XVII. to throw an imputation upon him that he was patronised by CHAP. Alice Pierce, and that he instigated her to withstand the parliament. In spite of this scandal, his brethren of the clergy now assembled in convocation, manfully took up his cause, and his temporalities were restored to him on condition of his fitting out three ships of war for the defence of the kingdom. The mulct was remitted on the accession of Richard II.; but the prosecution subjected him to a loss of 10,000 marks. During the minority of Richard the Ex-chancellor had not interfered with politics, except that after the suppression of Wat Tyler's rebellion he was one of the seventeen persons appointed by the Commons to confer with them on the condition of the kingdom, and that in 1386 he was one of the fourteen appointed by the parliament, at the instigation of the King's uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, to be a council to the King for one year, and to exercise all the powers of government. In this capacity he conducted himself with so much mildness and moderation, that when Richard recovered his authority he still wished to have him near his person. His restoration to the office of Chancellor under the present circumstances was generally approved of; for if his judicial qualifications for it were slender, the people were pleased to see it once more filled by a man of moderate opinions and unsullied integrity. In January 1390 a parliament met, which he opened with a A parliaspeech, "declaring the King to be of full age, and that he ment. intended to govern his people in peace and quiet, and to do justice and right to all men. The Chancellor then, to gain popularity, went through a The Chancellor lays ceremony prescribed by a repealed statute of Edward III.;-down bis he surrendered the Great Seal to the King before both Houses office in parliament of parliament; the Bishop of St. David's, the Lord Treasurer, and is reat the same time delivered up the keys of the Exchequer; appointed. and they prayed that they might be discharged,-"complaining of the great labour and costs to which they were continually put in their said offices, and praying that other good and suf * 1 Parl. Hist. 216. CHAP. XVII. Resigna tion of ficient persons might be appointed in their stead." After this resignation, it was openly proclaimed in full parliament, "that if any person could justly complain of any illegal action, or any thing done amiss by them in their several offices, he should come forth and he should be heard, for they now stood upon their deliverance." Both the Lords and Commons answered "that they knew nothing amiss against them, and that they had behaved themselves well in their respective offices." Whereupon the King re-instated the Bishop of Winchester in the office of Chancellor, and re-delivered to him the Great Seal, and the Bishop of St. David in the office of Treasurer, and re-delivered to him the keys of the Treasury. Nevertheless the Commons showed great suspicion and jealousy of the future proceedings of the Chancellor, for they prayed the King" that neither the Chancellor nor the King's Council, after the parliament is ended, may make any ordinance against the common law nor the ancient customs of the land, nor against the statutes heretofore passed in the present parliament, and that no judgment rendered be annulled without due process of law." An evasive answer being given, the Commons returned to the attack, and prayed "that if the Chancellor should compel the King's lieges to appear before him to answer any thing that may be recovered at common law, he shall be liable to a penalty of 1007.;" but the answer still was "The King willeth, as his progenitors have done, saving his regality." William of Wickham remained Chancellor, the second William of time, till the 27th of September, 1391,-when he was sucWickham. ceeded by Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of York, who had been his immediate predecessor. † This change took place without any convulsion, and seems to have been the result of an amicable compromise between the contending parties. The Duke of Gloucester was restored to his place in the council, and, for a short time, there was a prospect of public tranquillity. His retirement from public life. From Here we must take leave of Lord Chancellor Wickham. this date he seems to have interfered little in Rot. Par. 13 Ric. 2. Rot. Cl. 15 Ric. 2. m. 34. public affairs. He was in some danger in 1397, when the sum CHAP. XVII. He expired on the 27th of September, 1404, in the eighty- His death. first year of his age, having presided over the see of Win chester above thirty-eight years. None of his decisions as Chancellor have come down to us, His merits. but he left a greater name to posterity than many of his successors of much higher juridical authority. We are to admire in him not only his unrivalled skill in one of the fine arts, but his extraordinary aptitude for all civil business, his equal and benevolent temper, his enlightened munificence, and his devoted love of learning. † Thomas de We are now in the tranquil period of Richard's reign, in September, which he was permitted to give free scope to his love of indo- 1891. lence, low pleasures, and frivolous company. Thomas de Arundel's Arundel's second Chancellorship lasted above five years, Chancelwithout being marked by any striking events till the close of lorship. The bull of Pope Urbanus VI. for founding Winchester school, was granted 1st June, 1378. The building of the college at Oxford, which he called "St. Mary College of Winchester, at Oxford," afterwards "New College," was begun in 1380 and finished in 1386; the papal bull confirming its statutes is dated 19th July, 1398. I have a great kindness for the memory of William of Wickham, when I think of his having produced such Wickhamists as my friends Baron Rolfe and Professor Empson. "Hactenus ire libet, tu major laudibus istis ↑ See Hist. Descrip. Gul. Wick. Life by Lowth. second CHAP History of His invention of writ of SUBPOENA. it. Parties continued pretty equally balanced, and what has since been called a juste millieu government prevailed. During this time the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery was greatly extended, and the famous writ of subpœna came into use as invented or improved by John de Waltham, who was Master of the Rolls, and several times intrusted with the custody of the Great Seal as deputy to the Chancellor, though he never held it in his own right.