EXG 



EXC 



I 



EXCHANGE, in law, is a mutual grant of 

 equal interests, the one in consideration 

 of the other ; and upon such a convey- 

 ance, no livery of seisin, even of free- 

 hold, is necessary to perfect it : for each 

 party stands in the place of the other, 

 and occupies his right, and each of them 

 hath already had corporal possession of 

 his own land. But entry must be made 

 on both sides ; for if either party die be- 

 fore the entry, exchange is void for 

 want of sufficient notoriety. 



Both the estates exchanged should be 

 equal. But not equal value, but only in 

 the kind and manner of the estate. 



EXCHANGE-?, is when the holder of a 

 bill finds it not paid by the acceptor, 

 then it becomes necessary to draw other 

 bills upon the parties, which create ex- 

 change, and the exchange paid upon 

 that transaction is, by the usage of mer- 

 chants, chargeable upon the preceding 

 parties to the bill, by way of re-ex- 

 change. 



EXCHEQUER, from the French, esche- 

 qnier, i. e. abacus tabula lusoria, is a court 

 qf law and equity, established by William 

 the Conqueror, as a part of the aula 

 regis, though regulated and reduced to 

 jts present state by Edw. I. and intended 

 principally to order the revenue of the 

 crown, and to recover the King's debts 

 and duties. The court consists of two 

 divisions, viz. the receipt of the exche- 

 quer, which manages the royal revenues; 

 and the judicial, which is again subdivid- 

 ed into a court of equity, and a court of 

 common law. The court of equity is 

 held in the Exchequer, before the Lord 

 Treasurer, the Chancellor of the Exche- 

 quer, the Chief Baron, and three puisne 

 Barons. The primary and original busi- 

 ness of this court was, to call the King's 

 debtors to account, by bill filed by the 

 Attorney General, and to recover any 

 lands, tenements, or hereditaments, 

 goods, chattels, or other profits, or bene- 

 fits, belonging to the crown ; but now, 

 by a fiction of law, suggesting that the 

 party is a debtor of the King, and is less 

 able to pay his debt, unless he has the 

 aid of the court to recover of his own 

 debtor, any person may be admitted to 

 sue here. An appeal from the equity 

 side of this court lies immediately to the 

 House of Peers ; but from the common 

 law side, pursuant to 31 Edw. III. c. 12, 

 a writ of error must first be brought into 

 the court of exchequer chamber, whence 

 appeal lies to the house of Lords. The 

 exchequer, as a court of law, is the last of 

 the courts. 



In this court suits are generally 

 brought for tythes, although the Court 

 of Chancery also exercises considerable 

 jurisdiction in that respect. The Exche- 

 quer is also divided into the court for ju- 

 dicial business ; and the other, the re- 

 ceipt of the Exchequer, in which the ac- 

 counts of the revenue are kept, and the 

 money is received : in this branch of the 

 Exchequer there are several officers; 

 such as two chamberlains, the controller 

 of the pipe, the clerk of the estreats, the 

 foreign opposer, the auditors, the four 

 tellers, the clerk of the pells, clerk of 

 the nichils, &c. By stat. 23 Geo. III. c. 

 82, the offices of the two chamberlains, 

 tally-cutter, usher, and second clerks to 

 each teller, shall, after the death of the 

 present officers, be abolished ; and in- 

 stead of tallies, indented cheque receipts 

 are to be used : also after the death of 

 the auditor, clerks of the pells, four tel- 

 lers, and two chamberlains, their fees 

 shall be abolished, and their salaries be 

 fixed. 



EXCHEQUER chamber. This court has 

 no original jurisdiction, but is merely a 

 court of appeal, to correct the errors of 

 other jurisdictions, and consists of the 

 Lord Chancellor, the Lord Treasurer, 

 with the Justices of the King's Bench 

 and Common Pleas. In imitation of this, 

 a second court of Exchequer chamber 

 was erected by 27 Eliz. c. 8, consisting of 

 the Justices of the Common Pleas, and 

 the Barons of the Exchequer, before 

 whom writs of error may be brought to 

 reverse judgments in certain suits, com- 

 menced originally in the court of King's 

 Bench. Into the Exchequer chamber 

 are sometimes adjourned, from the other 

 courts, such causes, as the judges, upon 

 argument, find to be of great weight and 

 difficulty, before any judgment is given 

 upon them in the court. 



EXCHEQUER, Chancellor of, is, in Great 

 Britain, the officer to whom the arrange- 

 ment of the financial concerns of the 

 country is chiefly entrusted. He causes 

 accounts to be annually laid before par- 

 liament of the produce of the taxes, with 

 estimates of the several branches of pub- 

 lic expenditure for the ensuing year; 

 and if the amount of the estimated ex- 

 penditure exceeds the probable produce 

 of the revenue, he adjusts the extent and 

 conditions of the loan with such persons 

 as are willing to advance the same, and 

 proposes to parliament the new taxes 

 which become necessary for paying the 

 interest on the money thus borrowed. 

 On the foundation of the accounts and 



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