carefully preserved, especially since the reign of Edward III. Without entering into the distinctions made by lawyers with respect to them, such as public and private acts, declaratory acts, or such as are made to extend or restrain the common law, &c., it will be sufficient to observe, that, being the result of the united wills of the three constituent parts of the legislature, they, in all cases, supersede both the common law and all former statutes, and the judges must take cognizance of them, and decide in conformity to them, even though they had not been alleged by the parties (6).

SECTION II.

OF PRIVATE LIBERTY-continued.

The Courts for the Administration of Justice.

THE different courts for the administration of justice in England are

1. The Court of Common Pleas (1). It formerly made 111 a part of the aula regis (the king's hall or court); but as the latter was bound by its institution always to follow the person of the king, and private individuals experienced great difficulties in obtaining relief from a

(6) Unless they be private acts.

(1) Common Pleas means all civil actions between man and man, as distinct from the pleas of the crown, which means all crimes and misdemeanours.-EDITOR.

court that was ambulatory, and always in motion, it was made one of the articles of the Great Charter, that the Court of Common Pleas should thenceforward be held in a fixed place (a); and since that time, it has been seated at Westminster. It is composed of a lord chief justice, and four other judges.

II. The Court of Exchequer was originally established to determine those causes in which the king or his servants or accountants were concerned, in respect of his debts and duties. It was set up by William the Conqueror (2) as part of the Aula Regis (3), and is called the Exchequer scaccarium, from the checquered cloth, resembling a chess-board, which covers the table there, and upon which certain of the king's accounts are made up. The sums are marked and scored with counters. This court is, by the Uniformity of Process Act, 2 Will. IV. c. 39, (shewn in the next chapter), thrown open and placed upon the same footing as the other courts at Westminster: Attornies of the other courts may now practise in it. All civil actions may now be brought there, real, personal, and mixed, without using the fiction formerly resorted to, by which a plaintiff was obliged to set forth in his declaration, that he was a debtor to the king. An outlawry may now also issue from this court, but it cannot enquire of felony or treason (4). It consists of two divisions, the receipt of the exchequer, which manages the royal revenue, and the court, or judicial part of it, which is again subdivided into a court of equity and a court of common law.

(a) "Communia placita non teneantur in aliquo loco certo." (2) Lamb. Archeion, 24. (4) 2 Hawk. P. C. 2.

sequantur curiam nostram, sed Magna Charta, cap. 11.

(3) Mad. Hist. Exc. 109.

This court is composed of the Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and four other judges. When it sits as a court of equity, the Chancellor of the Exchequer may preside, which is of rare occurrence: the last case in which the chancellor sat in judgment was that of Naish v. The East India Company, Mich. T. 1735, when Sir Robert Walpole pronounced the decree (5).

III. The Court of King's Bench (b) forms that part of the Aula Regis which continued to subsist after the dismembering of the Common Pleas. This court enjoys the most extensive authority of all other courts; it has the superintendence over all corporations, and keeps the various jurisdictions in the kingdom within their respective bounds. It takes cognizance, according to the end of its original institution, of all criminal causes, and even of many causes merely civil. It is composed of the Lord Chief Justice and four other judges.

IV. The Court of the Exchequer Chamber. There are now only two courts of the Exchequer Chamber.

When any of the other courts is equally divided in opinion, or the matter is of great weight and difficulty, the cause before judgment may be adjourned into the Exchequer Chamber, before the whole of the fifteen judges, who hear and determine upon it, sometimes with the aid of the Lord Chancellor.

This great court also meets to determine upon the effect of a special verdict in criminal cases, as whether the facts found by the jury make the prisoner guilty of murder or manslaughter.

(5) 1 Fowl. Exch. Prac. 8.

(6) Called the Queen's Bench when a Queen reigns in her own right, as is now the case.

It has been held to be holden by the authority of the ancient common law (6); but this is considered to be erroneous (7). And it has been doubted, whether this court did not come into the place of parliamentary corrections of erroneous judgments (8); but it is now clearly settled and agreed to be, if resorted to, an intermediate tribunal (9).

The Second Court of Exchequer Chamber is constituted by stat. 31 Edw. III. c. 12 (10), and has been determined to be a necessary stage between the law side of the Exchequer and the House of Lords, as a court of appeal from the errors of other jurisdictions. It consists now of the judges and barons of all the

courts.

Writs of error from all the courts are now returnable only in the Court of Exchequer Chamber, in which all the judges, except those of the court from which the writ is brought, preside, and from their judgment no writ of error lies except in parliament (11).

Writs of error coram nobis in the King's Bench, and coram vobis in the Common Pleas, and the proceedings thereon to reverse judgment in the same court, are not affected by this statute (12).

The writ of error acts as a supersedeas from the time it is allowed; but if obtained upon frivolous grounds, as was before the common practice, to create delay, the judge

(6) Stat. 14 Edw. III. c. 5.

(7) Com. Dig. Courts, D. 5.

(8) Ellison v. Warren, 2 Kib. 97; Show. P. C. 110, cit.

(9) Woodd. Lect. 8, 229.

(10) See also 31 Eliz. c. 1, s. 2.

(11) 11 Geo. IV. & 1 Will. IV. c. 70, s. 8.

(12) Gurney v. Gordon, 2 Tyr. 15; 2 Crompt. & J. 11: Castledine v. Munday, 4 B. & Adol. 90: Binns v. Pratt, 1 Chitt. Rep. 369.

may order execution, and if the defendant in error obtains a judgment, he is entitled to interest for the time execution has been delayed (13). The only tenable objections are such substantial defects in the pleadings of the party in whose favour the judgment below has been given, as are not aided after verdict or judgment by default, or for want of a special demurrer, as required by 4 Ann. c. 16, or in respect of defects in legal merits on the case itself, as disclosed by a demurrer to the evidence, bill of exceptions, or special verdict, (and not upon a mere especial case or matter disclosed upon some collateral motion, rule nisi or rule absolute).

The Court of Exchequer Chamber is not a court of appeal by this statute, so as to re-investigate the merits upon any matter of fact, as the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is; and it has therefore no power to convene a jury, or to institute any collateral inquiry. As constituted of the judges of the two courts instead of the four judges of the court below, it is supposed that this court will arrive at a more certainly correct and satisfactory decision than such court below.

The judges of the King's Bench, and the barons of the Exchequer of Pleas, therefore, constitute the only court of error upon a judgment of the Common Pleas. The judges of the Common Pleas and the same barons constitute the court of error upon a judgment of the King's Bench; and the judges of the King's Bench and Common Pleas constitute the court of error upon a judgment of the Exchequer of Pleas (14); and from all judgments in error of the Court of Exchequer Cham

(13) 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 42.

(14) See Chitty's Practice of the Law.