physical infirmities. The smaller charities of Leeds are the Benevolent Society, and the clothing, visiting, soup, and other charities. In every large town assistance of this nature is called for, either under circumstances of periodical and foreseen presence and difficulty, or for extraordinary and unlooked-for calamities. Places of Worship. The parish church, dedicated to St. Peter, is now (1839) being rebuilt upon its antient site. The late building is supposed to have been erected in the time of Edward III., and enlarged during the reigns of Henry VII. and VIII. The old vicarage-house was pulled down in 1823 to make room for the Free Market, when a large and handsome mansion was purchased in a very salubrious part of the town. The vicarage is worth upwards of 13007. per annum. In consequence of the disorderly proceedings at a contested election for the office of vicar in 1748, the patronage was vested in twenty-five trustees. The vicarial tithes were commuted in 1823 for 500l. a year, arising from 14,000., one half of which was the gift of R. F. Wilson, Esq., and the other half was raised by subscription. St. John's church was erected and endowed at the sole cost of John Harrison, Esq. This benefice is a perpetual curacy, and is now worth 3751. per annum. Trinity church was built by subscription, and endowed by the Rev. Henry Robinson, the nephew of the above-named John Harrison, and whose charities were also very numerous. The other Episcopal places of worship in the town are St. Paul's, St. James's, Christchurch, St. Mary's, St. Mark's (the three latter built under the Million Act), and St. George's church; the last was erected in 1837, and the entire cost of the building and endowment was defrayed by subscriptions, amounting to more than 11,0007. The townships of Hunslet, Holbeck, Beeston, Armley, Wortley, Farnley, Headingley, Kirkstall, Bramley, and Chapel Allerton have also episcopal chapels, and most of them several dissenting places of worship. The Catholics have two chapels in Leeds, and have lately erected a most splendid structure, to which the name of St. Ann's Catholic Church' has been given. The interior of this church consists of a nave and side aisles; its inside dimensions are 100 feet 6 inches long by 58 feet 6 inches wide, and the outside extreme extent, including the tower, is 124 feet 6 inches. The tower and spire rise to the height of 150 feet. It is built in the style of architecture which prevailed during the fifteenth century. The accommodations in the body of the church are for 600 persons, with sufficient room for 200 other sittings to be fixed at a future period; and in the gallery, which is a front one, and very spacious, 200 sittings are provided.' (Leeds Mercury, Oct. 27, 1838.) There are 32 dissenting chapels in Leeds. The Wesleyans have six chapels, two of which are the largest and handsomest chapels in the kingdom, and each contains 3000 sittings. The Warrenites, a sect who have separated from the Wesleyans, have four chapels. The New Connexion Methodists have three chapels the Primitive Methodists have two; the Female Revivalists have two. The Independents, a very numerous and influential body, have seven chapels, two of which are very costly in their accommodations. The Unitarians have two chapels, in one of which Dr. Priestley officiated during the earlier period of his ministry. The Baptists have two chapels. The Inghamites, a sect which originated at Leeds, and which approach their faith to the moderate Calvinists, have one chapel. The Friends, the Swedenborgians, and the Southcottians bave also each a place of worship. In 1835 the Leeds Cemetery' for the use of persons of all religious denominations was opened. It is situated near Woodhouse Moor, and occupies teu acres of land. The ground is laid out in walks and grassy lawns, and shaded with ornamental trees and shrubs. The same person is registrar and chaplain, and he and the sexton reside in houses adjoining to and forming part of the principal entrance. In the centre of the cemetery is an elegant chapel. The grounds afford space for 14,000 graves in addition to the vaults under the chapel, and an intended arcade to consist of a range of 48 spacious vaults, which may be subdivided to suit purchasers. Schools and Scientific Institutions.-The free grammarschool of Leeds was first endowed by the Rev. Sir William Sheafield, in 1552, but it has received many subsequent endowments from various individuals. In 1624 John Harrison gave the present site, and the former edifice was erected at his expense. A dwelling-house for the head-master was built in 1780, and the school was rebuilt in 1823, on an enlarged plan. In 1815 the trustees adopted a resolution by which the pupils receive the benefit of instruction in the elementary branches of the mathematics. In 1820 they further determined that the sons of all residents in Leeds should be freely taught, and that the masters should receive no presents. This school enjoys one of Lady Elizabeth Hastings's scholarships, and it has also a claim, in its turn, to a fellowship and two scholarships at Emanuel College, Cambridge, in case they are not filled up from the free-school at Normanton. There are also three scholarships of 207. per annum each, at Magdalen College, Cambridge, for scholars from Leeds, Halifax, and Heversham schools. The Charity Commissioners reported of this school that it was ably and satisfactorily conducted. The number of scholars is upwards of one hundred. The annual income of the school is more than 1600., and it possesses about 30007. stock. Fines on copyhold estates form an occasional source of income. The masters are liberally remunerated. St. John's charity-school, for the education and clothing of 80 girls, was established in 1705; it was originally intended for 40, and included their maintenance. In 1815 its object was again partially changed, and it was converted into an institution for bringing up girls of twelve years of age and upwards as household servants. The property of this charity produces about 4007. per annum, and arises from 59007. 