William Petyt

William Petyt (or Petit) (1640/1641 – 3 October 1707) was an English barrister and writer, and a political propagandist in the Whig interest.

[9] Petyt died unmarried in Chelsea, London, on 3 October 1707, and was buried in the west part of Temple Church.

He also left £200 for the maintenance of alumni of the Free Grammar School who had been admitted as scholars at Christ's College, Cambridge.

Inner Temple Library was enlarged for this purpose, and in 1708 Petyt's trustees deposited his collection there,[4] except for about 2,000 items which his brother Sylvester (1640–1719) took to his home in Yorkshire.

David C. Douglas[15] comments that he and William Atwood, though distinguished jurists, "took what was worst" from the earlier works of their century on constitutional history.