William Lee (English judge)

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Sir William Lee (1688 - 8 April, 1754) was a British jurist and politician.

He was an MP from 1727 until 1730 when he became a Justice of the King's Bench. Lee was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from June 8th 1737 until his sudden death in 1754. He was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer as a temporary expedient on March 8th 1754, with his brother Sir George Lee as Under Treasurer of the Exchequer, until April 6th. Lord Campbell noted that Lee 'certainly stood up for the rights of woman more strenuously than any English judge before or since his time'.

[edit] References

• J. C. D. Clark, The Dynamics of Change: The Crisis of the 1750s and English Party Systems (Cambridge University Press, 2002).
• Lord Campbell, The Lives of the Chief Justices of England: Volume III (Cockcroft and Co, 1878).

Legal Offices
Preceded by The Lord Hardwicke	Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench 1737–1754	Succeeded by Sir Dudley Ryder
Political offices
Preceded by Henry Pelham	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1754	Succeeded by Henry Bilson Legge