Lord Chancellors of Ireland - Introduction.

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Introduction*.

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OF THE LEGAL TRIBUNALS OF THE IRISH, PREVIOUS TO THE INTRODUCTION OF ENGLISH LAWS, WITH THE APPOINTMENT AND DUTIES OF LORD CHANCELLOR IN THAT COUNTRY.

Before we proceed to narrate the Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of Ireland, it may be instructive and entertaining to glance briefly at the legal tribunals and customs of the ancient Irish, previous to the arrival of the English.

Cormac MacArt, monarch of Ireland, A.D. 227, was distinguished for his devotion to literature and his success in the government of his kingdom. He is said to have regained his ancestral throne by his intellectual powers. A usurper, named MacCon, having defeated King Art, father of Cormac, in the battle of Magh Mucruimhé, near Athenry, seized the crown of the Ard-Righ, [Chief king] and became chief monarch of Ireland. For some time after the death of his father, the young prince, like Alfred of England, had to remain in concealment among his friends in the province of Connaught, while the grievous taxes and oppressive rule of the usurper were daily making the people anxious for his fall. Cormac’s friends pressed his rights to the throne, and, when matters were sufficiently *

matured, the young Prince repaired to Tara, where the King held his Court. Cormac found the Ard-Righ sitting in the Judgment-seat, with the chiefs and rulers of the nation gathered around, listening to the decrees of their sovereign Judge. The case then at hearing was deemed of much importance; in fact, a kind of State trial. Some sheep, the property of a poor widow, whose whole wealth they constituted, had strayed from a field at Tara, and, yearning for better browsing, trespassed on the Queen’s lawn, and eat of the grass thereof. Being captured in the very act, they were impounded, and the Queen demanded justice for the injury she sustained by this trespass, quare clausum fregit. The King declared that the beasts were forfeited; but young Cormac came forward, and boldly declared the judgment unjust; for, as the sheep had only eaten the fleece of the land, it was only their own fleece that should be forfeited.” [This equitable decision was worthy of the Woolsack.]

This decision struck the assemblage as most just; and even MacCon proclaimed, ‘This is the judgment of a King.’ At this moment he recognised the features of the Prince, and commanded his arrest. The people formed a living rampart round their rightful Sovereign, the guards of the palace declared for Cormac, and the power of the Usurper was at an end. He was banished, and Cormac ascended the throne of Tara, A.D. 227.

When firmly established on the throne, he felt the necessity of governing the Kingdom by just and well-considered laws. He collected and arranged that code which was administered by the Brehons or Judges, until the English introduced their laws, and which obtained for centuries after the arrival of the English, among the Irish who dwelt outside the pale. King MacArt’s appearance and dress, as described by the bards, were splendid, though considerable allowance must be made for poetical license and courtly flattery.

‘His hair was slightly curled, and of golden colour; a scarlet shield with engraved devices, and golden hooks, and clasps of silver; a white folding purple cloak on him, with a gem-set gold brooch over his breast; a gold torque around his neck; a white collared shirt, embroidered with gold, upon him; a girdle with golden buckles, studded with precious stones, around him; two golden net-work sandals, with golden buckles upon him; two spears with golden sockets, and many red bronze rivets, in his hand; while he stood in the full glow of beauty, without defect or blemish. You would think it was a shower of pearls that were set in his mouth; his lips were rubies; his symmetrical body was as white as snow; his cheek was like the mountain ash-berry; his eyes were like the sloe; his brows and eye-lashes were like the sheen of a blue.-black lance.’ [O’Curry’s Lectures, p. 45. This translation is from the Book of Ballymote, quoting the Uachongbhiail.]

