With Somers' support he became Chief Justice of Cheshire in June 1697, succeeding John Coombe, and was knighted on 12 December of that year.

Occasionally he voted against the party, mainly because he supported greater reform of the electoral system and the removal of bribery and corruption.

He was asked to participate in the secret committee tasked with preparing the impeachment of the Earl of Oxford and the Duke of Ormonde, which he refused to support.

[2] He persuaded the government to open an investigation into the collapse of the South Sea Company in 1720.

2. c. 36) and the Gin Act 1736, and was noted for his opposition to intoxication, which annoyed the public so much that he was forced to have a guard at his house at all times.

[5] Under Robert Walpole he remained independent of the government in terms of how he voted, and was described by Alexander Pope as "an odd old Whig, who never change his principles or wig".

In his will he left £20,000 to help pay off the national debt, something Lord Mansfield described as "a very foolish bequest... he might as well have attempted to stop the middle arch of Blackfriars Bridge with his full-bottomed wig".