[3] The commission to hear appeals generally included at this time the whole Privy Council.
[4] I.e., in the office of the registrar of the Lords Commissioners of Appeal in Prize Causes, in Doctors' Commons.
157. Account rendered by a Proctor in London. February 10, 1744.[1]
John Freebody and Benja. Norton, Commander of the private Ship of War Called the Revenge, the Owners of the said Ship, Ag[ains]t Thomas Lee and John Tyler, Owners of the Ship Called the Sarah, whereof Thomas Smith is Mas[te]r, the Goods therein Lately Retaken by the sd. private Ship of War Called the Revenge,
In a Certain Cause of Appeal from the Vice Admiralty of the province of Massachusets Bay.
| May 1742 | |
| For proctors fee consulted | £0. 5. |
| For perusing the whole proceedings | 13. 4 |
| For drawing a State of the Case for Counsel | 16. 8 |
| For a Copy thereof for Dr. Strahans Opinion | 5. |
| For Dr. Strahans fee giving his Opinion in Writing | 2. 2. |
| For Attending on him | 6. 8 |
| For a Copy of the Case for Dr. Pauls Opinion | 5. |
| For his fee giving his Opinion in Writing | 2. 2. |
| For Attending on him | 6. 8 |
| For a Copy of the Case for Dr. Andrews Opinion | 5. |
| For his fee giving his Opinion in Writing | 2. 2. |
| For Attending on him | 6. 8 |
| For Interposing a protocal of Appeal before a Notary | 6. 8 |
| For the Caution[2] entred into to prosecute the Appeal and Stamps | 7. 6 |
| For the Marshalls Report | 8. |
| For Entring into Bail | 5. |
| For the Proctors fee praying an Inhibition and Monition and Surrogates fee[3] | 6. |
| Aug't 5th 1742 | |
| For the Inhibition and Monition under Seal and Stamps and Extracting | 2. 6. 10 |
| For the Effect of that Said Inhibition | 1. |
| Nov'r 11th. | |
| For attending when the Transmission was brought in by the Judge below | 0. 5. |
| For Compounding for the process | 5. |
| For Drawing a Libel of Appeal | 16. 8 |
| For Ingrossing the same and Stamps | 7. 8 |
| For the Advocates fee signing the Libel | 2. 2. |
| For Attending on him | 6. 8 |
| For Returning the sd. Inhibition and Monition at the Counsel Chamber when a Proctor appear'd for the Appellator and gave in a Libel | 13. 4 |
| For A Copy of sd. Libel for Advise Proctor and Stamps | 7. 8 |
| Fee when Issue was Joined | 6. 8 |
| For Attending when the Cause was Assigned for Sentence on the first Assignation | 6. 8 |
| For Coach hire | 3. |
| 24 March [1743]. | |
| For Attending at the Counsel Chambers when the Cause was Assign'd for Sentence at the next Court | 13. 4 |
| For Coach hire | 3. |
| For drawing a Breif for Councell | 4.13. 4 |
| For Drawing and making an Index and Abstract of the Process and Copy | 1. 6. 8 |
| For Copys of the Opinions given by the Counsell for their Use | 13. 4 |
| 10 May. | |
| For Attending at the Councell Chamber when the Judges Assign'd the Cause to be heard the next Court | 13. 4 |
| For Coach hire | 3. |
| 17. | |
| For the same to the next Court | 13. 4 |
| For Coach hire | 3. |
| 2 June. | |
| For Attending at the Councell Chamber when the Cause was Assigned to be heard when their Lordships should Appoint | 13. 4 |
| For Coach hire | 3. |
| 20th Octr. | |
| For Attending at the Councell Chamber when their Lordships Assign'd the Cause to be heard the 27 instant. | 13. 4 |
| For Coach hire | 3. |
| For two Copys of the Brief for Councell and One for my Self | 5. 5. |
| For Dr. Pauls fee to Attend the Lords of the Councell etc. | 10.10. |
| For Diverse Attendance on him | 13. 4 |
| The like for Dr. Andrews fee | 10.10. |
| For Divers Attendance on him | 13. 4 |
| 27th Octr. | |
| For Attending at the Councell Chamber when the Cause was heard and their Lordships pronounced Agst. the Appeal and Condemned my Clients in £10 Costs According to Stile | 1. 6. 8 |
| For Coach hire | 3. |
| Paid the said Costs | 10.10. |
| Paid the Reg'rs Bill | 2. 1.[5] |
| For several Extrajudicial Attendance in the whole Cause | 1. 6. 8 |
| For Clark and Officers | 10. |
| For Letters and Sportalage[4] | 7. 6 |
| £74. 9. 3 |
Everard Sayer, 10th Feb'ry 1743[5]
Rece'd then the Contents
Everard Sayer
Vera Copia per
London Jan'y 31st 1746/7. I hereby do Certifie that the above is a true Copy.
Zach. Bourryau.
[1] Massachusetts Historical Society. It will be observed that an appeal was an expensive process; that advocates' fees were expressed in guineas, multiples of £1. 1s.; that the proctor felt that he had to have a coach whenever he went to attend one of the sessions of the court; and that "the law's delays" were abundantly exemplified. The Lords Commissioners sat in the Council Chamber at the Cockpit in Whitehall. Their procedure can be gathered from the printed briefs, for appellant and respondent, which are preserved in a few American libraries, often bearing manuscript annotations by the lawyers for whom they were prepared. The Library of Congress has a collection of such briefs, some 200 in number, 1751-1764, bound in four huge folio volumes, and still ampler collections for the later wars of the century, American and French. The library of Brown University has two such volumes, embracing briefs in forty or fifty cases, 1780-1782. Another collection, also bound in two volumes, formerly belonging to Mr. Gordon L. Ford, but now to the New York Public Library, is described by the late Paul L. Ford in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, XXV. 85-101, with full data respecting the twenty-five American cases.