He was the son of Robert Donne and descended from John Dwnn of Radnorshire, was educated at Oxford University, where he was a member of All Souls College, and was admitted to the degree of B.C.L.
In the following year he sat with Sir Julius Caesar and others on two commissions which were appointed to inquire into the grievances of Danish and French fishermen and merchants respectively.
About this time he was made a master in chancery, and was one of nine civilians who drew up an argument in support of oaths ex officio in ecclesiastical courts.
Shortly after the accession of James I he was placed on a commission under the Archbishop of Canterbury to inquire into heresies and offences against the marriage laws in the diocese of Winchester, with powers of summary jurisdiction, and he also attended the conference held at Hampton Court in reference to ecclesiastical courts.
The last commission on which Donne sat was that appointed in 1616 to conduct an examination on the marriage of Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset.