Exchequer
Encyclopedia
The Exchequer is a government department of the United Kingdom
responsible for the management and collection of taxation and other government revenue
s. The historical Exchequer developed judicial roles. It was named after the chequer-patterned table used in the medieval period for financial calculations.
(certainly by 1176, the 23rd year of the Reign of Henry II which is the date of the Dialogue concerning the Exchequer
), the Exchequer was split into two components: the purely administrative Exchequer of Receipt, which collected revenue, and the judicial Exchequer of Pleas
, a court concerned with the King's revenue.
According to the Dialogue concerning the Exchequer
, an early medieval work describing the practice of the Exchequer, the Exchequer itself referred to the cloth laid over a large table, 10 feet by 5 feet, with a lip on the edge of 4 'fingers', on which counters
were placed representing various values. The name referred to the resemblance of the table to a chess
board (French: echec).
The term "Exchequer" then came to refer to the twice yearly meetings held at Easter
and Michaelmas
, at which government financial business was transacted and an audit held of sheriff
s' returns.
Under Henry I
, the procedure adopted for the audit
would involve the Treasurer
drawing up a summons
sent to each Sheriff
, which they would be required to answer. The Treasurer would call on each Sheriff to give an account of the income in their shire
due from royal demesne
lands and from the county farm. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
would then question them concerning debts owed by private individuals. The results of the audit were recorded in a series of records known as the Pipe Rolls
.
Until the 19th c. the records of the Exchequer were kept in the "Pell Office
", adjacent to Westminster Hall. The office was so named after the skins (i.e. pelts) from which the rolls were made.
's reforms. It was abolished in 1834. Those government departments collecting revenue paid it directly to the Bank of England
.
By extension, "exchequer" has come to mean the Treasury
and, colloquially, pecuniary possessions in general; as in "the company's exchequer is low".
The term Court of the Exchequer was only used of the Exchequer department during the Scottish administration of Oliver Cromwell
, between 1655 and 1659.
In 1707, the Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act (6 Ann. c. 53) reconstituted the Exchequer into a court on the English model with a Lord Chief Baron and 4 Barons. The court adopted English forms of procedure and had further powers added to it.
From 1832 no new Barons were appointed, and their role was increasingly taken over by judges of the Court of Session
. By the Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 56) the Exchequer became a part of the Court of Session. One of the Lords Ordinary acts as a judge in Exchequer causes. The English forms of process ceased to be used in 1947.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
responsible for the management and collection of taxation and other government revenue
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
s. The historical Exchequer developed judicial roles. It was named after the chequer-patterned table used in the medieval period for financial calculations.
History of the Exchequer in England and Wales
At an early stage in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
(certainly by 1176, the 23rd year of the Reign of Henry II which is the date of the Dialogue concerning the Exchequer
Dialogue concerning the Exchequer
The Dialogus de Scaccario, or Dialogue concerning the Exchequer, is a mediaeval treatise on the practice of the English Exchequer written in the late 12th century by Richard FitzNeal...
), the Exchequer was split into two components: the purely administrative Exchequer of Receipt, which collected revenue, and the judicial Exchequer of Pleas
Exchequer of pleas
The Exchequer of Pleas or Court of Exchequer was a court that followed equity, a set of legal principles based on natural law, and common law, in England and Wales. Originally part of the curia regis, or King's Council, the Exchequer of Pleas split from the curia during the 1190s, to sit as an...
, a court concerned with the King's revenue.
According to the Dialogue concerning the Exchequer
Dialogue concerning the Exchequer
The Dialogus de Scaccario, or Dialogue concerning the Exchequer, is a mediaeval treatise on the practice of the English Exchequer written in the late 12th century by Richard FitzNeal...
, an early medieval work describing the practice of the Exchequer, the Exchequer itself referred to the cloth laid over a large table, 10 feet by 5 feet, with a lip on the edge of 4 'fingers', on which counters
Jeton
Jetons were token or coin-like medals produced across Europe from the 13th through the 17th centuries. They were produced as counters for use in calculation on a lined board similar to an abacus. They also found use as a money substitute in games, similar to modern casino chips or poker chips...
were placed representing various values. The name referred to the resemblance of the table to a chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
board (French: echec).
The term "Exchequer" then came to refer to the twice yearly meetings held at Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
and Michaelmas
Michaelmas
Michaelmas, the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel is a day in the Western Christian calendar which occurs on 29 September...
, at which government financial business was transacted and an audit held of sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
s' returns.
Under Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
, the procedure adopted for the audit
Audit
The general definition of an audit is an evaluation of a person, organization, system, process, enterprise, project or product. The term most commonly refers to audits in accounting, but similar concepts also exist in project management, quality management, and energy conservation.- Accounting...
would involve the Treasurer
Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The adjective for a treasurer is normally "tresorial". The adjective "treasurial" normally means pertaining to a treasury, rather than the treasurer.-Government:...
drawing up a summons
Summons
Legally, a summons is a legal document issued by a court or by an administrative agency of government for various purposes.-Judicial summons:...
sent to each Sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
, which they would be required to answer. The Treasurer would call on each Sheriff to give an account of the income in their shire
Shire
A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and in Australia. In parts of Australia, a shire is an administrative unit, but it is not synonymous with "county" there, which is a land registration unit. Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far...
due from royal demesne
Demesne
In the feudal system the demesne was all the land, not necessarily all contiguous to the manor house, which was retained by a lord of the manor for his own use and support, under his own management, as distinguished from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants...
lands and from the county farm. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
would then question them concerning debts owed by private individuals. The results of the audit were recorded in a series of records known as the Pipe Rolls
Pipe Rolls
The Pipe rolls, sometimes called the Great rolls, are a collection of financial records maintained by the English Exchequer, or Treasury. The earliest date from the 12th century, and the series extends, mostly complete, from then until 1833. They form the oldest continuous series of records kept by...
