Fire of London Disputes Act 1666

The Fire of London Disputes Act 1666 was an Act of the Parliament of England (18 & 19 Cha. II c. 7) with the long title "An Act for erecting a Judicature for Determination of Differences touching Houses burned or demolished by reason of the late Fire which happened in London."^[1] Following the Great Fire of London, Parliament established a court to settle all differences arising between landlords and tenants of burnt buildings, overseen by judges of the King's Bench, Court of Common Pleas and Court of Exchequer.^[2]

Portrait of Sir Matthew Hale, by Wright

The 22 judges who served under the act included the following:

• Sir John Archer
• Sir Robert Atkyns
• Sir Edward Atkins
• Sir Orlando Bridgeman
• Sir Samuel Brown
• Sir William Ellys
• Sir Heneage Finch
• Sir Matthew Hale
• Sir John Kelynge
• Sir Timothy Littleton
• Sir William Morton
• Sir Francis North
• Sir Richard Rainsford
• Sir Edward Thurland
• Sir Christopher Turnor
• Sir Edward Turnour
• Sir Thomas Twisden
• Sir Thomas Tyrrell
• Sir John Vaughan
• Sir William Wilde
• Sir Hugh Wyndham
• Sir Wadham Wyndham

Portraits of the judges by John Michael Wright were put up in the Guildhall by the city in gratitude for their services.^[3] These paintings, completed in 1670, hung in London's Guildhall until it was bombed during World War II; today only two (those of Sir Matthew Hale and Sir Hugh Wyndham) remain in the Guildhall Art Gallery^[4] the remainder having been destroyed or dispersed, mainly to the Inner Temple, Lincoln's Inn and the Royal Courts of justice.

The act was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1948.

References[]

The Fire of London occurred in the year 1666 where it burned the whole of the City of London. The fire started in a local bakery by the River Thames.