THE BILL OF EXCEPTIONS; BEING A SHORT ACCOUNT OF ITS ORIGIN AND NATURE, SHOWING BY WHOM AND TO WHOM A BILL OF EXCEPTIONS MAY BE TENDERED; THE MODE OF ENFORCING THE STATUTE BY JOHN RAYMOND, Esq. OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE. LONDON: S. SWEET, 1, CHANCERY LANE, 1846. 1403. THE BILL OF EXCEPTIONS. ITS ORIGIN. BEFORE, and for some time after, the passing of the statute of Westminster 2, (13 Edw. I.), the pleadings in actions in the superior Courts were transacted ore tenus at the bar of the Court in the presence of the judges (a), in a somewhat similar manner, as it would seem, to that in which proceedings before magistrates are conducted at the present day, except perhaps that the former were transacted with more formality, gravity, and decorum than the latter. If, during the progress of the cause, either party alleged any matter by way of plea, replication, or other pleading, which the Court thought insufficient, they at once overruled (a) 2 Inst.; 2 Reeves, 344; Steph. Pl. 23, App. note 6. B |