MARSHAL (French, marerchal), a term which, in its origin, meant simply a groom or manager of horses. One of the principal officers of state in England is the king's marshal, which office is now held by the Duke of Norfolk, who is said to have the office of marshal of England, and also an honour in respect of which he is earl-marshal. This office was executed in time of war in the king's army ; in time of peace, in the aula regis, or king's great court. Upon the division of the aula regis the marshal appointed deputies in the new courts. In the King's Bench the marshal's deputy was called the marshal of the marshalsea of the king's court, or marshal of the King's Bench. In the Exchequer, the deputy was marshal of the Exchequer, or clerk of the marshalsea of the Exchequer. The duty of the acting marshal is regularly to attend the court, and to take into his custody all persons committed to his cus tody by the court.
The lord high constable, when there was one, and -the earl-marshal, were the judges before whom the court of chivalry or court martial was held. This court had cognizance of contracts touching deeds of arms and of war arising out of the realm, and of all appeals of offences committed out of the realm, and of mat ters within the realm relating to war, in cases where the courts of common law were incompetent to decide. The pro
ceedings were according to the course of the Roman law. The earl-marshal can not hold this court alone, and there has been no hereditary or permanent high constable since the forfeiture of the Duke of Buckingham, " poor Edward Bohun," in the time of Henry VIII. In the few cases in which the court of chivalry has been since held, a high constable has been appointed for the occasion. In the case of an appeal of death brought in 1583 against Sir Francis Drake by the heir of one Dowtie, whose head Drake had struck off in parts beyond sea, Queen Elizabeth refused to appoint a high con stable ; and thus, says Lord Coke, the appeal slept. The minor duties of the earl-marshal are set out with great mi• cuteness of details in a document pre served in Spelman's Glossary.' Besides the earl-marshal, there is a knight-marshal, or marshal of the king's household. The office of earl-marshal, and that of marshal of the King's Bench, as well as that of the knight-marshal, is called a marshalsea ; but the term is or dinarily applied to the last only.