self with the sign of the cross on his forehead and on his breast. CHAP. XVII. Henry the throne. The states, with the whole people, having consented that the said Duke should reign over them, the Archbishop, taking him raised to by the right hand, led him to the royal chair of state, which had been placed at the upper end of the hall; and when the new King, kneeling down before it, had prayed a little while, the Archbishop caused him to sit in the royal seat, and delivered an oration from the text, Vir dominabitur populo, "A man shall reign over my people," 1 Sam. ix. 17.; in which he pointed out the evils of the rule of children, and the abuses of the late reign, and the blessings to be expected from the mature wisdom of him who was now to wield the sceptre ; concluding with these words-" And so, in the stead of a child wantoning in foolish stubborn humours, a man shall reign—and such a man, that it shall be said of him, A king shall reign in wisdom, and he shall execute judgment and do justice in the earth."* liament. On the 6th of October following, a new parliament met New parunder writs of summons issued under Henry's Great Seal, to ratify these proceedings. Lord Chancellor Searle was still silent, and the session was opened by a speech from the Archbishop, who took for his text these words out of Maccabees, "Incumbit nobis ordinare pro regno,"-propounding the constitutional doctrine, "that a King is not to rule by his own will or humour, but to be governed by the honourable, discreet, and sage men of the realm." t His motion for confirming what had been done in the deposition of Richard and the elevation of Henry, was passed with the dissentient voice of one, who strenuously resisted it, and earned the bright testimony "that he was the only honest man in this parliament, scorning life and fortune in respect to his Sovereign's right and his own allegiance." The noble speech of the Bishop of Carlisle on this occasion, as given by Sir John Hayward, greatly exceeds, not only in boldness, but in lucid arrangement, close reasoning, and touching elo† Ibid. 285. * 1 Parl. Hist. 249. Celebrated speech for Richard by Bishop of Carlisle. CHAP. Fate of of the Court of quence, any thing that could be expected from that age. The oration was listened to; but as soon as the orator had concluded it, he was attached of high treason, and sent prisoner to the Abbey of St. Alban's. Though his life was safe, he was deprived of his bishopric. The Pope, as a testimony to his integrity, made him titular Bishop of Samos. The Archbishop then moved that the King should be prayed to create his eldest son Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, and Earl of Chester, which was carried unanimously; and thereupon the King, sitting in his royal seat in full parliament, put a coronet on the head of Prince Henry, and a ring of gold on his finger, and gave him a golden rod in his hand, and kissed him.† The Archbishop had next to manage a very delicate matter -"the disposal of Richard's person in order to his keeping in safe custody, for the King would have his life saved." Twenty-two spiritual and thirty-six lay lords being all who were present, were severally asked their opinion, and they all assented to the resolution "that he should be put under a safe and secret guard, and that no person who had been familiar with him should be about his person, and that it should be done in the most secret manner that could be devised."+ We must not enter into the controversy how the unhappy Richard came to his end,-whether by violence or famine ;and before passing on to the Chancellors of his successor, we can only make a few observations on the equitable jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery during his reign. Equitable The practice of referring matters by parliament to the jurisdiction Chancellor still occasionally prevailed. Thus in 15 Rich. II. two petitions were addressed to the King and the Peers, and the answer to each was the same, "that the petition be sent to the Chancery, the Chancellor to hear both parties, and further let there be done by authority of parliament that which right and reason and good faith and good conscience demand." § in reign of Richard II. * 1 Parl. Hist. 274. See a beautiful abstract of it at the conclusion of Hume's History of Ric. 2. vol. iii. 43., and see Shak. Ric. 2. act iv. scene 1. † 1 Parl. Hist. 273. Ibid. 274. § Rot. Parl. vol. iii. 297. XVII. But the circuity of a petition to parliament or to the CHAP. council was now seldom resorted to. I have shown the opinion to be unfounded, that the equitable jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery was not of earlier date; but there can be no doubt that, about this time, it was very much extended. The petitions of the Commons in the 13th of Richard II. "that the Chancellor might make no order against the common law, and that no