only the direction of his demeasns and receipts the administration of Common justice continuing still in that other Court of his as it was before his coming hither For proofe of which matter I call to witnesse Gervasius Tilberiensis a learned man that lived so neer to the time of the Conquest that he confesseth he had talk with Henry Bishop of Winchester which was son to the Conquerours sister This man was an officer of the Exchequer here and penned speciall dialogues of the observations of the Exchequer which he dedicated to King Henry the second and are yet in the Exchequer in the Black Booke there in the first part of which his dialogues ca. 1. he writeth for the advancement of the Antiquity of the Exchequer that it was brought out of Normandy by the Conquerour and for the authority of the Court he hath amongst other words these following Nulli licet statuta Scaccarii infringere vel eis quavis temeritate resistere habet enim hoc commune cum ipsa domini Regis curia in qua ipsc in propria persona jura decernit quod nec recordationl nec sententiae in eo latae liceat alieni contradicere Whereby it is plainly proved the Court of the Exchequer was at that time a distinct Court from that Court of the King in the which he himself sometimes and commonly his justice called then Prima justitia did use to sit The one Court having authority over the Kings demeasns and receipts as Gervasius in all that worke at large discourseth and the other using the power of distributing common justice as his words in this place do sufficiently purport And therefore I cannot but here by the way note the error of them which do maintain that the Exchequer was in this time of King Henry the second a Court of whatsoever Common pleas for all subjects and which for proof of their assertion do alledge the Title of Mr. Glanvilâ—'s book in part thus Et illas solum leges continet consuetudines secundum quas placitatur in curia Regis ad scaccarium for overthrow whereof first I say that the words of this title be not the words of Glanvill himself but of that man whatsoever he were that published his book by print for he entituleth the book thus Tractatus de legibus tempore Reg is Henrici secundi compositus illustri viro Ranulpho de Glanvill juris regni antiquarum Consuctudinum eo tempore peritissimo which doth plainly discover that he speaketh of Glanvilla as of another man and which also lived not then but at another time Secondly I affirm that if it were the speech of Glanvill himself yet if you will take the rest of his words with you then you shall see that they have another meaning for the words stand thus together Secundum quas placitatur in Curia Regis ad Saccarium coram Justiciis ubicunque fuerint which words coram Justiciis ubicunque fuerint do set forth the other Courts of the King whereof I now speake Lastly I undertake to shew not by the title but by the Text of Glanvills owne booke that in his time the Kings Court was one and the Exchequer another for throughout his whole worke he called the Court of Common Pâ—eas Curiam Domine Regis And the Stile of the writ therefore is quod sit coram me vel Justiciis meis But when he cometh to speake of the Exchequer he talketh of Acompts to be made to the King there and of none other matter as namely in the 7. book Ca. 10. where he hath this Si dominus Rex aliquam custodiam alicui commiserit tunc distinguitur utrum ei custodiam pleno jure commiserit ita quod nullum inde reddere compotum oporteat ad Scaeâ—arium aut aliter But before that I leave the raign of this King Henry the second I must add this also that he in the xxiii of his raign did by the advice of some of his Bishops cut the Realm into 6. parts and to every of these parts appointed three Justices the which are by Henry Bracton called Itinerants and in Brittons Book Justices in Eire quasi errantes as Gervas of Tilbery expoundeth it The proper names of which Justices are set down by Roger Hoveden who also describeth their circuits not to differ much from the same that our Justices of Assize do now ride And so I conclude that not only during all the time of the Conquerour himself of William his son and of his other son Henry the first which was a peaceable Prince and a maintainer of the antient Laws and learned in them whereof he had the name Beauclark but also under the government of King Stephen and of this Heury the second there was one Court following the King which was the place of Soveraign justice both for matter of Law and conscience and one other standing Court which was Governess only of the lands and revenues of the Crown The first of which was then called Curia Domini Regis Aula regia Bract. fol. for that the Prince himself did many times fit in person there and had Justices a latere suo residentes as Bracton saith namely his chiefe Justice Chancellour Constables Marshall and others The later was then as it is now calâ—ed Scaccarium eo quod lusibilis Scaccarii formam haberet If you will give credit to Garves Tilber or else it took the name of Statarium Eo quod stabilis et firma effect ibi as Paulus Aemilius and after him Polydore Virgil doth write of it and in this the Prince sate not personally at any time but his chiefe Justice as President and then the Chancellor of the Exchequer the Treasurer and Barons The Common Place And in this manner that high Court of the King continued untill that Henry the third in the 9. yeare of his raign which was about the time