Joseph Keble (1632 – 28 August 1710) was an English

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

and

law report A or is a compilation of Legal opinion, judicial opinions from a selection of case law decided by courts. These reports serve as published records of judicial decisions that are cited by lawyers and judges for their use as precedent in subsequ ...

er. As well as recording more than four thousand sermons preached in the chapel 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 ...

, Keble reported every case heard by the

Court of King's Bench The Court of King's Bench, formally known as The Court of the King Before the King Himself, was a court of common law in the English legal system. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century from the '' curia regis'', the King's Bench initi ...

from 1661 until his death. Although he was in court every day, he was never known to have had a brief to represent a client.

Life

Keble was the son of

Richard Keble Richard Keble (died 1683/84) was an English lawyer and judge, a supporter of the Parliamentarian cause during the English Civil War. During the early years of the Interregnum he was a Keeper of the Great Seal. He was also an active judge who pre ...

, Commissioner of the Great Seal from 1649 to 1654. He was born in 1632 in the parish of

St Giles-in-the-Fields St Giles in the Fields is the Anglicanism, Anglican parish church of the St Giles, London, St Giles district of London. The parish stands within the London Borough of Camden and forms part of the Diocese of London. The church, named for Saint ...

, London and educated at the parish school in

Holborn Holborn ( or ), an area in central London, covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon Without i ...

. He became a member of

in 1647. He attended the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

matriculating Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used no ...

from

All Souls College All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

in 1651 and obtaining a

Bachelor of Civil Law Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated BCL or B.C.L.; ) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. The BCL originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; at Oxford, the BCL contin ...

degree in 1654. He was also made a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship ...

by the Parliamentary commissioners in 1648. He was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1653. After becoming a barrister, he was never known to have a brief to represent a client in court. However, because the "disease of reporting was so strong upon him", he went to the

every day from 1661 until his death in 1710 and wrote reports on the cases heard by the Court. He was regarded as a law reporter of considerable note "and of almost incredible industry." Many of his case reports were published as ''Reports in the court of king's bench...from the 12th to the 30th year of the reign of Charles II'' (1685). More than 150 handwritten folios and quartos of case reports were left unpublished at his death. His other writings included ''An Explanation of the Laws against Recusants'' (1681), and ''An Assistance to Justices of the Peace'' (1683). He also recorded more than four thousand sermons preached in the chapel of Gray's Inn. Keble had one of the first homes at North End, Hampstead, where he lived for part of the week to benefit from the clean air. He died on 28 August 1710 in Holborn and was buried at

Tuddenham Tuddenham is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. In 2005 it had a population of 450. falling to 423 at the 2011 Census. RAF Tuddenham Between 1943 and 1963, RAF Tuddenham was a Royal Air Forc ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

where he was a property owner.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keble, Joseph English barristers Members of Gray's Inn Fellows of Jesus College, Oxford Alumni of All Souls College, Oxford 1632 births 1710 deaths