determin Causes yet appealable to the Lord Chancellor 5. There are other Masters of Chancery call'd Extraordinary and six Clerks of eminent Quality and other Clerks imployed both in the Chancery and Rolls but these are not Summon'd to Parliaments of whom I shall speak more but in in those capacities which I have mention'd the Master of the Rolls as Master of the Rolls or chief Clerk of the Pettibag or both or chief Master of Chancery or in all three Capacities he is very Assisting to a Parliament especially in the business of Summons c. For as I have shewn in Cap. 2. whenever the Kings Warrant is sent to the Lord Chancellor to issue out Writs for a Parliament his Lordship either sends it or a like Warrant to the Master of the Rolls who as chief Clerk of the Pettibag causeth the other Clerks of the Office to ingross all the Writs both for the House of Lords and House of Commons so as they may be fit for the Great Seal and these being thus done and fairly abstracted and ingross't into a Roll which is call'd the Parliament Pawn and lies there as a Memorial and Record of what they have done and as a President for the future all the particular Writs mention'd or intimated in that Pawn being fitted are carried to the Lord Chancellor and being in his presence Seal'd they are immediately delivered to Messengers belonging to the Chancellor who do take care to dispose some to the Persons to be Summon'd for the Lords House and others to the respective Sheriffs of all Counties and Comitated Cities for Elections of such as are to sit in the House of Commons and so the Master of the Rolls and the Clerks of the Pettibag having done all their parts and the Messengers and Sheriffs theirs the same Writs which concern the Lords House are or ought to be return'd to the Clerk of the Lords House at the first Sitting and the Writs for Elections are to be return'd by the respective Sheriffs to the Clerk of the Chancery Crown Office and not to the Pettibag as hath and will be shewn for they come no more there till some time after Dissolution of a Parliament and then for ease of that Office and more safely preserving them they are order'd to be carried to the Rolls and from thence to the Tower all which will be more fully shewn which method I often repeat in this Treatise because I find it so much neglected As to the Imployment of the other Eleven Masters of the Chancery in time of Parliament I shall shew it in a distinct Chapter This Master of the Rolls doubtless hath been anciently Summon'd to Sit in the Lords House yet I find no Writs issued to him till the 36th of Henry the Eighth and then as Master of the Rolls not as chief Master of Chancery and after that he was Summon'd to all Parliaments except the 39th of Eliz. and first of King James and in this very Parliament a Writ was prepared for him but being Elected a Member of the House of Commons his attendance was not requir'd in the House of Lords for what reason I know not but he hath his place whenever he Sits there next to the Lord Chief Justice of England upon the second Woolsack as will be shewn in the Chapter of Places The Consimilar Writ to the Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas THE Patent which invests this Chief Justice to his Imployment in this Office is in haec verba Carolus c. Omnibus ad quos Patentes Litterae nostrae pervenerint salutem Sciatis quod Constituimus dilectum fidelem Orlandum Bridgman Militem Capital'Justitiarium nostrum de Banco suo Duran ' bene placito Teste c. Observations HIS Writ of Summons to Sit in Parliament is also Capitali Justitiario nostro de Banco mutato nomine in all other words agreeing with the Exemplar and here it may be again observed to prevent vulgar misunderstandings That the Lord Chief Justice of England is Chief Justice of the Kings Bench or upper Bench and this is Chief Justice of the Common Bench and sometimes one is call'd Chief Justice of the Pleas of the Crown as in the Latin words De placitis Coronae and this Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas or Communia Placita yet in the Latin Writ it is de Banco so as both Courts are call'd Bancks or Benches and both call'd also Courts of Pleas in respect of Pleas or Pleadings one properly concerns the King in matters Criminal the other concerns the Pleas or Pleadings of the Commonalty or Common People among themselves in matters Civil and one also is call'd the Upper Bench the other the Common Bench and therefore what ever the Patent or Writs are yet for an easier distinction I here intitle one the Chief Justice of the Kings Bench the other Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas 2. As for the names Bench or Banc Pleas or Placita I refer them to my Annotations 3. The Chief Justice hath three more Justices to assist him in this Court 4. That which makes the eminency of this Court is That only the learned Serjeants of the Coife of whom I shall speak in order being the next