Originally the King's Bench (or Queen's Bench. during the reign of a queen) was a criminal court and the conservator of the public peace. By a series of fictions, however, its jurisdiction was extended to civil actions.
So the Exchequer, which at first was a court of revenue only, extended its jurisdiction bY fictions to a variety of suits between individual litigants.
Ender Edward I. the Court of Chancery (q.v.) became an established judicial tribunal. it was presided over by the Chancellor. who had the custody of the Great Seal, and with it the power to issue writs returnable in chancery, and thus to act as a check upon the common-law courts. Later the Lord Chancellor iu the performance of his judicial functions by the master of the rolls and by vice-chancellors. For the influence of this court upon the develop ment of English law, see CHANCERY ; EQUITY.
(c) Reference has been made already to the fact that one of the presiding ()dicers of the Anglo-Saxon local courts was a bishop. After the Norman Conquest the bishops ceased to take part in those assemblies, and were accorded ex clusive cognizance of spiritual matters. This jurisdiction was steadily extended until it em braced not simply the discipline of the clergy and the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs, but also the control of marriage and divorce, and the disposition of the estates of deceased persons. At present, however, ecclesiastical courts in Eng land are confined to the decision of ecclesiastical questions, while divove and matrimonial causes, as well as the probate (q.v.) of wills and testa ments and the administration of decedents' estates, are within the jurisdiction of secular courts.
(d) The Court of Admiralty is one of great antiquity, having its origin, undoubtedly, in the period when the King was in truth the source of all judicial power. After the courts of com mon law, described above, acquired a degree of independence of the sovereign, they did not hesi tate to issue writs of prohibition to the Court of Admiralty, and to treat it as an inferior tri bunal. Its present jurisdiction is mainly statu tory.
The London Court of Bankruptcy was created and regulated by modern bankruptcy (q.v.) statutes.
(e) By a series of judicature acts. beginning with that of 1873, all of the foregoing secular courts were consolidated into one Supreme Court. This consists, at present, of two permanent di visions, one of which, styled His Majesty's High Court of Justice, has oiiginal jurisdiction of all' actions formerly brought in either of the su perior courts of common law or of equity, or in the admiralty, or probate, or divorce, or bank ruptcy courts; and an appellate jurisdiction over various cases brought up from inferior courts.
The other division is styled His Jlajesty's Court of Appeal, its jurisdiction being almost exclu sively appellate. The E igh Court is separated into three parts, known respectively as the Chancery Division, with the Lord Chancellor as president. and five judges; the king's Bench Division, with the Lord Chief Justice as president, and four teen judges; and the Probate, Divorce, and Ad miralty Division, with a president and a judge; the general character of the subjects of which each division has cognizance being indicated by its name.
The Court of Appeal consists of the Lord Chancellor. every person who has held the office of Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls, the president of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division. and five judges, with the title of Lords .Justices of Appeal. Tt is an august tribunal, whose decisions of appeals from the various branches of the High Court command great respect.
In addition to this permanent and impressive Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, there are divisional courts, in the King's Bench Dili sion and in the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division, composed of two judges, ordinarily, for the disposition of appeals trom the petty quarter sessions, from the county court, and from divers other inferior tribunals.
(f) Above the Supreme Court, as a final court of appeal, is the House of Lords, whose appellate jurisdiction dates back to the thirteenth cen tury. At present, however, only a few of its members take any part in the performance of its judicial functions. They are known as Lords of Appeal. The Lord Chancellor presides over them. (See Louns, HotisE or.) The final court of appeal for cases arising in India and the colo nies is the Privy Council (q.v.), which has also final appellate jurisdiction over judgments of the ecclesiastical courts and of the Naval Prize Court.
From the foregoing sketch of the English courts it is apparent that a litigated ease may be passed upon by four, successive tribunals.
e It may he instituted, for example, in a county court. thence appealed to a divisional court, thence to the Court of Appeals, and finally to the House of Lords. A similar series of appeals may terminate in the Privy Council.
II. In the United States, distinct systems of courts exist, one organized under the Federal Constitution and statutes, the others under the Constitution and statutes of the several States.