The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-07-24
..,,,rcs,,ne 80 la~yers-the Court 0'
aures,'s iics,ch.
-x,,sr or Court WITH HISTORY We '''
CE.TCS1ES.

o,,,ou Times. 9Th iustan.j
,,,,,s, and ancient tribuuai-tne mos
"a" ond august ni any AVE TIT h'H"
a a',, of psr,;smep, "-ycs'erdaS 'trtnAl.'
cou a 70 ex,., The Court o. Qu'eoS
1.a wh;.n rrpre~ents trihnRai neIu IN"
Dr"' - K,ny himself at least s thoustnu
r,a,s ago. 81, Yesterday for me 'As. W. ,;n
III hrmac probability viii never -. *sa' ';
IN an no, ,t.cnnKasty cease TO e1,'' ui,'
sI,ner. a.a until then II IN
x,;res merely as an 'crS TO-. h,t /, |
;aaa ar c,ncpp'son Of the u,.n' # hold |
Iii actually assemble no nv. -, o,;r;no |
. s;,,ios on Mord, for the pui MI, ts ;,S
;uaomcp,s. ard tn"sc to..sa.n nan.
e.. for- unrsS scE'eihine uD,o'. 1919: t
iaS'. '"' ,..,,; never sit again. II IS 'mpossi-
pens I'D t-,Irridse oD.eryeda year or SO
pr - .on,cmrl,te WITHOUT feeling OF inter
OK" I'D re,bsIs passing pang OF regret, the
..,,,c,, nu and passing away OF 50 au2u't
,,a .,cent an institution. Even IN tn's
,',,,y sn tenacious In it's traditions ana
;ns,;,u,,oos. ar,o most Of all, in It's Judlca'
;nsti,n;ons, the Queens bench, as II was
cur,,v called. or. 10 u-e its correct ieSa'
t,tle q he court OF the King before the hlnS
h,m,.lt .coran ipso rege was ING
mos, ancient OF all. and lar more anc'eus
than Parliament it.el'3 for It can DC llaceo
i,ack cleari, 10 the substance OF us ha'ui'
80 .,..,ocier and in the essence OF its Juris-
di,t;on 10 the time Of Alfred-atoVe Ten
n.n,ures ago IL j. curious circumstance
that. reckoning from the accession OF hi'e'
in S71-tte earliest date III WHICH sucn
;urisoic,ion can bt shown 10 nave oeen eA'i-
cised--to he year 1870. ~heu the oriSlnai VI
the iudicsturr act which abolished u was
Introduced Just q thousand years snou'o
have elapsed. ,,s.,<,
II "a one Of the greatest glories OF Aifreo
.,a, no osvp close ara aious attention 10
the administration OF Justice - especially
crimira iust,ce--hy pll the judges 10 hiS 40
rn;n;ons. and corrected their errors or ca
,ooces. .nd in all succeeding rigns do"u
+n tho conquest, and ever since tbe oot'
.,r.st down 10 this day, there can ne 'iaceo
,hc ex,stepcc of a tribunal, DeIu oi'S''a''9
before the Kin" in person anu n'S eouu1"'
,,einro vbjru all Inferior JUDGES were I'aue
-. -. cited their abuses or excuses OF JuTl>.
T;c,;on CORE cted, ard their exercise OF lDeir
i,,risdictiop compelled and c0ntro'ieu. IL
exactly that jurisdiction which the court o'
kings bench has always tHercl>cd since IL
exis, ed by that name, It's great u'st'llc''on
heiuc that 1t was tue coulI "
error from all criminal courts, anu Una,
~ was the court which exercised
q soverejen jurisdiction over the maSisiracy
nnd . supreme power in the way either OF
commopdlpr trem to exercise their Jufl>dic.
