The Justice of Chester was the chief judicial authority for the county palatine of Chester, from the establishment of the county[1] until the abolition of the Great Sessions in Wales and the palatine judicature in 1830.[2]
Within the County Palatine (which encompassed Cheshire, the City of Chester, and Flintshire), the Justice enjoyed the jurisdiction possessed in England by the Court of Common Pleas and the King's Bench.[3] While the legal reorganisation of Wales and the Marches under Henry VIII diminished the authority of the Earl of Chester (i.e., the Prince of Wales) in the County Palatine, the authority of the Justice was, in fact, increased. In 1542, the Great Sessions were established in Wales, that country being divided into four circuits of three shires each. Denbighshire, Flintshire, and Montgomeryshire were made part of the Chester circuit, over which the Justice presided. Under Elizabeth I, a second justice was added to each of the Welsh circuits,[4] after which the senior and junior justice are generally referred to as the Chief Justice of Chester and the Second or Puisne Justice of Chester.
Because the Cheshire justices were free to practise as barristers in the English courts or sit in Parliament, the post of Chief Justice was often awarded as a form of patronage by the Government to aspiring lawyers. The offices of Chief and Puisne Justice were abolished in 1830, as part of reforms that also brought Wales under the jurisdiction of the courts at Westminster.
| Year | Chief Justice | Puisne Justice |
|---|---|---|
| 1603 | Henry Townshend | |
| 1616 | Sir Thomas Chamberlayne | |
| 1620 | Sir James Whitelocke | |
| 1624 | Sir Thomas Chamberlayne | |
| 1625 | Marmaduke Lloyd | |
| 1636 | Richard Prytherg | |
| 1638 | Sir Thomas Milward | |
| 1648 | Peter Warburton | |
| 1649 | Thomas Fell | |
| 1660 | Timothy Turner | |
| 1661 | Robert Milward | |
| 1662 | Sir Job Charlton | |
| 1674 | George Johnson | |
| 1680 | Sir George Jeffreys | |
| 1681 | John Warren | |
| 1684 | Sir Edward Herbert | |
| 1686 | Sir Edward Lutwyche | |
| 1686 | Sir Job Charlton | |
| 1689 | Lyttelton Powis | |
| 1690 | John Coombe | |
| 1696 | Salathiel Lovel | |
| 1697 | Joseph Jekyll | |
| 1707 | John Pocklington | |
| 1711 | John Warde | |
| 1714 | Edward Jeffreys | |
| 1717 | Spencer Cowper | |
| 1726 | John Willes | |
| 1729 | William Jessop | |
| 1734 | Richard Potenger | |
| 1738 | Matthew Skinner | |
| 1740 | John Talbot | |
| 1749 | William Noel | |
| 1756 | Taylor White | |
| 1762 | John Morton | |
| 1771 | John Skynner | |
| 1777 | Francis Buller | |
| 1778 | Daines Barrington | |
| 1780 | Lloyd Kenyon | |
| 1784 | Richard Pepper Arden | |
| 1788 | Francis Burton | |
| 1796 | James Adair | |
| 1798 | William Grant | |
| 1799 | James Mansfield | |
| 1804 | Vicary Gibbs | |
| 1805 | Robert Dallas | |
| 1813 | Richard Richards | |
| 1814 | Sir William Garrow | |
| 1815 | William Draper Best | |
| 1816 | Samuel Marshall | |
| 1817 | Thomas Jervis | |
| 1818 | William Draper Best | |
| 1818 | John Copley | |
| 1819 | Charles Warren |