View source for Nicholas Hyde

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{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}
[[File:Portrait of Lord Chief Justice Nicholas Hyde.jpg|thumb|Sir Nicholas Hyde, Lord Chief Justice]]
[[File:HydeArmorials.PNG|thumb|Arms of Hyde: ''Azure, a chevron between three lozenges or'']]

'''Sir Nicholas Hyde''' (c. 1572 – 25 August 1631) was [[Lord Chief Justice]] of [[Kingdom of England|England]].

==Origins==
Hyde was born at [[Wardour, Wiltshire|Wardour]], in [[Wiltshire]], a son of [[Lawrence Hyde (died 1590)|Lawrence Hyde]] (d. 1590) of [[West Hatch]], Wiltshire, [[Member of Parliament|MP]] for Heytesbury in 1584, by his second wife Anne Sibell, daughter of Nicholas Sibell of Farningham, Kent, and widow of Matthew Colthurst of Claverton, Somerset.<ref>{{Cite web|title=HYDE, Lawrence I (d.1590), of West Hatch and Tisbury, Wilts. and Gussage St. Michael, Dorset.|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/hyde-lawrence-i-1590|access-date=11 March 2021|website=History of Parliament Online}}</ref> He was the brother of [[Henry Hyde (died 1634)|Henry Hyde]] (c.1563–1634), MP, and [[Lawrence Hyde (attorney-general)|Lawrence Hyde]] (1562–1641),  attorney-general to [[Anne of Denmark]], wife of King James I.

==Education==
Hyde joined [[Exeter College, Oxford]] in May of 1590 and following the examples of his two older brothers, entered the [[Middle Temple]] on 14 July 1591, although he was not admitted to a chamber there for another three years.<ref>{{cite ODNB |last1=Prest |first1=Wilfrid |title=Hyde, Sir Nicholas |date=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/14333}}</ref> He was [[called to the bar]] in 1598.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

==Career==
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2023}}
Hyde entered the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]] in 1597 as one of the two members for [[Old Sarum (UK Parliament constituency)|Old Sarum]]. He represented [[Andover (UK Parliament constituency)|Andover]] in 1601, [[Christchurch (UK Parliament constituency)|Christchurch]] in 1604, [[Bath (UK Parliament constituency)|Bath]] in 1614 and the county seat of [[Bristol (UK Parliament constituency)|Bristol]] in 1625. He soon became prominent as an opponent of the king's court, although he does not appear to have distinguished himself in the [[law]].

Before long, however, he deserted the popular party and in 1626 was employed by [[George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham]], to defend him against [[Impeachment in the United Kingdom|impeachment]] by the House of Commons.

In the following year be was appointed a [[Serjeant-at-law]] and [[Chief Justice of the King's Bench]], in which office it fell to him to give judgment in the celebrated case of [[Sir Thomas Darnell, 1st Baronet|Sir Thomas Darnell]] and others who had been committed to prison on warrants signed by members of the [[Privy Council of England|Privy Council]], and which contained no statement of the nature of the charge against the prisoners. In answer to the writ of ''[[habeas corpus]]'' the [[Attorney General of England and Wales|Attorney General]] relied on the [[Royal Prerogative]], supported by a precedent of [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth]]'s reign.

Hyde, with three other judges concurring, decided in favor of the [[The Crown|Crown]] but without going so far as to declare the right of the Crown to refuse indefinitely to show cause against the discharge of the prisoners. He was knighted the same year (1627).

In 1629, Hyde was one of the judges who condemned [[John Eliot (statesman)|Eliot]], [[Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles|Holles]] and [[Benjamin Valentine|Valentine]] for [[Conspiracy (political)|conspiracy]] in parliament to resist the King's orders, refusing to admit their plea of [[parliamentary privilege]] that they could not be called upon to answer out of parliament for acts done in parliament.

==Family==
He married Mary Swayne, daughter of Arthur Swayne of Sarson in Amport, [[Hampshire]]. They had one daughter and three surviving sons together.<ref>{{cite ODNB |last1=Prest |first1=Wilfrid |title=Hyde, Sir Nicholas |date=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/14333}}</ref> One of their sons, [[Lawrence Hyde (MP for Winchester)|Lawrence]] (c.1610–1682) sat in Parliament for [[Winchester (UK Parliament constituency)|Winchester]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=HYDE (HIDE), Lawrence (c.1610-82), of Hinton Daubney, Catherington, Hants.|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/hyde-(hide)-lawrence-1610-82|access-date=2021-03-11|website=History of Parliament Online}}</ref>

==Death==
On 25 August 1631 he died of [[gaol fever]] at his home in Hinton Daubney, Catherington, Hampshire.<ref>{{cite ODNB |last1=Prest |first1=Wilfrid |title=Hyde, Sir Nicholas |date=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/14333}}</ref> He is buried with his wife in a tomb inside All Saints Church [[Catherington]] in Hampshire.

<gallery>
File:Tomb of Sir Nicholas Hyde - All Saints church, Catherington (detail - 1) - geograph.org.uk - 2624042.jpg|Tomb of Sir Nicholas Hyde and his wife
File:Tomb of Sir Nicholas Hyde - All Saints church, Catherington (detail - 2) - geograph.org.uk - 2624060.jpg|Detail of tomb
</gallery>

==References==

<references />
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Hyde|volume=14|page=30}}
*[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/hyde-nicholas-1572-1631 HYDE, Nicholas (c.1572–1631) of the Middle Temple, London and Marlborough, Wilts] – History of Parliament Online

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{{succession box | title=[[Lord Chief Justice]] | before = [[Ranulph Crewe]] | after = [[Thomas Richardson (judge)|Thomas Richardson]] | years = 1627–1631}}
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[[Category:Lord chief justices of England and Wales]]
[[Category:Serjeants-at-law (England)]]
[[Category:Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:English MPs 1597–1598]]
[[Category:English MPs 1601]]
[[Category:English MPs 1604–1611]]
[[Category:English MPs 1614]]
[[Category:English MPs 1625]]
[[Category:16th-century English judges]]
[[Category:16th-century English lawyers]]
[[Category:1570s births]]
[[Category:1631 deaths]]