in the British jurisprudence, an ancient court of record, in which all causes concerning the revenues and rights of the crown are heard and determined, and where the crown revenues are received. It took this name from the cloth that covered the table of the court, which was party-coloured, or chequered.

This court is said to have been erected by William the Conqueror, its model being taken from a like court established in Normandy long before that time. Anciently its authority was so great, that it was held in the king's palace, and the acts thereof were not to be examined or controlled in any other of the king's courts; but, at present, it is the last of the four courts at Westminster.

In the exchequer, some reckon seven courts, viz., those of pleas, accounts, receipts, exchequer-chamber (which is an assembly of all the judges on difficult matters in law), errors in the exchequer, errors in the king's bench, and, lastly, the court of equity in the exchequer.

But the exchequer, for the dispatch of business, is generally divided into two parts; one of which is chiefly conversant in the judicial hearing and deciding of all causes relating to the king's coffers, formerly termed the exchequer of accounts; the other is called the receipt of the exchequer, as being principally employed in receiving and paying of money.

Vol. VIII. Part I.

(B) In Vol. III. p. 613, under the article BILL, the old duty on stamps is mentioned, and the new entirely omitted.

The following are the duties on such stamps for the year 1805. The duty on promissory notes for the payment of money to the bearer on demand, for a sum not exceeding 1l. 1s. is 3d. For a sum exceeding 1l. 1s. and not 2l. 2s.; 6d. For a sum exceeding 2l. 2s. and not 5l. 5s.; 9d. For a sum exceeding 5l. 5s. and not 20l.; 1s.

Promissory notes by the Bank or Royal Bank of Scotland, or the British Linen Company, payable to the bearer on demand, which may within three years after the date be reissued after payment, when the sum amounts to, and shall not exceed 100l.; 5s.

Bill of exchange, draft, order, or promissory or other note, payable to the bearer on demand, for 40s. and not exceeding 5l. 5s.; 8d.—Otherwise than to the bearer on demand, when the sum shall amount to 40s. and shall not exceed 5l. 5s.; 1s.

Bills of exchange, draft, order, or promissory note for the payment of money, where the sum shall exceed 5l. 5s. and not 30l.; 1s. 6d. Exceeding 30l. and not 50l.; 2s. Above 50l. and not 100l.; 3s. Above 100l. and not 200l.; 4s. Above 200l. and not 500l.; 5s. Above 500l. and not 1000l.; 7s. 6d.

Foreign bills of exchange drawn in sets, where the sum shall not exceed 100l. for each bill in each set, 1s. Exceeding 100l. and not 200l.; 2s. Exceeding 200l. and not 500l.; 3s. Exceeding 500l. and not 1000l.; 4s. Exchequer, ters likewise cognizable by this court; where there also sits a puisne-baron, who administers the oaths to high sheriffs, bailiffs, auditors, receivers, collectors, comptrollers, surveyors, and teachers of all the customs, &c.

The exchequer in Scotland has the same privileges and jurisdiction as that of England; and all matters competent to the one are likewise competent to the other.

Black Book of the Exchequer, is a book under the keeping of the two chamberlains of the exchequer; said to have been composed in 1175 by Gervais of Tilbury, nephew of King Henry II. and divided into several chapters. Herein is contained a description of the court of England, as it then stood, its officers, their ranks, privileges, wages, perquisites, power, and jurisdiction; and the revenues of the crown, both in money, grain, and cattle. Here we find, that for one shilling, as much bread might be bought as would serve 100 men a whole day; that the price of a fat bullock was only 12 shillings, and a sheep four, &c.

Chancellor of the Exchequer. See Chancellor.

Exchequer Bills. By statute 5 Ann. c. 13, the lord treasurers may cause exchequer bills to be made of any sums not exceeding £1,500,000. for the use of the war; and the duties upon houses were made chargeable with 4l. 10s. per cent. per annum to the bank for circulating them. The bank not paying the bills, actions to be brought against the Company, and the money and damages recovered: and if any exchequer bills be lost, upon affidavit of it before a baron of the exchequer, and certificate from such baron, and security to pay the same if found, duplicates are to be made out: also when bills are defaced, new ones shall be delivered. The king, or his officers in the exchequer, by former statutes, might borrow money upon the credit of bills, payable on demand, with interest after the rate of 4l. per diem for every 100l. bill. And by 8 and 9 W. III. c. 20, an interest of 5d. a day was allowed for every 100l. But 12 W. III. c. 1, lowered the interest on these bills to 4d. a-day per cent. And by 12 Ann. c. 11, it is sunk to 2d. a-day. Forging exchequer bills, or the indentures thereof, is felony.

