EXC 246 
Exchequer. is Certain that there was an exchequer in the time of i Chamber, (which then consists of all 
—y~ his son Henry I. which was regulated and reduced to of “and 
—-~—S- 
its order by Edward I. 
ex 2A vantage fos SOR oe 
the ccm oh the Exchequer ; and 
quer. former is occupied with the 0 sheen 
of the royal revenue ; the functions of the latter are 
judicial. 
: The principal officers of the er are the Lord 
Treasurer, the Chancellor, the Lord Chief Baron, and 
three other barons, with a ne baron, who admi- 
nisters the oaths of all high sheriffs, under sheriffs, 
bailiffs, &c. ; the fata sh for the King, who calls 
to account, in open court, all the great accountants of 
the crown, &c. ; the Remembrancer for the Lord Trea- 
— who makes out all estreats, and issues out writs 
cases, &c, ; two Chamberlains, 
woke Sop the kine of the ;, where the records 
lie; a Clerk the Pipe, ini ose. custody all ac- 
counts and debts due to the king are conveyed out of 
other offices, as water th ha pipe; the Controller 
7 the Pipe ; the Clerk of the Estveats, the 7 
Opposer 5 the Auditors; four Tellers ; the Clerk of 
, 80 called from his parchment rolls ; the clerk of 
the Nihils; the clerk of the Pleas, &e. 
The Court of Exchequer is frflerbor in rank to the 
courts of King’s Bench and Common Pleas, It is di- 
vided into a court of equity and a court of common law. 
The court of equity is held in the exchequer chamber, 
before the Lord Treasurer, the Chancellor of the Ex. 
chequer, the Chief Baron, and three puisne Barons, 
whose original and primary business related to the md 
cal rights of the crown. But now, all kinds of 
. suits may be prosecuted in the Court of Ex equer, 
pon the surmise that the plaintiff is debtor to the king, 
which i is held to be mere matter of form and words of 
course, the truth of which is never controverted. This 
fiction gives rise to the common law part of the juris- 
diction of the Court of Exchequer, which is exercised. 
by the Barons only. The writ, upon which all pro- 
ceedings here are Fev is called a minus, in’ 
which the plaintiff suggests that he is the king’s debtor 
or farmer, and that the defendant hath done bes the in- 
jury or damage complained of, quo minus sufficiens ex- 
wstit, by which he is the less able to pay the king his 
debt or rent. In the same manner, also, in the equity 
side of the court, any person may file a bill st an- 
other, upon a bare suggestion that he is the in $ ac- 
comptant. In this court, on the equity side, the clergy 
have long been in use to exhibit their bills for non-pay- 
ment of tithes ; but the Chancery has now obtained a. 
large share of this business, From the equity side of 
Exchequer, there lies an appeal directly to the House 
of Peers; but from the common law side, a writ of er- 
ror must be first brought into the Court of Exchequer 
Chamber. 
The Court of Chamber has no original 
risdiction, but is only a court of appeal. It was 
perm by statute 31 Edw. III. c. 12, to determine 
Jin: of error from the common law side 
of the urt of Exchequer. It consists of the Lord 
Tieautes the Lord Chancellor, and the Justices of the 
King’s Bench and Common Pleas. ‘A second Court of 
Ex Chamber, in imitation of the former, was 
statute 27 Eliz. c.8, consisting of the Jus- 
tices of Common Pleas, and the Barons of the Ex- 
chequer, before whom writs of error may sully bee 
in the Cot Court § g's Beach Ean serial ene 
: 
: 
the other courts, such causes as the 
ment, find to be of great weight nd diffic 
o a ent is given upon ‘ourt b 
yj ye ae techie of of this Court “of exchequer 
Chamber, a writ of error lies to the Hoube of Peers. “4 
The ancient Court of Exchequer i in Scotland, which 
was the king’s revenue court, was, by the treaty of 
wndiny (AR: 5D sired ty pat until a new revenue court 
should parliament, which was accord= 
cngly done by 6 fan. e. red The ju of this court 
are the Treasurer of Great » with a Chief 
Baron, an four other Barons, who must be mae ther 
of serjeants at law, or English barristers, or 
vocates of five years standing, All may plead before 
this court who can practice in the courts of Westmin- 
ater, or in the Court of Session ; and all edb dae 
of the College of Justice, are communicated to the 1 
rons, and to the other members of this court. — 
The jurisdiction of the Scottish Court of Ex 
extends to all matters fog Wa coves ore 
crown ; but under two limitations, which were intend- 
ed to preserve the private law of Scotland from inno-. 
vation. Ist, That'no debt due to the crown shall a= 
fect the debtor's real estate, in any other manner. than 
such estate might be affected by the law of Scotland 
and, 2dly, That the validity of t e onis ae 
honours, lands, or See ae he |, as 
by the Court of Session. See Madox, Be: pas 
chequer ; Blackstone’s Comment, 'b. iii. ee 
Law Dict. v. Excneqven ; and nears ‘Inst. of the 
Lan 9 Scotland, b. i, tit. 3. § 30. et seq. (2) 
CIS, (gutately nee ans to Som the Bel 
Ry acciise, to tribute ; its a 
erive it from assisa, assize, Sani 
pointed for that purpose a branch of the 
arising from duties paid upon the man 
- pie commodities made or sold within es ings 
om. Excise, in its proper acceptation, 
to duties imposed oh consumable commodi' Sentoedttee ai 4 
produced at home, in contradistinction both ‘te pared 
which are duties payable vpon commodities imported 
from abroad, and to assessed janis, which are duties i im- 
posed upon the use of certain commodities not i 
ately consumable. From experience, _ however, of the 
utility of some of the excise ilations, certain 
joth of a have 
es of revenue arising from 
ally been put under the ee 
iu wen eaten not ote at i 
blishment. 
defray the expence of providing either fr thc bert 
. Si or external defence of a state, Aan! bot 
either some fund oy to the at 
the ite or from a part of the private. i 1e 
the introduction pi pond erty. een 
Sohariod se one of the chaste ; th 
silver mines of Attica constituted a large part of the pu- 
blic funds of the Athenian: ¢; and inall the 
doms of modern E the crown lands were 
chief resource on which the sovereign relied for di 
