gent, and the Great Seal was delivered to be held under hin to Ralph de Neville." 29 Dec. The King soon returned to England, and continuing his tyrannical and oppressive measures, the insurrection 1213. of the Barons took place, which ended in their obtaining Magna Charta. No one witnesses it as Chancellor, and it does not clearly appear in whose keeping the Great Seal then was, there being no farther entry in the records on the subject during the rest of this reign; but there is great reason to believe that it remained in the hands of Ralph de Neville,-the Nevilles, already a powerful family, taking part with the King, and Hugh de Neville being mentioned among the barons who appeared on his side at Runnymede.1 Whoever might then be Chancellor or Keeper of the Great Seal, he had nothing to do with the framing of Magna Charta. There was no negotiation as to terms. Archbishop Langton and the insurgent barons dictated whatever clauses they deemed desirable; and it is considered a great proof of their moderation and wisdom, that they merely guarded against abuses, and introduced useful reforms, without touching on the essential prerogatives of the Crown. The Bishop of Winchester and the Bishop of Worcester, who had been the King's Chief Justiciar and Chancellor, certainly were with him at Runnymede, and one of them might have acted as Chancellor on this occasion. At all events, the Great Seal was in due form affixed either by the King personally, or by some one under his authority, not only to the original, but to various copies of the Great Charter, sent to archbishops, bishops, and priors, to be safely kept in perpetuam rei memoriam.i From this time till his death, John could scarcely have had any counsellors near him, and he seems merely to have 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 therefore consider the office of Chancellor as in abeyance till the autumn of the following year, when John, after a long Nono die Octobris anno regni Domini Regis quinto decimo liberavit Magister Ricardus de Marisco, Archidiaconus Richemundiæ et Northumbriæ Domino Regi sigillum apud Ospreng. Vicesimo secundo die Decembris liberatum fuit sigillum apud Windlesor Radulpho de Nevill sub Domino Wintoniensi Episcopo deferendum. -- Pat. 15 J. m. 8, n. 28, m. 6, n. 18. h This was after the famous fine paid by his wife to the king, of 200 hens, that she might be allowed to sleep with Ralph one night.-Madd. Exch. 326. i 4 Inst. Proeme. extant. See Bl. Ed Some of them are still of Charters, p. 303. agony of body and spirit, closed his wicked and disgraceful career. A.D. 1216. 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. We here reach a remarkable æra in our constitutional history. National councils had met from the most remote times; but to the end of this reign their acts, not being preserved on record, 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. CHAPTER VII. CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY III. TILL THE APPOINTMENT 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 royal authority, and he appointed RICHARD DE MARISCO m A.D. 1216. Chancellor. The conduct of these two men was wise and conciliatory. They immediately summoned a parliament, in which the Great Charter, with a few alterations, was confirmed iu the name of the infant sovereign. For three years all grants passed under the seal of the Protector, although in the King's name." A new Great Seal k It was in the interval between the Con- Or. Jur. 8. quest and the end of the reign of King John, that what we call the Common Law of England, which differs essentially from the AngloSaxon law, must have been framed.-See Hallam's Middle Ages, ii. 122. n "In cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras sigillo comitis mariscalli rectoris nostri sigillatas, quia nondum sigillum habuimus, vobis mittimus, teste WILLIELMO comite Mariscallo."-1 Hale's Pleas of the m Pat. Rol. 3 H. 3, m. 14. Spel. Gloss. 100. Crown, ch. xvi. VOL. I. 1 66 was then made, but that it might not be abused to the King' disherison, 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 in his own person or his seal to infringe the prerogatives of 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 Justiciar and the Vice-Chancellor, who were the authors of the measure. The insolence of Vice-Chancellor Neville, backed by Hubert de Burgh, who was now rising rapidly to the uncontrolled power he afterwards possessed, grew to such a pitch, 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." 66 This conduct drew forth the following reprimand: "Richard, by the grace of God, Bishop of Durham, Chan cellor of our Lord the King, to his beloved Ralph de Neville, Dean of Lichfield, greeting. It is marvellous in our eyes, and it must be a subject of general astonishment, that in your letters you have omitted to address us by the title of 'ChanClaus. 3 H. 3, m. 14, hic incepit sigillum regis currere, 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 ențire. 66 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. Accius, the poet, being addressed at supper by his own proper name, brought his action of damages.P "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." a If any such hope was really entertained it was disappointed. De Neville not only did all the duties of Chancellor, but took P See "Rhetoricorum ad Herennium," lib. i. 14, where the case being put that "the fact is admitted and the law is disputed," Cicero, or whoever the author may be, gives this illustration "Mimus quidam nominatim Accium poetam compellavit in scena: cum eo Accius injuriarum agit: hic nihil aliud defendit, nisi licere nominari eum, cujus nomine scripta dentur agenda." The Chancellor has changed "scena" into "coenaculo." "Scena cum eo" had, probably, been first turned into "scœnaculo." This is a specimen of the perils to which manuscript literature is exposed. However, the familiarity of the Mediæval writers, from Bede downwards, with the Latin classics is often very striking. q "Ricardus Dei gratia 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 conscientiam vestram latere debeat, nos dictæ dignitatis officio fuisse et esse sollempniter assignatos, ejusdam 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 personæ de jure, et ratione convenientia nequaquam in literis vestiis exterminata. Legis enim reverencia est quemvis nomine dignitatis nuncupare, et Accium Poetam in cœnaculo propio 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. 1 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 office.s A.D. 1227. 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, in the 11th year of the reign, "granting and confirming to 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 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 A.D. 1231. 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 He was interred in his own cathedral, where a monument was erected to his memory with the following curious epitaph : Culminis qui cupi laudes pompasque sui tis. shows that the multiplication of words in legal instruments is not a very modern invention. |