Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-04-28

:. written for The Review through :.
:. the International Labor News i
= Service. I
J. cles OF the series for reference. :.
Observation-Disclosures.
Where are the courts of equity?
How did they derive their extra
ordinary powers?
What was their origin?
MANY very learned legal and his
torical volumes have been written fol
the purpose of answering these ques-
tons.
We will not attempt any profound
examination of the origin and de-
velopment of these courts. Like al
institutions having their beginnings
In the distant past, their early history
Is fragmestafv, and shronded in mist
in addition to the available facts it Is
Necessary to keep in mind that mems
customs, viewpoints and relationship
to each other were different from
what they are today.
The court of equity originated In
England at a time when serfdom was
the condition for the masses of the
people. and when the term master
and servant had an entirely different
meaning than they have today.
The Lord Chancellor of England
the keeper of the kings conscience
was not the first individual clothed
with authority to say i forbid" and
the power to enforce his decisions.
The problems of Rome, some 800
years BE-, appointed two tribunes as
protectors against the political OPP
preston of the patricians.
The tribunes' person was invio-
liable; it was capital offense to touch
them or interfere with their decis-
ions.
These trbunes had the power of
saying. 81 forbid" to court proceed
ings and legislative proceedings.
After the Empire was established
the tribunes were abolished.
Whether there was any individuals
with such power among the SaXons
is a mater Of doubt.
1t seems to be reasonably estab-
Iished, however, that the British and
Saxon kings of England, shortly after
he beginning of the Tenth Century,
had chancellors. The Lord Chancel-
or, who was the keeper of the kings
conscience and also the keeper of the
great seal which was used 10 anthem
icate the kings grants of land and
,ther grants, became a prominent
actor Immediately after the Norman
How Functions Grew.
As the keeper of the great seal
with authority to issue mandatory
xrits or commissions it was natural
hat he should gradually assume the
functions and character of a judge
lo.diHg distinct, and Independent
court from the courts of common or
statutory law.
For many centuries, almost to
Queen Elizabeth's time, the majority
If the Lord Chancellors were clergy
men, one of the most famous being
Cardinal Wolsey during the reign of
Henry Sth.
BY the time of Edward Sd, 1927
AID, the Court of Chancellory APP
bears as a separate and well-estab-
ished tribunal for affordlng relief IN
;ases which were not to be remedied
BY the ordinary method and procedure
j, the courts of law.
The attitude of the people towards
the Lord Chancellor may be gathered
from the method of addressing him.
During the reign of Richard I'd, a
petition was addressed: "ro the very
Reverend Father in God, the Chan
eellor of the King" And during the
reign of Henry 9Th, a prayer for re
lief was addressed: unto the full
Reverend Father in God and a full
GRACIOUS Lord, the Bishop of Bath
Chancellor Of England"
I'm England's early days the com
mon, as we'll as the statutory laws
weer of much smaller volume thar
at the present time.
What a Chancellor Did.
There were fewer courts of any
character and fewer laws for attor.
neys and judges to interpret, or Jug
gle with, and for many years, the
only court of equity in England wa:
the one presided over personally by
the Lord Chancellor.
One reason which led to the yer,
rapid growth of influence and author
ity which the Lord Chancellor eXer
cised was that his court was the only
one which could exercise preventa
tive jurisdiction and by means of hi.
restraining orders, or injunctions
prevent the happening of threatened
wrongs or injuries of either omission
or commission.
In addition to protecting the king
land, as well as his other properties
the Lord Chancellor, through his in
functions, prevented the rapaciou
and lawless from seizing the Liant
and property of others and also pro
tected the poor from arbitrary or un
just applications Of the common o
the statutory law.
Lord Chancellor Ellsmere, VIII
served under Queen Elizabeth, sale
in describing his court and its fune
tons:
at is the refuge of the poor an
afflicted. 1t is the altar and sanctu
airy for such as against the Nigh
of rich men and the countenance 0
great men can not maintain the good
ness of their cause and the truth O
their title"
1t is evident from what this Lor
Chancellor says that one Of the re
sponsibilities resting upon him wa
that of protecting the poor and afflici
ed from the aggressions Of the greed
and powerful. That il was a coul
to which the oppressed could go *
rellet when this was not accordt
them by the common or statutory la'
The great power which was vest
IN the chancenor's hands, like gre
power vested in any individual, i
to abuses.
Latlgants found that many chanc,