offences in vert and venison.(h) And this court may not only inquire, but con vict also, which conviction shall be certified to the court of justice-seat under the seals of the jury; for this court cannot proceed to judgment.(i) But the principal court is, 4, The court of justice-seat, which is held before the chief justice in eyre, or chief itinerant judge, capitalis justiciarius in itinere, or his deputy; to hear and determine all trespasses within the forest, and all claims of franchises, liberties, and privileges, and all pleas and causes whatsoever therein arising.(k) It may also proceed to try presentments in the inferior courts of the forests, and to give judgment upon conviction of the sweinmote. And the chief justice may therefore, after presentment made, or indictment found, but not before,() issue his warrant to the officers of the forest to apprehend the offenders. It may be held every third year; and forty days' notice ought to be given of its sitting. This court may fine and imprison for offences within the forest,(m) it being a court of record: and therefore a writ of error lies from hence to the court of *king's bench, to rectify and redress any *73] mal-administrations of justice ;(n) or the chief justice in eyre may adjourn any matter of law into the court of king's bench.(0) These justices in eyre were instituted by king Henry II., A.D. 1184,(p)' and their courts were formerly very regularly held: but the last court of justice-seat of any note was that holden in the reign of Charles I., before the earl of Holland; the rigorous proceedings at which are reported by Sir William Jones. After the restoration another was held, pro forma only, before the earl of Oxford;(q) but since the era of the revolution in 1688, the forest laws have fallen into total disuse, to the great advantage of the subject."

II. A second species of restricted courts is that of commissioners of sewers. This is a temporary tribunal, erected by virtue of a commission under the great seal; which formerly used to be granted pro re nata at the pleasure of the crown,(r) but now at the discretion and nomination of the lord chancellor, lord treasurer, and chief justices, pursuant to the statute 23 Hen. VIII. c. 5. Their jurisdiction is to overlook the repairs of sea-banks and sea-walls, and the cleansing of rivers, public streams, ditches, and other conduits whereby any waters are carried off: and is confined to such county, or particular district, as the commission shall expressly name. The commissioners are a court of record, and may fine and imprison for contempt;(s) and in the execution of their duty may proceed by jury, or upon their own view, and may take order for the removal of any annoyances, or the safeguard and conservation of the sewers within their commission, either according to the laws and customs of Romney marsh,(t) or otherwise at their own discretion. They may also assess such rates, or scots, upon the owners of lands within their district as they shall judge necessary; and, if any person refuses to pay them, the commissioners may levy the same by distress of his goods and chattels; or they may, by statute 23 Hen. VIII. c. 5, sell his freehold lands (and, by the 7 Anne, c. 10, his copyhold also) in order to pay such *scots or assessments. But their conduct is under the control of the court of king's bench, which will prevent or

*74]

By the 57 Geo. III. c. 61, the offices of these justices are abolished on the termination of their then existing interests, and the salaries of the abolished offices are to make part of the consolidated fund.-CHITTY.

All the forests which were made after the conquest, except New Forest in Hamp shire, created by William the Conqueror, were disafforested by the charta de foresta. The forest of Hampton Court was established by the authority of parliament in the reign of Hen. VIII. The number of forests in England is sixty-nine. 4 Inst. 319. Charles I. enforced the odious forest laws, as a source of revenue independent of the parliament.— JURISTIAN.

punish any illegal or tyrannical proceedings.(u) And yet, in the reign of king James I., (8 Nov. 1616,) the privy counsel took upon them to order that no action or complaint should be prosecuted against the commissioners unless before that board; and committed several to prison, who had brought such actions at common law, till they should release the same: and one of the reasons for discharging Sir Edward Coke from his office of lord chief justice was for countenancing those legal proceedings.(v) The pretence for which arbitrary measures was no other than the tyrant's plea (w) of the necessity of unlimited powers in works of evident utility to the public, "the supreme reason above all reasons, which is the salvation of the king's lands and people." But now it is clearly held, that this (as well as all other inferior jurisdictions) is subject to the discretionary coercion of his majesty's court of king's bench.(x)

:

III. The court of policies of insurance, when subsisting, is erected in pursuance of the statute 43 Eliz. c. 12, which recites the immemorial usage of policies of assurance, "by means whereof it cometh to pass, upon the loss or perishing of any ship, there followeth not the undoing of any man, but the loss lighteth rather easily upon many than heavy upon few, and rather upon them that adventure not than upon those that do adventure: whereby all merchants, especially those of the younger sort, are allured to venture more willingly and more freely and that heretofore such assurers had used to stand so justly and precisely upon their credits as few or no controversies had arisen thereupon; and if any had grown, the same had from time to time been ended and ordered by certain grave and discreet merchants appointed by the lord mayor of the city of London; as men by reason of their experience fittest to understand and speedily decide those causes:" but that of late years divers persons had withdrawn themselves from that course of arbitration, and had driven the assured to bring separate actions at law against each assurer: it therefore enables the lord chancellor yearly to grant a standing commission to the judge of the admiralty, the recorder of London, two doctors of the civil [*75 law, two common lawyers, and eight merchants; any three of which, one being a civilian or a barrister, are thereby and by the statute 13 & 14 Car. II. c. 23, empowered to determine in a summary way all causes concerning policies of assurance in London, with an appeal (by way of bill) to the court of chancery. But the jurisdiction being somewhat defective, as extending only to London, and to no other assurances but those on merchandise, (y) and to suits brought by the assured only, and not by the insurers,(z) no such commission has of late years issued: but insurance causes are now usually determined by the verdict of a jury of merchants, and the opinion of the judges in case of any legal doubts; whereby the decision is more speedy, satisfactory, and final: though it is to be wished that some of the parliamentary powers invested in these commissions, especially for the examination of witnesses, either beyond the seas or speedily going out of the kingdom, (a) could at present be adopted by the courts of Westminster hall, without requiring the consent of parties.

IV. The court of the marshalsea, and the palace-court at Westminster, though two distinct courts, are frequently confounded together. The former was originally holden before the steward and marshal of the king's house, and was instituted to administer justice between the king's domestic servants, that they might not be drawn into other courts and thereby the king lose their service.(b) It was formerly held in, though not a part of, the aula regis,(c) and, when that was subdivided, remained a distinct jurisdiction: holding plea of all trespasses committed within the verge of the court, where only one of the parties is in the king's domestic service, (in which case the inquest shall be taken by a jury of the country,) and of all debts, contracts, and covenants where both of the contracting parties belong to the royal household; and then the inquest shall be composed of men of the house*hold only. (d) By the statute of 13 Ric.

[*76

Stat. 5 Edw. III. a

II. st. 1, c. 3, (in affirmance of the common law,)(e) the verge of the court in
this respect extends for twelve miles round the king's place of residence.(ƒ)
And, as this tribunal was never subject to the jurisdiction of the chief justiciary,
no writ of error lay from it (though a court of record) to the king's bench, but
only to parliament, (g) till the statutes of 5 Edw. III. c. 2, and 10 Edw. III. st
2, c. 3, which allowed such writ of error before the king in his palace. But
this court being ambulatory, and obliged to follow the king in all his progresses,
so that by the removal of the household actions were frequently discontinued,(h)
and doubts having arisen as to the extent of its jurisdiction,(i) king Charles I.,
in the sixth year of his reign, by his letters-patent erected a new court of
record, called the curia palati, or palace-court, to be held before the steward of
the household and knight-marshal, and the steward of the court, or his deputy,
with jurisdiction to hold plea of all manner of personal actions whatsoever
which shall arise between any parties within twelve miles of his majesty's
palace at Whitehall.(k) The court is now held once a week, together with
the antient court of marshalsea, in the borough of Southwark and a writ
of error lies from thence to the court of king's bench. But if the cause is of
any considerable consequence, it is usually removed on its first commencement,
together with the custody of the defendant, either into the king's bench or
common pleas, by a writ of habeas corpus cum causa: and the inferior business
of the court hath of late years been much reduced by the new courts of con-
science erected in the environs of London; in consideration of which, the four
counsel belonging to these courts had salaries granted them for their lives by
the statute 23 Geo. II. c. 27.3

