Sir John Bramston (or Brampston) the elder (18 May 1577 – 22 September 1654) was an English judge and Chief Justice of the King's Bench.
Early life and career
Bramston, eldest son of Roger Bramston by Priscilla, daughter of Francis Clovile of West Hanningfield Hall, Essex, was born at Maldon, in the same county, 18 May 1577, and educated at the free school at Maldon and Jesus College, Cambridge. On leaving the university he went into residence at the Middle Temple, and applied himself diligently to the study of the law. His ability was recognised early by his university, which made him one of its counsels in 1607, with an annual fee of forty shillings. In Lent 1623 he was appointed reader at his inn, the subject of his lecture being the statute 32 Henry VIII (on limitations), and he was reappointed in the autumn of the same year, this time discoursing on the statute of Elizabeth relating to fraudulent conveyances (Fraudulent Conveyances Act 1571). Shortly after his reading was concluded he was called to the degree of serjeant-at-law (22 September 1623). His son (Sir John Bramston, the younger) remarks that this was an expensive year for him, the costs entailed by the office of reader being considerable, besides the fee of £500 to the exchequer payable on admittance to the order of Serjeants. His practice now became extensive, and during the next few years he was engaged in many cases of the highest importance, not only in the courts of common law, but in chancery and in the courts of Wards and Star Chamber. In 1626 he defended the Earl of Bristol on his impeachment. A dissolution of parliament, however, soon relieved Bramston from this duty, by putting an end to the proceedings. Next year he represented Sir Thomas Darnel and Sir John Heveningham, who had been committed to the Fleet for refusing to contribute to a loan and then being raised by the king without the consent of parliament, applying unsuccessfully for a Habeas corpus on behalf of the one, and bail on behalf of the other. In the following year he was chosen as one of the counsels for the city of London on the motion of Sir Heneage Finch, then recorder, who was a close friend and connection by marriage. In 1629 he was one of the counsels for seven of the nine members of the House of Commons (including Sir John Eliot and Denzil Holles) who were then indicted for making seditious speeches in parliament. Next year the Bishop of Ely (John Buckeridge) appointed him chief justice of his diocese, a position he held until his elevation to the king's bench. In 1632 (26 March) he was made queen's Serjeant, and two years later (8 July 1634) King's Serjeant, being knighted 24 November in the same year.
Lord Chief Justice
On 14 April 1635, he was created Chief Justice of the King's Bench. In this position his first official act of historical importance was, in concert with the rest of the bench, to advise the king (13 February 1636/37) that he might lawfully levy Ship money, and that it belonged to the crown to decide when such levy ought to be made. Sir John's son informs us that his father was in favour of modifying this opinion in at least one essential particular: that he would have allowed the levy "during necessity only", and that he was only induced to subscribe to the opinion as it stood by the representation made "by the ancient judges that it was ever the use for all to subscribe to what was agreed by the majority".
In July of the same year, Bramston was a member of the Star Chamber tribunal which tried the Bishop of Lincoln on the charge of tampering with witnesses, and committing other misdemeanours. The bishop was found guilty by a unanimous verdict, and sentenced to be deprived of his office, to pay a fine of £10,000, and to be imprisoned at the king's pleasure. A similar sentence was passed on him at a later date, Bramston being again a member of the court, on a charge of libelling the Archbishop of Canterbury and the late lord treasurer Weston.
In the celebrated Ship money case (Rex v. Hampden), decided in the following year (12 June), Bramston gave his judgment against the king, though on a purely technical ground, viz. that by the record it did not appear to whom the money assessed was due, in that respect agreeing with the lord chief baron, Sir Humphry Davenport, who, with Brooke, Hutton, and Denham, also gave judgment in Hampden's favour; but taking care at the same time to signify his concurrence with the majority of the court upon the main question.
On 16 April 1640, during the indisposition of the lord keeper Finch, Bramston presided in the House of Lords.