Degree to Judges do Plead in this Court yet not prohibited from Pleading in all other Courts but all other Graduans of Law have the liberty to Plead in all other Courts but not in this 5. The Pleas of this Court cannot be so well ascertain'd as that of the Kings Bench because the Pleas held by Common Persons or between Subject and Subject are devided into as many Branches as Actions and the Actions into as many Causes as there are variety of Contests in the Kingdom yet all these Actions Causes and Contests are included under three notions Real Personal and Mixt which are here tried as they happen according to the strict Rules of Law As for Personal and Mixt Actions they are tried in other Courts but Real Actions are only Pleadable here nor are any Fines of Concord which is observable levied in any Court but this so that as Sir Edward Coke saith the Motto of this Court may be Haec est finalis Concordia 6. Upon these and other considerations the necessity of requiring Assistances from the Justices of this Court may appear For as the Justices of the Kings Bench may acquaint the Lords with what concerns the King so the Justices of the Common Pleas may most properly acquaint them with what concerns the People whereby Laws for either may be corrected repeal'd or made de novo as shall be thought most expedient 7. The Justices of this Court are not concern'd in the managing of any Summons to a Parliament as the Lord Chancellor and Master of the Rolls are Of the Consimilar Writ to the Chief Baron of the Exchequer THE Title of this is different from the two Chief Justices for his Pattent is thus Carolus c. Omnibus ad quos Patentes Litterae nostrae pervenerint Sciatis
Marshal and Duke Thomas dying at Padua about the end of this Parliament Henry the Brother succeeded in the Dukedom and sat as Duke of Norfolk and Henry the Eldest Son of the said Duke Henry being then intituled Earl of Arundel did sit as Earl of Arundel and Lord Mowbray so as that Title of Earl Marshal is in Duke Henry and the Title of Mowbray in the Earl of Arundel and that Title of Earl Marshal only inpossibility to come again into Mowbray And this may be added that during Duke Thomas his Life James Earl of Suffolk by Deputation did execute that Office for reasons which I leave to other Writers SECT XIII Of the Lord Admiral of England Obs I THE Kings of England do constantly make Admirals of Squadrons of Ships but the Admiral which I am here to speak of is the highest of all intituled the Lord Admiral of England and may be well call'd Admirals from their seeing and knowing the mirabilia or Wonders of the Deep The Greeks call'd this Officer Thalassiarcha from Thalassa the Sea and Archos the Chief at Sea and from thence the Romans according to the Latin Idiom call'd him Thalassiarchus and of later days Admirallus which is no Latin word and in English Admiral 2. To him is committed the Government of the King of England's Navy and Power to decide all causes Maritim as well Civil as Criminal and of all things done on or beyond the Seas in any part of the World and many other Jurisdictions on the Coasts and in Ports Havens and Rivers and of such Wrecks and Prizes as are call'd by the Lawyers Lagon Jetson and Flotson that is Goods lying in the Sea floting on the Sea or cast by the Sea on the shore admitting some few exceptions and Royalties granted to other Lords of Mannors And these and all other Cases dependant on this Jurisdiction are determin'd in his Courts of Admiralty by such Rules of the Civil Law as do not invade the Common Laws of England 3. And of these Civil Laws which concern Sea assairs there are two most eminent Guiders to Civilians viz. Those made at Rhodes in the Mediterranean by the Grecians and augmented by the Romans call'd Lex Rhodia or the Rhodian Law The other made at Oleron an Island anciently belonging to England but lying on the borders of France by out King Richard the First both of which are still in great veneration 4. So as well for the Laws by which he governs the Maritim concerns as for his great Jurisdiction being as vast as the Ocean he may be said to have alterum Imperium extra intra Imperium and therefore this Honour and Care is intrusted to the hands of some one of the Blood Royal or some one or more joyntly of the most eminent of the Nobility 5. And in respect of this Power there is a constant Converse and Commerce with all parts of the World especially where the Civil Laws are practis'd and therefore it hath been the prudence of our former Kings even to this day to allot him a place in the Lords House as to the Marshal of England for both of their concerns are chiefly manag'd as I have shewn by the Civil Laws so as the Lord Marshal and Lord Admiral may be look'd on as the two Supporters to the learned Professors of those Laws as the other Lords are to the Professors of the Common Laws and possibly the greatest number of the Masters of Chancery of whom I shall speak