Neile sat regularly in the courts of star-chamber and high commission.
In 1877 he was counsel for Great Britain before the Anglo-American fisheries arbitration at Halifax; in 1897 he was a joint delegate to Washington with Sir Wilfrid Laurier on the Bering Sea seal question; and in1898-1899a member of the Anglo-American joint high commission at Quebec.
Refusing to observe the ecclesiastical regulations of Archbishop Laud, he was brought before the court of high commission in 1629, and again in 1634, when, for opposing the placing of a rail around the communion table, he was suspended and imprisoned.
Episcopacy was restored, the court of high commission was revived, and ministers who refused to recognize the authority of the bishops were expelled from their livings.
He drew up articles aimed at nonconforming ministers, and obtained increased powers for the Court of High Commission.
