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ENGLAND. 
Of the Englifit courts of law, the next in dignity to the 
Tiotife of lords is the court of king’s bench, fo called be- 
caufe the fovereign was underftood to judge in perfon, 
&nd its jurifdiCtion of courfe extends to the whole king¬ 
dom. The prefiding judge is denominated lord-chief-juf- 
tice of England. Mere are chiefly determined what are 
called pleas of the crown ; and appeals lie from feveral 
other courts. The court of chancery judges caufes in 
equity, to moderate the rigour of the law, and defend the 
helplefs from oppreflion, and efpecially to extend relief 
in three cafes; fraud, accident, and breach of truft. The 
chancellof him (elf is the fupreme judge. The matter of 
the rolls, or keeper of the important papers enrolled in 
chancery, is an officer of great dignity, and confiderable 
patronage. The office of the rolls contains the charters, 
&c. granted by Richard III. and his fuccefiors ; thofe of 
more remote antiquity being lodged in the Tower. The 
court of common pleas judges, as the name imports, of 
the common fuits between fubject and fufcjedt; and tries 
all civil caufes, real, per-fonal, or mingled, according to 
the preeife precepts of the law. The court of exchequer, 
fo termed from the ancient mode of accounting upon a 
checquered board, decides all caufes relating to the royal 
treafury or revenue. See the article Courts of Law, 
vol. v. p.297—306. 
For the more commodious and general diftribution of 
juftice, the kingdom is divided into lix circuits, which 
are vifited by the judges in fpring and autumn, when 
they fit and determine all caufes of‘importance, civil and 
criminal. See the article Circuit, vol. iv. p. 610. 
The more minute cafes are determined by juftices of the 
peace, who may'be traced as far back as the fourth year 
of Edward III. Their office is chiefly to commit crimi¬ 
nals to prifon, and to infpect the execution of particular 
laws, relating to the poor, highways, peace, decorum, 
and orderly behaviour of alehoul'e-keep’ers, labourers, 
artificers, &c. They have a commiffion under the great 
feal, and the mod refpedtable are ftyled juftices of the 
quorum, from the words in the commiffion, Quorum A. B. 
unum cfle volumus. The cujlos rotulorum, or keeper of the 
rolls, produces them at the quarter feflions, where the 
juftices meet once in three months : the grand inqueft, 
or jury of the county, is here fummoned, which en¬ 
quires concerning all crimes and mifdemeanours within 
its jurifdiftion. 
The office of ftieriff, or pnefeCt of the county, is to 
execute the royal mandates, to impannel juries, to bring 
perfons to trial, and to fee the fentences executed, to col¬ 
lect fines, and remit them to the exchequer, and to pre- 
fefve the tranquillity of the (hire. On the circuits he 
meets and attends the judges, with a gallant train of offi¬ 
cers and fervants. The ftieriffs are annually pricked with 
a golden needle, by the king, out of a lift of fix gentlemen 
of the county, drawn up by the judges. 
The proteftant religion forms the eftablifhed dodtrine 
of the church of England, founded upon a moft peculiar 
bafts, and truly charadteriftic of a moderate and judicious 
people. It is the only reformed church which has re¬ 
tained epifcopacy in its ancient fpler.dour : for though 
bifhops may alfo be found in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, 
&c. they are rather infpeditors of the condudt of the cler¬ 
gy, and of the modes of education, than prelates endowed 
with fenatorial rank and dignity. In England, on the 
contrary, the bifhops are peers of parliament, and have 
the ftyle and importance of nobility. Yet the creed of 
the Englilh church is rather Calviniftic than Lutheran. 
But the fpecial tenetsofthe Englilh church are fufficiently 
explained in the thirty-nine articles. 
The orders of biftiops, priefts, and deacons, compofe 
the body of the Englilh clergy. Upon his difpute with 
the pontiff, to avoid any claims whatever of fuperiority, 
Henry VIII. aft’umed the title of fupreme head of the 
national church, and iftiied feveral medallions with in- 
feriptions in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, to commemorate 
this new prerogative, which is, indeed, important, as it 
blends the ecclefiaftic with the civil adminiftratjon, Next 
2 
in dignity and power to the king, are the archibiftiops of 
Canterbury and York. The firft is ftyled primate of all 
England, and precedes all perfons except the royal family. 
