as may be incurred by the party; and their evidence is given ore tenus, and if required, is taken down in writing, and afterwards read to and signed by the witnesses in open court. In case of an appeal from the verdict of the jury to the Twenty-four Keys, these deposi tions are read to and commented upon by the respective advocates, and are received by the house as sufficient, and therefore preclude the necessity of examining the witnesses viva voce again.

The verdict of the jury is always recorded in the liber placitorum, and annexed to, or written at the foot of the declaration, and must be signed by them.

OF THE COURT OF EXCHEQUER.

THE Court of exchequer, from its superintendent authority in regard to the royal revenue, is the proper court for proceeding against those who transgress the laws of the customs and excise, in order to recover the penalties and forfeitures due to the crown, and they must be prosecuted by the attorney-general. This court also imposes fines, and de termines the right of tithes, which, previous to the act of Tynwald*, passed in the year 1777, had been cognizable in the ecclesiastical courts of the island. In this court the governor is empowered by the act to make such orders and rules, from time to time, for the better regulating the practice and proceedings thereof, as occasion shall require.

* Appendix, Court of Exchequer.

OF THE DEEMSTERS, AND THE PRACTICE OF THEIR COURTS.

THE deemsters of the Isle of Man are judges of the highest antiquity, and, till the passing of certain modern acts of Tynwald, which have abridged their authority, possessed an higher magisterial power, both in the administration of the common and criminal law of the land, than any other judges in Europe. It is recorded that they governed the people by a jus non scriptum, which was committed to their loyalty and fidelity as a thing holy and sacred, and by them communicated to posterity by oral tradition; consequently, whatever they juridically pronounced was received as law and this custom they received from the Druids, who, as observed by Cæsar*, were peculiarly remarkable for their proficiency in the study of the law, and would not by writing prostitute any thing to the vulgar; whence, from all antiquity, and even to a recent period, the Manks designated their common law by the title of breast-laws, as being deposited in the breasts of their deemsters and keys, and which only on important occasions were divulged to the people.

It is recorded in an ancient ordinance of Sir John Stanley, King of Man, in 1422, in these words: "As to the writing of laws, there never was any written since King Orrey's days,

* Com. 1. 6. et de Bello Gall. 6. 12.

but in the time of Michael Blundel, that we have knowledge of*."

The deemsters were always the lord's chief judges of the common law, and privy-councillors; in the ancient court rolls they are styled "Justiciarii domini regis;" and to this day, in civil matters, their jurisdiction is most extensive and unlimited; and in all public acts and instruments of legislation, they sign their names apart from the other officers. From whence, and from the nature of their oath, it may be inferred, that the deemsters are not in strictness members of council, but attend the meetings of that body to give their advice, bearing a resemblance to the attendance of the twelve judges upon the House of Lords.

The following oath is administered on a deemsters' appointment. By this book, and by the holy contents thereof, and by the wonderful works that God hath miraculously wrought in heaven above, and in the earth beneath, in six days and seven nights; I John Lace do swear, that I will, without respect of favour or friendship, love or gain, consanguinity or affinity, envy or malice, execute the laws of this isle justly, betwixt our sovereign lord the King, and his subjects within this isle, and betwixt party and party, as indifferently as the herring's back-bone doth lie in the midst of the fish."

Owing to the longitudinal formation of the island, the deemsters were always two in number; and their situation, for the more conve

Orrey reigned in the tenth century, and was the first king. of the Danish line.

nient administration of justice, is at the north and south districts, where all matters of litigation that can arise, either by the trespasses slanders, assaults, batteries, debts, contracts or dealings of the inhabitants, are weekly, or oftener, heard and determined by them without the intervention of a jury; but from their judgment an appeal lies to the governor

in council.

By the practice of the deemsters' court, if any person has cause of complaint against another, he must apply to the deemster for a summons or process, requiring the defendant to appear at the next court, together with a summons for witnesses. This process must be served on the defendant by the coroner, or left at his usual place of abode, three days before the sitting of the court, unless in cases of violent assault and battery, or other urgent matter, when a summons on the day before the holding the court has been deemed sufficient. On the day appointed, the cause is called in its order by the deemster, and repeated aloud by the coroner. In case the defendant neglects to appear and answer, the plaintiff or his advocate moves the deemster for a presentment against him, which is forthwith granted, and a constable awarded by the governor. At the succeeding court, the defendant is brought up in the custody of the constable; and, in like manner, should a witness neglect or refuse to appear, a presentment issues against him, and

* See the trespass act of 1753, and its various and extensive summary powers, in Appendix.