Sir William Herle was a British justice. He was first appointed as an attorney for the Common Bench

Court of Common Pleas (England)

The Court of Common Pleas, or Common Bench, was a common law court in the English legal system that covered "common pleas"; actions between subject and subject, which did not concern the king. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century after splitting from the Exchequer of Pleas, the Common...

 in 1291, and was appointed as a Serjeant-at-law

Serjeant-at-law

The Serjeants-at-Law was an order of barristers at the English bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law , or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writs dating to 1300 which identify them as descended from figures in France prior to the Norman Conquest...

 for the Bench in 1299 and was in regular attendance until 1320. In 1315 he was made a King's Serjeant, and in 1320 replaced John Benstead as a junior justice for the Common Bench, being knighted in the same year. He was absent from the court for three terms in 1321 while sitting as a justice on an Eyre

Eyre (legal term)

An Eyre or Iter was the name of a circuit traveled by an itinerant justice in medieval England, or the circuit court he presided over , or the right of the king to visit and inspect the holdings of any vassal...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 with Hervey de Stanton

Hervey de Stanton

Hervey de Stanton was an English judge and Chancellor of the Exchequer.-Origins and early career:...

, but otherwise served continuously as a junior justice until he replaced Stanton as Chief Justice

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas

The Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, was the second highest common law court in the English legal system until 1880, when it was dissolved. As such, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas was one of the highest judicial officials in England, behind only the Lord...

 in 1327. He left in 1329 to serve on two Eyres in Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

 and Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, and returned in 1331. He left again in 1333, although he returned the same year, serving until 1335, making him one of only two Chief Justices of the Common Pleas to be appointed and then leave on three separate occasions; the other, Sir John Stonor

John Stonor

Sir John Stonor KS was a British justice and the first notable member of the influential Stonor family. He was the son of Richard Stonor, an Oxfordshire freeholder, with the family name coming from the village of Stonor...

, was his replacement on two of those occasions. He lived for another twelve years after retirement, dying in 1347.