Excise, (from the Belgic accisse, tributum, "tribute.") an inland duty or imposition, paid sometimes upon the consumption of the commodity, or frequently upon the wholesale, which is the last stage before the consumption. This is doubtless, impartially speaking, the most economical way of taxing the subject; the charges of levying, collecting, and managing the excise duties, being considerably less in proportion than in other branches of the revenue. It also renders the commodity cheaper to the consumer, than charging it with customs to the same amount would do; for the reason just now given, because generally paid in a much later stage of it. But, at the same time, the rigour and arbitrary proceedings of excise laws seem hardly compatible with the temper of a free nation. For the frauds that might be committed in this branch of the revenue, unless a strict watch is kept, make it necessary, wherever it is established, to give the officers a power of entering and searching the houses of such as deal in excisable commodities, at any hour of the day, and, in many cases, of the night likewise. And the proceedings, in case of transgressions, are so summary and sudden, that a man may be convicted in two days' time in the penalty of many thousand pounds, by two commissioners or justices of the peace; to the total exclusion of the trial by jury, and disregard of the common law. For which reason, though Lord Clarendon tells us, that to his knowledge the earl of Bedford (who was made lord treasurer by King Charles I., to oblige his parliament) intended to have set up the excise in England, yet it never made a part of that unfortunate prince's revenue; being first introduced, on the model of the Dutch prototype, by the parliament itself after its rupture with the crown. Yet such was the opinion of its general unpopularity, that when in 1642 "afterpers wcre cast by malignant persons upon the house of commons, that they intended to introduce excises, the house for its vindication therein did declare, that these rumours were false and scandalous, and that their authors should be apprehended and brought to condign punishment." Its original establishment was in 1643, and its progress was gradual; being at first laid upon those persons and commodities where it was supposed the hardship would be least perceptible, viz. the makers and vendors of beer, ale, cider, and perry; and the royalists at Oxford soon followed the example of their brethren at Westminster, by imposing a similar duty: both sides protesting that it should be continued no longer than to the end of the war, and then be utterly abolished. But the parliament at Westminster soon after imposed it on flesh, wine, tobacco, sugar, and such a multitude of other commodities, that it might be fairly denominated general: in pursuance of the plan laid down by Mr Pymme (who seems to have been the father of the excise), in his letter to Sir John Hotham, signifying, "that they had proceeded in the excise to many particulars, and intended to go on farther; but that it would be unnecessary to use the people to it by little and little."

And afterwards, when the nation had been accustomed to it for a series of years, the succeeding champions of liberty boldly and openly declared "the impost of excise to be the most easy and indifferent levy that could be laid upon the people;" and accordingly continued it during the whole usurpation. Upon King Charles's return, it having then been long established, and its produce well known, some part of it was given to the crown, in 12 Car. II. by way of purchase for the feudal tenures and other oppressive parts of the hereditary revenue. But, from its first original to the present time, its very name has been odious to the people. It has, nevertheless, been imposed on abundance of other commodities in the reigns of King William III. and every succeeding prince, to support the enormous expenses occasioned by our wars on the continent. Thus brandies and other spirits are now excised at the distillery; printed silks and linens, at the printers; starch and hair powder, at the makers; gold and silver wire, at the wiredrawers; all plate whatsoever, first in the hands of the vender, who pays yearly for a licence to sell it, and afterwards in the hands of the occupier, who also pays an annual duty for having it in his custody; and coaches and other wheel-carriages, for which the occupier is excised; though not with the same circumstances of arbitrary strictness with regard to plate and coaches as in the other instances. To these we may add coffee and tea, chocolate and cocoa paste, for which the duty Excise duty is paid by the retailer; all artificial wines, commonly called _sweets_; paper and palteboard, first when made, and again if stained or printed; malt, as before mentioned; vinegars; and the manufacture of glas; for all which the duty is paid by the manufacturer; hops, for which the person that gathers them is answerable; candles and soap, which are paid for at the makers; malt liquors brewed for sale, which are excised at the brewery; cider and perry at the vendors; leather and skins, at the tanner's; and, lately, tobacco, at the manufacturer's: A list, which no friend to his country would wish to see farther increased.

The excise was formerly farmed out; but is now managed for the king by commissioners in both kingdoms, who receive the whole produce of the excise, and pay it into the exchequer. These commissioners are nine in number in England, and five in Scotland. The former have a salary of £1000 a-year, the latter £600. They are obliged by oath to take no fee or reward but from the king himself; and from them there lies an appeal to five other commissioners called commissioners of appeals.