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VI.

Death of

A. D. 1216.

had any counsellors near him, and he seems merely to have CHAP. acted according to the impulses of his own capricious mind; all regular government must have been at an end, and the administration of justice entirely suspended. We may, there- King John. fore, consider the office of Chancellor as in abeyance till the autumn of the following year, when John, after a long agony of body and spirit, closed his wicked and disgraceful career. The Chancellors during this reign did nothing to be entitled to the gratitude of posterity, and were not unworthy of the master whom they served. The guardians of law were the feudal barons, assisted by some enlightened churchmen, and by their efforts the doctrine of resistance to lawless tyranny was fully established in England, and the rights of all classes of the people were defined and consolidated.

of statute

We here reach a remarkable æra in our constitutional Beginning history. National councils had met from the most remote law. times; but to the end of this reign their acts not being preserved are supposed to form a part of the lex non scripta, or common law. Now begins the distinction between common and statute law, and henceforth we can distinctly trace the changes which our juridical system has undergone. These changes were generally introduced by the Chancellor for the time being; and I shall hereafter consider it my duty to notice them in each successive reign.

СНАР.

VII.

Hen. 3.

CHAPTER VII.

CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY III. TILL THE AP-
POINTMENT OF QUEEN ELEANOR AS LADY KEEPER OF THE
GREAT SEAL.

HENRY III. on his accession, being still a child, the valiant Earl of Pembroke, who had held the office of Mareschal at the conclusion of the late reign, was elected Protector with MARISCO. royal authority, and he appointed RICHARD DE MARISCO Chancellor. The conduct of these two men was wise and Confirma- conciliatory. They immediately summoned a parliament, in which the Great Charter, with a few alterations, was confirmed in the name of the infant sovereign.

tion of the Great Charter.

Ralph de Neville, Vice-chancellor.

In the third year of his reign, an act was passed that no charter or letters patent of confirmation, alienation, sale or grant of any thing in perpetuity, should be sealed with the King's Great Seal until his full age; and that if any such were sealed with that seal they should be void. In the ninth year of his reign the Great Charter was again confirmed, as it now appears at the head of the statute law of England.

De Marisco had for his Vice-chancellor Ralph de Neville, an ambitious and unprincipled man, who was constantly intriguing against him, and finally supplanted him.

In the year 1226 a national council was held at Oxford, at which, contrary to the advice of the Chancellor, and by the instigation of Hubert de Burgh and De Neville, the King, after declaring himself resolved to take the management of public affairs into his own hands, cancelled and annulled the Great Charter, and the Charter of the Forest, which he had previously confirmed and directed to be observed throughout the kingdom, - now alleging that they were invalid, having been granted during his minority, when there was no power

* Pat. Rol. 3 H. 3. m. 14. Spel. Gloss. 100. Or. Jur. 8.

in his own person or his seal to infringe the prerogatives of CHAP. the Crown.

This was followed up by another arbitrary act, with a view to fill the treasury, for which a precedent in Richard's reign was cited. All persons enjoying liberties and privileges were required to take a fresh grant under the Great Seal, the King being now of age, and they were compelled to pay for these renewals according to the extortionate discretion of the Justiciary and the Vice-chancellor, who were the authors of the

measure.

VII.

duct of

Vice-chan

Neville.

Letter of

remon

The insolence of Vice-chancellor Neville, backed by MisconHubert de Burgh, who was now rising rapidly to the uncontrolled power he afterwards possessed, grew to such a pitch, cellor De that he entirely superseded De Marisco in all his functions, and in writing to him styled him merely "Bishop of Durham," without deigning to give him his title of "Chancellor." This conduct drew forth the following reprimand:"Richard, by the grace of God Bishop of Durham, Chancellor of our Lord the King, to his beloved Ralph de Neville, strance Dean of Lichfield, greeting. It is marvellous in our eyes, and it must be a subject of general astonishment, that in your to the Viceletters you have omitted to address us by the title of "Chan- chancellor. cellor," since you must be well aware that we were solemnly appointed to that office, and that by God's grace we are still resolved to enjoy its powers and pre-eminence, the attempts of our enemies recoiling upon themselves, and in no respect shaking our constancy. However much they may strive to partition me, I am resolved to remain entire.

"Know, that in letters with which I have been lately favoured from our lord the Pope and several of his cardinals, they have all saluted me by the title which you suppress, and you are bound to follow, or rather to worship their footsteps.

“Be advised then by me for the future to act a discreeter part, and having a proper respect for others when you write to them, give them the appellations of honour to which they are entitled. Reverence for the law requires that every one should be called by the name of his dignity, and that even Accius the poet at supper, being called by his right name, should have no cause to complain of being ill used.

from the

Chancellor

CHAP.
VII.

