150-423: Thomas Augustine Arne ( / ɑːr n / ; 12 March 1710 – 5 March 1778) was an English composer. He is best known for his patriotic song " Rule, Britannia! " and the song " A-Hunting We Will Go ", the latter composed for a 1777 production of The Beggar's Opera , which has since become popular as a folk song and a nursery rhyme. Arne was a leading British theatre composer of the 18th century, working at
300-637: A royal commission to look at fusion, they refused to do so. After the Chancery Regulation Act 1862 had gone some way toward procedural reform, in February 1867, Roundell Palmer again brought the problem of having two separate court systems to Parliament's attention, and in March 1870 Lord Hatherley introduced a bill to create a single, unified High Court of Justice. The bill was a weak one, not containing any provision addressing which court would deal with
450-811: A Dublin newspaper for one of Arne's performances read that he "...intend(ed) between the Acts of his Serenatas, Operas, and other Musical Performances, to intermix Comic Interludes... intended to give Relief to that grave Attention, necessary to be kept up in Serious Performances". On his return to London in 1744 he was engaged as leader of the band at Drury Lane theatre , and the following year as composer at Vauxhall Gardens . In 1750, after an argument with David Garrick , Susannah left Drury Lane for Covent Garden Theatre , and Arne followed. In 1755 during another period spent in Dublin, he separated from Cecilia, who, he alleged,
600-412: A Mermaid tells the story of a young man, in some versions a sailor or a farmer, who falls overboard from a ship and is married to a mermaid , and later rises from the sea and says goodbye to his comrades and messmates and his ship's captain. It is a traditional sailors' song and regularly performed by choirs, and its lyrics have many versions. A version written, composed and performed by Arthur Lloyd has
750-417: A Parliamentary Committee. The Committee reported that fees and costs had increased significantly since the last review under Charles I , a number of expensive honorary positions had been created, and on many occasions court officers had not known what the correct fees were. At the same time, proceedings had grown to several thousand pages in length, necessitating additional expense. The Committee concluded "that
900-468: A boat to find him, We thought to see his corse, When up to the top he came with a bang, And sang in a voice so hoarse, 'My comrades and my messmates, Oh, do not weep for me, For I'm married to a mermaid, At the bottom of the deep blue sea.' Singing Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves Britons never, never, never shall be slaves... He said that as he went down, Great fishes he did see; They seemed to think as he did wink, That he
1050-567: A clergyman, as charity had been originally enforced by the Church and the ecclesiastical courts . Essentially, an owner of land could dispose of it by granting the right to use it and collect fees to another, not just by selling it. This was not valid at the common law courts but was in the Court of Chancery; the lord chancellor is reported as having said, in 1492, "where there is no remedy at common law there may be good remedy in conscience, as, for example, by
1200-579: A common law remedy, and judges would normally only award damages where no other remedy was appropriate. Damages were sometimes given as an ancillary remedy, such as in Browne v Dom Bridges in 1588, where the defendant had disposed of waste inside the plaintiffs woods. As well as an injunction to prevent the defendant dumping waste in the woods, damages were also awarded to pay for the harm to the woods." This convention (that damages could only be awarded as an ancillary remedy, or where no others were available) remained
1350-478: A feoffment upon confidence, the feoffor has no remedy by common law, and yet by conscience he has; and so, if the feoffee transfers to another who knows of this confidence, the feoffor, by means of a subpoena, will have his rights in this Court". After the reign of Edward IV , if the charitable land were to be sold (or land were to be sold to create the charity) the Court of Chancery was the only place this could be done, as ecclesiastical and probate courts did not have
1500-462: A great many composers of which the following are a few examples. The melody was the theme for a set of variations for piano by Ludwig van Beethoven ( WoO 79) and he also used it in " Wellington's Victory ", Op. 91, and in extracted and varied form in the second movement of his Piano Sonata No. 24, Op. 78 , "À Thérèse". The music has been used for the American patriotic song Rise Columbia! It
1650-447: A group of musicians at what was probably one of Festing's musical gatherings. Following this disclosure of his son's real interest and talent, he was persuaded (again probably by Festing) to allow the young Arne to give up his legal career and to pursue music as a living. Between 1733 and 1776, Arne wrote music for about 90 stage works, including plays, masques , pantomimes, and operas. Many of his dramatic scores are now lost, probably in
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#17328733324821800-527: A husband; and where the deceased's debts had to be paid before the legacies were valid. The Chancery's jurisdiction over "lunatics" came from two sources: first, the king's prerogative to look after them, which was exercised regularly by the lord chancellor, and second, the Lands of Lunaticks Act 1324 (Ruffhead: 17 Edw. 2 . c. 10), which gave the King (and therefore the chancellor) custodianship of lunatics and their land;
1950-514: A list of permissible fees was published, and to cut down on paperwork, no party was required to obtain office copies of proceedings. The permissible fees list contained over 1,000 items, which Kerly describes as "an appalling example of the abuses which the unrestrained farming of the Offices of the Court, and the payment of all officials by fees had developed". Despite these small reforms, the 18th century ended with continuous and unrestrained attacks on
2100-533: A long time on each case, which, combined with the backlog, made the pursuit of a case extremely expensive. This was exacerbated by the appointment to the Court of useless, highly paid officials by the lord chancellor or master of the rolls, many of whom were their friends. The chancellor and master both openly sold these roles, whose exorbitant pay is more surprising considering that their duties were normally such that could be easily performed by solicitor's clerks, and that they were usually performed by underclerks, not by
2250-432: A major influence on him. Festing not only taught him to play the violin, but also took him to various musical events, including going to compete against Thomas Roseingrave for the post of organist at Hanover Square , and a visit to Oxford in 1733 to hear George Frideric Handel 's oratorio Athalia . Upon leaving school, Arne was articled to a solicitor for three years. However, Arne's father discovered his son leading
2400-401: A man to appear before the court; if it was, the clerk who issued it would lose his job and the lord chancellor would be fined £100. The king gave evasive answers to the requests, and made no decision. The Commons did succeed in making some changes to the court's procedure, however; in 1394 the King assented to their request that victorious defendants in the court have their costs recompensed from
2550-459: A mermaid At the bottom of the deep blue sea.' Singing Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves Britons never, never, never shall be slaves... The wind was fair, the sails set, The ship was running free; When we all went to the captain bold, And told what we did see. He went unto the ship's side, And loudly bellowed he, 'Be happy as you can, my man, At the bottom of the deep blue sea.' Singing Rule Britannia, Britannia rules
2700-456: A reduction in the "old corruption" that had long plagued the court, first through the Lord Chancellor's Pension Act 1832 ( 2 & 3 Will. 4 . c. 111) (which abolished a number of sinecure offices within the court and provided a pension and pay rise for the lord chancellor, in the hope that it would reduce the need for the chancellor to make money by selling court offices) and then through