3 per Cents., and various small investments. It is managed by subscribers who contribute one guinea a year. The Lancasterian school for 500 boys was commenced in 1811. We ascertain from the last Report that 8776 pupils have been received since its commencement; that 350 were received in 1837; and 323 left in that year; 477 were in the school at the date of the last Report (1838). A library is formed for the use of the elder boys, and the elements of mathematical drawing are taught. The committee consider that a carefully conducted common education is given at an annual cost of six shillings each pupil. The school owes much of its present efficiency to the untiring labours of its constant visitor Mr. B. Goodman. There are several other Lancasterian schools in the town, and the Wesleyan Methodists have four large day-schools on a system in many respects similar. In the central school of the National Society there are 267 boys and 166 girls. The whole num ber of Church Sunday-schools, including this, contain 2038 boys and 2012 girls. The Sunday-schools in connexion with the Sunday-school Union contain 4619 pupils, who are taught by 749 teachers. There are also several other Sunday-schools, which are not included in either of the above bodies. The Leeds infants' school was established in 1826; the building at present occupied was erected in 1836; the school is intended as a model-school, and for the instruction of teachers. The chief institutions at Leeds for supplementary education are the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, established in 1820, which has about 300 proprietary and ordinary members and annual subscribers; the Leeds Literary Institution, which has 500 members, and the Leeds Mechanics' Institute, which has 260 members. The Philosophical Society has an extensive museum, a laboratory, and a library, and it has published a highly interesting volume of Transactions. The Literary Institution has a large reading-room, an extensive library, frequent lectures, and a collection of philosophical apparatus. Connected with the Mechanics' Institute a peculiar feature requires notice. In 1837 thirteen of the Mechanics' Institutions of the West Riding were formed into a union, to embrace the following important objects:-1st, The interchange of opinion and advice on the local management of Mechanics' Institutes, and the consequent rapid diffusion of improved methods; and, 2nd, The procuring of first-rate lectures on scientific subjects, systematically arranged, and subordi nated to each other, so as to present a connected and comprehensive view of each, at a much lower pecuniary cost than can be done by isolated engagements.' This plan of the union of several institutions was strongly recommended in the First Publication of the Central Society of Education; it was brought forward at Leeds by Mr. Edward Baines; it has been found to answer as far as could be looked for during the first year of trial, and there can be no doubt but, with the modifications which time and experience will suggest, it will work well for all populous districts. There is a School of Medicine at Leeds, and a Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts which has periodical exhibitions. The Leeds library, founded m 1768, on the recommendation of Dr. Priestley, is one of the most extensive in the north of England. There are also the New Subscription Library, the Eclectic Library, the Parochial Library, and the Young Men's Library. A society has been formed during the last year for the establishment of Botanical and Zoological Gardens; they occupy about 20 acres of land, and are now rudely laid out, ponds have been dug and shrubs planted; the greenhouses and conservatories will be immediately erected. Eminent Persons. -Ralph Thoresby, the author of Ducatus Leodensis;' Dr. John Berkenhout, William Hey, Esq., F.R.S., a surgeon of great celebrity, Dr. Bentley, John Smeaton, Sir Thomas Dennison, Bishop Wilson, the Rev. Joseph Milner and his brother Dr. Isaac Milner, Dr. Priestley, David Hartley, and Edward Fairfax, the translator of Tasso, were all born at Leeds, or in the immediate vicinity. John Harrison, the philanthropist, was also a native and a resident of Leeds, where his name will be always venerated, not only for his active charities but for the purity of his life. (Thoresby's Ducatus Leodensis; Whitawa', Londis and Elmeti; Parsons's History of Leeds, &c.; Baines's Directory of Yorkshire; and Communications from Leeds.) LEEK. [STAFFORDSHIRE.] LEER (sometimes called Lier), a circle of the province of East Friesland in the kingdom of Hanover, with a population of 18,000 inhabitants. Leer, the capital, is a market town, situated in 53° 13' N. lat. and 7° 25' E. long., on the river Leda, which falls into the Ems about threequarters of a mile below the town. It is an unfortified well built place; it has one Lutheran, one Calvinist, and one Roman Catholic church, a Moravian chapel, a syna gogue, a grammar school, an orphan asylum, two hospitals, &c., and 6500 inhabitants, who carry on manufactures of linen, woollen, leather, thread, stockings, &c. There are 26 extensive brandy distilleries, 16 breweries, and some soap manufactories. Leer has a considerable trade in butter, cheese, and other articles: ships of 150 tons burden come up to the town by the Ems, and the number of vessels arriving and departing is from 250 to 300 in a year. LEET is the precinct or district within the cognizance or subject to the jurisdiction of a court-leet. Sometimes the term is used to denote the court itself, the full style of which is court leet and view of frank-pledge.' Each of these titles is frequently used alone; but the omission does not affect the character or the jurisdiction of the court. The courtleet is also called a law-day, as being the ordinary tribunal. I.