By the Rev. W. P. 8. Binguu 



91 



Whilst he was in Ireland the administration of justice was not 

 the only thing which engaged his attention. As a true archaeologist 

 he studied the history of the past with a view to the advancement 

 of the future. He collected the annals of John Clynne, a friar 

 minor of Kilkenny, and the annals of Rosse and Clonmell. All 

 these he caused to be transcribed, but his professional engagements 

 prevented their preparation for the press. They afterwards fell into 

 the hands of Henry, Earl of Bath. Extracts from them are in the 

 Dublin College Library, but the original will probably be found at 

 Longleat. Sir James Ley also wrote some treatises on heraldry and 

 antiquarian subjects, which are included in Hearne's Collections in 

 the Bodleian Library. These collections are in one hundred and 

 forty-five MS. volumes, and as selections from them are being 

 published by the Oxford Historical Society, under the editorship of 

 Mr. Doble, of Worcester, it may be hoped that some of them may 

 yet see the light. 



Sir James did not long hold the office of Lord Chief Justice of 

 Ireland, for the King found that he had need of him at home. The 

 work which he had lent his aid to accomplish was so successful that, 

 according to Sir J ohn Davis, in the space of nine years greater 

 advances were made towards the reformation of Ireland than in the 

 four hundred and forty years, which had elapsed since its first 

 conquest. 



The work for which King James wanted him at home was the 

 Court of Wards and Liveries, of which he was made Attorney- 

 General in 1609. This court, which was established in the thirty- 

 second year of Henry VIII., had some very difficult and important 

 questions to decide. Many estates were then held by their proprietors 

 as tenants of the King, and when a tenant died, a jury was em- 

 panelled to ascertain whether the tenancy was only for life, in which 

 case it reverted to the Crown ; or if the tenant died without heirs, 

 for then it would belong to the King by escheat ; or if he be attainted 

 of treason, whereby his estate is forfeited to the Crown. If the 

 purchaser of the land is an alien that is another cause of forfeiture, 

 and if the heir is an idiot or a minor, the King becomes the guardian 

 of his person and his lands. This court was abolished at the 