* Blackstone is entirely mistaken in asserting that John de Waltham was Chancellor to Richard II. 1, and as he never was Chancellor, nor held the Great Seal as Keeper in his own right, he does not properly come into the list of those whose lives I have undertaken to write. Yet, as his name is so distinguished in the history of the equitable jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery, the reader may be desirous of being informed of what is known concerning him. His birth and place of education have not been traced. He was an ecclesiastic who devoted himself to the study of the civil and canon law, in which he made great proficiency. He was early introduced as a clerk in Chancery, and soon rose to be a Master. Rendering himself useful to Lord Chancellor Courtenay, he was by his interest appointed one of the Receivers of Petitions for England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, in the parliament which met in 5 Ric. 2., and in the same year was created Master of the Rolls. The following year, under Lord Chancellor Scrope, he was a Keeper of the Great Seal along with Hugh de Segrave, the Treasurer of England, and William de Dighton, Keeper of the Privy Seal, and he was a joint Keeper of the Great Seal 3 likewise, under the two succeeding Chancellors. But in April, 1386, he was appointed sole keeper of the Great Seal under Lord Chancellor de la Pole 4, and again in September, 1394, under Lord Chancellor Arundel. He was afterwards consecrated Bishop of Salisbury, and finally was made Lord Treasurer of England." But the great disgrace or glory imputed to him, was the invention of the writ of SUBPOENA in Chancery, and some have represented him by the sale of his new writ, and his extension of the jurisdiction of the Chancellor, in derogation of the common law, to merit the denunciation, "Vendidit hic auro patriam, dominumque potentem while others would inscribe his name among those "Inventas qui vitam excoluere per artes, Quique sui memores alios fecere merendo." In censuring and extolling him there has been much exaggeration. While obscurity veils the honour due to the first happy discoverers of the latitat and quo minus, the indignant complaint of the Commons "that the subpoena in Chancery had never been known before the time of Sir John de Waltham," has fixed upon him the responsibility of being the author of this writ. In reality he first framed it in its present form, when a clerk in Chancery, in the latter end of the reign of Edward III.; but the invention consisted in merely adding to the old clause Quibusdam certis de causis, the words "Et hoc sub pœna centum librarum nullatenus omittas';" and I am at a loss to conceive how such 1 Bl. Com. iii. 52. 2 Rot. Pat. 5 Ric. 2. m. 22. 4 Rot. Cl. 9 Ric. 2. m. 5. 614 Ric. 2. Or. Jur. 54. Rot. Parl. 3 Hen. 5. m. 2. 5 Rot. Cl. 18 Ric. 2. m. 31. 7 See Rot. Pat. 38 Ed. 3. p. i. m. 15. Rot. Claus. 20 Ed. 3. p. ii. m. 4. d. XVII. liament against the Court of These innovations were highly unpopular, and vigorous CHAP. attempts were made to check them; but nothing more could be effected in this reign than passing stat. 17 Rich. II. c. 6., Proceedentitled "Upon an untrue Suggestion in the Chancery, ings in parDamages may be awarded," whereby, after reciting "that forasmuch as people be compelled to come before the King's counsel or in the Chancery by writs grounded on untrue suggestions," it is enacted, "that the Chancellor for the time being, presently after that such suggestions be duly found and proved untrue, shall have power to ordain and award damages, according to his discretion, to him which is so troubled unduly, as aforesaid." This remedy, which was referred to the discretion of the Chancellor himself, whose jurisdiction was to be controlled, proved, as might have been expected, wholly ineffectual, but it was used as a parliamentary recognition of his jurisdiction, and a pretence for refusing to establish any other check to it. Chancery. In the month of September, 1394, the Chancellor attended Chancello the King into Ireland, when the Great Seal was committed goes with King to to the custody of John de Waltham, who had now risen to Ireland. the dignity of Bishop of Salisbury and Treasurer of England; but when he likewise went to Ireland, it was handed over to John Searle, who had succeeded him as Master of the Rolls. It was thrice again in the keeping of the same person before the next revolution of the government, on occasions when the Chancellor, now translated to the see of Canterbury, was too much occupied with his other avocations to attend to his judicial duties.* The Duke of Gloucester, to whose party Arundel had attached himself, now made a struggle to grasp the whole power of the state, and, according to Froissart, aimed at the importance was attached to it, or how it was supposed to have brought about so complete a revolution in equitable proceedings; for the penalty never was enforced, and if the party failed to appear, his default was treated (according to the practice prevailing to our own time) as a contempt of court, and made the foundation of compulsory process. John de Waltham continued to hold the office of Lord Treasurer till his His death. death in September, 1395. By the command of Richard II. he was buried in the chapel royal of Westminster Abbey, among the Kings of England. *Rot. Cl. 19 Ric. 21. m. 12. 20 Ric. 2. m. 28. |