High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Chief Justice of Common Pleas was the head of the Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, which was the second-highest common law court in the English legal system until 1875, when it (along with the other two common law courts and the equity and probate courts) became part of the High Court of Justice. As such, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas was one of the highest judicial officials in England, behind only the Lord High Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice of England, who headed the Queen`s Bench (King`s when the monarch was male).