Editing Richard Zouch

{{Short description|English judge and Member of Parliament}}
{{more citations needed|date=August 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}
[[File:Richard Zouche by Cornelius Johnson.jpg|thumb|upright|Zouch by Cornelius Johnson]]
'''Richard Zouch''' ({{circa|1590}}{{snd}}1 March 1661) was an English judge and a [[Member of parliament|Member of Parliament]] from 1621 to 1624. He was elected Member of Parliament for [[Hythe (UK Parliament constituency)|Hythe]] in 1621 and later became principal of [[St. Alban Hall, Oxford]]. During the [[English Civil War]], he was a [[Cavalier|Royalist]] and was appointed by [[Oliver Cromwell]] to a special commission of oyer and terminer. Zouch wrote extensive legal texts and was among the earliest systematic writers of [[international law]].

== Early life ==
Zouch was born at [[Ansty, Wiltshire]], the third surviving son of Francis Zouche (d.1600) and Philippa, sixth daughter of George Ludlow of [[Hill Deverill|Hill Deverel]], Wiltshire.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lefevre|first=Peter|title=ZOUCHE, Richard (c.1589-1661), of Doctors' Commons, London and Oxford, Oxon.|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/zouche-richard-1589-1661|access-date=14 June 2021|website=History of Parliament Online}}</ref> He was educated at [[Winchester College|Winchester]] and afterwards at [[New College, Oxford]], where he was a scholar in 1607, and Fellow in 1609.<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Zouch, Richard|volume=28|page=1045}}</ref> He graduated as B.C.L. in 1614, and D.C.L. in 1619, was admitted at [[Doctor's Commons]], London, in January 1618, and was appointed [[Regius Professor of Civil Law (Oxford)|Regius Professor of Civil Law]] at Oxford in 1620.<ref name="EB1911"/> In addition to his university duties, he had a large legal practice in London.<ref name="americana">{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Zouche, Richard}}</ref>

It was apparently in 1622 that he married Sarah, daughter of John Harte of [[Brill, Buckinghamshire|Brill]] in Oxfordshire, a proctor in Doctors' Commons; having thus vacated his fellowship, he entered himself in 1623 as a fellow commoner at [[Wadham College]].

== Career ==
In 1621 and 1624, through the influence of his cousin [[Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche]], he was elected [[member of parliament]] for [[Hythe (UK Parliament constituency)|Hythe]]. In 1625 he became principal of [[St Alban Hall, Oxford]].<ref name=DNB>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Zouche, Richard|last=Holland |first=Thomas Erskine |authorlink=Thomas Erskine Holland |volume=63 |pages=417–420}}</ref>

He took a leading part in [[William Laud]]'s codification of the statutes of the university (1629–1633). He acted for many years as assessor of the vice-chancellor's court, and in 1632 became chancellor of the [[diocese of Oxford]]. In 1641 he was made [[Judge of the High Court of Admiralty]].<ref name=DNB/>

During the [[English Civil War|Civil War]], he was a [[Cavalier|Royalist]], though not a pronounced one.<ref name="americana"/> Under the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]], having submitted to the [[Parliamentary visitation of the University of Oxford|parliamentary visitors]], he retained his university appointments,<ref name="EB1911"/> and was appointed by [[Oliver Cromwell]] to a special commission of oyer and terminer (consisting of three judges, three civilians, and three laymen, for the trial of Don Pantaleone Sa, the brother of the Portuguese ambassador, for murder committed in a brawl). Zouche was, however, not allowed to retain the judgeship of the admiralty, which was in 1649 conferred on [[John Exton (lawyer)|John Exton]]. He was regarded with some suspicion by both factions.<ref name=DNB/>

After the [[English Restoration|Restoration]], he was appointed to the commission which reinstated the professors and Fellows of Oxford who had been removed under the Protectorate of Cromwell. On 4 February 1661, he was restored to his judgeship,<ref name="americana"/> though he died soon afterwards at his apartments in Doctors' Commons, London, on 1 March 1661.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Publications==

===Legal works===
*<cite>''Elementa jurisprudentiae''</cite> (1629)
*<cite>''Descriptio juris et judicii feudalis, secundum consuetudines Mediolani et Normanniae, pro introductione ad juris prudentiam Anglicanam''</cite> (1634)
*<cite>''Descriptio juris et judicii temporalis, secundum consuetudines feudales et Normannicas''</cite> (1636)
*<cite>''Descriptio juris et judicii ecclesiastici, secundum canones et consuetudines Anglicanas''</cite> (1636)
*<cite>''Descriptiones juris et judicii sacri, … militaris, … maritimi''</cite> (1640)
*<cite>''Juris et judicii fecialis sive juris inter gentes ... explicatio''</cite> (1650)
*<cite>''Solutio quaestionis de legati delinquentis judice competente''</cite> (1657)

In virtue of the last two he has the distinction of being one of the earliest systematic writers on [[international law]].<ref name="EB1911"/> According to [[Thomas Erskine Holland]] writing in the ''[[Dictionary of National Biography]]'', [[Jeremy Bentham]]'s coinage "international law" derives from the phrase ''jus inter gentes'' implied by Zouch's 1650 choice of title. Holland also identifies both Zouch and [[Arthur Duck]] as pupils of distinction of the civilian [[John Budden]], in the Oxford tradition founded by [[Alberico Gentili]].<ref name=DNB/>

===Poetry===
*The Dove, or Passages of Cosmography (1613)<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Zouch, Richard|volume=28|page=1045}}
* {{cite book |last= Phillipson |first= Coleman |chapter= RICHARD ZOUCHE |editor1= Macdonell, John  |editor1-link = John_Macdonell_(judge)|editor2= Manson, Edward William Donoghue  |title= Great Jurists of the World |place= London |publisher=  John Murray |year=  1913 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.13326/page/n245 220]-247 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.13326|access-date= 11 March 2019  |via= Internet Archive}}
*{{NPG name}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|en}}
{{s-bef|before=  [[Richard Smythe|Sir Richard Smythe]]|before2=  [[Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex|Lionel Cranfield]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Member of Parliament]] for [[Hythe (UK Parliament constituency)|Hythe]]|years=1621–1624|with=  [[Peter Heyman|Sir Peter Heyman]]}}
{{s-aft|after=  [[Sir Edward Dering, 1st Baronet]]|after2=  [[Edward Clarke (MP for Hythe)|Edward Clarke]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zouch, Richard}}
[[Category:1590s births]]
[[Category:1661 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century English judges]]
[[Category:English MPs 1621–1622]]
[[Category:Members of Doctors' Commons]]
[[Category:People educated at Winchester College]]
[[Category:Principals of St Alban Hall, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Regius Professors of Civil Law (University of Oxford)]]