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LIVES

OF THE

CHIEF JUSTICES OF ENGLAND.

1

CHAPTER I.

LIVES OF THE CHIEF JUSTICES FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE
REIGN OF EDWARD I.

Origin and

functions of the office of Chief Jus

ticiar, or

Chief Justice,

of England.

THE office of CHIEF JUSTICE, or CHIEF JUSTICIAR, was
introduced into England by William the
Conqueror from Normandy, where it had
long existed.* The functions of such an
officer would have ill accorded with the
notions of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, who
had a great antipathy to centralisation, and
prided themselves upon enjoying the rights and the
advantages of self-government. The shires being par-
celled into hundreds, and other subdivisions, each of
these had a court, in which suits, both civil and
criminal, might be commenced.

* Of the two names, "Justice" and "Justiciar," we have this account by Spelman: "Justitia al. Justitiarius. Prior vox in juris nostri formulis, solummodò videtur usitata, usque ad ætatem Henrici 3, alterâ jam se efferente, hæc paulatim disparuit: sed inde hodie in vernaculo et juris annalibus Gallico

VOL. I.

A more extensive

Normanicis 'a' vel'un Justice' dicimus,
non 'Justicer."" In Scotland, where this
office was introduced, along with almost
every other which existed in England
under the Norman kings, the word Jus-
titiarius prevailed, and hence we now
have the "Court of JUSTICIARY." See
"Lives of the Chancellors," vol. i.
B

jurisdiction was exercised by the County Court, a tribunal of high dignity, over which the Bishop, and the Earl, or Alderman, presided jointly. Cases of importance and difficulty were occasionally brought by appeal before the Witenagemote, and here they were disposed of by the voice of the majority of those who constituted this assembly. We do find, in the AngloSaxon records, a notice of “ Totius Angliæ Aldermannus," but such a creation seems to have taken place only on rare emergencies, and we have no certain account of the duties intrusted to the person so designated.* In Normandy the interference of the supreme government was much more active than in England, and there existed an officer called CHIEF JUSTICIAR, who superintended the administration of justice over the whole dukedom, and on whom, according to the manners of the age, both military and civil powers of great magnitude were conferred.†

Before William had entirely completed his subjugation of England, eager to introduce into it the laws and institutions of his own country, so favourable to princely prerogative,—while he separated the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and confined the County Court (from which the Bishop was banished) to the cognizance of petty suits,-preparatory to the establishment of the feudal system in its utmost rigour, he constituted the office of CHIEF JUSTICIAR. His plan was to have a grand central tribunal for the whole realm, which should not

* Dugd. Or. Jur., ch. vii. Mad. Ex., ch. i. Spel. Gloss. "Justitia." Lord Coke's 2nd Inst., ch. vii.

It is curious to observe that, notwithstanding the sweeping change of laws and institutions introduced at the Conquest, the characteristic difference between Frenchmen and Englishmen, in the management of local affairs, still exists after the lapse of so many centuries; and that while with us parish vestries, town councils, and county ses

sions, are the organs of the petty confederated republics into which England is parcelled out,-in France, whether the form of government be nominally monarchical or republican, no one can alter the direction of a road, build a bridge, or open a mine, without the authority of the "Ministre des Ponts et Chaussées." In Ireland, there being much more Celtic than Anglo-Saxon blood, no self-reliance is felt, and a disposition prevails to throw every thing upon the government.

only be a court of appeal, but in which all causes of importance should originate and be finally decided. This was afterwards called CURIA REGIS, and sometimes AULA REGIS, because it assembled in the hall of the King's palace. The great officers of state, the Constable, the Mareschal, the Seneschal, the Chamberlain, and the Treasurer, were the judges, and over them presided the Grand Justiciar. "Next to the King himself, he was chief in power and authority, and when the King was beyond seas (which frequently happened) he governed the realm like a vice roy." "He was at all times the guardian of the public peace as CoronerGeneral,† and he likewise had a control over the finances of the kingdom. In rank he had precedence of all the nobility, and his power was greater than that of all other magistrates.§

The administration of justice continued nearly on the same footing for eight reigns, extending over rather more than two centuries. Although, during the whole of this period, the AULA REGIS was preserved, yet, for convenience, causes, according to their different natures, were gradually assigned to different committees of it,-to which may be traced the Court of King's Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, the Court of Exchequer, and the Court of Chancery. A distinct tribunal for civil actions was rendered necessary, and was fixed at Westminster by the enactment of MAGNA CHARTA-" Communia placita non sequantur curiam nostram, sed teneantur in aliquo certo loco;" but the

* Madd. Exch. xi., where it is said, "he was wont to be styled Justicia Regis, Justiciarius Regis, and absolutely Justicia or Justiciarius; afterwards he was sometimes styled Justiciarius Regis Angliæ, probably to distinguish him from the King's Justiciar of Ireland, Normandy," &c.

