ſuch other public inſtruments of the crown, as were authenticated in the moſt ſolemn manner; and therefore, when ſeals came in uſe, he had always the cuſtody of the king's great ſeal. So that the office of chancellor, or lord keeper, (whoſe authority by ſtatute 5 Eliz. c. 18. is declared to be exactly the ſame) is with us at this day created by the mere delivery of the king's great ſeal into his cuſtody[1]: whereby he becomes, without writ or patent, an officer of the greateſt weight and power of any now ſubſiſting in the kingdom; and ſuperior in point of precedency to every temporal lord[2]. He is a privy councellor by his office, and, according to lord chancellor Elleſmere[3], prolocutor of the houſe of lords by preſcription. To him belongs the appointment of all juſtices of the peace throughout the kingdom. Being formerly uſually an eccleſiaſtic, (for none elſe were then capable of an office ſo converſant in writings) and preſiding over the royal chapel[4], he became keeper of the king's conſcience; viſitor, in right of the king, of all hoſpitals and colleges of the king's foundation; and patron of all the king's livings under the value of 20 l. per annum in the king's books. He is the general guardian of all infants, idiots, and lunatics; and has the general ſuperintendence of all charitable uſes in the kingdom. And all this, over and above the vaſt and extenſive juriſdiction which he exerciſes in his judicial capacity in the court of chancery: wherein, as in the exchequer, there are two diſtinct tribunals; the one ordinary, being a court of common law; the other extraordinary, being a court of equity.
The ordinary legal court is much more antient than the court of equity. It's juriſdiction is to hold plea upon a ſcire facias to repeal and cancel the king's letters patent, when made againſt law, or upon untrue ſuggeſtions; and to hold plea of petitions, monſtrans de droit, traverſes of offices, and the like; when the king hath been adviſed to do any act, or is put in poſſeſſion of