*77]
V. *A fifth species of private courts of a limited, though extensive, juris-
diction, are those of the principality of Wales, which, upon its thorough
reduction, and the settling of its polity in the reign of Henry the Eighth,(7) were
erected all over the country; principally by the statute 34 & 35 Hen. VIII. c. 26,
though much had been before done, and the way prepared, by the statute of
Wales, 12 Edw. I., and other statutes. By the statute of Henry the Eighth
before mentioned, court-barons, hundred, and county courts are there esta-
blished, as in England. A session is also to be held twice in every year in each
county, by judges(m) appointed by the king, to be called the great sessions of
the several counties in Wales: in which all pleas of real and personal actions
shall be held, with the same form of process, and in as ample a manner, as in
the court of common pleas at Westminster :(n) and writs of error shall lie
from judgments therein (it being a court of record) to the court of king's bench
at Westminster. But the ordinary original writs of process of the king's courts
at Westminster do not run into the principality of Wales :(0) though process of
execution does;(p) as do also prerogative writs, as writs of certiorari, quo minus,
mandamus, and the like.(g) And even in causes between subject and subject, to
prevent injustice through family factions or prejudices, it is held lawful (in
causes of freehold at least, and it is usual in all others) to bring an action in the
English courts, and try the same in the next English county adjoining to that
part of Wales where the cause arises,(r) and where the venue is laid. But, on
the other hand, to prevent trifling and frivolous suits, it is enacted, by statuto
13 Geo. III. c. 51, that in personal actions, tried in any English county where
the cause of action arose, and the defendant resides in Wales, if the plaintiff
shall not recover a verdict for ten pounds, he shall be non-suited and pay the

'The business of the court was much reduced,-first, by the erection of courts of conscience in the environs of London, and next by the establishment of the county courts; and the court itself was finally abolish ed by statute 12 & 13 Vict. c. 101.-Kerr.

(*78

defendant's costs, unless it be certified by the judge that the freehold or title
came principally in question, or that the cause was proper *to be tried,
in such English county. And if any transitory action, the cause whereof
arose and the defendant is resident in Wales, shall be brought in any English
county, and the plaintiff shall not recover a verdict for ten pounds, the plain-
tiff shall be nonsuited, and shall pay the defendant's costs, deducting thereout
the sum recovered by the verdict.

VI. The court of the duchy chamber of Lancaster is another special jurisdiction, held before the chancellor of the duchy or his deputy, concerning all matter of equity relating to lands holden of the king in right of the duchy of Lancaster:(8) which is a thing very distinct from the county palatine, (which hath also its separate chancery, for sealing of writs, and the like,)(t) and comprises much territory which lies at a vast distance from i; as particularly a very large district surrounded by the city of Westminster. The proceedings in this court are the same as on the equity side in the courts of exchequer and chancery;(u) so that it seems not to be a court of record; and indeed it has been holden that those courts have a concurrent jurisdiction with the duchy court, and may take cognizance of the same causes.(v)

VII. Another species of private courts, which are of a limited local jurisdiction, and have at the same time an exclusive cognizance of pleas, in matters of both law and civil equity, (w) are those which appertain to the counties palatine of Chester, Lancaster, and Durham, and the royal franchise of Ely.(a) In all these, as in the principality of Wales, the king's ordinary writs, issuing under the great seal out of chancery, do not run; that is, they are of no force. For as originally all jura regalia were granted to the lords of these counties palatine, they had of course the sole administration of justice by their own. judges, appointed by themselves and not by the crown. It would therefore be incongruous for the king to send his writ to direct the judge of another's court in what manner to administer justice between the suitors. But when the privi leges of these counties palatine and franchises were abridged by statute 27 Hen. VIII. c. 24, it was *also enacted that all writs and process should be made [*79 in the king's name, but should be tested or witnessed in the name of the owner of the franchise. Wherefore all writs whereon actions are founded and which have current authority here must be under the seal of the respective franchises; the two former of which are now united to the crown, and the two latter under the government of their several bishops. And the judges of assize who sit therein sit by virtue of a special commission from the owners of the several franchises, and under the seal thereof, and not by the usual commission under the great seal of England. Hither also may be referred the courts of the cinque ports, or five most important havens, as they formerly were esteemed, in the kingdom, viz., Dover, Sandwich, Romney, Hastings, and Hythe, to which

() Hob. 77. 2 Lev. 24.
() 1 Ventr. 257.

(*) 4 Inst. 206.

()1 Ch. Rep. 55. Toth. 145. Hardr. 171.
()4 Inst. 213, 218. Finch, R. 452.
(*) See book i. introd. 24.

But these distinctions are now entirely abolished; for, by stat. 11 Geo. IV. and 1 W. IV. c. 70, s. 14, it is enacted that from the 12th of October, 1830, all power and jurisdiction of the judges and courts of great sessions, both at law and in equity, shall cease, and that all suits in equity then depending should be transferred into the court of exchequer; and, by s. 13, it is enacted that the king's writ shall be directed and obeyed, and the jurisdiction of the courts of common law and the judges thereof shall extend and be exercised in like manner as the jurisdiction of such courts is now exercised in and over the counties of England. The administration of justice in Wales is thus and by subsequent statutes (5 Vict. s. 2, c. 33, 8 Vict. c. 11) rendered uniform in every respect with that of England.-Stewart.

