extraordinary, was sometimes conferred in England, by those who were not knights themselves, and were indeed incapable of that honour, as bishops and abbots. William Rufus was knighted in his father's lifetime by Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury. The foundation of this privilege must undoubtedly have been a notion, that the order being conferred with sacred rites and forms of prayer, was a kind of religious institution. During the reign of king Stephen, the earl of Gloucester knighted his brother, afterwards earl of Cornwall, and history exhibits many examples of this power or privilege having been exercised by private persons in England, without the authority of a royal commission. Some English kings have themselves been knighted by the "honour-giving hands" of their subjects. This order was conferred on Henry VI. by the duke of Bedford, and on Edward VI. by the duke of Somerset. Knighthood was therefore distinguished from all other honours and dignities in the state by this remarkable difference, that those were derived from the king, as their fountain and head, but this might be conferred on the king himself, by his subjects. It might also be given by any sovereign prince in the territory of another, and the rank assigned to it was the same in all Christian countries. Among the early Norman monarchs, even enfranchised villeins born in servitude were sometimes knighted, when they had performed some very extraordinary actions in war, after having obtained their freedom.

CONSTABLE.-William the Conqueror rendered many of the household offices hereditary, which considerably increased the power of the nobility; among these were the offices of the Constable, Chamberlain, and Seneschal. In the 13 statute of Richard II., the authority and jurisdiction belonging to the office of the Constable of England, is partly defined; it is there said, "That he ought to have cognizance of contracts touching feats of arms and of war out of the realm, and also of such things relating to arms or war within the realm, as could not be determined or discussed by the common law, with other usages and customs appertaining to the same matters, which other constables before that time had duly and reasonably used." Madox, in his history of the Exchequer, says, "he was a high officer both in war and peace, and observes that the word signifies a captain or commander. Yet it did not always follow that the Constable commanded the royal armies in the absence of the sovereign. Henry de Essex and Humphrey de Bohun, who were Constables in Henry II.'s reign, never commanded in chief. Henry de Essex was the hereditary standard-bearer of England, but it does not very clearly appear whether that honour belonged to him as Constable, or was a distinct office held by a different tenure in conjunction with the other. He forfeited the dignity of Constable in consequence of a duel which he fought with Robert de Montfort. Humphrey de Bohun afterwards acquired the dignity of Constable by virtue of his marriage with Margaret, eldest daughter of Milo,

carl of Hereford, who, by the death of her brothers, became the heiress of all her father's honours, of which the office of Constable was one. It is not related how it had come into the family of Hereford, but it is most likely that after the forfeiture of Henry de Essex, the office had been conferred on the earl of Hereford. But from the time of the marriage just named, the Bohuns possessed that high dignity for ten generations. It appears by a record that, in the reign of Edward III., Humphrey de Bohun, the last of that name, held several manors by the service of being Constable of England. And in the reign of Henry VIII., it was decreed by all the judges, "That this office might be annexed to lands, and descend even to females, who, while they remained unmarried, might appoint a deputy to do the service for them; but after marriage it was to be done by the husband of the eldest alone." They also decreed, "That the service was not extinct, though part of the lands for which it was done, fell into the hands of the king, to whom it was due, but remained entire in the eldest daughter; yet that the king might refuse the service, and not be forced to use the ministry of an unworthy person." Of which decision Henry took advantage to reject the claim of the duke of Buckingham, who derived his title to it from the eldest daughter of the last Humphrey de Bohun. After the death of that duke, the office was never revived. An old author, in describing the business done by the Constable at the Exchequer, where he had a seat by virtue of his office, says, "that when the king's mercenary soldiers came there to receive their pay, it was his duty to examine their demands and accounts, with the help of his clerk, and see that the sums due to them were paid at the proper terms.”

In Scotland, the earl of Errol is hereditary lord high Constable, and the powers attached to that office are very transcendent. In all royal armies and expeditions, the Constable was lieutenant-general, and supreme officer next the king. He had the command, direction, and government in the army, and was sole judge in all military affairs. He was, (and still is at present, when the king resides in Scotland,) supreme judge in all cases of riot, disorder, blood, and slaughter committed within four miles of the king's person, or of the parliament, or of the council representing it. He guards the king's person in time of parliament, keeps the parliament house, and commands all guards and men at arms attending the king's person at such times. He rides on the king's right hand, and carries a white baton in token of command, sits in parliament apart from the rest of the nobility, on the king's right hand, having the regalia lying before him.

By the statute 13 Edward I. made at Winchester, it is enacted, "In every hundred and franchise, two constables shall be chosen to make the view of armour, and they shall present defaults of armour, and of suits of towns, and of highways, and such as lodge strangers in uplandish towns, for whom they will not answer."

At the present day, the chief business of a high constable is not appropriated to them as such, but only as officers to execute the precepts of justices of the peace. The original and proper authority of a high constable seems to have been precisely the same as that of a petty constable. The surveying of bridges, the issuing of precepts regarding the appointment of overseers for the poor, surveying of highways, assessing the land tax and window duties, the viewing of armour, are official duties vested in him as matters of convenience and not of necessity, and which is a matter of discretion with justices of the peace whom they will appoint. Also as a matter of convenience, other duties have been superadded to this office, by different acts of parliament, such as the issuing precepts for licensing ale-houses, for levying county rates, and for returning lists of jurors.

