II. assisted by the advice of the other members, it is not Appendix to be imagined that a decision could easily be obtained contrary to his inclination or opinion. In his absence the chief justiciary presided, who was the first magistrate in the state, and a kind of viceroy, on whom depended all the civil affairs of the kingdom. The other chief officers of the crown, the constable, mareschal, seneschal, chamberlain, treasurer, and chancellor, were members, together with such feudal barons as thought proper to attend, and the barons of the Exchequer, who at first were also feudal barons appointed by the king. This court, which was sometimes called the king's court, sometimes the court of Exchequer, judged in all causes, civil and criminal, and comprehended the whole business which is now shared out among four courts, the Chancery, the King's Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Exchequer." SUCH an accumulation of powers was itself a great source of authority, and rendered the jurisdiction of the court formidable to all the subjects; but the turn which judicial trials took soon after the Conquest, served still more to increase its authority, and to augment the royal prerogatives. William, among the other violent changes which he attempted and effected, had introduced the Norman law into England," had ordered all the pleadings to be in that tongue, and had interwoven, with the English jurisprudence, all the maxims and principles which the Normans, more advanced in cultivation, and naturally litigious, were accustomed to observe in the distribution of justice. Law now became a science, which at first fell entirely into the hands of the Normans; 'Spelm, Gloss. in verbo Justiciarii. Madox Hist. Exch. p. 27. 29. 33. 38. 41. 54. The Normans introduced the practice of sealing charters; and the chancellor's office was to keep the Great Seal. Ingulph. Dugd. p. 33, 34. Madox Hist. of the Exch. p. 134, 135. Gerv. Dorob. p. 1387. "Madox Hist. of the Exch. p. 56. 70. apud Madox Hist. of the Exchequer. Dial. de Scac. p. 30. t II. Appendix Normans; and which, even after it was communicated to the English, required so much study and application, that the laity, in those ignorant ages, were incapable of attaining it, and it was a mystery almost solely confined to the clergy, and chiefly to the monks. The great officers of the crown, and the feudal barons, who were military men, found themselves unfit to penetrate into those obscurities; and though they were entitled to a seat in the supreme judicature, the business of the court was wholly managed by the chief justiciary and the law barons, who were men appointed by the king, and entirely at his disposal. This natural course of things was forwarded by the multiplicity of business which flowed into that court, and which daily augmented by the appeals from all the subordinate judicatures of the kingdom. IN the Saxon times, no appeal was received in the king's court, except upon the denial or delay of justice by the inferior courts; and the same practice was still observed in most of the feudal kingdoms of Europe. But the great power of the Conqueror established at first in England an authority which the monarchs in France were not able to attain till the reign of St. Lewis, who lived near two centuries after: He empowered his court to receive appeals both from the courts of barony and the countycourts, and by that means brought the administration of justice ultimately into the hands of the sovereign. And lest the expence or trouble of a journey to court should discourage suitors, and make them acquiesce in the decision of the inferior judicatures, itinerant judges were afterwards established, who made their circuits throughout the kingdom, * Malms. lib. 4. p. 123. * Dugd. Orig. Jurid. p. 25. and Madox Hist. of the Exch. p. 65. Glan. lib. 12. cap. 1. 7. LL. Hen. I. § 31. apud Wilkins, p. 248. Fitz-Stephens, p. 36. II and tried all causes that were brought before them. Appendix By this expedient the courts of barony were kept in awe; and if they still preserved some influence, it was only from the apprehensions which the vassals might entertain of disobliging their superior, by appealing from his jurisdiction. But the countycourts were much discredited; and as the freeholders were found ignorant of the intricate principles and forms of the new law, the lawyers gradually brought all business before the king's judges, and abandoned the ancient simple and popular judicature. After this manner the formalities of justice, which, though they appeared tedious and cumbersome, are found requisite to the support of liberty in all monarchical governments, proved at first, by a combination of causes, very advantageous to royal authority in England. crown. THE power of the Norman kings was also much Revenue supported by a great revenue; and by a revenue that of the was fixed, perpetual, and independent of the subject. The people, without betaking themselves to arms, had no check upon the king, and no regular security for the due administration of justice. In those days of violence, many instances of oppression passed unheeded; and soon after were openly pleaded as precedents, which it was unlawful to dispute or control. Princes and ministers were too ignorant to be themselves sensible of the advantages attending an equitable administration; and there was no established council or assembly which could protect the people, and, by withdrawing supplies, regularly and peaceably admonish the king of his duty, and ensure the execution of the laws. THE Madox Hist. of the Exch. p. 83, 84. 