2850-435: A request to administer an estate as soon as a flaw in the will was discovered, rather leaving it to the ecclesiastical courts, but from 1588 onwards the Court did deal with such requests, in four situations: where it was alleged that there were insufficient assets; where it was appropriate to force a legatee to give a bond to creditors (which could not be done in the ecclesiastical courts); to secure femme covert assets from
3000-400: A set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law . The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity , including trusts , land law , the estates of lunatics and the guardianship of infants. Its initial role differed somewhat: as an extension of the lord chancellor 's role as Keeper of the King's Conscience , the court
3150-436: A standard, both in its style of handwriting (' Chancery hand ') and in its grammar and vocabulary. By the 1440s and 1450s comparative regularisation of spelling had begun to emerge. The early Elizabethan period featured a dispute between the Court of Chancery and common-law courts over who held pre-eminence. It had been the practice under Henry VI that plaintiffs in the common-law courts could not execute judgments given by
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#17328733324823300-439: A valid jurisdiction. The Court of Chancery could grant three possible remedies – specific performance , injunctions and damages . The remedy of specific performance is, in contractual matters, an order by the court which requires the party in breach of contract to perform his obligations. The validity of the contract as a whole was not normally considered, only whether there was adequate consideration and if expecting
3450-504: A very liberal view when setting aside complaints; poverty, for example, was an acceptable reason to cancel a contract or obligation. Complaints were normally brought via a bill or petition, which had to show that the common law did not provide a remedy for the problem. The Chancery writs were in French, and later English, rather than the Latin used for common law bills. In the reign of Edward III ,
3600-505: Is considered one of 18th-century Britain's greatest theatrical composers. Sheet music Rule, Britannia! " Rule, Britannia! " is a British patriotic song , originating from the 1740 poem "Rule, Britannia" by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in the same year. It is most strongly associated with the Royal Navy , but is also used by the British Army . The song
3750-482: Is normally assumed by academics, it was not just the common law courts that could grant damages under these statutes; the Exchequer of Pleas and Court of Chancery both had the right to do so. In Cardinal Beaufort's case in 1453, for example, it is stated that "I shall have a subpoena against my feoffee and recover damages for the value of the land". A statute passed during the reign of Richard II specifically gave
3900-477: Is said. This did not extend to every case, but merely to those which had been dismissed because one party's "suggestions [are] proved untrue", and was normally awarded to pay for the innocent party's costs in responding to the party that had lied. Lord Hardwicke , however, claimed that the Chancery's jurisdiction to award damages was not derived "from any authority, but from conscience", and rather than being statutory
4050-598: Is taken from The Works of James Thomson by James Thomson, Published 1763, Vol II, p. 191 , which includes the entire text of Alfred . When Britain first, at Heaven's command Arose from out the azure main; Arose arose from out the azure main; This was the charter, the charter of the land, And guardian angels sung this strain: "Rule, Britannia! rule the waves: "Britons never will be slaves." The nations, not so blest as thee, Must, in their turns, to tyrants fall; While thou shalt flourish great and free, The dread and envy of them all. "Rule, Britannia! rule
4200-601: Is used as an example of a successful meme . Maurice Willson Disher notes that the change from "Britannia, rule the waves" to "Britannia rules the waves" occurred in the Victorian era, at a time when the British did rule the waves and no longer needed to be exhorted to rule them. Disher also notes that the Victorians changed "will" to "shall" in the line "Britons never shall be slaves". The song assumed extra significance in 1945 at
4350-512: The Chancery Regulation Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4 . c. 94). (which changed the appointments system so that masters in Chancery would henceforth be appointed by the Crown , not by the lord chancellor, and that they would be paid wages. ) Through the abolition of sinecures, taking into account the wages and pension, this saved the court £21,670 a year. The government had initially intended
4500-546: The BBC 's Last Night of the Proms , normally with a guest soloist (past performers have included Jane Eaglen , Bryn Terfel , Thomas Hampson , Joseph Calleja , and Felicity Lott ). It has always been the last part of Sir Henry Wood 's 1905 Fantasia on British Sea Songs , except that for many years up until 2000, the Sargent arrangement has been used. However, in recent years the inclusion of
4650-457: The Code Napoleon and the writings of Jeremy Bentham are seen by academic Duncan Kerly to have had much to do with the criticism, and the growing wealth of the country and increasing international trade meant it was crucial that there be a functioning court system for matters of equity. While the upper classes had been struggling with the Court for centuries, and regarded it as a necessary evil,
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4800-475: The Court of Appeal in Chancery . These are described by Lobban as "hasty reactions to mounting arrears" rather than the result of long-term planning. As a result of the new appointments, the court backlog was significantly reduced – the court processed 1,700 cases in 1846–49 compared to 959 in 1819–24 – but it rose again after the death of Shadwell VC and retirement of Wigram VC . Shadwell, appointed under
4950-533: The Crusades of the 12th century, when noblemen travelled abroad to fight in the Holy Land. As they would be away for years at a time it was vital that somebody could look after their land with the authority of the original owner. As a result, the idea of joint ownership of land arose. The common law courts did not recognise such trusts, and so it fell to equity and to the Court of Chancery to deal with them, as befitting
5100-515: The Drury Lane Theatre . Arne was so keen on music that he smuggled a spinet into his room and, damping the sounds with his handkerchief, would secretly practise during the night while the rest of the family slept. He also dressed up as a liveryman to gain access to the gallery of the Italian Opera . It was at the opera that Arne first met the musician and composer Michael Festing , who was
5250-593: The House of Lords from the Chancery. Before this there had been no records of appeals to the Lords, and a committee had concluded that there was no precedent to give the Lords jurisdiction over equity matters, except when problems and cases were sent directly to Parliament (as occasionally had been the case). In 1660 the Convention Parliament claimed for itself the right of appellate jurisdiction over equity matters, and also
5400-581: The Jacobites , who altered Thomson's words to a pro-Jacobite version. According to Armitage "Rule, Britannia" was the most lasting expression of the conception of Britain and the British Empire that emerged in the 1730s, "predicated on a mixture of adulterated mercantilism, nationalistic anxiety and libertarian fervour". He equates the song with Bolingbroke 's On the Idea of a Patriot King (1738), also written for
5550-491: The Plantagenet period, particularly from members of the clergy, who were more used to Roman law than equity. From the reign of Richard II, the House of Commons regularly complained about the work of the court, and in 1390 it petitioned the king to pronounce that the court could not act contrary to the common law, nor annul a judgment without due process. At the same time, it asked that no writ could be issued that would compel
