Hardwicke, Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of 1690-1764
English judge

He was born in Dover. He became successively Attorney General (1725), Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1733) and Lord Chancellor (1737). A supporter of Sir Robert Walpole, he held office under Thomas Pelham, Duke of Newcastle, presided at the trial of the Jacobite lords in 1745, and promoted the laws that proscribed tartan and abolished heritable jurisdiction in Scotland. His Marriage Act of 1754 abolished Fleet marriages, and he did much to establish the doctrine of equity in its modern form and systematize its principles. His son, Philip, 2nd Earl (1720-90) held public offices, wrote Athenian Letters and edited Walpoliana, and his second son, Charles (1722-70) became Lord Chancellor, but died three days later.