100. Gerv. Dorob. p. 1410. What made the Anglo-Norman barons more readily submit to appeals from their court to the king's court of Exchequer, was their being accustomed to like appeals in Normandy to the ducal court of Exchequer. See Gilbert's History of the Exchequer, p. 1, 2; though the author thinks it doubtful whether the Norman court was not rather copied from the English, p. 6. Appendix II. THE first branch of the king's stated revenue was the royal demesnes or crown lands, which were very extensive, and comprehended, beside a great number of manors, most of the chief cities of the kingdom. It was established by law, that the king could alienate no part of his demesne, and that he himself or his successor could at any time resume such donations: But this law was never regularly observed; which happily rendered in time the crown somewhat more dependant. The rent of the crown lands, considered merely as so much riches, was a source of power: The influence of the king over his tenants and the inhabitants of his towns, increased this power: But the other numerous branches of his revenue, besides supplying his treasury, gave, by their very nature, a great latitude to arbitrary authority, and were a support of the prerogative; as will appear from an enumeration of them. THE king was never content with the stated rents, but levied heavy talliages at pleasure on the inhabitants both of town and country, who lived within his demesne. All bargains of sale, in order to prevent theft, being prohibited, except in boroughs and public markets, he pretended to exact toll on all goods which were there sold. He seized two hogsheads, one before and one behind the mast, from every vessel that imported wine. All goods paid to his customs a proportionable part of their value:* Passage over bridges and on rivers was loaded with tolls at pleasure: And though the boroughs by degrees bought the liberty of farming these impositions, yet the revenue profited by these bargains; new sums were often exacted for the renewal and confirmation of their charters, and the people were thus held in perpetual-dependance. Fleta, lib. 1. cap. 8. f 17. lib. 3. cap. 6. § 3. Bracton, lib. 2. © LL. Will. I. cap. 61. cap. v. Ibid. p. 529. The author says a fifteenth. to reconcile this account to other authorities. d Madox, p. 530." Madox's Hist. of the Exch. p. 275, 276, 277, But it is not easy f Madox, p. 529. &c. SUCH was the situation of the inhabitants within Appendix II. the royal demesnes. But the possessors of land, or the military tenants, though they were better protected both by law, and by the great privilege of carrying arms, were, from the nature of their tenures, much exposed to the inroads of power, and possessed not what we should esteem, in our age, a very durable security. The Conqueror ordained that the barons should be obliged to pay nothing beyond their stated services, except a reasonable aid to ransom his person if he were taken in war, to make his eldest son a knight, and to marry his eldest daughter. What should on these occasions be deemed a reasonable aid, was not determined; and the demands of the crown were so far discretionary. THE king could require in war the personal attendance of his vassals, that is, of almost all the landed proprietors; and if they declined the service, they were obliged to pay him a composition in money, which was called a scutage. The sum was, during some reigns, precarious and uncertain; it was sometimes levied without allowing the vassal the liberty of personal service;" and it was an usual artifice of the king's to pretend an expedition, that he might be enabled to levy the scutage from his military tenants. Danegelt was another species of land-tax levied by the early Norman kings, arbitrarily, and contrary to the laws of the conqueror. Moneyage was also a general land-tax of the same nature, levied by the two first Norman kings, and abolished by the charter of Henry I. It was a shilling paid every three years by each hearth, to induce the king not to use his prerogative in debasing the coin. Indeed it appears from that charter, that though the Conqueror had granted his military tenants an immunity from all taxes and talliages, he and his son William had never thought themselves bound to observe Gervase de Tilbury, p. 25. * LL. Will. Conq. f 55. |