Corinac also collected the chronicles of Ireland into one book, called the ‘Saltair of Tara.’ This contained the tribute the Kings of Ireland were entitled to receive from the Provincial Kings; and the rents and dues payable to the Provincial Kings from their subjects, likewise to the nobles from their vassals. In it were accurately described the boundaries of Ireland from shore to shore, from the provinces to the cantred, from the cantred to the townland, from the townland to the traighedh of land. [Four Masters, p. 117. These are denominations of land in Ireland]

It is most probable the ancient Brehon code underwent revision when Christianity introduced new modes of procedure and a kindlier feeling amongst the Irish. Indeed the Annals of the Four Masters’ record this fact, and the Seanchus Mor was sometimes called Cain Phadraig - Patrick Law or Tribute. We must not dwell too long upon these Ancient Laws, now in the course of translation and publication. The most noticeable feature was the compensation for murder and other offences by the Eric, which is forbidden in Holy Writ - ‘You shall not take money of him that is guilty of blood, but he shall die forthwith. [Nomber XXV. 31.] This law of Eric kept its place in the Brehon code long after Ireland was rescued from Paganism.

By the law of Tanaistry the eldest son succeeded to the Chieftainship on the death of his father, unless labouring under some bodily or mental infirmity, or crime. The eldest son being thus presumptive heir, was called tanaiste, or second in rank, and had a separate establishment as such. [This is still retained in the Scottish title of Master, given to the eldest son of a peer.]

Landed property was equally divided amongst the males by the ancient Celtic Law, called gavail kinne, gavelkind. If there was no male issue, females were allowed an estate for life. The tanaist always obtained the mansion-house with his portion, having to sustain the dignity of the family.

The state of society being patriarchal and pastoral, the land belonging to each sept was held in common, every member having a right of pasturage and his share of the tillage-land commensurate with the number of his cattle. The tribe being, so to speak, one family, the claims of each individual was subordinate to the general interest of the tribe. Thus the demesne lands were assigned to the Chief, next to the Tanist or Chief elect, the Brehons or Judges, the bards or doctors. Although tributes or rents were payable, and metals - gold and silver - existed from an early period, cattle was the usual equivalent, instead of coin in Ireland, as in other nations of antiquity. Cattle constituted the medium of exchange and barter in England as late as the eleventh century. Selden mentions that ‘pounds and shillings were not abundant in England in 1004, but paid in truck and cattle.’

A peculiar custom among the ancient Irish was fosterage. [Vide Seanchus Mor, vol. ii.] Every member of the nobility was bound by law to send his sons to foster - brought up with one of the family of his tribe. There was a regular fosterage fee, payable while the child was with his foster-parents. There was a doctor’s fee, proportionate to the rank of the patient and nature of the malady. No fees were payable unless a cure were effected. The dress of the ladies was regulated by their rank, and its value was described by that of so many cows.