in which he aspired to the age of xxi years granted unto his subjects that great Charter of the liberties of England in the 11. Ca. whereof he ordained thus Communia placita non sequuntur curiam nostram sed teneantur in aliquo loco certo whereupon followed two things The first This Court was in being before this statute it doth not appeare that it was then newly e. rected by the stat of M. Ch. that this Court was directed for the determination of all such pleas as did not concern the Crown and dignitie of the Prince but were meerly civill and did belong unto the subjects between themselves The second that this Court was established in a place certain and that was at Westminster to the end that the people might have a standing Seal of Justice wher to they might resort for the tryall of their owne causes and not to be driven to follow the King and his Court but only where the matter respecte him And after this fo 105.108 all the Writs that are recited in Henry Bractons book
Barons of the Realm the rather because that speech is accompanied with the words Common-Councell and for that also the selfe same Author doth afterward use the words Comunis assensus Baronagii when he intendeth to signifie a just Parliament Ingulphus who died before 1109. saith Rex Eldredus convocavit magnates Episcopos proceres optimates ad tractandum de publ negotiis Regni Howbeit since I labour not with any penurie of proof I wil relinquish the advantage of this matter desiring only that they may be called to memorie which Polydore Virgil hath before acknowledged concerning the restitution of the form of the Parliament made by this very same King of whom also the Saxon Chronicles of Peterborough Abby do testifie that in the yeare after Christ 1123. he sent his writers over all England and bad his Bishshops Abbots and all his Theignes which signifie asmuch as Barons before that they should come to his Witena Gemote on Candlemas day to Glocester But to leave him and to leap over Stephen because he hath striven longer for the Crown then he enjoyed it King Henry the second saith Mathew Paris in the year of our Lord Christ 1185. Convocavit Clericos Regni populum cum omni nobilitate apud fontem Clericorum And yet again to passe over his two sons Richard and John whereof the one spent the most part of his Raign in battell abroad and the other in Civill warrs at home I read in the same Author that King Henry the third did in the year of our Lord 1225. call together Omnes Clericos laicos totius regni Which assembly the same writer also in some places expresseth by the words Vniversitas regni but what need I to hang long on the credit of Historians seeing from this time downward the authentique writers of the Parliaments themselves do offer mee present help The great Charter of England which passed from this King about this time and for which the English men had no lesse striven than the Trojans for their Helena beareth no shew of an Act of Parliament and yet I will prove by the Depositions of two sundry Parliaments That it was made by the comon assent of all the Realme in the time of King Henry the third for so saith the statute called Confirmatio Chartae Anno. 25. E. 1. in flat Termes and the statute made at Westminster Anno. 25. E. 3. Cap. 1. saith that it was made by the King Peeres and Commons of the land in the 20. year of the same King Henry the statute of Mertâ—n was published which saith thus Provisum fuit consessum tam a praedictis Archiepiscopis Episcopis Comitibus Baronibus quam ab ipso rege aliis And in the 52. yeare of his raign was the statute of Marle-bridge made provideat as it self speaketh ipso domino rege ac convocatis discetioribus eiusdem Regni tam majoribus quam minoribus provisum est statutum c. The statute of Westminster the first which was made in the third yeare of E. 1. hath this title The establishments of King Edward made by this Councell and by the Assent of the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Earles Barons and all the Comonalty of the land thither sumoned The statute made at Gloucester in the 6. year of the same Kings raign is there said to be thus made Purrelant le Roy apelles le pluis discretes de son Royalme auxibien des greinders come des meindres establie est concordantment ordenie To draw to an end King Edward the second held a Parliament in the 14. year of his raign wherein are these words Le Roy per assent des Prelates Counts Barons tout le Comunaltie de son Realme en le Parliament c. and the like speech hath he in another statute that he made Ne quis occasionetur pro morte Petri de Gaveston I do not think that I shall need to speake for further proofes amongst the Records of Parliaments after this time for they do from henceforth not only shew themselves in such store and plenty but also set forth the severall states themselves the duty of their presence the paines of their default or departure and sundry other circumstances so particularly and plainly that as I might well be charged if you would stand upon them in a matter not doubtfull to have used speech nothing at all needfull and yet least any man should suspect that any of the two estates of this Assemblie derived his voice in Parliament from the authority of any of these later lawes I must leave him to understand that in one short Statute of Parliament holden in the 5 year of King Richard 2. statute 2. ca. 4. he may reade it 4. severall times plainly spoken that this