Richard Zouche

, or Zouchaeus as he somtimes writes himself, the Cadet of an antient and noble Family, was born of worthy parents in the Parish of Ansley in Wiltshire, educated in Grammaticals in Wykehams School near Winchester, admitted perpetual Fellow of New Coll, after he had served two years of probation, an. 1609, aged 19 years, and after he had taken one degree in the Civil Law, became an Advocate of note in Doctors Commons. In the year 1619 he was admitted Doctor of the Civil Law, became the Kings Professor of that fac. in the year following, was chosen, by the endeavours of his kinsman Edward Lord Zouche L. Warden of the Cinque-ports, a Burgess, twice at least, for Hyeth in Kent, to serve in Parliaments in the latter end of K. Jam. 1, became Chancellour of the Dioc. of Oxon, Principal of S. Albans Hall in 1625, and at length Judge of the High Court of Admiralty. In 1648 when the Visitors appointed by Parliament sate in the University, he submitted to their power, and so consequently kept his Principality and Professorship during the times of Usurpation. After the Kings return he was restored to the Admiralty, tho he kept that honorable office but for a small time, was one of the Commissioners for regulating the University, and might have risen higher than the Admiralty had he lived. He was an exact Artist, a subtile Logician, expert Historian, and for the knowledge in, and practice of, the Civil Law, the chief Person of his time, as his works much esteemed beyond the Seas (where several of them are reprinted) partly testifie. He was so well vers’d also in the statutes of the University, and controversies between the members thereof and the City, that none after Twynes death went beyond him. As his birth was noble, so was his behaviour and discourse; and as personable and handsome, so naturally sweet, pleasing and affable. The truth is, there was nothing wanting but a forward spirit for his advancement, but the interruption of the times, which silenc’d his profession, would have given a stop to his rise, had he been of another disposition. His works are these.

The Dove, or passages of Cosmography. Lond. 1613. oct. This is a Poem, which he wrot in his younger days, and dedicated it to Edw. Lord Zouche his kinsman.

Elementa Jurisprudentiae definitionibus, regulis, & sententiis selectioribus juris civilis illustrata Oxon. 1629. oct. 1636. qu. in 7. parts. Lugd. Bat. 1652. in 16o. Amstel. 1681. in tw.

Descriptio Juris & Judicii feudalis, secundum consuetudines Mediolani & Norman. pro introductione ad Jurisprudentiam Anglicanam. Oxon. 1634. and 36. oct.

Descript. Jur. & Judicii temporalis secundum consuetudines feudales & Normanicos. Oxon. 1636. qu. in 4. parts.

Descript. Juris & Judicii Ecclesiastici secundum canones & constitutiones Anglicanas. Oxon. 1636. qu. in 4. parts. This book with Desc. Juris & Judicii tempor. &c. were reprinted with Dr. Mockets Tract De politia Eccl. Anglicanae. Lond. 1683. oct.

Descr. Juris & Judicii sacri; ad quam leges, quae ad religionem & piam causam respiciant, referuntur. Oxon. 1640. qu. Lugd. Bat. & Amstel. 1652. in 16o.

Desc. Jur. & Jud. Militaris; ad quam leges, quae rem militarem, & ordinem personarum respiciunt, referuntur.—Printed with the former.

Des. Jur. & Jud. Maritimi; ad quam quae ad navigationem & negotiationem maritimam respiciunt, referuntur.—Printed also with the former.

Juris & Judicii fecialis, sive Juris inter gentes, & quaestionum de eodem explicato, &c. Oxon. 1650. qu. in two parts.

Cases and questions resolved in the Civil Law. Oxon. 1652. oct. In the year following was published a book entituled, Specimen quaestionum Juris civilis, cum designatione authorum. Oxon. 1653. qu. There is no name to it, and therefore I cannot yet say ’twas written by Dr. Zouche. It is now to be observed that Don Pantalion Sa, Brother to the Portuguese Embassador, having killed one Greeneway a Gentleman of Linc. Inn in the New Exchange within the liberty of Westm. on the 22. of Nov. 1653, and thereupon imprisoned, there was a dispute between Oliver Cromwell and his Council, whether he might be tried for his life in the English Courts of Justice, and how. Whereupon our Author Zouche, who was then the living Pandict of the Law, being sent for from Oxon, he cleared their doubts; whereupon Sa being tried by the Civ. Law, and executed on Tower-hill 10. July 1654, our Author thereupon wrot this book following.

Solutio quaestionis de Legati delinquentis Judice competente. Oxon. 1657. oct. Afterwards he published these books following.

Eruditionis ingenuae specimina, scil. Artium, Logicae, Dialecticae, & Rhetoricae, nec non Moralis Philosophiae M. T. Ciceronis definitionibus, praeceptis & sententiis, illustrat. Oxon. 1657. in tw.

Quaestionum Juris Civilis centuria, in 10 classes destributa. Ox. 1660. oct. Lond. 1682. in tw. the third Edit.

The Jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England asserted, against Sir Edw. Cokes Articuli Admiralitatis, in the 22 Chapter of his Jurisdiction of Courts. Lond. 1663 in a large oct. published by Dr. Tim. Baldwin Fellow of Alls. Coll. It was afterwards once or more reprinted. Our learned Author Dr. Zouche died in his Lodgings at Doctors Commons in Lond. on the first day of March in sixteen hundred and sixty,1661. and was buried in the Church of Fulham in Middlesex, near to the grave of his eldest Daughter Catherine, somtimes the Wife of William Powell alias Hinson Esquire. He had a hand in the University Reasons against the Covenant, as I have before told you in Dr. Gerard Langbaine num. 150.