William Meade was an Irish lawyer and judge of the Elizabethan era who held office as Recorder of Cork. He was a popular but controversial public figure who was accused, with good reason, of leading an abortive revolt against the English Crown in 1603. He was tried for treason but acquitted. Soon afterwards he fled from Ireland and died in exile in Italy.

The Court of Castle Chamber was a Irish court of special jurisdiction which operated in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.