The Lord Fortescue of Credan | |
|---|---|
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| Baron of the Exchequer | |
| In office 24 January 1717 – 1718 | |
| Preceded by | Sir James Montagu |
| Succeeded by | Sir Francis Page |
| Justice of the Court of King's Bench | |
| In office 1718 – 10 June 1727 | |
| Justice of the Court of Common Pleas | |
| In office 27 January 1728 – 1746 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Fortescue 7 March 1670 England |
| Died | 19 December 1746 (aged 76) England |
| Resting place | Stapleford Abbotts, Essex 51°38′37.9″N 0°10′4.01″E / 51.643861°N 0.1677806°E |
| Political party | Whig |
| Spouse(s) | Grace Pratt (m. c. 1707), Elizabeth Dormer (m. 29 December 1721) |
| Children | 6 |
John Fortescue Aland, 1st Baron Fortescue of Credan (7 March 1670 – 19 December 1746) was an English lawyer, judge, politician and peer who sat in the British House of Commons from 1715 to 1717. Aland wrote on English legal and constitutional history, and was said to have influenced Thomas Jefferson. A member of both the Middle Temple and Inner Temple, he became a King's Counsel in 1714 and was then appointed Solicitor General, first to the Prince of Wales and then to his father George I in 1715. After a short stint as a member of parliament, Aland was knighted and elevated to the Bench as a Baron of the Exchequer in 1717. He was subsequently a justice of the Court of King's Bench (1718–1727) and of the Court of Common Pleas (1728–1746), save for a brief hiatus between 1727 and 1728 which has been attributed to George II's displeasure with one of his legal opinions.
In 1714, Aland wrote and published a volume titled The Difference between an Absolute and Limited Government based on a manuscript in the Bodleian Library by his distant ancestor Sir John Fortescue, to which he added an extended preface. This was possibly the earliest English-language work on constitutional history. Jefferson referred to Aland's views in the 1719 edition of this work, and in another preface by him on a 1748 collection of judicial decisions which he edited, titled Reports of Select Cases in All the Courts of Westminster-Hall.