John Case (Aristotelian writer)

John Case (or Johannes Casus) (died 1600) was an English writer on Aristotle.

Case was born between 1539 and 1546 at , and was a chorister at New College and Christ Church, Oxford. He was elected to a scholarship at St. John's in 1564. He was B.A. in 1568, M.A. in 1572, and became a fellow of his college. He had a high reputation as a disputant. Being "popishly affected," says Anthony Wood, he "left his fellowship and married" in 1574. His wife was Elizabeth Dobson, the widow of John Dobson, the keeper of Bocardo prison. Case's stepdaughter Anne Dobson married Regius Professor of Medicine (Oxford) Bartholomew Warner.

Case obtained leave from the university to read logic and philosophy to young men, chiefly Roman Catholics, in his own house in Oxford; it became a largely attended philosophical school due to Case's reputation as a logician and dialectician. Among his pupils was Edward Weston. He wrote various handbooks for his students' use, which were published and for a time popular, though they had fallen into disrepute in Wood's day. He is described as "a man of an innocent, meek, religious and studious life," an agreeable conversationalist, an enthusiastic teacher, and a great favorite with his pupils. He was in addition an authority on music and a distinguished physician, becoming M.D. in 1589.

Case made money in the practice of medicine and left various sums to St. John's College, New College, and the poor of Woodstock. In 1589 he became Canon of Sarum. He died on 23 January 1599 – 1600 and was buried in the chapel of St. John's College. His portrait is in the Bodleian Library.

Most of Case's works were commentaries on various treatises of Aristotle (Organon, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, Economics, Physics) under curious titles; they enjoyed a large circulation during his time, and were frequently reprinted.

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