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Indiana University Studies 
those who heard the case in the first instance) and then to 
the House of Lords; from Chancery (one court) to the Lords 
Justice of Appeal, thence to the House of Lords; from Ad- 
miralty and Ecclesiastical Courts to the Judicial Committee 
of the Privy Council, which succeeded the Court of Delegates ; 
and from the Court of Probate, and the Court of Divorce 
and Matrimonial Causes to the House of Lords. The judicial 
system which grew up in the states of the United States in 
this period consisted of the courts of the justices of the peace, 
courts of police magistrates, municipal courts, district (circuit, 
or superior) courts, appellate courts, and supreme courts; to 
which was added in the next period juvenile courts. The 
federal system consisted of circuit courts (now district), 
circuit courts of appeal, and the United States Supreme Court, 
with a court of claims, courts for the District of Columbia, 
Patent Office, Treasury Department (Comptroller), and terri- 
torial courts. 
Legal Procedure. One of the blackest spots in the pre- 
Benthamite period was the way prisoners were treated on 
trial. Before the revolution of 1688, a man accused of trea- 
son or felony did not have the privilege of counsel (altho he 
had this privilege in cases of misdemeanor, where conviction 
did not entail loss of life and property), and the behavior of 
judges and prosecuting counsel (especially in cases of treason 
and sedition) was frequently most brutal. Brutality ceased 
after 1688, counsel was allowed in treason cases after 1747, 
and finally in 1836 the same privilege was extended to persons 
accused of felony. In 1833, 1843, and 1851 Bentham’s views 
in regard to the rules of evidence, that they were for the 
discovery of truth rather than to hide it, so far prevailed as 
to make everyone competent witnesses except persons ac- 
cused of crime or their husbands or wives. Further reforms 
of procedure in the common law courts were instituted in 1852, 
1854, and 1860, but since these were absorbed and enlarged 
by the Judicature Acts of 1873 and 1875, no further discus- 
sion of them will be given, except to say that for one thing 
all real actions were abolished. Wager of law was abolished 
in 1833. Wager of battle was abolished in 1819. Benefit of 
clergy was abolished in 1827. Summons and warrant were 
authorized in 1848. A police was established: metropolitan 
in 1829, borough in 1836, and county in 1839 and 1856. The 
