King’s Bench

The King’s Bench appears in the book as the judicial office held by Sir John More, father of Thomas More. This brief biographical reference places the institution within the account of More’s family background and identifies a connection to legal service without describing the court’s work or structure.

Identification

The introductory account names Sir John More as a justice of the King’s Bench. It gives no additional particulars about his duties there, the court’s procedures, or any case associated with him; the institution is introduced through his office rather than through an account of its operations.

Connection to Thomas More

The reference forms part of the account of Thomas More’s early life. He was born in 1478 in Milk Street, London, and later studied law in London at Lincoln’s Inn after leaving Oxford. The text places his father’s judicial position alongside this later legal education, establishing a family and biographical context without claiming that the father’s office determined the son’s course.

Narrative Significance

The King’s Bench serves as a concise marker of Sir John More’s public position in the introductory biography. Beyond identifying him as one of its justices, the account does not develop the institution as a setting, describe its organization, or connect it to a particular action in the narrative.