Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/554

 540 IV. THE NINETEENTH CENTURY consisting of fourteen judges and the Lord Chief Justice of England. It represents the old Queen's Bench, Exchequer, and Common Pleas rolled into a single tribunal; for the Exchequer, with its Chief Baron, and the Common Pleas, with its Chief Justice, exist no more. The Queen's Bench tries, either by jury or by a single judge, any cause which does not belong to those special classes of business which for convenience are assigned to other departments. It conducts the assizes, civil and criminal, all over England ; furnishes judges who preside at the Old Bailey ; is, with unimportant exceptions, the final court of criminal jurisdiction; acts as a court of review on appeal from the judgments on matters of law of the county courts ; controls the action of all in- ferior tribunals, wields all the powers and authority of the former Common Law Courts, and administers equity as well as law. A staff of fifteen to eighteen masters are attached to it, who exercise judicial functions in interlocutory matters, report on inquiries referred to them, preside at taxation of costs, and supervise the machinery of the central office and its clerks. The next branch of the High Court is the Chancery Division, consisting of five judges, who sit singly — a chief clerk and a body of clerks working under each. On the prin- ciple of division of labour, the Chancery Division attracts to itself administrative and other business, for which it has a special organisation and aptitude ; but its jurisdiction is com- plete and not confined to any particular subject-matter, and it administers law as well as equity. Third comes the Probate, Admiralty, and Divorce Division (under a president and an- other single judge), independent in itself, managing the Ad- miralty, divorce, and probate business of the country and con- trolling the district registries throughout England. From the judgments and orders of all branches of the High Court alike an appeal (except in ordinary criminal matters) lies to the Court of Appeal, composed of the Master of the Rolls and five Lords Justices ; the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice of England, and the President of the Probate, Di- vorce, and Admiialty Division ranking as ex-officio members. The decisions of the Court of Appeal are only reviewable by the House of Lords — a tribunal that has been strength-