The archbiftiop of York is alfo ftyled primate of England, 
but in prerogative and jurifdidtion yields to the firft me¬ 
tropolitan. The archiepifcopal office is rather a dignity 
than a jurifdiction, and the primates rarely interfere in 
any diocefe except their own. They are appointed by 
the king, in the fame manner as the biftiops, by what is 
called a conge d’elire. 
The hi (hops ordain deacon sand priefts, dedicate churches 
and burial grounds, and adminitter confirmation. In for¬ 
mer times, epifcopal jurifdiftion extended to the licenfing 
of phyficians, furgeons, and fchoolmafters, and to the 
uniting of fmall parilhes. At prefent, it chiefly embraces 
questions of births, marriages, deaths, and teftaments, and 
any delinquencies of the clergy ; to which body, indeed, 
their attention is now chiefly confined, and they rarely, 
except in parliament, interfere in fecular fubjects. The 
bifhop of Sodor and Man has no place in parliament. 
All tiie other biftiops are barons, and peers of the realm, 
by three different claims ; in right of the baronies attach¬ 
ed to their fees, as barons fummoned by writ, and as 
barons by patent; a form which accompanies their confe- * 
cration. Their privileges approach the regal ; they arb 
the foie judges in their own courts, and iftue writs in 
their own names, not in the royal ftyle ufed by other 
courts. 1 hey can depute their authority, which no 
other judge can ; and their epifcopal power of conferring 
orders, &c. may be exerted in any Chriftian country, 
while lay peers are only acknowledged in the country 
whence they derive their dignities. For the particular 
functions and privileges of the archbilhops and biftiops, 
and number of bifhoprics, with their value in the king’s 
books, and the era of their foundation, fee vol. ii. p. 46, 
47. Vol.iii.p.65—68. Vol. iv. p. 660. Vol. v. p.290, 
3 o/>, 629, and 833. _ 
Thofe who differ in tenets or forms from the eftablifhed 
church of England, may, in general, be ftyled diffenters; 
though the term be more ftridlly applied to the prefby- 
terians and independents. The other principal claffes of 
diflidents, are the catholic?, methodiffs, quakers, ana- 
baptifts, Swedenborgians, and Unitarians ; the laft clafs 
deny the trinity, and believe only in one God. Upon the 
whole, it muff be admitted as a ftriking feature of the 
Englilh government, that as far as prtfSence and difere- 
tion goes, after contemplating its political hiftory, it has 
no dif'pofition to fetter'men’s minds, but allows an ample 
toleration, and the free and uninterrupted exercife of 
their religion, to diffenters of every kind. 
ARMY and NAVY. 
In a land of liberty it is extremely dangerous to make 
a diftincf order of the profeffion of arms. In fuch no man 
fltould take up arms, but with a view to defend his coun¬ 
try and its laws: he puts not off the citizen when he en¬ 
ters the camp ; but it is becaufe he is a citizen, and would 
wiflt to continue fo, that he makes himfelf for a while a 
foldier. The laws and conftitutions of thefe kingdoms 
know no fuch date as that of a perpetual (landing foldier, 
bred up to no other profeffion than that of war ; and it 
was not till the reign of Henry VII. that the kings of 
England had fo much as a guard about their perfons. It 
Teems univerfally agreed by all hiftorians, that king Alfred 
firft fettled a national mili.ia in this kingdom, and by his 
prudent difeipline made all the fubjedls of his dominions 
i'oldiers. See p.550. In the mean time we are not to ima* 
gine that the kingdom was left wholly without defence, in 
cafe of domeftic inl’urredlions, or the profpedt of foreign 
invafions. Befides thofe, who, by their military tenures, 
were bound to perform forty days fervice in the field, the 
ftatute of Winchefter obliged every man, according to his 
eftate and degree, to provide a determinate quantity of 
Rich arms as were then in life, in order to keep the peace ; 
and conftables were appdinted in all hundreds, to fee that 
fu.ch arms were provided, Thefe weapons were changed 
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