Ralph de Hengham

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Sir Ralph de Hengham (c. 1235 – May 18, 1311) was Lord Chief Justice of England from 1274 until 1290.

Hengham is first recorded as a judge in 1269, but was made Chief Justice of the King's Bench in 1274, possibly as a result of family connections with the Chancellor, Robert Burnell.

In 1290 he lost his position and was imprisoned and fined 800 marks (although some say 7000 marks, a vast and improbable amount for the time) for erasing a court roll and reducing a fine. The fine which Hengham paid was used to erect a tower with a clock and a bell, to remind judges of the offence of their predecessor; it is said to be the original of Big Ben. Hengham's ghost is said to haunt the Upper Chamber of the Houses of Parliament.

From William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, Book III, Chapter 25:

The charge against Sir Ralph Hengham (a very learned judge, to whom we are obliged for two excellent treatises of practice) was only, according to a tradition that was current in Richard the third's time, (Yearbook. M. 2 Ric. III. 10.) his altering out of mere compassion a fine, which was set upon a very poor man, from 13 s. 4 d. to 6 s. 8 d. for which he was fined 800 marks; a more probable sum than 7000.

After 1290 Hengham's disgrace did not last. He was pardoned in February 1291 and made Chief Justice of Common Pleas in September 1301. He is reputed to be the author of the legal documents Summa magna and Summa parva, although Summa magna employs a very different style and is probably not his work.

His work was also assessed by the jurist John Selden in 1616.

Legal offices
Preceded by Martin of Littlebury	Lord Chief Justice 1274–1290	Succeeded by Gilbert de Thornton

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