Exchequer. The ancient Exchequer in England was a branch of the King's Court, in which sheriffs and others were held to account for the revenues they received, and questions relating to the royal revenue were decided. The name exchequer (Fr. eschiquier in the 12th century, from eschec, 'check' at chess) was derived from the checkered tablecloth on which money was counted, a practice which was continued in the Scottish Court of Exchequer down to modern times. In England the financial department of the court was called the receipt of the Exchequer. The Chancellor of the Exchequer was originally appointed as under-treasurer, to check the proceedings of the Lord High Treasurer (see TREASURY). He sat as a judge on the 'equity side' of the Court of Exchequer, or on the rehearing of cases in which the other judges of the court were equally divided in opinion. But in modern times his position has been that of first finance minister of the crown; the office is sometimes held by the prime-minister, when he is a member of the House of Commons. The last case in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer sat as a judge was in 1735; the decision then given by Sir Robert Walpole is said to have caused great satisfaction; but his successors have not figured among the judges except on occasions of state and ceremony. The receipt of public revenue now belongs to the several revenue departments, under the supervision of the Exchequer and Audit Department and the Treasury. See Madox, History of the Exchequer (1711; new ed. 1769). For exchequer tallies, see TALLY.
The Court of Exchequer was originally, as has been stated, a revenue court, but it obtained a general common-law jurisdiction by means of the writ of Quominus, wherein it was set forth that the plaintiff, by reason of the wrong done to him by the defendant, was deprived of the means of discharging his debt to the crown. This fiction was abolished in 1832. The ordinary judges of the court were the Chief Baron and three puisne Barons, so called, according to Selden, 'because they were anciently made of such as were barons of the kingdom.' The equity jurisdiction of the court is said by Coke to date from a statute of 1542; it was transferred to the Court of Chancery in 1842. In 1875 the Exchequer became a division of the High Court of Justice. The Exchequer Division is now merged in the Queen's Bench Division; the office of Chief Baron has been abolished, and no judges are now appointed with the title of Baron. See COMMON LAW, and Coke's Fourth Institute.
The Court of Exchequer Chamber was formerly a court of all the judges in England assembled for decision of matters of law. The ordinary jurisdiction of the Court of Exchequer Chamber was as a court of error, in which capacity it revised the judgments of the three courts of common law; the decisions of each court being revised by the judges of the other two. An appeal now lies from each division of the High Court of Justice to the Court of Appeal.
In Scotland, before the Union, the Exchequer was the king's revenue court. It consisted of the treasurer, the treasurer-depute, and as many of the lords of Exchequer as the king was pleased to appoint. The Scottish Court of Exchequer was continued by the 19th article of the treaty of union, until a new court should be established, which was effected in 1707. A privative jurisdiction was conferred on the court as to questions relating to revenues and customs of excise, and as to all honours and estates real and personal, and forfeitures and penalties arising to the crown within Scotland. But questions of title to lands, honours, &c. were reserved to the Court of Session. The judges of the court were the high treasurer of Great Britain, the chief baron, and four other barons; and English barristers as well as Scotch advocates were allowed to practise in the court. In cases of difficulty, and where there was a collision of jurisdictions, it was formerly not unusual to hold conferences with the barons; and the form of desiring the conference was to send the Lord Advocate, and, in his absence, the Solicitor-general, to request a meeting, though it has been doubted whether they were bound to carry the message. In 1832 it was enacted that successors should not be appointed to such of the barons as should retire or die, and that the duties of the court should be discharged by a judge of the Court of Session. And in 1886 the Court of Exchequer was abolished, and the jurisdiction transferred entirely to the Court of Session.
The Court of Exchequer Chamber in Ireland was established in 1800, but was abolished as an intermediate Court of Appeal between the Irish Courts and the High Court in England.