William Drury (lawyer)
| William Drury | |
|---|---|
| Died | 1589 |
| Nationality | English |
William Drury (died 1589), civilian, third son of John Drury of Rougham, Suffolk, by Elizabeth, daughter of John Goldingham of Belstead, Suffolk.
Drury was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he took the degree of LL.B. in 1553. He was appointed regius professor of civil law in the University of Cambridge, with a salary of £40 per annum, on 30 January 1558–9, and took the degree of LL.D. in 1560.
Admitted advocate at Doctors' Commons on 5 May 1561, he shortly afterwards became secretary to Archbishop Parker. In 1562 Parker appointed him his commissary for the faculties. He was also a member of the ecclesiastical commission as early as 1567, and on 28 June of that year was appointed visitor of the churches, city, and diocese of Norwich.
Drury was one of the civilians consulted by Elizabeth in 1571 on the important points of international law raised by the intrigues of John Lesley, the Bishop of Ross on behalf of Mary Stuart. Briefly stated, the questions were firstly whether an ambassador plotting insurrection, or aiding and abetting treason against the sovereign to whom he was accredited, did not forfeit his privileges as an ambassador and become amenable to the ordinary law of the land; and secondly whether a deposed and refugee sovereign was capable by international law of having an ambassador in his land of asylum in such sense as to clothe the ambassador with the personal inviolability ordinarily belonging to his rank.
The civilians answered the first question in a sense adverse to the ambassador, and their decision was held at the time conclusive, and acted on accordingly; but, though much discussed since, it has not been generally approved by publicists, or frequently followed in practice by statesmen.
The second question they answered in the affirmative, adding, however, the proviso, "so long as he do not exceed the bounds of an ambassador". The case is generally regarded by publicists as the locus classicus on the subject.
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