in order who sit in the Lords House were originally contrived to be Doctors of the Civil Laws upon this ground That if there were at any time just occasion in that House to make use of any points in that Profession they might give their advices or opinions therein 6. This Dignity as I said was ever conferr'd upon some of the chief Nobility by vertue whereof they had their Writs of Summons and their Place in the Lords House and this long before the Act of Precedency for we find the Earl of Arundel in 13 Edw. 3. and the Earl of Northumberland in 7 R. 2. the Earl of Devon and Marquess of Dorset in the same Kings time and so the Earls of Salisbury Shrewsbury Worcester and Wiltshire and others of the like Degrees recited in the Clause Rolls needless to renumerate being Admirals were summon'd and in our extant Pawns in 36 H. 8. Johanni Dudley Vicecomiti Lisle Magno Admirallo and in 1 E. 6. Tho. Dom. Seymer Magno Admirallo and in 7 Edw. 6. Edv. Fenys Domino Clinton Magno Admirallo and in 1 2 3 4 Mariae Phil. Mar. Gulielmo Howard de Effingham Magno Admirallo and in 4 5 Phil. Mar. Edw. Fenys again and Charles Earl of Nottingham in Queen Elizabeth's time and George Duke of Buckingham in King James's time and King Charles the First 's time were still summon'd to Parliament with the Title of Admiral added to their hereditary Titles in their Writs and to this Parliament Jacobo Duci Ebor. Magno Admirallo c. And all these had their places in the Lords House according to the Act of Precedency as those before the Act was made This Office was conferr'd on the Duke of York for this Parliament Vid. Cap. 2. SECT XIV Of the Lord Steward of the King's House AS for the Orthography and Etymology and Antiquity of this Title Steward Obs I. I shall refer them to my Annotations However as it is sometimes writ with a T and sometimes a D it is under four Considerations the first as it represents a Royal Name and Family and therefore for distinction this is writ Stewart with a T and hath the superintendence chief interest and influence in all Parliaments since that Name was of that use in England 2. The other three are Titles official and written Steward with a D and as a further distinction from the first in Latin they are call'd Seneschalli and this the chief of the three is call'd Seneschallus Angliae or Lord High Steward of England of whom I shall give a full account in the Chapter of the Trials per Pares and shew how this great Officer is imploy'd either in or out of Parliaments 3. The last and least Degree of the 3 is call'd also Senescallus such as are the Stewards of Corporate Towns or Mannors which are not concern'd in the Summons or of use in Parliaments otherwise than as considerable Assistants in Elections of Members to serve in Parliaments But the Lord Steward of whom I now speak was call'd in H. the 8th time Magnus Magister Hospitij Regis or the Great Master of the Kings Houshold and ever since Magnus Senescallus Hospitij Regis or the Lord high Steward of the Kings House and he hath not only an eminent Employment Trust and Authority in ordering the Kings Houshold but an Authority above all Officers of that House except the Chappel Chamber and Stables but in all Parliaments is obliged to attend the Kings
consists of Nine more viz. three Justices of the Kings Bench three of the Common Pleas and three other Barons of the Exchequer and these have gradual interests in those three Courts as will be shewn and with the other five do make fourteen of the first and second Orb and as a further addition of Honor twelve of these fourteen in their Circuits twice every year have Courts also provided for them almost in every County of England as will be shewn The third Orb of the Professors of Law are not usually above six in number yet sometimes more sometimes fewer as will be shewn I mean of such only as have Summons to sit in Parliament and these have Courts also allotted for them viz. the Kings Serjeants at Law the Kings Attorney General the Kings Sollicitor General have the Inns of Courts though common also to under Graduates and Students and the two principal Secretaries of State have the Kings Court or Palace for their Regalias so as the before mentioned five of the first Orb and nine of the second Orb and six of the third Orb these three Orbs being the most eminent of that Profession have not only the Jurisdiction and an Interest in the said Courts but as an higher mark of Honour and Esteem though they were no Lords or Barons of the Realm yet they were and are usually Summon'd by Writs to the High Court of Parliament when ever it Assembled and there they are also dignifi'd with peculiar Places appointed for them and many Priviledges of which with their Number and the Causes of Variation of that Number I shall give an Account in the ensuing Sections 10. These as I said are imploy'd in the Lords House to be Assistants with their sage advices who are perfect knowers both of