THE JUDGES OF ENGLAND; WITH SKETCHES OF THEIR LIVES, AND MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES CONNECTED WITH THE COURTS AT WESTMINSTER, FROM THE TIME OF THE CONQUEST. BY EDWARD FOSS, F.S.A. OF THE INNER TEMPLE. VOL. V. CONTAINING THE REIGNS OF HENRY VII., HENRY VIII., EDWARD VI., MARY, AND ELIZABETH, 1485-1603. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, & ROBERTS. The right of translation is reserved. THE JUDGES OF ENGLAND. HENRY VII. Reigned 23 years, 7 months, and 30 days; from August 22, 1485, SURVEY OF THE REIGN. THE" Union of the Roses," as it is called, by the accession of Henry VII., was the fourth interruption of the regal line within a period of eighty-six years. Although none of these changes had been unaccompanied by civil commotion, yet in every instance the seat of justice had been left undisturbed. As it cannot be supposed that the judges were entirely indifferent spectators of the stirring events of the times, nor that all preserved their opinions in silence, the non-removal of any of them on the success of the royal aspirant speaks strongly of the respect which was paid by the people to the law, and the reverential estimation with which they were generally regarded. It must have been something like a fear of outraging this feeling, united with a politic desire to avoid any semblance of disturbing the integrity of the government, that produced the curious effect, on this as on former occasions, of a re-appointment of every judge to the place he held in the preceding reign. The arena in which the judges acted seems to have been looked upon as neutral ground, and their opinions to have been received as the |