The formidable judge was able and impartial in civil cases, but in criminal law it was otherwise. He was at Newcastle Assizes in 1684 and Ambrose Barnes tells us that Jeffreys would sit 'drinking to filthy excess till two or three o'clock in the morning, going to bed as drunk as a beast.' When the court sat, Jeffreys 'with his raileries and jests then acted the part of a harlequin.' (Jack Pudding erased).
A member of a 'reading circle' was brought before him.

'Can you read?' roared the judge.
'Yes, my lord.'
'Reach him the book.'

A Latin testament was passed to the prisoner, who opened it at the first verse of the seventh chapter of Matthew and read the Latin. 'Construe it, sirrah!' snapped Jeffreys. 'Judge not lest ye be judged; for with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged!'
It took Jeffreys until the next assize to think of an answer. Then he dismissed the prisoner: 'Go, and sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto you!'