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CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 469 CHAMBERS. sought to be accoiiiplishod. tlie following may be mentioned as the most ]>roiniiicnt : (1) By rep- resenting and urging on tlie legishiture the views of their members in niereantile affairs: (2) by aiding in the preparation of legislative measures having reference to trade, such, for example, as the bankrupt acts; (,3) by collecting statistics liearing upon the staple trade of the district: (4) in some places, by acting as a sort of court of arbitration in mercantile (]uestions; (.5) by attaining, by combination, advantages in trade which might be beyond the reach of individual enterprise. t'hambers of Commerce originated on the Con- tinent of Europe, when, with the gradual disin- tegration of the old guild system, they were clothed with some of the municipal and adminis- trative functions which had in earlier times been exercised by the craft guilds. The first of these organizations on record is that of ^larseilles, which was originally established about the year 1600, and acquired a definite organization in 1650. Similar bodies were created at Dunkirk in 1700, and in the following year at Rouen, Toulouse. Lyons, Bordeaux, and other points, During the Xapoleonic period, when the French influence extended to Holland, Germany, Aus- tria, and Italy, similar <n-ganizations were estab- lished in the principal cities of those countries. Before this time they had spread to Scotland, where the year 1783 witnessed the establishment of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, and to the American Colonies, where the Xew York Chamber of Commerce was organized in 1708, It was not imtil the early part of the Nineteenth Century that the institution took root in England, The Chamber of Conmierce of ilanchester was organ- ized in 1820, but that of London not until 1882. At the present time such organizations, whether under the original name of Chamber of Com- flierce or under that of Board of Trade, are well nigh universal, and no town of any considerable importance lacks such a corporate representation of its mercantile interests. In the United .States, and in England and her colonies, Chambers of Commerce are purely vol- untary associations. They select their own mem- bers and are accountable to no one for their ac- tions. Their sole purpose is to render themselves serviceable to mercantile interests, by such ac- tion as will influence public opinion and law- making bodies. In European countries they have a somewhat more official character. They are there elected bodies chosen by ballot among the mercantile classes. The law prescribes who shall have the right to participate in such elections. In some countries it is made their duty to ex- press their opinion in advance upon jjroposed legislation, and in the Hanse cities they must by law be consulted before certain kinds of legis- lation can be considered. They are also intrusted frequently with minor administrative duties, such as the prescribing of port regulations and the like. CHAMBERS (OF. chambre, cambre. It. tamara, Ger. Kammer, OHG. chnmara, chamber, from Lat. camera, room, Gk, Ka/idpa, kamara, room with vaulted ceiling; connected with Lat, com Mr, crooked, Gk. K(i/i~reiv, Icamjitcin. to bend, Ir. cam. crooked). In law, the private room or olfice of a judge in which he hears motions, signs papers, or does other business pertaining to his oflice. A judge is said to act at 'chambers' when any legal proceeding is carric'd on before him out of court, either at his office or residence, or other convenient place, including the court- room itself, provided he is acting as a judge of the court and not as the court itself. In general, ex parte proceedings and proceed- ings incidental to an acti(m or to the main pro- ceeding may be carried on at chambers. ^Miidcrn statutes have increasi'<l nuiterially the business hich may be transacted in this manner; and the codes of civil procediire adopted in several of the L'nited States expressly provide that cer- tain acts may be done bj- the court, and others by a judge of the court. I'nder the Enijlish statutes, 16 Victoria, ch. 80, and 36 and 37 Victoria, ch, 60. the office of master in chancery (q.v.) was abolished, and the business formerly transacted by him was directed to be transacted under the direction of a judge at chambers by officers of the court. Consult : the authorities referred to under Practice; also Coe, Practice at the Judges' Vhamhers, Queen's Bench, etc. (London, 1876). See ilASTER IX CnAXCEKY. CHAMBERS, chfim'berz, Charles Haddon (1860 — ). An English play^vright. He was born April 22, 1860, and educated at Sydney, X. S. W., where he entered the civil service in 1875. Two years afterwards he turned for a time to a life of more adventurous experiences in the 'bush.' His first visit to England was in 1880, and in 1882 he went to London to engage in literary work. His first work was in the way of articles and stories for the periodicals, but about 1886 he began dramatic writing. Af- ter several minor achievements, he made his first great success with Captain Swift, which was pro- duced at the Haymarket Theatre, June 20, 1888. Since then he has written The Idler, first pro- duced in Xew York at the Lyceum Theatre, and a few weeks later at the St. James, London (1891); The Honorable Herbert (Vaudeville, 1892) ; John a' Dreams (Ha>niiarket, 1894) ; The Tyranny of Tears (1899), and other plays. CHAMBERS, Ephk^um (1680-1740). An Engli^li encyclopaedist. In early life he was an apprentice to a map and globe maker in Lon- don, where he formed the plan of compiling an encyclopa-dia on a larger scale than that of Jnlin Harris's Lexicon Technicum (1704), then the only work of the kind in the language. He pub- lished by subscription the first edition of his Cyclopcedia. or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, in 1728. Ten years later the sec- ond edition appeared, and in the year follow- ing the third. The fourth was issued in 1741. a year iifter the editor's death, and manv other editions have since been issued. A French trans- lation of it gave rise to Diderot's and D'Alem- bert's Encyclopedie. It was also expanded into Dr. Rees's once well-known Encyclopwdia. Cham- bers was an avowed freethinker, irascible, kind to the poor, and extremely frugal. CHAMBERS, Robert (1802-71). A Scotch publisher and author, born at Peebles, Scot- land, .July 10, 1802, He attended the grammar school, where he learned Latin ; and at home read through the fourth edition of the Encyclopcedia Uritanniea. The family moved to Edinburgh in 1813, where, five years later, Robert set U|> as a book-seller, read extensively, and began writing.