John Morice (died 1362)

Sir John Morice, Morris or Moriz (died 1362) was an English-born statesman of the fourteenth century whose career was mainly spent in Ireland.

[6] In 1343 as Deputy Justiciar he implemented the Crown's grant to the citizens of Dublin for five years of the right of pavage i.e. the right to levy a toll for paving the streets.

[7] As Justiciar he was charged by the King with implementing an ambitious programme of reform, which was prompted by numerous complaints of maladministration against Irish Crown officials.

Two sessions of the Parliament of Ireland, at Dublin and Kilkenny, made their opposition to the reforms clear, and its members sent a flood of petitions to King Edward III objecting to them.

[2] His appointment has been described as a mistake which would not have been made in more settled times: despite his long record of service to the Crown, he was very much a second-rate man, who lacked influential family connections, and had no outstanding talents.

[8] Nonetheless, he undertook a number of military expeditions against Irish clans who threatened the peace of the Pale in County Meath, and against the MacMurrough-Kavanagh dynasty, Kings of Leinster.

[4] In 1346 Morice as Deputy Justiciar arranged the release of Maurice FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare, who had been imprisoned on suspicion of conspiracy with Desmond.

[9] Despite the good intentions with which he came to Ireland, his government, whether as Chancellor or Justiciar, was clearly not a success: one historian has called him a second-rate civil servant who should never have been given high office, and his handling of the reform programme was disastrously inept.

[8] A plaintive letter written by him to the English Crown authorities survives, complaining of disturbances of the peace, the high price of grain and the public's hostility to him, and asking if he was entitled to act as Chancellor at all since his warrant of appointment had not arrived.