Jurisdiction.

Gloucestershire and city of Bristol, a part of
Wiltshire adjacent to Gloucestershire, and
the parish of Bedminster.

Herefordshire and parts of Salop, Monmouth,
Radnor and Worcester shires.

Staffordshire, and the greatest part of Derby
shire, Warwickshire, and Salop.

Lincoln and Nottingham shires.

London, Middlesex, and parishes in counties of Surrey, Essex, and Kent, about ten miles round London.

All Norfolk and Suffolk, with the exception of the Archdeaconry of Sudbury. Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, and parts of Wiltshire.

Northampton, Rutland, and Leicester shires.
The deanery and city of Rochester in Kent;
Hertfordshire and Essex, except the
parishes in the latter within eight or ten
miles of London.

All Dorsetshire; the parishes of Holwell
(Somerset) and Thornecomb (Devon); and
parts of Wiltshire and Berkshire.
Surrey (except certain parishes near London),
Hants, Guernsey, and Jersey.

Nearly all Worcestershire, the archdeaconry
of Coventry, and parts of Staffordshire and
Gloucestershire.

The whole counties of Flint and Denbigh, and parts of the counties of Salop, and Montgomery.

The whole counties of Anglesea, Carnarvon,
and Merioneth, and part of Montgomery.
The counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth.
Parts of Caermarthenshire, Pembrokeshire,
Brecknockshire, Radnorshire, Cardigan-
shire, Montgomeryshire, and Hereford-
shire.

All the county of York not in the diocese of
Ripon.
The counties of Durham, Northumberland,
and the district called Hexhamshire.
The counties of Cumberland and Westmore-
land, and the deaneries of Furness and
Cartmel in Lancashire.

The county of Cheshire, with the archdea-
conry of Liverpool.

Almost the whole of Lancashire.

The greater part of the West Riding of
Yorkshire.

The Isle of Man.

PROVINCE OF YORK.

Divorce.-Divorces are of two kinds, namely, à mensa et thoro (from bed and board), and à vinculo matrimonii (from the bond of marriage). A divorce from bed and board does not dissolve the marriage; for the cause of it is subsequent to the marriage, and supposes the marriage to be lawful: this divorce may be by reason of adultery in either of the parties, for cruelty of the husband, &c. And as it does not dissolve the marriage, so it does not debar the woman of her dower, or bastardise the issue, or make void any estate for the life of husband and wife. A divorce from the bond of marriage, absolutely dissolves the marriage, and makes it void from the beginning, the causes of it being precedent to the marriage, as precontract with some other person, consanguinity or affinity within the Levitical degrees, &c. This divorce enables the parties to marry again; but this is not the case with respect to a divorce from bed and board only. By 20 & 21 Vict. c. 85, the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes has been established, abolishing the power of the ecclesiastical court in these matters. This court is presided over by three judges, the judge of the Probate Court being one. Various recent acts have amended and extended its jurisdiction.

The

Doctors' Commons. Soon after the accession of Henry VIII., in 1509, some civilians privileged to plead in the Court of Arches formed a plan of association, by which they were to occupy contiguous houses and board in common. spot first selected by them is not recorded; but in February, 1568, Dr. Henry Hervie procured a lease of Montjoy House and other tenements, which he devoted to the accommodation of the advocates, and which received the title of Doctors' Commons. The original edifice was destroyed in 1666 by the great fire of London. The courts were held in Essex House, Strand, until the college was rebuilt in 1672. They were incorporated in June, 1768, as "The College of Doctors of Law, exercent in the Ecclesiastical and Admiralty Courts." Doctors'

Commons consisted of five courts; viz., the Court of Arches, the Prerogative Court, the Court of Faculties or Dispensations, the Consistory Court, and the High Court of Admiralty. The new courts of Divorce and Matrimonial Causes and of Probate came into operation in January, 1858.

