Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/380

* JUSTICE. 348 JUSTICE. and not to subvert the law." Equity draws new distinct ions, untinown to the older and cruder law; its precedents harden into rdes ; and the lesult is simply a now body of law with a more refined classilication of Ihe phenomena of social life. Consult the authorities referred to under Jlhi.si'kiiik.nck ; l^AW. JUSTICE, Chief. See Chief Justice. JUSTICE^ Df,i>artment of. One of the nine executive clciiarlnicnts of the I'liilcd States, at the head of which is the Attorney-Cleneral, ap- pointed by the President for a term of four years. AUlioufili the ollicc of Attorney-General was created in 17S0 and the incumbent of the otiice was from the first a member of the Cabinet, it was not until 1870 that it was erected into a separate de])artment. By the act of .Tune 22 of that year, the several officers of the Federal (kiv- ernment, of Avhom there were some half-dozen or more, were placed under the sui)ervision of the Attorney-tieneral. with the ho])e of lirin^'inf; alioul greater "uniformity in the construction and appli- cation of the laws. The Attorney-tieneral is the chief law officer of the Govennuent, and. as a member of the Cabinet, ranks fourth in the line of .succession to the Presidency. It is his duty to advise the President on any questions of law that may arise in the course of the .dniinistra- lion. and also to ^ive his o])inioii wheii requested by any of the beads of departments upon lefral questions concerning; matters all'ecting their de- partments. The ojiinions rendered by the Attor- ney-General are from time to time published by the Government, and next to the decisions of the courts they are r(arded as authority on the points covered. The Attorney-General is the legal representative of the Government in all cases at law to which the X'nited States is a party, and may ajipear in court in person or direct which one of the A'ssistant Attorney-Gen- erals shall appear, and may employ special coun- sel to aid in the conduct of the cases in which the Government is interested. He is further- more charged with the general supervision of the United Slates district attorneys and marshals; directs and instructs them in their duties, and may employ special counsel to .aid the attorneys in "the prosecution of cases to which the United States is a party. He examines the titles to lands or other property which the Government intends (o purchase for forts, dockyards, building sites, or other public purposes, and makes an annual report to Congress of the business of the department, including statistical information concerning the civil and criminal cases tried be- fore the TTnited States courts, the number of pardons granted by the President, the amount of fines and forfeitures imposed, and such otiier in- formation bearing upon the administration of justice as he mav deem proper. Other duties of the Department of .Tustice are the supervision of the penal and reformatory institutions of the United States, the recommendation of judicial appointments, the examination of the accounts of the marshals, attorneys, and other judicial officers, the investigation of applications for clemency, the arlministration of the national bankruptcy law. and the supervision of the com- mission to revise and codify the criminal and penal laws of the United States. In ISfiS two A.ssistant Attorney-Generals were provided for, one of whom assists in the Supreme Court, the other in the Court of Claims. There is also an Assistant Attorney-General for the Interior De- partment, one lor the Postollice Department, and one in charge of Indian diqircdations claims. In 1S70 the oilice of Sulicilor-Gciu-ial was created, the incumbent being ranked as the second olficcr of the department. He conducts cases in the courts at Washington, and in case of a temporary vacancy or absence of the Attorney-General, acts in his stead. The act of 1870 also transferred to the new Department of .Justice the solicitors from the Interior, Treasury, and Navy (le|)artnients, and the examiner of claims from the Stale De- jjarlment. JUSTICE, Lord. In England, a ixrson in- vested with the royal authority for limited pur- poses and for a limited time. I'rom Ihe times of the Norman and Plantageiict kings it has been the occasional practice in England for the sover- eign to appoint one or mure pcisoiis called lords justices to act as his subslilules in the suiu'eme Govermnent during his absence from llie Kingdom. Subsequent to the Revolution these appointments have been made by letters patent under the great seal, and the authority of Parliament has some- times been invoked in conlirmation of their pow'ers. On five occasions such aiipointmciit was made by William III. when going abroail, though, while his queen was alive, he didegatcd his au- thority la her during his absence. The stalules 12 and 1.3 Will. Illi, setlling the succession on the House of Hanover, provided "that no person who shall hereafter come to the Crown shall go out of the dominions of England. Scotland, or Ireland without consent of Parliament;" but this clause was repealed by 1 Geo. I., eh. 2, and the first sovereign of the House of Hanover, dur- ing five of his absences in Germany, made an appointment of lords justices. (Jeorge IV.. on his visit to Hanover, delegated his authority to nineteen guardians, of whom the Duke of York, heir presumptive, was one. On none of the ab- sences of Queen Victoria from the Kingdom was there any delegation of the royal authority; and on one of these occasions Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst stated in the House of Lords that the law officers regarded it unnecessary, in point of law. to appoint lords justices — an ojiiiiion in which he concurred. The practice of the (Jneen in this respect has been followed by her successor, Edward VII. In ease of the sovereign's minority a regency has generally been resorted to. The powers of lords justices have usually been limited in the matter of ]iardoning and repriev- ing criminals, the summoning or prorogation of Parliament, the disposal of public moneys in the Treasury, and of Church preferments in the gift of the Crown. The lords justices appointed under the commissions of 1710 and 172!) were author- ized to continue the existing Parliament by short prorogations till otherwise directed under the royal sign manual, but not to perform the other acts here specified without the special significa- tion of the royal pleasure, except when neces- .'•ary for the public service. The power to create jieers has only once been delegated — ^l)y Charles I. in lfi44: and Lord Herbert, afterwards Earl of Glamorgan, in whose favor the right was exer- cised, was. after the Restoration, compelled to resign by the House of Lords. Lords justices have sometimes been appointed to carry on the government of Ireland in place of .-V viceroy; in modern times, this has only been