Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (1st ed, 1768, vol III).djvu/36

24 PRIVATE BOOK III. dium by which lie administers the laws, are derived from the power of the crown c. For whether created by act of parlia- ment, letters patent, or prefcription, (the only methods of erect- ing a new court of judicature d ) the kings confent in the two former is expreiHy, and in the latter impliedly, given. In all thefe courts the king is fuppofed in contemplation of law to be always prefent ; but as that is in fact impoffible, he is there re- prefented by his judges, whole power is only an emanation of the royal prerogative. FOR the more fpeedy, univerfal, and impartial administration of juftice between fubject and fubject, the law hath appointed a prodigious variety of courts, fome with a more limited, others with a more extenfive jurifdiction -, fome conftituted to enquire only, others to hear and determine ; fome to determine in the firft inftance, others upon appeal and by way of review. All thefe in their turns will be taken notice of in their refpective places : and I (hall therefore here only mention one distinction, that runs throughout them all ; viz. that fome of them are courts of' record, others not of record. A court of record is that where the acts and judicial proceedings are enrolled in parchment for a perpetual memorial and teftimony : which rolls are called the records of the court, and are of fuch high and fupereminent au- thority, that their truth is not to be called in queftion. For it is a fettled rule and maxim that nothing (hall be averred againfl a record, nor fhall any plea, or even proof, be admitted to the contrary e. And if the exigence of a record be denied, it fhall be tried by nothing but itfelf ; that is, upon bare infpection whether there be any any fuch record or no ; elfe there would be no end of difputes. But if there appear any miftake of the clerk in making up fuch record, the court will direct him to amend it. All courts of record are the king's courts, in right of his crown and royal dignity f, and therefore no other court hath authority to fine or imprifon j fo that the very erection of e See book I. ch. 7. c Ibid. d Co. Litt. 260. f Finch. .231. a new