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, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from ...

Early life and education

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

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America. The Thirteen C ...

along with

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

, 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 collectively refers to various British colonization of the Americas, colonies of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and its predecessors states in the Americas prior to the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1 ...

. Soon after settling in the Society Hill section of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, 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 the most populous of the 67 counties of Pennsylvania and the 24th-most populous county in the nation. As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 1,603,797. It is coextensive with Philadelphia, the nation's ...

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 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

streets in Philadelphia. He also had a country house at Green Spring, near the Somerton 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. It is located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area (also known as the Delaware Valley) on the western bank of the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. ...

. 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 a 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 Eu ...

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