MARSHAL, a term which in its origin meant simply a groom or manager of horses; but from the importance of such an employment in a rude warlike nation, the office of marshal became invested with great military authority, which, according to the usage of the times, drew to itself a considerable civil jurisdiction. One of the principal officers of state is the king's marshal, which office is now held here ditarily 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 host, or 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 marahalsea 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 custody 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 cognisance of contracts touchinl deeds of
arms and of war arising out of the realm, and of all appeals APPEAL) of offences committed out of the realm, and of matters within the realm relating to war, in cases which the courts of common law were incompetent to decide. Its proceedings were according to the course of the Roman or civil law. The earl marshal cannot 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 1533 against Sir Francis Drake by the heir of one Doughtie, whose head Drake had struck off in parts beyond sea, Queen Elizabeth refused to appoint a high constable; and thus, says Lord Coke, the appeal slept. The minor duties of the earl marshal are set out with great minuteness of detail, in a document preserved in Spelman's ' Glossary.'