Sir John Bayley, 1st Baronet

Sir John Bayley, 1st Baronet, PC (3 August 1763 – 10 October 1841), was an English judge.

In May 1808 he was made a judge of the King's Bench, in the place of Sir Soulden Lawrence, and was knighted on the 11th of the same month.

[2] By his quickness of apprehension, his legal knowledge, and his strict impartiality, Sir John Bayley was peculiarly adapted for judicial office.

The ease and pleasure with which he got through his work caused M. Cotte, the French advocate, to exclaim, 'Il s'amuse à juger.'

The most memorable case which came before Sir John in his judicial capacity was the action for libel brought in 1819 by the attorney-general against Richard Carlile for the republication of Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason and Elihu Palmer's Principles of Nature.