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and Marefchal. In King James VI's Time, the Officers of the Crown were declared in Parliament to be the Treasurer, Secretary, the Collector (which Office is now joined with the Treafurer) the Justice General, Juftice Clerk, Advocate, Master of Requests, and Clerk of Register; but the High Chamberlain, Conitable, Admiral, and Marefchal are Officers of the Crown, and not Officers of State: the fpecifical Difference being, that in all Acts or Meetings which concern the State, they fit as Members, by virtue of their Office, as in Parliaments, Conventions, &. whereas the Chamberlain, Admiral, Conitable, and Marefchal fit not as fuch, but as they are Noblemen. In 1677. the Officers of State that should have Place in Parliament, were limited to Eight, and thus ranked: Treasurer, Privy Seal, Secretary, Regifter, Advocate, Juftice Clerk, Treasurer-deputy, and Mafter of Requests; and the Lord Chancellor, if a Nobleman, had his Place as fuch, but not as an Officer of State.

Though I am obliged to follow my Author as much as poffible, and not to make Alterations but where need requires; I muft here, as in many other Places, take leave to differ from him, and tell the Reader, that before the Union (for many Years) the Officers of State were Eight in Number; viz. Four Greater, and Four Leffer: the former were, the Lord High Chancellor, Lord High Treafurer, Lord Privy Seal, and Lord Secretary; the other were, the Lord Regifter, Lord Advocate, Lord Treasurer-depute, and the Lord Justice Clerk (Jufticiarius pro Clero, or, Jufticiarius Clericus) though the Lord Jutice General be his Superior, yet he is not an Officer of State.

The three laft did often contend for Precedency, but they are thus ranked in the Rolls of Parliament; and indeed the Lord Prefident of the Seffion had Precedency of the Lord Justice Clerk, though the former was no Officer of State.

All these Officers were appointed by the King under the Great Seal; and even fince the Union, the Lord Privy Seal, Lord Regifter, Lord Advocate, and Lord Juftice Clerk, befides the Keeper of the Great Seal (which was part of the Lord Chancellor's Office) do ftill continue; and in the Scots Records they are fometimes called Officers of the Crown. But there were other Officers of the Crown, who were not Officers of State; fuch as the Lord High Chamberlain, Lord High Conftable, Lord High Admiral, and Earl Marefchal; but they had no Right to fit or vote in any publick Meetings by virtue of their Office.

In former Times the Comptroller and Mafter of Requests were reckoned among the Officers of State; but, of later Years, the Office of the Comptroller has been united to that of High Treafurer, as that of Mafter of Requests has been with that of Secre tary of State,

It may be proper to tell, that the Lord Chancellor did not hold a Court of Equity, as in England; but (befide what he did as First Minister, &c.) could affix the Great Seal to fuch Patents, Writs, Charters, Pardons, Breves, &c. as were appointed to pass it. He had a Director of Chancery under him, who obferved the legal Forms, and kept the Records.

The Rules of Precedency among the Subjects are the fame in Scotland as in England. At the Coronation of King Charles I. His Majefty, for preventing Differences between the Nobility of both Kihgdoms, ordered, that all thofe of the fame Degree in England, Thould in England take Place of all thofe of the fame Degree in Scotland; and vice verfa, that all those of the fame Degree in Scotland, fhould in Scotland take Place of all thofe of the fame Degree in England: but by the Articles of the Union, all the English of the fame Degree, at the Time of the Union, are to have the Rank and Precedency before all the Scots of the like Order and Degree at the Time of the Union; but the prefent Peers of Scotland are to have the Precedency before all Peers of Great Britain of the like Orders and Degrees, who may be created after the Union.

The College of Juftice, commonly called The Seffion.

