Sir John Ernley (1464 – 22 April 1520) was a British justice. He was educated at one of the Inns of Chancery from 1478 to 1480 before being admitted to Gray's Inn

Gray's Inn

The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

. By 1490 he was a particularly conspicuous member of the "Sussex circle" gathered around Edmund Dudley

Edmund Dudley

Edmund Dudley was an English administrator and a financial agent of King Henry VII. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons and President of the King's Council. After the accession of Henry VIII, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and executed the next year on a treason charge...

. In his home county of Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

 he maintained a substantial legal practice, serving as feoffee

Feoffee

A Feoffee is a trustee who holds a fief , that is to say an estate in land, for the use of a beneficial owner. The term is more fully stated as a feoffee to uses of the beneficial owner. The use of such trustees developed towards the end of the era of feudalism in the middle ages and became...

, arbitrator, justice and commissioner, and joining the home assize circuit in 1496 and 1497 as an associate, followed by a position on the county bench in 1498. In the 16th century, he acted as a feoffee for Edmund Dudley, and was appointed Attorney General for England and Wales

Attorney General for England and Wales

Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...

 on 12 July 1507 as a result of his influence with Dudley and, as an extension, Henry VII

Henry VII of England

Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....

. He was reappointed when Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 came to power and under him became an important figure in the court. After Sir Robert Rede

Robert Rede

Sir Robert Rede KS was a British justice. He was the son of William Rede of Wrangle, Lincolnshire, a merchant working from Calais, and his wife Joan. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1467 and gave his first reading there in 1481...

 died in 1519, Ernley was selected to replace him, and was appointed on 27 January of that year. He served for barely a year, dying on 22 April 1520, and was buried in Sidlesham

Sidlesham

Sidlesham is a small village and civil parish, on the Manhood Peninsula, five kilometres south of Chichester in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It has a small primary school. The area has had a Prebendary since medieval times...

, near Chichester

Chichester

Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...

.