+ The Chief Justice of the King's Bench is still Chief Coroner of England.

It is supposed to be a remnant of this power, that, upon the sudden death or resignation of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Justice of the King's Bench does the formal duties of the office till a successor is appointed.

"Dignitate omnes regni proceres, potestate omnes superabat magistratus." -Spel. Gloss. p. 331.

suitors in other causes were long after obliged to resort alternately to York, Winchester, Gloucester, and other towns, in which the King sojourned at different seasons of the year.* At last a great legislator modelled our judicial institutions almost exactly in the fashion in which, after a lapse of six centuries, they present themselves to us at the present day, showing a fixity unexampled in the history of any other nation.

The Chief Justiciar was then considerably lowered in rank and power, but the identity of the office is to be distinctly traced, and therefore it will be proper that I should introduce to the reader some of the individuals who filled it in its greatest splendour.

Odo the first Chief Justiciar.

His birth.

The first Chief Justiciar of England was ODO. The beautiful Arlotta, the tanner's daughter of Falaise, who, standing at her father's door, had captivated Robert, Duke of Normandy, -after living with him as his mistress, bringing him a son, the founder of the royal line of England, lamenting his departure for the Holy Land, and weeping for his death,—was married to Herluin, a Norman knight, by whom she had three children. Odo, the second of these,† possessing bright parts and an athletic frame, was bred both to letters and to arms, and, while he took holy orders, he still distinguished himself in all knightly achievements. He was a special favourite with his brother the young Duke, who made him at an early age Bishop of Bayeux. Nevertheless he still continued to assist in the military enterprises by which William extended and consolidated his continental dominions, and attracted warriors from all the surrounding states to flock to his standard.

*The Court of King's Bench is still supposed to be ambulatory, and by original writs the King orders the defendant to appear on a day named, "wheresoever we shall then be in England."

The eldest was Robert, Earl of Mortaigne; and the youngest a daughter. Countess of Albemarle. Will. Gem. vii. 3; viii. 37. Pict. 153. 211. Orderic. 255.

A.D. 1066.
He accom-

liam the

panies WilConqueror in of England.

the invasion

When, on the death of Edward the Confessor, the Duke of Normandy claimed the crown of England, and prepared to wrest it from the perjured Harold, Odo preached the crusade in the pulpit, and zealously exerted himself in levying and training the troops. From Bayeux he carried a chosen band of men-atarms in ten ships, with which he joined the main fleet at a short distance from St. Valery. He was one of the first to jump ashore at Pevensey, and he continued to ply his double trade of a priest and a soldier. At daybreak of the ever-memorable 15th of October, 1066, he celebrated mass in the Norman camp, wearing a coat of mail under his rochet. He then mounted a gallant white charger, carried a marshal's baton in his hand, and drew up the cavalry, with the command of which he was intrusted. In the fight he performed prodigies of valour, and he mainly contributed to the victory which had such an influence on the destinies of England and of France. The famous Bayeux tapestry represents him on horseback, and in complete armour, but without any sword, and bearing a staff only in his hand, with the superscription "Hic Odo Epis. baculum tenens confortat," as if he had merely encouraged the soldiers. Although there might be a decency in mitigating his military prowess in the eyes of those whose souls he had in cure, there is no doubt that on this day he acted the part of a skilful cavalry officer and of a valiant trooper.

When the ceremony of the coronation was to take place in Westminster Abbey, he wished to consecrate the new monarch, and to put the diadem on his head; but, to soften the mortification of the English, and to favour the delusion that the kingdom was to be held under the will of the Confessor and by the voluntary choice of the people, Aldred the Archbishop of

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