APPENDIX

COURTS AND THEIR REPORTERS

By ARTHUR C. PULLING

THE BAIL COURT

A court auxiliary to the court of King's Bench wherein points connected more particularly with pleading and practice were argued and determined.

Cases of Practice, 1778......

THE COURT OF CHANCERY

I

1584-1775

The Court of Chancery obtained a practically exclusive jurisdiction over such matters as mortgages and trusts as well as the jurisdiction over the restraining of wrongs, the winding-up of partnerships and the taking of accounts.

The court of common pleas had jurisdiction generally of civil actions. It decided controversies brought by private persons against private persons or by the government when the cause of action is of a civil nature.

The Court of Exchequer handled all cases involving the due collection of king's debts which necessarily brought up legal questions of great importance.

THE COURT OF KING'S BENCH

The Court of the King's Bench kept all inferior jurisdictions within the bounds of their authority, punished all crimes and misdemeanors that amounted to a breach of the peace, and took cognizance of actions of trespass or other injuries committed vi et armis, and generally of everything not parcelled out to the other courts. It also heard appeals.

THE COURT OF ASSIZE AND NISI PRIUS These courts were derived out of and acted as auxiliaries to the other courts. They were composed of two or more commissioners sent into the various counties chiefly to try by jury the issues of fact in actions pending before the Courts of Westminster Hall.

Clayton, Pleas of Assizes at York, 1651..
Lilly, Assize, 1719..

THE COURT OF STAR CHAMBER

I

I

1631-1650 1688-1693

Its jurisdiction extended legally over riots, perjury, misbehavior of sheriffs, and other notorious misdemeanors; it was sketched to include the punishment, by members of the Privy Council, of orders and proclamations issued by themselves,-an usurpation of judicial authority which resulted in the abolition of the court in 1640.

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