esterling or sterling metal; a name for which there are various reasons given y, but none of them entirely satisfactory. And of this sterling or esterling metal all the coin of the kingdom must be made, by the statute 25 Edw. III. c. 13. So that the king's prerogative seemeth not to extend to the debasing or enhancing the value of the coin, below or above the sterling value: though sir Matthew Hale a appears to be of another opinion (21). The king may also, by his proclama

troy of silver, consisting of eleven ounces and two penny weights pure, and eighteen penny weights alloy, is divided into sixty-two shillings. (See Folkes on English coin.) (19)

y Spelm. Gloss. 203. Dufresne, III. 165. The most plausible opinion seems to be that adopted by those two etymologists, that the name was derived from the Esterlingi, or

Easterlings; as those Saxons were anciently called, who inhabited that district of Germany, now occupied by the Hanse-towns and their appendages; the earliest traders in modern Europe (20).

2 2 Inst. 577.
a 1 Hal. P. C. 194.

(19) Dr. Adam Smith, in his inestimable work, the Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1 vol. 39. tells us, that the "English pound sterling in the time of Edw. I. contained a pound "Tower-weight of silver of a known fineness. The Tower pound "seems to have been something more than the Roman pound, and "something less than the Troyes pound. This last was not introduced "into the mint of England till the 18th of Hen. VIII. The French

livre contained in the time of Charlemagne a pound Troyes weight "of silver of a known fineness. The fair of Troyes in Champaign was "at that time frequented by all the nations of Europe, and the weights "and measures of so famous a market were generally known and "esteemed."

(20) Camden, in his description of Scotland, says, that it has been erroneously supposed that the word sterling comes from Stirling in Scotland. A Germanis enim, quos Angli Esterlingi ab orientali situ vocarunt, facta est appellatio, quos Johannes rex ad argentum in suam puritatem redigendum primus evocavit, et ejusmodi nummis Esterlingi in antiquis scriptis semper concipiuntur. P. 11.

(21) Lord Hale refers to the case of mixed money in Davies's Reports, 48. in support of his opinion. A person in Ireland had borrowed 1001. of sterling money, and had given a bond to repay it on a certain future day. In the mean time queen Eliz. for the

A

tion, legitimate foreign coin, and make it current here; declaring at what value it shall be taken in payments b. But this, I apprehend, ought to be by comparison with the standard of our own coin; otherwise the consent of parliament will be necessary. There is at present no such legitimated money; Portugal coin being only current by private consent, [279] so that any one who pleases may refuse to take it in payment. The king may also at any time decry, or cry down, any coin of the kingdom, and make it no longer currents (22).

V. THE king is, lastly, considered by the laws of England as the head and supreme governor of the national church.

To enter into the reasons upon which this prerogative is founded is matter rather of divinity than of law. I shall therefore only observe that by statute 26 Hen. VIII. c. 1. (reciting that the king's majesty justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme head of the church of England; and so had been recognised by the clergy of this kingdom in their convocation) it is enacted that the king shall be reputed the

purpose of paying her armies and creditors in Ireland, had coined mixed or base money, and by her proclamation had ordered it to pass current, and had cried down the former coin. The debtor on the appointed day tendered 1007. in this base coin; and it was determined upon great consideration that it was a legal tender, and that the lender, was obliged to receive it: natural equity would have given a different decision.

This act of queen Elizabeth does but ill correspond with the flattering inscription upon her tomb: Religio reformata, pax fundata, moneta ad suum valorem reducta, &c. 2 Inst. 578.

(22) All officers of the revenue are required to cut every piece of gold coin tendered to them, if it is not of the current weight according to the king's proclamation 14 Geo. III. c. 70. And by 13 Geo. III. c. 71. any person may cut counterfeit gold money, or what has been unlawfully diminished.

only supreme head in earth of the church of England, and shall have annexed to the imperial crown of this realm, as well the title and style thereof, as all jurisdictions, authorities, and commodities, to the said dignity of supreme head of the church appertaining. And another statute to the same purport was made, 1 Eliz. c. 1. (23)

