JUDGE AND LAWYER. 269 



were bribed by endowments to support the Conqueror, the 

 papal policy prevailed so far as to separate the ecclesiastical 

 court from the civil court; after which &quot;the Saxon laws 

 were soon overborne by the Norman justiciaries.&quot; In sub 

 sequent reigns, according to Hallam 



&quot;the clergy combined its study [i. e., the Roman law] with that of 

 their own canons; it was a maxim that every canonist must be a 

 civilian, and that no one could be a good civilian unless he were also 

 a canonist.&quot; 



Along with acceptance of the doctrine that the Christian 

 high priest, the pope, was an oracle through whom God 

 spoke, there was established in Christendom a theory of 

 law like that held by ancient peoples: laws were divine 

 dicta and priests divinely authorized interpreters of them. 

 Under these circumstances the ecclesiastical courts ex 

 tended their jurisdiction to secular causes; until, grad 

 ually, the secular courts were almost deprived of power: 

 the removal of criminal clerics from secular jurisdiction 

 and the penalty of excommunication on those who in any 

 serious way opposed the clerical power, being of course 

 efficient weapons. The condition of things then existing 

 is well shown by the following statement of Prof. Mait- 

 land: 



&quot;If we look back to Richard I. s reign we may see, as the highest 

 temporal court of the realm, a court chiefly composed of ecclesiastics, 

 presided over by an archbishop, who is also Chief Justiciar ; he will 

 have at his side two or three bishops, two or three archdeacons, and 

 but two or three laymen. The greatest judges even of Henry III. s 

 reign are ecclesiastics, though by this time it has become scandalous 

 for a bishop to do much secular justice.&quot; 



Not only were priests the judges and the interpreters of 

 law, but they at one time discharged subordinate legal func 

 tions. In Germany, according to Stolzel, the notarial pro 

 fession had long been in the hands of ecclesiastics. France, 

 during the 13th century, furnished like evidence. Clerics 

 played the parts of procureurs or attorneys, according to 

 Fournier, who says : 



