Thursday, April 16, 2009

Lord Chancellor

One occasionally hears the assertion that St. Thomas More was the first layman elevated to the woolsack. My hunch has long been that this was surely incorrect, and Blackstone has vindicated me: Chief Justices Thorpe and Knyvet, attorneys and not clerics, served as successive chancellors to Edward III in 1372--1373. Blackstone, 3 Commentaries 645.

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