418 LON 
there in order to keep off the populace when any (how or 
pageantry took place in the church-yard— Godliman-Jlrect, 
a fatisfaclory etymology of which we were not able to find 
out—and St. Bennct's Hill, fo named from the church at 
the bottom ;—we find on the right the place called gene¬ 
rally Doctors’ Commons ; and, indeed, nearly the whole 
of this mafs of houfes, from St. Andrew’s Hill to Old Fiffi- 
ftreet, and from Carter-lane down to Thaines-ltreet, goes 
by that name. 
Doctors’ Commons is a college for fuch as ftudy and 
praftife the civil-law ; and here caufes in civil and eccle- 
iiaftical cafes are tried under the bifhop of London and 
the archbifiiop of Canterbury. The addition of commons 
is taken from the manner in which the civilians live here, 
commoning together, as praftifed in other colleges. The 
front of this college, which is an old brick building, is 
in Great Knightrider-ftreet; and it confifts of two fquare 
courts, chiefly inhabited by doftors of the civil-law. Here 
are tried ail caufes by the court of admiralty and the court 
of delegates. Here are offices where wills are regiftered 
and depofited, and licenfes for marriages, &c. are granted, 
and a court of faculties and difpenfations. The caufes, 
whereof the civil and ecclefiaftical law take cognizance, 
are thefe : blafpheijiy, apoftafy, herefy, fchifm, ordina¬ 
tions, inftitutions of clerks to benefices, celebration of 
divine fervice, matrimony, divorces, baftardy, tythes, ob¬ 
lations, mortuaries, reparation of churches, probates of 
wills, adminilfrations, fimony, inceif, fornication, adul¬ 
tery, penfions, procurations, commutation of penance, 
right of pews, and other fuch-like, reducible to thefe 
heads. 
There are many courts belonging to the civil and eccle- 
fialtical law ; the moll particular of which are thefe : 
j. The Court of Arches ; as to the etymology and bu- 
finefs of which, fee Arches, vol. ii. p. 59. Yet fome 
etymologies will have it, that the denomination has no¬ 
thing to do with the arches on which Bow-church was 
built; but that it originated from an abbreviation of Ar~ 
chiepifcopi Curia, Arches. Curia. This may be very inge¬ 
nious, and we really think it is; but the other etymon 
has been fo clofely fattened on the mind of the dotflors, 
that we ought not to prefs our readers in favour of this. 
a. The Prerogative Court; as to which, fee the article 
Courts, vol. v. p. 300. 
3. The Court of Faculties. See Faculty, vol. vii. 
p. 154 - 
4. The Court of Admiralty; as to the jurifdiflion and 
praiftice of which, fee vol. i. p. 119. This court was 
in former times kept in Southwark. It is now held in 
the hall of Do&ors’ Commons, where the other civil courts 
are kept; except in the trial of pirates, and crimes com T 
snitted at fea ; on which caufes the Admiralty-court fits at 
the feffions-houle in the Old Bailey. 
5. The Court of Delegates. See Courts, vol. v. p. 
301. 
The praflifers in thefe courts are of two forts; viz. ad¬ 
vocates and proftors.—The advocates are fuch as have 
taken the degree of doctor of the civil law, and are re¬ 
tained as counfellors, or pleaders. Thefe mult, firlt, 
upon their petition to the archbilhop, obtain his fiat; and 
then they are admitted, by the judge, to praftife. The 
manner of their admiffion is folemn. Two fenior ad¬ 
vocates, in their fcarlet robes, with their mace carried be¬ 
fore them, conduct the doftor up the court with three 
reverences, and prelent him with a ffiort Latin fpeech, to¬ 
gether with the archbiffiop’s refeript; and then, having 
taken the oaths, the judge admits him, and affigns hirn a 
place or a feat in the court, which he is always to keep 
when he pleads. Both the judge and advocates, if of Ox¬ 
ford, wear, in court, fcarlet robes, and hoods lined with 
taffaty ; but, if of Cambridge, white minever, and round 
black velvet caps.—The proftors, or procurators, exhibit 
-their proxies for their clients; and make themfelves par¬ 
ties for them, and draw and give pleas or libels and alle¬ 
gations iu their behalf; produce witnelles, prepare caufes 
DON. 