5700-682: The Shakespeare Jubilee held by Garrick in Stratford-upon-Avon to commemorate the life of William Shakespeare . In 1773, in a performance of Judith Arne introduced women's voices into the choruses for the first time. In 1777, shortly before his death, Arne and his wife were reconciled. They had one son, Michael Arne , who was also a composer. Arne is buried at St Paul's, Covent Garden , London. A blue plaque , unveiled in 1988, commemorates Arne at 31 King Street in Covent Garden. Arne
5850-554: The West End 's Drury Lane and Covent Garden . He wrote many operatic entertainments for the London theatres and pleasure gardens, as well as concertos, sinfonias, and sonatas. Arne was born on 12 March 1710 in Covent Garden and baptised as a Roman Catholic . He came from a long line of Catholic recusants . Arne's father and grandfather were both upholsterers and both held office in
6000-529: The Worshipful Company of Upholders of the City of London . His grandfather fell on hard times and died in the debtors' prison of Marshalsea . His father earned enough money to rent 31 King Street, a large house in Covent Garden, but also to have Arne educated at Eton College but in later life, he too lost most of his money and had to supplement his income by acting as a numberer of the boxes (ticket counter) at
6150-662: The "history" of England from the time of the Druids up to Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee , which the work was meant to celebrate. During the 2020 BBC Proms , held at the Royal Albert Hall , London , a recorded version of the song featuring Welsh mezzo-soprano Della Jones charted at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. Court of Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed
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6300-461: The 1831 act of Parliament, could be replaced, but a principal in the Court of Chancery Act 1841 ( 5 Vict. c. 5) (under which Wigram had been appointed) meant that it provided for two life appointments to the court, not two open positions; after the retirement or death of the judges, no more could be appointed. Again, the backlog became a problem, particularly since the lord chancellor was distracted with
6450-704: The 1832 bill to go further and abolish the Six Clerks , but the Clerks successfully lobbied to prevent this. This did not save them, however; in 1842 the "nettle" of the Six Clerks Office was grasped by Thomas Pemberton , who attacked them in the House of Commons for doing effectively sinecure work for high fees that massively increased the expense involved in cases. As a result, the Court of Chancery Act 1842 ( 5 & 6 Vict. c. 103)
6600-512: The Chancery and created a new unified High Court of Justice , with the Chancery Division – one of three divisions of the High Court – succeeding the Court of Chancery as an equitable body. For much of its existence the court was formally led by the lord chancellor, assisted by the judges of the common-law courts. The staff of the court included a large number of clerks, led by the master of
6750-464: The Chancery in Causes of Equity , but without any tangible result. Even so, future lord chancellors were more cautious; when Francis Bacon succeeded Ellesmere, he made sure to prevent the misuse of injunctions. Horowitz writes that this was not just limited to Bacon, and that "after the dramatic confrontations between Lord Chief Justice Coke and Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, chancellors took care to circumscribe
6900-413: The Chancery separate from the curia ; academic William Carne considers this a key moment in confirming the independence of the Court of Chancery. The chancellor and his clerks often heard the cases directly, rather than having them referred to the council itself; occasionally a committee of lay and church members disposed of them, assisted by the judges of the common law courts. John Baker argues that it
7050-513: The Chancery the right to award damages, stating: For as much as People be compelled to come before the King's Council, or in the Chancery by Writs grounded upon untrue Suggestions; that the Chancellor for the Time being, presently after that such Suggestions be duly found and proved untrue, shall have Power to ordain and award Damages according to his Discretion, to him which is so troubled unduly, as afore
7200-462: The Commons did not prevent the court from successfully functioning; in 1393, for example, it was considered prominent enough that the House of Lords sent two cases there to be dealt with. According to many academics, the Court of Chancery really began to expand its caseload during the 15th century; Margaret Avery reports a massive increase in cases during the 1440s, while Nicholas Pronay suggests that
7350-477: The Court of Chancery , written in 1701, listed 25 different procedures, areas and situations which contributed to the problems of high fees and slow processes. Lord Somers , following his dismissal as lord chancellor, introduced the Administration of Justice Act 1705 ( 4 & 5 Ann. c. 3) in 1706 which "became the most important act of law reform which the 18th century produced". The act significantly amended
7500-504: The Court of Chancery ceased to exist. The Master of the Rolls was transferred to the new Court of Appeal , the lord chancellor retained his other judicial and political roles, and the position of vice-chancellor ceased to exist, replaced by ordinary judges. The Chancery Division remains to this day part of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. The idea of a trust originated during
7650-464: The Court of Chancery could administer estates, due to its jurisdiction over trusts. While the main burden in the 16th century fell on the ecclesiastical courts , their powers over administrators and executors was limited, regularly necessitating the Court of Chancery's involvement. Before the Statute of Wills , many people used feoffees to dispose of their land, something that fell under the jurisdiction of
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#17328733324827800-520: The Court of Chancery was to be transferred to the Chancery Division; Section 25 of the act provided that, where there was conflict between the common law and equity, the latter would prevail. An appeal from each division went to the appellate level, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales . These provisions were brought into effect after amendment with the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1875 , and
7950-430: The Court was severely criticised for its slow pace, large backlogs, and high costs. Those problems persisted until its dissolution, despite being mitigated somewhat by reforms, particularly during the 19th century. Attempts at fusing the Chancery with the common law courts began in the 1850s, and finally succeeded with the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 and the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1875 , which dissolved
8100-458: The Court's corrective jurisdiction and to focus more narrowly on territories they had staked out as peculiarly their own". By the time of the English Civil War , the Court of Chancery was being criticised extensively for its procedure and practice. During the 16th century the Court was vastly overworked; Francis Bacon wrote of 2,000 orders being made a year, while Sir Edward Coke estimated
8250-414: The Court, which the political opposition maintained was simply to protect it; the membership included the lord chancellor, the master of the rolls and all senior Chancery judges. Some significant reforms were proposed; in 1829, for example, Lord Lyndhurst proposed unsuccessfully that the equity jurisdiction of the Court of Exchequer be merged with the Chancery, and that a fourth judge be appointed to hear
8400-431: The Court. Although complaints had been common since the time of Elizabeth I, the problems had become more unrestrained, at the same time as politically neutral law reformers first arose in any great number. Many critics were barristers of the common law, ignorant of the court's workings, but some, such as Sir Samuel Romilly , had trained as a Chancery advocate and were well aware of the Chancery's procedure. The success of
