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places, the local tribunals were gradually superseded through the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.

The highest court of civic judicature was the Hustings Court, so
called from the Saxon word hustings, signifying the "house of things,"
or causes. It was presided over by the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, but
the proceedings were actually conducted, and judgment pronounced, by
the Recorder. All real and mixed cases, saving ejectment, fell within
the province of this court, which was held at Guildhall on every
alternate Tuesday. This court, however, though not formally abolished,
does not now sit, and all the business formerly transacted at it is
transferred to the Lord Mayor Court and the City Small Debts Court.
In ancient times, the registration of deeds, wills, and titles to land,