Note 545 — MAGNA CARTA. (continued 2)

See 28 Edward I. c. 4. Many previous attempts had been made to keep common pleas out of the Exchequer e.g. the writs of 56 Henry III. and 5 Edward I. (cited Madox, II. 73-4) the so-called statute of Rhuddlan (12 Edward I., see Statutes of Realm, I. 70). Madox also (II. 73-4) takes the erroneous view that c. 17 of the Great Charter relates to the Exchequer; so does Mr. Bigelow (History of Procedure, 130–1), who goes further astray by explaining the point of the grievance as the difficulty of getting speedy justice at the Exchequer, because the barons refused to sit after their fiscal business had been finished, at the Easter and Michaelmas sessions. This is an error: the Barons of Exchequer made no difficulty about hearing pleas: quite the contrary. Plaintiffs were equally eager to purchase the writs which they were keen to sell: it was only defendants (debtors) who objected to the rapid and stringent procedure for enforcing payment adopted by this efficient court. The sheriffs and others waiting to render accounts before the Exchequer also protested against the congestion of business produced at the Exchequer by the eagerness of litigants who pressed there for justice. See Madox, II. 73. Plaintiffs had no reason to complain.