The ancient laws of Ireland are now preparing for publication, under the direction of a commission, authorised by Parliament for that purpose. This Commission has commenced its labours very properly with the Seanchus Mor, as the oldest and most important work relating to the ancient laws of Ireland. The Seanchus Mor was so much reverenced in olden time, that the Brehons, or Judges, were not allowed to abrogate any portion of it. The preface to ‘The Law of Distress’ [Seanchus Mor, vol. i.] gives an interesting account of this digest of the Brehon laws, the time when composed, the occasion on which it was compiled, and names of its authors. The progress of colonization throughout Ireland, the establishment of circuits, and the extension of English language and laws, caused the Brehon code to fall into disuse about the year 1600. The ancient Irish employed many modes of determining guilt or innocence by ordeal, Judicium Dei. Many of these very singular customs deserve a brief notice. That which is best known was called Moran’s Collar, of which there are some strange traditions related. If a guilty person put this collar round his neck, it compressed until he was choked. On the contrary, if innocent, the collar fell to the wearer’s waist. Another was called Tal Moctha. This was the bronze axe of Moctha, a carpenter. The mode of trial was by heating the metal portion in a fire made of blackthorn, then the tongue of the accused was to be rubbed to the hot weapon. It burned the guilty, and the innocent remained unhurt. The Crannchur, or casting of lots, was used in various forms. In one, the bard or poet recited a poetical incantation over the one lot for the King, and one for the accused. Then the lots were drawn, when, if the accused was guilty, the lot adhered to his hand; if innocent, he drew it forth without any lot sticking to his fingers. The Charmed Branch of Sen MacAige was used in deciding guilt or innocence. This consisted of three portions, or lots, put into water. The mode of ordeal here mentioned agrees with that practised by the Jews and other Eastern nations, as is recorded in the 2nd book of Kings (vi. 5). The ordeal by water was used by the Irish thus: Three lots were put in the water. The Prince’s lot, the Ollamh’s lot, and the lot of the litigant. If the litigant was guilty, his lot went to the bottom; but if he was innocent, it floated on the top. This mode of ordeal by water is contrary to the commonly received application of this custom in Germany, France, and England. In these countries the ordeal was employed upon persons suspected in propria persona. With a rope fastened round the body, he or she (for, alas! the gentler sex were often the victims of popular suspicion) was cast into a running stream, and if the body sank it was deemed a proof of innocence, and the accused was sometimes taken out alive; while, on the contrary, if it floated, it was proof of guilt, as though the holy element - the pure stream - was supposed to reject the criminal. Another ordeal by lot was called Trelia Mothair (Three Stones of Blackness); a pan was filled with dubh-rota (black-rye), coal., or other black stuff, and three stones imbedded - one white, one black, and one speckled. The accused then thrust his hand into the pan, and drew forth a stone. The black was indicative of guilt, the white of innocence, the piebald somewhat like the Scotch verdict of ‘Not proven ’ - left the case doubtful, and neither acquitted or condemned. It appears somewhat strange that among so warlike a nation as the Irish, the ordeal by battle does not appear to have been used. In the valuable paper on the forms of ordeal anciently practised in Ireland, read before the Royal Irish Academy by the learned Celtic scholar, William M. Hennessy, and published in the ‘Proceedings of the Academy,’ [Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. x. p. 34.] no mention is made of this ordeal, which was common among other European nations. We shall find, however, that it was introduced by the Anglo-Normans, and, unhappily, survives to this day in the sanguinary duel, though the practice is daily becoming obsolete.

Although the English settlement in Ireland may be considered to date from A.D. 1172, it was long before English legal institutions embraced the entire kingdom. In that year Henry II. landed at Waterford, proceeded thence to Lismore, whereof the Bishop, Christian O’Conarchy, was Papal Legate for Ireland. Henry ordered a castle to be erected at Lismore, [Now the picturesque seat of the Duke of Devonshire.] and marched through Leinster to Dublin, where he arrived on November 11. A spacious hall of woodwork was prepared for his reception on the ground on which the south side of Dame Street now stands, and here he kept in great state the Christmas of that year. By his policy and representations, Henry induced the Irish Bishops and Clergy to convene a synod at Cashel, in which several of the Anglo-Normans, Lay and Churchmen, took part, and letters were procured from the Irish Bishops declaring Henry their sovereign lord. Before returning to England Henry planned his mode of governing Ireland by the Anglo-Norman rule. Then probably was prepared the ordinance known as the Statute of Henry Fitz-Empress, which provided ‘that in the event of any Viceroy or Chief Governor for Ireland vacating office by death or otherwise, the principal nobles and officials of the Anglo-Norman colony there should be empowered to elect a successor, to exercise full Viceregal power and authority, until the King’s instruction bad been received.’ In the list of the first Anglo-Norman officials of Ireland, we find no mention of a Chancellor. The high officers there named are: Lord Marshal, Lord Constable, Seneschal, Chief Butler, and Royal Standard Bearer. The first title of legal import was that of Capitalis Justiciarius, Chief Justiciary, a title used both in England and Normandy, and conferred on the highest official who, in the King’s absence, was intrusted with the whole civil and military administration. The Justiciary, or Viceroy, of Ireland was required to give hostages for his fidelity, and was directed to take the advice of the Lords of the colony, as Privy Councillors.

