David Lloyd was an American lawyer and politician. He was a member of Pennsylvania General Assembly from 1693 to 1728. He also served as a Chief Justice of Pennsylvania from 1717 to 1731.
Background
David Lloyd was born in 1656 in the parish of Manafon, Montgomeryshire, Wales. Nothing is known about his family, but he was probably a relative of Thomas Lloyd. They came from the same county in Wales, and Thomas, in his will, refers to David as his kinsman.
Education
He was educated at a Grammar school.
Career
Lloyd may have lived for a time at Cirencester in Gloucestershire. On April 24, 1686, he received a commission from William Penn as attorney-general of Pennsylvania. He arrived in Philadelphia on July 11 and he was shortly afterward appointed clerk of the county court, clerk of the provincial court, and deputy master of the rolls. He was closely associated with Thomas Lloyd, who was at that time master of the rolls, in his controversy with deputygovernor Blackwell. For refusing the demand of the provincial council to produce the court records, he was removed from the clerkship of the provincial court on February 25, 1689, but the post was apparently restored after Blackwell's recall.
He served in the Assembly as a representative from Chester County, where he had landed interests, 1693-1695, and began his long intermittent career as speaker of the Assembly in 1694. He was a member of the provincial council from Chester in 1695-1696 and again from 1698 to 1700. In 1698, Lloyd became involved in a quarrel with Robert Quarry, the judge of the newly created court of vice-admiralty. He was accused of advising the magistrates to take goods by force out of the King's warehouse at Newcastle and of otherwise resisting the enforcement of the acts of trade and navigation. On one occasion, when the marshal of the court produced his commission, Lloyd held it aloft and pointing to the picture of his Majesty which adorned it, is said to have exclaimed: "Here is a fine baby, a pretty baby, but we are not to be frightened with babies".
As a result of Quarry's complaints, Lloyd was rebuked by Penn, removed from his post as attorney-general, and suspended from the council in 1700. This was the turning point of Lloyd's career. He became an almost lifelong enemy of Penn and of James Logan, secretary of the province and the chief representative of the proprietary interests in Pennsylvania. His first reaction was to join forces with Quarry, who appointed him deputy judge and advocate to the admiralty. But this was only a passing phase.
He was elected to the Assembly from Philadelphia County in 1703 and almost immediately became the recognized leader of the democratic or anti-proprietary party. He was reelected annually from either the county or the city of Philadelphia until 1710 and was speaker in 1704-1705 and from 1706 to 1709. During these years he was constantly in conflict, not only with Logan, but also with the deputy governors, John Evans and Charles Gookin. He was the author of the famous remonstrance or list of grievances sent to William Penn in 1704 and the prime mover in the attempt to impeach Logan in 1707.
The people finally became tired of the eternal bickering and Lloyd and nearly all of his partisans were defeated in 1710. He soon regained his popularity, however, and was reelected to the Assembly, but not to the speakership, in the following year. He removed from Philadelphia to Chester, in 1711, and represented Chester County in the Assembly in the years 1712-1714, 1715-1718, 1723-1724, and 1725-1729. He was again chosen speaker for the sessions 1714-1715, 1723-1724, and 1725-1729. He was recorder of the city court of Philadelphia from 1702 to 1708 and chief justice of the province from 1717 until his death, which occurred at Chester on April 6, 1731.
It is difficult to analyze Lloyd's character and assess the value of his work because the records of the time were written almost entirely by his enemies. According to their view, his ethical standards as a lawyer were questionable and he was vindictive and unscrupulous as a politician.
Achievements
Politics
Lloyd was a member of the Democratic Party. While at Assembly he advocated the right of affirmation for jurors and witnesses and opposed the appropriation of public funds for military purposes. Supplies were to be voted only on condition that they "should not be dipt in blood. " As a democrat, he insisted upon constitutional reform, upon the right of the Assembly to meet and adjourn at its own pleasure, and upon the popular control of the judiciary.
Personality
James Logan said that he was a man "of a sound judgment, and a good lawyer, but extremely pertinacious and somewhat revengeful".
Connections
Lloyd was married twice. His first wife, whose name was Sarah, lived at Cirencester in Gloucestershire, England. His second wife was Grace Growden, daughter of Joseph Growden of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. They were married in 1697 and she was still living at the time of his death.