See construction of this act, Tidd, 8 ed. index, tit. Wales. If goods be delivered in London to be carried into Wales, the debt, though under 107., may be sued for in London. 2 Starkie, 33.-CHITTY.

The two former of which are now united to the crown, (6 W. IV. c. 19,) while that of Chester has been, by stat. 11 Geo. IV. and 7 W. IV. c. 70, abolished, and that of Ely, by stat. 6 & 7 W. IV. c. 87, and 7 W. IV. and 1 Vict. c. 53, also extinguished.— STEWART

Winchelsea and Rye have been since added, which have also similar franchises in many respects(y) with the counties palatine, and particularly an exclusive jurisdiction, (before the mayor and jurats of the ports,) in which exclusive jurisdiction the king's ordinary writ does not run. A writ of error lies from the mayor and jurats of each port to the lord warden of the cinque ports, in hie court of Shepway, and from the court of Shepway to the king's bench.(z) Sc likewise a writ of error lies from all the other jurisdictions to the same supreme court of judicature, (a) as an ensign of superiority reserved to the crown at the original creation of the franchises. And all prerogative writs (as those of habeas corpus, prohibition, certiorari, and mandamus) may issue for the same reason to all these exempt jurisdictions ;(b) because the privilege, that the king's writ rune not, must be intended between party and party, for there can be no such privilege against the king.(c)

VIII. The stannary courts in Devonshire and Cornwall, for the administration of justice among the tinners therein, are also courts of record, but of the same private and exclusive nature. They are held before the lord warden and his sub*80] stitutes, in virtue of a privilege granted to the workers in the *tin-mines there to sue and be sued only in their own courts, that they may not be drawn from their business, which is highly profitable to the public, by attending their law-suits in other courts.(d) The privileges of the tinners are confirmed by a charter, 33 Edw. I., and fully expounded by a private statute, (e) 50 Edw. III., which has since been explained by a public act, 16 Car. I. c. 15. What relates to our present purpose is only this,-that all tinners and labourers in and about the stannaries shall, during the time of their working therein bona fide, bo privileged from suits of other courts, and be only impleaded in the stannary court in all matters, excepting pleas of land, life, and member. No writ of error lies from hence to any court in Westminster hall, as was agreed by all the judges(ƒ) in 4 Jac. I. But an appeal lies from the steward of the court to the under-warden; and from him to the lord-warden; and thence to the privy council of the prince of Wales, as duke of Cornwall,(g) when he hath had livery or investiture of the same.(h) And from thence the appeal lies to the king himself in the last resort. (i)

IX. The several courts within the city of London,(j) and other cities, boroughs, and corporations throughout the kingdom, held by prescription, charter, or act of parliament, are also of the same private and limited species. It would exceed the design and compass of our present inquiries, if I were to enter into a particular detail of these, and to examine the nature and extent of their several jurisdictions. It may, in general, be sufficient to say that they arose originally from the favour of the crown to those particular districts wherein we find them erected, upon the same principle that hundred-courts, and the like, were established for the convenience of the inhabitants, that they may *81] prosecute their suits and *receive justice at home: that, for the most part, the courts at Westminster hall have a concurrent jurisdiction with these, or else a superintendency over them,(k) and are bound by the statute 19 Geo. III. c. 70 to give assistance to such of them as are courts of record, by issuing writs of execution, where the person or effects of the defendant are not within the inferior jurisdiction: and that the proceedings in these special courts ought to be according to the course of the common law, unless otherwise ordered by parliament; for though the king may erect new courts, yet he cannot alter the established course of law.

But there is one species of courts, constituted by act of parliament, in the city

() 1 Sid. 106.

Jenk. 71. Dyversyté des curtes, tit. bank le roy. 1 Bid. 356.

(a) Bro. Abr. tit. error, 74, 101. Davis, 62. 4 Inst. 38, 214,

218.

() 1 Sid. 92.

Cro. Jac. 543.

4 Inst. 232.

See this at length in 4 Inst. 232.

4 Inst. 231.

Ibid. 230.

(*) 3 Bulstr. 183.

() Doddridge, Hist. of Cornw. 94.

The chief of those in London are the sheriffs courts, holden before their steward or judge, from which a writ of error lies to the court of hustings, before the mayor, recorder, and sheriffs, and from thence to justices appointed by the king's commission, who used to sit in the church of St. Martin le Grand, (F. N. B. 32;) and from the judgment of those justices a writ of error lies immediately to the house of lords.

() Salk. 144, 263.