The colonists and such of the Irish as dwelt within the pale and acknowledged the English authority, were regarded as subjects entitled to the protection of English law, but all the Irish who dwelt outside the pale, not being recognised as subjects, were styled ‘Irish enemies.’ Instances occur in which certain septs of the Irish were, by special grants, enfranchised and entitled to the benefit of the English laws. On the Plea Roll of the 3rd of Edward II. all the septs or bloods ‘qui gaudeant lege Anglicana quoad brevia portanda,’ are named - viz., O’Neil de Ultonia, O’Molaghlin de Midia, O’Connogher de Connacia, O’Brien de Thotmonia, et MacMurrogh de Lagenia. [On Plea Roll of Edward III. we find - Simon Neal brought trespass against William Newlagh. Defendant pleaded that Plaintiff ‘est Hibernicus et non de quinque sanguinibus, de les O’Neeles de Ulton.’ Plaintiff replied, ‘quod ipse est de quinque sanguinibus, viz. de les O’Neles de Ulton, qui per concessionem progenitorum Donimi Regis, libertatibus Anglicis gaudere debent et utuntur, et pro liberis hominibus reputantur.’ The defendant traversed this, and, on issue joined, the finding was for the plaintiff, who had judgment and damages. Several cases to the same purport are met with in the Plea Rolls. Vide Morrin’s Calendar, Patent and Close Rolls, Chancery Ir. vol. ii. preface xxxix.]

On the death of King John, A.D. 1216,, he was succeeded on the throne by his eldest son, Henry III. The first correspondence of the new sovereign with Ireland was of a conciliatory nature. A general amnesty was granted, and a royal letter to Hugh de Lasci prayed him to forget and forgive any oppressions he had’ suffered from the Government of England, and to return to his allegiance. The provisions of Magna Charta, that charter of freedom, won by the mailed barons and mitred prelates of England, was extended to Ireland, and we find the office of Chancellor established henceforth.

In the reign of King Henry III., John’s son and suecessor, we find the office of Chancellor of Ireland mentioned for the first time in Mr. Smyth’s ‘Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland.” [Smyth’s Law Officer, 1.] John de Worchley is named as Chancellor, with the date of his appointment, 1219, 3rd Henry III. Lord Campbell, in his ‘Lives of the Lord Chancellors of England,’ declines engaging in the controversy attending the definitions of the word Chancellor. Some deriving the word Cancellarius, from cancelling the King’s letter patent when contrary to law; others because he sat behind a lattice, called in Latin cancellus, to avoid the pressure of the suitors. In the earliest times the Chancellor was required by his office to hear and determine petitions addressed to the King; and, in progress of time, these petitions, instead of being addressed to the King, were addressed to the Chancellor. He is the highest legal functionary in the realm, per traditionem magni sigilli per dominam regem, and by taking the oaths. The Lord Chancellor of Ireland ranks in the roll of precedence in Ireland next after the Archbishop of Armagh, if a Peer; if not, the Archbishop of Dublin has precedence, but he ranks before the other great Officers of State, Judges and Peers.

In Ireland, the office of Chancellor was, and indeed still is, an office of great political importance. He was always the chief civil officer employed by the Sovereign to draw up his commands in a formal manner, and authenticate them with the Great Seal, placed in his custody. As he laws introduced into Ireland by the early English colonists were those of England, the practice of the two countries was similar. By the writ of 6th John it was the manifest intention of that monarch that the benefit of all the laws of England should be extended to the Irish generally, as well as the English, though abundant proofs exist that such wise intentions were frustrated by the Viceroy and nobles, who, for their own purposes, preferred to keep the natives beyond the benefits of English laws.

The early Chancellors, Judges, and Lawyers were English by birth and professional training. Learned men were those Chancellors, for the most part Prelates of highly cultivated minds, attached to the land of their birth, while exercising important sway over the destinies of Ireland. The influence of the Clergy in these days over temporal as well as spiritual affairs, was naturally great. Possessed of all the learning of these times, they were the chief counsellors of the Sovereign, as well as the advisers of the subjects. By right of office the Chancellors were Speakers of the House of Peers, paramount in the Council Chamber. They were called on to frame laws for the legislature, and decide the rights of the subject from the bench. Through their acquaintance with Civil Law, no small share of Roman jurisprudence mingled with laws of England, and helped to mould the equitable jurisdiction of the High Court of Chancery.

