Constantine republican. [volume] (Constantine, Mich.) 1836-1838, 1837-07-12
From the Metropolitan Magazine.
CURIOUS HISTORY OF THE KINGS
BENCH COURT OF LONDON.

From the Metropolitan Magazine.
CURIOUS HISTORY OF THE KINGS
BENCH COURT OF LONDON.
The Kings Bench is d.1 supreme court
of commontldw throughout the kingdom.
1t is the remnant of the Anlia Regia, court
established by William the Conqueror, and
which not only sat in his residence to what
ever part of the country he removed, but
which was presided over by persons chos-
en- from his household for the purpose.
The King slBench, though notheld for nearly
two centuries at any other place than West
minister and Guildhall, is, in consequence
of the locomotive qualities of the institution
which it succeeded, still capable of being
removed at the pleasure of the king to any
part of the country. In the year of the
great plague in London, nearly two centu-
ries ago, the Kings Bench was transferred
to Oxford, where it sat for considerable
time. When Edward the first conquered
Scotland, it followed him TO that country,
and actually sat at Roxburgh. When thus
removed to any,other part of the kingdom, it
at once absorbs or sets aside all previous
commissions for holding assizes in the par
ticular county in which it sits. 1t proceeds
to try the cases ipso facto. There is only
one exception to this universal power of tho
court of Kings Bench. BY an act passed
in the early part of the reign Of George the
third, it is provided that any session in the
county of Middlesex began TO be held on
the Jail deliveries of Newgate, shall contin-
ue to be held until the cases are all dispos-
ed Of Notwithstanding the sitting of the
court of Kings Bench at Westminster, or
any other part of the county at that partic-
ular time.-In consequence of the Kings
Bench being liable to be removed to wher-
ever the king shall be pleased to go, all the
writs are returnable wherever we shall
then be in England"
The Kings Bench derives its name from
the circumstance Of the king having been
in former times, and being still assumed TO
be, in the habit of sitting in it along with
the Judges. Some historians tell us that
Henry the third reneatedlv sat i the Kinp's
Bench curing the proceedings in important
cases. 1t is added, tirut he sat on an ele-
waited bench, the judges being seated on a
lower one at his feet. Other historians ex.
press doubts as to this monarch having at
tended in person in the Kings Bench. Be
he fact as it may, it is established beyond
all question that Edward the fourth sat there
three consecutive days, in the second year
of his reign. The object of this youthful
monarch was the praiseworthy one of de.
sire to witness the way in which justice was
administered. James the first, it is also
said, sat for some time on one or two occa.
sions along with the judges in the court Of
Kings Bench but as he was not allowed
70 take any par. in the proceedings, thai
being the province of the judges alone, he
soon tired IF the thing. That monarch was
so strongly addicted to loquacty, that TO be
prevented from speaking for any length Of
time, was the greatest punishment which
could be inflicted upon him. He and Sin
Peter Laurier would never have agreed a.
bout the silent system. The former would
have deemed it, Judging from his own ex.
perience on the subject, UNNECESSARILY toe
harsh remedy for criminal, whatever
the natare, onhowever great the magnitude
|
of his offences. The royal Scion was new.
er more in his element than when over head
and ears in some theological or other dis.
putatidn.
By one of those fictions so numerous in
the English law, the sovereign is still, as
just stated, supposed to be present during
sittings of the Kings Bench. The writs
which are issued by the court state that the
case is to be tried "before the king himself
| AS this court as before mentioned, derives
its name from the assumed presence of the
king during its proceedings, it changes its
name to that of the Queens Bench during
the ascendancy Of female. 1t was sc
called during the reigns of Elizabeth, Mary
and Anne. The only case of pcrplexity
which ever occurred as to the designation
under which it should go, was, when Oliver
Cromwell assumed the protectorate of Eng
land. After grea, deal of discussion a
mong the judges and others, and the propo
sal of various other names, it was
agreed to christen it "The upper Bench.
have already said that this was the SUI
preme court of common law. Its jurisdc
ton is universal. A case may be remov
ed by writ Of certiorari, from any part o
England, or it can put an end to the pro
ceedings in any other court in the most ar
bitrary or summary manner. 1t has a sove
reign authority over all inferior courts, anc
superintends all civil corporations through
out the kingdom. 1t enforces the perform
ance of their duty on magistrates, in those
cases where the law provides no specific
remedy. 1t can bail parties illegally com
mitted to prison, either by the king ano
council, or by either house of parliament
nay, so great are its powers, that if it please
and there arc instances on record in which
it has done so, bail persons who have beer
imprisoned according to the most obvious
letter and spirit of the law.
1t has special jurisdiction extending no
only to all capital offences, but to misde
meanors of every kind of public nature
where tho tendency is to breach of tn
peace, or to the oppression Of individual
or bodies of persons. IL also possesses tn