KING’S BENCH

The supreme court of common law In England, being so called because the king used formerly to sit there In person, the style of the court being “coram ipso rege” It was called the “queen’s bench” in the reign of a queen, and during the protectorate of Cromwell it was styled the “upper bench.” It consisted of a chief justice and three, puisne justices, who were by their office the sovereign conservators of the peace and supreme coroners of the land. It was a remnant of the aula regis, and was not originally fixed to any certain place, but might follow the king’s person, though for some centuries past it usually sat at Westminster. It had a very extended jurisdiction both in criminal and civil causes; the former in what was called the “crown side” or “crown office,”‘ the latter in the “plea side,” of the court. Its civil jurisdiction was gradually enlarged until it embraced all species of personal actions. Since the judicature acts, this court constitutes the “king’s bench division” of the “high court of justice.” See 3 Bl. Comm. 41-43.