London (England) -- Description and travel; London (England) -- History -- 18th century
1. In the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen is lodged the executive power
in a great measure, and by these most of the city officers are appointed,
viz., the recorder, four common pleaders, the comptroller of the chamber,
the two secondaries, the remembrancer, the city solicitor, the
sword-bearer, the common hunt, the water bailiff, four attorneys of the
Lord Mayor’s Court, the clerk of the chamber, three sergeant carvers,
three sergeants of the chamber, the sergeant of the chanel, the two
marshals, the hall-keeper, the yeomen of the chamber, four yeomen of the
waterside, the yeoman of the chanel, the under water-bailiff, two meal
weighers, two fruit-meters, the foreign taker, the clerk of the City
works, six young men, two clerks of the papers, eight attorneys of the
Sheriff’s Court, eight clerks fitters, two prothonotaries, the clerk of
the Bridge House, the clerk of the Court of Requests, the beadle of the
Court of Requests, thirty-six sergeants at mace, thirty-six yeomen, the
gauger, the sealers and searchers of leather, the keeper of the
Greenyard, two keepers of the two compters, the keeper of Newgate, the
keeper of Ludgate, the measurer, the steward of Southwark (but the
bailiff of Southwark is appointed by the Common Council) the bailiff of
the hundred of Ossulston, the City artificers, and rent-gatherer, who
hath been put in by Mr. Chamberlain.
In this court all leases and instruments that pass under the City Seal
are executed; the assize of bread is settled by them; all differences
relating to water-courses, lights, and party-walls, are determined, and
officers are suspended or punished; and the aldermen, or a majority of
them, have a negative in whatever is propounded in the Common Council.
2. The Court of Hustings is esteemed the most ancient tribunal in the
City, and was established for the preservation of the laws, franchises,
and customs of it. It is held at Guildhall before the Lord Mayor and
Sheriffs, and in civil causes the Recorder sits as judge. Here deeds are
enrolled, recoveries passed, writs of right, waste, partition, dower, and
replevins determined.
3. The Lord Mayor’s Court, a court of record, held in the chamber of
Guildhall every Tuesday, where the Recorder also sits as judge, and the
Lord Mayor and Aldermen may sit with him if they see fit. Actions of
debt, trespass, arising within the City and liberties, of any value, may
be tried in this court, and an action may be removed hither from the
Sheriff’s Court before the jury is sworn.
The juries for trying causes in this and the Sheriff’s Courts, are
returned by the several wards at their wardmote inquests at Christmas,
when each ward appoints the persons to serve on juries for every month in
the year ensuing.
This court is also a court of equity, and gives relief where judgment is
obtained in the Sheriff’s Court for more than the just debt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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