Thomas Jones (justice)

Sir Thomas Jones KS (13 October 1614 – 31 May 1692) was a British justice and law reporter. He was the second son of Edward Jones and his wife Mary, and was initially educated at Shrewsbury School before being admitted to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, as a pensioner on 9 November 1629. On 6 May of the same year he became a student of Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar on 17 March 1634, two years after finishing his Bachelor of Arts degree. He married Jane, daughter of Daniel Barnard, around 1640, and they had five sons and six daughters. His career began in Shrewsbury, where he was elected Alderman in 1638, and served as town clerk between 1660 and 1662. He was a moderate Royalist, but obeyed the Parliamentarians. After the Restoration he again became a Royalist, and was elected Member of Parliament representing Shrewsbury in the 1660 Convention parliament and again for the Cavalier Parliament in 1661. During this time he was inactive in Westminster, and instead furthered his legal career in Wales and the Marches. In 1660, he was made a Bencher at Lincoln's Inn, and in 1669 he was made a Serjeant-at-law.

Between 1662 and 1670 he served on Eyre circuits of Northern Wales, and in 1671 he was made Chief Justice of the North Wales circuit. The same year he was promoted to King's Serjeant and knighted. On 13 April 1676, he was rewarded for his service in Parliament by being made a justice of the King's Bench, and on 29 September 1683 he was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. In 1680, the House of Commons attempted to have him impeached, but the start of the second Exclusion Parliament prevented this. In 1681 and 1683 he helped try the conspirators in the Popish Plot, and appears to have initially believed Titus Oates and other informers before changing his mind. He was the judge in the 1683 "Quo warranto" trial against the Corporation of London, and was rewarded by succeeding Francis Pemberton as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. He was one of the judges appointed to the Court of Claims prior to the coronation of James II in 1684. [LondonGazette|issue=2014|startpage=1|date=5 March 1684 Old Style|accessdate=2008-09-17] Although he continued to display severity when handing out judgements in subsequent trials, he eventually found himself unable to follow the King's wishes, and along with three other judges was dismissed on 21 April 1686; he was appointed due to his severity and then removed, ironically, because he was not severe enough. [D. E. C. Yale, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15090 'Jones, Sir Thomas (1614–1692)'] , "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004, doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/15090. Retrieved 17 September 2008.] He returned home to Carreghofa, where he died on 31 May 1692.

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