Fortescue

Sir John. An English judge of the time of Henry VI., author of a book, De Laudibus Legum Anglice, written in praise of the common law.

The author of a celebrated treatise on English law, written in Latin, in the reign of Henry VI., under the title of De Laudibus Legum Angliae. Sir John Fortescue, who had been some time Chief Justice of the King's Bench, is said to have written this work while enduring an exile with the Prince of Wales, and others of the Lancastrian party in France. Sir John was then made chancellor, and in that character he supposes himself holding a conversation with the young prince, on the nature and excellence of the laws of England, compared with the civil law, and the laws of other countries. 4 Reeves' Hist. Eng. Law, 112, 113. Crabb's Hist. 424, (Am. ed.) 1 Kent's Com. 601, 602.