15. Of courts military, the only one is governed by the laws of chivalry ; but even this one seems now in disuse. Courts martial are annually established by act of parliament, being only temporary.
16. Maritime courts are, 1. The court of admiralty, which has jurisdiction over offences committed upon the seas, or in parts out of the reach of the common law. 2. The court of delegates ; and, 3. The lords of the privy council, and others authorized by the king's commission for prize causes.
17. Courts of a private or special jurisdiction are, I. The forest courts, including the courts of attachments, regard, sucinmote, and justice seat, all of which are now in disuse. 2. The court of commissioners of sewers, whose jurisdic tion is to overlook the repairs of sea banks and sea walls, the cleansing of rivers, public streams, &c. 3. The Marshal_ sea and the palace court, having jurisdiction twelve miles round the king's palace. 4. The courts of the principality of Wales. 5. The court of the duchy of Lancaster. 6. The courts of the counties palatine, and other royal fran chises. 7. The stannary courts of Cornwall and Devon, to administer justice among the miners. 3, The courts of London, and other corporations ; to which may be referred the courts of requests, or courts of conscience, and the modern regulations of certain courts baron, and county courts. 9. The courts of the two universities, which enjoy the sole jurisdiction, in exclusion of the king's courts, over all civil actions and suits whatsoever, when a scholar or pri vileged person is one of the parties, except in such cases as where the right of freehold is in question.
18. Injuries to the rights of persons are redressed by suits or actions, which are defined to be the legal demand of one's right, and these are, 1. Personal. 2. Real. 3. Mixed.
19. (1.) Personal actions are, where a satisfaction is claimed of damages for some injury done either to person or personal property.
20. (2.) Real actions concern real property only, such as lands, rents, commons, and other hereditaments.
21. (3.) Mixed actions partake of the nature of both, such as actions for waste, brought by him who has the inheri tance in remainder, or reversion, to recover the land upon which the waste has been committed, and treble damages, in pursuance of the statute of Gloucester.
22. The general and orderly parts of a suit in the courts of common law are, 1. The original writ. 2. The process.
3. The pleadings. 4. The issue or demurrer. 5. The trial. 6. The judgment and its incidents. 7. The proceedings in nature of appeals. 8. The execution.
23. (I.) The original writ must be regulated according to the circumstances upon which the action is founded, either detinue, trover, trespass vi el armis, &c. An origin al writ is from the court of chancery, directed to the she riff of the county wherein the injury is committed, or sup posed so to be, requiring him to command the wrong-doer either to do justice to the complainant, or else to appear in court and answer the accusation against him. Whatever the sheriff does in pursuance of this writ, he must return or certify to the court, together with the writ itself, it being the king's warrant for the judges to proceed to the deter mination of the cause.
24. (2.) The process is the means of compelling the de fendant to appear in court to answer to the original writ. This is called original process, when founded upon the ori ginal writ, to distinguish it from mesne or intermediate process, which issues pending a suit, as to summon juries, witnesses, &c.
The primary step in process is to give notice to the par ty to obey the original writ. This notice is given, except in trespasses real or presumed against the peace, by sum mons. If the defendant disobeys this monition, the practice now is, to sue out a callias in the first instance upon the supposed return of the sheriff; and if the sheriff return non est inventus, or that he is not in his bailiwick, a testatuni capias issues, directed to the sheriff of whatever county he is supposed to be in. And where an action is brought in one county, and the defendant lives in another, it is usu al to make out a testatum capias at first, supposing a capias and an original to have issued. But where the plaintiff wishes to proceed to outlawry, process must be gone regularly through ; and upon a non est inventus being re turned, then shall an alias issue, and after that a n/uries: and if a non est inventus is returned upon all these, a writ of exigent facias issues, to which is returned quinto exact us. The defendant shall then be outlawed by the coroners of the county ; and if after outlawry he appears, he may be ar rested by capias utlagatum. These are the established rules of proceeding in the common pleas, in which the other courts vary but little.