Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-08-10
THE COURT OF QUEENS ENCn.
An ancIrr- Court Abolished after HAY
ing Bee TN IfsteBCe Suc ThOu.
sand Tears-I.OEd ChlCI-J ls-
ifus COckburH Ihe I.saar
Of BIs lime.
Fran the London Tlmc,l

From the London IlMes1
All august ard ancient triUulal-the
most ancient and august OF any save the
nigh court # parliament virtually
ceased 10 exist on Tuesday, July f-h.
The cour. OF queens bench, which rem
TGsents a tribunal he'd before the
King Himself at least one thousand
years ago, sat then for the last time,
and in all human probability will never
sit again. 1t may not technically cease
TO exist until November, and then it
survives merely as an chs rctiOqi5-an
idea or conception OF the mind; but it
will actually assemble no more, It
held sitting on Monday for the pur-
pose Of giving judgments, and those
judgments Will be Its last, for, unless
something unforeseen happens, it will
never sit again. II is impossible las
Lord COleTidge observed 8 year or so
ago. to contemplate without q feeling Of
interest, and perhaps g passing pang of
regret, the extinction and passing away
OF so august and ancient an institution.
Even in this country, go tenacious in its
traditions and institution, and most of
all, in its judicial institutions, the
queens bench, as it was CURLY, or to
use its correct legal title, "the court of
the king before the king himself
cOTGIn ipSe ,Tege-Was the most an
cient Of all, and far more ancient than
parliament Itself, for it can be traced
back clearly IN the substance OF its ma
ture and character and in the es-
sence Of its Jurisdiction TO the time
OF Alfred-abOve ten centuries ago.
1t is 2 courteous circumstance, reck-
Oning from the accession Ct Alfred
in S7l-the earliest date at which
a jurisdiction can be shown to have been
exercised-to the.yesr 1870, which is the
original OF the jurisdiction set which
abolished it was introduced, just one
thousand years should have elapsed.
To Alexander COckburn, certainly in
many respects not the least distinguished
OF the series, belongs the melancholy
distinction Of being the last chief-justice
Of England. The jurisdiction of the
court, it is true, is preserved by the Judi
cature act, and is vested in division OF
the high court of judicatuTe. And its
peculiar jurisdiction is vested in that
division exclusively. But as q cOurt-as
that great court which has existed ever
since the conquest as a distinct and sep
arate tribunal, with that high and lofty
jurisdiction which could originally only
be exercised by the king in person, and
was so exercised by our sOvereigns ever
since the time OF Alfred, as that great
court of the king, inferior only to par
Lament in greatness and dignity-its
history has closed. All it's proud dis
tinctiOn and its lofty traditions expire
and pass away, and become as things Of
the past. 1t has, however, a great his
tory, history Of ten centuries duration,
closely connected with the constitution
of the country through long succession
Of ages, and associated with series Of
great names and historic, and often
tragic, events; ami it was not fitting
that it should pass away forever without
a word by way Of memorial and in some
measure Of regret.