The Courts of Law were originally held in Dublin Castle. Here was combined every adjunct suited for the protection and convenience of its inmates. It was at once a palace, a fortress, a court of justice, and a prison. The palace of the Viceroy, with fortifications for his defence, Courts of Justice as well for the adjudication of civil rights, for the trial of offenders, and a prison for evil doers. There was also a chapel under the patronage of St. Thomas of Canterbury, and two chaplains assigned; each received an annual salary of fifty shillings, with two shillings for wax. [Probably for the altar-lights.] There was also a mill, called the King Mill. Around the Castle, for the most part, was a moat, called the Castlegripe, while on the massive walls were bastions, and gate towers, the narrow entrances being defended by portcullises, and iron-barred doors; a drawbridge on the southern side of Castle-street admitted communication with the city.

The hostages or pledges, which the Viceroys in early days obtained from the Anglo-Norman Lords, and chiefs of native clans, as securities for their due observance of the compacts entered into, as also for their allegiance to the English Government, were usually lodged in the Castle of Dublin. Here also, at first, were held the Courts of Justice, wherein the Chancellor, and other Judges sent from England, administered the English laws to the Anglo-Normans settled in Ireland, as also to such of the natives, as were entitled to the protection of English law.

The Exchequer, for some time the Court most frequented, was established early. This Court received and disbursed the Crown revenues which accrued from the royal estates, rents of towns, fines, customs, treasure-trove, and other casual profits. The simple method of computation then in use was by counters placed in rows upon the squares of the chequered cloth covering the table; and squared rods notched at the corners, styled tallies, were employed as vouchers. [Gilbert’s Viceroy’s, p. 118] In the manuscript Red Book of the Exchequer is a picture of that court in Dublin in the 14th Century. It represents six persons, probably official, at the top, to the right three suitors, opposite them three Judges, beneath the Sheriff. A crier to the right is adjourning the Court by the label, ‘A demaine.’ The official to the left, supposed to be Second Remembrancer, holds a parchment inscribed, ‘Preceptum fuit Vice-comiti, per breve hujus Scaccarii.’ The Chief Remembrancer, pen in hand, holds an Exchequer roll, commencing, ‘Memorandum quod x° die Maij,’ &c.; while the Clerk of the Pipe prepares a writ, placed on his left knee. To the extreme left the Marshal of the Exchequer appears with a document, on which is written, ‘Exiit breve Vice-comiti.’ [The ‘c’ in ‘Vice’ could be another letter. KF.] One of the Judges is represented as saying, ‘Soient forfez.’ Another, ‘Voyr dire.’ On the cheque-covered table we see the Red Book, a bag with rolls and counters. The suitors are also addressing the court. One with outstretched arm says, ‘Oy de brie;’ another, ‘Chalange;’ while the third, girt with a sword. and laced boots, utters the words, ‘Soit oughte.’

The salary of Lord Chancellor was anciently 40l. a year, exclusive of fees and perquisites. He had, to maintain a special body-guard of six men-at-arms and six archers, fully equipped, for the protection of the Great Seal in-trusted to his custody. The salary afterwards was increased. Roger Utlagh, in 1335, had 160 marks a year; Laurence Merbury, in 1407, had 6s. 8d. a day; Archbishop Cranley, in 1415, 10s. a day; Sir Richard Read, in 154, 300 marks; these sums were besides fees. The value of such payments may be estimated from the prices of cattle, &c., in the Anglo-Norman colony in Ireland: - Cows from 5s. to 1s. 4d. each; heifers, 3s. 4d. to 5s.; sheep, 8d. to 1s.; horses, 1s. 4d. to 40s.; pigs, 1s. 6d. to 2s.; salmon, 6d. each. From the year 1598 the salary attached to this high office has largely and progressively augmented, thus: (1) *

  £ s d

In 1598

415 6 8

In 1629

415 17 8

In 1666

1,000

In 1709

2,000

In 1727

2,500

In 1802, pension

4,000

Present salary

8,000 (2)

With Retiring pension

4,000 (3)

(°) Vide Ware’s work, vol. ii, p. 99.

(°) 2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 116.

(°) 40 Geo. III. C. 69.

