William Domville (or Domvile) (1609–1689) was a leading Irish politician, barrister and Constitutional writer of the Restoration era. Due to the great trust which the English Crown had in him, he served as Attorney General for Ireland throughout the reign of Charles II (1660-1685) and also served briefly in the following reign. It was during his term of office that the Attorney General emerged as the pre-eminent legal adviser to the Crown in Ireland.
While Domville was undoubtedly a loyal subject of the English Crown, in his unpublished treatise, "A Disquisition Touching that Great Question Whether an Act of Parliament made in England shall bind the People and Kingdom of Ireland" (1660), he argued for the right of the Irish Parliament to act independently and free from interference by the English Parliament.
Although the work was not published in his lifetime, his son-in-law William Molyneux drew on it for his own highly controversial treatise "The Case of Ireland's being bound by Acts of Parliament in England, Stated", and it is thought to have had considerable influence on later writers including Jonathan Swift.
Background
He was born in Dublin to an ancient Cheshire family. His father Gilbert (1583–1637), son of William Domville of Lyme and Mary Mere, had moved to Ireland where he became Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper, and, after an unsuccessful attempt to get a seat in 1613, sat in the Irish House of Commons as member for Donegal Borough in the Irish Parliament of 1634. William's mother was Margaret Jones (died 1615), daughter of Thomas Jones, Archbishop of Dublin, and his wife Margaret Purdon. William has three sisters, one of whom, Margaret, was the mother of Anthony Dopping, Bishop of Meath. He was educated at St Albans School, Hertfordshire and Merton College, Oxford.
He entered Lincoln's Inn, and became a Bencher of the Inn in 1657. He was called to the Bar in 1640, and built up a highly successful practice at the English Bar.
Career
During the English Civil War, Domville's loyalty to the Crown was never seriously questioned. His decision to practice law in England under the regime of Oliver Cromwell was not an unusual one even for a committed Royalist, and was not held against him later, since other Royalists had also made their peace with the new regime when the King's cause seemed to be lost. He lived then at Friern Barnet in Middlesex. At the Restoration of Charles II he returned to Ireland, and was knighted and made Attorney General, apparently on the recommendation of Daniel O'Neill, an Irish Groom of the Chamber to Charles II who had considerable influence in the first four years of the reign.
He entered the King's Inns in 1661. He received a substantial grant of lands at Templeogue, on the outskirts of Dublin city, which remained in the family for centuries. The value of the lands was greatly enhanced by the fact that the River Dodder flows through them, thus giving the Domvilles partial control of the supply of Dublin's drinking water, of which the Dodder was long the principal source. Strictly speaking, they had no right to control the supply of water; this power was vested solely in Dublin Corporation. Domville also had a townhouse in Bride Street, and was granted the estate at Loughlinstown which had been forfeited by the Goodman family.
He was elected to Parliament as member for County Dublin, and was the Crown's choice as Speaker. He faced opposition from the able and ambitious Prime Serjeant, Sir Audley Mervyn, who, apparently by spreading the story that Domville was sympathetic to Roman Catholics, gained the support of the majority of MPs (in fact Domville was a strong Protestant, although personally tolerant enough in matters of religion). The King, who was anxious to avoid a confrontation with Parliament so early in his reign, stated that the choice should be that of the members, and Mervyn was duly elected Speaker.
Domville's struggle for precedence with Audley Mervyn
The next few years saw a struggle between Domville and Mervyn for the role of principal legal adviser to the Crown. Domville emerged as the winner: both the King and the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde trusted him, whereas Mervyn had a reputation for corruption and his loyalty to the Crown was suspect. From about 1663 onwards Ormonde simply ignored Mervyn, and took legal advice only from Domville. This marked the effective end of the Prime Serjeant's role as chief legal adviser to the Crown and the start of the supremacy of the Irish Attorney General.