Sir John Nicholl was a Welsh Member of Parliament and judge. As a judge he was noted "for inflexible impartiality and great strength and soundness of judgement".

Hastings was a parliamentary constituency in Sussex. It returned two Members of Parliament to the Parliament of England until 1707, Parliament of Great Britain before 1801 and the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until the 1885 general election, when its representation was reduced to one member. It was abolished for the 1983 general election, when it was partially replaced by the new Hastings and Rye constituency.