Matthew Hale (jurist)

Sir Matthew Hale was an influential English lawyer, most noted for his treatise Historia Placitorum Coronæ, or The History of the Pleas of the Crown. He occupied various public offices both under the Cromwellian Commonwealth and the Stuart Restoration. From 1671 until his retirement in 1676, he served as Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Hale is widely regarded as one of the key figures in the development of the common law.