an end to by 9 Edward II., stat. 2, which enacted that the sheriffs should from henceforth be assigned by the chancellor, treasurer, and the judges, as being persons in whom the same trust might be reposed. By statutes 14 Edward III., c. vii.; 23 Henry VI., c. viii., and 21 Henry VIII., c. xx. (3), the chancellor, treasurer, president of the King's council, chief justices, and chief baron are to make this election, and that on the morrow of All Souls in the exchequer. And the King's letters patent, appointing the new sheriffs, used commonly to bear date the sixth day of November. The statute of Cambridge, 12 Richard II., c. ii., ordains that the chancellor, treasurer, keeper of the privy seal, steward of the King's house, the King's chamberlain, clerk of the rolls, the justices of the one bench and the other, barons of the exchequer, and all others that shall be called to ordain, name, or make justices of the peace, sheriffs, and other officers of the King, shall be sworn to act indifferently, and to appoint no man that sueth either privily or openly to be put in office, but such only as they shall judge to be best and most sufficient. And the custom now is (and has been at least ever since the time of Fortescue, who was chief justice and chancellor to Henry the Sixth) that all the judges, together with the other great officers and privy counsellors, meet in the exchequer on the morrow of All Souls yearly (which day is now altered to the morrow of St. Martin by the last act for abbreviating Michaelmas term), and then and there the judges propose three persons, to be reported (if approved of) to the King, who afterwards appoints one of them to be sheriff."

1974 temporary. Three years after June 1, 1774.

1996 during their good behavior. See Blackstone's Commentaries, Book I., chapter vii.:

"It is probable and almost certain that in very early times, before our Constitution arrived at its full perfection, our kings in person often heard and determined causes between party and party. But at present, by the long and uniform usage of many ages, our kings have delegated their whole judicial power to the judges of their several courts, which are the grand depositories of the fundamental laws of the kingdom, and have gained a known and stated jurisdiction, regulated by certain and established rules, which the crown

itself cannot now alter but by act of Parliament. And in order to maintain both the dignity and independence of the judges in the superior courts, it is enacted by the statute 13 William III., c. ii, that their commissions shall be made (not, as formerly, durante beneplacito, but) quamdiu bene se gesserint and their salaries ascertained and established; but it may be lawful to remove them on the address of both Houses of Parliament. And now by the noble improvement of that law in the statute of 1 George III., c. xxiii., enacted at the earnest recommendation of the King himself from the throne, the judges are continued in their offices during their good behavior, notwithstanding any demise of the crown (which was formerly held immediately to vacate their seats), and their full salaries are absolutely secured to them during the continuance of their commissions; his Majesty having been pleased to declare that 'he looked upon the independence and uprightness of the judges as essential to the impartial administration of justice; as one of the best securities of the rights and liberties of his subjects; and as most conducive to the honor of the crown.

2020 and a court partaking in the fruits. The revenue and customhouse officers in America were paid, not by the legislatures,

but by fines on seized goods. The abuse of the form of justice is manifest.

2021 The Congress complain. October 21, 1774.

"It was ordained that whenever offences should be committed in the colonies against particular acts imposing various duties and restrictions upon trade, the prosecutor might bring his action for the penalties in the courts of admiralty; by which means the subject lost the advantage of being tried by an honest, uninfluenced jury of the vicinage, and was subjected to the sad necessity of being judged by a single man, a creature of the crown, and according to the course of law which exempts the prosecutor from the trouble of proving his accusation, and obliges the defendant either to evince his innocence or to suffer. To give this new judicatory the greater importance, and as if with design to protect false accusers, it is further provided that the judge's certificate of there having been probable causes of seizure and prosecution shall protect the prosecutor from actions at common law for recovery of damages."-Journals of Congress.

2032

some objections remain. Such, for instance, as that represented by the protest to the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766 by thirty-four of the lords on the ground that the colonies' alleged lack of representation would free them,, if admitted, from all obedience to Parliament. It is the position already referred to as "go(ing) further."

2048 tolerably zealous. During a speech of January 14, 1766, Mr. Grenville had said: "That this kingdom has the sovereign, the supreme legislative power over America, is granted. It cannot be denied; and taxation is a part of that sovereign power. It is one branch of the legislation. It is, it has been exercised, over those who are not, who were never represented. It is exercised over the India Company, the merchants of London, the proprietors of the stocks, and over many great manufacturing towns. It was exercised over the palatinate of Chester and the bishopric of Durham, before they sent any representatives to Parliament. I appeal for proof to the preambles of the acts which gave them representatives the one in the reign of Henry the Eighth, the other in that of Charles the Second." Mr. Grenville then quoted the acts and desired that they might be read.-Parl. Hist., xvi., 101. (Lamont.)

2051 Lord Chatham. William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham. Born 1708, died 1778. The most ardent supporter of American claims in Parliament. Burke described his characteristic Parliamentary career in the speech on American Taxation as follows:

"The State, in the condition I have described it, was delivered into the hands of Lord Chatham-a great and celebrated name; a name that keeps the name of this country respectable in every other on the globe. It may be truly called,

Clarum et venerabile nomen

Gentibus, et multum nostræ quod proderat urbi.

"Sir, the venerable age of this great man, his merited rank, his superior eloquence, his splendid qualities, his eminent services, the vast space he fills in the eye of mankind—and, more than all the rest, his fall from power, which, like death, canonizes and sanctifies a great character-will not suffer me to censure any part of his conduct. I am afraid to flatter him; I am sure I am not disposed to blame him. Let those