Sir John Holt was the Lord Chief Justice of England from the late seventeenth to the early eighteenth century. He was known for being a fair judge. He entered Oriel College, Oxford to study law at the age of sixteen years, but soon left; he returned to the study of law at Gray's Inn in London, and was appointed to the bar in 1663. He became King's sergeant and was knighted around 1685-1686. In 1688 he had a prominent role in William III gaining the throne of England, and soon after was appointed Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench.
Holt was famed as a supporter of civil and religious liberty. He judged that slavery could not exist in England; his statement that "as soon as a negro comes to England he is free; one may be a villein in England, but not a slave" was made around 1702 during a trial involving an escaped slave. He discouraged the conviction of people tried as witches, acquitting several in trials he presided over. Holt had a reputation for fairness, knowledge of the law, clarity of expression, and an uncompromising integrity. Unlike many English judges before him, he took pride in protecting the civil rights of English citizens and in providing fair and respectful treatment of the accused.
In the record of a trial in 1810, another judge stated:
"...Sir John Holt, whose name has always been
held in reverence by English freemen; for he was
a sound judge and an inflexible patriot, who manifested,
on every occasion, a generous and distinguished
zeal for the liberties of the people." - The
Founders' Constitution (Philip B. Kurland
and Ralph Lerner, 1986).
Biography of Matthew Bacon