thumb|right|200px|Sir James Eyre, 1770 portrait by [[Lemuel Francis Abbott.]]

Sir James Eyre PC (17341 July 1799) was an English judge, the son of the Rev. Thomas Eyre, of Wells, Somerset.

Biography

He was educated at Winchester College and at St John's College, Oxford, which he left without taking a degree. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1755, through the influence of Thomas Parker, chief baron of the exchequer. He commenced practice in the lord mayors and sheriffs courts, paying £63 (2011: £) for one of the four counsel to the City of London Corporation.

In 1793 statutory powers were sought by Bishop Yorke to sell Wisbech Castle and grounds. The Bill passed despite the opposition of Eyre and the premises were sold by auction in the same year to Joseph Medworth. Eyre was son-in-law of Henry Southwell of Bank House, Wisbech, Isle of Ely a member of the family tenanting the castle, and to that extent an interested party.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 1791.

He died in 1799 and was buried at Ruscombe in Berkshire.