.
Until the 19th c. the records of the Exchequer were kept in the "Pell Office
Pell Office
The Pell Office was a department of the Exchequer in which the receipts and payments were entered upon two rolls of parchment, the one called the introitta, which was the record of monies received, and the other the exitus, or the record of monies issued. A statement of all moneys issued was...
", adjacent to Westminster Hall. The office was so named after the skins (i.e. pelts) from which the rolls were made.
After the Union
The Exchequer became unnecessary as a revenue collecting department as a result of William PittWilliam Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...
's reforms. It was abolished in 1834. Those government departments collecting revenue paid it directly to the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
.
By extension, "exchequer" has come to mean the Treasury
HM Treasury
HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy...
and, colloquially, pecuniary possessions in general; as in "the company's exchequer is low".
History of the Exchequer in Scotland
The Scottish Exchequer dates back to around 1200 and had a similar role of auditing and deciding on royal revenues as in England. The Scottish exchequer was slower to develop a separate judicial role, and it was not until 1584 that it became a court of law, separate from the King's council. Even then, the judicial and administrative roles never became completely separated into two bodies, as with the English Exchequer.The term Court of the Exchequer was only used of the Exchequer department during the Scottish administration of Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, between 1655 and 1659.
In 1707, the Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act (6 Ann. c. 53) reconstituted the Exchequer into a court on the English model with a Lord Chief Baron and 4 Barons. The court adopted English forms of procedure and had further powers added to it.
From 1832 no new Barons were appointed, and their role was increasingly taken over by judges of the Court of Session
Court of Session
The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland, and constitutes part of the College of Justice. It sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh and is both a court of first instance and a court of appeal....
. By the Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 56) the Exchequer became a part of the Court of Session. One of the Lords Ordinary acts as a judge in Exchequer causes. The English forms of process ceased to be used in 1947.
Table
The Exchequer was named after a table used to perform calculations for taxes and goods in the mediaeval period. The table was ten feet by five feet and had a raised edge or lip on all sides of about the height of four fingers to ensure that nothing fell off it. It was covered by a black cloth bearing green stripes of about the breadth of a human hand, in a chequer-pattern. The spaces represented pounds, shillings and pence.See also
- FiscFiscUnder the Merovingians and Carolingians, the fisc applied to the royal demesne which paid taxes, entirely in kind, from which the royal household was meant to be supported, though it rarely was...
- Lord Chancellor of ScotlandLord Chancellor of ScotlandThe Lord Chancellor of Scotland was a Great Officer of State in pre-Union Scotland.Holders of the office are known from 1123 onwards, but its duties were occasionally performed by an official of lower status with the title of Keeper of the Great Seal...
- Auditor of the Exchequer in ScotlandAuditor of the Exchequer in ScotlandThe Scottish Exchequer had a similar role of auditing and deciding on Royal revenues as in England. It was not until 1584 that it also became a court of law, separate from the King's Privy Council. Even then, the judicial and administrative roles never became completely separated into two bodies,...
- Court of Exchequer (Scotland)Court of Exchequer (Scotland)The Court of Exchequer was formerly a distinct part of the court system in Scotland, with responsibility for administration of government revenue and judicial matters relating to customs and excise, revenue, stamp duty and probate...
- Irish Chancellor of the ExchequerIrish Chancellor of the ExchequerThe Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland was a member of the government of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland under the Kingdom of Ireland. He headed the Exchequer of Ireland and sat as an MP in the Irish House of Commons....
- Exchequer of IrelandExchequer of IrelandThe Exchequer of Ireland was a body in the Kingdom of Ireland tasked with collecting royal revenue. Modelled on the English Exchequer, it was created in 1210 after John of England applied English law and legal structure to the Kingdom of Ireland...
- Lord Chief Baron of the ExchequerLord Chief Baron of the ExchequerThe Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" of the English Exchequer of pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who presided in the equity court and answered the bar i.e...
- Chancellor of the ExchequerChancellor of the ExchequerThe Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
- Exchequer of ChesterExchequer of ChesterThe Exchequer of Chester was a fiscal court based in the County Palatine of Chester. In 1071 the Earldom of Chester was created, and due to the Earldom's size it ruled Chester almost entirely independently as a County Palatine. This arrangement necessitated a large number of officials, including...
- History of the English fiscal systemHistory of the English fiscal systemThe history of the English fiscal system affords the best known example of continuous financial development in terms of both institutions and methods. Although periods of great upheaval occurred from the time of the Norman Conquest to the beginning of the 20th century, the line of connection is...
Further reading
- Keir, D. L., The Constitutional History of Modern Britain 1485-1937. Third Edition. A & C Black, 1946.
- Steel, AnthonyAnthony Steel (historian)Anthony Bedford Steel was a British historian, specialising on medieval England. He was a fellow of Christ's College Cambridge, and principal of Cardiff University from 1949–66. Among his publications were a monograph on the reign of Richard II, as well as a biography of 19th-century writer...
The Receipt of the Exchequer, 1377-1485. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954. - Warren, W. L., The Governance of Norman and Angevin England 1086-1272. Edward Arnold, 1987. ISBN 0-7131-6378-X
- Madox, ThomasThomas MadoxThomas Madox was a legal antiquary and historian, known for his publication and discussion of medieval records and charters; and in particular for his History of the Exchequer, tracing the administration and records of that branch of the state from the Norman Conquest to the time of Edward II...
(1711/1769), History of the Exchequer - Murray, Athol L, Burnett, Charles J., The seals of the Exchequer of Scotland. Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. 123 (1993) 439-52
- National Archives of Scotland guide to Exchequer Records.
- Dialogue concerning the Exchequer