sums of money from each; to respite proceedings; to direct sentences;
and the judges, acting by their commission, conceived themselves
bound to observe such orders, to the great delay, interruption, and
preventing of justice; at least, this was John's practice."--_Carte's
History of England_, vol. 1, p. 832.

Hallam says:

"But of all the abuses that deformed the Anglo-Saxon government, none
was so flagitious as the sale of judicial redress. The king, we are
often told, is the fountain of justice; but in those ages it was one
which gold alone could unseal. Men fined (paid fines) to have right
done them; to sue in a certain court; to implead a certain person; to
have restitution of land which they had recovered at law. From the
sale of that justice which every citizen has a right to demand, it
was an easy transition to withhold or deny it. Fines were received
for the king's help against the adverse suitor; that is, for
perversion of justice, or for delay. Sometimes they were paid by
opposite parties, and, of course, for opposite ends."--_2 Middle
Ages_, 438.

In allusion to the provision of Magna Carta on this subject, Hallam
says:

"A law which enacts that justice shall neither be sold, denied, nor
delayed, stamps with infamy that government under which it had become
necessary."--_2 Middle Ages_, 451.

Lingard, speaking of the times of Henry II., (say 1184,) says:

"It was universally understood that money possessed greater influence
than justice in the royal courts, and instances are on record, in
which one party has made the king a present to accelerate, and the
other by a more valuable offer has succeeded in retarding a decision.
* * But besides the fines paid to the sovereigns, _the judges often
exacted presents for themselves_, and loud complaints existed against
their venality and injustice."--_2 Lingard_, 231.

In the narrative of "The costs and charges which I, Richard de Anesty,
bestowed in recovering the land of William, my uncle," (some fifty years
before Magna Carta,) are the following items:

"To Ralph, the king's physician, I gave thirty-six marks and one
half; to the king an hundred marks; and to the queen one mark of
gold." The result is thus stated. "At last, thanks to our lord the
king, and by judgment of his court, my uncle's land was adjudged to
me."--_2 Palgrave's Rise and Progress of the English