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 strengthened by the fact that an Israelite source could be drawn upon for an impartial account of Judaean history (2 Kings xiv. 8–15). Finally, (g) literary and historical problems here converge. Although Judaean writers ultimately rejected as heathen a people who could claim to be followers of Yahweh (Ezra iv. 2; 2 Kings xvii. 28, 33; contrast ibid. 34–40, a secondary insertion), the anti-Samaritan feeling had previously been at most only in an incipient stage, and there is reason to infer that relations between the peoples of north and south had been closer. The book of Kings reveals changing historical conditions in its literary features, and it is significant that the very age where the background is to be sought is that which has been (intentionally?) left most obscure: the chronicler’s history of the Judaean monarchy (Chron.—Ezra—Nehemiah), as any comparison will show, has its own representation of the course of events, and has virtually superseded both Kings and Jeremiah, which have now an abrupt conclusion. (See further S. A. Cook, Jew. Quart. Rev. (1907), pp. 158 sqq.; and the articles
 * History, §§ 20, 22; : History).

—A. Kuenen, Einleitung; J. Wellhausen, Compos. d. Hexateuch, pp. 266–302; H. Winckler, ''Alttest. Untersuchungen'' (1892); and B. Stade, Akademische Reden (1899; on 1 Kings v.–vii.; 2 Kings x.–xiv.; xv.–xxi.); S. R. Driver, Lit. of O. T. (1909); see also C. Holzhey, ''Das Buch. d. Könige (1899); the commentaries of Benzinger (1899) and Kittel (1900), and especially F. C. Kent, Israel’s'' ''Hist. and Biog. Narr.'' (1905). The article by W. R. Smith, Ency. Brit., 9th ed. (partly retained here), is revised and supplemented by E. Kautzsch in the ''Ency. Bib.'' For the Hebrew text see Klostermann’s ''Sam. u. Könige (1887); C. F. Burney, Notes on the Hebrew'' Text (1903); and Stade and Schwally’s edition in Haupt’s Sacred Books of the Old Testament (1904). For English readers, J. Skinner’s commentary in the Century Bible, and W. E. Barnes in the Cambridge Bible, are useful introductions.

KING’S BENCH, COURT OF, in England, one of the superior courts of common law. This court, the most ancient of English courts—in its correct legal title, “the court of the king before the king himself,” coram ipso rege—is far older than parliament itself, for it can be traced back clearly, both in character and the essence of its jurisdiction, to the reign of King Alfred. The king’s bench, and the two offshoots of the aula regia, the common pleas and the exchequer, for many years possessed co-ordinate jurisdiction, although there were a few cases in which each had exclusive authority, and in point of dignity precedence was given to the court of king’s bench, the lord chief justice of which was also styled lord chief justice of England, being the highest permanent judge of the Crown. The court of exchequer attended to the business of the revenue, the common pleas to private actions between citizens, and the king’s bench retained criminal cases and such other jurisdiction as had not been divided between the other two courts. By an act of 1830 the court of exchequer chamber was constituted as a court of appeal for errors in law in all three courts. Like the court of exchequer, the king’s bench assumed by means of an ingenious fiction the jurisdiction in civil matters which properly belonged to the common pleas.

Under the Judicature Act 1873 the court of king’s bench became the king’s bench division of the High Court of Justice. It consists of the lord chief justice and fourteen puisne judges. It exercises original jurisdiction and also appellate jurisdiction from the county courts and other inferior courts. By the act of 1873 (sec. 45) this appellate jurisdiction is conferred upon the High Court generally, but in practice it is exercised by a divisional court of the king’s bench division only. The determination of such appeals by the High Court is final, unless leave to appeal is given by the court which heard the appeal or by the court of appeal. There was an exception to this rule as regards certain orders of quarter sessions, the history of which involves some complication. But by sec. 1 (5) of the Court of Session Act 1894 the rule applies to all cases where there is a right of appeal to the High Court from any court or person. It may be here mentioned that if leave is given to appeal to the court of appeal there is a further appeal to the House of Lords, except in bankruptcy (Bankruptcy Appeals (County Courts) Act 1884), when the decision of the court of appeal on appeal from a divisional court sitting in appeal is made final and conclusive.

