John de Ponz

John de Ponz, also called John de Ponte, John Savan, or John of Bridgwater (c.1248-1307) was an English-born administrator, lawyer and judge. He served in the Royal Household for several years before moving to Ireland, where he practiced in the Royal Courts as the King's Serjeant-at-law (Ireland). He later served as a justice in eyre (itinerant justice), and then as a justice of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland).^[1] He was clearly a gifted lawyer, but as a judge he was accused of acting unjustly.^[2]

Family[]

He was born in or shortly before 1248 in Bridgwater, Somerset (hence the most usual version of his surname, which translates as "John of the Bridge"), where he later owned property. He had two brothers, Henry and Roger. Roger was a clerk to Thomas Weyland, the English Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, but soon after Weyland's downfall and exile in 1289/90 he took up an official position in Ireland on the staff of the Justiciar of Ireland, William de Vesci.

Bridgwater Town Bridge: John was born in Bridgwater

Career[]

John was in the entourage of the future King Edward I of England in 1269–70,^[3] and in about 1372 he joined the household of Edward's Queen, Eleanor of Castile, whom he served for many years in different capacities, including holding office as her deputy steward of the household and as Constable of Leeds Castle, Kent, which the Queen bought in 1378.^[1]

Leeds Castle:de Ponz was Constable of the Castle, which belonged to Queen Eleanor

It may have been the Queen's death in November 1290 which prompted him to join his brother Roger in Ireland the following year. He became King's Serjeant in 1292,^[3] and was unusual in acting for the Crown only, whereas most Serjeants also took private clients.^[3] His lack of a private income no doubt explains why his salary was fixed at 20 marks a year, twice that of the other Serjeants.^[3] Hart argues that his career shows him to have been a lawyer of considerable talent and experience.^[3]

He remained Serjeant until 1300, while also acting regularly as an extra judge of assize and gaol delivery.^[1] In 1301 he received a permanent appointment as a justice in eyre for four counties (including County Tipperary, where his conduct gave rise to complaints of injustice), and in 1304 he was appointed a justice of the Court of Common Pleas (which was then simply called "the Bench").^[3]

Judge- the case of Elena Macotyr[]

We have one valuable glimpse of his judicial role, when he was justice in eyre for County Tipperary in 1304, shortly before his elevation to the Common Pleas.^[2] His conduct in this case, where his judgment was appealed, suggests that he acted in an unfair and high-handed manner. Walter, son of William de Dermor, brought an action for novel disseisin ( the appropriate remedy for a plaintiff who has been dispossessed oh their property) against Elena Macotyr, his stepmother, and her second husband Thomas le Bret, to recover a house in Cashel, County Tipperary, and 300 acres of land.^[2] He was successful, but Elena and Thomas appealed to the Justiciar's court: the main grounds of appeal were bias on the part of certain of the jurors, and that they had not been given the fifteen days notice to which they were entitled to answer the summons.^[2] De Ponz, in defence of his conduct, gave the somewhat haughty reply that he had allowed the case to proceed "by his own will". It seems that the appeal was upheld, and Elena and Thomas retained possession of the disputed lands.^[2]

Personal life[]

He held lands in Dorset as well as Somerset,^[1] and also held lands in County Dublin as sub-tenant from the tenant in chief, Jordan Dardis (or Dardyz).

He was not a priest, though he may have taken minor orders, which were not an impediment to marriage. Clearly he was not celibate: there was an official complaint against him in 1291 by the cellarer of Norwich Cathedral, for consorting with prostitutes, and one Avelina atte Crutch of Essex, wife of Alan Waldeschef, had her marriage annulled in about 1295 on the basis of a pre-existing contract of marriage which she claimed to have entered with John.^[4]

He was alive in the autumn of 1306, and probably died in 1307.^[4]

Sources[]

• Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 London John Murray 1926
• Brand, Paul "Bridgewater, John (Savan) of, (John de Ponte)" Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography
• Hart, A.R. History of the King's Serjeants at law in Ireland Dublin Four Courts Press 2000
• Hewer, Stephen Justice for All? Access by ethnic groups to the English royal courts in Ireland 1252-1318 University of Dublin thesis 2018

Notes[]