CONTENTS XIII.-CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REIGN OF EDWARD III. TILL THE APPOINTMENT OF SIR ROBERT BOURCHIER, THE FIRST LAY LORD CHANCELLOR .. XIV.-CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL FROM XVI.-CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REIGN OF RICHARD II. XXII.-CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY VI. FROM THE APPOINTMENT OF GEORGE NEVILLE, BISHOP OF LIVES OF THIE LORD CHANCELLORS OF ENGLAND. INTRODUCTION. OF THE ORIGIN, FUNCTIONS, AND JURISDICT ON OF THE OFFICE OF LORD CHANCELLOR IN ENGLAND. BEFORE entering upon the Lives of the individuals who have successively filled the office of Lord Chancellor in England, I propose to take a general view of its origin, functions, and jurisdiction,-reserving for future consideration a more detailed account of the progressive changes which it has from time to time undergone. The etymology of the word "Chancellor sheds such a feeble and doubtful light on the subject of our inquiry, that I must decline engaging in the great controversy, whether "Cancellarius" be derived from "cancellare 66 or cancelli"? -from the act of cancelling the king's letters patent when granted contrary to law, or from the little bars used for fencing off from the multitude the recess or chancel in which sat the doorkeeper or usher of a court of justice. Of the former opinion a distinguished champion is John of Salisbury, who flourished in the reign of Henry II., and in the verses prefixed to his Polycraticon thus glorifies the Chancellor : "Hic est qui leges regni cancellat iniquas, Et mandata pii principis æqua facit." a So when Lord Chancellor Gardyner, in the reign of Queen Mary, presiding on the woolsack, in the sight of all the Lords, cut off from a bill certain clauses to which the Commons had See 4 Inst 88. 3 Bl. Com. 47 VOL. I. B |