treason and executed. To his further discredit, he also sought unsuccessfully to promote the trial for treason of Lord Shaftesbury. He nevertheless managed to retain among his contemporaries a reputation for independence and integrity and it was because of suspicions of his political loyalties in a forthcoming case concerning the City of London that he was removed from office in 1682. He accepted instead the lesser position of Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. In the following year he was appointed to head the Commission set up to deal with the Rye House Plot and presided over the trial of Lord Russell. Although Russell was convicted, Pemberton was regarded as having conducted himself with unbefitting moderation during the trial and he was dismissed from all judicial employment on 28 September 1683. John Evelyn wrote in his Diary for 4 October 1683: "He was held to be the most learned of the judges and an honest man". Later career Pemberton again returned to the bar and again acquired a substantial practice, acting successfully in the defence of the Seven Bishops. In 1689, he faced a further petition alleging that he had breached the privileges of the House of Commons. On this occasion, the allegation was that, as Lord Chief Justice, he had allowed legal proceedings to be pursued against the Sergeant-at-arms of the House of Commons in respect of his official activities. Pemberton was imprisoned for eight months in Newgate Prison. After his release, Pemberton's practice substantially diminished and he spent much of his time at his house in The Grove, Highgate, though he was retained in the unsuccessful defence of Sir John Fenwick in 1696. He died on 10 June 1697 and is buried in Highgate Chapel. His son, Francis Pemberton, FRS (?1679–1762) also became a barrister. His return to private practice was not at the time considered improper but in more modern times has been cited as an illustration of the need for a judge to abandon practice permanently since, it was said, his reputation as a judge carried far more weight with juries than the merits of his arguments or the opinions of the actual judges hearing the case. In 1929 the Chief Justice of Ireland cited the bad example set by Pemberton, in laying down a rule that judges after their retirement should not seek to return to legal practice. References Sources Lord Campbell's Lives of the