The office of Chancellor, as we have seen, was instituted in Ireland as early as the reign of Henry III. The Chancery was the * officina justitiae* whence writs, or letters, issued in the King’s name on a statement of facts by the aggrieved party. Remedial writs were directed to the Judges.

Royal grants of dignities, offices, and lands passed through the Chancery, and were framed and authenticated by the Chancellor. The art of writing being little known in early times, when it was almost wholly confined to the Churchmen, seals were much used, and the King’s writs and grants were sealed by the Chancellor, to whom, as the responsible officer, the King intrusted the custody of his seal, called the Great Seal. He was almost always a Clergyman in those times, generally a dignitary, and called the ‘Keeper of the King’s Conscience,’ which I have no doubt was often a sinecure office. As time rolled on, and the jurisdiction of the Courts were better defined, the Court of King’s Bench was considered the proper tribunal to take cognizance of all matters of criminal law; the Common Pleas, the court for civil suits. The Exchequer entertained the cases of the King’s revenue. The Chancery was divided into the Hanaper, or Hamper, in which writs were kept, and the Petty-bag side, where the records peculiar to the Court of Chancery were stored. There was also a Law Court where the validity of Royal Grants and other matters were tried by scire facias. But the peculiar jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery is its equitable jurisdiction, established most fully by the ingrafting of uses and trusts of real property. It has likewise important jurisdiction in cases of bankruptcy, lunacy, and custody of infants, and we can well suppose the Chancellor must have possessed a very general store of professional knowledge in former times to have administered the law in the Court of Chancery with credit.

[I have examined the Calendars of Proceedings in Chancery in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, published from the originals in the Tower, in order to see the nature of the suits instituted about this time, and the following are among the pleadings printed:-

‘For an injunction to stay proceedings at law.’

‘To compel the defendant as feoffee in trust to make an estate to the plaintiff and his heirs in certain lands and tenements.’

‘To be relieved from an unjust demand made by the defendant, who is the keeper of a tavern to which plaintiff had visited; and praying a writ of certiorari.’

‘For discovery of deeds alleged to be in the defendant’s possession.’

‘To set aside a deed obtained by fraud, and an injunction to stay proceedings.’

These and similar records, show suits and pleadings have since varied but little.]

The Chancellor has sole jurisdiction to issue writs of * ne exeat regno* under the Great Seal, which, as it affects personal liberty, is always issued with great care and caution. The duties and elections of Coroners are under the control of the Lord Chancellor, and on a proper case being shown he may remove the Coroner from his office.

The appellate jurisdiction of the Chancery is very great. The Lord Chancellor and Lord Justice of Appeal review the decisions of the Vice-Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, the Judges of the Landed Estates Court, and the Court of Bankruptcy and Insolvency.

By statute 17 Edw. II. c. 9 the rents and profits of idiots and lunatics are given to the Crown, which has caused the Lord Chancellor to be invested with jurisdiction in all lunacy matters. [Vide form of warrant to Lord Chancellor of Ireland under the sign manual, giving jurisdiction in cases of idiots and lunatics, Lord Campbell’s Lives of the Chancellors of England, vol. i. p. 14.]

When the Irish Parliament existed, the Chancellor was ex officio Speaker of the House of Lords, and not necessarily raised to the Peerage; but, if a commoner, he could not vote or act as a Member of the House. On the trial of Peers for treason or felony in the House of Lords his functions of Speaker were placed in abeyance, and a High Steward (usually the Lord Chancellor ‘when a peer and a layman) was specially appointed by the Crown. As the early Chancellors were usually Bishops or other ecclesiastics, and therefore could not meddle in matters of blood, this appointment was necessary. [Lord Campbell’s Chancellors of England, vol. i. p. 17.] Yet we constantly find them holding Commissions of Assize, which must have required them to pass sentence of death. The High Steward is styled ‘Your Grace,’ and the formalities of a trial in the House of Lords are very solemn, as we shall see in the course of our Memoirs. [The last trial by the Peers of Ireland was that of Robert, 2nd Earl of Kingston, for shooting Colonel Fitzgerald. This was in 1799, and the case, which I give very fully, is one of the most romantic ever disclosed to the world.]

