NOTE ZZ. 





et elles doivent etre payees par pre&quot;fe&amp;gt;ence a toute autre dette. Elles ne sont 

 pas aussi faisissables, et sont payees par provision, nonobstant 1 appel. 



Mr. Butler s Life of the Chancellor de I Hopital. 



In Mr. Butler s life of the Chancellor Michel de I Hopital there are three 

 chapters upon the Chancellor s wish to reform abuses in the administration of 

 justice. 



{1st. The abolition of the sale of law offices. 

 2nd. The abolition of the custom of making presents by the suitors to 

 the judges. 

 3rd. The abolition of fees to counsel. 



The second chapter, upon &quot; the abolition of the custom of making presents 

 by the suitors to the judges,&quot; the only important chapter relating to the present 

 subject is annexed. 



CHAP. X. The Chancellor I Hopital wishes to abolish the Epices. 



Another reformation in the administration of justice, which l H6pital wished 

 to effect, was the abolition of the epices, or presents made, on some occasions, 

 by the parties in a cause, to the judges by whom it was tried, 



A passage in Homer, (24 II.) where he describes a compartment in the shield 

 of Achilles, in which two talents of gold were placed between two judges, as 

 the reward of the best speaker, is generally cited to prove, that even in the 

 earliest times, the judges were paid for their administration of justice ; but an 

 attentive reader will probably agree with Mr. Mitford in his construction of this 

 passage, that the two talents were not the reward of the judge who should give 

 the best opinion, but the subject of the dispute, and were to be adjudged to him, 

 who established his title to them by the best arguments. Plutarch mentions, 

 that, under the administration of Pericles, the Athenian magistrates were first 

 authorized to require a remuneration from the suitors of their courts. In 

 ancient Rome, the magistrates were wholly paid by the public ; but Justinian 

 allowed some magistrates of an inferior description to receive presents, which 

 he limited to a certain amount, from the suitors before them. Montesquieu 

 (Esprit des Loix, L. xxviii. ch. 35), observes, that &quot; in the early ages of the 

 feudal law, when legal proceedings were short and simple, the lord defrayed the 

 whole expense of the administration of justice in his court. In proportion as 

 society became refined, a more complex administration of justice became neces 

 sary ; and it was considered that not only the party who was cast, should, on 

 account of his having instituted a bad cause, but that the successful party should, 

 on account of the benefit which he had derived from the proceedings of the court, 

 contribute, in some degree, to the expenses attending them ; and that the 

 public, on account of the general benefit which it derived from the administration 

 of justice, should make up the deficiency.&quot; To secure to the judges the pro 

 portion which the suitors were to contribute towards the expense of justice, it 

 was provided, by an ordonnance of St. Louis, that at the commencement of a 

 suit, each party should deposit in court the amount of one tenth part of the 

 property in dispute : that the tenth deposited by the unsuccessful party should 

 be paid over to the judges on their passing sentence ; and that the tenth of the 

 successful party should then be returned to him. This was varied by subse 

 quent ordonnances. Insensibly it became a custom for the successful party to 

 wait on the judges, after sentence was passed, and, as an acknowledgment of 

 their attention to the cause, to present them with a box of sweetmeats, which 

 were then called epices, or spices. By degrees, this custom became a legal 

 perquisite of the judges ; and it was converted into a present of money, and 

 required by the judges before the cause came to hearing : Non deliberetur donee 

 solventur species, say some of the ancient registers of the parliaments of France. 

 That practice was afterwards abolished ; the amount of the epices was regu 

 lated ; and, in many cases, the taking of them was absolutely forbidden. 

 Speaking generally, they were not payable till final judgment ; and, if the 



