Customs-Inland Revenue. The two offices to which these departments belong are concerned with the Public Revenue of the State. The Customs is that part of the Public Revenue which is derived from foreign imports of all sorts, as spirits, tea, tobacco, wine, and all the foreign products which are taxed on being introduced into this country. The Inland Revenue includes the part of the National Revenue which is derived from all other sources, as the income tax, excise (that is, a tax on home products, as homemade spirits, malt, and certain other like things), and Stamps and Duties, that is, payments to Government on certain transactions or events, as (1) succeeding to landed property on the death of the last owner, (2) taking money by Will, (3) making certain transfers and contracts.* * Education, Science, and Art. This office (1) makes grants to schools in certain cases. It also controls the South Kensington Museum, which contains scientific and artistic specimens, and in which public lectures are given, under the control of the Government, on scientific and artistic subjects. The Government offices are all independent one of another, though, for the management of some of them, certain of the individual members of the Cabinet are (as has been seen) directly responsible. Thus the Prime Minister is the First Lord of the Treasury Board, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer is also one of the Board. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is now head of the Department of the Mint. He is also responsible, as representing the Treasury Board, for the management of the National Debt Office, the Customs, and the Inland Revenue. The Post Office is subject to the superintendence of the Postmaster General, though the monetary side of it, as an instrument of revenue, is under the control of the Treasury, represented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. * See, afterwards, "Taxation and the Revenue." The Patent Office is under the general control of the Treasury, with the assistance of the Law Officers of the Crown. Commissioners in every case sit by the force of the Royal Commission under which they are appointed, and are wholly independent of any Minister of the Crown. It is true that the Cabinet always nominates the Commissioners, in the Queen's name. FUDICIAL ORGANISATION. The subject of the Judicial Organisation of England may be divided into that relating to the Superior Courts and that relating to the Inferior Courts. The former differs from the latter (1) (as to civil cases) in the amount of money at stake in the causes tried in them; (2) in the degree of perplexity of the legal questions involved; or (if the matter of investigation be a crime) in the magnitude of the crime, and, therefore, of the penalty. One function of some of the Inferior Courts (as Police Courts and Courts of Petty Sessions) is to take the initial steps in a Proceeding the full conduct of which belongs to a Superior Court. SUPERIOR COURTS. The present must be regarded as a peculiarly transitional period in the growth of Judicial Organisation in this country, especially as concerns the Superior Courts. The most vital changes are in the course of being made in the structure, procedure, and mutual relations of all the Superior Courts. The names and formal jurisdiction of these several Courts are preserved as much as possible, and it may be some time before the practical effect of the changes is sensibly and largely felt. The great instrument of change is the "Supreme Court of Judicature Act of 1873," which was to have come into operation in November 1874. The date, however, for its coming into operation was afterwards deferred. To understand the nature of the alterations made by this Act and the present condition of things, it is necessary to notice that up to the time of the Act coming into force, the following are the Superior and Central Courts of Justice; with the Judges appertaining to each Court or group of Courts. THE COURT OF CHANCERY, with seven Judges, including the Lord Chancellor; the two Lords Justices of Appeal; the Master of the Rolls (an official of high antiquity, originally the keeper of the Rolls on which the King's grants were entered, or even occasionally of the Great Seal, and assessor of the Lord Chancellor, and still chief of the department of Public Records); and three Vice-Chancellors. THE COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, with five Judges, including the "Lord Chief Justice of England" and four "puisne" Judges. THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, with five Judges, including a "Lord Chief Justice" and four puisne Judges. THE COURT OF EXCHEQUER, with five Judges, includ"Lord Chief Baron" and four "Barons of the Ex ing a chequer." THE HIGH COURT OE ADMIRALTY, with one Judge. THE COURT FOR DIVORCE AND MATRI MONIAL CAUSES. With one "Judge in THE LONDON COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, with one Judge." The rules of Law adıninistered in the classes of causes in respect of which the COURT OF CHANCERY had exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction have been long named " Equity" as opposed to the rules of Law administered in all the other Courts and called "Common Law." So also any division of the Court of Chancery is often called a "Court of Equity.” The opposition between "Common Law" and "Equity," as species of Law, is originally an historical one, and grew out of the different classes of Courts in which justice was administered. This distinction of Courts was due to the King's Head Secretary, or "Chancellor," interfering, as occasion required, to correct the hardships or supply the defects of the Law as administered in the ordinary Courts. In modern times the Court of Chancery has greatly enlarged its jurisdiction, and has drawn within its cognizance large classes of matters (especially those involving questions of Fraud, Trust, or the cross claims of a large number of persons) which seemed to demand, for their judicial settlement, a kind of discretionary power which could not usefully be conceded to a Jury, or which was alien to the constitution of the Common Law Courts. The rules of Equity are, however, now as fixed and unswerving as rules of Common Law. It is to be observed that the expression "Common Law is often also used to express all that part of the law of England which is not made by Statute; that is by Acts of Parliament.* The Court of Chancery was subdivided into a number of Component Courts, of Original Jurisdiction and of Appeal. The Courts of original Jurisdiction were severally presided over by the Lord Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, and each of the Vice-Chancellors. The two Lord Justices, and the Lord Chancellor, constituted a variety of co-ordinate Courts of Appeal, according as they sat together or separately. For some time past there has been an increasing tendency, strengthened by the operation of Acts of Parliament, to recognise in Courts of Common Law, where it was conducive to the ends of justice, the rules of Law (that is the principles of "Equity,") recognised in Courts of Equity. One of the most important changes brought about by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act is concerned with getting rid entirely of the practical inconveniences following from the distinction between Law and Equity, and so, gradually, of the distinction itself. This is achieved by (1) according to each Judge, in every division of the new Court constituted by the Act. jurisdiction in all matters whatever, irrespective of the class of Courts to which alone * See pp. 108, 109. they could have been referred previous to the Act coming into force; (2) enabling every Judge to grant, in respect of any matter before him, every kind of remedy and relief which could previously have been obtained in any Court; and (3) facilitating to the utmost, and with the smallest amount of delay and trouble to suitors, the transfer of causes from one divisional Court to another to which the cause seems to be more appropriate. The Judges of any two of the three Courts of QUEEN'S BENCH, COMMON PLEAS, and EXCHEQUER constituted a Court of Appeal, called the "Court of Exchequer Chamber," for points of Law decided in the third Court. All the Judges of the three Courts of Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer constituted a Court of Criminal Appeal on points of Law called the Court for the "consideration of Crown Cases reserved." The HIGH COURT OF ADMIRALTY was a very ancient Court, and had its jurisdiction extended and defined by recent Statutes. The Court was concerned with suits for the enforcement of wages due to the master or crew of a ship, or money due in respect of pilotage or towage services; or for recovering of compensation in cases of collision and of damage done by ships. The High Court of Admiralty also acted as a “ Prize Court ” in time of war for the purpose of ascertaining whether "prize of war" or booty taken at sea by English ships properly commissioned was taken in a way conformable to the rules of International Law, and thereupon to adjudicate if necessary between the original owner of the prize and each of a variety of claimants who may have contributed to the capture. The procedure of the High Court of Admiralty was always based rather upon the methods of Roman, than upon those of English, Law. The COURT OF PROBATE and the Court for DIVORCE AND MATRIMONIAL CAUSES were presided over by the Judge of the Court of Probate, who in the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes sits as "Judge Ordinary." |