8550-607: The Irish writer Isaac Bickerstaffe . Thomas and Sally was the first English comic opera to be sung throughout (it contained no spoken dialogue). Artaxerxes was one of the most successful and influential English operas of the 18th century and is the only known attempt to write an Italianate, Metastasian opera seria , in the English language, using recitative instead of spoken dialogue . Mozart almost certainly saw it in 1764 when he visited London and said that it influenced his operas. It
8700-615: The Lawes of England , Coke suggested that the Monarch's decree was unlawful, and his contemporary David Jenkins wrote in Eight Centuries of Reports that "the excess of Jurisdiction in Chancery, in examining Judgments at Common Law" was one of the largest abuses of the law. In the late 17th century Robert Atkyns attempted to renew this controversy in his book An Enquiry into the Jurisdiction of
8850-549: The Lord chancellor exercised the first right directly and the second in his role as head of the Court of Chancery. This jurisdiction applied to any "idiots" or "lunatics", regardless of whether or not they were British, or whether their land was within England and Wales . They were divided into two categories – idiots, "who have no glimmering of reason from their birth and are, therefore, by law, presumed never likely to attain any", and lunatics, "who have had understanding but have lost
9000-506: The Norman curia regis or King's Council, maintained by most early rulers of England after 1066. Under the feudal system , the council was made up of the monarch, the Great Officers of the Crown and anyone else the monarch allowed to attend. Its jurisdiction was virtually unlimited, with executive, judicial and legislative functions. This large body contained lawyers, peers, and members of
9150-560: The Seal shall come first to the chancellor; and those which touch the Exchequer, to the exchequer, and those which touch the justices, or the law of the land, to the justices; and those which touch the Jews, to the justices of the Jews . And if the affairs are so great, or if they are of grace, that the chancellor and the others cannot do it without the king, then they shall bring them with their own hands to
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#17328733324829300-413: The additional cases. A year later, when the common law courts were each gaining a judge, he repeated his proposal, but the bill was strongly opposed by judges who maintained that the court backlog did not justify the additional expense of a fourth judge. Eventually, two more vice-chancellors were appointed in 1841, and a decade later two lord justices were tasked with hearing appeals from the Court through
9450-402: The appellate cases through the Court of Appeal in Chancery and the House of Lords , leaving a maximum of three Chancery judges who were available to hear cases. Further structural reforms were proposed; Richard Bethell suggested three more vice-chancellors and "an Appellate Tribunal in Chancery formed of two of the vice chancellors taken in rotation", but this came to nothing. The 1830s saw
9600-423: The backlog decreased; in the 1860s an average of 3,207 cases were submitted each year, while the Court heard and dismissed 3,833, many of them from the previous backlog. Much of this work was carried out by the growing number of clerks, however, and members of the legal profession became concerned about the "famine" of equity judges. Despite these reforms, it was still possible for Charles Dickens, writing in 1853 in
9750-403: The backlog to be around 16,000 cases. This was partly due to the incompetence of the judges, and partially due to the procedure used; evidence was re-heard up to three times and orders were issued and then over-ruled, only to be issued again: "what was ordered one day was contradicted the next, so as in some cases there had been five hundred orders and faire more as some affirmed". The Court spent
9900-470: The beginnings of Standard English – a national standard of spelling and grammar. By the 15th century, the City of Westminster had been the seat of government administration for about three centuries. After about 1430, the use of English in administrative documents replaced French which had been used since the Norman conquest. Consequently, the written English that developed at the Court of Chancery eventually became
10050-461: The cause until the 18th and early 19th centuries, when the attitude of the Court towards awarding damages became more liberal; in Lannoy v Werry , for example, it was held that where there was sufficient evidence of harm, the Court could award damages in addition to specific performance and other remedies. This changed with Todd v Gee in 1810, where Lord Eldon held that "except in very special cases, it
10200-424: The church, many of whom lived far from London. It soon became apparent that it was too unwieldy to deal with the nation's day-to-day business. As a result, a smaller curia was formed to deal with the regular business of the country, and this soon split into various courts: first the exchequer of pleas , to deal with finance, and then the Court of Common Pleas , to deal with "common" cases. The Chancery started as
10350-402: The comma and the exclamation mark, which changes the interpretation of the lyric by altering the punctuation. Richard Dawkins recounts in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene that the repeated exclamation "Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!" is often rendered as "Rule, Britannia! Britannia rule s the waves!", changing the meaning of the verse. This addition of a terminal 's' to the lyrics
10500-400: The common law and which with equity, and was also silent on the structure of the court, as Hatherley believed the difference between the common law and equity was one of procedure, not substance. As a result, the bill was heavily opposed from two sides: those who opposed fusion, and those who supported fusion but felt the provisions were too weak and vague to be of any use. As a result, the bill
10650-401: The common law courts regularly appointed guardians, the Chancery had the right to remove them, replace them or create them in the first place. Similarly, while there were actions against guardians which the child could undertake in the common law courts, these were regularly undertaken in the Court of Chancery. This jurisdiction was first regularly recognised from 1696 onwards, and its main focus
10800-418: The common law courts, which were mainly concerned with the remedy and retribution of problems. This was further enforced by the Statute of Frauds , which confirmed Chancery principles across the board, allowing people to receive the same treatment in the common law courts as they did in the Chancery. A major reform to the Court happened soon after the restoration, with the introduction of a right of appeal to
10950-445: The common principle that the Chancery's jurisdiction was for matters where the common law courts could neither enforce a right nor administer it. The use of trusts and uses became common during the 16th century, although the Statute of Uses "[dealt] a severe blow to these forms of conveyancing" and made the law in this area far more complex. The court's sole jurisdiction over trusts lasted until its dissolution. From its foundation,
11100-409: The common-law courts were limited to granting damages , and the Chancery was limited to granting specific performance or injunctions . The County Courts (Equity Jurisdiction) Act 1865 gave the county courts the authority to use equitable remedies, although it was rarely used. The lord chancellors during this period were more cautious, and despite a request by the lawyers' associations to establish
11250-418: The common-law judges if the lord chancellor felt their claim was "against conscience". This had been vehemently opposed by the common-law judges, who felt that if the lord chancellor had the power to override their decisions, parties to a case would flock to the Court of Chancery. The dispute over the pre-eminence of the lord chancellor continued into Elizabeth I 's reign, with the judges increasing in strength;
