EXCHEQUER. (Scaccarium, from the French Echi pier, or the German Schat=-kammer, Treasury), is a very ancient court of record, wherein the king's revenues are received, and all causes respecting the revenue and rights of the crown are heard and determined.
Camden says that this court took its name from the ta ble at which they sat, the cloth which covered it being party-coloured, or chequered. (Brit. p. 113.) Sonie persons have thought that there was an exchequer un der the Anglo-Saxon kings ; but our best historians are of opinion, that we derived this institution from the an cient Norman exchequer, and that it was introduced from thence by William the Conqueror. It is certain that there was an exchequer in the time of his son Hen ry I. which was regulated and reduced to its present or der by Edward I.
The exchequer consists of two parts or divisions : the Receipt of the Exchequer ; and the Court of Exchequer. The former is occupied with the management of the royal revenue ; the functions of the latter are judicial.
The principal officers of the Exchequer are, the Lord Treasurer, the Chancellor, the Lord Chief Baron, and three other barons, with a puisne baron, who administers the oaths of all high sheriffs, under sheriffs, baliffs, &c.; the Remembrancer for the King, who calls to account, in open court, all the great accountants of the crown, &c. ; the Remembrancer for the Lord Treasurer, who makes out all estreats, and issues out writs and proces ses in many cases, &c. ; two Chamberlains, who keep the keys of the treasury, where the records lie; a Clerk of the Pipe, into whose custody all accounts and debts due to the king are conveyed out of other offices, as water through a pipe ; the Controller of the Pipe ; the Clerk of the Estreats ; the Foreign Opposer ; the Auditors ; four 'fellers; the Clerk of the Fells, so called from his parch ment rolls ; the clerk of the Nihils ; the clerk of the Pleas, &c.
The Court of Exchequer is inferior in rank to the courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas. It is divi ded into a court of equity and a court of common law. The court of equity is held in the exchequer chamber, before the Lord Treasurer, the Chancellor of the Ex chequer, the Chief Baron, and three puis:ze Barons, whose original and primary business related to the fiscal rights of the crown. But now, all kinds of personal suits may be prosecuted in the Court of Exchequer, upon the surmise that the plaintiff is debtor to the king, which is held to be mere matter of form and words of course, the truth of which is never controverted. This fiction gives rise to the common law part of the jurisdiction of the Court of Exchequer, which is exercised by the Barons only. The writ, upon which all proceedings here are grounded, is called a quo minus, in which the plaintiff suggests that he is the king's debtor or farmer, and that the defendant Lath clone him the injury or damage com plained of, quo minus sufficiens exist it, by which he is the less able to pay the king his debt or rent. In the same manner, also, in the equity side of the court, any person may file a bill against another, upon a bare suggestion that he is the king's accomptant. In this court, on the
equity side, the clergy have long been in use to exhibit their hills for non-payment of tithes ; but the Chancery has now obtained a large share of this business. From the equity side of Exchequer, there lies an appeal di rectly to the House of Peers ; but from the common law side, a writ of error must be first brought into the Court of Exchequer Chamber.
The Court qf E cchequer Chamber has no original ju risdiction, but is only a court of appeal. It was first erected by statute 31 Edw. III. c. 12, to determine causes upon writs of error from the common law side of the Court of Exchequer. It consists of the Lord Trea surer, the Lord Chancellor, and the Justices of the King's Bench and Common Pleas. A second Court of Exche quer Chamber, in imitation of the former, was erected by statute 27 Eliz. c. 8, consisting of the Justices of the Common Pleas, and the Barons of the Exchequer, be fore whom writs of error may be brought to reverse judgments in certain suits, originally begun in the Court of King's Bench. Into the Court of Exchequer Cham ber, (which then consists of all the judges of the three superior courts, and now and then the Lord Chancel lor also,) are sometimes adjourned, from the other courts, such causes as the judges, upon argument, find to be of great weight and difficulty, before any judgment is given upon them in the court below. From all the branches of this Court of Exchequer Chamber, a writ of error lies to the House of Peers.
The ancient Court of Exchequer in Scotland, which was the king's revenue court, was, by the treaty of union, (Art. 19.) to continue until a new revenue court should be established by parliament, which was accordingly done by 6 Ann. c. 26. The judges of this court are, the High Treasurer of Great Britain, with a Chief Baron, and four other Barons, who must be made either of ser jeants at law, or English barristers, or Scottish advo cates of five years standing. All may plead before this court who can practice in the courts of Westminster, or in the Court of Session ; and all the privileges of the Col lege of Justice, are communicated to the barons, and to the other members of this court.
The jurisdiction of the Scottish Court of Exchequer extends to all matters regarding the revenues of the crown ; but under two limitations, which were intended to preserve the private law of Scotland from innovation. 1st, That no debt due to the crown shall affect the debt or's real estate, in any other manner than such estate might be affected by the law of Scotland ; and, 2dly, That the validity of the crown's titles to any honours, lands, or casualties, shall be tried, as formerly, by the Court of Session. See Madox, Hist. of the Exchequer ; Blackstone's Comment, b. iii. eh. 4; Jacob's Law Dict. v. EXCREqUER ; and Erskine's Inst.of the Law of Scot land, b. i. tit. 3. § 30. et seg. (z)