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 court in the English legal system until 1875, when it, along with the other two common law courts and the equity and probate courts, became part of the High Court of Justice. As such, the chief justice of the Common Pleas was one of the highest judicial officials in England, behind only the lord high chancellor and the lord chief justice of England, who headed the King's Bench (Queen's when the monarch was female).
For the similar judicial appointment in Ireland, see Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.Sir Edward Coke, a famed jurist whose judgements included seminal cases in corporate and competition law and the creation of judicial review
Sir Nicholas Conyngham Tindal, who successfully defended Queen Caroline on charges of adultery in 1820
Sir Alexander Cockburn, who was repeatedly refused a peerage on the grounds of "notoriously bad moral character"
Legacy[edit]
A Wetherspoon pub in Keswick, Cumbria is named "The Chief Justice of the Common Pleas", this is due to the current building constructed in 1901 been built on land which was formally the site of a ‘workhouse’ - founded in the will (dated 1642) of Sir John Bankes. The current building which housed the towns magistrates’ court and police station until the year 2000, was built next to the towns main post office itself constructed ten years earlier around 1890. [4]