Exchequer: Difference between revisions

{{refimprovemore citations needed|date=October 2015}}

In the [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)|civil service]] of the [[United Kingdom]], '''HerHis Majesty’sMajesty's Exchequer''',<ref name="InterpretationAct1978" /> or just the '''Exchequer''', is the [[accounting]] process of central government and the government's ''[[Transaction account|current account]]'' (i.e., money held from [[taxation]] and other government [[revenue]]s) in the [[Consolidated Fund]].<ref name="EFPA1950" /> ItThe canterm be foundis used in various financial documents, including the latest departmental and agency annual accounts.<ref name="RPAAccounts201516" /><ref name="DEFRAAccounts201516" /><ref name="DFEAccounts201415" /><ref name="ScotAccounts201415" />

ItHistorically, it was the name of a [[British government departments|British government department]]<ref name="EADA1866" /> responsible for the collection and the management of taxes and revenues; of, making payments on behalf of the sovereign, and auditing official accounts. It also developed a judicial role along with its [[accountancy]] responsibilities and tried legal cases relating to revenue.<ref name="Bryson" />

Similar offices were later created in [[Normandy]] around 1180, in [[Scotland]] around 1200 and in [[Ireland]] in 1210.<ref name="Howard" />

The Exchequer was named after a table used to perform calculations for taxes and goods in the medieval period.<ref>{{cite book | last = Noble | first = Thomas | title = The foundations of Western civilization | publisher = Teaching Co | location = Chantilly, VA | year = 2002 | chapter = 36 | isbn = 978-1565856370 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/foundationsofwes04nobl}}</ref> According to the ''[[Dialogus de Scaccario]]'' ('Dialogue concerning the Exchequer]]''),<ref name="Dialogue concerning the Exchequer" /> an early [[medieval]] work describing the practice of the Exchequer, the table was large, 10 feet by 5 feet with a raised edge or "lip" on all sides of about the height of four fingers to ensure that nothing fell off it, upon which [[Jeton|counters]] were placed representing various values. The name Exchequer referred to the resemblance of the table to a [[chess]] board (French: ''échiquier'') as it was covered by a black cloth bearing green stripes of about the breadth of a human hand, in a [[check (pattern)|chequer-pattern]]. The spaces represented pounds, shillings and pence.<ref name="Dialogue concerning the Exchequer">[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/excheq1.html King John of England: Royal Licenses to Export and Import, 1205–1206 Dialogue concerning the Exchequer] Internet Medieval Sourcebook publ by Fordham University, New York. Source: Joseph Hunter, ed., Rotuli Selecti, (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1834), pp. 4–5, 11; reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H. Coulson, A Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1936; reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965), p.412</ref>

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.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}

The operation of an exchequer in Normandy is documented as early as 1180. This exchequer had broader jursidictionjurisdiction than the English exchequer, dealing in both fiscal and administrative matters. The ''Dialogue concerning the Exchequer'' presents it as a general belief that the Norman kings established the Exchequer in England on the loose model of the Norman exchequer, while noting with some doubt an alternative view that the Exchequer existed in Anglo-Saxon times. The specific chronology of the two exchequers' foundings remains unknown.

It is unknown exactly when the Exchequer was established, but the earliest mention appears in a royal writ of 1110 during the reign of King [[Henry I of England|Henry I]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Charles|last1=Johnson|first2=H. A.|last2=Cronne|year=1956|title=Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum 1066–1154|volume=II|at=961}}</ref> The oldest surviving [[Pipe Roll]] is that of 1130 (already in mature form, indicating that such records existed for some time beforehand, though they do not survive).<ref name="Bartlett" />{{rp|p.159}}<ref>Chrimes ''Administrative History'' pp. 62–63</ref> Pipe Rolls form a mostly continuous record of royal revenues and taxation; however, not all revenue went into the Exchequer, and some taxes and levies were never recorded in the Pipe Rolls.<ref name="Dict219" />{{rp|p.219}}

