Richard le Blond (or le Blound; died after 1325) was an Irish lawyer and

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

of the early fourteenth century. After serving for many years as Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) he was rewarded for his services to the

English Crown This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself King of the Anglo-Sax ...

with a seat on the

Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) The Court of Common Pleas was one of the principal courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England. Common Pleas was one of the four courts of justice which gave the Four Courts in Dublin, which is still ...

.Ball p.66 He was born in Arklow,

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

.''Patent Roll 15 Edward II'' It is unclear whether or not he was related to David le Blond, who was a justice of the Court of the Justiciar of Ireland during the same era;Ball p.38 (there is some evidence that David came from County Cork, not Wicklow).Hand p.138 Richard was appointed King's Serjeant, as the office of Serjeant-at-law was then known, in 1297, jointly with

William of Bardfield William of Bardfield, William de Berdefeld or William de Bardesfeld (1258 – before 1334) was an English-born lawyer of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century who enjoyed a successful legal career in England before moving to Ireland, whe ...

. There is a reference to him as "Serjeant pleader", an early use of the term serjeant. He appears to have been diligent in arguing cases on behalf of the

:Hart pp.14-15 in 1301 he appeared for the Crown at the

assizes The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

and in the same year he was acting for the Crown in each of the Royal Courts in Dublin. We have records of at least two of the cases he pleaded. The first, in 1301-2, concerned points of some importance on the powers of the

Exchequer of Ireland The Exchequer of Ireland was a body in the Kingdom of Ireland tasked with collecting The Crown, royal revenue. Modelled on the Exchequer, English Exchequer, it was created in 1210 after King John of England applied English law and legal structure ...

.Hand pp.128-9 In the second case, in 1305, he sued on behalf of

King Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassa ...

for the recovery of certain lands which belonged to him.Casey p.8 The official records show that he was highly regarded by the Crown. When he petitioned for custody of the lands of Thomas Bodenham, lately deceased, which had now vested in the Crown, and the guardianship and right of marriage of his

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

, his petition was granted: "the more quickly because the King acquired the lands at Richard's suit, and because he has acted in a praiseworthy fashion in the King's business as his Serjeant pleader". In 1309 he made the first of several official complaints about the maladministration of

Geoffrey de Morton Geoffrey de Morton (died c. 1317) was a wealthy merchant and shipowner in early fourteenth-century Dublin who served as Mayor of Dublin in 1303. He acquired an unsavoury reputation for unscrupulous business methods and corruption: in particular, ...

, a corrupt and unpopular local government official and former Mayor of Dublin. An inquiry was held into the allegations, but it ended inconclusively (although a later inquiry upheld all the allegations of

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

against Morton). After a quarter of a century's service as Serjeant, le Blond was appointed to the Common Pleas in 1322. He was also appointed

justice itinerant A Justice Itinerant was a royal appointed official sent to the English counties and Ireland to administer justice. References * {{cite book , title= A History of English Law , volume= 1 , first= William Searle , last= Holdsworth , author-li ...

for County Meath. He seems to have retired in 1325.Hand p.95 He has been described as a man who was "greatly knowledgeable in the law", and one "who gave the King praiseworthy service".

Sources

*Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926 Volume 1 *Casey, James ''The Irish Law Officers'' Round Hall Sweet and Maxwell 1996 *Hand, Geoffrey ''English Law in Ireland 1290-1324'' Cambridge University Press 1967 *Hart, A. R. ''A History of the King's Serjeants at law in Ireland'' Four Courts Press Dublin 2000

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:le Blond, Richard 13th-century Irish judges 14th-century Irish judges Serjeants-at-law (Ireland) Justices of the Irish Common Pleas People from County Wicklow