was done anciently and of old time So that here again also Prescription is ready to serve the turne and to say the truth this one law may stand for an Interpreter of all the rest for whether they be said to be made by the King and his Barons or by the King and his Clergie and Laytie or by the King and his discreeter men both great and small or by the common Assent of all the Realme as I have already shewed or by the King and his Wisemen or by the King and his Councell or his Comon-Councell or by the King Earles Barons and other Wisemen or after such other like phrases whereof you may meet with many in the volumes of Parliament it cometh all to this one point namely that the King his Nobilitie and Commons did ordaine them And which is more if you shall find any act of Parliament seeming to passe under the name and authoritie of the King only as some have that shew indeed yet you must not by and by judge that it was established without the Assent of the other estates To take one example for the rest The statute of Gloucester made the 6. E. 1. speaketh thus Our soveraigne Lord the King for the amendment of the land hath provided the statutes under-written c. But yet the statutes made at Westminster in the 13 year of that King and the statute of Quo Warranto set forth in the â—0 year of that King also â—eciting that statute of Gloucester do plainly acknowledge the one that it was provided by the more discreet men of the Realme aswell of the high as of the low degree being called together and the other that it was made by the King calling together the Earles Prelates Barons and his Councell And therefore it was well noted by Judge Brook That though magna Charta and sundry other old statutes do run in the name of the Prince only yet the other estates are supplyed in all good understanding Againe whether the forme of an Act be thus The King with the Assents of the Lords and Commons doth establish or thus It is enacted at the request of the Lords and Commons whereto the King assenteth or thus by the
Assent of the King and of the Lords spirituall and Temporall and of the Commons it is enacted or thus It is enacted by the authority of this present Parliament It is also all one in effect and substance for the words assenteth and enacteth are equivalent in this case 7. H. 7.14 2 H. 7. â—7 as it is holden 7. H. 7.14 2. H. 7.27 whereas otherwise the necessitie of the Assent of all the 3. estates of Parliament is such as without any one of them the rest will lose their labour For it fell out upon a time that the King in Parliament willed that a certain man should be attainted and should lose his hands whereunto the Lords assented But because there was nothing spoken of the Commons it was adjudged by all the Iustices 4. H. 7.18 That this was no Acte that might binde 4. H. 7.18 and therefore the partie was restored Hitherto of the Continuance and Assent of this our first and highest Court This Court of Parliament maketh inlargeth diminisheth abrogateth repealeth and reviveth Lawes statutes c. concerning matters ecclesiasticall capitall criminall common civill martiall maritine c. Cook 1 Inst fol. 110. sect 164. see 4. Inst chap. Parlia ment whereunto after that I shall have added a word or two of the jurisdiction thereof I will proceed to the rest if all judgements as Cicero said be conversant either in the punishment of offences or in the decision of controversies then is the Judgment of our Parliament of as ample authority as the assent of any or all other Courts whatsoever for it declareth the lawes that do bind all persons in all Causes aswell ecclesiasticall as temporall whereof you may see a great many examples in the volume of the old saxon Parliaments how strange a thing so ever the popish Clergie in former times have thought it to be it hath jurisdiction also in such causes which have need of help and for which there is no help by any law already in force And whereon the erronious Judgments of any other Courts must be reversed by a higher authority this Court doth not only reverse the errors of the upper Bench formerly called the Kings Bench which is superior to all other but it may also amend the errors committed by the Parliament it self if any such shall at any time appeare Ecclesiasticall Courts were many in number diverse in nature whereof the Chiefe was the Convocation of the Clergie of the whole nation of England and Wales which was assembled together with the estates of Parliament and it consisted of the Deanes Chapters Archdeacons Procurators of all the Cathedrall Churches the next were the 2. provinciall Synods of Canterbury and of Yorke to the later of the which there were only three Bishopricks subject that is to say Durham Carlisle and Chester and all the rest owed their obedience to the See of Canterbury After those were the generall Courts of the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury that is to say the Consistory or Court of the Arches for Appellations the Court of Audience of the Chancellours Court which was wont to be in the Arch-Bishops house The Commissaries or the Praerogative Court which is now in being for probate of Testaments and the Court of Faculties for dispensations then followed the speciall Courts of this Arch-Bishop namely his Consistory holden by his Commissary at Canterbury for his diocaesse and lastly the Court of those peculiar Deanaries which did belong unto him and do ly in the diocaesses of other