Common Serjeant of London

British legal office

The Common Serjeant of London (full title The Serjeant-at-Law in the Common Hall) is an ancient British legal office, first recorded in 1291, and is the second most senior permanent judge of the Central Criminal Court after the Recorder of London, acting as deputy to that office, and sitting as a judge in the trial of criminal offences.

He is also one of the High Officers of the City of London Corporation, and must undertake certain civic obligations alongside his judicial duties: each Midsummer he presides at the election of Sheriffs in the Guildhall, and each Michaelmas he plays a key role in the ceremonial election of the Lord Mayor.^[1] He presents the Sheriffs to the King's Remembrancer at the annual Quit Rents ceremony, and is in attendance on most other major ceremonial occasions.^[2]

The Common Serjeant is appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor.

Formerly, the Common Serjeant of London was a legal officer of the City Corporation of London. The Common Serjeant of London attended on the Lord Mayor of London and the Court of Aldermen on court days, and acted with them in council. He also attended the Court of Aldermen and Common Council, and had charge of the Orphans' Estates^[3]

Judge Richard Marks, KC, was appointed the 81st Common Serjeant on 3 March 2015.

Incomplete list of Common Serjeants

Thomas Juvenal (1291–1309)^[4]^[5]
Thomas de Kent (1309–c.1318)
Gregory de Norton (c.1318–1329)
William de Ford (1333–1353)^[6]
John Wentbrigg (c.1353–1362)
Ralph Strode (c.1375–1385)
John Tremayne (1388–1389)
John Fray (1421–1422)
Alexander Anne (1424–?1435)
John Wilton (1437–?1441)
Robert Danvers (1441–1442)
Richard Moyle (1441–?1443)
Thomas Billing (1443–1449)
John Nedeham (1448–?1452)
Thomas Urswick (1452–1455)
Robert Ingleton (1454–1456)
Guy Fairfax (1456–?1457)
Thomas Rigby (1457–?1460)
Thomas Bryan (1460–1463)
John Baldwyn (1463–1469)
Robert Molyneux (1469–)
John Haugh
Richard Higham
Thomas Frowyk (1486–1496)
Thomas Marowe (1496–)
John Greene (1495–)
Henry White

William Walsingham of Gray's Inn (1526–)
John Onley (1530–1533)
Edward Hall (1533–1535)
Robert Southwell (1535–1536)
Thomas Atkyns
Sir Robert Broke (1536–1546)
John Marshe (1547–1563)
Bernard Randolph (1563–1583)
Thomas Kirton (1583–1601)
Richard Wilbraham (died 1601)
Richard Wheler of Lincoln's Inn (1601–?1608)
Daniel Hills of Lincoln's Inn
Thomas Jones of Gray's Inn (died 1625 - Sergeant for 12 years)
Ralph Latham (died 1641)
Henry Proby (1643–) (died 1660)
Sir Richard Browne, 2nd Baronet (1661–1671)
George Jeffreys (1671–1678)
Henry Crispe (1678–1700)
Duncan Dee (1700–1720)
John Lingard (1720–1729)
Thomas Garrard (1729–1758)
Thomas Nugent (1758–1790)

John Silvester (1790–1803)
Newman Knowlys (1803–1811)
Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman (1822–1830)
Hon. Charles Ewan Law (1830–1833)
John Mirehouse of Angle, Pembrokeshire (1833–1850)^[7]
Edward Bullock (1850–1855)
Thomas Chambers (1857–1878)
Sir William Thomas Charley (1878–1892)
Sir Forrest Fulton (1892–1900)
Sir Frederick Albert Bosanquet, MA, KC, JP (1900–1917)
Sir Henry Fielding Dickens KC (1917–1932)
Henry Holman Gregory KC (1932–1934)
Cecil Whiteley (1934–1942)
Sir Hugh Loveday Beazley (1942–1953)^[8]
Sir Edward Anthony Hawke (1954–1959)^[9]
Sir Carl Douglas Aarvold (1959–1964)^[10]
Mervyn Griffith-Jones CBE MC QC (1964–1979)
Sir John Leonard (1979–1981)^[11]
Sir David Tudor Price (1981–84)
Thomas Herbert Pigot QC (1984–90)
Robert Davison Lymbery QC (1990–1993)
Neil Denison QC (1993–2001)
Peter Beaumont QC (2001–2004)
Brian Barker QC (2005–2013)
Nicholas Hilliard QC (2013–2015) (80th Serjeant)
Richard Leon Marks KC (2015–Present)

Gallery

Sir Robert Broke, Common Serjeant of London in 1536
Judge George Jeffreys, Common Serjeant of London in 1671
Sir John Silvester, Common Serjeant 1790-1803
Lord Denman, Common Serjeant of London 1822 - 1830
William Thomas Charley, Common Serjeant of London in 1878
Sir Forrest Fulton by 'Spy' in Vanity Fair (1903)
Sir Frederick Bosanquet as Common Serjeant of London. Caricature by 'Spy' from Vanity Fair (1901)
Judge Brian Barker QC, Common Serjeant of London 2005 to 2013

References

^ Order of Ceremonial, 2013^{[permanent dead link]}
^ Job description Archived 21 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine
^ The Book of Dignities: Containing Rolls of the Official Personages of the British Empire ... from the Earliest Periods to the Present Time ... Together with the Sovereigns of Europe, from the Foundation of Their Respective States; the Peerage of England and Great Britain ... by Joseph Haydn and Joseph Timothy Haydn Published by Longmans, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1851
^ Dickens, Henry Fielding The Recollections of Sir Henry Dickens, KC William Heinemann Ltd, London (1934) pg 277
^ Cohen, Herman A History Of The English Bar And Attornatus To 1450 The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd, Clark, New Jersey (2005) pg 251 Google Books
^ John Strype's Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster
^ "Mirehouse, John [Cambell] (MRHS806JC)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ Beazley's appointment as Common Serjeant London Gazette 23 October 1942
^ Hawke's appointment as Common Serjeant London Gazette 4 December 1953
^ British Army Officers 1939–1945
^ Obituary in The Telegraph

External links

Appointment of Common Serjeant of London
Common Serjeant of London on the Ministry of Justice website
Common Serjeant of London on the Probert Encyclopaedia

Judiciary of England and Wales

Courts

Current	Court of equity Supreme Court Privy Council Court of Appeal High Court Court of Protection Crown Court High Court of Chivalry Magistrates' Court
Former	Court of Appeal in Chancery Assize Court Court for Crown Cases Reserved Court of Common Pleas Court of Chancery Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Court of Exchequer Court of Great Sessions in Wales Court of High Commission Court of King's Bench Court of Probate Star Chamber

Justices

Current	Lord Chief Justice Master of the Rolls Court of Appeal judge High Court judge Circuit judge Recorder of London Recorder of Liverpool Recorder of Manchester Common Serjeant of London
Former	Lord Chancellor Lords of Appeal in Ordinary Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Chief Baron of the Exchequer Justice of the King's Bench Justice of the Common Pleas Justice of Chester