Note 174 — Chapter IV

“The Court of Chancery,” says the author of the Life of Sir Edward Coke (published for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge), “had long exercised a jurisdiction, which had formed one of the articles against Wolsey, of revising and correcting judgments which had been obtained in the courts of common law.” It was not until the reign of James, that this privilege had been called into question. Sir Edward Coke, who was tenacious of the authority of the Common Law Courts, and the twelve judges, gave it as their opinion, that Chancery had no such power; and that an appeal from a judgment at law could not be made except to Parliament. To this decision proceedings were instituted against the judges in the Star Chamber. The conduct of the judges and of the chief-justice in this matter, has been generally condemned.