King's Bench, as the supreme court of the person who obtains the privilege ordinary criminal jurisdiction. The 5 & is not discharged from his debts, but only 6 Wm. IV. c. 33, enacts that no certiorari from proceedings against his person for shall issue to remove indictments or pre-payment of past debts, his estate contisentments from inferior courts to the nuing to be liable to the operations of his In Scotland, however, the Court of King's Bench, at the instance creditors. of attaching a of a prosecutor, without leave obtained common law means from the court, as by a defendant. In order debtor's property are simple and effecto avoid the occurrence of frivolous ap- tual, and there does not appear to have peals, it is usual in statutes which give been there the same inducement as in summary jurisdiction to inferior tribunals England to make the process for the disto restrict, or altogether take away, the tribution of the debtor's effects an instruright to a certiorari. ment of their discovery. The Scottish system, moreover, cannot be used by the creditors as a means of compelling their debtor to distribute his estate. It is a privilege of the debtor, and being seldom resorted to except by persons in a state of destitution who are harassed by vindictive creditors, the improvement of the system has not been a matter of much interest either among lawyers or legislators. CE'SSIO BONO'RUM, in the law of Scotland, is the name given to a process by which, as by the insolvency system in England, the estate of an insolvent person who does not come within the operation of mercantile bankruptcy is attached and distributed among his creditors. The term is derived from the deed of cession, or the assignment by which, as the counterpart of the relief afforded to him from the immediate operations of his creditors, the insolvent conveys his whole property for their behoof. Both the nomenclature and the early practice of the system are taken from the Roman law. (Dig. 42, tit. 3, "de cessione bonorum.") According to the more ancient law, the person released from prison on a cessio bonorum was bound to wear a motley garment | called the dyvour's habit. In later times this stigma became the penalty of fraud, and it was subsequently disused. Before the passing of the late act, the jurisdiction in the awarding of Cessio was entirely confined to the Court of Session, and the insolvent was required to have been a month in prison before he could sue out the process. By 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 56, the system was remodelled. The process may now be sued out either in the Court of Session or in the sheriff's local court. It may be taken advantage of by any person who is in prison for civil debt, or against whom such a writ of imprisonment has issued. It proceeds on notice to the creditors, and an examination and surrender of the insolvent. Proceedings instituted in the Sheriff Court are liable to review in the Court of Session. Cessio bonorum exhibits, like the insolvency system in England, this important difference from mercantile bankruptcy, that CESSION. [BENEFICE, p. 349.] CHAMBERLAIN (custos cubiculi, or cubicularius, keeper of the chamber). Cubicularius was the Roman name for a slave whose special business was to look after the rooms or chambers in the house, The introduce visitors, and the like. cubicularius was thus a confidential slave or freedman, as the case might be, and a kind of guardian of his master's person. Under the emperors the cubicularii were officers in the imperial household; and were called the "cubicularii sacri cubiculi," the chamberlains of the imperial chamber. (Cod. xii. tit. 5.) The emperor's wife, the Augusta, also had her chamberlains. This office, like many others in royal households, is derived from the usages of the later Roman Empire. In the Anglo-Saxon times, in England, the chamberlain appears to have had the name of Camerarius, and had the keeping of the king's treasure (Ealred, in Vit. S. Edw. Confess., c. ii. p. 9), by which name this officer also occurs in the Domesday Survey. The word chamber (French, chambre) is from the Latin camera. The office of lord great chamberlain of England was once of the highest dignity, and was held in grand serjeanty the freemen who are liverymen. By an act of common council of 5 Henry IV. the office is an annual one, but it is very rarely that the existing officer is opposed. There has been no such opposition since 1778. The duties of the chamberlain are judicial and administrative. He admits on oath all persons entitled to the freedom of the city, and hears and determines all matters of complaint between masters and apprentices, and may commit either. He may discharge the apprentice from his indentures, and a part of the premium may be recovered by a peculiar process in the Lord Mayor's Court. An appeal is said to lie from the decision of the chamberlain to the lord mayor. The chamberlain has the conservation of lands, monies, or goods of citizens who die intestate, leaving orphans, on the application of such orphans or others on their behalf, for which purpose the chamberlain is deemed in law a cor from the second