There are masters in the king’s bench division. Unlike the masters in the chancery division, they have original jurisdiction, and are not attached to any particular judge. They hear applications in chambers, act as taxing masters and occasionally as referees to conduct inquiries, take accounts, and assess damages. There is an appeal from the master to the judge in chambers. Formerly there was an appeal from the judge in chambers to a divisional court in every case and thence to the court of appeal, until the multiplication of appeals in small interlocutory matters became a scandal. Under the Supreme Court of Judicature (Procedure) Act 1894 there is no right of appeal to the court of appeal in any interlocutory matters (except those mentioned in subs. (b)) without the leave of the judge or of the court of appeal, and in matters of “practice and procedure” the appeal lies (with leave) directly to the court of appeal from the judge in chambers.

 KINGSBRIDGE, a market town in the Totnes parliamentary division of Devonshire, England, 48 m. S.S.W. of Exeter, on a branch of the Great Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901), 3025. It lies 6 m. from the English Channel, at the head of an inlet or estuary which receives only small streams, on a sharply sloping site. The church of St Edmund is mainly Perpendicular, but there are Transitional Norman and Early English portions. The town-hall contains a natural history museum. A house called Pindar Lodge stands on the site of the birthplace of John Wolcot (“Peter Pindar,” 1738–1819). William Cookworthy (1705–1780), a porcelain manufacturer, the first to exploit the deposits of kaolin in the south-west of England, was also born at Kingsbridge. The township of Dodbrooke, included within the civil parish, adjoins Kingsbridge on the north-east. Some iron-founding and ship-building, with a coasting trade, are carried on.

Kingsbridge (Kyngysbrygge) was formerly included in the manor of Churchstow, the first trace of its separate existence being found in the Hundred Roll of 1276, which records that in the manor of Churchstow there is a new borough, which has a Friday market and a separate assize of bread and ale. The name Kingsbridge however does not appear till half a century later. When Kingsbridge became a separate parish is not certainly known, but it was before 1414 when the church was rebuilt and consecrated to St Edmund. In 1461 the abbot of Buckfastleigh obtained a Saturday market at Kingsbridge and a three-days’ fair at the feast of St Margaret, both of which are still held. The manor remained in possession of the abbot until the Dissolution, when it was granted to Sir William Petre. Kingsbridge was never represented in parliament or incorporated by charter, the government being by a portreeve, and down to the present day the steward of the manor holds a court leet and court baron and appoints a portreeve and constables. In 1798 the town mills were converted into a woollen manufactory, which up to recent times produced large quantities of cloth, and the serge manufacture was introduced early in the 19th century. The town has been famous from remote times for a beverage called “white ale.” Included in Kingsbridge is the little town of Dodbrooke, which at the time of the Domesday Survey had a population of 42, and a flock of 108 sheep and 27 goats; and in 1257 was granted a Wednesday market and a fair at the Feast of St Mary Magdalene.

See “Victoria County History”: Devonshire; Kingsbridge and Sulcombe, with the intermediate Estuary, historically and topographically depicted (Kingsbridge, 1819); S. F. Fox, Kingsbridge Estuary (Kingsbridge, 1864).

 KING’S COUNTY, a county of Ireland in the province of Leinster, bounded N. by Meath and Westmeath, W. by Roscommon, Galway and Tipperary (the boundary with the first two counties being the river Shannon); S. by Tipperary and Queen’s County, and E. by Kildare. The area is 493,999 acres or about 772 sq. m. The greater part of the county is included in the central plain of Ireland. In the south-east the Slieve Bloom Mountains form the 