Henry Harvey (lawyer)

(died 1585) was an English lawyer, who became Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and established the London premises (for two centuries) of Doctors' Commons, leased from the college.

He gained a reputation as an ecclesiastical lawyer, and was appointed vicar-general of his diocese by Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London; and subsequently he was vicar-general of the province of Canterbury.

During the reign of Elizabeth I, he assisted the Commissioners of 1570, engaged in drawing up statutes primarily intended as a check on Puritanism.

[2][3] In 1567 Harvey procured a lease of the premises in London which, as Doctor's Commons, became the central stronghold of ecclesiastical lawyers.

Trinity Hall had control of the buildings and chambers; and these rights, though rendered terminable in 1728, were not abandoned until the incorporation of Doctor's Commons in 1768.