general and particular Laws viz. in the Laws of God and Nature the Civil Laws practised in most parts of Europe the Ecclesiastick Laws of other Nations but more particularly of our own of our Common Statute Municipal and Customary and By-Laws which are alterae Leges and many others of other Titles which we derive and still retain from the old Roman Empire Saxons c. And thus fraught with knowledge of Laws they bring them for the most part into the Hive or compass of our Common and Statute Law and their universal knowledge makes them esteem'd Learned their Learning indues them with Wisdom their Wisdom enables them to be Justices or Judges out of Parliament and in Parliament to be Assistants there for the better carrying on of Publick Actions and Consultations so as the present Laws may be preserved or such new ones made as their Wisdoms shall think fit to advise there being sometimes as much necessity of making new or correcting altering explaining or inlarging the old as in possitively preserving them for when a Buttress hath sustain'd an House many years and is it self decayed by time it is to the safety of the House to have another Supporter in its room for tempora mutant mores and mores may justly mutare leges considered according to the diversity of circumstances and herein consists the great Master-piece of advice by turning a nolumus mutare into a rational volumus 11. Having now given a short discourse of Law and the Professors of it in general occasioning just grounds for their Assistance I shall proceed to the particular Titles of the chiefest Professors of it and according to my first propos'd Method go on with the fifth Exemplar mention'd in the aforesaid Parliament Pawn viz. to the Lord chief Justice of England The Form of the Fifth Exemplar-Writ to the Lord chief Justice of England CArolus Secundus Dei gratia Angl ' Scot ' Franc ' Hibern ' Rex fidei defensor ' c. Dilecto fideli suo Roberto Foster Militi Capitali Justiciario nostro ad placita coram nobis tenend'assign ' salutem Quia de advisamento assensu Consilij nostri pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotijs nos statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernen ' quoddam Parliamentum nostrum apud Civitatem nostram Westm ' octavo die Maij prox ' futur ' teneri ordinavimus ibidem vobiscum cum magnatibus proceribus dicti Regni nostri Colloquium habere tractatum vobis mandamus firmiter injungend ' quod omnibus alijs pretermissis predictis die loco personaliter intersitis nobiscum ac cum caeteris de Concilio nostro super dictis negotijs tractatur ' vestrum Consilium impensur ' Et hoc nullatenus omittatis Teste me ipso apud Westm ' decimo octavo die Februarij Anno regni nostri tertiodecimo The next words in the foremention'd Pown are consimilia Brevia diriguntur personis subscriptis But before I speak of those Consimilars I shall add some few Observations on this Exemplar Observations on the Exemplar and its Consimilars I Did think to have made distinct Observations on this and the following Consimilars but finding how curiously they in their Jurisdictions Power Authorities and Operations are intermix'd separated and yet united I shall speak of them as they spring up from my Recollections on which others may graft more as best suiting to theirs 1. Neither this chief Assistant nor any of the following Assistants which are call'd Consimilars in the Pawns are mention'd in the Kings Warrant to the Lord Chancellor for summoning a Parliament otherwise than in these words Wherefore We Will and Command you forthwith upon receipt hereof and by warrant of the same to cause such and so many Writs to be made and seal'd under our great Seal for the accomplishment of the same as in like cases hath been us'd and accustom'd as may be seen in the first Chapter And thereupon the Lord Chancellor according to the ancient Custom and such Precedents as I have and shall set down sends his Warrant to the Clerks of the Pettibag in haec verba as in the first Chapter You are hereby required forthwith to prepare for the great Seal of England the several Writs of Summons for the Lords Spiritual and Temporal as also for the Judges and others to appear at the Parliament to be holden c. in such method and form and directed to such persons as are and have been usual in such cases c. Now that the Lord Chief Justice and the Consimilars of which I am to speak have been anciently and usually summon'd I have and shall shew in their following order 2. In the Act of Precedency there is no mention made of the Places of these Assistants but there having never been any dispute among themselves of their Places or Precedencies for they are perfect in their own Regularities and Seniorities c. it had been but expense of time and Paper to insert them and therefore according to the constant order by which they have sat anciently in the Lords House I shall treat distinctly of them so soon as I have ruin through