-Origin of the Court-leet. One of the least improbable derivations of the word 'leet' seems to be that which deduces lath and leet from the Anglo-Saxon lathian,' or 'gelathian,' to assemble, both lath and leet indicating, under different modifications, a district within which the free male resiants (residents) or indwellers assembled at stated times, as well for preparation for military defence as for purposes of police and criminal jurisdiction. Of the first of these objects scarcely any trace exists in the modern leet. The title of the court as a 'view of frank-pledge' points to its former importance under the extensive system of police introduced or perfected by King Alfred, which required that all freemen above twelve years of age should be received into a decenna, dizein, decennary, or tithing, sometimes called a visne, or neighbourhood, and in Yorkshire and other parts of the North, ten-men-tale (a number, tale, or tally of ten men), and forming a society of not less than ten friborgs or freeborrows, freemen, each of whom was to be borhoe, that is, pledge or security for the good conduct of the others. So the German bürge, pledge or surety (fidejussor), appears to be derived from the verb borgen,' to give or take on credit. In this sense, in the Franklin's Tale,' Chaucer has Have here my faith to borw. And in the Squire's Tale,'-St. John to borwe.' In the ballad of The Rising in the North,' preserved in Percy's Reliques of Antient Poetry,' Lady Northumberland, proposing to her husband to place herself in the hands of Queen Elizabeth, as a surety or hostage for his submission, says,Thy faithful borrow I will be." When a party was accused of a crime, his tithing was to produce him within 31 days, or pay the legal mulet for the offence, unless they proved on oath that no others of the tithing were implicated in the crime, and engaged to produce him as soon as he could be found. For great crimes the offender was expelled from the tithing, upon which he became an outlaw. The duty of inspecting a decennary or tithing was called a view of frank-pledge, the freeborrows having received from their Norman conquerors the designation well known in Normandy of frank-pledges. The principal or eldest of these freeborrows. and as such the person first sworn, who was denominated sometimes the tithing-man or tithing-head, sometimes the headborough or chief pledge, sometimes the borsholder or borsalder (borhes-alder, or senior or ruler of the pledges), and sometimes the reeve, was in an especial manner responsible for the good conduct of each of his copledges, and appears to have had an authority analogous to that still exercised by the constable, an officer elected by the resiants for the preservation of the peace within the district constituting the leet, tithing, or constablewick. This officer is in many places called the headborough, which designation, as well as those of borsholder and tithing-man, is frequently used by the legislature as synonymous with that of constable. It is probable that all the frank-pledges were numbered according to rank or seniority, as in places where more than two constables are required, the third officer is called the thirdborough. Blackstone, misled by the sound, supposes headborough to be the chief person or head of a town or borough. This derivation will remind the readers of Hudibras' of the wooden bastile' (stocks), which None are able to break thorough, Until they're freed by head of borough.' The Holkham MS. of the Anglo-Saxon customary law says:-'A tithing (there called decimatio) contains, according to local usage, ten, seventy, or eighty men, who are all bound (debent) to be pledges (fidejussores) for each other. So that if any of them be accused (calumpniam patitur), the rest must produce him in court, and if he deny the offence, he is to have lawful purgation by the tithing (ie. by their swearing to their belief of his innocence). A tithing is in some places called a ward, as forming one society, subject to observation or inspection within a town or hundred. In some places it is called" borch," that is, pledges for the reasons above stated. In others it is called tithing (in the original, decimatio), because it ought to contain ten persons at the least.' The assizes of Clarendon directed 'that all the customs of frank-pledge should be observed; that a person receiving men into his house or land, or within his jurisdiction (soke), who were not in frank-pledge, should be answerable for their appearance, and that no franchise or liberty [LIBERTY] should exclude the sheriff from entering for the purpose of seeing that views of frank-pledge were duly held.' Leets are either public or private. The public leet is an assembly held in each of the larger divisions of a county, called a hundred, at which all freemen who are resianis within the hundred are bound to attend in person or by their representatives. These representatives were the reeves or chiefs of their respective tithings, whether designated by that or by any of the other appellations, each of whom was accompanied by four good and lawful men of, and elected by, the tithing which deputed them. This public court-leet was held formerly by the royal governor of the county, the