Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Brydall, John

by William Hunt

BRYDALL, JOHN (b. 1635?), law-writer, son of John Brydall, of Jesus College, Cambridge, and of St. Alban's Hall, Oxford, and of the Rolls, a captain in the regiment of foot raised for the king's service by the Inns of Court, and a famous master of pike-exercise, was a native of Somerset. He entered Queen's College, Oxford, as a commoner in 1651, proceeded B.A., entered Lincoln's Inn, and became secretary to Sir Harbottle Grimston master of the rolls He published thirty six treatises chiefly on law among which are

1. 'Speculum Juris Anglicani or a View of the Laws of England,' 1673.
2. 'Jus Sigilli, or the Law of England touching the Four Principal Seals,' 1673
3. 'Jus Imaginis or the Law of England relating to the Nobility and Gentry,' 1673, 1675.
4. 'Jus Criminis or the Law touching certain Pleas of the Crown,' 1676.
5. 'Camera Regis or a Short View of London … collected out of Law and History,' 1677.
6. 'Decus et Tutamen or a Prospect of the Laws of England,' 1679.
7. 'A Letter to a Friend on the royal authority,' 1679.
8. 'The Clergy vindicated,' 1679.
9. 'Summus Angliæ Seneschallus, a Survey of the Lord High Steward,' 1680.
10. 'Jura Coronæ His Majesty's Royal Rights asserted against Papal Usurpations,' 1680.
11. 'A Letter to a Friend on Sovereignty,' 1681.
12. 'A New Year's Gift for the Anti-Prerogative Men … wherein … is discussed … the Earl of Danbigh's pardon,' 1682.
13. 'An Appeal to the Conscience of a Fanatick.'
14. 'Ars transferendi or a sure Guide to the Conveyancer,' 1697.
15. 'Non Compos Mentis or the Law relating to Natural Fools Mad Folks and Lunatic Persons,' 1700.
16. Lex Spuriorum or the Law relating to Bastardy,' 1703.
17. 'A Declaration of the Divers Preheminences … allowed … unto the First born among His Majesty's Subjects the Temporal Lords in Parliament,' 1704.He also left thirty other treatises in manuscript He gave several of his own law treatises and some books to the libraries of Lincoln's Inn and the Middle Temple.

[Wood's Athenæ ed Bliss), iv. 519; Collier's Hist. Dict. vol. i.; Chalmers's Biog. Dict. vii. 211; Cat of the Tracts of Law … by John Brydall (1711), ap. Rawlinson MSS. 4to. 3, 367; Marvin's Legal Bibliography, 145; Sweet's Law Catalogue (1883), 39.]

W. H.