1799:] - Ar. Mofer on the Origin and Praétice of Courts of Requeft. 767 
their rife from that great tribunal for civil 
caufes, known among the Saxons, and by 
us, under the appellation of County 
Court. 
Thefe affemblies were inftituted in the 
time of King Edgar; but far more per- 
fectly and firmly eftablifhed by Alfred, at 
the time when he made the divifion @f the 
counties that has defcended to us. Here 
the theriff fat as judge, and the fuztors of 
the court, as they were, and are ftill term- 
ed, that is, the freemen and land-holders 
of the county, formed a jury. 
From thefe courts was derived another, 
but of inferior jurifdiction, termed the 
Court Baron. 
The great increafe of frivolous fuits in 
the King’s fuperior courts,-in the time of 
Edward the Firlt, occafioned a law to be 
made, that none fhould have a writ in 
thofe unlefs the matter to be litigated 
amounted to the value of forty fhillings ; 
and this is the firft veitige to be traced of 
that form of tribunal, now recognized as 
a Court of Confcience, the butinefs of 
which was, about this time, a part of that 
of the County and Hundred Courts; and 
was, indeed, confidered as fo material a 
part, that we have, upon this account only, 
frequently met. with complaints, that great 
hardthips and inconveniencies to the fub- 
je&t arofe from the irregularity and in- 
frequency of thofe meetings, which 
complaints exifted until the 3d of Ed- 
ward the Sixth, who enaéted, that the 
mecting of all county courts fhould be 
monthly. 
As the commerce of the city of London 
became extended, this inconvenience, it 
appears, was more feverely felt by its in- 
habitants than any other clafs of {ubjects; 
they confequently endeavoured to procure 
aremedy. Thereisin Stow (vide Title- 
Index) an account of the firft Court of 
Requeits inftituted in the city of London, 
colleéted by Thomas Griffin, fome time 
a clerk of that court, the particulars of 
which are curious, but to quote at length 
would extend this fpeculation beyond the 
limits of your Magazine. Among other 
circumftances, it ftates that, “¢ the 1ft of 
February, oth of Henry the VIIIth, an 
aét of Common Council was made, that 
the Lord Mayor and Aldermen fhould 
monthly aflign and appoint two aldermen, 
and four difcreet commoners, to be com- 
miflioners. 
‘¢ This aét, which was to continue a 
year, being found charitable and_profit- 
able for the relief of {uch poor debtors as 
were not able to make prefent payments, 
end to reftrain malicious perfons from 
proceeding in their wilful fuits, and alfo 
to fuch perfons as had fall debts owing 
to them, and were not able to profecute 
them by aétions at law, has fince been 
continued, the number of commiffioners 
increafed from four to twelve, and the 
authority of the faid court extended to the 
end of the reign of Elizabeth; when 
divers perfons repining at the influence of - 
the faid court, and not regarding any ex- 
pences or charges, how great foever they 
might be, fo that they might have their 
defires upon their poor debtors, and being 
alfo animated therete by divers attornies 
and folicitors (for their own particular 
gain),diddaily commence fuits again{t poor 
citizens and freemen, in the high courts 
of Weftminfter; whereby thefe poor men 
were obliged fometimes to pay fix times 
as much as their principal debt or damage 
did amount to: undoing by thefe means 
fuch poor men, their wives and children, 
and filling the prifons, when otherwife 
they might have got their debts with a 
fmall charge and little trouble. 
‘© For remedy whereof, and for the 
ftrengthening and eftablifhing the afore- 
{aid court, an aét was made by the legifla- 
ture, anno primo Facobi Regis, which 
enacted, that any citizen and freeman of 
London that had, or fhould have, any 
debts owing to him not amounting to 
forty fhillings, might caufe fuch debtors 
to be warned to appear before the com- 
miffioners of the faid court; and they 
fhould make fuch orders between plain- 
tiffs and defendants as they fhould find to 
ftand with equity and good con{cience. 
<¢ But fince the making the faid aé&, 
‘divers perfons, intending to fubvert the 
meaning and good intent of the fame, 
have taken hold of fome doubtful and am- 
biguous words therein, and wrefted the 
fame for their own lucre and gain, con- 
trary to the godly meaning of the faid 
act. 
«¢ For remedy whereof, another act of 
Parliament was made anno tertio Jacobi I. 
bywhich the power of the commiflioners was 
much enlarged; giving to them authority 
to adminifter an oath to the creditor or 
debtor, and to commit to one of the coun- 
ters," Se. . 
<¢ By this a& (faith Mr. Thomas Grif- 
fin) the Court of Requefts is eftabiithed 
and continued to this day; and God grant 
that it may long continue to the relief of 
the poor!” 
Having thus ftated the rife and progrefs 
of this branch of jurifprudence, with the 
opinion, or rather ejaculation, of one of its 
firft clerks, which probably will have but 
5 little 

