The second great officer of the crown is the Lord High Chancellor, or
Keeper of the Great Seal, which are the same in authority, power, and
precedence. They are appointed by the King's delivery of the Great Seal
to them, and by taking the oath of office. They differ only in this
point, that the Lord Chancellor hath also letters patent, whereas the
Lord Keeper hath none.
He is an officer of very great power; as no patents, writs, or grants,
are valid, until he affixes the Great Seal thereto.
Among the many great prerogatives of his office, he has a power to
judge, according to equity, conscience, and reason, where he finds the
law of the land so defective as that the subject would be injured
thereby.
He has power to collate to all ecclesiastical benefices in His Majesty's
gift, rated under 20_l_. a year in the King's books.
In ancient times, this great office was most usually filled by an
ecclesiastic. The first upon record after the Conquest, is Maurice, in
1067, who was afterward Bishop of London.
Nor do we find an elevation of any Chancellor to the Peerage, until the
year 1603, when King James I. delivered a new Great Seal to Sir Thomas
Egerton, and soon after created him Baron of Ellesmere,[2] and
constituted him Lord High Chancellor of England. But until of late
years, the custom never prevailed, that the Lord High Chancellor of
England should he made an hereditary Peer of the realm. He performs all
matters which appertain to the Speaker of the House of Lords, whereby he
maybe said to be the eye, ear, and tongue of that great
assembly.--_Manual of Rank and Nobility._
[2] From him descended the late Dukes of Bridgewater of that
surname.
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