Peter King, 1st Baron King
| The Right Honourable The Lord King PC FRS | |
|---|---|
 The 1st Lord King, by Daniel de Coning, 1720 | |
| Lord Chancellor | |
|
In office 1725–1733 | |
| Preceded by |
In Commission Last Holder The Earl of Macclesfield |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Talbot |
| Chief Justice of the Common Pleas | |
|
In office 1714–1725 | |
| Preceded by | The Lord Trevor |
| Succeeded by | Sir Robert Eyre |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
1669 Exeter |
| Died |
22 July 1734 Surrey |
| Spouse(s) | Anne Seys |
| Children | 6 |
| Alma mater | Leiden University |
Peter King, 1st Baron King PC FRS (c. 1669–22 July 1734) was an English lawyer and politician, who became Lord Chancellor of England.[1]
Life
He was born in Exeter in 1669,[2] and educated at Exeter Grammar School. In his youth he was interested in early church history, and published anonymously in 1691 An Enquiry into the Constitution, Discipline, Unity and Worship of the Primitive Church that flourished within the first Three Hundred Years after Christ. This treatise engaged the interest of his cousin, John Locke, the philosopher, by whose advice his father sent him to the Leiden University, where he stayed for nearly three years. He entered the Middle Temple in 1694 and was called to the bar in 1698.[2]
In 1700 he was returned to Parliament of England as the member for Bere Alston in Devon, holding the seat until 1715.
He was appointed recorder of Glastonbury in 1705 and recorder of London in 1708. Made a Serjeant-at-Law, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1714 to 1725, when he was raised to the peerage as a Lord Justice and Speaker of the House of Lords. In June of the same year he was made Lord Chancellor, holding office until compelled by a paralytic stroke to resign in 1733.[2]
He was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society on 14 November 1728.[3]
He died at Ockham, Surrey, on 22 July 1734.[2]
Assessment
Lord King as chancellor failed to sustain the reputation which he had acquired at the common law bar. Nevertheless, he left his mark on English law by establishing the principles that a will of immovable property is governed by the lex loci rei sitae, and that where a husband had a legal right to the personal estate of his wife, which must be asserted by a suit in equity, the court would not help him unless he made a provision out of the property for the wife, if she required it. He was also the author of the Act (4 Geo. II. c. 26) by virtue of which English superseded Latin as the language of the courts.[2]
Family
King married Anne Seys in 1704. They had six children: two daughters and four sons. Each of their sons succeeded in turn as Lord King, Baron of Ockham.
In 1835 his great-great-grandson William King (1805-1893), married the only daughter of Lord Byron and was later created Earl of Lovelace. Another descendant Peter John Locke King was a Member of Parliament for Surrey from 1847-1849 and won some fame as an advocate of reform, being responsible for the passing of the Real Estate Charges Act 1854, and for the repeal of a large number of obsolete laws.[2]
Works
Lord King published in 1702 a History of the Apostles' Creed (Leipzig, 1706; Basel, 1750) which went through several editions and was also translated into Latin. His earlier work "An inquiry into the constitution, discipline, unity, and worship of the primitive church: that flourished within the first three hundred years after Christ" was published 1691 and was quoted by John Wesley in many of his correspondences and is seen as influencing many of his view on the order of the Church.
Cases
Some notable cases on which he was involved:
- R v Woodburne and Coke
- Keech v Sandford (1726) Sel Cas Ch 61
- Coppin v Coppin (1725) - a will settling land in England must conform to the rules of English law, even when made abroad
- Croft v Pyke (1733) - a partner's joint estate is liable first to the debts of the partnership, before payment of legacies to heirs
- Milner v Colmer (1731)
- Brown et Uxor v Elton (1733) - the practice of the court was to compel a husband to make a settlement on the wife before recovering his wife's portion by equity
References
- ↑ "KING, Peter (c.1669-1734), of the Middle Temple, London and Ockham, Surr.". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Chisholm 1911, p. 805.
- ↑ "Lists of Royal Society Fellows". Retrieved 2006-12-15.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "King [of Ockham ], Peter King". Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 805.
| Parliament of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Hawles James Montagu |
Member of Parliament for Bere Alston 1701–1707 With: Sir Rowland Gwynne 1701 William Cowper 1701–1705 Spencer Cowper 1705–1707 |
Succeeded by Parliament of Great Britain |
| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
| Preceded by Parliament of England |
Member of Parliament for Bere Alston 1707–1715 With: Spencer Cowper 1707–1710 Lawrence Carter 1710–1715 |
Succeeded by Lawrence Carter Horatio Walpole |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by The Lord Trevor |
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas 1714–1725 |
Succeeded by Sir Robert Eyre |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by In Commission |
Lord Chancellor 1725–1733 |
Succeeded by The Lord Talbot |
| Peerage of Great Britain | ||
| New creation | Baron King 1725–1734 |
Succeeded by John King |
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