as a part of the aula regia[1], though regulated and reduced to it's preſent order by king Edward I[2]; and intended principally to order the revenues of the crown, and to recover the king's debts and duties[3]. It is called the exchequer, ſcaccharium, from the checqued cloth, reſembling a cheſs-board, which covers the table there; and on which, when certain of the king's accounts are made up, the ſums are marked and ſcored with counters. It conſiſts of two diviſions: the receipt of the exchequer, which manages the royal revenue, and with which theſe commentaries have no concern; and the court or judicial part of it, which is again ſub-divided into a court of equity, and a court of common law.
The court of equity is held in the exchequer chamber before the lord treaſurer, the chancellor of the exchequer, the chief baron, and three puiſne ones. Theſe Mr Selden conjectures[4] to have antiently been made out of ſuch as were barons of the kingdom, or parliamentary barons; and thence to have derived their name: which conjecture receives great ſtrength from Bracton's explanation of magna charta, c. 14. which directs that the earls and barons be amerced by their peers; that is, ſays he, by the barons of the exchequer[5]. The primary and original buſineſs of thiſ court is to call the king's debtors to account by bill filed by the attorney general; and to recover any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, any goods, chattels, or other profits or benefits, belonging to the crown. So that by their original conſtitution the juriſdiction of the courts of common pleas, king's bench, and exchequer, was entirely ſeparate and diſtinct; the common pleas being intended to decide all controversies between ſubject and ſubject; the king's bench to correct all crimes and miſdemefnors that amount to a breach of the peace, the king being then plaintiff, as ſuch offences are in open derogation of the jura regalia of his crown; and the exchequer to adjuſt and recover his revenue, wherein the king alſo is plaintiff, as the withholding and non--
c Madox. Hiſt. Exch. 109. d Spelm. Guil. I. in ced. leg. vet. apud Wilkins e 4 Inſt. 103—116 f Tit. hon. 2. 5. 16. g l. 3. tr. 2. c. 1. §. 3.
