Peter King, 1st Baron King, (c. 1669 – 22 July 1734), commonly referred to as Lord King, was an English lawyer and politician, who became
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
.
Life
King was born in
Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
in 1669, and educated at
Exeter Grammar School
Exeter School is an independent co-educational day school for pupils between the ages of 7 and 18 in Exeter, Devon, England. In 2019, there were around 200 pupils in the Junior School and 700 in the Senior School.
History
The School traces its ...
.
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
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...
, the
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
, by whose advice his father sent him to the
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
, where he stayed for nearly three years. He entered the
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...
in 1694 and was
called to the bar
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
in 1698.
In 1700 he was returned to
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised t ...
as the member for
Bere Alston
Bere Alston is a village in West Devon in the county of Devon in England. It forms part of the civil parish of Bere Ferrers.
History and geography
With a population of about 2,000, the village lies in the Bere peninsula, between the river ...
in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
, holding the seat until 1715.
He was appointed recorder of
Glastonbury
Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...
in 1705 and recorder of
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in 1708. Made 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 writ ...
, 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 ...
from 1714 to 1725, when he was raised to the peerage as a Lord Justice and
Speaker of the House of Lords
The Lord Speaker is the presiding officer, chairman and highest authority of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The office is analogous to the Speaker of the House of Commons: the Lord Speaker is elected by the members ...
. In June of the same year he was made
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
, holding office until compelled by a
paralytic
Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 50 ...
stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
to resign in 1733.
He was admitted a
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
on 14 November 1728.
He died at
Ockham,
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, on 22 July 1734.
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 In conflict of laws, the term ''lex loci'' (Latin for "the law of the place") is a shorthand version of the choice of law rules that determine the ''lex causae'' (the laws chosen to decide a case).''Black's Law Dictionary'' abridged Sixth Edition (1 ...
'', 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
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
superseded
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
as the language of the courts.
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.
After his death in 1734, the widowed Lady King lived in
Grosvenor Square until her death in 1767.
In 1835 his great-great-grandson
William King (1805–1893), married
Ada Byron
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace ('' née'' Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the ...
, the only daughter of
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
and was later created
Earl of Lovelace
Earl of Lovelace was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1838 for William King-Noel, 8th Baron King, a title created in 1725.
History
The King or Locke King family stems from the elevation of the son of Jerome ...
. Another descendant
Peter John Locke King was a Member of Parliament for Surrey from 1847 to 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.
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 Enquiry 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
John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...
'' 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
is a foundational case, deriving from English trusts law, on the fiduciary duty of loyalty. It concerns the law of trusts and has affected much of the thinking on directors' duties in company law. It holds that a trustee owes a strict duty of ...
'' (1726) Sel Cas Ch 61
*''
Coppin v Coppin Coppin or Coppins may refer to;
People
* Daniel Coppin (1771–1822), British artist and art collector
* Fanny Jackson Coppin (1837–1913), African-American educator and missionary
* George Coppin (1819–1906), actor and politician in Australia
...
'' (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
Spoke in support of the second article brought against Dr.Sacheverell, February 28, 1709/10 - 'Tryal of Dr.Sacheverell' printed London 1710
References
;Attribution
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Peter King, 1st Baron
1669 births
1734 deaths
People educated at Exeter School
Members of the Middle Temple
Serjeants-at-law (England)
Chief Justices of the Common Pleas
Lord chancellors of Great Britain
Lord High Stewards
Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain
Peter 1
English MPs 1701
English MPs 1701–1702
English MPs 1702–1705
English MPs 1705–1707
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Bere Alston
British MPs 1707–1708
British MPs 1708–1710
British MPs 1710–1713
British MPs 1713–1715
Fellows of the Royal Society
Members of the Parliament of England for Bere Alston