courts, and courts-baron; and as the ſame writ of falſe judgment may be had, in nature of a writ of error; this has occaſioned the ſame diſuſe of bringing actions therein.
These are the ſeveral ſpecies of common law courts, which though diſperſed univerſally throughout the realm, are nevertheleſs of a partial juriſdiction, and confined to particular diſtricts: yet communicating with, and as it were members of, the ſuperior courts of a more extended and general nature; which are calculated for the adminiſtration of redreſs not in any one lordſhip, hundred, or county only, but throughout the whole kingdom at large. Of which ſort is
V. The court of common pleas, or, as it is frequently termed in law, the court of common bench.
By the antient Saxon conſtitution there was only one ſuperior court of juſtice in the kingdom: and that had cognizance both of civil and ſpiritual caſues; viz. the wittena-gemote, or general council, which aſſembled annually or oftener, wherever the king kept his Eaſter, Chriſtmas, or Whitſontide, as well to do private juſtice as to conſult upon public buſineſs. At the conqueſt the eccleſiaſtical juriſdiction was diverted into another channel; and the conqueror, fearing danger from theſe annual parliaments, contrived alſo to ſeparate their miniſterial power, as judges, from their deliberative, as counſellors to the crown. He therefore eſtabliſhed a conſtant court in his own hall, thence called by Bracton[1] and other antient authors aula regia or aula regis. This court was compoſed of the king's great officers of ſtate reſident in his palace, and uſually attendant on his perſon: ſuch as the lord high conſtable and lord mareſchal, who chiefly preſided in matters of honour and of arms; determining according to the law military and the law of nations. Beſides theſe there were the lord high ſteward, and lord great chamberlain; the ſteward of the houſhold; the lord chancellor, whoſe peculiar buſineſs it was
h l. 3 . tr. 1. c. 7.
- ↑ h
