COUNTY COURTS-continued. the County Courts has been settled as follows: I. Common Law Jurisdiction, (1.) The recovery of debts, demands, (2.) Consent actions of every descrip- (c.) Attachment of debts; and II. Equity Jurisdiction,-(under County tion, or for enforcing any charge or lien; (4.) Suits for specific performance, or for the delivering up or cancelling any agreement for the sale or purchase of any property; (5.) Proceedings under the Trustee Relief Acts, or Trustee Acts; (6.) Proceedings relating to the mainte nance or advancement of infants; (7.) Suits for the dissolution or winding up of partnerships; and (8.) Proceedings for orders in the nature of injunctions. But in each of these cases the amount at stake must not exceed £500. III. Miscellaneous Jurisdiction,(1.) Grant and revocation of probate of wills, or of letters of administration, where personal estate is under £200 (21 & 22 Vict. c. 95); (2.) Jurisdiction in Admiralty (31 & 32 Vict. c. 71; and 32 & 33 Vict. c. 51); (2.) Shire-gemot, i.e., County Court, called also Sheriff's Leet; (3.) Hundred Court; and (4.) Tything Court: being the Courts of these several names enumerated above as having civil jurisdiction and see title of each Court severally. In Anglo-Norman times the above mentioned Courts, called respectively County Court, Hundred Court, and Tything Court, remained; but in addition to them, a new Court was introduced, being the Court called the Aula Regis, or Curia Regis, and which supplied the place of the AngloSaxon Wittenagemot, being, in fact, in those early times interchangeable with the House of Lords, which thereupon became the supreme Appellate Court, and had in those times and for centuries afterwards an original jurisdiction also. From this Aula Regis have been successively developed, in addition to,(1.) The House of Lords,-the following Courts, namely, (2.) The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which, however, has not even yet been permanently severed from the Aula Regis, but remains a committee still; (3.) The Court of Exchequer,-the separation of which from the Aula Regis is commonly assigned to the reign of Richard I., when the purposes of the king's revenue, for which exclusively it was set apart, COURTS OF JUSTICE-continued. necessitated its more permanent constitution as a Court; (4.) The Court of Common Pleas,-the separation of which from the Aula Regis is commonly assigned to a date anterior to the date of Magna Charta (1215), at which latter date the Court was fixed at Westminster, and received as the subject matters of its jurisdiction all civil causes between subject and subject, and in which the king had no interest; and inasmuch as such matters related in early times almost exclusively to real property questions, so it has happened that to the present day the Court of Common Pleas is primarily and properly concerned with freehold issues only; (5.) The Court of Queen's Bench,--which was the then residuum of the Aula Regis after the severance therefrom of the Courts of Exchequer and Common Pleas. The separation of the Court of Queen's Bench from the Aula Regis and its constitution into a separate isolated Court is commonly assigned to the reign of Edward I., that reign having been the epoch at which the Common Law Procedure, as it existed prior to 1852-60, was established in its principal features; (6.) The Court of Chancery, which was the then residuum of the Aula Regis after the Queen's Bench had been isolated from it. This Court acquired consistency as a Court in the reign of Edward III. under an ordinance 22 Edw. 3, which directed the Lord Chancellor to inquire of matters of "grace," and the Court was furnished in the succeeding reign (Richard II.) with its chief weapon, namely, the subpoena, which was invented in that reign by Bishop Waltham, of Salisbury; and, in spite of strenuous opposition, the Chancery procedure by bill and subpoena, as it existed until the year 1852, was fully established in the reign of Edward IV.; (7.) The Court of Exchequer Chamber. This Court was established by the stat. 31 Edw. 3, st. 1, c. 12. See title EXCHEQUER CHAMBER. (8.) The Star Chamber. This was the residuum of the Aula Regis remaining after the isolation of the Court of Chancery; and inasmuch COURTS OF JUSTICE-continued. as the Courts already established did not appropriate all matters of jurisdiction, and inasmuch as in particular the Court of Chancery never possessed any jurisdiction in criminal matters, so the Court of Star Chamber of those times had a jurisdiction partly civil but principally criminal, being supplementary to the other Courts, and interposing where those Courts were from any cause, whether from want of jurisdiction or from obstructions to their jurisdiction, incapable of doing justice or of giving redress; (9.) The Court of Admiralty, being