Sir John Ernley (or

Ernle Ernle was the surname of an English gentry or landed family descended from the lords of the manor of Earnley in Sussex who derived their surname from the name of the place where their estates lay. Origins Onomastic Onomasticians say that t ...

) (1464 – 22 April 1520) was a British justice. He was educated at one of the Inns of Chancery from 1478 to 1480 before being admitted to

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 Wale ...

. By 1490 he was a particularly conspicuous member of the "Sussex circle" gathered around

Edmund Dudley Edmund Dudley (c. 1462Gunn 2010 or 1471/147217 August 1510) was an English administrator and a financial agent of King Henry VII. He served as a leading member of the Council Learned in the Law, Speaker of the House of Commons and Presid ...

. In his home county of

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

he maintained a substantial legal practice, serving as

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 o ...

, arbitrator, justice and commissioner, and joining the home assize circuit in 1496 and 1497 as an associate, followed by a position on the county bench in 1498. In the 16th century, he acted as a feoffee for Edmund Dudley, and was appointed

Attorney General for England and Wales His Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales is one of the law officers of the Crown and the principal legal adviser to sovereign and Government in affairs pertaining to England and Wales. The attorney general maintains the Attorney ...

on 12 July 1507 as a result of his influence with Dudley and, as an extension, Henry VII. He was reappointed when

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

came to power and under him became an important figure in the court. After Sir Robert Rede died in 1519, Ernley was selected to replace him as Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Commons Pleas, and was appointed on 27 January of that year. He served for barely a year, dying on 22 April 1520, and was buried in

Sidlesham Sidlesham is a small village and civil parish, on the Manhood Peninsula, five kilometres (3 miles) south of Chichester in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It has a small primary school. The area has had a prebendary since med ...

, near

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

. He left a son and heir,

William Erneley William Erneley otherwise Ernley or Ernle (1501–1546), of Cakeham, near West Wittering, Sussex, was an English politician. He was the son and heir of Sir John Ernley, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas (d. 1520), and belonged to t ...

, who also served as a Member of Parliament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ernley, John 1464 births 1520 deaths People from Chichester Chief Justices of the Common Pleas 15th-century English judges 16th-century English judges Attorneys General for England and Wales Ernle family