Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1858-07-17
Che 1)olpnesian.
Law and Lawyers...The ChancelIorship.

sell fortunate man. Ills station pldCeS next
but one in rank to the Royal Famiy-the Arch
bishop of Canterbury alone taking precedence of
him-and also makes hun preside over the political
discussions and legal proceedings of the House of
Lords. In addition to this, he is at the head of the
law and of the Judges of England. To compen-
safe him, fixed salary of $4,000 is paid him
while in office, and he has life pension of $685.
900 on his retirement. The other Judges receive
pensions after fifteen years service or retiring
| from i'll health.
| Nor is this all. The Lord Chancellor is made
a peer on taking office. Thus sir Frederick Thes-
| ger sits in the House of Lords, not merely as
! Chancellor, but also as Baron Chelmsford Were
he only commOner, as Chancellors frequently
were in former times, he could only preside in the
Lords, and in the Court of Chancery, without the
power of speaking voting in the former assembly.
AS Lord Chelmsford he is an hereditary legis-
ator, the limitation of his patent of nobility ex
pressy giving succession In his title to his - male
heirs lawfully begotten.'' Thus. Lords Lyndhurst
Brougham, st. Leonards, and Cranworth continue
to sit in the House of Lords, though they have
severally ceased to occupy the Woolsack.
By the way, the expression The noble Lord
on the Woolsack' often applied to the Chancellor,
IN Parliamentary parlance, may require expana-
ton in this country. At remote period, when
| Wool was considered the staple produce of Eng
| land-long before Merino, Saxon, Hungarian and
Australian fleeces were in the market, command
| ing higher prices-the etiquette of Parliament,
anxious to compliment trade, placed woolsack in
the House of Lords, as the seat of the Chancellor
who presides over that assembly. Hundreds Of
years have passed since that seat first placed,
but the custom continues. The Woolsack, at
present. and for long time past, has been some
what of ideality. 1t looks like square cotton
bale, covered with red damask, and its occupant
need not feel the want of So arms and a regular
back to his seat, seeing that he can and does very
well support himself by of substantial cush-
| ions. In fact. Independent of the peerage and
$50 900 year, the a" Woolsack" is q comfortable
| seat.
Besides pay, the Chancellor has liberal patronage.
| He has voice potential in advising the Crown as
to the appointment of every other judicial and le-
| gal Official He appoints, and can remove, all
| justices of the peace, usually acting county
magistrates on the Lord Leutenants recommend
| alton. He appoints to the seven hundred Crown
| livings, each of which is valued at one hundred
dollars year in the Queens boOks-which actu-
ally includes very many valuable livings, some of
them valued formerly at ten dollars now, from in
crease of population and trade, being worth $4,000
year. He has the patronage of all offices in his
own court
His duties, presumed ard actual, are heavy.
As Priyy Counsellor and Cabinet Minister, he
participates in the responsible task of governing
the British Empire,-advising his colleagues on all
mixed subjects of law and politics, and in all mat
tiers relating to police, law, and justice. He is
officially looked upon as Keeper of the Sover-
eign's conscience" and is supposed to be the ad-
wiser of the members of the Royal Family, in cas-
es of doubt difficulty, in which their interests
are involved He is the er-o6fciO guardian of eve
ry minor, male and female, not otherwise provided
with a guardian, and absolutely so if their proper
ty be " in Chancery."
His executive duties make him preside by pre-
scription as Speaker of the House of Lords, and
also as their Lordship's chief Judge in their court
of appellate jurisdiction, before which appeals
come from every court of law and equity in En-
gland, Ireland, and Scotland. The Chancellor
with singular want of delicacy, often hears and
decides upon appeal against his OlUn decisions! !!
So between the Cabinet the PrvY Council, the
House of Lords and the Chancery Court, the law
yer who is Lord Chancellor has his hands always
full.
By the Catholic Relief act of 1929, a Roman
Catholic cannot be Lord Chancellor. l. was fear
ed that he might dispense Church patronage not
quite to the advantage of the Church. But the
original holders of the office were not only Catho-
lies, but generally ecclesiastics.- Chancellor
was sort of confidential chaplain to the King or,
before the Reformation, his confessor and con-
science keeper. He then was the Kings chief
secretary, advising the Sovereign on various tenn
pOral matters preparing and trahScrlbing royal
mandates, grants, ard charters, and giving them
validity by affixing the Kings SEAL His appoint
ment actually took place by the great seal being
formally delivered to him. Cardinal Woolsey
Chancellor to Henry VIII. The last churchman
who filed the Office was Williams Protestant
Archbishop of York, in the last five years (162l to
l625) of the reign of James |. In the same centu-
nv the earl of SALISBURY, who was neither an &C.
cesiastic nor a lawyer, was appointed Lord Chan
cellor.
Much of Chanceor's judicial business has been
greatly lightened during the last forty years, by
giving him assistant or auxiliary judges. The
Master of the Rolls, (annual salary $4,000 with
retiring pension OF SlS, 1907 is an Equity Judge
of great antiquity, with seperate court and the
power of hearing and determining originally the
same matters as the Lord Chancellor, whose signi-
ture must be attached, however, to his orders or
DEGREES before they can be enrolled. There are
also with equal powers, two Lord Justices of Ap-
peal, each with annual salaries of $50, ,000 and
three Vice Chancellors, each with S25 900 per
annum.
sThe Chancellor has one drawback-its want of
permanancy. Every other British Judge holds
disappointment; the Lord Chancellor goes out of
Office when his party do, for his is political ap-
pointment. 1t is true that his fall is broken by a
life pension of S25 ,000-No British LAWYER if he
once has occupied the judicial judge, can ever re-
turn to private practice. Hence, large salaries.
Though not more than half successful lawyers
income at the bar,) with liberal retiring pensions,
tempt the very best lawyers to abandon the prac-
tce for the administration of the law. The case OF
Lord st. Leonards (Sr Edward Sugden) is in point.
Unquestionably the first equity yer in England
he accepted the Chancellorship of Ireland in De-
cember 1884, and retained it for Just three months
when PeeI's administration, which appointed him,
had to relinqush Office. At the bar his practice
had been 100000 year, and the Irish Chancel-
lorship paid him only $4,000. Resigning at the
end of three months he had to retire into private
life, pension of $4,000 being poor equivalent