George Treby (judge) - Opposition To The Court

Opposition To The Court

On 12 April 1681 Treby married a second time, to Rachel, daughter of James Standish. He was active in the Green Ribbon Club, and suggested that James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth was the rightful king. In 1681 he presented a petition from the city of London to the King requesting another Parliament. The King refused, saying that the city was meddling in business that did not belong to it.

In part due to the London call for a new Parliament, King Charles and his lawyers attempted to dissolve London's corporate charter with a writ of Quo warranto. Partly in an attempt to earn the King's favour for the city, Treby made a loyal speech when presenting the new sheriffs of London in September 1682, but the Quo warranto action continued. Treby argued at the King's Bench that any wrongs committed had been done by individuals, not the city as a whole; it was therefore improper to attack the city for those actions. He also noted that while the Quo warranto was brought against the city corporation, it claimed that the corporations illegal acts had destroyed it, and pointed out the contradiction of an attack on an organisation which the attack claimed did not exist. The latter point was brushed aside on the grounds that the corporation would only be destroyed if judgement was brought against it, which the court duly did. Judgement was deferred in the hopes that London might surrender its charter to the King, but Treby convinced the city leaders to continue fighting, saying that to surrender would violate their oaths to uphold the rights of the city and its citizens. Despite this, judgement was entered in October 1683, and the corporation ceased to exist, with Treby losing his Recordership and his position on various county benches. In 1684 Plympton had a similar case brought against them, and after seeing the example made of London, surrendered, with Treby losing his Recordership there as well.

On 14 December 1684 he married Dorothy, daughter of Ralph Grainge, a lawyer of the Inner Temple. They had two children; a daughter, Maria, who died early, and a son, also called George, who also became a Member of Parliament for Plympton, as did his son in turn. Dorothy died within a few years, and on 6 January 1693 he married his fourth wife, Mary Brinley, who reportedly had a dowry worth £10,0000; they had a son, Brinley.

In the elections to the 1685 Parliament Treby stood against and lost to Richard Strode, partially as a result of the Plympton corporation charter's rewriting, which had damaged Treby's political standing. He did not serve for the rest of James's reign, even refusing two offers to have his Recordership of London returned.