The Sheriffs. The office of Sheriff has somewhat fallen from its ancient "high estate." According to Stow, they were formerly "the mayor's eyes, seeing and supporting part of the case, which the person of the mayor is not alone sufficient to bear." In olden times the sheriffs were always conjoined with the mayor and aldermen in proclamations requiring them to preserve the peace of the City. From a very remote period the right of electing these officers belonged to the citizens, and later charters acknowledge and confirm the privilege. Henry I. granted to them to hold Middlesex to farm, for 300 pounds a year, and to appoint their own sheriff; while the second charter of John confirms to them the sheriffwick of London and Middlesex at the rent or farm of 300 pounds, "blank sterling money," and declares that they "shall make amongst themselves sheriffs whom they will, and remove them when they will." In those times this was a very important privilege, for the sheriff, or shire-reve, as the king's bailiff, was possessed of extraordinary powers, which he usually exercised in a very corrupt and oppressive manner. The sheriffs of London are the sheriff of Middlesex; in the former capacity they are addressed in the plural, in the latter in the singular. Though shorn of its beams, the office of Sheriff is still a highly honourable one, nor are the duties light or unimportant which devolve upon these functionaries. The honour, moreover, is as costly as it is onerous; not only do the sheriffs receive no salary, but they are conventionally expected to disburse several thousand pounds in charities and hospitality. The inspection of the city gaols occupies no small portion of their time, nor do they enjoy much intermission from the incessant demands for eleemosynary aid. That an office so costly and troublesome should be an object of competition, is certainly a striking proof of the disinterested and patriotic spirit of the citizens of London. The Law Courts. With characteristic love of fair play, our ancestors laid it down as a leading principle, that "justice should be administered at every man's own door, in the presence of his neighbours." It is, indeed, a primary element of good government, that the dispensation of justice should be prompt and inexpensive, and without favour of persons. With the exception of the City of London, however, and a few other privileged places, the local tribunals were gradually superseded through the centralizing action of the superior courts. But even in London the civic franchises have been seriously diminished through the ruling of those courts that the privilege claimed by the citizens to be sued only before their own local tribunals is confined to real, and does not extend to transitory actions.