Bishopps The other Arch-Bishops and each other Bishop had in his owne Diocesse the Court of his Chancellour and the Court of his Archdeacon or his Officiall But forasmuch as the description of these ecclesiasticall Courts perteineth to another learning I meane to the Civill and Canon Laws by which they were governed and do withall require a double treatise by themselves I will content my self with this bare enumeration of them at this time and bend my labour to the discovery of the Lay or temporall Courts that now have place amongst us Lay Courts were of two sorts The sorts of Lay Courts in antient time at the first only base and high concerning the beginning whereof I read that even as Moses the speciall minister of Justice appointed by God finding himself unable to sustain the burden of deciding all the Controversies of the people Deut. 1. Exod. 18. did set Judges over Tribes Hundreds Fifties and Tenths of the multitude to whom he referred the determination of smaller causes reserving to himself the knowledge of matters that were of greater importance so also that Saxon but Christian King of England Alfred divided his whole Realm of England first into Shires Division of the Realm for juris diction then those shires into Rathes Rapes or Rideings and these again into Wapentakes or Hundreds and lastly those also into Leets Barons or Tything and did withall establish jurisdiction in every of these permitting to the Reeves or Judges of the lower roomes authority of hearing smaller suites granting greater power to the Shiriffs and Aldermen which have charge of greater Assemblyes and detaining to himself the decision of such matters as by just cause of appellation either for Law or equity should be brought unto him This Court of the whole Shire was of two sorts whereof the one then called Scyre-Gemote that is the Assembly of the Shire and now termed the Sheriffs turn was then as now also holden twice in one year And this Court was of like jurisdiction to the Court of the Leet or of the Boroughs or Tything as it was then called The second and the Hundred Court then named Hundre des-Gemote was in those appointed to be holden once in a month at the least and that was of like nature to the County Court which is now kept every month also unto the Court Baron antiently called healgemote and corruptly halymote that is as I said the Court of a Hall or chief place which is now at this day to be kept and maintained once in three weeks if the Lord will so have it I read further more in the Laws of the Saxon King Edgar thus ne Gesece nan man Sone Synz c. Let no man seek to the King in matter of variance unless he cannot find right at home but if that right be too heavy for him then let him seek to the King to have it lightned The very like whereof is to be seen in effect in the Laws of Canutus the Dane sometimes King of this Nation also The hygh Court of justice before the Conquest for Laws and equity Out of which laws I gather four things First that every man had means to use in these base Courts at home in the Countrey for the recovery of his right Secondly Then that no man ought to use it out of the County or to draw his plea from thence without good cause both which things lye plainly in the letter of this Law Thirdly that
The beginning of the Parliament there proceedeth a most exquisite consent and delicious melody the begining of vvhich manner of consultation Parliaments holden long before the Conquest Mirror c. 8 sect 2 and namely vvith us of this Realme I see not hovv I can derive it from any other time then from that in vvhich the Germans or English nation did set their first foot on this land to invade vade it for Cornelius Tacitus vvriteth thus nec regibus infinita potestas de minoribus rebus principes consultant de maioribus omnes Neither did they together vvith the change of the soile make change of this their vvonted manner of deliberation for it is yet extant in monuments left behind them The conâ—â—nuance of the Parliament untill the Conquest that after their coming hither they frequented the same order in counselling vvhich they had used in their ovvne countrey before These two Kings are great exemplars of grave wisdom and would not trust their own judgements in a â—â—tter of so â—â—gh concernment but consulted their wisemen about it knowing that plus vident oculi quam oculus for proofe vvhereof I might call Beda the Saxon historiographer to vvittnesse vvho reporting that the Christian faith tooke roote by little and little amongst them in their particular Kingdomes vvithin this land vvriteth that King Edwyne of Northumberland vvould not embrace the preaching of the Gospell before he had communed and consulted with his freinds and Nobility and Wisemen and that Sigeberth the King of Eastsex being likevvise moved to be baptized did first call a Councell of his subiects and finding them all to favour the motion did then himselfe also assent unto it But because the Synodes or Parliaments themselves be most faithfull witnesses of their owne doings and for that also the kingdome of the west saxons prevailing over the rest and meeting as it were all their crownes to make on for hereselfe did in the end become mistresse or Monarch of the whole Heptarchie or seven Kingdoms into which this Land was first divided I will for a while leave historians and come to the Synodes first shewing by one or two examples what persons were wont to be present at the