Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/669

 19. ZANE: THE FIVE AGES 655 he consulted them. The retorts of the judges are quick enough. " Why," asks Asseby, " did the other side plead that they were seized.'' " " Because they are rather fooHsh," said Hertford, Justice, shortly, " answer over." Berewick, a judge, says to the great Howard : " If you wish to cite a case, cite one in point." One almost forgets in reading this that he is back in the Middle Ages. Sometimes a lawyer is fined for contempt. Lisle paid a fine of 100 shilhngs, yet soon afterward was made a justice of assize. The most striking phenomenon is the smallness of the bar in active practice. A few names are constantly recurring. The fees of a leader must have been enormous. Most of them died rich. The case of William Howard, from whom flows " all the blood of all the Howards," has been already instanced in describing the first period. Another great lawyer, a rival of Howard's, is Hugh de Lowther. He is king's Serjeant, and appears in quo warranto proceedings, which Howard often defends. He was of an ancient family in Westmoreland. His lineal descendant became Viscount Lonsdale in 1689, and Lowther Castle (where the present Earl of Lonsdale so magnificently entertained the German Emperor) stands in the midst of the widespread domain of 35,000 acres which Edward I.'s attorney-general left to his descendants. The largest fee of that day paid to a lawyer was £133 6s. 8d., paid by Edward II. to Herle, the king's serjeant, and this was supplemented by a seat on the bench. After a long service on the bench Herle was permitted to retire; and it may be of interest to note that the permission spoke of " his approved fidelity, the solidity of his judgment, the gravity of his manner, and his unwearied service in his office." One of the names that often recurs is that of John Stonor. As a Serjeant in large practice, and then as king's serjeant, he no doubt made a fortune. He first served in the Common Pleas, then in the King's Bench, then he was returned to the Common Pleas. Later he was chief Baron of the Exchequer, then Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, super- seding Herle; but later Herle was reinstated, and Stonor