Parke's early career as a
barrister was not noted as particularly brilliant, but he was successful; in 1820, for example, he was junior counsel for the
Pains and Penalties Bill 1820 against
Caroline of Brunswick. a great achievement for somebody who had not even qualified as a
King's Counsel, and he was
knighted on 1 December 1828. In 1833 he was made a
Privy Councillor, and on 29 April 1834 was transferred, along with
Edward Hall Alderson, to the
Court of Exchequer, succeeding and being succeeded as a judge of the
Court of King's Bench by
John Williams. Parke's work in the
Court of Exchequer has led to him being called "one of the greatest of English judges; had he comprehended the principles of equity as fully as he did the principles of the common law, he might fairly be called the greatest. His mental power, his ability to grasp difficult points, to disentangle complicated facts, and to state the law clearly, have seldom been surpassed. No judgments delivered during this period are of greater service to the student of law than his". He was criticised for being too respectful of authority and unwilling to overturn precedent;
John Coleridge accused him of being dedicated to the form of the law rather than the substance. In 1854, Parke was appointed to the
Royal Commission for Consolidating the Statute Law, a
royal commission to consolidate existing statutes and enactments of
English law. The
Common Law Procedure Act 1854 and
Common Law Procedure Act 1855 led to his resignation from the Exchequer in disgust, but his reputation was such that the government recalled him by granting him a life peerage, that of
Baron Wensleydale, of
Wensleydale, in the
North Riding of Yorkshire on 16 January 1856. There was a question at the time of whether the
letters patent, which granted him a peerage "
for the term of his natural life", allowed him to sit in the
House of Lords; it was eventually decided that they did not, and a second set was issued with the usual form for
Baron Wensleydale, of
Walton, in the
County Palatine of Lancaster on 23 July 1856. This was irrelevant, since he had no sons able to take the peerage even if it was not a life appointment. He sat as part of the
Appellate Committee of the House of Lords until his death on 25 February 1868. ==Personal life==