Sir Edmund Plowden (1518 - 1585) was a great English lawyer and scholar during the Elizabethan period. He studied at Cambridge University and became a member of Middle Temple in about 1538. Later on, in Oxford, he also qualified as a physician. Plowden confined himself to the practice of the law and the compilation of his Commentaries, until the accession of Queen Mary in 1553. He then undertook a number of public posts, including being a Member of Parliament, but, with the accession of Elizabeth, public life was closed to him, for he was a Roman Catholic.
Plowden was extremely well thought of as a lawyer by Coke and other leading jurists of the day, but his loyalty to his faith meant that he was not promoted in line with his abilities and he was regarded with suspicion by the some of the Privy Council. Queen Elizabeth I wanted to make him Lord Chancellor on condition that he renounce Catholicism and join the Church of England. Bravely, given the political climate, Plowden declined and spoke eloquently of his faith, also denouncing the religious persecution which had been harsh throughout the Tudor period. The Queen still thought highly enough of him to keep him on as a lawyer despite these words.
For the remainder of his life, he continued in practice, acting for all who wished to engage his considerable legal ability, producing his Commentaries and other legal notes and reports and looking after the interests of his beloved Middle Temple, of which he was Treasurer for six years. Plowden used his considerable talents to defend fellow Catholics. In one famous case attributed to him, he was defending a man charged with hearing Mass. On hearing that the Mass had been performed by a layman in order to catch and inform on those attending, he announced, 'The case is altered; no priest, no Mass', and the man was acquitted. From this came the legal proverb, 'The case is altered, quoth Plowden'. Managing to have avoided both conformity with the Church of England and persecution for his faith, Plowden died in 1585 and was buried in the Temple Church.
