Sir Nicolas Conyngham Tindal, PC (12 December 1776 – 6 July 1846) was a celebrated English lawyer who successfully defended the then Queen of the United Kingdom, Caroline of Brunswick, at her trial for adultery in 1820.

Tindal was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in his home town of Chelmsford, and later at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated eighth Wrangler in 1799 and was elected fellow in 1801.

Daniel M'Naghten had assassinated Edward Drummond, secretary to Robert Peel (then Prime Minister), but there was no doubt that he was seriously mentally ill and he was acquitted in a verdict so sensational that Queen Victoria herself called for him to be retried in the House of Lords.

The significance of these judgments was to remove the spectre of the noose from many vulnerable prisoners in an era of the widespread application of the death penalty; and to reform the law through the greater recognition of the importance of differing states of mind (mens rea) in those accused of the most serious crimes.

Towards the end of his career, Tindal yet again demonstrated the quality that was to lead to his great popularity amongst the public;[7] namely, his high standard of judicial independence from the state and the wide ambit and discretion he would give to juries.

Directing the jury to consider charges of treason, Tindal said that, were Frost's motives only to free local Chartists from jail, as opposed to intimidating Parliament into enacting radical constitutional reform, they should find him guilty of riot only.

He died 6 July 1846 in Folkestone;[12] is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery in north London,[13] and is commemorated by a plaque inside Chelmsford Cathedral (alongside memorials to other members of his family).