Sir Thomas Raymond or Rayment (1626/7 — 14 July 1683) was a British judge. Born to Robert Raymond in

Bowers Gifford Bowers Gifford is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bowers Gifford and North Benfleet, in southern Essex, England. It is located east of Basildon, between Pitsea and Thundersley. Pillboxes in the surrounding fields ...

, he was educated at a school in

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated popu ...

before matriculating to

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

on 5 April 1643. On 6 February 1645 he joined

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 Wa ...

, being called to the Bar there on 11 February 1651. In October 1677 he became a

Serjeant-at-Law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are w ...

, before being appointed a

Baron of the Exchequer The Barons of the Exchequer, or ''barones scaccarii'', were the judges of the English court known as the Exchequer of Pleas. The Barons consisted of a Chief Baron of the Exchequer and several puisne (''inferior'') barons. When Robert Shute was ...

on 1 May 1679 and knighted on 26 June. On 7 February 1680 he became a

Justice of the Common Pleas Justice of the Common Pleas was a puisne judicial position within the Court of Common Pleas of England and Wales, under the Chief Justice. The Common Pleas was the primary court of common law within England and Wales, dealing with "common" pleas ...

, and on 24 April 1680 transferred to the

Court of 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 common ...

. He died on 14 July 1683, leaving behind a set of law reports titled ''Reports of divers special cases adjudged in the courts of king's bench, common pleas, and exchequer in the reign of King Charles II'', which were published in 1696, 1743, 1793 and 1803. His son, Robert Raymond, also later became a judge. Commentators of the time identified him as having "extraordinary servility" and being an "unprincipled judge", with his failure in the

Bideford witch trial The Bideford witch trial resulted in hangings for witchcraft in England. Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles and Susannah Edwards from the town of Bideford in Devon were tried in 1682 at the Exeter Assizes at Rougemont Castle. Much of the evidence ...

to point out the "irrationality" of the defendants' confessions leading to their convictions and executions.Foss (1870) p.548

References

Bibliography

* * *Dictionary of the National Biograph

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raymond, Thomas 1683 deaths 17th-century English judges Justices of the Common Pleas 1620s births Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Members of Gray's Inn Justices of the King's Bench Barons of the Exchequer