The Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales.
Image: Ralph de Hengham
Image: Portrait of Sir John Fortescue (1663) by William Faithorne cropped
Image: Sir Edward Montagu
The Court of King's Bench, formally known as The Court of the King Before the King Himself, was a court of common law in the English legal system. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century from the curia regis, the King's Bench initially followed the monarch on his travels. The King's Bench finally joined the Court of Common Pleas and Exchequer of Pleas in Westminster Hall in 1318, making its last travels in 1421. The King's Bench was merged into the High Court of Justice by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873, after which point the King's Bench was a division within the High Court. The King's Bench was staffed by one Chief Justice and usually three Puisne Justices.
Westminster Hall, where the King's Bench sat until its abolition
The Court of Chancery, a competitor to the King's Bench and other common law courts during the 15th and 16th centuries
John Popham, the Chief Justice of the King's Bench who brought the Common Pleas and King's Bench into conflict over assumpsit