JUDICIAL AND EXECUTIVE SYSTEMS. 509 



the king s court an incipient differentiation. Causes concern 

 ing revenue were dealt with in sittings distinguished from 

 the general sittings of the king s court, by being held in 

 another room ; and establishment of this custom produced 

 a division. Adaptation of its parts to unlike ends led to 

 divergence of them; until, out of the original Curia Regis, \\&& 

 come the court of exchequer and the court of common pleas ; 

 leaving behind the court of king s bench as a remnant of the 

 original body. When the office of justiciar (who, represent 

 ing the king in his absence, presided over these courts) was 

 abolished, the parting of them became decided ; and though, 

 for a length of time, competition for fees led to trenching on 

 one another s functions, yet, eventually, their functions 

 became definitely marked off. A further important 



development, different but allied, took place. We have seen 

 that when appointing others to judge for him, the king 

 reserves the power of deciding in cases which the law 

 has not previously provided for, and also the power oi 

 supervising the decisions made by his deputies. Naturally 

 this power comes to be especially used to over-ride deci 

 sions which, technically according to law, are practically 

 unjust : the king acquires an equity jurisdiction. At first 

 exercised personally, this jurisdiction is liable to be deputed ; 

 and in our own case was so. The chancellor, one of the 

 king s servants, who &quot; as a baron of the exchequer and as a 

 leading member of the curia&quot; had long possessed judicial func 

 tions, and who was the officer to present to the king petitions 

 concerning these &quot;matters of grace and favour,&quot; became 

 presently himself the authority who gave decisions in equity 

 qualifying the decisions of law ; and thus in time resulted 

 the court of chancery. Minor courts with minor functions 

 also budded out from the original Curia Regis. This body 

 included the chief officers of the king s household, each of 

 whom had a jurisdiction in matters pertaining to his special 

 business ; and hence resulted the court of the chamberlain, 

 the court of the steward, the court of the earl marshal (now 