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All the inhabitants of a town are liable in turn to serve the office of high constable, but to this there are of course exceptions. The president, commons, and fellows of the faculty of physic in London, are exempt, also surgeons in London, apothecaries in, and for several miles round London, and in the country also, where they have a seven years' apprenticeship. sworn attorney or other officer of the courts at Westminster, may be chosen, but can be discharged from serving by a writ of privilege, as his attendance on the courts being indispensable, incapacitates him from performing the necessary duties of the office; barristers and the servants of members of parliament are likewise for the same reasons exempt. Aldermen of London, although chosen, cannot be compelled to serve; officers of the guards are not exempt from serving, although both officers and men of the militia are. The clergy, and all dissenting preachers, after subscribing and taking the oaths, are exempt; so likewise is the prosecutor of a felon to conviction.

This office being entirely ministerial, and noways judicial, a constable may appoint a deputy, in the case of sickness or absence, or any other cause, but he must answer for the faithful execution of his office by his deputy. Dissenters who scruple to take the oaths may also appoint a deputy.

By the common law every high and petty constable are conservators of the peace. And therefore whoever makes any affray or assault on another person in the presence of a constable, or threatens to kill, beat, or hurt another, or in any way breaks the peace, he may commit such offender to the stocks, or any place of custody, and afterwards carry him before a justice or to jail, until he finds security to keep the peace. But a constable, not being a judge of record, cannot take any man's oath for an of fence not committed in his own view.

When a constable is chosen, and on entry to his office, he takes the following oath :

"You shall well and truly serve our sovereign lord the king in the office

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of Constable, for the township of, for the year ensuing, (or until you be lawfully discharged therefrom, or until another shall be sworn in your place ;) you shall well and truly do and execute all things belonging to the said office, according to the best of your skill and knowledge. So help you God."

MARESCHAL OF ENGLAND.-This office was executed partly in the king's army in time of war, and partly in his court in time of peace. His military functions consisted partly in conjunction with the constable in giving certificates to the barons of their having duly performed the services required of them in the king's armies, from which it would appear that these officers had a legal superintendency over the royal army. It appears, however, from Rymer, that in Edward I.'s reign, the Mareschal's post was in the vanguard, and that it was his duty as well as the Constable's, to muster the forces. Mr Madox (Hist. of the Exch.) relates that his civil duties were to provide for the security of the king's person in his palace, to distribute the lodgings there, to preserve the peace and order in the king's household, and to determine controversies arising among them. He also performed certain acts either by himself or his substitutes at the king's coronation, at the marriages and interments of any member of the royal family, at the creation of barons and knights, and at other great and ceremonious assemblies of the king's court. It is said in the dialogue de Scaccario, that no business of importance ought to be done without consulting the mareschal. In the reign of Henry II., this high office was held by a family who seems to have taken their name from thence, and were only of the rank of barons; but under Richard I., William Mareschal having obtained the earldom of Pembroke, was afterwards styled Earl Mareschal and as from that time this office has continued in the possession of earls, though of different houses, it is now always called the office of Earl Mareschal and its power seems to have increased from the dignity of the noblemen who have held it. At present the duke of Norfolk is hereditary Originally it signified master of the horse to

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Earl Mareschal of England. the king.

SENESCHAL-The office of seneschal was much the same as that of grand justiciary, and indeed they were so closely allied, that they could not very well subsist together, their functions and dignity being nearly the same. In the time of the early Norman sovereigns, it was inferior to the grand justiciary, and does not appear to have been very different from the office of lord steward of the household at present, but its jurisdiction afterwards was greatly increased.

THE GRAND JUSTICIARY OF ENGLAND.-Spelman says, that originally under this office were executed the several powers and functions of the chief justice of the king's bench, the chief justice of the common pleas, the chief baron of the exchequer, and the master of the wards. He was too great

for a subject; but the office was neither hereditary nor held for life; and he was obliged to appoint a number of deputies. Several persons were frequently found in commission in the execution of the office, which deprived it of its dangerous splendour. Mr Madox relates, (Hist. of the Exch.) that for some time after the conquest, the chief justiciary used to do many acts, which afterwards appertained to the treasurer's office. Notwithstanding, there was a treasurer then among the great officers of the king's court, of whose functions the same author gives this account. "It seems to have been the part or duty of the freasurer in ancient times, to act with the other barons of the exchequer in the government of the king's revenue, to examine and control accountants, to direct the entries made in the great roll, to attest the writs issued for levying the king's revenue, to supervise the issuing and receiving the king's treasure at the receipt of the exchequer, and in a word, to provide for, and take care of, the king's profit."

In the dialogue de scaccario it is stated, that the grand justiciary of England" was great in the exchequer as well as in the court, so that nothing of moment was or could be done there, without his consent or advice," and that he usually presided under the king in the court of exchequer; next to him sat the chancellor, then the constable, then the chamberlain, and lastly the mareschal; but the power of the justiciary declined in proportion as that of the chancellor increased, and it is supposed that the increase of power and splendour acquired by the chancellors was in a great measure owing to the greatness of some of the illustrious individuals who had borne that office. Madox likewise says, "that the splendour of the king's court appeared very much in the greatness of his officers and ministers. But some of them were so great and splendid, as instead of augmenting served to diminish the splendour of their master, and attract the eyes of his other subjects from himself to them;" among which number was this office of grand justiciary, and perhaps that may have been one cause of its abolition.

Henry VIII. first appointed Lord Lieutenants of counties to act as representatives of the crown, to keep their respective counties in military order.

The English counties are divided into six circuits for the accommodation of the judges, called the Home, Norfolk, Western, Oxford, Midland, and Northern. Two judges are fixed to go upon each of these, at the assizes appointed to be held twice-a year; but in the cities of Durham and Carlisle, the towns of Newcastle and Appleby, which are in the Northern and long circuits, the assizes are held only once a-year in autumn. Middlesex being the supreme court of justice, and Cheshire being a county palatine, have peculiar privileges, and therefore excluded from the circuits.

There are three counties which are pre-eminently called counties palatine, viz. Lancaster, Chester, and Durham, the two latter have been so