first instance until 1881, when, by
the act of that year (sec. 2), the master of the rolls became a member
of the court of appeal only, and provision was made for the appointment
of a judge to supply the vacancy thus occasioned (sec. 3). Sir James
Bacon (1798-1895) was the last survivor of the vice-chancellors. He
retained his seat on the bench until the year 1886, when he retired
after more than seventeen years' judicial service. For some reason the
solicitors, when they had the choice, preferred to bring their actions
in the chancery division. The practice introduced by the Judicature Act
of trying actions with oral evidence instead of affidavits, and the
comparative inexperience of the chancery judges and counsel in that mode
of trial, tended to lengthen the time required for the disposal of the
business. Demand was consequently made for more judges in the chancery
division. By an act of 1877 the appointment of an additional judge in
that division was authorized, and Sir Edward Fry (afterwards better
known as a lord justice) was appointed. In August 1899 the crown
consented to the appointment of a new judge of the High Court in the
chancery division on an address from both Houses of Parliament, pursuant
to the 87th section of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876. The chancery
division, therefore, consists of the lord chancellor and six puisne
judges. The latter are styled and addressed in the same manner as was
customary in the old common law courts.[1] Formerly there were only four
judges of this division (being the successors of the master of the rolls
and the three vice-chancellors) to whom chambers were attached. The
fifth judge heard only causes with witnesses transferred to him from the
overflowing of the lists of his four brethren. In each set of chambers
there were three chief clerks, with a staff of assistant clerks under
them. The chief clerks had no original jurisdiction, but heard
applications only on behalf of the judge to whose chambers they
belonged, and theoretically every suitor had the right to have his
application heard by the judge himself in chambers. But the appointment
of a sixth judge enabled the lord chancellor to carry out a reform
recommended by a departmental committee which reported in 1885. The
great difficulty in the chancery division always was to secure the
continuous hearing of actions with witnesses, as nearly one-half of the
judge's time was taken up with cases adjourned to him from