ealdorman of the Saxons, the earl of the Danes, the comes or count of the Normans. This great functionary was accom panied by the shire-reeve, an officer elected by the county to collect the king's rents and the other branches of the royal revenue, who, in the absence of the caldorman, presided in the court, and governed the county as his deputy, whence he is called by the Normans a vice-comes or vicount, though in English he retained the name of shire-reeve or sheriff, the designation connected with his original and more humble duties. This public court, which was origin ally called the folkmote, being held successively in each hundred in the course of a circuit performed by the sheriff, acquired the name of the sheriff's tourn, by which name, though itself a court-leet, it is now distinguished from inferior private leets. The latter courts appear to have been created at a very early period by grants from the crown obtained by the owners of extensive domains (which afterwards became manors) [MANOR], and most frequently by rellgious houses, for the purpose of relieving their tenants and those who resided upon their lands from the obligation of attending the tourn or leet of the hundred, by providing a domestic tribunal, before which the resiants might take the oath of allegiance and the frank-pledges might be inspected, without the trouble of attending the tourn, and to which as an apparently necessary consequence, the criminal jurisdiction of the precinct or district was immediately transferred. In these private leets the grantee, called the lord of the leet, performed the duties which, in the public leet or tourn, after the ealdorman or earl had permanently absented himself, fell upon the sheriff. Their duties he might perform either personally or by his steward, though some writers, overlooking the authorities, have doubted whether the lord can sit in person. As a compensation for this, and his trouble in obtaining the franchise, it appears to have been the practice for the great land-owner who by his money and his influence had procured the grant of a private leet to claim from resiants a certain small annual payment by the name of certum leta. The tenants within the precincts of a private leet, whether in boroughs, towns, or manors, formed a body politic wholly independent of the tourn or leet of the hundred; whilst such upland, or unprivileged, towns as had not been formed into or included within any private leet, still appeared, each by its tithing-man or reeve and four men of the tithing, and formed part of the body politic of the hundred. Each of these communities appears to have exercised most of those rights which it has of late years been supposed could not exist without a royal incor poration. In many cities and boroughs the antient authority of the court-leet was in later times superseded by charter of incorporation, in some of which the important right of popular election of magistrates was preserved entire; whilst in the great majority of cases the right, though continued in name, was fettered, if not rendered altogether nugatory, by restrictions of various characters and degrees, which are still to be seen in incorporated boroughs not regulated by the Municipal Corporation Act. In other respects the course prescribed by these charters was adapted to the changes which had taken place in the habits of the people since the institution of the court-leet. Many of the functions of the magistrates in the new incorporations were borrowed from the then comparatively recent institution of justices of the peace. 11.-Constitution of the Court-leet. and aliens), resiant within the precinct for a year and a day, whether masters or servants, owe suit to (i.e. personal attendance at) this court, and here they ought to take the oath of allegiance. The suit to the court-leet is said to be real (i.e. regal or due to the king), because every one bound to do suit to such court as a resiant, is also bound to take the oath of allegiance unless he has taken it before. But where a non-resiant is bound by tenure to join with the resiants in making presentments at the court-leet, the duty is not suit-real, for he shall not be sworn to his allegiance, &c., at this leet. It is merely suit-service, i.e. a suit forming one of the services due from the tenant to his lord in respect of the tenure. For the non-performance of such suit the remedy is by distress, as in case of other suits-service or rents-service. A man who has a house and family in two leets, so as in law to be conversant or commorant in both, must do his suit to the leet where his person is commorant, viz. where his bed lies, but if he occasionally reside in both, he is bound to do suit to each. III.-Jurisdiction of the Court-leet. The Anglo-Saxon Hundred Court appears to have had jurisdiction in all causes, civil, criminal, and ecclesiastical; and also to have had the cognizance and oversight of all the communities of frank-pledges within the hundred, the members of these communities being bound for that purpose to attend at the Hundred Court by themselves or their elected representatives. The jurisdiction of the Hundred Court in ecclesiastical matters was taken away by an ordinance of William the Conqueror, forbidding the attendance of the bishop. It was the province of the court-leet, as well the public leet of the hundred, as the private leet, to repress all offences against the public peace, and to enforce the removal of all nuisances affecting the public convenience. The leet jury possess a legislative authority in establishing by-laws. By laws made in a court-leet and embodied in the presentments of the jury in respect of matters properly cognizable in the leet are binding