John Baldwin (judge)
| Sir John Baldwin | |
|---|---|
| Born | before 1470 |
| Died | 24 October 1545 |
| Burial place | Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire |
| Spouse(s) | Agnes Dormer(?) Agnes Norris |
| Children | William Baldwin Agnes Baldwin Pernell Baldwin Alice Baldwin |
| Parent(s) | William Baldwin, Jane (maiden name unknown) |
Sir John Baldwin (died 24 October 1545) was an English lawyer and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.
According to Baker, John Baldwin, born 11 August 1470, was a younger son of William Baldwin (died c.1479) of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and Agnes Dormer, the daughter of William Dormer of West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. However, according to The Visitation of Buckinghamshire and other sources, Agnes Dormer, the daughter of William Dormer (d.1506) of West Wycombe, was John Baldwin's first wife, not his mother.
Baldwin is said to have had an elder brother, Richard Baldwin (d.1484).
Baldwin's uncle, also named John Baldwin (d. 1469), had a legal career in London as a bencher of Gray's Inn and common serjeant of the City. At his death in 1469 his estates in Aylesbury were inherited in turn by Baldwin's father, William, by Baldwin's elder brother, Richard (d.1484), and in 1484 by Baldwin himself.
Details of John Baldwin's early legal career are sparse. He joined the Inner Temple at some time before 1500, and was practicing in the Court of Requests by 1506. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Buckinghamshire in 1510. He gave his first reading at the Inner Temple in 1516, and served as treasurer from 1521-3.
In 1529 Baldwin was returned to Parliament for Hindon, and in 1530 was appointed Attorney General for Wales and the Duchy of Lancaster.
He gave a third reading at the Inner Temple in 1531, and was appointed a Serjeant-at-law and King's Serjeant in the same year. In 1534 he was knighted, which Sir John Spelman considered 'unprecedented' for a serjeant.
Further details of Baldwin's judicial career can be gleaned from the reports of Sir James Dyer, whose opinion of Baldwin was not always complimentary. In June 1535 Baldwin was required to pass sentence of treason on the Carthusian priors, as the remaining justices had departed before the verdict was rendered. Then, in later life Baldwin added to his landed estates. In 1536 he purchased a country home at Little Marlow, and in 1540 the site of the former Greyfriars monastery in Aylesbury. In 1538 Baldwin was involved, through no fault of his own, in a miscarriage of justice at the assizes at Bury, when a man was convicted of murder on the evidence of his young son, and after his execution it was discovered that the alleged victim was still alive.
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