Under Henry I, a procedure adopted for the [[audit]] involved the [[treasurer]] drawing up a [[summons]] to be sent to each [[sheriff]], who was required to answer with an account of the income in his [[shire]] both from royal [[demesne]] lands and from the county [[Farm (revenue commutation)|''farm'']] (a form of local taxation). The [[chancellor of the Exchequer]] then questioned him concerning debts owed by private individuals.<ref>{{cite book |last=Warren |first=W. L. |title=The Governance of Norman and Angevin England 1086–1272 |publisher=Edward Arnold |date=1987 |ISBNisbn=0-7131-6378-X}}</ref>{{rp|73–74}}

From the late 1190s to the [[Edict of expulsion|expulsion of the Jews]] in 1290, there was a separate division for taxation of [[Jews]] and the law-cases arising between Jews and Christians, called [[Exchequer of the Jews]] (Latin: ''Scaccarium Judaeorum'').<ref>Joe Hillaby (2003) "[https://books.google.com/books?id=GKXbD-RiQ2oC&lpg=PA15&vqq=hillaby&pg=PA15#v=snippet&q=hillaby&f=false Jewish Colonisation in the Twelfth Century]" In Patricia Skinner (ed.) ''Jews in Medieval Britain: Historical, Literary, and Archeological Perspective'', pp. 16–17. {{ISBN|0-85115-931-1}}</ref><ref>Gross, Charles (1887), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=IFQUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3 The Exchequer of the Jews of England in the Middle Ages]''. London: Office of the Jewish Chronicle; reprinted from ''Papers of the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exposition'', pp.&nbsp;170–230.</ref>

The records of the Exchequer were kept in the [[Pell Office]], adjacent to [[Westminster Hall]], until the 19th century. The office was named after the skins (then "pells" or pelts) from which the rolls were made.<ref>Urbanus [https://books.google.com/books?pgid=PA20&lpg=PA20u1NIAAAAYAAJ&dq=pell+office+records&sigpg=Djby0hAtAZG90gd_jtoWdIOUmP8&ei=7Kc6TqWAJYy7hAfEp-mAAg&ct=result&id=u1NIAAAAYAAJ&ots=3-kJ1PH9QC&output=textPA20 Records of the Exchequer. The Issue Roll of Thomas de Brantingham, Bishop of Exeter, Lord High Treasurer of England, containing payments made out of His Majesty's Revenue in the 44th year of Edward Ill, AD 1370 translated from the original Roll now remaining in the ancient Pell Office, by Frederick Devon. London, 1835, pp. 516.] Gentleman's Magazine, 1836, vol. 5, pp. 17–22, publ. W. Pickering.(book review) Google books</ref>

*[[QueenKing's Remembrancer]]

In 1707, the [[Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act 1707]] ([[6 Ann. (GB)|6 Ann.]] c. 53) reconstituted the Exchequer into a law court on the English model, with a lord chief baron and four barons.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Ann/6/53 |title=Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act 1707 |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=UK Government | access-date=11 November 2016}}</ref> The court adopted English forms of procedure and had further powers added. This was done in Section 19 of the [[Act of Union 1707]]<ref>Section XIX, "And that there be a Court of Exchequer in Scotland after the Union, for deciding Questions concerning the Revenues of Customs and Excises there, having the same power and authority in such cases, as the Court of Exchequer has in England": {{ws|[[s:Act of Union 1707|Act of Union 1707]] at Wikisource}}</ref>

From 1832, no new barons were appointed; their role was increasingly assumed 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. A [[lord ordinary]] acts as a judge in Exchequer causes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/19-20/56 |title=Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act 1856 |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=UK Government | access-date=11 November 2016}}</ref> The English forms of process ceased to be used in 1947.

<ref name="Howard">{{cite book|last=Howard|first=Gorges Edmond|author-link=Gorges Edmond Howard|title=A treatise of the Exchequer and revenue of Ireland.|publisher=J.A. Husband|date=1776|volume=Vol. 1|oclc=5111516}}</ref>

* [http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_123/123_439_452.pdf Murray, Athol L, Burnett, Charles J., ''The seals of the Exchequer of Scotland''. Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. 123 (1993) 439–52] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923083450/http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_123/123_439_452.pdf |date=23 September 2009 }}

[[Category:Defunct departments of the Government of the United Kingdom Government]]