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Show 42 ATROCIOUS JUDGES. field, and was taken prisoner with hitn nt the battle of Lewe. The royal authority being rce ... tabli 'heel by the vi ·Lory at Evesham, he rc umcd his functions a:s a pui ' DC judg<: : and for two years 1norc there arc entries proving that he continued to act in that capacity. At last, on the 8th of l\Iar<'h, 12G8, [)2 IIenry III., he was appointed "capitali jm;tieinrius ad placita coram rege tcnenda," (chief ju ti ciary for lwh1ing pleas before the king) ; but unless his fee or prc~ents were very high, he must have found the r cwanl of hi' labors in his judicial dignity, for his alary was Ycry 1nall. llwrh Bi<Yod and IIucrh le De pencer had received 1000 marks 0 0 a year, "ad se u tentandum in ofll.cio capitali' ju.~ titiarii Anglim," (for su taining themselves in the oflice of chief ju 'tice of England,) but Chief J u. tice de Bru."' was rcduccll to 100 marks a year; that i .,, GGZ. 13s. 4d. Yet uch delight did he take in playing the judge, that he quietly submittcu both to los. of po·wer and. lo of profit. He re1nained chief ju ticc till the conclusion of thi reign, a period of four years ancl a half, <luring which he alternately went circuits and pre.~iJed in \V e.Jn1in ter II all. None of his decisions have come clown to u., and we arc very imperfectly informed re pecting the nature of the ca. cs w hieh crt me beforr him. The bounLlarics of juri diction bet ween the rarlinment, ihe Aula Regi , and the ri ing tribunal afterward:S called the Court of ICing's Bench, seem to have been then very much undefined. On the demise of the crown, Robert de Brus wa. uc~irous of being reappointed. lie wa:s so 1nuch n1ortificd by being pa sed over, that he resolved to renounce Eno-lancl forever; 0 and he would not even wait to pay hi. duty to Eu wnrll I., now returning from the holy war . ROGER LE BRABACO~. 43 The ex-chief justice po. ted off for his nali vc country, and establi h eel him~elf in his en ·tic of Loclunaben, where he mnu. ed him elf by ilting in per on in his court baron, and where all that he laid down was, no douLt, heard with reverence, however lightly his la\v 1nighL have been dealt with in 1Ve tminstcr Ila11. Occa~ ioually he paid Yisit::; to the court of hi ... kin:nnan, Alexander III., but he doe not appear to have taken any part in Scotti. h politic. till the untirnely death of Lhat rnonarch, which, from a :;tate of peace and prosperity, plunged the country into confu ion and n1i ~ ery. Th 're wa now only the life of an infant fetnale residino- ' 0 in a distant lancl, between hin1 and. bi plau .. ible elaim to the Scolti ·h crown. lie was norninated olle of the n o·otiators <.> for ettling the 1narriage bet vll'een her and the on of Ed ward. I., which, if it had taken place, would have entirely changed the hi tory of the island of Great Britain. From his intimate know ledge both of Scotland and England, it is probable that the "Artide " were chiefly of hi::; franling, and. it 1nust be allowecl that they are ju ~t null equitable. For his own interest, a \vell as for the independence of his native country, he took care to ·tir)ulate that, ' failin o· J\Iaro-aret and her i ue <.> 0 ' the kingdon1 of Scotland ::;hou ld. return to the ncare t heir::;, to who1n of right it ougl1t to return, wholly, freely, absolutely, and without any subjection." The l\Iaid of Norway having died on her voyage home, the ex-chief ju~tice im1ncdiat ·ly a.ppeared at P rth with a iorn1idable retinue, ::U1l1 wa:-; in hope"' of being immediately crownc·d king nt Seone; - and he had n early nrcomplishecl his obje •I, for tTolm Baliol, hi~ 1no t forn1iuablc competitor in point of right, always feeble and r en1i"s in action, wa al>--ent in :England. But, fron1 the vain wi ~h to prevent future dis- |