for fentence, and attend the advocates with the proceed* 
ings._ Thefe are alfo admitted by the archbiffiop’s fiat, 
and introduced by two fenior proftors. They wear black 
robes and hoods lined with fur.—The terms for the plead¬ 
ing and ending of caufes in the civil courts are but little 
different from the term-times of the common law. The 
order, as to the time of fitting of the feveral courts, is as 
follows: The court of arches, having the pre-eminence, 
fits firlt in the morning ; the court of admiralty fits in the 
afternoon, on the fame day; and the prerogative-court fits 
alfo in the afternoon. 
In this college is a library, well flocked with books of 
all forts, efpecially in civil law and hiftory;, for which 
they are greatly indebted to James Gibfon, efq. who 
gave a great number of the books, and to the benefactions 
given by every bifhop at his confecration, to purchafe 
books for this library. This learned body was originally 
fituated in Paterno(ter-row ; but, that fituation being found 
very inconvenient, Dr. Henry Harvey, dean of the arches, 
purchafed and provided a large lioufe in Knightrider- 
ftreet, which, at that time, was an old Hone building, be¬ 
longing to, and let out by, the canons of St. Paul’s. The 
prei'ent college was built upon the ruins of that lioufe, 
which was burnt down in the great conflagration of tills 
city, in 1666 ; on which occafion, the bufmefs of the in- 
ftitution was transferred to, and carried on at, Exeter- 
change, in the Strand, till the nfevv college was finiffied 
in a more convenient and elegant manner.—The doc¬ 
tors in their gowns lined with fur, holding forth at thefe 
pleadings in the Strand, little thought that their benches 
would be eventually filled up by more furry and more 
noify beings, the congregation under Mr. Pidcock’s once, 
and now under Mr. Polito’s, adminiflration. 
Into thefe different courts there is an opening in Great 
Knightrider-ftreet, with an iron railed gate; and another 
on Bennet’s Hill, with feveral fteps. Befides the courts, 
there are alfo feveral handfome houfes generally occupied 
by the doctors: but the Prerogative-office, feparated from 
them, is in Great Knightrider-ftreet, at tile bottom of a 
long paffage.—The rooms where the original wills are 
depofited, after a fair copy of them is made, are flrongly 
built in ftone, and intended to refill any accident by fire. 
On the oppofite fide, going down the hill, Hands the 
Heralds’ Office, or College of Arms. The old building, 
where this office was kept, was deftroyed by the tire in 1666 ; 
and, by the aft for rebuilding the city, the prefent edifice 
was to have been begun within three years afterwards. 
The eltimate of the expenfe for building it amounted to 
five thoufand pounds; but the corporation, not being 
able todifeharge that fum, petitioned his majefly fora con\- 
miflion to receive the fubferiptions of the nobility and 
gentry. This petition was referred to the coinmiflioners 
for executing the office of earl-marffial; and, upon their 
report, was granted on the 6th of December, 1672. But 
the commiffion, directing the money collefted to be paid 
to fuch perfons, and laid out in fuch a manner, as the 
earl-marflial fliould appoint, fo di(gulled the officers, that 
it caufed a coolnefs in them to promote the fubferipfion; 
in confequence of which, though they had reafon to hope 
for large contributions, little more than five hundred 
pounds were raifed. What funis were farther necefiary, 
were made up out of the general fees and profits of the 
office, or by the contribution of particular members. The 
north-weft corner of this building was erefted at the foie 
charge of fir William Dugdale; and fir Henry St. George, 
Clarenceux, gave rhe profits of fome vibrations made by- 
deputies appointed by him for that purpofe, amounting 
to five hundred and thirty pounds. The houfes on the 
eait fide and fouth-eaft corner were ere&ed upon a build¬ 
ing leafe, agreeable to the original plan; by which means 
the whole was made one uniform quadrangular building, 
as it now appears. It is a very handfome and weil-de- 
figned edifice. The college being finiffied in the month 
of November, 1683, the rooms were divided among It the offi¬ 
cers according to their degrees, by mutual agreement, which 
was 