11400-503: The conclusion of World War II when it was played at the ceremonial surrender of the Japanese imperial army in Singapore . A massed military band of Australian , British and American forces played as Supreme Allied Commander Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma arrived. "Rule, Britannia!" (in an orchestral arrangement by Sir Malcolm Sargent ) is traditionally performed at
11550-517: The court as it then stood and replacing it with "some of the most able and honest men", who would be tasked with hearing equity cases. Rather than the mass of clerks on the staff, a sufficient number of "godly, able, honest and experienced clerks, which be working attorneys and clerks and not overseeing officers" would be appointed, and the Bar would elect two supervising Chief Clerks to advise on points of practice. A far-reaching and heavily criticised draft, this
11700-462: The court found a fixed home at Westminster Hall , where it sat almost continually until its dissolution. Before this, justice was difficult to dispose because the lord chancellor had to travel with the King wherever he went. By 1345 the lord chancellor began to be seen as the leader of the Court of Chancery, rather than as a representative of the king, and writs and bills were addressed directly to him. Under Richard II it became practice to consider
11850-473: The court. Parliament also fixed the fees that officers could charge, in an attempt to reduce the expense of a case. The following year, Parliament appointed a commission to look at court reform; this made many recommendations, but none that directly affected the Chancery. In August 1653 another debate took place in Parliament, lasting two days, in which a paper titled "Observations concerning the Court of Chancery"
12000-519: The disastrous fire at the Royal Opera House , Covent Garden in 1808. Arne's sister, Susannah Maria Arne , was a famous contralto , who performed in some of his works, including his first opera, Rosamund . With her marriage to the Drury Lane actor Theophilus Cibber Susannah became known professionally as "Mrs Cibber". She and their brother Richard would often perform Arne's works together. Arne
12150-451: The existing law and court procedure, and while most of it was aimed at the common-law courts, it did affect the Chancery. For equity, the act provided that a party trying to have his case dismissed could not do so until he had paid the full costs, rather than the nominal costs that were previously required; at the same time, the reforms the act made to common-law procedure (such as allowing claims to be brought against executors of wills) reduced
12300-422: The fair. "Rule, Britannia! rule the waves: "Britons never will be slaves." In 1751 Mallet re-used the text of "Rule, Britannia!", omitting three of the original six stanzas and adding three new ones by Lord Bolingbroke , to form the repeated chorus of the comic song "Married to a Mermaid". This became extremely popular when Mallet produced his masque Britannia at Drury Lane Theatre in 1755. Married to
12450-518: The fees charged by the court and the amount of time they could take on a case. An effect of the Civil War and resulting Commonwealth of England , particularly the "liberal" values and feelings it stirred up, was the continuous modernisation and improvement of the common law courts, something that reduced the interference of the lord chancellor in common law matters, except in areas where they had wildly divergent principles and law. Under Charles II , for
12600-403: The first time, there was a type of common law appeal where the nature of the evidence in the initial trial was taken into account, which reduced the need to go to the Court of Chancery. As a result, the nature of the Court of Chancery changed; rather than being a major corrective system for the common law, it became primarily concerned with the administration and protection of rights, as opposed to
12750-406: The four central courts of the realm ... the growth in the number of [cases] is a primary indicator of the changing position of Chancery". This increasing role was assisted by the changing function of the court: until the late 14th century, private parties could not bring cases to the Chancery as they could to the other courts, while by the 15th century the number of private cases had increased to
12900-465: The growing middle and merchant classes were more demanding. With increasing court backlogs, it was clear to many law reformers and politicians that serious reform was needed. The first major reforms were the appointment of a vice-chancellor in 1813 to hear cases, and the extension of the Master of the Rolls' jurisdiction in 1833 to hear any and all cases. In 1824 a Chancery Commission was appointed to oversee
13050-425: The guardianship of children is said to have come from the king's prerogative of parens patriae . The Chancery had administered this area of law from an early period, since it primarily concerned the holding of land – a form of trust. Since these were mainly dealt with orally there are few early records; the first reference comes from 1582, when a curator was appointed to deal with the property of an infant. While
13200-466: The idea of trusts , he decided to fuse the courts and the procedure. The final draft provided that all of the existing superior courts would be fused into one court consisting of two levels; one of first instance, one appellate. The court of first instance, to be known as the High Court of Justice, would be subdivided into several divisions based on the old superior courts, one of which, the Chancery Division, would deal with equity cases. All jurisdiction of
13350-481: The interest which a great number of officers and clerks have in the proceedings of the Court of Chancery, has been a principal cause of extending bills, answers, pleadings, examinations and other forms and copies of them, to an unnecessary length, to the great delay of justice and the oppression of the subject". They recommended that a list of permissible fees be published and circulated to the court officials. The recommendations were not immediately acted on, but in 1743
13500-466: The judges of the common law courts, with the rules used to settle cases being those of "law or reason", sometimes simply "reason", a far more liberal and adjustable approach than the common law. The Chancery came to prominence after the decline of the Exchequer, dealing with the law of equity , something more fluid and adaptable than the common law . The early Court of Chancery dealt with verbal contracts, matters of land law and matters of trusts, and had
13650-482: The jurisdiction of the Court over charity matters came from its jurisdiction over trusts, as well as from the Charitable Uses Act 1601 . Carne suggests that, as the Court had long been able to deal with such situations, the 1601 act was actually just the declaration of pre-existing custom. This is illustrated by the chancellor's original jurisdiction over feoffments to uses , which came from his original status as
13800-403: The king to know his pleasure; so that no petitions shall come before the king, and his Council, but by the hands of his said chancellor, and the other chief ministers; so that the king and his Council may, without the load of other business, attend to the great business of his realm, and of other foreign countries. Records show dozens of early cases being sent to the lord chancellor and master of
13950-411: The lord chancellor and his personal staff, the Chancery. Initially an administrative body with some judicial duties, the Chancery experienced an explosive growth in its work during the 15th century, particularly under the House of York ( r. 1461–1485 ); academics attribute this to its becoming an almost entirely judicial body. From the time of Queen Elizabeth I ( r. 1558–1603 ) onwards
14100-435: The lord chancellor anyway. In addition, in relation to the discovery and accounting of assets, the process used by the Court of Chancery was far superior to the ecclesiastical one; as a result, the Court of Chancery was regularly used by beneficiaries. The common law courts also had jurisdiction over some estates matters, but their remedies for problems were far more limited. Initially, the Court of Chancery would not entertain