.;on in cases within it, or OF prohibiting lbtm
from exercising il in eases not within II, or OF
scffinp aside their ScntepceS II tnpy eA'
cerdcd their jurisdiction, or OF punisDll
them il they abused il. In short, the very
Jurisdiction winch from Aiireu'S laws ana
Alfred's life, We fibd that great SOVEREIGN,
like so many OF his succe'snrs, exercised I'D
person, this great court has exercised ever
since it existed A. a legal tribunal. with that
nroud name and title so well expressing
its ancient origin, ard so clearly SHOW
ing It's identity with its ancient orr
ginal. "1kc court OF the King before
the King hims,lt." SO early as The reign
of Henry II. we find it mentioned by that
name and title" as he'd before the King
HIMSELF; though in the reiga Of Edward
I. we find the King insisting that the judges
should follow mm wherever he went TO sit
in his council, and is late as The fifteenth
century it was sometimes described ms held
sbctorc the King IN councll"-" cordm Rcqe
in ConciltO" Lord CLke proudly boosted
that. like the cnuncery, its title was " Cor0Dt
n, oe." and he boosted that it eXcelled the
chaucery in dignity as being " coram apSo
zegc."
But, in truth, these two great courts were
in dignity the same, hOlh beng held before
the King in person or his council. anu BON
exercising that high preroyalIve jurisdiction
which Lord Bacon described as the ''PiG
toriau jurisdiction" of the cbancery and tue
"CepsoraI jurisdiction " OF the Kings bench.
There is reason to believe that the JurlS-
dction of the Star Chamber was but an
irregular development OF the high lurlSdIc.
tiou of this great court before ii was clearly
defined and established, and when the Star
Chamber was abolished all that was LEGAL in
its jurisdiction, or rather all that was Dol un
constitutional, AID much that was not strictly
legal, passed o,he Kings bench and went to
augment lis loft, jurisdiction. One part of
it most Gel tuinl, had that origin, the ju
rsdiction exercised on "criminal intorma
tion"-a jurisdiction long conroverled. de-
MED, or doubted even by Lord Hale, and not
firmly established until it was sanction, d
indirectly by statute after the Revolution.
1t was felt that there must reside somewhere
the power OF exercising an extraordinary lu-
risdiction for punishment OF great deliu-
auences which could not await the slower
process OF ordinary law, and so that part OF
the jurisdiction "f this great court was re-
cogniz=d. SO, again, in this great court re.
sided the power OF supplying the detects Of
all inferior jnd,catures IN the trial or eXecu
ton OF criminals, ard for this purpose il
could remove 4 case from any other court
and bring it before Itself, aud send Il case
into any county in Epglaud for trial,
having for that purpose, as Lord Coke
sand, "soverelgn and supreme author
ity," an authority so high in any county
where 1t sat courts of assize could not be
held, being deemed subordinate tribunals,
while this great court was soreregnand SUI
Eram tho earliest times n has bppD
the function of this court 10 exercise that
which has ever been the peculiar prerogative
Of the crown namely, 10 prevent IN failure
OF justice" For that purpose 1t was invested
with an extraordinary jurisdiction, far sur
passing that OF the Ordinary criminal courts
of the country-a jurisdiction capable of
being exercised without the ordinary forms
of law, and out OF the scope Of its Ordinary
rules, and only controlled by the broad pru-
ciI les Of the Constitution, CT which, in It's
best day 5 this court became, INDEED, the gie,t
judicial "Cardian. Even governors OF colo
MES, judge, magistrates, and ministers OF
State could be before / bis high court arraigned
for mi>coGduE. and punished for abuse; and
its jurisdiction was subordinate only to Par
lament itself.
In Ibis great court resided, aSthe old lawyers
loved 10 say. the pleEitet3o .poeeStQuS the
fnlneSS Of power to d. or to enforce justice,
which could supply be detec:s of all inferior
tribunals. and contained within its' Ii what
ever was necessary for the purposes OF JUS
tce, unfeu. red by the narrow rules of oidi-
nary judrsure. This Dlgh prerogative Was
remarkably display ed in B recent famous
case, when the court exercised Its powers for
the purposes of justice with a ,vi20c which
no other tribunal III the realm could have ex-
eried. But other and still higher functions