Sir John Juyn (died 24 March 1440), SL, was an English judge who served as Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1439–40).

Origins

He was the son of John Juhyne (d. 1390), a wool merchant from

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, by his wife a certain Margery.

Career

Following the death of his father in 1390, Juyn inherited his estates in Bristol, Bedminster and Knowle. His father's contacts with the Bristolian merchant community helped with his career; between 1422 and 1438 he served as Recorder of Bristol, and also acted as a

feoffee Under the feudal system in England, a feoffee () is a trustee who holds a fief (or "fee"), that is to say an estate in land, for the use of a beneficial owner. The term is more fully stated as a feoffee to uses of the beneficial owner. The use ...

for many of the city's leading merchants. His first appearance in surviving records was in 1407, as a mainpernor for a group of Bristolian merchants sued for debt by the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. He was appointed 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 wri ...

in 1415, but avoided taking-up this position and its financial burden until 1418. Between 1416 and 1422 he served as legal counsel for the

Duchy of Lancaster The Duchy of Lancaster is the private estate of the British sovereign as Duke of Lancaster. The principal purpose of the estate is to provide a source of independent income to the sovereign. The estate consists of a portfolio of lands, properti ...

, settling the matter of the Bohun estate, dividing it between King

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1 ...

and Lady Anne Hastings, and also served as counsel to

Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence (autumn 1387 – 22 March 1421) was a medieval English prince and soldier, the second son of Henry IV of England, brother of Henry V, and heir to the throne in the event of his brother's death. He acted ...

between 1418 and 1420. He travelled the Western circuit as a Justice of Assizes between 1422 and 1424. On 5 May 1423 he was appointed

Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who ...

. In 1436 he received an additional appointment as Justice of the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

, from which time he switched to the

Home Counties The home counties are the counties of England that surround London. The counties are not precisely defined but Buckinghamshire and Surrey are usually included in definitions and Berkshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent are also often included ...

circuit. In May 1426 he was knighted in Parliament, and acted as a trier of petitions there from 1425 to 1439, during which period he was summoned frequently to advise the King's Council, most notably for 15 days at the November 1426 Council at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

, where he helped to draft laws to keep the peace between

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester Humphrey of Lancaster, Duke of Gloucester (3 October 139023 February 1447) was an English prince, soldier, and literary patron. He was (as he styled himself) "son, brother and uncle of kings", being the fourth and youngest son of Henry IV of E ...

and

Henry Beaufort Cardinal Henry Beaufort (c. 1375 – 11 April 1447), Bishop of Winchester, was an English prelate and statesman who held the offices of Bishop of Lincoln (1398) then Bishop of Winchester (1404) and was from 1426 a Cardinal of the Church of Ro ...

. For most of his life he lived in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, in which county he served as a Justice of the Peace on every Peace Commission between 1419 and his death. He raised loans for King Henry IV in the 1420s and 1430s. On 9 February 1436 he was appointed

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 or Common Place, which was the second-highest common law court in the English legal system until 1875, when it, along with the othe ...

, still retaining his position as

, and on 20 January 1439 he was made Chief Justice of the King's Bench, when finally he quitted his joint positions in the Courts of Exchequer and Common Pleas. He held this position for only a year before becoming ill, and died on 24 March 1440.

Marriages and children

He married twice: *Firstly to a certain Edith, who died childless; *Secondly to Alis Moore, a daughter of Nicholas de la Moor, of

Moor Hayes Moor Hays (''alias'' Moore Hays, Moorhays, Moorhayes, etc.) is a historic estate in the parish of Cullompton in Devon, England. It is stated incorrectly to be in the nearby parish of Burlescombe in Tristram Risdon's ''Survey of Devon''. The es ...

in the parish of

Cullompton Cullompton () is a town and civil parish in the district of Mid Devon and the county of Devon, England. It is north-east of Exeter and lies on the River Culm. In 2011 the parish as a whole had a population of 8,499 while the built-up area of ...

, Devon, by whom he had two daughters and co-heiresses: **Alis Juyn; **Isabel Juyn, who in 1436 married Robert Kenn.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Juyn, John 1440 deaths Members of Lincoln's Inn English barristers Chief Barons of the Exchequer Chief Justices of the Common Pleas Serjeants-at-law (England) Knights Bachelor 15th-century English judges Lord chief justices of England and Wales Year of birth unknown