Exchequer of Pleas

The term Exchequer of Pleas describes an aspect of the Court of Exchequer: a 'collateral and derivative department of its jurisdiction', namely its function as a Court of Common Law for the adjudication of Civil Pleas. For much of its history the Exchequer had a threefold jurisdiction: as a Court of Revenue, a Court of Civil Pleas and a Court of Equity. The 'Plea side' of the Court was administered by the Office of the Clerk of the Pleas in the Exchequer.

The Exchequer was, in origin, a Court of Crown Revenue, which had split from the curia regis in the 1190s. The extension of its jurisdiction from collecting and protecting the revenues of the Crown to cover the adjudication of civil pleas (i.e. lawsuits between individuals) was described in the 19th century as 'obviously and confessedly grounded on usurpation, now confirmed by immemorial usage, founded on a tacit but universal acknowledgment of its utility and convenience'.

From its foundation, the Exchequer had by royal prerogative exercised a limited jurisdiction in civil pleas (particularly in cases where the resolution of a civil suit might serve to expedite the main business of the court), but it lost much of its common law jurisdiction after the formation of the Court of Common Pleas. Subsequently, however, a legal fiction was employed (the writ of quominus), which allowed the Exchequer to look at "common" cases between subject and subject; this discretionary area was soon significantly expanded, and the Exchequer soon regained its standing in common law matters.

By the end of the 15th century, the Exchequer was exercising a threefold jurisdiction: as well as functioning as a Court of Revenue and as a Court of Common Pleas, it had begun to function also as a Court of Equity. The 'Equity side' of the Exchequer was separate from the 'Plea side'; it sat within the Office of the King's Remembrancer, rather than the Office of the Clerk of the Pleas. Equity, a set of legal principles based on natural law and common law, was properly the remit of the Court of Chancery; however the latter's reputation for tardiness and expense resulted in much of its business transferring to the Exchequer. Cases in equity were nominally taken by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but in practice were heard by the Barons of the Exchequer (and latterly by the Chief Baron of the Exchequer sitting alone in the Exchequer Chamber).

The Court of Exchequer in Equity and the Court of Chancery, having similar jurisdictions, drew closer together over the years until an argument was made during the 19th century that having two seemingly identical courts was unnecessary. As a result, the Exchequer lost its equity jurisdiction in 1841, though it retained its remaining jurisdiction (on the 'Revenue side' and the 'Plea side') and continued as such to function as a judicial body. Following the passing of the Judicature Acts of 1873 and 1875, the Court of Exchequer was consolidated together with other ancient Courts in England to form the Supreme Court of Judicature: initially, the officers and business of the old court were transferred to an Exchequer Division of the new High Court but, by an Order in Council on 16 December 1880, both the Exchequer Division was merged, along with the Common Pleas Division, into the Queen's Bench Division and the old Exchequer office of Lord Chief Baron was abolished.