JUSTICES, Laois. From the times of the Norman and Plantagenet kings it has been the occasional practice in England for the sovereign to appoint one or more persons called lords justices to act as his substitutes in the supreme goVernment during his absence from the kingdom. Subsequent to the revolution these appointments have been made by letters-patent under the great seal, and the authority of parliament has sometimes been required in confirmation of their powers. On five occasions such appointment was made by William III. when going abroad, though while his queen was alive he delegated his authority to her during his absence. The statute 12 and 13 Will.
• III., settling the succession on the house of Hanover, provided " that no person who shall hereafter come to the crown shall go out of the dominions of England, Scotland, or Ireland, without consent of parliament;" but this clause was repealed by 1 Geo. I. c. 2, • and the first sovereign of the house of Hanover, during five of his absences in Germany, made an appointment of lords justices. George IV. on his visit to Hanover, delegated his authority to 19 guardians, of whom the duke of York, heir-presumptive, was one. On none of the absences of her present majesty from her kingdom has there been any delegation of the royal authority; and on one of these occasions, lord chancellor Lynd hurst stated in the house of lords that the law officers regarded it unnecessary in point of law to appoint lords justices, in which opinion he concurred. In case of the sover
eign's minority, a regency has generally been resorted to. The powers of lords justices have been usually limited in the matter of pardoning and reprieving criminals, summons or prorogation of parliament, the disposal of public moneys in the treasury, and of church preferment in the gift of the crown. The lords justices appointed under the Commissions of 1719 and 1729 could continue the existing parliament by short proroga tions, till otherwise directed under the royal sign-manual—the other acts here specified could not be exercised without the special signification of the royal pleasure, except when necessary for the public service. The .power to create peers has only once been dele gated, by Charles I. in 1644; and lord Herbert, afterwards earl of Glamorgan, in whose favor the right was exercised, was, after the restoration, compelled to resign by the house of lords.
Lords justices have sometimes been appointed to carry on the government of Ire land in place of a viceroy; in modern times, this has only been done during occasional absences of the lord-lieutenant, or in the interval between the demise of one lord-lieuten ant and the appointment of a successor. These lords justices have usually been thelord primate, the lord chancellor, and the commander of the forces.