Court of Exchequer

Exchequer, or the Office of the receipt of his Majesty's Exchequer, a plain old building formed of wood and plaister, at the south end of New Palace yard, where the King's revenue is received and disbursed. This important office is under the direction of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who has the custody of the Exchequer seal; he has also the comptrollment of the rolls of the Lords of the Treasure, and sites in the court above the Barons of the Exchequer. He has the gift of the office of Comptroller of the Pipe, and of that of Clerk of the Nihils.

The Auditor of the receipts of the Exchequer, is another great officer. He files the bills of the Tellers, and draws all order to be signed by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasure, for issuing forth all money, in virtue of privy seals, which are recorded by the Clerk of the Pells, and entered and lodged in the Auditor's office. He also, by warrant from the Lords of the Treasury, makes debentures to the several persons who have fees, annuities or pensions, by letters patent from the King, out of the Exchequer, and directs them for payment to the Tellers. He daily receives the state of each Teller's account, and weekly certifies the whole to the Lords Commissioners, who immediately present the estimate, or balance to the King. He makes half yearly, at Michaelmas and Lady-day, a book called A Declaration, containing a methodical abstract of all the accounts and payments made the preceding half year, and delivers one of them to the Lords of the Treasury, and another to the Chancellor of the Exchequer; and by him are kept the registers appointed for paying all persons in course, upon several branches of the King's revenue. For the discharge of these offices, he has a chief clerk, a clerk of the debentures, a clerk of the registers and issues, a clerk of the cash book, and a clerk for making out Exchequer bills; and in the offices for annuities under the Auditor are two chief clerks, and nine clerks under them.

The other great officers are the four Tellers of the Exchequer, each of whom has his deputy, his first clerk, and four other clerks. Their office is to receive all moneys due to the King, and thereupon to throw down a bill through a pipe into the tally court, where it is received by the Auditor's clerk, who there attends to write the words of the bill upon a tally, and then delivers the same to be entered by the Clerk of the Pells, or his under clerk, who attends to enter it in his book; then the tally is cloven by the two Deputy Chamberlains, and while the senior deputy reads one part, the junior examines the other part with the two clerks.

Another great officer is the Clerk of the Pells, who enters the Tellers bills on a parchment skin, in latin Pellis, and likewise all receipts and payment for the King; this officer is in the nature of a comptroller; he has a deputy, a clerk for the introitus, and another for the exitus. There are also a clerk of the declarations, and a clerk of the patents. In this office there are likewise three vouchers of the Tellers.

Tally Court in the Exchequer. In order to give a more perfect idea of this office, it will be proper to say something of the nature of tallies. The word tally is derived from the French word tailor, to cut, a tally being a piece of wood wrote up9on both sides, containing an acquittance for money received, which being cloven asunder by the Deputy Chamberlains, one part, called the stock, is delivered to the person who pays or lends any money to the government; and the other part, called the counter-stock or counter-foil, remains in the office, to be kept till called for, and joined with the stock. This method of striking tallies is very ancient, and has been found by long experience to be the best way of preventing frauds that ever was invented; for it is morally impossible so to counterfeit a tally, but upon rejoining it with the counter-foil, the intended fraud will be obvious to every eye, either in the notches or the cleaving, in the length or in the breadth, in the natural growth, or in the shape of the counter-foil.

To the tally court belong the two Chamberlains of the Exchequer, in whose custody are many ancient records, leagues, and treaties with foreign princes, the standards of money, weights, and measures, those ancient books called the Black Book of the Exchequer, and Doomsday Book, which last contains an account of all the cities, towns, villages and families in the reign of William the Conqueror. This book is kept under three locks and keys, and cannot be examined for less than 6 s. 8 d. and for every line transcribed is paid 4 d.

Under these officers are four Deputy Chamberlains, in whose office are perserved all the counter-foils of the above tallies, so exactly ranked by months or years, that they may be easily found out, in order to be joined with their respective tallies, which being done and proved true, they deliver it attested for a lawful tally to the Clerk of the Pipe, to be allowed in the great roll.

The other officers of this court, are the Usher of the Exchequer, his deputy and clerk; three Paymasters of Exchequer bills, their deputy, and a Comptroller of Exchequer bills; a tally writer for the Auditor, who has two assistant clerks, and a tally cutter. Chamberlain's Present State.

There are several other offices belonging to the Exchequer, as the pipe office in Gray's Inn; Foreign Apposer's office, and King's Remembrancer's office, in the Temple; Clerk of the pleas office, in Lincoln's Inn, &c. See the articles Pipe Officer, Foreign Apposer's Office, &c. See also the article Treasurer.

Exchequer, New Palace-Yard, Westminster,—at the S.E. corner, between Westminster-Hall and the Thames.