EXCHEQUER. 343 EXCISE. extend its jurisdiction over the ordinary litigious business — the common pleas — of the country. This was done by establishing the fiction thai all lieges were the Crown's debtors, whereby the Court of Exchequer acquired a concurrent juris diction with the other courts of .• mon law. I:, sides its common-law jurisdiction, the Ex- chequer was distinguished from the King's Bench and Court of Common Pleas by having an equity side; but this was abolished in IS 1 1, and its equitable jurisdiction transferred to the Court of Chancery. The judges of the Exchequer consist- ed originally of the Lord Treasurer, the Chancel- lor of the Exchequer, and three puisne judges (these last being called barons of the exchequer). The Chancellor of the Exchequer sat only on the equity side of the court ; be has not been called upon to exercise his judicial functions since 1735. The Court of Exchequer was abol- ished as a separate court by the Judicature Act of 1873, and its jurisdiction transferred to the newly created High Court of Justice. See Baron; Cuma Regis. The Court of Exchequer Chamber was formerly a court of all the judges in England as- sembled for decision of matters of law. Orig- inally established in the reign of Edward III., for the purpose of reviewing the decisions of the common-law side of the Court of Exchequer, it developed into a general court of error, in which capacity it revised the judgments of the other two courts of common law as well. In the reign of Elizabeth it was enacted that the judges of the Common Pleas and Exchequer should form a second Court of Exchequer Chamber, for re- view of certain cases in the Queen's Bench. But this intermediate court of appeal was abolished by the Judicature Act of 1S73 as inconveniently composed and somewhat unnecessary. In Scotland, before the Union, the Exchequer was the King's revenue court. A new court w-as established in the reign of Queen Anne having a private jurisdiction as to questions relating to revenues and customs of excise, and as to all honors and estates, real and personal, and for- feitures and penalties arising to the Crown with- in Scotland. But questions of title to honors, lands, etc., were reserved to the Court of Ses- sion. The judges of the court were the High Treasurer of Great Britain, the chief baron and four other barons, and English barristers as well as Scotch advocates were allowed to practice in the court. By a statute of William IV. it was provided that successors should not be appointed to such of the barons as should retire or die. and that the duties of the court should be discharged by a judge of the Court of Session. More recently by 19 and 20 Vict., c. 56, the Court of Exche- quer lias been abolished and its jurisdiction trans- ferred to the Court of Session. The Court of Exchequer Chamber in Ireland was established by 40 George III., cb. 30. but was abolished as an intermediate court of ap- peal between the Irish courts and the High Court in England. (See Court.) Consult Madox, History and Antiquities of the Exchequer of the Kings of England, etc. (2d ed., London, 1769). EXCHEQUER BILLS. Notes issued by the English Treasury or Exchequer for the purpose of supplying a temporary demand for money. Such bills were issued to meet temporary emer gencies, with the expectation of repayment in a comparatively brief period. They bore interest and were payable at the option of the Govern- ment. At timet the} have been liquidated by paj meiit from current n by conversion into funded debt. While the bills some "i i he feat ures ol invest ment -. I are, on the other hand, receivable at the public Treasury in payment oi taxes, and the rate of in- terest upon i hem has been variable, according to the condition of the market at the time ol i in rhej were first introduced into England in the reign of William III., and have since been a con spicuoua feature in English financial policy. 01 late years, however, they have been generally uperseded 03 thi issue oi Exchequer bonds, rhese differ from the bills in having a definite time to run, but otherwise thej serve the same purpose. While the Cnit.-d States has issued in the past quarter "i a century no obligations in any way analogous to the Exchequer bills and bonds, there arc some striking points of re- semblance between the latter and the Treasury notes which were a frequent device of American financiering before the outbreak of the Civil War. See Treasury Notes. EXCHEQUER TALLIES. Seasoned wands of ash, hazel, or willow, formerly used for cheek- ing accounts in the English Exchequer. The .sum acknowledged was inscribed on the tally, on the other side of which the same sum was inscribed in Roman characters, together with the payer's name. Notches marked upon the tally indicated by their form the class to which the account lie- longed. This tally was split, and the payer re- ceived one-half, which he presented for payment, and which was matched with the half remaining in the office. EXCIPIENT (from Lai. excipere, to take out, from ex, out + capere, t<> take). An inert or slightly active substance, introduced into a medical prescription as a finch- or medium of administration for the strictly medicinal ingredi- ent-, or to make up the necessary hulk. Thus. conserve of red roses, or bread-crumbs, or licorice powder, is used to make up pills; white sugar in medicinal powders; water, mucilage, white of egg, syrup, glycerin, and many other substances in fluid mixtures. EXCISE, ex-siz' (MDutcli aksiis, aksys, Ger. Accise, excise, from OF. asms, taxes, from assise, session, from asseir, Fr. asseoir, to sit. from Lat. assidere, to sit, from ad + sedere, Ok. i'^drdaj., hezesthai, Skt. sad, to sit ; confused by popular etymology with Lat. excisus, p.p. of excidere, to cut off). The name of a tax on commodities. A tax on commodities bought and sold is a very obvious one, but it has generally appeared in the simple shape of a toll on goods brought to mar- ket, and the complicated arrangements for offi- cially watching the process of a manufacture for the purpose of seeing that none of the dues of the revenues are evaded is of comparatively modern origin. Though a tax corresponding to the ex- cise appears to have been occasionally levied in England in very early times, the name first ap- pears in the act of the Long Parliament estab lishing an excise on liquors, in li>43. with the promise of repeal at the end of the war. But when the land tax was removed or greatly di- minished, and revenue from that source was no longer sufficient, it was found impossible to dis- pense with this new method of supply to the treasury. Though always unpopular, the excise