In virtue of this authority the king convenes, prorogues, restrains, regulates, and dissolves all ecclesiastical synods or convocations. This was an inherent prerogative of the crown, long before the time of Henry VIII, as appears by the statute 8 Hen. VI. c. 1. and the many authors, both lawyers and historians, vouched by sir Edward Coked. So that the statute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 19. which restrains the convocation from making or putting in execution any canons repugnant to the king's prerogative, or the laws, customs, and statutes of the realm, was merely declaratory of the old common lawe: that part of it only being new, which makes the king's royal assent actually necessary to the validity of The convocation or ecclesiastical synod, in every canon. England, differs considerably in its constitution from the synods of other christian kingdoms: those consisting wholly of bishops; whereas with us the convocation is the miniature of a parliament, wherein the archbishop presides with regal state; the upper house of bishops repre- [280] sents the house of lords; and the lower house, com

(23) As queen Mary by 1 & 2 Ph. & M. c. 8. had repealed all the statutes made in the time of her father derogatory to the see of Rome, and had fully reinstated the pope in all his former power and jurisdiction in this country; queen Elizabeth, to shew her attachment to the protestant cause, by the first parliamentary act of her reign repealed this statute of queen Mary, and revived all the statutes relating to the church passed in the time of Henry VIII. This proves bow little at that time depended upon the authority of parliament, which could accede to such immense revolutions in the course of four or five years.

posed of representatives of the several dioceses at large, and of each particular chapter therein, resembles the house of commons with its knights of the shire and burgesses. This constitution is said to be owing to the policy of Edward I: who thereby at one and the same time let in the inferior clergy to the privileges of forming ecclesiastical canons, (which before they had not,) and also introduced a method of taxing ecclesiastical benefices, by consent of convocation & (24).

f In the diet of Sweden, where the ecclesiastics form one of the branches of the legislature, the chamber of the clergy resembles the convocation of England. It is composed of the bishops and superintendants; and also

of deputies, one of which is chosen by every ten parishes or rural deanery. Mod. Un. Hist.

xxxiii. 18.

g Gilb. Hist. of Exch. c. 4.

(24) From the learned Commentator's text, the student would perhaps be apt to suppose that there is only one convocation at a time. But the king, before the meeting of every new parliament, directs his writ to each archbishop, to summon a convocation in his peculiar province.

Godolphin says, that the convocation of the province of York constantly corresponds, debates, and concludes the same matters with the provincial synod of Canterbury, God. 99. But they are certainly distinct and independent of each other; and when they used to tax the clergy, the different convocations sometimes granted different subsidies. In the 22 Hen. VIII. the convocation of Canterbury had granted the king one hundred thousand pounds; in consideration of which an act of parliament was passed, granting a free pardon to the clergy for all spiritual offences, but with a proviso that it should not extend to the province of York, unless its convocation would grant a subsidy in proportion, or unless its clergy would bind themselves individually to contribute as bountifully. This statute is recited at large in Gib. Cod. 77.

All deans and archdeacons are members of the convocation of their province; each chapter sends one proctor or representative, and the parochial clergy in each diocese in Canterbury two proctors; but, on account of the small number of dioceses in the province of York, each archdeaconry elects two proctors. In York the convocation consists only of one house; but in Canterbury there are two houses, of which the twenty-two bishops form the upper house; and before the reformation, abbots, priors, and other mitred prelates, sat with the bishops.

FROM this prerogative also, of being the head of the church, arises the king's right of nomination to vacant bishopricks, and certain other ecclesiastical preferments; which will more properly be considered when we come to treat of the clergy. I shall only here observe, that this is now done in consequence of the statute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 20.

As head of the church, the king is likewise the dernier resort in all ecclesiastical causes; an appeal lying ultimately to him in chancery from the sentence of every ecclesiastical judge which right was restored to the crown by statute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 19. as will more fully be shewn hereafter (25).

The lower house of convocation in the province of Canterbury consists of twenty-two deans, fifty-three archdeacons, twenty-four proctors for the chapters, and forty-four proctors for the parochial clergy. By 8 Hen. VI. c. 1. the clergy in their attendance upon the convocation have the same privilege in freedom from arrest as the members of the house of commons in their attendance upon parliament. Burn. Con.. 1 Bac. Abr. 610.

(25) By that statute it is declared, that for the future no appeals from the ecclesiastical courts of this realm should be made to the pope, but that an appeal from the archbishop's courts should lie to the king in chancery; upon which the king, as in appeals from the admiral's court, should by a commission appoint certain judges or delegates finally to determine such appeals. See 3d vol. p. 66.