14250-411: The lord chancellor was no longer a clergyman whom it was risky to offend, while the judges had grown in stature. Sir Edward Coke cites in his Reports a case at the end of Elizabeth I's reign which seems to indicate that the chancellor's prerogative had been overturned, when the judges (without opposition from the monarch) allowed a claim to proceed despite the lord chancellor's implied jurisdiction. At
14400-779: The lord chancellor's jurisdiction. Ellesmere appealed to the Monarch, who referred the matter to the attorney general for the prince of Wales and Francis Bacon , the Attorney General for England and Wales . Both recommended a judgment in Ellesmere's favour, which the Monarch made, saying: as mercy and justice be the true supports of our Royal Throne; and it properly belongeth to our princely office to take care and provide that our subjects have equal and indifferent justice ministered to them; and that when their case deserveth to be relieved in course of equity by suit in our Court of Chancery, they should not be abandoned and exposed to perish under
14550-402: The lyrics: 'Twas on the deep Atlantic, Midst Equinoctial gales; This young farmer fell overboard Among the sharks and whales; He disappeared so quickly, So headlong down went he, That he went out of sight Like a streak of light To the bottom of the deep blue sea. Singing Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves Britons never, never, never shall be slaves... We lowered
14700-411: The main reasons for the high cost of bringing a case to the Court of Chancery. The 19th century saw the abolition of many sinecure offices and the institution of a wage and pension for the lord chancellor to curb the sale of offices; and later the right to appoint officials was transferred from the chancellor to the Crown . The Court of Chancery originated, as did the other high courts before 1875, in
14850-465: The masque of which it had formed a part. First heard in London in 1745, it achieved instant popularity. It quickly became so well known that Handel quoted it in his Occasional Oratorio in the following year. Handel used the first phrase as part of the Act II soprano aria, "Prophetic visions strike my eye", when the soprano sings it at the words "War shall cease, welcome peace!" The song was seized upon by
15000-408: The need for parties to go to equity for a remedy. Legal historian Wilfrid Prest writes that despite these legislative enactments, the tally of which "begins to look quite impressive", the old problems continued, albeit less frequently; one barrister of the time claimed that going to the Court with a case worth anything less than £500 was a waste of time. Under Lord Hardwicke , Chancery procedure
15150-479: The need to pay them fees and made it illegal for them to receive gratuities; it also removed more sinecure positions. The Master in Chancery Abolition Act 1852 ( 15 & 16 Vict. c. 80) abolished the masters in Chancery, allowing all cases to be heard directly by judges instead of bounced back-and-forth between judges and masters. As a result of these reforms the court became far more efficient, and
15300-636: The offices". The situation was much improved, nonetheless, because many of the faults were down to the machinery of the court rather than the spirit, which Lord Clarendon soon rectified. Upon appointment as lord chancellor he immediately published a new issue of the Orders for the Regulation of the Practice of the Court of Chancery. This was based on the code set by the Cromwellian Commissioners, and limited
15450-485: The officials. In 1649, during the English Civil War, Parliament published a series of orders to reform the Court. Most were from the doctrines set out by Francis Bacon as lord chancellor, but there were some more modern reforms: counsels to the defendants could deliver pleas, rather than defendants in person, thus saving the cost of a Commissioner of Oaths, and cases were to be heard in the order they were accepted by
15600-585: The other party to a case. It is commonly believed that the Court of Chancery could not grant damages until the Chancery Amendment Act 1858 ( 21 & 22 Vict. c. 27), which gave it that right, but in some special cases it had been able to provide damages for over 600 years. The idea of damages was first conceived in English law during the 13th century, when the Statutes of Merton and Gloucester provided for damages in certain circumstances. Despite what
15750-409: The other side, and in 1341 the king, on their application, allowed the lord chancellor to send cases directly to the common law courts, to avoid the common law judges having to waste time travelling. Kerly suggests that many complaints from the Commons came from lawyers of the common law, aggrieved at the Chancery's extended jurisdiction that overlapped with that of the common law. These complaints from
15900-505: The party that breached the contract to carry out his obligations was viable. Injunctions, on the other hand, are remedies which prevent a party from doing something (unlike specific performance, which requires them to do something). Until the Common Law Procedure Act 1854 , the Court of Chancery was the only body qualified to grant injunctions and specific performance. Damages is money claimed in compensation for some failure by
16050-510: The patronage of Frederick, Prince of Wales , at whose country home, Cliveden , the Masque of Alfred , featuring "Rule Britannia", was debuted in 1740. In 1741, Arne filed a complaint in Chancery pertaining to a breach of musical copyright and claimed that some of his theatrical songs had been printed and sold by Henry Roberts and John Johnson, the London booksellers and music distributors. The matter
16200-424: The personal staff of the lord chancellor, described as "a great secretarial bureau, a home office, a foreign office, and a ministry of justice". The earliest reference to legal issues being sent to him is from 1280, when Edward I of England , annoyed with the number of cases coming to him which could have been dealt with by other elements of his administration, passed a statute saying that: all petitions which touch
16350-435: The point where there were many complaints in Parliament. Marsh writes that another reason for the Chancery's growing influence was the remedies available; through orders of specific performance and injunctions , the court could not only rectify previous wrongs but prevent future wrongs from occurring, while the common law courts were limited to awarding damages . Chancery English, used in official documents, can be seen as
16500-404: The preface to his novel Bleak House , to bemoan the inefficiencies of the Court of Chancery. His novel revolves around a fictional long-running Chancery case, Jarndyce and Jarndyce . He observed that at the time he was writing there was a case before the Chancery court "which was commenced nearly twenty years ago ... and which is (I am assured) no nearer to its termination now than when it
16650-403: The private circle of Frederick, Prince of Wales, in which Bolingbroke had "raised the spectre of permanent standing armies that might be turned against the British people rather than their enemies". Hence British naval power could be equated with civil liberty, since an island nation with a strong navy to defend it could afford to dispense with a standing army which, since the time of Cromwell ,
16800-415: The real expansion came during Yorkist rule (1461–85), when the number of cases submitted each year quadrupled. He gives complaints about the perversion of justice in the common law courts, along with growing mercantile and commercial interests, as the main reason for the growth, arguing that this was the period when the Chancery changed from being an administrative body with some judicial functions to "one of
16950-488: The right of original jurisdiction to hear equity cases at first instance . After disputes which lasted into the next Parliament, this second measure was dropped, but the right to hear equity appeals was confirmed. Horowitz writes that despite these changes, one of the academic certainties is that the problems which had dogged the court for the last two centuries persisted; Observations on the Dilatory and Expensive Proceedings in