one should appear before the Chancellor where recovery was given by the common law," carry in them an admission that a power of judicature did reside in the Chancellor, so long as he did not determine against the common law, nor interpose where the common law furnished a remedy. The King's answer, "that it should continue as the usage had been heretofore," clearly demonstrates that such an authority, restrained within due bounds, was recognised by the constitution of the country. The use of the writ of subpoena to compel an appearance by the defendant, gave new vigour to the process of the Court, and the necessity for previously filing a written statement of the grievance alleged to require relief in equity, introduced the formal proceeding by "Bill and Answer," instead of a mere loose petition to be heard in a summary way, ore tenus. In fact, the practice of addressing bills directly to the Chancellor had become quite common, and many of them are still extant. ,7 The greatest indignation broke forth in this reign against Complaint the Masters in Chancery, who were considered overgrown Masters in against and oppressive sinecurists. In 5 R. II. a complaint was exhi- Chancery. bited against them in parliament, "that they were over fatt both in boddie and purse, and over well furred in their benefices, and put the Kinge to veiry great cost more than needed*,” -yet nothing effectual was done to reform them. The execution of Tressilian, and the punishment of the other common-law judges under Lord Chancellor Arundel, was attended with much violence, but had a powerful influence in creating a respect for parliamentary privilege, which they had attempted utterly to subvert. CHAP. Upon the whole, down to the accession of the House of Lancaster, our juridical institutions, including the Court of Chancery, had gone on with a steady improvement, but they remained nearly stationary from this time till the union of the Roses in the reign of Henry VII.* It may be worth while to give a specimen of the cases which during this reign came before the Chancellor. Tregoys v. Earl of Warwick. Plaintiff having been imprisoned by defendant as his villain regardant to his manor of Carnanton, and discharged on bail to try the question of his free estate, prays the Chancellor to ordain a remedy in discharge of his bail and for the preservation of his estate. Briddicole v. Foster. Plaintiff prays a remedy against defendant, by whom he had been grievously assaulted and conveyed to the Compter on a false plea of debt of 10007. Joan Scaldewell v. Stormesworth. Plaintiff complains of a violent outrage and robbery committed on the person of her husband by the defendant and others, for which they are indicted, and prays that the indictments may be removed into the King's Bench, and that defendant come before the Chancellor to give security of the peace. Browning v. Warde. Plaintiff complains of an assault made upon him while in the execution of his office as one of the chief constables of the county of Gloucester, before the justices of the peace at their session. — See Cooper on Public Records, ii. pp. 359, 360. 377. CHAPTER XVIII. CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL DURING THE JOHN SEARLE, who had nominally been Chancellor to Richard II., and presided on the woolsack as a tool of Archbishop Arundel, was for a short time continued in the office by the new Sovereign. CHAP. XVIII. Sept. 30. 1399. JOHN SEARLE, Chancellor. Little is known respecting his origin or prior history. He is supposed to have been a mere clerk in the Chancery nominally brought forward for a temporary purpose to play the part of Chancellor. Having strutted and fretted his hour upon the stage, he was heard of no more. It proved convenient for the Staffords, the Beauforts, and the Arundels, that he should be thus suddenly elevated and depressed. Henry began his reign by summoning a parliament to A parliameet at Westminster on the 21st of January, 1401. On ment. that day the knights and burgesses were called into the Court of Chancery in Westminster Hall before the Chancellor, and by the King's authority he put off the meeting of the parliament till the morrow. The Lords and Commons then met the Chancellor King in the Painted Chamber, but on account of incapacity to address for public speaking the Chancellor was silent, and the speech the two explaining the causes of calling parliament, was, by the King's command, delivered by Sir William Thyrning, Chief Justice of the King's Bench. not allowed Houses. On the 9th of March following Lord Chancellor Searle sur- Resigns. rendered the Great Seal to the King in full parliament, and his Majesty immediately delivered it to Edmund Stafford, Bishop of Exeter, who had held it towards the end of the preceding reign, and had been a special favourite of Richard, but had joined in the vote for deposing him. 1 Parl. Hist. 285. |