_St. Vincent._
Early Witlow grass. _Draba verna._
~January 23.~
HILARY TERM _begins_.
_St. Raymund_ of Pennafort, A. D. 1275. _St. John_ the Almoner, A. D.
619. _St. Emerentia_, A. D. 304. _St. Clement_ of Ancyra. _St.
Agathangelus._ _St. Ildefonsus_, A. D. 667. _St. Eusebius_, Abbot.
This being the first day of term, the judges of the different courts at
Westminster, take their seats in Westminster-hall to commence business.
The engraving represents the interior of the hall at the time when the
print from whence it is taken was engraved by C. Mosley. The drawing was
by Gravelot, who died in 1773.
[Illustration: ~Westminster Hall, with its Shops.~]
The shops within the hall are remarkably curious from their situation,
and indeed the courts themselves are no less worthy of observation. It
will be recollected that the court of Chancery and the court of King’s
Bench, at the upper end were, until the coronation, enclosed from sight
and hearing; in the print they are open. This is the print alluded to in
the volume on “Ancient Mysteries,” p. 266, wherein is cited Ned Ward’s
remarks respecting the sempstresses, by whom some of these shops were
occupied.
It is of ancient custom on the first day of term for the judges to
breakfast with the lord chancellor in Lincoln’s-inn-hall, and proceed
with him in their respective carriages to Westminster-hall. Being
arrived at the hall door in Palace-yard, and having alighted with their
officers and train bearers, they formed a procession along the hall
until they came opposite to the court of Common Pleas, before which
stood the serjeants at law, who had previously arranged themselves in
their full dress wigs and gowns, and awaited the coming of the judges,
who were also in their full dress. Then the serjeants all bowed, and
their obeisance being acknowledged by the judges in like manner, the
lord chancellor, being first, approached the first serjeant in the rank,
and shook hands with him, saying, “How d’ye do, brother? I wish you a
good term;” whereupon the serjeant bowed and thanked his lordship, and
the chancellor bowing to him, the serjeant again bowed; and the
chancellor saluted and shook hands with the next serjeant in like
manner, and so he did with each serjeant present, and then proceeded
with his officers to his court. The lord chief justice of England and
each of the puisne judges of the court of King’s Bench, saluting and
shaking hands with each serjeant in the same manner, followed the
chancellor and went into their court. In the same manner also did the
chief justice and puisne judges of the court of Common Pleas, and
entered their court at the back of the serjeants. Lastly, the lord chief
baron and the puisne barons of the Exchequer, having also so saluted the
serjeants, returned back and entered the court of Exchequer, which is at
the right hand immediately on entering the hall; the entrance to the
court of Common Pleas being about midway on the same side of the hall,
whither, on the barons having retired, the serjeants withdrew to
commence business before the judges. The site of the court of Chancery
is on the same side up the steps at the end of the hall, and that of the
court of King’s Bench level with it on the left-hand side. It is to be
noted, that one judge does not salute the serjeants before the rest of
the judges begin to salute them, but each follows the other. Thus whilst
the chancellor is saluting the second serjeant the lord chief justice
salutes the first, and he salutes the second while the chancellor
salutes the third, the next judge of the King’s Bench court saluting the
first serjeant; and so the judges proceed successively, and close to
each other, till all the serjeants have been saluted. It is further
observable, that more extended greetings sometimes pass between the
judges and serjeants who are intimate.
In 1825, the 23d of January, whereon Hilary term commences, happening on
a Sunday, which is a _dies non_, or no day in law, the courts were
opened on the 24th, when the judges refreshed themselves in
Lincoln’s-inn-hall with the lord chancellor, as usual, and departed at
half-past twelve o’clock. On retiring, sir Charles Abbot, as lord chief
justice, took precedence of lord Gifford, the master of the rolls,
though he ranks as a baron of the realm, and is deputy speaker of the
house of lords. The court of Chancery in Westminster-hall being under
reparation, the chancellor remained in Lincoln’s-inn to keep his term
there. For the same reason, the serjeants did not range themselves in
the hall at Westminster, but awaited the arrival of the judges of the
Common Pleas in their own court; the carriages of the judges of the
King’s Bench turned to the right at the top of Parliament-street, and
proceeded to the new Sessions’ house, where the judges sit until the new
court of King’s Bench in Westminster-hall shall be prepared.