parliament of that kingdome and then confirming the like to have been used after such time as the whole land was reduced to one entire estate and monarchie Ine the King of Westsex who began his reign about the year of the Incarnation of our Lord Christ 712. begineth his Parliament thus I Ine by Gods guift King of the west Saxons with the advice and teaching of Cenred my father Ireledde my Bishop and Ercenwold my Bishop and with all mine Aldermen and eldest wisemen of my people and also a great assembly of Gods servants was carefull concerning the health of our soules and the establishment of our kingdome c. Now let us see if three estates of Parliament that is to say the King the Nobilitie and Commons may besound here First the Kings name is expresly added the Noblitie is signified under these Bishops and Aldermen for before the division of the Realme into Shires every large Territorie had an Alderman or governor who was after the allotment into shires for the most part an Earle in token whereof all our Earles to this day do beare the name of one shire or other The Commonalty is partly included in the words the Eldest wisemen of my people which betoken the laytie and partly in the words A great assemblie of Gods servants vvhich do notifie the Clergie so called then as it may appeare by the first Chapter of the very same lavves for that they vvere consecrated to Gods service And lest any man should thinke that these estates vvere called together more for their advice and counsell to be given to the king then for any authority or interest that they had in making the lavve the preamble calleth those lavves our dooms or Iudgments And the purveivv saith wee bid or command in the plurall number vvhich also may not be restrained to the King only for honour sake as vvee novv use to speake for he is there named I Ine in the singular only Thus much I note once for all That I be not hereafter troubled to repeat the same thing often About one hundred yeares after the death of this Ine one Aldred a King of the vvest Saxons also as he calleth himselfe but rather King of the English men and Saxons as Asserius saieth that vvrote his life did as he telleth in his preface to his lavves gather together and put in vvriting certain ordinances made by vvise men in sundry Synods of sundry former Kings as namely Ine aforesaid Offa King of middle England and Ethelbert of Kent the first christned Prince of all the Saxon nation vvhich collection of lavves he also saieth that he shevved to all his vvise men and they also thought them meet to be observed but what maketh it to the three estates will some man say that the kings and their wisemen which may well seem to be but their privy Counsellors did establish lawes yes very much for here the word Witena wisemen doth include the Nobilitie and CoÌ„mons because they be Counsellors of the Realme for the time in respect whereof the assemblie of them was of some called Witena Gemote a meeting of the wisemen as I told you And of other it is termed Commune consilium Regni the comon counsell of the Realme and that this must be so understood in this place I will use none other argument then the testimonie of Alfred himselfe drawne out of the same place for he saith as you have heard that the lawes of the King Ine were made by a Synode of wisemen and what those wisemen were you here also understand by the report of King Ine himselfe And the stile of his owne lawes that is to say by the Nobilitie and Comunalty besides the King Furthermore that I lose not another advantage offered me by this authoritie I must also gather hereby That not only the Kings of Northumberland Essex and Westsex used the three estates in making their Lawes but also that they of Kent and middle England maintained the same order for King Alfreds words as you see are one and the same for them all and then consequently their manner was one and the same through all But now that I may at the length leave these heptarchies or petie Kings and passe to the Monarchies and great ones the same Alfred after that the whole nation had yeilded themselves unto him and were shrowded under his protection against the furious storm of the Danish invasion did at one time conclude a peace with Guthrum the King of the Danes the stile whereof beginneth thus This is the peace that King Alfred and King Guthrum and all the wisemen of the English nation have taken c. Loe here you see Ealra Witena Gemote an assemblie of all the wisemen After him Edward called
the King himself hath a high Court of Justice wherein it seemeth that he sate in person for the words be Let him not seek the King And lastly that the same Court of the King did judge not only according to meer right and Law but also after equity and good conscience For first the words be unlesse he cannot find right at home by which it is permitted that then he might use to go to the King for right Secondly Again if that right be too heavy then let him seek to the King c. whereby it is meant that he should have the rigor of the Law mitigated by the conscience of the Prince and after this order and in these two sorts of Courts was all Justice administred untill the time of King William the Conquerourâ— during whose reign as allso under the Government of King Rufus his son it is to be thought that the ordinary course of Justice was greatly disturbed as well by reason of the intestine and sorraign wars as also because that these two Princes governed by a meer and absolute power as in a Realm obteyned by Conquest but yet it was so farre off that any of them did utterly abolish these Courts That the same did not only remain during all their times howsoever put to silence for the season but also had continuance afterwards and do yet as they may here bear life amongst us for as I said those base Courts of the Shires Hundreds Boroughs and Mannors do yet continue in manuer the same in substance that they then were and that the pleas ought no more to be taken from then now in our dayes without cause then they ought to have been may evidently be proved by the writs of Tolt pone accedas ad Curiam and Recordari vhich wee now yet use and that to this only end to remove suits upon cause out of one Court into another The like I may also affirm of that high Court which then followed the King himself for albeit that many particular high Courts be now since that time advanced by reason that the multitude of suits still increasing with the iniquity of the age of the World would not suffer them all to be ordered in one place without both into lerâ—ble delay of matters and grievous vexation of men yet nevertheless if ye will throughly behold the matter and subject about which all these Courts are now occupied you shall perceive that they are but as it were so many branches sprung up out of that one tree or stream derived from the same spring and sountaine For letting pass those Courts of the Country which I have already touched also those other small Courts of record that be in Cityes and Townes corporate Pipowders of Pies and powldres that is dusty feet because it is for Travailers to the sayr yea and the Pipowders Court it self that lasteth no longer then the Fayr All our higher Cours at this day be either Courts of right and Law or else of equity and conscience as they then were although they now require another subdivision than they then had And that if you will may be this The Courts of Law do either handle civil or criminall causes The late division of Lay Courts And these Civill causes be either moved between the Lord Protector and the people of England formerly between the King his tenants and subiects or else between one subiect and another Those Courts of Law that hold plea of common or civill matters that grew between the Prince and subiects be these The Exchequer devised for the safe custody of the lands formerly called the Crowne lands and for the faithfull answering of the revenues of the same The Court of wards and Liveryes and the Court of the dutchy of Lancaster both which are now altered And the Chancery Court at the least so far forth as the same hath to do with Petitions traverses de droith and such like Those other Courts of Law that have jurisdiction of civil or Common Pleas arising between subiect and subiect be these The Common Place or Bench The Marshalsea for matters heretosore within the vierge or limits assigned to the Kings house or Palace The Admiralty Court which was for marine Causes And the upper Bench in time past termed the Kings Bench so far forth as it yet doth retain jurisdiction in matters of debt Assumptions Actions upon the Case and such other things properly tryable in the Common Place and not there Criminall causes do generally belong to the upper Bench and have formerly belonged to the Starre Chamber or else particularly do appertaine to the Constables Court to the Marshasie Admiralty Goale delivery Oyer and Detorminer and Sessions of the Peace And these be the Courts of Law that have ordinary resort and jurisdiction The Courts of Conscience be these First the Chancery open to all men at all times Secondly the Court of the Request that did hear only the suits of poor men and of the Princes servants Thirdly The Chancellors Court that was within the Exchequer and Fourthly two Councills which formerly were established the one in Wales and the other in the North Country both consisting of President and Councill now taken away which were like unto those which in France are called Parliaments as I said before But now to the end that it may the more evidently appear how and by what degrees of increase these many Courts have sprung out of that one it is requisite that I proceede to the history of King William the Conqueror where I left and to descend from him downward untill I have set all on foote The Court of Exchequer The Authority of this Court is of originall jurisdiction without any Commission Cook 4. Inst c. 11. p. 130. It is confessed by all writings that the Conqueror after such time as he had suppressed the forces of those that made head against him here did immediatly cause the whole Realm to be exactly surveyed by Shires and Hundreds severally aswell for the understanding of the woods pastures meadows and tillage thereof The first survey of the Kingdome was by Alfred about 872. the Register thereof was kept in his treasury at Winchester Daniell f. 11. as also of the profitts of Churches Mills Villaines and of all other Commodities whatsoever The record of which survey was then called Domesday Book and was appoynted to be kept in the Exchequer at Westminster where it now resteth And that Court did he then also newly erect for the ordering of his revenues after the name of the Exchequer in Normandie it had not only the government of revenues of the Duke there but was also the soveraigne Court for administration of justice amongst his subjects Custom Normand 48.52.635 and so continued untill that Lewis the 12. King of France converted it into a Court of Parliament consisting of President and Counsellors and established it at Roan in Normandie where it now remaineth But this his Exchequer in England had
