Willis: Anglo-American Law 
145 
detail of the political occurrences of his life would give a his- 
tory of the civilized world of his time. Shakespeare has im- 
mortalized him in his play, Henry VIII. 
More (1478-1535). Eight days after the Great Seal had 
been taken from Cardinal Wolsey it was given to Sir Thomas 
More, who became chancellor in 1529. Probably no man on 
earth was ever better fitted to hold that office. He was a son 
of John More, a judge of the King’s Bench and Common Pleas 
under Henry VIII, who probably procured his place on the 
bench because of his illustrious son. He went thru the cus- 
tomary apprenticeship and schooling. He studied at Oxford 
and was a friend of Erasmus, and while at Oxford devoted 
himself for two years to literature. He also was admitted to 
Lincoln’s Inn while still at Oxford, and later was appointed 
governor of this inn by Henry VIII, where he was a reader 
in 1511 and 1516. At one time he was inclined to the priest- 
hood, but he went into practice and attained such a reputation 
that he was employed as counsel by one of the parties in al- 
most all actions. He defeated a grant of money by Parlia- 
ment for the marriage of Henry VII’s daughter, for which 
his father was sent to the tower until he paid a fine. He 
was sent on two embassies by Henry VIII and offered a pen- 
sion, but he declined the pension because it was no more than 
he was getting and he wanted to be free from the king. He 
entered the Privy Council in 1520, and was speaker of Parlia- 
ment in 1523. He was intimate wth the king and Cardinal 
Wolsey. He published his History of Richard III and his 
Utopia in 1516. Finally he succeeded Wolsey as chancellor. 
His modesty was in contrast with Wolsey’s arrogance. His 
diligence was so great that he caught up with his calendar. 
He refused bribes and gifts. When the common law judges 
complained that their judgments were suspended by injunc- 
tions, he called them together and made them admit the in- 
junctions were just, and advised them to reform the common 
law. But he held this high office for only two and a half 
years, and resigned because of a question of the king’s mar- 
riage. He refused to take an oath that the king’s first mar- 
riage was invalid, and for this he was attainted and his 
property taken. The king then tried to trap him by get- 
ting him to deny that the king was the head of the church. 
Rich, in a familiar secret talk, got from him the statement 
10—36004 
