In the lord steward's department are the officials of the Board of Green Cloth, the coroner ("coroner of the verge"), and paymaster of the household, and the officers of the almonry (see ALMONER). Other offices in the department were those of the cofferer of the household, the treasurer of the chamber, and the paymaster of pensions, but these, with six clerks of the Board of Green Cloth, were abolished in 1782. The lord steward had formerly three courts besides the Board of Green Cloth under him. First, the lord steward's court, superseded (1541) by--second--the Marshalsea court, a court of record having jurisdiction, both civil and criminal within the verge (the area within a radius of 12 m. from where the sovereign is resident), and originally held for the purpose of administering justice between the domestic servants of the sovereign, "that they might not be drawn into other courts and their service lost." Its criminal jurisdiction had long fallen into disuse and its civil jurisdiction was abolished in 1849. Third, the palace court, created by letters patent in 1612 and renewed in 1665 with jurisdiction over all personal matters arising between parties within 12 m. of Whitehall (the jurisdiction of the Marshalsea court, the City of London, and Westminster Hall being excepted). It differed from the Marshalsea court in that it had no jurisdiction over the sovereign's household nor were its suitors necessarily of the household. The privilege of practising before the palace court was limited to four counsel. It was abolished in 1849. The lord steward or his deputies formerly administered the oaths to the members of the House of Commons. In certain cases (messages from the sovereign under the sign-manual) "the lords with white staves" are the proper persons to bear communications between the sovereign and the houses of parliament. AUTHORITIES.--_Statutes of Eltham; Household Book_ of Queen Elizabeth; Coke, _Institutes_; Reeves, _History of the Law of England_; Stephen, _Commentaries on the Laws of England_; Hatsell, _Precedents of Proceedings in the House of Commons_; May, _Parliamentary Practice_. FOOTNOTE: [1] A committee of the king's household, consisting of the lord steward and his subordinates, charged with the duty of examining and passing all the accounts of the household. The board had also power to punish all offenders within the verge or jurisdiction of the palace, which extended in every direction for 200 yds. from the gates of the court yard. The name is derived from the green-covered table at which the transactions of the board were originally conducted.