Davis, ats.-ii. 305. Dillon v. Parker, ii. 49. Dune v. Farrell, ii. 455. Elcock v. Glegg, i. 532. Errington v. Attorney General, ii. 335. F. Fortescue v. Hannah, i. 308. Frank v. Standish, ii. 50. Fust, in re, ii. 735. G. Gainsborough, Countess of, v. Gifford, ii. 441. Gifford v. Hort, i. 257. H. Halfhide v. Fenning,ii. 318. Hamilton, Duchess of, v. Maledan, Jones v. Martin, i. 308. v. Saxby, ii. 263. v. Tuberville, ii. 442. Jongsma t. Pfiel, ii. 279. A TREATISE, &c. BOOK I. ALL matters determinable in the Court of Chancery may be classed under one or other of the following heads: I. THE COMMON LAW JURISDICTION. II. THE EQUITY JURISDICTION. III. THE STATUTORY JURISDICTION. IV. THE SPECIALLY DELEGATED JURISDICTION. COMMON LAW JURISDICTION OF THE CHANCELLOR. THE Chancellor is, by the Common Law, invested with various powers. He is a privy counsellor, and prolocutor of the House of Lords, as well as patron of the King's Livings under the value of twenty marks per annum in the King's books. (a.) He is also, by the common law, a conservator of the peace, and may award precepts and take recognizances for the peace. Parliament is summoned by writs issued by the Chancellor, and all the Acts passed are enrolled and kept in Chancery. But these matters, and the learning respecting them, are not here intended to be treated of, but only such parts of his common-law jurisdiction as have (a) See 38 Edw. 3. 3. and 13 Edw. 4. 3. 11 Hen. 4. 80. F. N. B. 83 K. 4to ed. It appears from the Rolls of Parliament in the time of Edw. 3, that it had previously been the usage for the Chancellors to give all the King's livings, taxed (by the subsidy assessments) at twenty marks, or under, to the clerks, who were then actually cleri or clergymen, who had long laboured in the court of Chancery; but that the Bishop of Lincoln, when he was chancellor, had given such livings to his own and other clerks, contrary to the pleasure of the King and the ancient usage; and therefore it was recommended to the King by the Council, to command the Chancellor to give such livings only to the clerks of Chancery, the Exchequer, and the other two benches or courts at Westminster-Hall, 4 Edw. 3. No. 51. quot. Gibson's Codex, 764. But since the new valuation of benefices, or the King's books in the time of Henry the Eighth, and the clerks ceased to be in orders, the Chancellor has had the absolute disposal of all the king's livings, even where the presentation devolves to the Crown by lapse, of the value of twenty pounds a year, or under, in the King's books. It does not appear how this enlarged patronage was obtained by the Chancellor, but it was probably by private grant of the Crown, from a consideration that the twenty marks in the time of Edward the third were equivalent to twenty pounds in the time of Henry the Eighth, Gibs. 764. 1 Burn. Eccl. Law, 129, quot. 3 vol. Black. Com. p. 47, in note by Mr. Christian. In Scotland, too, at a very early period, the Chancellor of that country seems to have exercised a right of presentation somewhat similar to the Chancellor of England; for in the year 1309, William de Bevercotes, the Scottish Chancellor, presented a petition to the King in Parliament, praying that he might have the gift of all the King's churches, as former Chancellors used to have; and this prayer was granted, as to those benefices which did not exceed ten pounds per annum. Ryley's Placita, 613, 14, &c. Chalmer's Caledonia, Vol. I. p. 693. been made the subject of consideration in the Court of Chancery. These consist, principally, of three kinds: 1. The Nomination, &c. of Officers of the Court; Such as the Masters in Chancery (b), and Cursitors, who are nominated, admitted, and sworn by the Chancellor (c.) Another part of the Chancellor's common-law authority is in respect of, (b) The antiquity of the Masters in Chancery appears in the preamble of an Act passed in the 13 Charles 2. for increasing the fees of masters in Chancery. It is a private act, and not printed in the usual editions of the statutes. The original act at the Parliament Office has been consulted. (Nu. 16.) This preamble runs thus: "Whereas the office of the master of the Chancery in ordinary is of very ancient institution, and of necessary use, and continual attendance for the dispatch of the business depending in that court; it appearing by ancient records that the constitution of that court was long before the conquest, much of the duty, pains, and attendance whereof lieth on the said masters. And for that it conduceth much to the due administration of justice, that those who exercise places of trust should have competent and certain rewards suitable to their pains and labour, whereby they may in due manner support the quality of their places; and that it is but fitting and necessary for the subject to allow a moderate payment, where they receive a proportionable advantage (a fee of fower pence in times of that antiquity being as much in value as two shillings now) by reason whereof in process of time, and the improved rate of all necessaries, the present recompense of those ancient offices is no way competent and proportionable to their pains and attendance, which are likewise very much increased, without any increase hitherto of what was soe anciently allowed as aforesaid," &c. (c) Vid. Judicial Authority, &c. p. 60. |