It is further to be remarked, that the _Side Bar_ in Westminster-hall
stood, till very lately, within a short space of the wall, and at a few
feet on the Palace-yard side of the court of Common Pleas’ steps.
Formerly, attorneys stood within this bar every morning during term, and
moved the judges for the common rules, called side-bar rules, as they
passed to their courts, and by whom they were granted them as of course.
These motions have been long discontinued; the rules are applied for and
obtained at the rule-office as rules of course; but each rule still
expresses that it has been granted upon a “side-bar” motion.
To recur to the engraving, which exhibits Westminster-hall at no distant
period, in a state very dissimilar to its more late appearance. The
original print by Mosley bears the following versified inscription:
When fools fall out, for ev’ry flaw,
They run horn mad to go to law,
A hedge awry, a wrong plac’d gate,
Will serve to spend a whole estate,
Your case the lawyer says is good,
And justice cannot be withstood;
By tedious process from above
From office they to office move;
Thro’ pleas, demurrers, the dev’l and all,
At length they bring it to the _hall_;
The dreadful hall by Rufus rais’d,
For lofty Gothick arches prais’d.
The FIRST OF TERM, the fatal day,
Doth various images convey;
First from the courts with clam’rous bawl
The _criers_ their _attorneys_ call;
One of the gown, discreet and wise,
By _proper_ means his witness tries;
From _Wreathock’s_ gang--not right or laws
H’assures his trembling client’s cause;
_This_ gnaws his handkerchief, whilst _that_
Gives the kind ogling nymph his hat;
Here one in love with choiristers
Minds singing more than law affairs.
A _serjeant_ limping on behind
Shews justice lame, as well as blind.
To gain new clients some dispute,
Others protract an ancient suit,
Jargon and noise alone prevail,
While sense and reason’s sure to fail;
At _Babel_ thus _law terms_ began,
And now at Westm----er go on.
The advocate, whose subornation of perjury is hinted at, is in the
foremost group; he is offering money to one of “Wreathock’s gang.” This
Wreathock was a villainous attorney, who received sentence of death for
his criminal practices, and was ordered to be transported for life in
1736. It is a notorious fact, that many years ago wretches sold
themselves to give any evidence, upon oath, that might be required; and
some of these openly walked Westminster-hall with a straw in the shoe to
signify that they wanted employment as witnesses; such was one of the
customs of the “good old times,” which some of us regret we were not
born in. The “choirister” in a surplice, bearing a torch, was probably
one of the choir belonging to Westminster-abbey. To his right hand is
the “limping serjeant” with a stick; his serjeantship being denoted by
the _coif_, or cap, he wears; the _coif_ is now diminished into a small
circular piece of black silk at the top of the wig, instead of the cap
represented in the engraving. The first shop, on the left, is occupied
by a bookseller; the next by a mathematical instrument maker; then there
is another bookseller; beyond him a dealer in articles of female
consumption; beyond her a bookseller again; and, last on that side, a
second female shopkeeper. Opposite to her, on the right of the hall,
stands a clock, with the hands signifying it to be about one in the
afternoon; the first shop, next from the clock, is a bookseller’s; then
comes a female, who is a map and printseller; and, lastly, the girl who
receives the barrister’s hat into her care, and whose line appears to
sustain the “turnovers” worn by the beaus of those days with “ruffles,”
which, according to Ned Ward, the sempstresses of Westminster-hall
nicely “pleated,” to the satisfaction of the “young students” learned in
the law.
Enough has, probably, been said of the engraving, to obtain regard to it
as an object worth notice.
The first day of term is occupied, in the common law courts, by the
examination of bail for persons who have been arrested, and whose
opponents will not consent to the bail justifying before a judge at his
chambers. A versified exemplification of this proceeding in the court of
King’s Bench, was written when lord Mansfield was chief, and Mr. Willes
a justice of the court; a person named Hewitt was then cryer, Mr.
Mingay, a celebrated counsel, still remembered, is represented as
opposing the bail proposed by Mr. Baldwin, another counsel: