The constitution of parliaments in England deduced from the time of King Edward the Second, illustrated by King Charles the Second in his Parliament summon'd the 18 of February 1660/1, and dissolved the 24 of January 1678/9 : with an appendix of its sessions / observed by Sr. John Pettus ... Knight.

The Consimilar Writ to the Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas.

THE Patent which invests this Chief Justice to his Imployment in this Office, is in haec verba.—

Carolus, &c.

Omnibus ad quos Patentes Litterae nostrae pervenerint salutem

Sciatis quod Constituimus dilectum & fidelem Or∣landum Bridgman Militem Capital'Justi∣tiarium nostrum de Banco suo, Duran' bene placito

Teste, &c.

Observations.

HIS Writ of Summons to Sit in Par∣liament, is also Capitali Justitiario nostro de Banco, (mutato nomine, in all o∣ther words agreeing with the Exemplar) and here it may be again observed, to pre∣vent vulgar misunderstandings, That the Lord Chief Justice of England is Chief Justice of the Kings Bench or upper Bench, and this is Chief Justice of the Common

Bench; and sometimes one is call'd Chief Justice of the Pleas of the Crown, as in the Latin words, De placitis Coronae, and this Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas, or Communia Placita, yet in the Latin Writ it is de Banco; so as both Courts are call'd Bancks or Benches, and both call'd also Courts of Pleas, in respect of Pleas or Pleadings; one properly concerns the King in matters Criminal; the other con∣cerns the Pleas or Pleadings of the Com∣monalty or Common People among them∣selves in matters Civil, and one also is call'd the Upper Bench, the other the Common Bench, and therefore (what ever the Patent or Writs are, yet for an easier distinction) I here intitle one, the Chief Justice of the Kings Bench, the other Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas.

2. As for the names Bench or Banc, Pleas or Placita, I refer them to my An∣notations.

3. The Chief Justice hath three more Justices to assist him in this Court.

4. That which makes the eminency of this Court is, That only the learned Ser∣jeants of the Coife (of whom I shall speak in order, being the next Degree to Judges) do Plead in this Court, (yet not prohibited from Pleading in all other Courts) but all other Graduans of Law

have the liberty to Plead in all other Courts, but not in this.

5. The Pleas of this Court cannot be so well ascertain'd, as that of the Kings Bench, because the Pleas held by Common Persons, or between Subject and Subject, are devided into as many Branches as Actions, and the Actions into as many Causes as there are variety of Contests in the Kingdom; yet all these Actions, Causes and Contests, are included under three notions, Real, Personal, and Mixt, which are here tried as they happen according to the strict Rules of Law. As for Personal and Mixt Actions they are tried in other Courts, but Real Actions are only Plea∣dable here, nor are any Fines of Concord (which is observable) levied in any Court but this, so that (as Sir Edward Coke saith) the Motto of this Court may be, Haec est finalis Concordia.

6. Upon these and other considerati∣ons, the necessity of requiring Assistances from the Justices of this Court may ap∣pear: For as the Justices of the Kings Bench may acquaint the Lords with what con∣cerns the King; so the Justices of the Common Pleas may most properly acquaint them with what concerns the People, whereby Laws for either may be corrected, repeal'd, or made de novo, as shall be thought most expedient.

7. The Justices of this Court are not concern'd in the managing of any Sum∣mons to a Parliament, as the Lord Chan∣cellor and Master of the Rolls are.