Sir John Powell

Sir John Powell (1632 or 1633 – 7 September 1696) was a Welsh judge on the Court of Common Pleas and the Court of King's Bench. He presided over the trial of the Seven Bishops in 1688.

Born in 1632 or 1633, Powell was from Pentre Meurig, Llanwrda in Carmarthenshire, Wales. He became a member of Gray's Inn in 1650, and matriculated at Jesus College, Oxford. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1653 and his Master of Arts degree from King's College, Cambridge in the following year. He was called to the bar in 1657. Details of his legal practice are unknown until his rapid promotion in April 1686, when he became a serjeant-at-law and was then appointed as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas and knighted. He was soon asked his opinion of the decision in Godden v Hales that the king could dispense with compliance with Acts of Parliament, and he agreed with the majority view that this was permitted. and died in Exeter on 7 September 1696. There is a memorial tablet in St Martin's Church, Laugharne where he was buried and which some biographers believe was his place of birth. His son Sir Thomas (1664-1720), of Broadway, Carmarthenshire and Coldbrook, Monmouthshire, was attorney-general of the Carmarthen circuit, 1695–1715, Member of Parliament for Monmouth, 1705–8, and for Carmarthenshire, 1710–15. He was created a baronet in 1698, but the title became extinct on the death of his son Herbert in 1721.