upon resiants, but not upon strangers. [BY-LAW.] A by-law imposing a penalty of 57. per month for taking or placing an inmate without giving security to the overseers against any charge upon the parish was said by Lord Hale to be usual and valid. The leet jury elect their own chief magistrates, the reeve or constable, &c., of the private leet, and, as it would seem, the high constable (sometimes called the alderman) of the hundred. Before the Norman conquest, and probably for some time after, this court of the leet was, if not the sole, at least the ordinary tribunal for the administration of criminal justice in the kingdom. Until the reign of Henry I., when, with respect to certain heinous offences, the punishment of death was substituted for pecuniary compositions, no crime appears to have been punished by death except that called in the laws of that prince Openthifte,' a theft where the offender was taken with the mainour, that is, with the thing stolen upon him. [ROBBERY.] Of this crime, as requiring no trial or presentment, the leet had no cognizance. Other offences, of however serious a nature, subjected the party to a mulet, or pecuniary fine, the amount of which was in many cases determinate and fixed. This court is a court of record, having jurisdiction of such crimes as subject the offenders to punishment at common law. The exclusive exercise of criminal jurisdiction being inherent in the kingly office, all criminal matters are denominated pleas of the crown, and the courts in which such pleas are held are the king's courts, although granted to a subject; for such grant operates merely as an authority to the grantee to preside judicially by himself or his steward, and to take the profits of the court to his own use. The authority so exercised under the king's grant is called a lordship, and the grantee is said to be the lord of the leet. It may be claimed either by a modern grant or by prescription, i.e. long established user, from which an antient grant is presumed. The grantee, whether claiming under a grant still extant or by prescription, is commonly the lord of a manor, and the leet is usually coextensive either with the actual limits of the manor, or with its boundary at some former period. There may however be several leets in one manor, and a leet may be appendant to a town, or to a single house. It is not necessary that the lord of the leet should have a manor, or indeed that he should have any interest in the land or houses over which the leet jurisdiction ex- Offences to be merely inquired of in leets are arson, burtends. It is competent to the crown to grant to A a leet glary, escape, larceny, manslaughter, murder, rape, rescue, over the lands of B, and the grantee of a leet in his own sacrilege, and treason, and every offence which was felony land may convey the land and retain the leet. As the leet at common law. These offences being presented by the leet was originally granted for the more convenient administra-jury as indictors, and the indictment being certified to the tion of justice, the lord may be required by writ of man- justices of gaol delivery, the indictees may be arraigned; damus to hold the court. Upon non-user of a leet, the but they cannot be arraigned upon the mere production of grant is liable to be seised into the hands of the crown, the court-roll containing the presentments. Formerly all either absolutely as for a forfeiture, or quousque, that is offences inquirable in leets were also punishable there by until the defect be amended; the same consequence ensues amercement; but the power of adjudicating finally upɔn upon neglect to appoint an able steward and other neces- crimes in courts leet, whether public or private, is now sary officers, or to provide instruments of punishment. limited to such minor offences as are still left under the old system of pecuniary compensation. No matters are cognizable in the leet unless they have arisen or have had continuance since the last preceding court. Private leets are commonly held, as public leets must be, twice in the year, within a month after Easter, and within a month after Michaelmas, and even the former cannot, unless warranted by antient usage, be held at any other time except by adjournment. The court appears to have been formerly held in the open air. It should be held at its accustomed place, though, if sufficient notice be given, it may be held anywhere within the precinct. All persons above the age of twelve years and under sixty (except peers and clergymen, who are exempted by statute, and women An amercement is a pecuniary punishment which fol lows of course upon every presentment of a default or of any offence committed out of court by private persons. Amercements are to be mitigated in open court by affeerers (afferratores, from afferrare or afforare, afferer, to tax, or fix a price, hence the term afferage, used in the old French law to denote the judicial fixing of a price upon property to be sold). The affeerers by their oaths affirm the rea- | sonableness of the sum at which they have assessed the amercement. This course is sanctioned and confirmed by Magna Charta, which directs that amercements shall be assessed by the peers of the offender, i.e. the pares curiæ, or suitors of the same court. [JURY.] The amercements, being affeered, are estreated (extracted) from the court-roll by the steward, and levied by the bailiff under a special warrant from the lord or steward for that purpose, by distress and sale of the goods of the party, which may be taken at any place within the precinct, even in the street; or the lord may maintain an action of debt for such amercement. For a nuisance, the jury may amerce the offender, and at the