might not be put off to shew cause from day to day which rather increaseth trouble and charges than either furthereth the suit for the hearing or benefits the parties in their cause Which thing whether it might be more couvenient than the present manner of motions I will leave to the judgement of such as have more wisdom to devise and power to execute And will sum up the rest of our Courts and make an end The Court of the Dutchy or County Palatine of Lancaster which is by a late Act of Parliament committed to the custody of a Commissioner grew out of the grant of King Edward the third The Court formerly called The Dutchy Court the jurisdiction whereof is now committed to a Commissioner or Commissioners County Palatine of Lanc. erected in Parliament 50 E. 3. and Iustices of Assises Gaole delivery and of the Peace have been since the erection of it Cook lib. 4. f. 204. 205. who first gave that Dutchie to his Son John of Gaunt and endowed it with such royall rights as the County Palatine of Chester had And forasmuch as it was afterward extincted in the person of King Henry the 4th by reason of the union of it with the Crown of the Realm the same King knowing himself more rightfully Duke of Lancaster then King of England determined to save his right in the Dutchy whatsoever should befall the Kingdom And therefore he separateth his Dutchy from the Crown and setleth it so in the naturall persons of himself and his heirs as if he had been no King or Pollitique Body at all in which manner it indured during the reign of King Henry the first and of King Henry the 6th that were descended of him But when King Edward the 4th had by recovery of the Crown recontinued the right of the House of York he feared not to appropriate that Dutchie to the Crown again And yet so as he suffered the Court and Officers to remain as he found them And in this manner it came together with the Crown to King Henry the 7th who liking well of that policy of King Henry the fourth by whose right he also obteined the Kingdom made by separation of the Dutchie as he hath done and so left it to his posterity It appeareth in our Books of the Tearms of King Edward the 4th The Star Chamber and the Report of cases happening under the usurpation of Richard the third This Court was in being before 28 E. 3. Cook lib. That sometimes the King and his Counsell And sometimes the Lord Chancellour and other great personages did use to sit Judiciall in the place then and lately called for that it is decked with certain Stats the Star Chamber But forasmuch as be like that Assembly was not ordinary therefore the next King Henry the 7th and his Son Henry the 8th took order by two severall Laws That the Chancellour assisted with others there named should have power to hear complaints against Reteinors Embraceries misdemeanours of Offices and such other offences which through the power and countenance of such as do commit them do lift up the head above other faults and for the which inferiour Judges are not so meet to give correction And because that place was before time dedicated to the like service it hath ever since also been so used untill it was taken away in the late King Charls his reign The Court of Requests The Court of the Requests being of the same nature as I said with the Chancery took beginning by Commission from King Henry the 8. before which time the Masters of the Requests had no warrant of ordinary Jurisdiction This Court had no warrant by act of Parliament or prescription to establ shit Cook lib. 4. fol. 97. but travailed between the Prince and Petitioners by direction from the mouth of the King The same King also established one Court of President and Counsell in the Marches of Wales 34. 35. H. 8. The Court of the Marches of Wales and that of the North parts were taken away in the late K Ch. his reign Anno 17. Car. And another like Court of President and Counsell in the North parts which Court in Wales was a Court of Law in its principall Jurisdiction although it did withall exercise other powers of equity by vertue of other severall Commissions that did accompany the same and the Court of York was in its principall Jurisdiction Equity and did exercise other powers by vertue of other Commissions Court of Wards The Court of Wards began about the 32th year of the reign of King Henry the 8 who also in the next year after added thereto the office of the Masters of the Liveries and withall conjoyned the names ordaining that it should be called The Court of his Wards and Liveries The same King likewise had erected one Court of the generall Surveiours of his Lands and one other of the Augmentations and Revenues of his Crown and a third Court of the first fruits and Tithes of Benefices But all these were afterwards dissolved and by Queen Mary united to the Court of Exchequer Thus having run along these Courts deriving them from the Crown I might proceed yet further to shew the originall and beginnings of some Courts erected by the late Parliament and the nature and beginning of the High Court of Justice that was erected in Westminster Hall Anno 1648. but they being so fresh in the memory of this age I shall not need to make mention thereof FINIS