Sir Robert Norwich
KS JP (died April 1535) was an English justice. He was a member of
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...
, and is first mentioned practicing in the
Court of Requests
The Court of Requests was a minor equity court in England and Wales. It was instituted by King Richard III in his 1484 parliament. It first became a formal tribunal with some Privy Council elements under Henry VII, hearing cases from the poor ...
in 1516, followed by service in his home county of
Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
as a commissioner in 1518. The same year he became a Bencher of his Inn, also giving his first reading, and acted as the Treasurer from 1519 to 1520. He was created a
Serjeant-at-law in 1521, followed by a promotion to
King's Serjeant a year later and, in 1525, an appointment as a
Justice of the Peace, again for Essex. In 1529 he was knighted and appointed
Surveyor of the King's Liveries, along with Sir Thomas Nevill, an office he held until his death. He was made
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
The chief justice of the common pleas was the head of the Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench, which was the second-highest common law
Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body ...
on 22 November 1530, although there are few records of his character or career as Chief Justice. He died in April 1535, and was buried in St Nicholas's Chapel near
Serjeant's Inn
Serjeant's Inn (formerly Serjeants' Inn) was the legal inn of the Serjeants-at-Law in London. Originally there were two separate societies of Serjeants-at-law: the Fleet Street inn dated from 1443 and the Chancery Lane inn dated from 1416. In 1 ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norwich, Robert
Chief justices of the common pleas
Knights Bachelor
Serjeants-at-law (England)
1535 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
16th-century English judges
16th-century English knights