XJLW 70 XJ^W
telicandi, "i.e. the clergy are to be honoured by kings, ing of the ecclesiastical state and of eodesiaBtical pep-
t not to be judged by them, based on the tradition sons "and all manner of errors, heresies, sehisma,
that when some petitions were brought to the Em- abuses, offences, contempts and enormities". This
peror Constantine, imploring the aid of his authority court was the agent by which most oppressive acts
against certain of his bishops accused of oppression were committed and was justly abolish^ by statute,
and injustice, he caused the petitions to be burned in 16 Car. I, c. XI. An attempt was made to revive it
their presence bidding them farewell in these words, during the reign of King James II.
" Ite et inter vos causas vestras discutite, quia dignum The Chiuxh of England was the name given to that
non est ut nos judicemus deos" (judge your own portion of the laity and clergy of tl^ Caw(^c Church
cases; it is not meet that we should judge sacred men), resident in England during the da3r8 of the Anglo-
The ecclesiastical courts of England were: (1) The Saxon monarchy and during the history of England
Archdeacon's Court which was the lowest in point of under William the Conqueror and his successors down
i'urisdiction in the whole ecclesiastical polity. It was to the time when Henry VIII assumed unto himself leld by the archdeacon or, in his absence, before a the position of spiritual and temporal head of the judge appointed by him and called his official. Its English Church. Prior to the time of Heniy VIII, the jurisdiction was sometimes in concurrence with and Church of England was distinctly and avowedly a part sometimes in exclusion of the Bishop's Court of the of the Church universal. Its prerogatives and its con- diocese, and the statute 24 Henr. VlII, c. XII, pro- stitution were wrought into the fibre of the common vided for an appeal to the court presided over by the law. lis ecclesiastical courts were recognized by the bishop. (2) The Consistory Court of the diocesan common law — the jus publicum of the kingd<Hn — and bishop which held it^ sessions at the bishop's see for clear recognition was accorded to the right of appeal to the trial of all ecclesia^stical causes arising within the the sovereign pontiff; thuspractically making the pon- diocese. The bishop's chancellor, or his commissary, tiff the supreme judge for fmgland as he was for the r^ was the ordinary' judge; and from his adjudication an mainder of Christendom in all ecclesiastical causes, appeal lay to the archbishop of the province. (3) The The civil courts rarelv sought to trench upon the do- CJourt of Arches was a court of appeal belonging to the main of ecclesiastical affairs and conflict arose only Archbishop of Canterbury, and the judge of such court when the temporalities of the church were brought was called the Dean of the Arches because in ancient within the scope of litigation. The common law is times he held court in the church of St. Mary le bow chiefly, however, to be considered in reference to its (Sancta Maria de arcubus), one of the churches of protection of purely. human interests- As such it liondon. (4) The Court of Peculiars was a branch of pro\'ed to be powerful, efficient and imposing. The and annexed to the Court of Arches. It hml jurisdio- Court of King's Bench, Common Pleas and the Ex- tion over all those parishes dispersed throughout the chequer, together with the High Court of Chancery, Provinceof Canterbury- in the midst of other dioceses, were justly famous throughout Christendom. The which were exempt from the ordinary's jurisdiction original Anglo-Saxon juridical system offered none but and subject to the metropolitan only. All ecclesiasti- simple remedies comprehended, for the most part, in cal causes arising within these peculiar or exempt ju- the award of damages for any civil wrong and in the risdictions were, originally, cognizable by this court, delivery to the proper owners of land or chattels From its decisions an appeal lay, formerly, to the wrongfully withheld. Titles of an equitable nature pope, but during the reign of Henry VIII this right of were not recognized and there was no adequate appeal was abolished by statute and therefor was sub- remedy for the breach of such titles. The preven- stituted an appeal to the king in Chancery. (5) The tion of wrong by writs of injunction was unknown. Prerogative Court was established for the trial of tes- The idea of a juridical restoration of conditions tamentaiy causes where the deceased had left " bona which had been disturbed by wrongful act as well as notabilia (i. e. chattels of the value of at least one the idea of enforcing the specific performance of con- hundred shillings) within two different diocr^es. In tracts had never matured into either legislation or that case, the probate of wills belonged to the arch- judicial proceedings. Such deficiencies in the juriS' bishop of the province, by way of special prerogative, prudence of the realm were gradually supplied, under and all causes relating to the wills, administrations or the Norman kings, by the royal prerogative exercised legacies of such j)ersons were, originally, cognizable through the agency of the lord chancellor by special therein before a ludge appointed by tHe archbishop adjudications based upon equitable principles. In the and called the Judge of the Prerogative Court. From course of time, a great Court of Clianceiy came into ■ this court an appeal lay (until 25 Henr. VIII, c. XIX) being deriving its name from the fact that its presiding to the pope; and after that to the king in Chancery, judge was the lord chancellor. In this court were These were the ancient courts. After the religious administered all the great principles of equity jiuis- revolution had been inaugurated in England by prudence. The lord chancellor possessed as one of his Henry "\T[ II, a sixth ecclesiastical court was created by titles that of Keeper of the King's Conscience; and, that monarch and designated the Court of Delegates hence, the High Court of Chancery was often called a (jvdices delegati)^ and such delegates were appointed Court of Conscience. Its procedure did not involve by the king's commission under his great seal, issuing the presence of a jury and it differed from the courts of out of chancer}', to represent his royal person and to common law in its mode of proof, mode of trial, and hear ordinary ecclesiastical appeals brought before mode of relief. The relief administered was so ample him by virtue of the statute which has lx?eii mentioned in scope as to be conformable in all cases with the as enacted in the twenty-fifth year of his reign. This absolute requirements of a conscientious regard for commission was frequently filled with lords, spiritual justice. Among the most eminent of the Chancellors and temporal, and it^ personnel was always composed of England was Sir Thomas More who laid down lus in part of judges of the courts at Westminster and of life rather than surrender the Catholic Faith, and Lord Doctors of the Civil Law. Supplementary to these Bacon who was the pioneer in broadening the scope of courts were certain proceedings under a special tribu- modern learning. After the time when courts became nal called a Commission of Review, which was ap- established and entered upon the exercise of their pointed in extraordinary cases to revise the sentences various functions, the common law developed gradu- of the Court of Delegates; and, during the reign of ally into a more finished system because of the fact Elizabeth, another court was created, called the Court that judicial decisions were considered to be an exposi- of the King's High Commission in C'ases Ecclesiastical, tion of the common law and, consequently, were the This court was created in onler to supply the place of chief repository of the law itself. For this reason the the popt^'s appt^llato jnristiiction in reganl to causes observance of preoetlenta is a marked feature in Eng- appcrtaining to the reformation, onlering and correct- lish jurisprudence and prevails to a much greater ex«
