Edmund de Clay

Edmund de Clay (died after 1390) was an English-born lawyer and judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland and Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.^[1]

He was born in Nottinghamshire and later held lands there.^[2] By 1383 he was regarded as a man "learned in the law", and in that year he became serjeant-at-law.^[3] He is known to have been reluctant to take this step, probably because it would involve him in heavy expenses, and he did so only after King Richard II issued a warrant commanding de Clay, along with John Hill and Sir Edward Cary,^[4] to be admitted to that rank by a specified day.^[5]

In 1385 he was sent to Ireland, with a large retinue, to become Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. He was transferred to the senior Chief Justiceship in 1386.^[6] He had returned to England and was living on his estates in Nottinghamshire by 1389; later he is recorded sitting on a commission of oyer and terminer.^[7]

References

1. Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926 Vol. 1 p. 166
2. Ball p.166
3. Foss, Edward The Judges of England London Longmans 1851 Vol.4 p.21
4. Cary later became the English Chief Baron of the Exchequer- see Foss English Judges p.16
5. Foss p.21
6. Ball p.166
7. Ball p.166