John Powell (judge)

Details of his legal practice are unknown until his rapid promotion in April 1686, when he became a serjeant-at-law and was then appointed as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas and knighted.

He was soon asked his opinion of the decision in Godden v Hales that the king could dispense with compliance with Acts of Parliament, and he agreed with the majority view that this was permitted.

At this trial, he was opposed to the king's power to suspend laws in ecclesiastical matters, taking the view that there would be no parliament if this was allowed.

As a result, he was sidelined after the trial ended in July 1688, returning to the post of a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution.

He was summonsed to the House of Lords to explain the fine imposed on the Earl of Devonshire, which was said to be a violation of the principles of Magna Carta and of the privileges of the peers.