The very responsible duty, and in Ireland one of the most important connected with the office of Lord Chancellor, is the appointment and removal of Justices of the Peace throughout the kingdom. This is usually on the recommendation of the Lords Lieutenant of each county, but may be at the discretion of the Lord Chancellor.

There is considerable patronage attached to the office, and at one period some Church patronage existed which it was thought might prove embarrassing in the event, which now exists, of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland being a Roman Catholic, but this patronage was found to have ceased. The Lord Chancellor of Ireland is also ex officio member of various boards, and from his high station is regarded as a person of the highest consequence in the kingdom.

The dress of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland has undergone considerable alteration in the progress of time. The dress of a certain age, it has been shrewdly observed, has features of its own no less distinct than its laws, manners, and customs, and, as the character is affected by outward circumstance as much as the physical type is affected by climate, no one can question its importance. There is no doubt that the eyes of the multitude always are the readiest avenues for informing their minds, and impressions received through the visual organs exercise no small influence upon mankind. The ancient dress of a Chancellor, as related by Matthew Paris, was ‘Tunica viridi foemina indutus, capam habens ejusdem colons peplum in capite muliebre portans.’ That is, ‘a green tunic of a woman, with a cape of the same colour, and a woman’s hood for his head.’ This was by no means. so striking as the Lord Chancellor’s splendid State robes at present.

The title is Lord High Chancellor of Ireland. There is a wider distinction between the Chancellor, and Keeper of the Great Seal, of Ireland than in England. In this country we have patents of the two offices granted to the same person by express words - Lord Keeper first and then as Chancellor. The Lord Keeper has no power of hearing causes unless specifically conferred. Thus, in 185, Thomas de Everdon was nominated Keeper of the Seals, in the absence of the Chancellor, with power to hear causes; and, in 1558, Hugh Curwin was constituted Lord Keeper when another patent gave him authority to hear and determine pleas proper to the Court. The office has frequently been executed by a deputy or Vice-Chancellor, but this power of delegation was either contained in the patent or authorised by special Act of Parliament as in Act 25th Henry VII. (1446), when Sir John Talbot was authorised to constitute a deputy with power to do all things belonging to the said office, which was not to expire by the presence of the Chancellor.

When the exigencies of State or private business calls the Lord Chancellor out of Ireland the practice is to appoint Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal, who act in his absence. Sometimes the Commission enables them to keep the Seal, while others are appointed Commissioners for hearing and determining causes in Chancery, and they have full power to act as Lord Chancellor.

The Great Seal has on the obverse the Queen seated upon the throne crowned, bearing the ball and sceptre, with Justice on one side and Religion on the other. On the lower portion are the royal arms; a rich border surrounds the seal. On the reverse is the Queen on horseback, the horse fully caparisoned, with a plume of ostrich feathers floating from the headstall, led by a page bareheaded. On the rest for the equestrian figure is a harp surrounded by shamrocks, and around the margin of the seal are tile words, each divided from the other by a rose and rose leaves,

VICTORIA DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM REGINA FIDEL DEFENSOR.

The tenure is during pleasure, and determined by delivery of the Great Seal when the Chancellor or Lord Keeper takes his oath of office. We shall find in the progress of our work grants of the office to individuals for life and sometimes during good behaviour. At present the functions of the Chancellor partake so much of a political character that his office determines with the administration of which he is a member. It is also determined by the death of the Sovereign.

This Seal being the clavis regni emblem of regal authority is only used for special purposes, and entitles documents sealed therewith to be regarded as of authority in the highest degree. By statute, [25 Edw. III.] to counterfeit the Great Seal is treason; and when Chancellor De Balscot used the Great Seal of De Vere, Duke of Ireland, the favourite of Richard II., after his removal from office, he received (A.D. 1388) a smart reprimand from the King, who ordered the said Seal to be broken in the presence of the Council, and its fragments weighed and delivered into the Treasury. [Vide post. Life of Alexander de Balscot, Chancellor.]

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