Domesday, or Doomsday, Book, a most ancient record, made in the time of William I., containing a survey of all the lands of England. It consists of two volumes, a greater and a less. The first is a large folio, written on 382 double pages of vellum, in a small but plain character; each page having a double column. Some of the capital letters and principal passages are touched with red ink; and the names of towns, manors, &c., have strokes of red ink run across them, apparently for the purpose of catching the eye. This volume contains the description of 31 counties. The other volume is in quarto, written upon 450 double pages of vellum, but in a single column, and in a large but very fair character. It contains the counties of Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, part of the county of Rutland included in that of Northampton, and part of Lancashire in the counties of York and Chester. This work, according to the red book in the Exchequer, was begun by order of William the Conqueror, with the advice of his Parliament, in the year of our Lord 1080, and completed in the year 1086. The reason given for taking this survey, as assigned by several ancient records and historians, was, that every man should be satisfied with his own right, and not usurp with impunity what belonged to another. But, besides this, it is said by others, that now all those who possessed landed estates became vassals to the king, and paid him so much money by way of fee or homage in proportion to the lands they held. This appears very probable, as there was at that time extant a general survey of the whole kingdom, made by order of King Alfred.

For the execution of the survey recorded in Domesday Book, commissioners were sent into every county and shire; and juries

summoned in each hundred, out of all orders of freemen, from barons down to the lowest farmers. These commissioners were to be informed by the inhabitants, upon oath, of the name of each manor, and that of its owner; also by whom it was held in the time of Edward the Confessor; the number of hides; the quantity of wood, of pasture, and of meadow-land; how many ploughs were in the demesne, and how many in the tenanted part of it; how many mills, how many fish-ponds or fisheries belonged to it; with the value of the whole together in the time of King Edward, as well as when granted by King William, and at the time of this survey; also whether it was capable of improvement, or of being advanced in its value; they were likewise directed to return the tenants of every degree, the quantity of lands then and formerly held by each of them, what was the number of villains or slaves, and also the number and kinds of their cattle and live stock. These inquisitions being first methodised in the county, were afterwards sent up to the King's Exchequer. So minute was the survey that the writer of the contemporary portion of the Saxon chronicle records; "So very narrowly he caused it to be traced out, that there was not a single hide, nor one virgate of land, nor even an ox, or a cow, nor a swine was left that was not set down."

For some reason left unexplained, many parts of England were unsurveyed. Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham are not described in the survey. Lancashire does not appear under its proper name: but Furness and the northern part of the county, as well as the south of Westmoreland, with a part of Cumberland, are included within the West Riding of Yorkshire. That part of Lancashire which lies between the Ribble and Mersey is subjoined to Cheshire; and part of Rutlandshire is described in the counties of Northampton and Lincoln.

The authority of Domesday Book is never permitted to be called in question; and always, when it has been necessary

to distinguish whether lands were held in ancient demesne, or in any other manner, recourse has been had to Domesday Book, and to that only, to determine the doubt. From this definitive authority, from which, as from the sentence pronounced at domesday, or the day of judgment, there could be no appeal, the name of the book is said to have been derived. But Stowe assigns another reason for this appellation, namely, that Domesday Book is a corruption of domus Dei book, a title given it because heretofore deposited in the King's treasury, in a place of the church of Westminster or Winchester, called domus Dei. Domesday Book is now preserved in Her Majesty's Record Office.

Dower, is a third part or other customary share of such lands of inheritance whereof the husband was owner during the marriage, which the wife is to enjoy during her life, unless she acknowledges a deed parting with this right, which attaches on all land not conveyed to the husband in a special manner, for the purpose of barring this right, or where the wife has not released it before marriage in consideration of a jointure or other provision, whether he sold it during the marriage or not. But women married after the 1st of January, 1834, cannot claim dower out of land disposed of by their husbands in their lifetime, or by their will. Again, any partial incumbrances effected by their husbands are good against dower. Husbands also may defeat their wives' dower by any prospective instrument during the marriage, or by will; so that in the mar riages taking place on or after the 1st of January, 1834, this estate will not so frequently attach.-See HUSBAND AND WIFE.

Duchy of Lancaster.-See LANCASTER.

Duchy Court of Lancaster.-A tribunal of special jurisdiction, held before the chancellor of the duchy or his deputy, concerning all matters of equity relating to lands holden of the Crown in right of the duchy of Lancaster. The proceed