Henry Swinburne (lawyer)

Henry Swinburne (1551–1624) was an English ecclesiastical lawyer and scholar. Initially working as a clerk at a Consistory Court he attended the University of Oxford from 1576 to 1580, graduating with a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) degree, and was admitted to the bar at York to work as an ecclesiastical lawyer. As well as his work as a lawyer he held various administrative and judicial positions. He died in 1624.

Swinburne is best known for his two legal treatises, particularly A briefe treatise of Testaments and last Wills which remained a standard work on family law for 200 years after his death. Swinburne was the first ecclesiastical law writer to write in English.

Swinburne was born in 1551 in the ward of Micklegate, York, to Thomas Swinburne and Alison Dalynson. After an education at Archbishop Holgate's School he became a clerk in the Consistory court in York. After becoming a notary public of the court he matriculated to the University of Oxford in 1576, studying at Hertford College, and while there met and married Ellen Lant, daughter of Bartholomew Lant. He graduated from Broadgates Hall, Oxford in 1580 with a Bachelor of Civil Law degree, and a few years later was called to the ecclesiastical bar at York.

As well as his work as a lawyer, Swinburne also held multiple judicial and administrative posts. He became Auditor of the Peculier of the Dean of York in 1593, commissionary of the York exchequer court in 1604 and worked in the Court of High Commission between 1607 and 1622. By 1613 his wife had died and he married Margaret Wentworth - they had a son, Toby Swinburne, in the same year.

Swinburne is best known for his two treatises on law - A briefe treatise of Testaments and last Wills, first published in 1590, and A treatise of Spousals, or Matrimonial Contracts, published posthumously in 1686 based on a draft found in Lincoln's Inn. Swinburne was the first ecclesiastical law writer to write his books in English.

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