at that time justice of England), and three temporal barons. This appears likewise to have been the case both in the time of Richard and John, as may be seen by the record of the former 4, and the clause roll 5 in the reign of the latter. And after the confirmation of the Great Charter, for the greater part of the reign of Edward I. the common pleas, as we have before observed, were usually held in this court; the statute of the 28th of that monarch being expressly made to prohibit their being henceforth held there, contrary to the form of Magna Charta.

Instead of ecclesiastical and secular barons, here sat canonists and other temporal persons learned in the laws, who had thereupon the name of barons, because they sat in the same place as the real barons did; the lord high treasurer also supplying the room of the chief justice of England, as we learn both by the testimony of Fleta and the record of 18 Henry III. when William de Beauchamp was appointed a baron of this court, together with Alexander de Swereford, treasurer of the cathedral of St. Paul in London, and Richard de Montfichet; each of whom had a

4

* Hæc est finalis concordia facta in curiâ domini regis apud Westm. ad scaccarium, die dominicâ proximâ post festum S. Marci Evangelistæ anno regni regis Ricardi nono coram H. Cantuariensi archiepiscopo, &c. justiciariis domini regis, &c.

Rex, &c. J. eadem gratiâ Norwicensi episcopo, &c. Nuncios vestros ad nos destinatos suscepimus; et, audito eorum nuncio, eos misimus ad fideles nostros G. filium Petri justiciarium nostrum, Saherum comitem Wintoniæ, W. Briwar, magistrum Ricardum de Mariscis, tunc ad scaccarium nostrum residentes, et ad cæteros barones de scaccario nostro ; ut de singulis, per eorum consilium vobis responderemus, &c.

pension of eleven marks per annum, payable out of the king's exchequer, for their support. And others in the same manner were constituted in succeeding times, among which Roger de la Ley, in 48 Henry III. who, being the king's remembrancer in this court, was assigned ad officium baronis in scaccario prædicto explendum, there being no other baron there at that

time but himself.

CHAP. IV.

OF THE CREATION, DRESS, SALARIES, &c. OF THE JUSTICES OF THE KING'S COURTS IN WESTMINSTER HALL.

How created.]-THE lord chancellor having taken his seat in the court where the vacancy is to be filled, bringing with him the king's letters patent, shall cause the serjeant elect to be brought in, to whom, in open court, he notifies the king's pleasure, causing the letters to be publicly read; which done, the master of the rolls shall read to him the oath he is to take, "that he shall indifferently minister justice to all men, as well foes as friends, that shall have any suit or plea before him; and this he shall not forbear to do, though the king by his letters, or by express word of mouth, would command the contrary; and that from time to time he shall not receive any fee or pension, or livery of any man, but of the king only, nor any gift, reward, or bribe, of any man, having suit or plea before him, saving meat and drink, which shall

be of no great value." And on this oath being administered, the chancellor shall deliver to him the king's letters aforesaid, and the lord chief justice of the court shall assign him a place in the same, where he shall then place him, and which place he shall afterwards keep.

The justice thus made shall not be at the charges of any dinner, solemnity, or other costs, "because there is no degree in the faculty of the law, but an office only, and a room of authority to continue during the king's pleasure."

The judges anciently rode to Westminster Hall in great state after they were so made. Mr. Justice Coventrie, a bencher of the Inner Temple, being chosen a judge of the common pleas, proceeded from his chambers in Serjeants' Inn to Westminster, accompanied by the gentlemen of the Temple and the students of the inns of chancery. The judge went foremost; after him the bench, and then the bar; then the gentlemen of the house, and then the students of the various inns. But the order of this procession being found to be erroneous; for the inns of chancery should go first, then the young gentlemen of the house in which the judge has studied, then the bar, then the bench, after that the ancients, and last of all the judge: the error was corrected on the following day in accompanying judge Tanfield of the Temple.

In the same manner was conducted the procession of sir Henry Montague, who succeeded sir Edward Coke in the chief justiceship of the king's bench, Michaelmas

term 1616. First went on foot the young gentlemen of the Inner Temple (of which house he was); after them the barristers according to their seniority; next the officers of the king's bench; then the said chief justice himself on horseback in his robes, the earl of Huntington on his right hand, and the lord Willoughby of Eresby on his left, with about fifty knights and gentlemen of quality following.

Dresses.-The importance of appropriate vestments and other ensigns of dignity, which might render the ministers of the law, as well as of religion, more venerable, was duly understood by the most enlightened nations of antiquity: and for the same reason the wisdom of our ancestors assigned such grave and becoming garments to the civil magistrate in all courts of justice in the realm as were judged most likely to excite awe and reverence. The materials and form of these in ancient times may be known by various precepts, as well as other authorities. Edward III. in the 20th of his reign, by precept to the keeper of his great wardrobe, commands him to deliver to William Scot, and the rest of his fellow-justices of his bench, there named; as also to John de Stonore and those with him, justices of the common pleas; and likewise to Robert de Sadyngtone and other the barons of his exchequer, viz. to each of them for their summer vestments, or robes, for that present year, half a short cloth, and one piece of fine linen silk; and for the winter season

I

Claus. 20 Edw. 3. p. 1. m. 15.

another half of a cloth-colour curt, with a hood, and three pieces of fur of white budg: and for the feast of the Nativity of our Lord, half a cloth-colour curt, with a hood of two-and-thirty bellies of minever, another fur with seven tires of minever, and two furs of silk.

In the 21st of the same prince, sir William de Thorpe, then chief justice of the king's bench, with sir William Basset, and sir Roger de Baukewell, his fellow-justices of that court, were allowed out of the same wardrobe, at the feast of All Saints, for their winter robes, each of them half a cloth-colour curt; three furs of white budg, and one hood of the same budg and for their liveries at Christmas, each of them half a cloth likewise colour curt, one hood containing thirty-two bellies of minever half pure, one fur of minever containing seven tires, and two furs of silk, each of seven tires.

:

And for their summer robes, each of them half a cloth-colour curt, with one piece and an half of thin silk.

The like liveries at the same time were granted to sir John de Stonore, sir Richard de Wylughby, sir Roger Hillary, sir William de Shareshall, sir Richard de Kelleshull, and sir John de Stonford, justices of the court of common pleas: and the like also to sir Robert de Sadyngton, sir Gervaise de Wilford, sir William de Brokerby, sir Alan de Asshe, and sir John de Houton, then barons of the exchequer.

In 11 R. II. sir Walter de Clopton, knight, then

• Ex rot. compt. custodis magnæ garderobæ de an. 21 E. 3.