# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hutton, Richard

1904 Errata appended.
​HUTTON, Sir RICHARD (1561?–1639), judge, second son of Anthony Hutton, of Hutton Hall, Penrith, Cumberland, by Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Musgrave of Hayton in the same county, born about 1561, read divinity for a time at Jesus College, Oxford, with a view to taking holy orders, but changed his mind and entered Gray's Inn in 1580, being already a member of Staple Inn, in the hall of which his arms are emblazoned. About this time he was reputed a papist, and in some danger of arrest. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn on 16 June 1586, and became an 'ancient' there in 1598 (Douthwaite, Gray's Inn, p.62). In 1599 he was appointed one of the council of the north, in which capacity he served under Thomas Cecil, second lord Burghley [q. v.], and Burghley's successor in the presidency, Lord Mulgrave, until 1619. He was called to the degree of serjeant-at-law on 17 May 1603 (Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep. App. 526), and was elected eader at his inn for the ensuing autumn. The plague, however, relieved him of his duties, In 1608 he argued for the defendants in the exchequer chamber the point of law which arose in Calvin's case, namely whether the plaintiff, an infant born in Scotland since the accession of James VI to the English throne, was disabled as an alien from holding land in England (Cobbett, State Trials, ii. 609). The same year he was appointed recorder of York, and in 1610 recorder of Ripon. He held these offices until on 3 May 1617 he was created a puisne judge of the common bench, having on the preceding 13 April received the honour of knighthood from the king while at York. Bacon in delivering him his patent complinented him on possessing the several virtues of a judge (Spedding, Bacon, vi. 202). Hutton profited by Bacon's disgrace, being one of our grantees of the fine of 40,000l. imposed upon him (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1619-23, p. 295). In the interval between the death of Chief-justice Hobart [q. v.], 26 Dec. 1625, and the appointment of his successor, Sir Thomas Richardson, 28 Nov. 1626, Hutton presided in the court of common pleas. From 19 Feb. 1631-2 to June 1632 he was keeper of the great seal of the see of Durham during the vacancy caused by the death of Bishop Howson. Solicited in common with the rest of the judges by Lord-chief-justice Finch to give an extra-judicial opinion on the legality of ship-money, Hutton at first refused, but was at length persuaded to defer to the opinion of the majority of his colleagues, and signed the joint opinion in favour of its legality (7 Feb. 1636). On delivering judgment in Hampden's favour in April 1638 he explained that in his private opinion the ship-money edict was illegal, although he had previously given an opinion in its favour for the sake of conformity. His judgment was not without its effect on the country, and rendered him particularly odious to the high-church clergy, one of whom, named Thomas Harrison, on 4 May following, entered the court of common pleas, and publicly accused him of high treason. For this contempt Harrison was prosecuted, and being convicted was fined 5,000l., imprisoned, and compelled to make public and ignominious submission in all the courts at Westminster. Hutton also sued him for defamation, and recovered 10,000l. damages. Hutton was an intimate friend of Matthew Hutton [q. v.], archbishop of York, who made him one of the supervisors of his will, and of the archbishop's son, Sir Timothy Hutton, whose legal adviser he was. He died in Serjeants' Inn on 26 Feb. 1638-9, and was buried in St. Dunstan's-in-the-West, London. Hutton married Agnes, daughter of Thomas Briggs of Caumire, Westmoreland, by whom he had several sons and daughters. His manors of Hooton Paynell, or Paganel, and GoldsDorough in the West Riding of Yorkshire descended to his heir. Sir Richard Hutton (knighted at Windsor 17 July 1625), who was "fatally wounded while fighting for the king at Sherborne on 15 Oct. 1645, and died at Skipton during the retreat of the royalist army.
Hutton is characterised by Clarendon as 'a very venerable judge,' and 'a man famous in his generation,' and by Croke as 'a grave, learned, pious, and prudent judge, of great courage and patience in all proceedings.' Richard Braithwaite published in 1641 an elegy on Hutton, entitled 'Astrsea's Teares.' His judgment in Hampden's case was published in pamphlet form in the same year, and has since been reprinted in Hill's 'Law Tracts,' vol. lxxxix., and Brydall's 'Miscellaneous Collection,' vol. xxvii. He left some manuscript reports in law French, which were ​translated and published in 1656 (2nd edition 1682, fol.); and his collection of precedents in conveyancing was published under the title of 'The Young Clerk's Guide' in 1658, 8vo (8th ed.), and in 1689, 8vo (16th ed.) Hutton's manuscript 'Journal,' extending from 25 June 1614 to 4 Feb. 1639, written in a mixture of law-French and English, is in the library of the late J. H. Gurney, Keswick Hall, Norfolk (Hist. MSS. Comm., 12th Rep., App. ix. pp.125-6).
J. M. R.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.163 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 359 | ii | 9 | Hutton, Sir Richard: after refused insert to sign (Dec. 1635) |
| | | 12 | for opinion read declaration |
| | | 31 | for friend read friend and relative |