Although the Lord Chancellor in his capacity of speaker has always had his place in the house of Lords, yet it is only in modern times that it has become the practice to create him an hereditary peer of the realm, the first instance of the kind being in 1603 *. The great seal occasionally, instead of being entrusted to an individual, has been put into commission, and the office of Lord Chancellor is then executed by three commissioners. Since the revolution this has occurred in the years 1690, 1710, 1718, 1724, 1756, 1770, 1783, 1792, and still more recently in 1835. There are two Lord High Chancellors in the united kingdom, namely, one for Great Britain, and one for Ireland; but the latter is not uniformly created a peer of the realm immediately on his appointment, as is the case in England; Lord Chancellor Ponsonby, Lord Chancellor Hart, and Lord Chancellor Sugden are recent instances in which no peerage was conferred with this judicial appointment in Ireland. Letters intended for the Lord Chancellor are usually addressed to " the Right Honourable the Lord High Chancellor," or to "the Right Honourable Lord -—, Lord High Chancellor." * An illustration of this principle occurred in 1830, when Lord Chancellor Brougham took his seat on the woolsack in his capacity of speaker on the 22nd of November, being then only the Right Honourable Henry Brougham, for his patent of peerage is dated November 23, 1830, and of course had not passed the great seal on the 22nd, when the house of Lords assembled. LORD HIGH STEWARD. ... There sat yclad in red Down to the ground, a comely personage And in demeanour sober, and in council sage." SPENSER. THE Lord High Steward of the United Kingdom, is an officer of state, who presides over two tribunals of great dignity and importance. The first is the high court of Parliament, in which he sits as president on trials by impeachment; but his presence in this capacity is not essential to the constitution of the court, and the house of Lords frequently determine to proceed without such an officer. The second is quite distinct from the first, and is styled "the court of the Lord High Steward," as more particularly belonging to this important functionary, and requiring his presence as an essential portion of its establishment. The incidents of the first court belong more particularly to the articles on impeachment and on parliament, while the second tribunal is that which concerns us in this place. It is a court instituted for the trial of peers or peeresses, who are accused of treason or felony, or misprision of either; but in all cases of misdemeanour, as libels, riots, perjury, conspiracies, &c., a peer is tried like a commoner before a jury. The office of Lord High Steward is of considerable antiquity, having been established prior to the reign of Edward the Confessor. It was formerly Although the Lord Chancellor in his capacity of speaker has always had his place in the house of Lords, yet it is only in modern times that it has become the practice to create him an hereditary peer of the realm, the first instance of the kind being in 1603 *. The great seal occasionally, instead of being entrusted to an individual, has been put into commission, and the office of Lord Chancellor is then executed by three commissioners. Since the revolution this has occurred in the years 1690, 1710, 1718, 1724, 1756, 1770, 1783, 1792, and still more recently in 1835. There are two Lord High Chancellors in the united kingdom, namely, one for Great Britain, and one for Ireland; but the latter is not uniformly created a peer of the realm immediately on his appointment, as is the case in England; Lord Chancellor Ponsonby, Lord Chancellor Hart, and Lord Chancellor Sugden are recent instances in which no peerage was conferred with this judicial appointment in Ireland. Letters intended for the Lord Chancellor are usually addressed to "the Right Honourable the Lord High Chancellor," or to "the Right Honourable Lord —, Lord High Chancellor." An illustration of this principle occurred in 1830, when Lord Chancellor Brougham took his seat on the woolsack in his capacity of speaker on the 22nd of November, being then only the Right Honourable Henry Brougham, for his patent of peerage is dated November 23, 1830, and of course had not passed the great seal on the 22nd, when the house of Lords assembled. LORD HIGH STEWARD. .. There sat yclad in red Down to the ground, a comely personage And in demeanour sober, and in council sage." SPENSER. THE Lord High Steward of the United Kingdom, is an officer of state, who presides over two tribunals of great dignity and importance. The first is the high court of Parliament, in which he sits as president on trials by impeachment; but his presence in this capacity is not essential to the constitution of the court, and the house of Lords frequently determine to proceed without such an officer. The second is quite distinct from the first, and is styled "the court of the Lord High Steward," as more particularly belonging to this important functionary, and requiring his presence as an essential portion of its establishment. The incidents of the first court belong more particularly to the articles on impeachment and on parliament, while the second tribunal is that which concerns us in this place. It is a court instituted for the trial of peers or peeresses, who are accused of treason or felony, or misprision of either; but in all cases of misdemeanour, as libels, riots, perjury, conspiracies, &c., a peer is tried like a commoner before a jury. The office of Lord High Steward is of considerable antiquity, having been established prior to the reign of Edward the Confessor. It was formerly held either during good behaviour, or for life, and even became an hereditary dignity. Although its course of descent is not very clear during each generation of the noble families who enjoyed it, yet its hereditary character appears to have ceased on becoming merged in the Crown, by the accession to the throne of Henry, the son and heir of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who was the last that had any estate of inheritance in the office of High Steward of England. But for many centuries past, its duties have always been performed under a commission pro hac vice, addressed to some nobleman, declaring him Lord High Steward for the purpose of trying a specified individual on a given occasion. When an indictment is found by a grand jury against any peer or peeress, it is regularly removed by a writ of certiorari to the court of the Lord High Steward, the only tribunal competent to the trial of such a prisoner. This court formerly consisted of eighteen or twenty peers, selected from the whole body, and summoned by precept, but subsequently not less than twentythree were considered requisite, and the choice of these rested with the president of the court himself. By statute 7 William III. cap. 3. however, it is declared that all peers who have a right to sit and vote in Parliament, must always be summoned upon trials before the Lord High Steward, and that whoever attends this summons (which must give twenty days' notice) shall have a vote in the decision of the court. The court of the Lord High Steward, properly so called, has no existence during a session of Parlia |