an office assignable in its nature, being an office of profit. Others were not, viz. offices of public trust, as the office in question. So offices granted to men and their assigns were assignable; and there was no inconvenience in such a case; for if assigned to an unfit person, the Court would refuse to admit him. Sir Heneage Finch argued on the other side, 1. That the office was not assignable, without the word assigns; because it was an office of great and public trust. 2. That the habendum did not alter the thing, it being in the King's case; for it would be inconvenient that the King should have an officer in such a place put upon him against his will, and habendum to him and his assigns was no other than if it had been to him and his heirs, which would have been void. In Hatton's case, the office of a garbler granted to one with power to make a deputy, did not extend to an assignee, because it was an office of trust. There was no precedent of an assignment of such an office. No judgement was given in this case, the Kinghaving stopped the proceedings by a writ de rege inconsulto. V. 55. In a modern case it was held, that the office Drummond of Register of the Court of Chancery was assignable. 56. It is laid down by Lord Coke, that "if an office, either in the grant of the King, or of a subject, which concerns the administration, proceeding or execution of justice, or the King's revenue, or the commonwealth, or the interest, benefit, or safety of the subject, or the like, be granted to a man that is inexpert, and hath no skill and science to exercise or execute the same, the grant is merely void, and the party disabled by law, and incapable to take the same, pro commodo regis et populi; for only men of skill, know... St. Albans, 5 Ves. 433. Who may hold Offices. Jenk. 121. 1 Inst. 3 b. Vintner's Office, pl. 48. Dyer, 150. ledge, and ability to exercise the same, are capable of the same, to serve the King and his people." 57. King Edward IV., by letters patent, appointed Bro. Ab. Tit. Thomas Vintner to be Clerk of the Crown. The Judges of the Court of King's Bench, with the assent of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, refused him; because he was not exercised in his office, nor in any other in the Court, as he ought by a long time, and so declared to the King. Upon which the Sutton's Case, King, by the advice of the Justices, appointed one John West clerk there, who was expert, and sent to the said Justices his letters under his signet, which,, after, were enrolled in the same Court, that they rejected Vintner, and admitted West.. 58. A clergyman was made chancellor to a bishop, Cro. Car. 65. and confirmed by the dean and chapter; but because he was not learned in the canon and civil law, he was removed by the ecclesiastical commissioners: though it was insisted that he had a freehold, and therefore had prayed a prohibition, yet it was denied. Jenk. 121. Young v. Lady Russell's Case, Cro. Ja. 17. 4 Inst. 311. 59. A grant of an office requiring skill, to an infant, to be exercised in præsenti, is void. But if it is to be exercised in futuro, and that he is of full age and expert when the office is to be exercised, the grant is good. 60. Where, in the grant of an office, it is expressly said, that it shall be exercisable by deputy, the grantee need not have such skill and knowledge as is necessary to the execution of the office.. 61. Offices merely ministerial, which do not require particular skill and knowledge, and exercisable by deputy, may be granted to any person, and even to women. Thus, a woman may have the office of the custody of a castle. And Lord Coke mentions an instance of a woman's having the office of fo rester infee simple; but he observes, that she could not execute the office herself, but was obliged to appoint a deputy, during the eyre, who should be sworn. 62. The office of High Constable was held by the Collins's Claims, 119. daughter of Humphrey De Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex. The office of Steward of England was held by Blanch, daughter of Henry Earl of Lancaster, in whose right John of Gaunt enjoyed the same. The office of Earl Marshal was held by a female, through whom it passed to the house of Norfolk. And the office of Great Chamberlain of England is at this moment held by the two sisters and co-heirs infra, §70. of Robert late Duke of Ancaster. exercised. 63. Offices which concern the administration of How to be justice, such as those of Judges of the King's Courts at Westminster, &c. must be exercised in person, not by deputy. There is, however, one exception to this rule; for sheriffs, though their office concerns the administration of justice, may, notwithstanding, appoint deputies, by the name of undersheriffs. 64. There are some offices of the judicial kind, in the creation or grant of which is contained a power of appointing a deputy. Thus the Chief Justices in 4 Inst. 291. Eyre may appoint deputies, by the express words of their patents, to exercise the office for them. 65. A ministerial office, which is to be exercised by the grantee in person, cannot be done by deputy. Thus it is said in Dyer, that the office of Carver, 7 b. pl. 10. being an office of trust, cannot be exercised by de puty. But ministerial offices, which are not of trust, Shrewsbury's and do not require any particular skill, may Case, in gene- ral be exercised by deputy. And all offices which may be assigned, may be exercised by deputy. 66. Lord Coke says, there is a great difference Idem, 48 a. between a deputy and an assignee of an office. For Parker v. Kett, 1 Ld. Raym. 658. an assignee is a person who has an estate or interest in the office itself, and does all in his own name, for whom his grantor shall not answer, unless it be in special cases. Whereas a deputy has no estate or interest in the office, but is the officer's shadow: he does all things in the name of the officer, and nothing in his own name; and for whom his grantor shall answer. 67. A deputy cannot in general make a deputy; for a deputy being only authorized himself, cannot delegate his authority to another. But it has been held, that a steward of a manor, who is authorized to exercise the office by himself, or his sufficient deputy, may enable another person to take a surrender of a copyhold out of court. 1 Inst. 107 b. 68. Offices of inheritance may be exercised by deputy, in case the persons entitled for the time being are incapable of exercising them in person; as where such offices descend to infants or women, or to a person under the rank of a knight: thus the Keilw. 171 a. offices of earl marshal and high constable may be exercised by deputy. Buckingham's Case, Dyer, 285 b. 1 Inst. 165 a. 2 Bro. Parl. Ca. 146. ante, $ 26. 69. Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, held the manors of Harlefield, &c. of the King, by the service of being Constable of England; and had issue two daughters. Upon a question how the daughters, before marriage, could exercise the office; it was resolved that they might make their sufficient deputy, to do it for them: and after marriage the husband of the eldest might do it alone. 70. In the case respecting the office of great chamberlain of England, which was heard in the. House of Lords in 1782, Lady Willoughby de Eresby (the wife of Mr. Burrell, since created Lord Gwydyr), who was the eldest of the two sisters and coheirs of Robert Duke of Ancaster, claimed the office. It was contended on her part, that if there was any ground to say that the office had descended to both the sisters, still the right to exercise the office belonged to Mr. Burrell, as the husband of the eldest, it being an hereditary office in gross, held in grand serjeanty; and in the case of coheirs, when the eldest happened to be a feme covert, was to be executed by her husband. That this was perfectly agreeable to, and warranted by, the usage in all such great offices as had in the course of time descended to heirs general. The office of steward of England had descended in two instances to the eldest daughter. The office of constable of England had come from Humphrey de Bohun, by his marriage with the eldest daughter of Milo Fitzwalter. The office of earl marshal of England came to Roger Bigot, Earl of Norfolk, in right of his mother Maud, who was the eldest daughter of William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke. The following question was put to the Judges:- Lords Journ. "The late Duke of Ancaster having died seised of Vol. 36. 802. the office of great chamberlain of England, leaving Lady Willoughby de Eresby and Lady Charlotte Bertie his sisters and coheiresses; does the said office belong to the eldest alone, or to both; or in either case is the husband of the eldest entitled to execute the said office, or may both sisters execute it by deputy; and how must such deputy be appointed? Or does it devolve upon the king to name a proper person to execute the office, during the incapacity of the heir?" The Judges delivered their unanimous opinion,"That the office belonged to both sisters; that the husband of the eldest was not of right entitled to execute the said office. That both sisters might |