Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/754

 740 V. BENCH AND BAR the sitting of the chancellor the separate business of the master of the rolls should be transacted in the evening. Accordingly, during the greater part of the judicial year, the sittings of the master of the rolls in his own court were held in the evening. The office at its best under Grant was not to be compared with its position in later times when the master ceased to sit as adviser to the chancellor, and was invested with a separate and, in some respects, independent judicial authority in his own court. This system continued with but little change during the short terms of Grant's immediate successors, Plu- mer (1818-24), Gifford (1824-26), Copley (1826-27) and Leach (1827-34). The office probably reached its lowest point under Leach, who was fitted neither by learning nor by temperament for judicial office. Much was expected from the appointment of Pepys (1834-36); but he was soon advanced to the woolsack as Lord Cottenham. Improvement is noticeable soon after the advent of Lord Langdale (1836). From his time the decisions of the Rolls Court have been regularly reported in -a separate series of reports, first by Keen (1836-38) and afterwards by Beavan (1838-66). Lord Langdale administered the duties of the office, at a time when its scope had been considerably enlarged, with industry and ability, as the few successful appeals from his judgments attest. If his reputation as a judge fell somewhat below the expectations raised by his distinguished professional career, his lucid and methodical exposition of the facts with which he had to deal gave perfect satisfaction to those who were most interested in a just decision. His lofty character and abso- lute impartiality inspired the utmost confidence. The unbearable arrears in chancery during Lord Eldon's administration finally led to the appointment of a vice- chancellor in 1813. But as constituted, the new court failed for many years to give satisfaction. The first incumbent, Plumer (1813) was slower than Eldon himself; while his successor. Leach (1818-27), disposed of his cases with such speed that a witty barrister comparing Leach's court with that of the chancellor, characterized the former as terminer sans oyer and the latter as oyer sans terminer, and suggested