same time order that he be distrained to amend it. The steward of a leet is a judge of record, and may take recognizances of the peace; and he may impose a fine for a contempt or other offence committed in court, as where a party obstructs the jury in the execution of their duties, or by public officers in the discharge of their duties out of court. The amount of the fine is at once fixed by the steward, and therefore, though sometimes loosely called an amercement, it is not to be affeered. When a suitor present in court refuses to be sworn, it is a contempt for which a reasonable fine may be imposed; so if the jury, or any of them, refuse to make a presentment, or depart without making it, or make it before all are agreed. But the fine must be set upon each person individually. For the fine so imposed the lord may distrain or bring an action of debt. In all matters within the cognizance of a court-leet the lord or steward has the same power as the judges in the superior courts. He has indeed no power to award imprisonment as a punishment for offences presented in the leet, such offences being the subject of amercement only; but he may imprison persons indicted or accused of felony before him, and persons guilty of a contempt in face of the court. If a nuisance within the jurisdiction of a leet be not presented at the court-leet, the sheriff cannot inquire of it in bis tourn, for that which is within the precinct of the leet is exempt from the jurisdiction of the tourn; which has merely the same jurisdiction as private leets in such parts of the hundred as are not included within any private leet. A private trespass cannot be presented at the court-leet, even though committed against the lord; and a custom to present and amerce for such trespasses is void. Of common right the constable is to be chosen by the jury in the leet; and if the party chosen be present, he ought to take the oath in the leet; if absent, before justices of the peace. If he refuse to accept the office, or to be sworn, the steward may fine him. If the party chosen be absent and refuses, the jury may present his refusal at the next court, and then he is amerced. But a person chosen constable in his absence ought to have notice of his election. A mandamus lies to the steward of a leet to swear in a constable chosen by the jury. By 13 & 14 Car. II., cap. 12, when a constable dies or goes out of the parish, any two justices may make and swear a new one until the lord shall hold a court-leet; and if any officer continue above a year in his office, the justices in their quarter-sessions may discharge him, and put another in his place until the lord shall hold a court. But the justices at sessions cannot discharge a constable appointed at the leet; and though they can appoint constables until the lord shall hold a court, they cannot appoint for a year, or till others be chosen. A person chosen constable who is deficient in honesty, knowledge, or ability, may be discharged by the leet or by the Court of King's 'Bench as unfit. The steward may set a reasonable fine on a constable or tithing-man refusing to make presentments. Though the leet has long ceased to be the principal and ordinary court of criminal jurisdiction, its power and authority have been enlarged by several statutes, which give it cognizances over offences newly created, and it does not appear to have been at any time directly abridged by legislative interference. The business of the court has chiefly seen affected by the creation of concurrent jurisdictions, particularly that of justices of the peace [JUSTICES OF THE PEACE], who have cognizance of the same matters, as well as of many others over which the court-leet has no jurisdiction. Justices of the peace are always accessible, whereas the court-leet is open only at distant intervals, and for a short period, unless it be continued by adjournment, which can only take place for the despatch of existing business. Another cause of the declension of these tribunals is that except in a very few cases the jurisdiction of the leet is confined to offences punishable at common law. In statutes providing for the repression of new offences, the leet is commonly passed over in favour of justices of the peace. Blackstone reckons the almost entire disuse and contempt of the court-leet and sheriff's tourn, the king's antient courts of common law formerly much revered and respected, among the mischievous effects of the change in the administration of justice by summary proceedings before justices of the peace.' It was not lowever left to the learned commentator to make this discovery. In the course of the very reign which witnessed the introduction of the modern system of justices of the peace, we find the Commons remonstrating against the violation of the Saxon principle of self-government and domestic administration of justice, resulting from the encroachments made upon the antient jurisdiction of the leet by giving to the new tribunal of the justices of the peace a concurrent jurisdiction in matters usually brought before the court leet, and an exclusive jurisdiction in other important matters. In the last year of Edward III. (1377), the Commons, by their petition in parliament, prayed the king that no justice of the peace should inquire of anything cognizable in the courts of lords who had view of frankpledge, or of anything cognizable in any city or borough within their district, and should attend only to the keeping of the peace and the enforcing of the statute of labourers. To this petition the king returned the following unsatisfactory answer:-'The statutes heretofore made cannot be kept if the petition be granted.' At this time, and until the passing of 27 