A. D. 1227.

DE NE

"We might consider this suppression of our title by you as a premeditated injury, and act accordingly; but we are contented with this remonstrance for the present in the hope of your amendment. Farewell."*

If any such hope was really entertained it was disappointed. De Neville not only did all the duties of Chancellor, but took every opportunity of insulting his superior, and refused to give him any account of fees received. De Marisco, finding that he could obtain no redress, sent in the long-wished resignation, and retired to his diocese, where he soon after died. †

The title of Chancellor was conferred on De NEVILLE, who had for some time enjoyed the powers and the profits of the Chancellor. office. ‡

VILLE,

This ambitious man was now also Bishop of Chichester, and was bent upon engrossing the highest civil and ecclesiastical dignities. That he might be secure in the office of Chancellor against such acts as he himself had practised, he obtained a charter from the King, dated the 12th of February,

"Ricardus Dei gracia Dunelmensis Episcopus Domini Regis Cancellarius dilecto suo Radulpho de Neville Decano Lichefeldensi Salutem. Mirabile fuit in oculis nostris et satis admirari dignum vos nomen Cancellarii in literis vestris nobis destinatis suppressisse; cum experientiam vestram non lateat nec consci.. entiam vestram latere debeat, nos dictæ dignitatis officio fuisse et esse sollempniter assignatos, ejusdem prærogativæ preeminentia gratia Dei ulterius gavisuros, oblatrantium morsibus in se ipsos redeuntibus, et nostri constantiam in nullo contaminantibus. Quia quid me dimidiant integer esse volo. Dominus autem Papa, et Cardinales sui quamplures, nos pridie literarum suarum beneficiis memoratæ dignitatis appellatione minus suppressa gratia sui visitarunt, et vos eorum non solum sequi sed potius adorare vestigia tenemini. Et de consilio nostro de cætero non intercepto discretiori judicio teneamini, reverencia locum suum decenter etiam sortita inter cætera attributa persona de jure, et ratione convenientia nequaquam in literis vestris exterminata. Legis enim reverencia est quemvis nomine dignitatis nuncupare, et Accium Poetam in cœnaculo proprio nomine compellatum injuriarum egisse. Et nos sepedictæ suppressionis occasione licet condigna et consimili ratione injuriarum agere possimus in præsentiam dignum duximus sub expectatione melioris subticere. Valete." Ex Orig. in Turr. Lond.

He was interred in his own cathedral, where a monument was erected to his memory with the following curious epitaph:

Culminis qui cupi

Et sedata si

[blocks in formation]

laudes pompasque sui
si me pensare veli
memore super omnia si
non parcit honore poti
similis fueram bene sci
ad me currendo veni

tis.

VII.

in the 11th year of the reign, "granting and confirming to CHAP. him the King's Chancery, to hold during his whole life, with all the issues, liberties, and other things thereto belonging, as freely, quietly, entirely, and honourably as the Chancellors A. D. 1231. of former Kings, his predecessors, held the same."

Four years after he received a renewal and confirmation of this grant, "with power that he might bear and keep the Seal, either by himself in person as long as he pleased, or by some other discreet, sufficient, and fit assignee; which assignee should be sworn to the King for his faithful service for the true and faithful keeping of the said Seal, in the room of the said Ralph, before receiving it into his custody; and if such assignee died, or became professed in religion, or should be put out for any reasonable cause, either by the King or the Chancellor, or if the assignee refused to keep the Seal any longer, then the Chancellor, in the room of such assignee, was to substitute some other discreet, sufficient, and fit person, who should be sworn to the King for his faithful service, in like manner as the first assignee was before he received the Seal into his keeping."* For some reason, which we do not understand, this grant was twice renewed, nearly in the same words. According to Matthew Paris, these grants were confirmed in Parliament, so that the Chancellor was not to be deposed from the custody of the Seal unless it were so ordained by the consent and advice of the whole realm. †

Grant to him of

office of Chancellor

for life.

He is like

of Ireland.

De Neville's cupidity was not yet satisfied, and in the A. D. 1233. eighthteenth year of the reign, the King "granted and wise made confirmed for himself and his heirs to Ralph Bishop of Chi-Chancellor chester, then his Chancellor of England, the Chancellorship of Ireland, to hold during the life of the Chancellor, with all the appurtenances, liberties, and free customs to the said Chancellorship of Ireland belonging. And the King sent a writ patent, dated at Gloucester the 21st May, in the 18th year of his reign, to Maurice Fitzgerald, his Justiciar of Ireland,

This is an exact translation of the clause giving a power to appoint a deputy, which_shows that the multiplication of words in legal instruments is not a very modern invention.

† Itaque scilicet ut non deponeretur ab ejus sigilli custodia nisi totius regni ordinante consensu et concilio.

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