53 Westminster Likewise, Chief Justice DeGrey heard eighteen cases at Westminster Hall during and after Michaelmas Term 1773.^“* And according to the Morning Chronicle, July 4, 1778: “Tis surprising what very little business is done in the Court of Common Pleas”. The steadily increasing growth in the trial dockets in the Court of King’s Bench that produced the figures given above from Lord Mansfield’s accounts describe a massive load of business, averaging between 250 and 300 trials per Term. At times the load was such that there was literally no break between the sittings after Term and the beginning of the next Term. In 1776, for example, the sittings after Easter Term ended on Thursday, June 6, and Trinity Term began the next day. This meant that Lord Mansfield was at work, usually, six days a week with the days often continuing well into the evening hours, from the opening of Easter Term on April 24th until the trials after Trinity Term concluded on July 12. Ten days later, Mansfield and Baron Smythe journeyed to Hertford to begin the assizes on the Home Circuit, which continued to midAugust. As is evident. Lord Mansfield was able to deal with the burgeoning case load. He was able, as well, to intersperse during and after Term additional duties, such as sitting in Exchequer Chamber, sitting with the other judges to take up questions reserved at the Old Bailey, attending meetings of the Privy Council, acting as Speaker of the House of Lords or as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and attending to his responsibilities as a member of the House of Lords. The Morning Chronicle noted on June 30, 1781, that “this is the hundredth Term since Lord Mansfield became Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, every one of which he has regularly attended”. Only after his wife died in April 1784 did Mansfield’s perseverance fail him, and then only for two Terms. By Michaelmas he had resumed his full range of duties. He was regular and welldisciplined of habit. When a newspaper reported surprise that Lord Mansfield was seen taking bail on a Friday evening in November 1785, the explanation was that it was his custom to do so each “fifth evening of Michaelmas Term”.^^ 3. On Assize In preparing for the assizes, the procedure was for all twelve judges to meet at the chambers of the Chief Justice of King’s Bench about a month before the assizes were to commence in order to choose the circuits. The resulting assignments were usually printed in the papers, and subsequently the specific calendars appeared. Here is a sample of the information that was printed, fromLord Mansfield’s time:’^ Lloyd's Evening Post, December 7, 1773. The Morning Chronicle, November 11, 1785. The London Gazette, ]une 13-17, 1758.
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