H. VIII., c. 24, offences in leets were alleged to be against the lord's peace, not the king's. IV. Manner of holding the Court-leet. The common notice of holding the court is said to be three or four days; but it is now usual to give fifteen days' notice. An amercement at a court of which sufficient notice has not been given is void. But even where there is a clear prescriptive usage to give a certain number of days' notice, the resiants cannot disturb the holding of the court on the ground that such notice has not been given. The functions of the steward of a court-leet are mostly, if not wholly, judicial. Ministerial acts are to be performed by an inferior officer called the bedel or bailiff, who of common right is appointed by the lord or steward, though by custom he may be chosen by the jury, and sworn with the other officers chosen at the leet; and where, in a leet appendant to a borough, the bailiff so chosen has a discretionary power in impannelling the jury, this important function is a sufficient ground for issuing a quo warranto to inquire into the title of the party exercising it. The steward, at the customary or at a reasonable time before the holding of the court, issues a precept under his seal, addressed to the bailiff of the lect, commanding him to warn the resiants to appear at the time and place appointed for holding the court, and to summon a jury. The notice may be given in the church or market, according to the usage of the particular place; but it is said that if it be not an antient leet, personal notice is necessary. According to the course most usually pursued, the steward opens the court by directing the court to be proclaimed; and this being the king's court, it is necessary that three proclamations should be made. This is done by the bailiffs crying 'Oyes' (hear) three times, and then saying once, All manner of persons who are resiant or deciners and do owe suit royal to this leet, come in and do your suit and answer to your names upon pain and peril which shall ensue.' The bailiff then delivers to the steward a list of persons summened as jurymen, together with the suit or resiant roll. The suit-roll is then called over, and those resiants who are absent are marked to be amerced. The bailiff then makes three other proclamations, by crying 'Oyes' three times, and then saying 'If any man will be essoigned, come in, and you shall be heard. The steward having called for the essoigns, enters them. The essoigns should regularly be adjourned to the next court for examination in the court roll or book. Suit-real must be done in person; it cannot be done by attorney; nor can it, as it would seem, be released by the lord. But the suitor may be essoigned or excused pro hac vice, which is done generally upon the payment of an essoign penny. The constables are next examined as to their compliance with the orders received by them at the previous court. After this the leet jury is formed. This jury is chosen from the body of the suitors, and consists of not less than twelve, nor more than twenty-three. In some leets the jury continues in office for a whole year; in others the jurors are elected and discharged in the course of the day. A custom for the steward to nominate to the bailiff the persons to be summoned on the jury is valid. If a sufficient number of resiants to form a jury cannot be found, the steward has power to compel a stranger to serve, even though he be merely travelling through the district, and is actually riding on his journey at the time his services are required; but a woman, though a resiant, cannot be sworn. After the jury is chosen a foreman is named, who is sworn as follows:-'You shall well and truly inquire, and true presentment make, of all such articles, matters, and things as shall be given you in charge; the king's counsel, your companions', and your own, you shall keep secret and undisclosed. You shall present no man for envy, hatred, or malice; nor spare any man for fear, favour, or affection, or any hope of reward; but according to the best of your knowledge, and the information you shall receive, you shall present the truth and nothing but the truth. As soon as the foreman is sworn, three or four of the jury, taking the book together, are sworn to observe and keep, on their parts, the same oath which the foreman has taken on his part. The jury then receive a charge from the steward, pointing out the nature of their duties, and of the matters which ought to be presented. The jury make their presentments to the steward, who, in cases of treason or felony, must return the presentments (in these cases called indictments) to the justices of gaol delivery if the offenders be in custody; if they be at large, the indictments must be removed into the King's Bench by certiorari, in order that process may issue thereon. In all other cases the steward of the leet has power, upon the complaint of any party grieved by the presentment, or, on the other hand, upon any suspicion entertained as to the concealment of any offence, by non-presentment, to cause an immediate inquiry into the truth of the matter by another jury, though in the former case the more usual course now is by certiorari or traverse. A court-leet may be adjourned if the business of the particular court require it. This should be done by three proclamations. A court held on the 28th April, and adjourned, after the jury had been sworn, till the 15th December, which day was given them to make their presentments, has been held not to be necessarily unreasonable. It is not necessary that notice should be given of an order made by the leet for abating a nuisance; the party being within the jurisdiction, must take notice of it at his peril. For