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SIR MATTHEW HALE (1609-1676)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 833 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIR See also:MATTHEW See also:HALE (1609-1676)  , See also:lord See also:chief See also:justice of See also:England, was See also:born on the 1st of See also:November 1609 at Alderley in See also:Gloucestershire, where his See also:father, a retired See also:barrister, had a small See also:estate . His paternal grandfather was a See also:rich See also:clothier of See also:Wotton-under-Edge; on his See also:mother's See also:side he was connected with the See also:noble See also:family of the Poyntzes of See also:Acton . See also:Left an See also:orphan when five years old, he was placed by his See also:guardian under the care of the Puritan See also:vicar of Wotton-under-Edge, with whom he remained till he attained his sixteenth See also:year, when he entered Magdalen See also:Hall, See also:Oxford . At Oxford, See also:Hale studied for several terms with a view to See also:holy orders, but suddenly there came a See also:change . The diligent student, at first attracted by a See also:company of strolling players, threw aside his studies, and plunged carelessly into See also:gay society . He soon decided to change his profession; and resolved to trail a See also:pike as a soldier under the See also:prince of See also:Orange in the See also:Low Countries . Before going abroad, however, Hale found himself obliged to proceed to See also:London in See also:order to give instructions for his See also:defence in a legal See also:action which threatened to deprive him of his patrimony . His leading counsel was the celebrated See also:Serjeant Glanville (1586-1661), who, perceiving in the acuteness and. sagacity of his youthful client a See also:peculiar fitness for the legal profession, succeeded, with much difficulty, in inducing him to renounce his military for a legal career, and on the 8th of November 1629 Hale became a member of the See also:honour-able society of See also:Lincoln's See also:Inn . He immediately resumed his habits of intense application . The rules which he laid down for himself, and which are still extant in his See also:handwriting, prescribe sixteen See also:hours a See also:day of See also:close application, and prove, not only the See also:great See also:mental See also:power, but also the extraordinary See also:physical strength he must have possessed, and for which indeed, during his See also:residence at the university, he had been remarkable . During the See also:period allotted to his preliminary studies, he read over and over again all the year-books, reports, and See also:law See also:treatises in See also:print, and at the See also:Tower of London and other antiquarian repositories examined and care-fully studied the records from the See also:foundation of the See also:English See also:monarchy down to his own See also:time . But Hale did not confine himself to law .

He dedicated no small portion of his time to the study of pure See also:

mathematics, to investigations in physics and See also:chemistry, and even to See also:anatomy and See also:architecture; and there can be no doubt that this varied learning enhanced considerably the value of many of his judicial decisions . Hale was called to the See also:bar in 1637, and almost at once found himself in full practice . Though neither a fluent See also:speaker nor bold pleader, in a very few years he was at the See also:head of his profession . He entered public See also:life at perhaps the most See also:critical period of English See also:history . Two parties were contending in the See also:state, and their obstinacy could not fail to produce a most direful collision . But amidst the confusion Hale steered a See also:middle course, rising in reputation, and an See also:object of solicitation from both parties . Taking See also:Pomponius See also:Atticus as his See also:political See also:model, he was persuaded that a See also:man, a lawyer and a See also:judge could best serve his See also:country and benefit his countrymen by holding aloof from partisanship and its violent prejudices, which are so See also:apt to distort and confuse the See also:judgment . But he is best vindicated from the charges of selfishness and cowardice by the thoughts and meditations contained in his private diaries and papers, where the purity and honour of his motives are clearly seen . It has been said, but without certainty, that Hale was engaged as counsel for the See also:earl of See also:Strafford; he certainly acted for See also:Arch-See also:bishop See also:Laud, Lord Maguire, See also:Christopher Love, the See also:duke of See also:Hamilton and others . It is also said that he was ready to plead on the side of See also:Charles I. had that monarch submitted to the See also:court . The See also:parliament having gained the ascendancy, Hale signed the See also:Solemn See also:League and See also:Covenant, and was a member of the famous See also:assembly of divines at See also:Westminster in 1644; but although he would undoubtedly have preferred a Presbyterian See also:form of See also:church See also:government, he had no serious objection to the See also:system of modified See also:Episcopacy. proposed by See also:Usher . Consistently with his See also:desire to remain neutral, Hale took the engagement to the See also:Commonwealth as he had done to the See also:king, and in 1653, already serjeant, he became a judge in the court of See also:common pleas .

Two years afterwards he sat in See also:

Cromwell's parliament as one of the members for Gloucestershire . After the See also:death of the See also:protector, however, he declined to See also:act as a judge under See also:Richard Cromwell, although he represented Oxford in Richard's parliament . At the Restoration in 166o Hale was very graciously received by Charles II., and in the same year was appointed chief See also:baron of the See also:exchequer, and accepted, with extreme reluctance, the honour of See also:knighthood . After holding the See also:office of chief baron for eleven years he was raised to the higher dignity of lord chief justice, which he held till See also:February 1676, when his failing See also:health compelled him to resign . He retired to his native Alderley, where he died on the 25th of See also:December of the same year . He was twice married and survived all his ten See also:children See also:save two . As a judge See also:Sir See also:Matthew Hale discharged his duties with resolute See also:independence and careful See also:diligence . His sincere piety made him the intimate friend of See also:Isaac See also:Barrow, See also:Archbishop See also:Tillotson, Bishop See also:Wilkins and Bishop See also:Stillingfleet, as well as of the See also:Nonconformist See also:leader, Richard See also:Baxter . He is See also:charge-able, however, with the condemnation and See also:execution of two poor See also:women tried before him for See also:witchcraft in 1664, a See also:kind of judicial See also:murder then falling under disuse . He is also reproached with having hastened the execution of a soldier for whom he had See also:reason to believe a See also:pardon was preparing . Of Hale's legal See also:works the only two of importance are his Historia placitorum coronae, or History of the Pleas of the See also:Crown (1736) ; and the History of the Common Law of England, with an See also:Analysis of the Law, &c . (1713): Among his numerous religious writings the ontemplations, Moral and Divine, occupy the first See also:place .

Others are The See also:

Primitive Origination of Man (1677) ; Of the Nature of True See also:Religion, &c . (1684) ; A Brief Abstract of the See also:Christian Religion (1688) . One of his most popular works is the collection of Letters of See also:Advice to his Children and Grandchildren . He also wrote an See also:Essay touching the See also:Gravitation or Nongravitation of Fluid Bodies (1673) ; Difficiles Nugae, or Observations touching the Torricellian Experiment, &c . (1675); and a See also:translation of the Life of Pomponius Atticus, by See also:Cornelius See also:Nepos (1677) . His efforts in See also:poetry were inauspicious . He left his valuable collection of See also:MSS. and records to the library of Lincoln's Inn . His life has been written by G . See also:Burnet (1682): by J . B . See also:Williams (1835) ; by H . See also:Roscoe, in his Lives of Eminent Lawyers, in 1838; by Lord See also:Campbell, in his Lives of the Chief Justices, in 1849; and by E .

See also:

Foss in his Lives of the See also:Judges (1848-187o) .

End of Article: SIR MATTHEW HALE (1609-1676)
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