John Spelman

Sir John Spelman (died 1546) was an English judge from Norfolk, noted for his composition of law reports.

Origins Born about 1480, Spelman was the fourth son and youngest child of Henry Spelman (died 1496), of Bekerton in Stow Bedon, a lawyer and judge who was a Reader of Gray's Inn and Recorder of Norwich, and his second wife Ela, widow of Thomas Shouldham (died 1472), of Marham, and daughter and coheiress of William Narborough, of Narborough.

Career About 1500, Spelman followed his father to study law at Gray's Inn, where he served as Reader three times, and in 1521 was created a serjeant, followed next year by gaining his father's old post of Recorder of Norwich. In 1526, he was promoted to King's Serjeant and in 1531 was appointed a Justice of the King's Bench, being sworn in by the Lord Chancellor, Thomas More. Knighted in 1532, he went as a justice of assize on the Northern Circuit, changing to the Home Circuit in 1537. From 1540 he stopped going on circuit and sat at Westminster Hall.

Law reports Spelman's fame comes from his compilation of law reports, starting with cases he attended in court and lectures and seminars held at Gray's Inn. From 1521, he mainly covered common pleas and, after 1531, King's Bench cases. He also summarised practitioners' discussions on points of law and judges' conferences. They had thirteen sons and seven daughters, including: Henry Spelman (died 1581), second son, who married first Anne, the widow of Thomas Thursby, daughter of Thomas Knyvett and his wife Muriel, daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. His second wife was Frances (died 1622), daughter of William Saunders, of Ewell, and his first wife Joan Marston.

Spelman's widow Elizabeth married secondly John Coningsby, of North Mimms, son of the judge Humphrey Coningsby, and became the mother of Sir Henry Coningsby. After her second husband's death in 1547, she married William Dodd and died on 5 November 1556, and was buried at North Mimms.