Sir Matthew Hale SL (1 November 1609 – 25 December 1676) was an influential English barrister, judge and jurist most noted for his treatise Historia Placitorum Coronæ, or The History of the Pleas of the Crown.

Born to a barrister and his wife, who had both died by the time he was 5, Hale was raised by his father's relative, a strict Puritan, and inherited his faith.

In 1626 he matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford[1][2] (now Hertford College), intending to become a priest, but after a series of distractions was persuaded to become a barrister like his father, thanks to an encounter with a Serjeant-at-Law in a dispute over his estate.

Modern scholars also offer criticism of Hale for his execution of at least two women for witchcraft in the Bury St Edmunds witch trials and his belief that capital punishment should extend to those as young as fourteen.

[7] Although in common use, Robert Hale apparently saw this as deceptive and "contrary to the exactness of truth and justice which became a Christian; so that he withdrew himself from the inns of court to live on his estate in the country".

Glanville successfully persuaded Hale to become a lawyer, and, after leaving Oxford at the age of 20 before obtaining a degree, he joined Lincoln's Inn on 8 November 1628.

[22] Selden persuaded him to continue with his studies outside the law, and much of Hale's written work is concerned with theology and science as well as legal theory.

[22] He was in great demand; law reporters began recording his cases and in 1641 he advised Thomas Wentworth, the first Earl of Strafford, over his attainder for high treason.

Although unsuccessful, Hale was then called to represent William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury, during his impeachment by the House of Lords in October 1644.

[29] When it became clear that the King was losing the Civil War, and only Oxford held out, Hale decided to act as a commissioner to negotiate its surrender, fearing that the city might otherwise be destroyed.

[31] Despite practising in the politically charged environment of the English Civil War and primarily defending opponents of the resulting Commonwealth of England, Hale's reputation did not suffer.

Any felony was punishable by death, proceedings were in a form of Norman French, and judges regularly imprisoned juries for reaching a verdict they disagreed with.

[36] Dissolved on 23 July 1652 after producing 16 bills, none of the Commission's recommendations immediately made it into law, although two (to abolish fines for original writs and to develop procedures for civil marriages) were brought into force through statutes by the Barebone's Parliament.

[44] Hale also made decisions which negatively impacted on the Commonwealth, executing a soldier for murdering a civilian in 1655,[45] and actively refusing to attend a court hearing outside term time.

[53] At the same time, Charles II made the Declaration of Breda, and when the Convention Parliament met on 25 April 1660 (with Hale a member from Gloucestershire again)[49] it immediately began negotiations with the King.

Inderwick later writing "I confess to a feeling of pain at finding [Hale] in October 1660, sitting as a judge at the Old Bailey, trying and condemning to death batches of the regicides, men under whose orders he had himself acted, who had been his colleagues in Parliament, with whom he had sat on committees to alter the law".

[62] Hale was noted during this period for giving latitude to those accused of religious impropriety, and through doing so "secured the confidence and affection of all classes of his countrymen".

[66] An Act of Parliament enacted on 8 February 1667 constituted a Court of Fire, tasked with dealing with property disputes over ownership, liability and the rebuilding of the city.

[72] He disliked eloquence, writing that "If the judge or jury has a right understanding it signifies nothing but a waste of time and loss of words, and if they are weak, and easily wrought upon, it is a more decent way of corrupting them by bribing their fancies and biassing their affections."

[73] By 1675, Hale had begun to suffer from ill-health; his arms became swollen, and although a course of bloodletting relieved the pain temporarily, by the next February his legs were so stiff he could not walk.

Descriptions of Bishop differ; Roger North wrote that "[Hale] was unfortunate in his family; for he married his own servant made, and then, for an excuse, said there was no wisdom below the girdle".

[83] Richard Baxter, on the other hand, described Anne as "one of [Hale's] own judgment and temper, prudent and loving, and fit to please him; and that would not draw on him the trouble of much acquaintance and relations".

[86] Similarly, John Campbell in his Lives of the Chief Justices of England, wrote that Hale was "one of the most pure, the most pious, the most independent, and the most learned" of judges.

Campbell considered Hale to be the superior lawyer, because while he failed to engage in public life he treated law as a science, and maintained judicial independence and neutrality.

While Hale was in possession of judicial impartiality, and his written works are considered highly important, his lack of venture into public affairs limited his progressive influence.

Corbett, wrote in the Alberta Law Quarterly in 1942, that with Hale's popularity at the time (Parliamentary constituencies "fought over the privilege of returning him") he could have been just as successful as Coke if he had chosen to take an active role in public affairs.

[3] The book dealt with the criminal capacity of infants, insanity and idiocy, the defence of drunkenness, capital offences, treason, homicide and theft.

[114] According to a 1978 article by G. Geis in the British Journal of Law and Society, Hale's opinions on witchcraft are closely tied to his writings on marital rape, which are found in the Historia.

Coke asserted that judge-made law had the answer to any question asked of it, and as a result, "a learned judge... was the natural arbiter of politics".

Yale, writing in the Cambridge Law Journal, suggests that Chief Justice Vaughan had access to the Dialogue, and may have passed a copy on to Hale before his death.