Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-1769)Sir William Blackstone Of Proceedings, in the Nature of Appeals
NOTES

     1.    Finch. L. 484.
     2.    Bro. Abr. t. atteint. 42.
     3.    Stat 1 Edw. c. 6, 5 Edw. III. c. 7, 28 Edw. III. c. 8, 34 Edw. III. c. 7.
     4.    Stat. 9 Ric. II. c. 3.
     5.    Bro. Abr. t. atteint. 42.
     6.    Finch. L. 486.
     7.    3 Inst. 164.
     8.    1593. M. 35 & 36 Eliz. Cro Eliz. 309.
     9.    Stiernhook de jure Goth. l. 1. c. 4.
   10.    See pag. 317.
   11.    Finch. L. 488. F. N. B. 102.
   12.    1 Roll. Abr. 308.
   13.    Lord Raym. 439.
   14.    Append. No. III. § 6.
   15.    Finch. L. 484.
   16.    4 Bur. 1099.
   17.    Co. Litt. 260.
   18.    Stra,. 1011.
   19.    Stat. 14 Edw. III. c. 6. 9 Hen. V. c. 4. 4 Hen. VI. c. 3. 8 Hen. VI. c. 12 & 15. 32 Hen. VIII. c. 30. 18 Eliz. c. 14. 21 Jac. I. c. 13. 16 & 16 Car. II. c. 8. (styled in 1 Ventr. 100. an omnipotent act) 4 & 5 Ann. c. 16. 9 Ann. c. 20. 5 Geo. I. c. 13.
   20.    Britt. pro‰m. 2, 3.
   21.    Judicia perverterunt, et in aliis erraverunt. [The perversion of judgments by erasing and altering records.] (Matth. Westm. A. D. 1289.)
   22.    Among the other judges, Sir Ralph Hengham chief justice of the king's bench is said to have been fined 7,000 marks, Sir Adam Stratton chief baron of the exchequer 34,000 marks, and Thomas Wayland chief justice of the common pleas to have been attainted of felony, and to have abjured the realm, with a forfeiture of all his estates; the whole amount of the forfeitures being upwards of 100,000 marks, or 70,000 pounds, (3 Pryn. Rec. 401, 402.) An incredible sum in those days, before paper credit was in use, and when the annual salary of a chief justice was only sixty marks. (Claus. 6 Edw. l. m. 6. Dugd. chron. ser. 26.) The charge against Sir Ralph Hengham (a very learned judge, to whom we are obliged for two excellent treatises of practice) was only, according to a tradition that was current in Richard the third's time, (Yearbook. M. 2 Ric. III. 10.) his altering out of mere compassion a fine, which was set upon a very poor man, from 13 s. 4 d. to 6 s. 8 d. for which he was fined 800 marks; a more probable sum that 7,000. It is true, the book calls the judge so punished Ingham and not Hengham: but I find no judge of the name of Ingham in Dugdale's Series; and Sir Edward Coke (4 Inst. 255.) and Sir Matthew Hale (1 P. C. 646.) understand it to have been the chief justice. And certainly his offenses was nothing very atrocious or disgraceful: for though removed from the king's bench at this time (together with the rest of the judges) we find him about twelve years afterwards made chief justice of the common pleas, (Pat. 29 Edw. I. m. 7. Dugd. chron. fer. 32.) in which office he continued till his death in 2 Edw. II. (Claus. 1 Edw. II. m. 19. Pat. 2 Edw. II. p. 1. m. 9. Dugd. 34. Selden. pref. to Hengham.) There is an appendix to this tradition, remembered by justice Southcote in the reign of queen Elizabeth; (3 Inst. 72. 4 Inst. 255.) that with this fine of chief justice Hengham a clock-house was built at Westminster, and furnished with a clock, to be heard into Westminster-hall. Upon which story I shall only remark, that the first introduction of clocks was not till an hundred years afterwards, about the end of the fourteenth century. (Encyclopedie. tit. horloge.)
   23.    1 Hal. P. C. 647.
   24.    1 Leon. 183. Co. Litt. 117. See pag. 331.
   25.    1 Hal. P. C. 648.
   26.    Stat. 14 Edw. III. c. 6.
   27.    In those days it was strictly true, what Ruggle (in his ignoramus) has humorously applied to more modern pleadings; "in nostra lege unum comma evertit totum placitum" ["in our law one comma overturns the whole plea"].
   28.    Styl. 207.
   29.    8 Rep. 156. etc.
   30.    Stat. 3 Jac. I. c. 8. 13. Car. II. c. 2. 16 & 17 Car. II. c. 8.
   31.    3 Hen. VII. c. 10. 13 Car. II. c. 2. 8 & 9 W. III. c. 11. 4 & 5 Ann. c. 16.
   32.    See chap. 4.
   33.    Finch. L. 480. Dyer. 250.
   34.    Stat. 27 Eliz. c. 8.