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Show 74 ATROCIO'GS JUDGF.S. (A. D HiS. hurt or infan1y of the same right or title by rca on of any such writing, but the same right and title tand now the more clear and open by that any such writing have been mar1e against them." There are many decisions of Chi~f J n.: ticc Billing on dry points of law to be found in the Year Books, but there is only one other trial of historical importance 1ncntioned in which he took any part; and it is n1uch to be feared that on thi occasion he inflamed, instearl of oothing, the violent pa ... .ions of his master, with whom he had Lecmne a special fayorite. Edward IV., after repealed quarrels and reconciliations with his brother, the Duke of Clarence at la ·t broucrht him to ' 0 trial, at the bar of the riouMe of Lords, on a charge of high treason. The judges were summoned to at tend and Lord Chief Ju tice Billing was their n1outhpiece. 'V e have only a very defective account of this trial, and it would appear that nothing was proved against the fh··t prince of the blood, ex· cept that he had complained of the unlawful conviction of 13urdet, who had been in his cn:ice ; tl1at he had accu ~ed the kinO' of 1 r . . a c ea mg 111 n1ngtc, and ha<l cast on1e doubt ' on hi' lrcor itimacy '· th'a t l1 e 11 n. d H· H1. n ccu.1 ln•. ·erva.nt."" to ""'wear that they .w ould be tru e t o 1u ·r n, w1· t1 1 ou t any re._ ervation of then· · ·a.l le<oY mncc to the1·1· so ~· et ·e 1· gn ; anu_, that he had -· urrcptl·~ tiOu sly obtained and pre·erYed an atte.tecl copy of an act of Parliam.e nt' pa sed d Ul .·m g. t 11 e 1a te u urpatw. n, declan.n g ln.m next hen· to the c1.o wn a f ter the n1ale is ue of IIrnry Vr · The Duke of Buckinrrl ·a · t> 1am pre ·1 eel as hi rrh steward ruH1 111 that capacity ouo·ht to 1 . 1 · _, 0 o 1aYe mu down the law to the' peers; b.u t, to less~ en his re pon ·I b1·l ·t ty, he put the qu e.· tion to the CJU d<"Y es ' "whethe1 · tl le matters proved against the Duke of larence an1ountecl, in point of law, to high treason." Chief A. D. 1482.] THO)!AS BILLIKG. 75 Justice Billing an ~we reel in the affirmative. Therefore a unanin1ous verdict of guilty wa · gi \·en, and sentence of death was pronounced in the nsunl form. I dare say Billing would not have hc: itateclin deelaring lds opinion that the beheading might be com1nuted to drowning in a butt of nullmsey wine; but this story of Clarence'~ exit, once so current, i. now generally discredited, and the helicf i:3, that he was priYalely executed in the Tower, according to hi: entence. Lord Chief Jus lice l~illing clljoycu the felicitous fate accorded to very few per.~ on~ of ~1ny eli tinction in tho c titncs -that he never was imprisoned, that he ne\rcr was in exile, and that he died a natural death. In the spring of the year 1482, he was struck with apoplexy, and he expired in a few day· - fulfilling his vow- for he remained to the last chi<.f justice of the 1\:ing's Bench, after a. tenure of office for seventeen year·, in the mid ·t of civil \\'ar~ and revolution . lie ama''. eu in1mense wealth, but dying chilLlle · ·, it went to distant relations, for wltotn he could have felt no tenderness. Notwith'" tanding hi ~ worldly prosperity, few would envy him. l-Ie might have been feared and flattered, but he could not have been belove l or respected, by his contemporarie" ; and his name, contrasted with tho._c of Forte~cue and J\iarkham, was long used as an im per 'Onalion of the n1o'"t hollow, deceitful, and sclfi h qualities which can disgrace n1ankind. |