17100-417: The rigor and extremity of our laws, we ... do approve, ratifie and confirm, as well the practice of our Court of Chancery. Coke's challenge to the Chancery is seen by academic Duncan Kerly as helping him lose his position as a judge, and until its dissolution the Court of Chancery could overrule judgments issued in the common-law courts. This was not the end of the dispute, however; in his Institutes of
17250-457: The rolls , but at the time the chancellor had no specific jurisdiction to deal with them; the cases were referred to him only as a matter of convenience. Under Edward II the chancellor dedicated set days to hearing pleas, as documented in the records of the Parliament of Lincoln in 1315, which also show that some cases were heard by his personal staff, the Chancery, and not by the chancellor. By 1320 requests were regularly sent there, and heard by
17400-449: The rolls , who regularly heard cases on his own. In 1813 a vice-chancellor was appointed to deal with the Chancery's increasing backlogs, and two more vice-chancellors were appointed in 1841. Lord chancellors sold offices of the Chancery for much of its history, raising large amounts of money. Many of the clerks and other officials held sinecures ; the holders, in lieu of wages, charged increasingly exorbitant fees to process cases – one of
17550-410: The same time, the common-law judges ruled that the Chancery had no jurisdiction over matters of freehold . The lord chancellor of the time, Lord Ellesmere , was not dissuaded, and maintained that he had the jurisdiction to oversee decisions of the common-law courts and matters of freehold. In 1614, he heard the case of Courtney v. Glanvil , dictating that Glanvil should be imprisoned for deceit; this
17700-400: The shift of the Exchequer of Pleas towards a common law court and loss of its equitable jurisdiction by the Administration of Justice Act 1841 , the Chancery became the only national equitable body in the English legal system. Scholars estimate that the Court of Chancery formally split from and became independent of the curia regis in the mid-14th century, at which time it consisted of
17850-525: The song " Home! Sweet Home! ". Likewise, the French composer Alexandre Goria used the tune as part of his Salut à la Grande Brétagne - Six airs anglese transcrite et variée, 1re. Suite No. 8, Op. 44. Arthur Sullivan quoted from "Rule, Britannia!" on at least three occasions in music for his comic operas written with W. S. Gilbert and Bolton Rowe . In Utopia Limited , Sullivan used airs from "Rule, Britannia!" to highlight references to Great Britain. In The Zoo (written with Rowe) Sullivan applied
18000-611: The song and other patriotic tunes has been much criticised—notably by Leonard Slatkin —and the presentation has been occasionally amended. For some years the performance at the Last Night of the Proms reverted to Sir Henry Wood's original arrangement. When Bryn Terfel performed it at the Proms in 1994 and 2008 he sang the third verse in Welsh . The text is available at Rule Britannia (in Welsh) . Arne's tune has been used by, or at least quoted by,
18150-526: The song in full as the introduction to his 1838 waltz "Huldigung der Königin Victoria von Grossbritannien" (Homage to Queen Victoria of Great Britain), Op. 103, where he also quotes the British national anthem " God Save the Queen " at the end of the piece. The French organist-composer Alexandre Guilmant included this tune in his Fantaisie sur deux mélodies anglaises for organ Op. 43, where he also makes use of
18300-457: The tune of "Rule, Britannia!" to an instance in which Rowe's libretto quotes directly from the patriotic march. Finally, to celebrate the jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, Sullivan added a chorus of "Rule, Britannia!" to the finale of HMS Pinafore , which was playing in revival at the Savoy Theatre . Sullivan also quoted the tune in his 1897 ballet Victoria and Merrie England , which traced
18450-461: The use of it". Lunatics and idiots were administered separately by the lord chancellor under his two prerogatives; the appeal under the king's prerogative went directly to the king, and under the Lands of Lunaticks Act 1324 to the House of Lords . Idiots and lunatics had their land looked after by a court-appointed administrator, and any profits went into a trust fund to support the insane person. Due to
18600-537: The vested interest of the king (who would hold the lands) the actual lunacy or idiocy was determined by a jury, not by an individual judge. Under the Lunacy Act 1845 the lord chancellor had a right to appoint a commission to investigate the insanity of an individual; as part of his role as Keeper of the king's conscience, however, he would only do this when it was beneficial to the lunatic, not simply because somebody had been found insane. The law courts' jurisdiction over
18750-536: The waves Britons never, never, never shall be slaves. The chorus, from Rule, Britannia! , is sometimes performed as: Singing Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves Britons never, never, never shall be Married to a mermaid At the bottom of the deep blue sea In this song, "Married to a mermaid" is pronounced as "marry-i-ed to a mer-may-ed", and "captain" as "cap-i-tain". Some versions replace "broad Atlantic" for "deep Atlantic". "Rule, Britannia!" soon developed an independent life of its own, separate from
18900-517: The waves: "Britons never will be slaves." Still more majestic shalt thou rise, More dreadful, from each foreign stroke; More dreadful, dreadful from each foreign stroke; As the loud blast that tears the skies, Serves but to root thy native oak. "Rule, Britannia! rule the waves: "Britons never will be slaves." Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame: All their attempts to bend thee down, Will but arouse thy generous flame; But work their woe, and thy renown. "Rule, Britannia! rule
19050-417: The waves: "Britons never will be slaves." To thee belongs the rural reign; Thy cities shall with commerce shine: All thine shall be the subject main, And every shore it circles thine. "Rule, Britannia! rule the waves: "Britons never will be slaves." The Muses, still with freedom found, Shall to thy happy coast repair; Blest Isle! With matchless beauty crown'd, And manly hearts to guard
19200-467: The words referred to the alleged Spanish aggression against British merchant vessels that caused the war. The time was still to come when the Royal Navy would be an unchallenged dominant force on the oceans. The jesting lyrics of the mid-18th century would assume a material and patriotic significance by the end of the 19th century. "Rule, Britannia!" is often written as simply "Rule Britannia", omitting both
19350-409: Was "almost unanimity" of opinion that the existence of two separate systems was "the parent of most of the defects in the administration of our law". Much of the impetus for fusion came from pressure groups and lawyers' associations. They partially succeeded with the Common Law Procedure Act 1854 and Chancery Amendment Act 1858 , which gave both courts access to the full range of remedies. Until then,
19500-597: Was a Freemason and active in the organization, which has long been centred in the Covent Garden area of London, where Arne lived for many years. Like Mozart , who also lived in the 1700s, Arne lived before the Catholic hierarchy had banned membership in the Lodges in all countries. On 15 March 1737, Arne married singer Cecilia Young , whose sister, Isabella, was the wife of John Frederick Lampe . During this period Arne's operas and masques became increasingly popular, and he received
19650-494: Was also quoted in Combat naval ("Britannia: an allegorical overture") by Daniel Steibelt . Richard Wagner wrote a concert overture in D major based on the theme in 1837 ( WWV 42). He subsequently made it the basis of his "Große Sonata" for piano, Op. 4. Ferdinand Ries quotes from it in "The Dream" (also known as "Il sogno") for piano, Op. 49, and wrote Variations on Rule Britannia for orchestra, Op. 116. Johann Strauss I quoted
