The King's Court
The court of King’s Bench was the highest Common Law court in Britain until the establishment of the Supreme Court in 2009. For over six hundred years King’s Bench, sat within Westminster Hall and its rulings formed the basis of Anglo-American law and the legal systems that evolved in Commonwealth countries. Its jurisdiction extended over all other courts and it decided both Criminal and Civil law cases. Apart from the three statues of Kings, however, no trace of it remains for visitors today.
The Medieval ‘King’s Court’ had travelled with the monarch all over the country, but from 1187 its judges increasingly remained in Westminster Hall. In 1215 Magna Carta effectively established that Common Pleas and the King’s ‘Bench’ (of judges) should stay in one place. While the construction and design of the courtroom changed over time, it was situated at the Southeast end of the Hall beside the flight of steps. Nevertheless, it could also be temporarily dismantled and moved into the main hall with extra seating for significant state trials.
During the early C18th the court was open to the public and only separated by low wooden planks from the noise and bustle in the main hall. The image above shows the wooden boards separating the old courts of King’s Bench (left) and Chancery from the Hall. It was noisy and filled with shops and shoppers as well as lawyers and their clients. From 1739 both courts were enclosed behind a huge Gothic stone screen. King’s Bench only moved from the hall in 1820 to make way for King George IV’s coronation, before officially reconvening in Sir John Soane’s newly designed courtroom outside Westminster Hall in 1825.
The King’s Bench was presided over by the Lord Chief Justice, the most senior Common Law judge, who also held a political role on the King’s Privy Council. Lord Mansfield (in office 1756-88) became a Privy Counsellor and Cabinet Minister 1757-65. The cases tried in the court were usually argued by the leading barristers of the period watched by junior and overseas lawyers eager to learn from their skilled advocacy, as well as an interested public. The leading King’s Bench lawyer in the late 1780s and 1790s was Thomas Erskine whose speeches were published in newspapers, pamphlets and books across the Transatlantic world.
About The Project
In 2000 a leading legal historian believed that it was ‘hardly possible’ to ‘recreate the atmosphere and physical surroundings’ where C18th barristers worked in the Royal Courts at Westminster Hall. Twenty years later, this project visually reconstructs the long lost court of King’s Bench, using immersive digital technology and recorded sound to enable visitors to see and hear how it functioned during the Georgian period, between the late 1780s and early 1800s.
The Augmented Reality re-creation of the court includes hotspots that will enable visitors to listen to extracts from the speeches of lawyers and the judge in the King v Stockdale (1789). It was one of the most significant C18th cases regarding freedom of the press and contributed to an important change in libel trials. Prosecuted by Attorney General Sir Archibald Macdonald, Stockdale’s defence was famously conducted by Thomas Erskine’s. The trial, and particularly Erskine’s powerful speech, was republished multiple times in Britain and America. It was cited and used by lawyers as a model for eloquent and effective advocacy well into the nineteenth century. The aims of the project therefore are to provide an immersive audio-visual experience, the first historical reconstruction of King’s Bench and an opportunity to learn about the power of advocacy in the past and for today.
The Team
Dr Nicola Phillips, Project Lead, Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London
Dr Matthew Smith, Director, Engaged Humanities Lab, School of Humanities, Royal Holloway, University of London
Prof Paul Halliday, External Advisor, Departments of History and Law, University of Virginia
Lawyers voices
Thomas Erskine (defence counsel): Prof. Jonathan Phillips
Sir Archibald Macdonald (Attorney General): Prof. Andrew Jotischky
Lord Chief Justice Kenyon (Judge): Prof. Jonathan Harris
Research Partners
Arcade, digital experience practice
Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Palace
The National Archives, Kew, Surrey