John Spelman

Sir John Spelman (died 1546) was an English judge from Norfolk, noted for his composition of law reports. Origins Born about 1480, he was the fourth son and youngest child of Henry Spelman (died 1496), of Bekerton in Stow Bedon, a lawyer and judge who was a Reader of Gray's Inn and Recorder of Norwich, and his second wife Ela, widow of Thomas Shouldham (died 1472), of Marham, and daughter and coheiress of William Narborough, of Narborough. His Spelman ancestors originated in Hampshire, where before 1272 they held the manor of Brockenhurst, but by 1369 had moved to Norfolk where they had lands in and later acquired the manor of Bekerton. Career About 1500, he followed his father to study law at Gray's Inn, where he served as Reader three times, and in 1521 was created a serjeant, followed next year by gaining his father's old post of Recorder of Norwich. In 1526 he was promoted to King's Serjeant and in 1531 was appointed a Justice of the King's Bench, being sworn in by the Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More. Knighted in 1532, he went as a justice of assize on the Northern Circuit, changing to the Home Circuit in 1537. From 1540 he stopped going on circuit and sat at Westminster Hall.