19800-490: Was an administrative body primarily concerned with conscientious law . Thus the Court of Chancery had a far greater remit than the common-law courts (whose decisions it had the jurisdiction to overrule for much of its existence) and was far more flexible. Until the 19th century, the Court of Chancery could apply a far wider range of remedies than common law courts, such as specific performance and injunctions , and had some power to grant damages in special circumstances. With
19950-515: Was begun". He concluded that "If I wanted other authorities for Jarndyce and Jarndyce, I could rain them on these pages, to the shame of a parsimonious public". The idea of fusing the common-law and equity courts first came to prominence in the 1850s; although the Law Times dismissed it as "suicide" in 1852, the idea gained mainstream credibility, and by the end of the year the Times was writing that there
20100-441: Was circulated; this concerned the costs, workings, and officers of the Court. A second paper was given out, "for the regulation or taking away of the Court of Chancery, and settling the business of Equity according to the original and primitive constitution of it; and for taking away all unnecessary fees, offices and officers and formalities now used, and for the speedy dispatch of business". Parliament eventually proposed dissolving
20250-419: Was eventually replaced by an even more thorough-going bill. The judges would be six Masters, who would sit in groups of three and be appointed by Parliament, assisted by a Chief Clerk. All justices of the peace would be allowed to submit cases to the court, with cases to be heard within 60 days. The party that lost the case was to pay full fees to the other side; the fees would be set ludicrously low. This bill
20400-423: Was eventually withdrawn. In 1873, the idea was resurrected – again by Palmer, who was now Lord Selborne and the new lord chancellor – as the Supreme Court of Judicature bill . While still cautious, Selborne's bill was far more structured than Hatherley's, and contained more detail on what was to be done. Rather than fusing the common law and equity, which he saw as impracticable since it would destroy
20550-454: Was frequently performed in London into the 1830s and, other than Michael William Balfe 's The Bohemian Girl , it was the most popular full-length English opera before the 20th century. In a 1791 visit to London, Joseph Haydn was impressed by a performance of ″Artaxerxes″ he attended and admitted that he had no idea such an opera existed in the English language. In 1769 Arne composed the song Soft Flowing Avon , with lyrics by Garrick, for
20700-403: Was further reformed with a pair of orders published in 1741 and 1747, which mandated that a claimant who brought his case to court and had it dismissed immediately should pay full costs to the other side, rather than the 40 shillings previously paid, and that parties filing bills of review should pay £50 for the privilege. At the same time, a review of the Court's costs and fees was undertaken by
20850-403: Was instead due to the lord chancellor's inherent authority. As a result, General Orders were regularly issued awarding the innocent party additional costs, such as the cost of a solicitor on top of the costs of responding to the other party's false statements. The Court became more cautious about awarding damages during the 16th and 17th centuries; lord chancellors and legal writers considered it
21000-496: Was mentally ill. He began a relationship with one of his pupils, Charlotte Brent , a soprano and former child prodigy. Brent performed in several of Arne's works, including the role of Sally in his 1760 opera Thomas and Sally and Mandane in his 1762 opera Artaxerxes . Eventually Brent and Arne went their separate ways and she married a violinist named Thomas Pinto in 1766. During the 1760s Arne transferred his services to Covent Garden Theatre , and frequently collaborated with
21150-521: Was never put into effect, as Parliament was dissolved. Oliver Cromwell did appoint a Commission to institute similar provisions in 1654, but the Commission refused to perform its duties. After the English Restoration , those judges and officials sacked under Cromwell were reinstated, with little modern progression; as Kerly puts it, "unjust judges presided again, and rank maladministration invaded
21300-466: Was not the course of proceeding in Equity to file a Bill for specific performance of an agreement; praying in the alternative, if it cannot be performed, an issue, or an inquiry before the Master, with a view to damages. The plaintiff must take that remedy, if he chooses it, at Law." This was followed by Hatch v Cobb , in which Chancellor Kent held that "though equity, in very special cases, may possibly sustain
21450-578: Was originally the final musical number in Thomas Arne's Alfred , a masque about Alfred the Great , co-written by James Thomson and David Mallet and first performed at Cliveden , the country home of Frederick, Prince of Wales , on 1 August 1740. The work was initially devised to commemorate the accession of Frederick's grandfather George I and the birthday of the Princess Augusta . This version
21600-482: Was over-ruled by Sir Edward Coke in the Court of King's Bench , who demanded that Glanvil be released and issued a writ of habeas corpus . Two years later, the Earl of Oxford's Case came before Ellesmere, who issued a judgment that directly contradicted English law based on the "Law of God". Coke and the other judges over-ruled this judgment while Ellesmere was ill, taking the case as an opportunity to completely overthrow
21750-629: Was passed in the same year that abolished the office of the Six Clerks completely. Some further procedural reforms were undertaken in the 1850s. In 1850, a new set of Chancery orders were produced by the lord chancellor, allowing masters to speed up cases in whatever way they chose and allowing plaintiffs to file a claim, rather than the more expensive and long-winded bill of complaint. The Suitors in Chancery Relief Act 1852 ( 15 & 16 Vict. c. 87) gave all court officials salaries, abolished
21900-475: Was rather free. But down he went so quickly, Saying, ' ' Tis all up with me,' When he met a lovely mermaid At the bottom of the deep blue sea. Singing Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves Britons never, never, never shall be slaves... She came at once unto him, And gave him her white hand, Saying, 'I have waited long, my dear, To welcome you to land. Go to your ship and tell them, You'll leave them all for me; For you're married to
22050-534: Was seen as a threat and a source of tyranny. At the time it appeared, the song was not a celebration of an existing state of naval affairs, but an exhortation. Although the Dutch Republic , which in the 17th century presented a major challenge to English sea power, was obviously past its peak by 1745, Britain did not yet "rule the waves", although, since it was written during the War of Jenkins' Ear , it could be argued that
22200-551: Was settled out of court. Arne was one of the first composers to have appealed to the law over copyright issues. In 1742 Arne went with his wife to Dublin , where he remained two years and produced his oratorio The Death of Abel , of which only the melody known as the Hymn of Eve survives, and some stage works; he also gave a number of successful concerts. Audiences of the day were exacting, and composers had to try to maintain their attention with ever more inventive means. An advertisement in
22350-404: Was the late 14th century that saw Chancery procedure become fixed, citing the work done by John Waltham as master of the rolls between 1381 and 1386, and notes that this period also saw the first complaints about the Chancery. The Chancery and its growing powers soon came to be resented by Parliament and the nobility; Carne says that it is possible to trace a general "trend of opposition" during
22500-475: Was the welfare of the child. As such, wards of the court had certain principles: their estates had to be administered under the supervision of the Court, they had to be educated under the same supervision, and any marriage had to be sanctioned by the Court. The lord chancellor had, since the 15th century, been tasked with administering estates where the estate was to be used for charitable purposes. In Bailiff of Burford v Lenthall , Lord Hardwicke suggested that
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