Sir Matthew Hale

Sir Matthew Hale lived from November 1, 1609 to December 25, 1676 and was an influential English lawyer, best known for his treatise Historia Placitorum Coronae, or The History of the Pleas of the Crown. He held public office under both the Cromwellian Commonwealth and the Stuart Restoration, and served as Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1671 until his retirement in 1676. He is widely regarded as one of the key figures in the development of the common law. His Historia Placitorum Coronae is considered of the highest authority on capital offences against the Crown, and his Analysis of the Common Law is noted as the first published history of English law and a major influence on William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. Modern commentators have criticized Hale for presiding over the 1662 Bury St Edmunds witch trial, which led to the execution of two women.