Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1913-11-13
INTERESTING PHASES
OF ENGLISH COURTS

! able man. was given the chancellor-
ship. he being the first layman to fill
the position. Sir Thomas More held the
| chancellorship, until he was beheaded,
courage to oppose some Of the schem-
Ing of Henry VIII. Foremost among
many famous men that have held tho
position of chancellor was Sir Francis
Bacon, the famous philosopher, poet,
essayist and lawyer who was chancellor
early In the Seventeenth century.
The court of chancery has even flg-
ured In literature. Charles Dickens
taking its many delays (Which in .
measure exist even today, for tho con-
trail theme of his novel. "Bleak House."
The freedom of the .chancery courts
from many of the Limitations Of the law
courts has had a marked effect upon
the development OF the law.
Old Westminster.
one OF the most interesting historic
buildings in London Is the old West
minister hall. which could rightfully
be called the ancient court house OF
England. This building was first built
IN lO31 and rebuilt. by Richard II, in
1891. and was one of the buildings ad-
Joining the old Westminster palace,
which was the royal residence, until
the time OF Henry VIII. and the meet
ing place of parliament. When the
old palace and the adjoining buildings
We're DESTROYED by disastrous fire In
1881. Westminster hall escaped and
when the present houses Of parliament
were built the old hall was Joined on
ana made a part of the parliament
buildings. 1t Is n large hall and In,
mistaken for as new building as the
houses or parliament themselves. II
mas 'een the scene Of the most famous
trlais IN English history In fact in
the old days man did not amount to
much unless he had been tried and
convicted at Westminster hall. be-
headed. and his head stuck up in some
public place for number of weeks.
Here Charles 1 was tried and SEN
fenced and Oliver Cromwell was pro-
claimed protector and here, after the
restoration, the heads of Cromwell and
two of his followers were brought and
exposed on the southern cable for a
quarter of a century. 1t was the scene
of the trial and condemnation Of Will
liam Wallace. Sir Thomas More. the
Protector Somerset. the trial and ac-
quital OF the seven bishops and the
long tSial and acquittal of Warren
Hastings. In this hall some of the
earliest parliaments met and all the
important trials were held until recent
times. IT was actually used as court
room from 1924 until 1882. although
of course other buildings were quite
extensively employed for this purpose
IN recent centuries.
Supervision Of Fees.
i would like to Investigate fully tho
cost Of litigation in. England but 1 do
not just know how to get complete
information on this subject and have
only been able to get general idea in
regard to the same. but think l am
perfectly safe in saying that 1t costs
k<~v n
sets OF lawyers than 1t does the Ameri-
can client to pay one. Under the Eng
lish system each party to the suit adj
vances his own court costs and, tho
attorney fees are taxed -as part of the
court costs to be paid by the unsuc-
cessful party. These costs are re-
viewed by an officer Of the court.
known as a taxing master and if anv
cost or attorney fee Is exorbitant II ia
reduced. neither solicitors or barristers
are permitted to take case on q con-
tingcnt basis.
] am impressed with the Thought
that the courts OF the United States
and England should be brought into
closer touch with each other SO that
ea ca a., one might observe the procedure
or the other to their mutual benefit
Here are two great nations with the
same general constitution and the same
general law. whose constitutional law
and common law have, a common or
isin. whose courts adhere to the sams
legal principals and cite each others
decisions and vet each one KNOWING
very little of the others court pro-
cedure.
If for instance we could inject n lit
tie of the English speed into our cases
that drag along for days or adopt their
system of simplifled Instructions ia
juries. in short II we would take from
them all that is good and fortify our
selves against that which Is bad, we
would take a big step forward, while
on the other hand they could make
very substantial progress by copying
from us in manv important matters
1 am. yours very truly
(SigneO Ward r. Evans.