216 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



John de Bermingham, Justiciar, to cause to come before him the records and 

 processes of all assizes and pleas held before Eoger de Mortimer while he was 

 King's Lieutenant in Ireland, and to correct the errors therein according to 

 law.' With the coming of Eichard II to Ireland, the King presided in his own 

 Court, and thenceforth the proceedings were always headed " coram Eege," 

 and the (Jhief Governor ceased to be present, the judicial power resting with 

 the Chief and other Justices of the King's Bench, thej' being styled " the 

 Justices appointed to hold pleas before the King in Ireland." When a King's 

 Lieutenant and a Justiciar were both acting together, it would appear that 

 they could both exercise judicial functions. Thus. Edmund le Botiller was 

 trying cases at Limerick and de Mortimer at Cork in November, 1317 ; and, 

 a few days after, both sat together at Cork.- 



'L'his Court continued on occasions to hold its venue outside Dublin ; but 

 it probably became fixed there in the time of the Tudor monarchs. 



(c) Administrative. 



The administrative authority granted to a Chief Governor depended very 

 much on the power granted to him in his patent. These varied considerably. 

 In the case of a King's Lieutenant the powers were more extensive than in 

 the case of a Justiciar. 'The Duke of Clarence in 1462 was authorized to 

 appoint and remove officers of the Treasury, Justices, Earons of the 

 Exchequer, and the Keeper of the Eolls in Chancery — a power likewise 

 granted to his successors ; and Thomas de Lancaster in 1401 was allowed to 

 make grants of forfeited lands. But these powers were exceptional. The 

 usual powers of the Chief Governors comprised the receiving of rebels into 

 the King's peace, the granting of general pardons to felons and outlaws, 

 the right to receive all fines and ransoms, to pi-esent to certain void 

 benefices, to grant custodies and wardships of the yearly value of £20 

 and upwards, to remove and appoint justices, sheriffs, bailiffs, and other 

 inferior ministers, to summon Parliaments and convoke Councils generally, 

 with the consent and advice of the Council. 



The former of these he summoned by direction of the King, till the 

 reign of Henry VI, when the confusion caused by the Wars of the Eoses left 

 the initiative with the Governor (Statutes 11 Eliz., sess. 3, c. 8). The Great 

 Councils were summoned by him under the advice of the Council. That he 

 did not on some occasions preside at the Parliaments is evident by the 

 declaration of that body in 1382, that the necessity of the Chief Governor 



' Cal. Eng. Pat. Rolls, 1321-4, p. 43. =Ploa Rolls, Noa. 115, 110, 119. 