the same reason he is also bound to take notice of a by-law. V. Profits of Court. The ordinary profits of a court-leet are the fines, amercements, and essoign pence, and belong, in the case of a pub' leet or tourn, to the king; in the case of a private leet, to the grantee or lord of the leet. It would rather seem however that the lord is bound to account at the Exchequer for these profits, though he may discharge himself by showing his title. In a private leet also, the lord, as above mentioned, is entitled to a further payment, in the nature of a poll-tax, capitagium, or chevage, by the name of certum leta, sometimes called cert-silver, certainty-money, cert-money, and head-silver. When this payment is to be made on the day of the leet the defaulters may be presented and amerced. For such amercement the lord may distrain; but he cannot distrain for the cert-money itself, without a prescription to warrant such distress. In the absence of both amercement and prescription, the lord's remedy is by action of debt. LEEUWARDEN, situated in 53° 12′ N. lat. and 5° 43' E. long., is the chief town of the province of Friesland, in the kingdom of the Netherlands. It is surrounded with an earthen rampart and a wide moat; the broad straight streets are intersected by canals, the banks of which, as well as the ramparts, are planted with trees, and afford very pleasant promenades. The town, which is well built, has manufactures of linen and paper, and has a considerable nade, which is much facilitated by canals communicating with the sea, and with Dokkum, Franeker, and Haarlingen. or palace of the princes of Orange, as hereditary governor The principal buildings are the town-hall, the prinzenhof of the province, a synagogue, and twelve churches, the largest and handsomest of which contains several monuments of the princes of the house of Orange. The popu lation is 21,000. chattels by will or testament. The person to whom it is property on the legatee, which does not become complete A legacy is general when it is so given as not to amount Legacies are of two kinds, general and specific. to a bequest of a particular thing, or a particular fund of the testator; a specific legacy is a bequest of a specified thing, or a specific part of the testator's estate. The whole of the estate of a person deceased being liable for the payject to debts: but in case of a deficiency of the estate for ment of his debts, legacies of both kinds are of course subthe payment of the legacies, the general legatees can only be paid in equal proportion; and they must, as it is technically termed, abate. But a specific legatee is not compelled to abate or allow any thing by way of abatement, though his legacy may be taken for the payment of debts, in case there is still a deficiency to meet the demands on the estate the general legacies have all been applied to pay them and of the deceased. Specific legatees may however be compelled to abate as against one another. If the part of the testator's estate which is specifically given has been disposed of by the testator in his lifetime, or at the time of his death has ceased to exist in such form as described in his will, the general rule is, that the specific legatee loses his legacy, and is not entitled to any satisfaction out of the general estate: in such case the legacy is said to be adeemed, a term which has been derived from the Roman law, though the word 'adimere is not there used exactly in this sense partaking somewhat of the nature of both kinds already (Dig. 34, 4.) There is also a third description of legacy, mentioned, as a gift of so much money, with reference to a particular fund for payment. This is called a demonstrative legacy, but so far differs from one properly specific, that if the fund pointed out fails on any account, the legatee fic that it is not liable to abate in case of a deficiency of the will be paid out of the general assets; yet it is so far specigeneral assets. condition (sub-conditione), or upon the happening of any Legacies may be given either absolutely (purè) or upon contingency; provided it must happen, if at all, within the duration of a life or lives in being at the time of the de addition the period of gestation where the contingency cease of the testator and 21 years afterwards, allowing in depends upon the birth of a child. Legacies may also be given in such a way that though no condition is expressed in distinct terms, it may be clearly inferred that the testator did not intend his gifts to take effect till a definite time had arrived or a definite event had taken place. When a legatee has obtained such an interest in the legacy as to be fully entitled to the property in it, the legacy is said to be vested, and this property may be acquired long before the right to the possession of the legacy accrues. takes of the incidents of property so far as to be transmissi ble to the personal representatives of the party entitled to it, A vested legacy par vested is no property at all with respect to the legatee or to pass by his will; a legacy which is contingent or not This distinction of legacies, vested and not vested, seems vesting by the words 'dies legati cedit.' derived from the Roman law, which expresses the fact of testator, the legacy lapsed, or failed, and went to the person Formerly, in all cases when a legatee died before the appointed residuary legatee by the testator, or if there was place (as already observed with respect to a legacy given to none such, to the next of kin; and lapse might also take a legatee at a particular time, or upon condition, or the happening of a contingency) if the legatee died before the appointed time arrived, or if the condition was not performed, |