The King's Advocate (or Queen's Advocate when the monarch was female) was one of the

Law Officers of the Crown The law officers are the senior legal advisors to His Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom and devolved governments of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. They are variously referred to as the Attorney General, Solicitor General, Lord Ad ...

. He represented the Crown in the

ecclesiastical court In organized Christianity, an ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain non-adversarial courts conducted by church-approved officials having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. Histo ...

s of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

, where cases were argued not by barristers but by advocates (see Doctor's Commons). In the nineteenth century much of the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts was transferred to other courts, firstly the Courts of

Probate In common law jurisdictions, probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased; or whereby, in the absence of a legal will, the e ...

and Divorce and Matrimonial Causes and eventually the

Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...

of the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...

. The position of Queen's Advocate remained vacant after the resignation of Sir Travers Twiss in 1872.

Use in colonies and extraterritorial jurisdictions

In some British colonies and

extraterritorial In international law, extraterritoriality or exterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdict ...

British courts, the principal British Government lawyer was called the King's Advocate, Queen's Advocate or

Crown Advocate Crown advocate is a title used in Britain and some former British colonies for a government prosecutor. In former British Colonies and certain British extraterritorial courts the title is (or was) used by the senior government advocate. Great Br ...

. For example, before the

British Supreme Court for China and Japan The British Supreme Court for China (originally the British Supreme Court for China and Japan) was a court established in the Shanghai International Settlement to try cases against British subjects in China, Japan and Korea under the principles o ...

and in

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

the principal British Government lawyer was called the Crown Advocate. In

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, he was referred to as the King's Advocate. The

Attorney General of Sri Lanka The attorney general of Sri Lanka is the Sri Lankan government's chief legal adviser, and its primary lawyer in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. The attorney general is usually a highly respected senior advocate, and is appointed by the ruling go ...

was known as the King's Advocate or Queen's Advocate between 1833 and 1884.

King's/Queen's Advocates

* ''incomplete before 1660'' * 3 March 1609 Sir Henry (Martin) Marten * 1625: Sir Thomas Ryves * 1660–1678: John GodolphinWalker, David M., The Oxford Companion to Law, Appendix I, list of King's (or Queen's) Advocates, 1660–1872, pp. 1339–1340. * 1679–1686: Thomas Exton * 1687: Sir Thomas Pinfold * 1687–1688: Thomas Exton * 1701–1710: Sir John Cooke * 1715–1727: Sir Nathaniel Lloyd * 1727–1755: George Paul * 1755–1764: George Hay * 1764–1778: James Marriott * 1778–1788: William Wynne * 1788–1798: William Scott * 1798–1809: John Nicholl * 1809–1828: Sir Christopher Robinson * 1828–1834: Sir Herbert Jenner * 1834–1852: John Dodson (knighted 29 October 1834) * 1852–1862: John Dorney Harding (knighted 24 March 1852) * 1862–1867:

Robert Joseph Phillimore Sir Robert Joseph Phillimore, 1st Baronet (5 November 1810 – 4 February 1885), was an English judge and politician. He was the last Judge of the High Court of Admiralty from 1867 to 1875 bringing an end to an office that had lasted nearly 40 ...

(knighted 17 September 1862) * 1867–1872:

Travers Twiss Sir Travers Twiss QC FRS (19 March 1809 in London – 14 January 1897 in London) was an English jurist. He had a distinguished academic and legal career culminating in his appointment as Queen's Advocate-General. Twiss was particularly noted f ...

(knighted 4 November 1867)

References

Other sources

* Joseph Haydn and Horace Ockerby, ''The Book of Dignities'', London 1894, reprinted Bath 1969, p. 422 * Edward William Brabrook, paper on the Office of the King's Advocate-General, delivered 16 January 1879, recorded in ''Proceedings of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

''
second series, vol. VIII
p. 13-21 Canon law of the Church of England English civil law History of the Church of England Law officers of the Crown in the United Kingdom {{anglicanism-stub