year of King Henry I. by the family of De Vere, from whom it passed, by a female heir, to the family of Bertie. By the statute of precedency, 31 Hen. VIII., the great chamberlain's place was next to that of the lord privy seal. In 1714 the Marquess of Lindsay, then hereditary great chamberlain of England, having been raised to the dukedom of Ancaster, surrendered this precedency for himself and his heirs, except only when he or they should be in the actual execution of the duties of the said office, in attending the person of the king or queen, or introducing a peer into the House of Lords. This surrender was confirmed by 1 Geo. I. c. 3. The duties which now devolve upon the great chamberlain are, the dressing and attending on the king at his coronation; the care of the ancient Palace of Westminster; the provision of furniture for the Houses of Parliament, and for Westminster Hall, when used on great occasions; and attend-poration sole; but such applications are ance upon peers at their creation, and upon bishops when they perform their homage. On the death of Robert, the last duke of Ancaster but one, in 1779, the office of hereditary great chamberlain descended to his two sisters, Priscilla, Lady Willoughby de Eresby, and Georgiana Charlotte, Marchioness Cholmondeley. The office is now jointly held by the families of Cholmondeley and Willoughby de Eresby, and the honours are enjoyed in each alternate reign by each family successively. now rarely made. As treasurer of the corporation he has to receive all rents, profits, and revenues of markets and other items of receipt forming the income of the corporation, and to pay all money on account of the corporation upon competent warrants or orders. The fixed annual income of the chamberlain is 1160l. 9s. 4d. : his "ancient bill of fees" is 941. 4s. ayear. He obtains an annual profit of from 1000l. to 2000l. from balances of the corporation money retained in his hands. This principle of remunerating a public officer is strongly objected to by the Commissioners of Corporation Inquiry (Second Report, p. 102). In the Exchequer Court of the County Palatine of Chester there is a chamberlain, an office generally held by some nobleman; and there is also a vice-cham The office of lord chamberlain of the king's household is changed with the administration. He has the control of all parts of the household (except the ladies of the queen's bed-chamber) which are not under the direction of the lord steward, the groom of the stole, or the master of the horse; the king's chaplains, phy-berlain. sicians, surgeons, &c., as well as the royal tradesmen, are by his appointment; the companies of actors at the royal theatres, as part of the household, are under his regulation, and he is also the licenser of plays. [THEATRE.] One of the officers in his department is styled Examiner of Plays. The chamberlain of the corporation of the city of London is an officer elected by There was an officer called the chamberlain in two hundred and three of the municipal corporations investigated in 1834 by the Commissioners of Corporation Inquiry. CHANCEL. This is rather a term of ordinary discourse than one which would be used in a technical description of the several parts of a Christian church. As far as we have observed, it is now used to denote that part of a church in which | Constantinopolitan court, was a chief the communion table or altar is placed, scribe or secretary (& μéyas λoyolérns), with the area before it, in which the con- who was ultimately invested with judigregation assemble when the Eucharist cial powers, and a general superintendis administered. An outcry was raised ence over, the rest of the officers of the at the Reformation against the rubric emperor. He was called cancellarius prefixed to the Common Prayer, which because he sat intra cancellos (within the ordained that the chancels should remain lattice), a screen which divided off a poras in times past. The more ardent re- tion of a larger room for the sake of formers asserted that this ordinance tended greater privacy; from which circumonly to magnify the priesthood; and hence stance the chancel of a church also acthe modern practice of performing di- quires its name. vine service in the body of the church, though the chancel still remains as a separate part of the edifice. In many churches the Epistles and Gospels and the Commandments are read at the communion-table, the proper place for which is the chancel. The chancel was often separated from the nave or body of the church by lattice-work, cancelli, and it was from this circumstance that the term chancel seems to have originated. The word cancelli is used by Cicero and other Latin writers to express a partition made by upright and cross pieces of wood or metal for the purpose of making any barrier or separation in courts of justice, in a theatre, and so forth. In some churches we may hear of the chancel of a particular family. This is in cases in which some particular family has had a private oratory within the church, which has usually been also the burial-place of the family. These private chapels or chantries are sometimes called chancels, for the same reason that the great choir is sometimes so called; that is, in consequence of being divided from the rest of the church by cancelli. CHANCELLOR (in Latin, Cancellarius). The primary meaning of cancellarius is "qui ad cancellos assistit," one who is stationed at the lattice-work of a window or a door way, to introduce visitors, &c. A cancellarius in this sense was no more than a door-keeper. The emperor Carinus made one of his cancellarii praefect of the city, a promotion which caused great dissatisfaction. (Vopiscus, Carinus, c. 16.) In another sense, cancellarius was a kind of legal scribe, so called also from his position at the cancelli of the courts of law. The cancellarius, under the later emperors, and in the The prelates of the Roman church had likewise an officer so called; in the Church of England, each bishop has a chancellor, who exercises judicial functions. All the modern nations of Europe have or have had chancellors, though the powers and duties seem to have varied in each. In England the chancellor was originally the king's chief secretary, to whom petitions were referred, by whom patents and grants from the crown were approved and completed, and by whom reports upon such matters were, if necessary, made to the king; hence he was sometimes styled Referendarius. This term occurs in a charter of Ethelbert, A.D. 605; and Selden (Treatise on the Office of Chancellor) considers it synonymous with chancellor, a name which, he says, first occurs, in the history of England, in the time of Edward the Elder, about A.D. 920. In the capacity of secretary he was the adviser of his master; prepared and made out his mandates, grants, and charters, and finally (when seals came into use) affixed his seal. Hence, or perhaps because in early times he was usually an ecclesiastic, he became keeper of the king's conscience, examiner of his patents, the officer by whom prerogative writs were prepared, and keeper of the great seal. The last ecclesiastic who exercised the office was John Williams, archbishop of York, who was lord keeper from July 10, 1621, to November 1, 1625; his friend and secretary, John Hacket, who became bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, wrote his life in a volume of singular interest, which he entitled Scrinia Reserata. The interference of the king, as the source of justice, was frequently sought against the decisions of the courts of law, where they worked injustice; and also in matters which were not cognizable in the ordinary courts, or in which, from the maintenance or protection afforded to his adversary, the petitioner was unable to obtain redress. The jurisdiction with which the English chancellor is invested had its origin in this portion of discretionary power, which was retained by the king on the establishment of courts of justice (Legal Judicature in Chancery stated, p. 27, et seq.). Though the exercise of these powers in modern times is scarcely, if at all, less circumscribed by rule and precedent than the strict jurisdiction of the courts of law [EQUITY], controversies have at times arisen as to the powers of the chancellor; the particulars of one dispute have been preserved to us entire. (The Jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery vindicated. Printed at the end of 1 Ch. Rep. and in the 1st vol. of Collect. Jurid.) The style of the Chancellor in England is Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He takes rank above all dukes not of the blood royal, and next to the archbishop of Canterbury. He is appointed by the delivery of the great seal into his custody, though there are instances of his having been appointed by patent. The resumption of the great seal by the king determines his office. By virtue of his office he is the king's principal adviser in matters of law, and a privy counsellor; speaker and prolocutor of the House of Lords, chief judge in the Court of Chancery, and the head of the profession of the law; visitor in the king's right of all hospitals and colleges of royal foundation; and patron of all crown livings under the value of 201. a year, according to the valuation made in the reign of Henry VIII., and confirmed in that of Elizabeth. [BENEFICE, p. 352.] He appoints and removes all justices of the peace, though usually only at the recommendation of lords-lieutenants of counties. He issues writs for summoning parliaments, and transacts all business connected with the custody and use of the great seal. To him was intrusted the care of infants and their property upon the dissolution of the court of wards and liveries; and he has the jurisdiction over idiots and lunatics by special delegation from the crown. He also exercises a special jurisdiction, conferred upon him by various statutes, as original and appellate judge, as to charitable uses, friendly societies, infant lunatic and idiot trustees, in certain appeals from the court of review, in bankruptcy, and in many other cases. He is a conservator of the peace, and may award precepts and take recognizances to keep the peace; and has concurrent jurisdiction with the other judges of the superior courts, with respect to writs of habeas corpus. Except in the case of service of process, given to him by some recent statutes, the lord chancellor has no jurisdiction in Scotland. The authority of lord chancellor and lord keeper are made the same by the stat. 5 Eliz. c. 18: it is not now customary to appoint a lord keeper, and of course there cannot now be a lord chancellor and lord keeper at the same time. The last lord keeper was Lord Henley, in 1757. The great seal is however sometimes put into commission during the temporary vacancy of the office, or the sickness of the chancellor, the seal being intrusted to the chief commissioner. (1 Will. and M. c. 21.) The chancellor has also important political functions: he has a seat in the cabinet, and usually takes an active part in public measures. He resigns office with the party to which he is attached. By 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 111, § 3, in consideration that the Chancellor had lost the patronage of certain offices then abolished, the king is empowered to grant an annuity of 5000l. a year to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper on his resignation of office. The salary of the Lord Chancellor is 10,000l. a year, and is paid out of the Suitors' Fee Fund. He has besides a salary as Speaker of the House of Lords. There is also a Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, whose authority within his own jurisdiction is in most respects the same as that of the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. The salary of the Irish Chancellor, which is paid out of the Consolidated Fund, is 8000l. a year. His retiring pension is 36927. a year. (Selden, Off. Ch.; Black stone, Com.; Story On Equity; and the Books of Chancery Practice.) [CHANCERY.] The Chancellor of a Diocese or of a Bishop is Vicar-general to the bishop, holds his courts, and directs and assists him in matters of ecclesiastical law. He has a freehold in his office, and he is not necessarily an ecclesiastic; but if he is a layman, or married, he must be a Doctor of the Civil Law. (Blackstone, Com.; 37 H. VIII. c. 17.) The Chancellor of a Cathedral is an officer who superintends the regularity of the religious services. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster presides either in person or by deputy in the court of the Duchy of Lancaster concerning all matters of equity relating to lands holden of the king, in right of the Duchy of Lancaster. His salary is 2000l. a year, and that of the Vice-Chancellor is 600l.: the fees, which amount to 301. or 40l. annually, are deThe Vice-Chanducted from the salary cellor holds courts both in Westminster and in Lancashire. The Chancellors of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge are elected by the respective corporate bodies of which they are the heads; they exercise exclusive jurisdiction in all civil actions and suits where a member of the University or privileged person is one of the parties, except in cases where the right to freehold is concerned. In both the English Universities the duties of the Chancellor are in nearly all cases discharged by a ViceChancellor. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is under-treasurer, and holds the seal of the Exchequer. The office of Lord High Treasurer is now executed by the Lords The Commissioners of the Treasury. Chancellor of the Exchequer is the principal finance minister of the crown: the office is sometimes held by the Prime Minister when he is a member of the House of Commons. The legal functions of the Chancellor of the Exchequer are now merely formal. [EXCHEQUER.] Bills in the Exchequer were addressed to him, and to the barons of that court, so long as the equity jurisdiction of the Exchequer existed, and on some occasions (as on his appointment) he sits in court; but all the The Chancellor of the Order of the CHANCELLOR OF SCOTLAND, As in England, the chancellor of Scotland was always a high officer of the crown, and had great influence with the king and authority in his councils. As in England too, that authority at length extended itself beyond its former limits, and affected the whole judicial power of the kingdom. Its operation and effect in the two countries, however, was different: for while in England the chancellor only carved out for himself a jurisdiction in equity, in Scotland he reached the head of the administration of justice, and sat in a court which dispensed both equity and common law, and the course of proceeding in which all the other judicatures of the realm were bound to follow. In 1425, which was shortly after the return of King James I. from his long captivity in England, the "chancellor and with him certaine discreete persones of the thre estates chosen and depute by the king" were erected into the court of the session, for the final determination of all matters competent to the king and his council. The court of the session, however, expired with Bishop Wardlaw, from whom in all likelihood it originated; the chancellor's office being taken, on his death, from his protégé, Bishop Cameron, and given to Sir William Crichton, a layman, when the former policy of determining suits by the old common law was |