the (10.) The Courts-Martial, Courts which were latterly developed respectively out of the jurisdiction of the Constable (over maritime causes), and of the Earl Marshal (over military causes). In addition to the Courts before enumerated, there are two other jurisdictions, namely: (11.) Judges of Assize and Gaol Deli very, being the descendants of the Justices Itinerant or Justices in Eyre, who were appointed for the first time in the year 1176, by an Act of the Parliament held at Northampton in that year; and (12.) The Courts Ecclesiastical, which (it is uncertain whether they) emanated from the royal person as supreme head of the Church, or from the person of the Church itself,or of the Pope, the representative and vicegerent of the Church of Christ on earth. At any rate, they did not emanate from the Aula Regis; although subsequently to the Reformation of Religion in the reign of Henry VIII., when that monarch assumed to be, and was recognised at law as being, supreme head of the Church of England, the Courts Ecclesiastical clearly derived their efficacy, like all other Courts and institutions, from his royal person, as the source of law and justice. The Courts Ecclesiastical were of many orders and varieties, as to which see title COURTS ECCLESIASTICAL; but at the present day they are principally the Consistory Courts of the bishop of each diocese, and the Court of Arches. See titles CONSISTORY; ARCHES, COURT OF. By the Judicature Act, 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c. 66), which takes effect on the 2nd of November, 1875, it is provided with re H COURTS OF JUSTICE- continued. ference to the Superior Courts of Justice that the numbers of such Courts and their gradation shall be as represented in the following statement, that is to say, (1.) The Act unites and consolidates into one Supreme Court of Judicature in England the following Courts, viz. (s. 3): (a.) High Court of Chancery, (b.) Court of Queen's Bench, (c.) Court of Common Pleas, (d.) Court of Exchequer, (e.) High Court of Admiralty, (f.) Court of Probate, (g.) Court of Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, and (h.) London Court of Bankruptcy. (2.) It subdivides the said supreme Court into two permanent divisions, to be called respectively (s. 4), (a.) Her Majesty's High Court of Justice, and (b.) Her Majesty's Court of Appeal. The former of these two subdivisions to have original and some appellate jurisdiction, and the latter of them appellate and some original jurisdiction. (3.) It constitutes as members of the High Court of Justice the following persons, namely (s. 5): (a.) The Lord Chancellor, (b.) The Lord Chief Justice of England, (c.) The Master of the Rolls, (d.) The Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, (e.) The Lord Chief Baron of the Ex chequer, (f.) The Vice-Chancellors of the High Court of Chancery, (g.) The Judge of the Court of Probate and of the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes. (h.) The Puisne Judges of the Court of Queen's Bench, (i.) The Puisne Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, (j) The Junior Barons of the Court of Exchequer, and (k.) The Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, making the Lord Chancellor, and in his absence the Lord Chief Justice of England, president of the said Court, and providing also for the reduction of the number of the judges of the said Court to twenty-one. (4.) It appoints as judges of the High Court of Appeal the following persons, namely (s. 6): (a.) The Lord Chancellor, (b.) The Lord Chief Justice of England, (c.) The Master of the Rolls, (d.) The Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and (e.) The Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer ; COURTS OF JUSTICE-continued. which five persons are to be the five ex officio judges of the said Court; also, (f.) The Lords Justices of Appeal in Chancery, (g.) The Judges of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, appointed and salaried under the Judicial Committee Act, 1871, (h.) Three other persons to be appointed; which persons, being nine in number, are to be the nine ordinary judges of the said Court; and the same section provides for the appointment (if necessary) of additional judges of appeal, and that the Lord Chancellor shall be president of the said Court of Appeal. (5.) It enables any judge of the Supreme Court (other than the Lord Chancellor) to resign his office therein by writing under his hand addressed to the Lord Chancellor; and providing also that the appointment of any judge of the High Court of Justice to be a judge of the Court of Appeal shall ipso facto vacate the former office (s. 7). (6.) It makes eligible for the office of judge of the High Court of Justice (s. 8),(a.) Any barrister of not less than ten years' standing; also, to make