the son of John Bacon, of

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, born about 1587. As the inscription on his chest tomb states, he was a descendant of Thomas Bacon (d.1553) of Hesset in Suffolk, by his second wife Anna Rouse, a daughter of Henry Rouse of Dinington, Suffolk. He began his legal studies at

Barnard's Inn Barnard's Inn is a former Inn of Chancery in Holborn, London. It is now the home of Gresham College, an institution of higher learning established in 1597 that hosts public lectures. History Barnard's Inn dates back at least to the mid-thirt ...

, and was admitted a member of

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

in February 1607. He was not called to the bar until eight years later in 1615. His name as counsel is not found in contemporary reports, and it has been inferred that his practice must have been either in chancery or in the provinces. In 1634 he was

Autumn Reader A reader in one of the Inns of Court in London was originally a senior barrister of the Inn who was elected to deliver a lecture or series of lectures on a particular legal topic. Two readers (known as Lent and Autumn Readers) would be elected annu ...

at Gray's Inn; in 1640 he was admitted to the degree of serjeant-at-law. In October 1642, the king, being then at Bridgnorth on his way to London, appointed Bacon to a seat in the

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 commo ...

. Among the propositions tendered by parliament to the king in February 1643 were demands for the dismissal of several of the judges, but 'Mr. Justice Bacon may be continued '. While Charles was at Oxford, Bacon was one of the sworn judges still at Westminster, of which there were three, and presided alone in the King's Bench, as Edmund Reeve and Trevor did in the Common Pleas and Exchequer. At the trial of Connor Maguire, in Hilary term 1645, on the charge of high treason for his share in the

Irish Rebellion of 1641 The Irish Rebellion of 1641 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1641) was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantatio ...

, Bacon was the only judge. Lord Maguire had demanded to be tried by a jury of Irish peers; Bacon delivered his judgment that a baron of Ireland could be tried by a jury in England, and this judgment was formally approved of by both houses. He committed to prison James Symbal and others in 1647 'for speaking of words against the king in time of war', with Serjeant Cresheld. He continued to sit on the bench until 1649, when new commissions were issued to the judges, and they were required to take the oath in the name of the people instead of in the king's name. Bacon and five of his brethren resigned their seats, while the other six judges agreed to hold office. After his resignation Bacon lived in retirement until his death on 22 August 1657. His chest tomb monument survives in St. Gregory's Church, Norwich.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bacon, Francis 1587 births 1657 deaths Justices of the King's Bench