This Court was inftituted in the Reign of King James V. ar no 1533. and confirmed by the Authority of Parliament, wherein the Lords were named, the Time and Place of their Meeting appointed, and the Manner of their Proceeding was regulated; the King being obliged by his Promise in the Act, not to defire the Lords to do otherwife by private Writing, Charge, or Command, at the Instance of any Perfon, but as Juftice should require. Before this, Juftice was adminiftred to the Subjects by a Committee of the three Eftates named in Parliament from Time to Time, without being allow'd any Thing but the Fines arifing to the King in their Courts; the Parliament being of Opinion, that they ought to bear their own Charges, fince they were not to fit above 40 Days, and that it might not come to their Turn again once in feveral Years: fo that there was a Rotation of the judicial Power among the whole three Eftates, without putting the Country to any Charge. This obliged them to ftudy the Laws and Conftitution, that they might be capable of adminiftring Juftice with Knowledge and Applause, when it came to their Turn.

The Pretences for altering this Conftitution were, That by the annual Change of Judges, Caufes which required long Debates, could not well be determined by them; which was vexatious to those who had long Suits depending, because they were obliged to bring them before new Judges, who knew nothing of

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the former Debates: and it was alfo alledged, That many of them had not Knowledge enough of the Law, and that those frequent Changes made them liable to Bribery, and to give different Opinions and Sentences in one and the fame Caule; therefore it was thought fit to appoint this College, in Imitation of the Parliament at Paris, to confift of a Prefident and fourteen fixt Senators or Judges, whereof the Prefident and feven others were to be Ecclefiafticks; to whom were added afterwards four extraordinary Lords of the fecret Council; and they had three Clerks, who were afterwards augmented to fix, commonly called, the Clerks of the Seffion, to write down their Proceedings. Thus it continued till the Reformation, and in fome Measure a long Time thereafter: for Alexander Gordon, Bishop of Galloway, Hepburn, Bishop of Orkney, and Pont, Minister of St. Cuthbert's, or the Weft Kirk, near Edinburgh, befides feveral others, who were all Protestants, were Senators, or ordinary Lords of Seffion: and as low as the Revolution, a Bishop was fometimes one of the Lords Extraordinary.

But as nothing human is perfect, it foon appeared that the fame Inconveniencies of ignorant and mercenary Judges, and by Confequence of unjuft Sentences, attended this Conftitution; and particularly that of Bribery, and the Influence of Courts upon their Determinations was more remarkable. This occafioned feveral pofterior Acts of Parliament, efpecially in the Reign of King James VI. for regulating the Jurifdiction, Presentation, Qualification, and Age of the Judges; and for annulling fuch Prefentations as His Majefty had made of any Perfon under the Age appointed. And to prevent fuch Abuses in Time to come, in the fixth Parliament of K. James VI. cap. 92. it was enacted, "That whereas feveral private Writings and Charges had been "directed to the Lords of the Seffion by the King and his Privy "Council, fometimes to proceed in civil Caufes, fometimes to "ftay the Process, and fometimes to ftop the Execution after "Decreets given; the faid Lords fhould proceed in all Causes "depending before them, notwithstanding any private Writing, "Charge, or Command by any Perfon or Perfons to the con

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trary." And, cap. 93. it is enacted, "Because of a heavy "Murmur among the Subjects, that the King choofes young "Men without Gravity, Knowledge, and Experience, and who "have not fufficient Eftates to be Lords of the Seffion; that the

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King fhall prefent Men that fear God, of good Learning, "Practice, Judgment, and Understanding of the Laws, of good Fame and fufficient Eftate, who fhall first be fufficiently "tried and examined by a Number of the faid Lords; and if "they find him not duly qualified, they are at Liberty to reject "him, and the King is to present another until he be found fo "qualified." But notwithstanding thofe good Laws, the Parlia

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ment in the Reign of King Charles I. finding they could not accomplish their Designs without a Set of Judges of their own making, infifted upon, and extorted from the King, the Power of having them chofen by Parliament; which not answering any good End, it was again furrendered in the Reign of K. Charles II. and continued till the Convention of Eftates at the Revolution infifted upon some new Regulations, and particularly, that the Judges fhould not be durante bene placito, but ad vitam, aut ad culpam; that is, quamdiu fe bene gefferint.

Before this Court all civil Caufes are tried at ftated Times, viz. From the first of November to the last of February, and from the first of June to the laft of July, inclufivè (except Christmas.)

