The king himself often sat in his court, which always attended his
person [h]: he there heard causes and pronounced judgment [i]; and
though he was assisted by the advice of the other members, it is not
to be imagined that a decision could easily be obtained contrary to
his inclination or opinion. In his absence the chief justiciary
presided, who was the first magistrate in the state, and a kind of
viceroy, on whom depended all the civil affairs of the kingdom [k]
The other chief officers of the crown, the constable, mareschal,
seneschal, chamberlain, treasurer, and chancellor [l], were members,
together with such feudal barons as thought proper to attend, and the
barons of the exchequer, who at first were also feudal barons,
appointed by the king [m]. This court, which was sometimes called the
king's court, sometimes the court of exchequer, judged in all causes,
civil and criminal, and comprehended the whole business which is now
shared out among four courts, the chancery, the king's-bench, the
common-pleas, and the exchequer [n].
[FN [h] Madox, Hist. of Exch. p. 103. [i] Bracton, lib. 3. cap. 9.
Sec. 1. cap. 10. Sec. 1. [k] Spellm. Gloss. in verbo JUSTICIARII.
[l] Madox, Hist. Exch. p. 27, 29, 33, 38, 41, 54. The Normans
introduced the practice of sealing charters; and the chancellor's
office was to keep the great seal. Ingulph. Dugd. p. 33, 34. [m]
Madox, Hist. of the Exch. p. 134, 135. Gerv. Dorob. p. 1387. [n]
Madox, Hist. of the Exch. p. 56, 70.]

Such an accumulation of powers was itself a great source of authority,
and rendered the jurisdiction of the court formidable to all the
subjects; but the turn which judicial trials took soon after the
Conquest served still more to increase its authority, and to augment
the royal prerogatives. William, among the other violent changes
which he attempted and effected, had introduced the Norman law into
England [o], had ordered all the pleadings to be in that tongue, and
had interwoven, with the English jurisprudence, all the maxims and
principles, which the Normans, more advanced in cultivation, and
naturally litigious, were accustomed to observe in the distribution of
justice. Law now became a science, which at first fell entirely into
the hands of the Normans; and which, even after it was communicated to
the English, required so much study and application, that the laity,
in those ignorant ages, were incapable of attaining it, and it was a
mystery almost sole