eligible for the office of judge of the Court of Appeal,— (b.) Any person having the qualifications to be appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal in Chancery as that office exists, and is qualified for at present; and (c.) Any judge of the High Court of Justice of one year's standing. And after providing for the tenure of the office of a judge of the said Supreme Court, and rendering every such judge incapable of sitting in the House of Commons, and prescribing the oaths to be taken by every such judge when he enters on the execution of his office (s. 9); And after providing for the precedence of judges (s. 10), and for the non-judicial extraordinary duties of any judges (s. 12), and for the rights and obligations of existing judges (s. 11), and for the salaries of future judges (s. 13), and for the retiring pensions of future judges (s. 14), and for the mode of payment of the salaries and pensions of judges (s. 15), it goes on to make further provision as follows, that is to say, (7.) It constitutes the High Court of Justice a Superior Court of Record, and vests in it the following jurisdictions, namely (ss. 16, 17): (a.) The High Court of Chancery,-all the jurisdiction thereof, as well in its Common Law as in its Equity side, and including therein the ordinary and also the special COURTS OF JUSTICE-continued. jurisdiction of the Master of the Rolls, other than and except the following jurisdictions, that is to say, (aa.) The appellate jurisdiction of the Chancellor in the matter of letters patent and in the matter of commissions or other writings under the Great Seal; (ee.) The jurisdiction of the Lord Chancellor over colleges and charities; and (ff.) The jurisdiction of the Master of the Rolls over records in England. (b.) The Court of Queen's Bench,-all the jurisdiction thereof; (c.) The Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, all the jurisdiction thereof; (d.) The Court of Exchequer,—all the jurisdiction thereof; (e.) The High Court of Admiralty,-all the jurisdiction thereof; (f) The Court of Probate,-all the jurisdiction thereof; (g.) The Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes,-all' the jurisdiction thereof; (h.) The London Court of Bankruptcy, --all the jurisdiction thereof; (i.) The Court of Common Pleas, at Lancaster, all the jurisdiction thereof; (j.) The Court of Pleas at Durham,--all the jurisdiction thereof; and (k.) The Courts created by Commissioners of Assize, Oyer and Terminer, and Gaol Delivery,-all the jurisdictions thereof; including in such jurisdictions the respective jurisdictions exercised by all or any one or more of the judges of the said Courts respectively, whether sitting in Court, or in Chambers, or elsewhere, and all powers ministerial and other of such respective Courts and of their or any of their said respective judges, and all duties and authorities incident to the same jurisdictions, or any part thereof respectively. (8.) It constitutes the Court of Appeal a Superior Court of Record, and vests in COURTS OF JUSTICE-continued. it the following jurisdictions and powers, namely (s. 18):— (a.) The appellate jurisdiction (with the powers incident thereto) of the Lord Chancellor and of the Court of Appeal in Chancery, and of the same Court sitting as a Court of Appeal in Bankruptcy; (b.) The jurisdiction (with the powers incident thereto) of the Court of Appeal in Chancery of the County Palatine of Lancaster, and of the Chancellor of the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster when sitting alone or apart from the Lords Justices of Appeal in Chancery as a judge of re-hearing or appeal from decrees or orders of the Court of Chancery of the County Palatine of Lancaster; (c.) The jurisdiction (with the powers incident thereto) of the Court of the Lord Warden of the Stannaries and his assessors, and of the Lord Warden in his capacity of judge; (d.) The jurisdiction (with the powers incident thereto) of the Court of Exchequer Chamber; (e.) The appellate jurisdiction of Her Majesty in Council or of the Judicial Committee of Her Majesty's Privy Council in admiralty and lunacy matters; and (s. 19) (f.) An appellate jurisdiction in respect of all judgments and orders of the High Court of Justice or of any judges or judge thereof, with such powers incident thereto as are necessary for the exercise of the same jurisdiction, and as are before given to the High Court of Justice. (9.) It excludes error or appeal being brought to the House of Lords or to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council from any judgment or order of the following Courts, namely (ss. 20, 21): (a.) The High Court of Justice; (b.) The Court of Appeal; and (c.) The Court of Chancery of the County Palatine of Lancaster, without prejudice, however, to any pending or fresh writ of error or appeal to the House of Lords, or to the Queen in Council, or to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, from any judgment or order of the now existing Courts, so long as the same Courts continue to exist, but giving power to Her Majesty by Order in Council to direct that all appeals and petitions to herself in council at present referable by her to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council shall be referred to the Court of COURTS OF JUSTICE-continued. Appeal, in exclusion of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and confering on the said Court of Appeal in that event the jurisdiction (with the powers incident thereto) that is now exercisable by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council; and more particularly providing that, in the case of any ecclesiastical causes so to be referred to the Court of Appeal, that Court shall be constituted of such of the judges of the Court of Appeal (to be assisted by such assessors being archbishops or bishops of the Church of England) as Her Majesty may direct by any general rules to be made by Order in Council upon the advice of any five or more of the Judges of the Court of Appeal, and of any two or more of the said archbishops and bishops being members of the Privy Council, subject to the same rules being approved by Parliament. (10.) It abrogates the several jurisdictions which in the Act are mentioned to be transferred to the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal respectively, subject to the following provisions as to the existing business of the said several jurisdictions on the 2nd of November, 1874, now extended to the 2nd of November, 1875, namely (s. 22):— (a.) As to causes, matters, &c., fully heard, but being as to the judgments therein imperfect in any respect, The judgments in all such causes, matters, &c., are to be perfected by the said several jurisdictions respectively: and (b.) As to causes, matters, &c., fully heard, and being as to the judgments therein perfect in every respect, The judgments in all such causes, matters, &c., may be executed, amended, or discharged by the High Court of Justice or Court of Appeal as the case may be; also, (c.) As to causes, matters, &c., pending:(1.) All proceedings in error or on appeal therein, and also all proceedings before the Court of Appeal in Chancery are to be continued and concluded in the Court of Appeal; (2.) All proceedings other than those three last-mentioned groups are to be continued and concluded in the High Court of Justice; and for these purposes the Court of Appeal and the High Court of Justice respectively COURTS OF JUSTICE-continued. are to have the same jurisdiction in respect of all such pending causes, matters, &c., as if the same had been commenced in the two last-mentioned Courts respectively, and may direct the continuance and conclusion of the same either according to the old mode of procedure or according to the new mode of procedure. (11.) It defines that the new procedure and practice shall be regulated by the Judicature Act, and by rules and orders of Court made pursuant thereto, and in the absence of such regulation upon any special point, shall be as nearly as may be the same as the old procedure and practice (s. 23). And an intermediate Court of Appeal between the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal is proposed to be constituted, but the Bill introduced for that purpose, and designated the Supreme Court of Judicature Amendment Bill, 1874, has been thrown over until the next session of Parliament. COURT BARON (curia baronis). The Court Baron is a Court incident to every manor in the kingdom, and is held by the steward of the manor, and is of two natures : the one a customary Court, appertaining entirely to copyholders, in which their estates are transferred by surrender and admittance, and other matters transacted relative to copyhold property; the other a Court of Common Law, which is the baron's or freeholders' Court, and is held for determining by writ of right all controversies relating to the right of lands within the manor; and also for personal actions, where the debt or damages do not amount to forty shillings. COURT CHRISTIAN. The various species of Ecclesiastical Courts which took cognizance of religious and ecclesiastical matters were called Courts Christian, as distinguished from the Civil Courts. COURT OF CONSCIENCE: See title CONSCIENCE. COURT, COUNTY: See title COUNTY COURT. COURT OF DELEGATES: COURTS ECCLESIASTICAL. See title COURTS ECCLESIASTICAL. The Ecclesiastical Courts were Courts held by the king's authority, as supreme head of the church, for the consideration of matters chiefly relating to religion. The causes usually cognizable in these Courts were of three sorts, pecuniary, matrimonial, and testamentary. Pecuniary causes were such |