They proceed in determining Caufes by Acts of Parliament, and the Custom of the Nation; and where thofe are defective, they determine according to the Imperial and Civil Law, not according to the Rigour of the Letter, but according to Equity and Justice. They fit every Day in the Week during the ap pointed Terms, except Lord's Days and Mondays; and Fridays are appointed for the Causes of the Crown, of which the Lord Advocate gives a Catalogue to the Lord Chancellor. There lies no Appeal from this Court but to the Parliament, and their Sentences or Decrees are not valid, except nine Judges at leaft be prefent. When Caufes come before them, the Advocates are first heard on both Sides, and the Heads of their Debates are writ down by the Clerks; after which, before the late Revolution, the Advocates were ordered to withdraw, and the Doors being fhut, the Judges debated the Matter among themfelyes: but in the Year 1693. it was enacted, That they should advise and vote with open Doors. When the Debates are over, the Lord Prefident collects their Suffrages, beginning at thofe on his Right Hand. There are two Houfes, the Inner and Outer. In the Outer House the Judges fit by Turns, but one of them continues a Week: in this Houfe all Caufes are originally heard. If the Matter be clear, the Lord who prefides for the Week, gives Sentence; but if it be difficult, or if he pleases, at the Defire of either of the Parties, he reports it to the rest of the Judges, who afterwards either send out their Anfwer by him; or if the Cafe be intricate, or if any of both Parties defire it, it is heard again before themselves. All the Advocates plead uncovered and standing, except they be Lords of Parliament, Privy Counsellors, or King or Queen's Advocate. There is alfo a feventh Clerk, who is called Clerk of the Bills; he exhibits Petitions to the Lord that is to fit the Week following in the Outer Houfe, whofe Business it is to fign thofe Petitions when he receives them: he confults the reft of the Lords about those which have any Difficulty in them, and he decides leffer Caufes

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alone in the Outer House; but in greater Causes he confults the reft of the Lords by Interrogatories, and repeats to them the Subftance of what has been argued by the Advocates on both Sides; and then he goes out and pronounces their Sentence in the Outer House, except the Cafe be difficult, and then it is heard before themselves, at the Defire of either Party, as abovementioned. The Lord Prefident only introduces Causes into the Inner House. Two of the Judges fit in the Afternoons to examine Witnesses, and take Oaths of the Defendents, if the Caufe be referred to their Oath. The Judges fit in a Semicircle in their Robes, and their Clerks fit under them.

It is to be noted, that when they had a Chancellor in Scotland, he, by virtue of his Office, prefided in the Seffions of the Lords, as alfo in all other Courts where he pleased to be prefent, except thofe of the Jufticiary and Exchequer.

This Court cannot adjourn itself for a fingle Day; yet can make By-laws, called Acts of Sederunt, regulating several Things relating to their Office, and Manner of Proceedings.

From it (as has been already obferved) there was an Appeal to Parliament; and the antient Way of Appealing, called then Falfing of Doom, was in this Manner: The Appellant was obliged to protest, "that the Doom given was evil, falfe, rotten, "and ftinkande in itself, &c." and this he was to do, Or (i. e. e'er) he feir his Taes quhare his Heil ftude. Appeals from the Decreets of this Court are ftill very frequent to the House of Peers in Parliament affembled, which has full Power to affirm or reverfe, with Cofts not exceeding 200 1. Sterling.

The Names of the prefent Ordinary Lords of Seffion are,

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R. Duncan Forbes of Collodden,
Lord Prefident,

Mr. David Erskine of Dun,
Sir James Mackenzie of Royton, Bar.
James Lord Balmerino and Cowper,
Mr. Andrew Fletcher of Milton,
Sir Gilbert Eliot of Minto,
Mr. Hugh Dalrymple of Drummore,
Mr. Patrick Campbel of Monzie,
Mr. John Pringle of Hayning,
Mr. Alexander Frazer of Strichen,
Mr. Patrick Grant of Elchies,
Mr. John Sinclair of Murkle,
Alexander Earl of Leven,
Sir James Ferguson of Kilkerran.
Mr. Robert Dundafs of Arniston,

Salary 1000l. per Annum

Salary 500 1. per Annum, each.

The

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