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 "Ow Circuit" in England. pared to cope with them, they now, in his downfall, overwhelmed him with condemna tion, then proceeded to dose him with a nau seating mixture of sentiment and goody-goody talk. But the troubles of the first Chief Justice of Carolina came speedily to an end, so far as this world was concerned. In less than a year from the time that he had landed in Charleston, sent out, the Proprietors de clared, because the conviction had seized

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them that " good laws without due exercise were a dead letter," he had been called be fore a higher court, where it is said that justice is fully meted out to every man who deserves it. In the summer of the year 1699 "a malignant fever," afterwards known to be yellow fever, broke out in Charleston. More than one hundred and fifty victims were found within a few days. Among them were the Receiver General of the Colony and its first Chief Justice.

'ON CIRCUIT" IN ENGLAND. BY LAWRENCE IRWELL. FOR centuries it has been the custom of the British sovereign to commission the judges of the High Court to go to the chief towns or cities in each county to try alleged offenders and to administer justice in civil actions. The custom is said to have been introduced by the Saxon King Alfred; but it is more probable that it was first made a regular practice by Henry II., a monarch who did much to establish legal institutions and to initiate the people in the duty of obey ing the law. From the time of his reign up to the present clay the practice has been kept up with but very slight intermissions, and although it has undergone alterations and has been shorn of some of its pomp, it continues, and is likely to continue for many years to come. At present England and Wales are divided into seven well-defined districts, each of which is called a " circuit; " and four times a year, one, or more, of the judges makes a visit around each district, holding court — "the assizes " — in the cities and important towns. When only criminal cases are to be tried, one judge goes to each place; but when civil cases are also to be adjudicated upon, as happens usually twice a year, two judges go, and the two courts — civil and criminal

— sit simultaneously. The judges arrange among themselves as to the circuit that each shall take, and they decide beforehand on what day the sitting of the court shall com. menee. The day upon which they arrive in each town is called " commission " day, be cause they then display their royal commis sions of " oyer and terminer " and of " jail delivery." Their arrival on commission days was, in old times, an event of no slight importance; and before the days of railroads, the sher iff, with the nobility and justices of the peace of the county, went out on horseback to meet their lordships (an England judge is " my lord "), and to escort their carriage to its des tination, in a procession of much dignity and pomp. But to-day, the luxurious appearance of the sheriff's carriage and the gorgeousness of his servants' liveries form the principal feature in the pageant which conducts the Queen's legal representatives from the rail way station to the residence known as " the judges' lodgings." The sheriff is a country gentlemen, chosen annually, nominally by the Crown, in reality by the Lord Chief Justice. He serves, without remuneration, for one year only. All unpleasant duties are performed by the deputy-sheriff, a solicitor, who receives