Page:The statutes of Wales (1908).djvu/112

cviii of common law causes, one hundred and nineteen per annum.

There was a Chamberlain holding the Circuit Seal in each circuit, and an Auditor of who audited and received the fines and revenues, paying the same into the Exchequer at Westminster. It was the Auditor's duty to superintend and collect the land revenues, to audit the accounts, the land taxes, assessed taxes and property taxes, and to pass the Sheriffs Accounts. The audits were held for the respective circuits at St. Asaph, Conway, Carmarthen, and Brecknock. An Attorney-General and Solicitor-General, possessing the same privileges as the holders of the similar offices in England (although no mention is made of them in the Act of the Eighth), were appointed on each circuit. No indictment in a criminal matter could be presented until the Attorney-General affixed his signature thereto.

The Court officials were reported to have been generally conversant with the language.

The bulk of the evidence given by lawyers who were acquainted with the circuits was in favour of the retention of the system, subject to certain reforms. Lord Mansfield (who was at one time Chief Justice of Chester) said that it seemed to him to be a great advantage to the people that they should have the opportunity of trying their disputes at home at very little expense. Mr. Oldnall Russell, practising on the Carmarthen Circuit, maintained that a Judge, who knew something of the manners and customs of the people and their peculiar habits and dispositions, would certainly have an advantage over Judges who were not so informed.

Mr. Sergeant Heywood, another practising counsel, said that there were in certain peculiar circumstances of a local nature which supported the necessity of a separate jurisdiction. There were little shades of difference between the English and character, and Judges who went the circuit once only, could not find themselves perfectly