Editing Exchequer (section)

== Exchequer in England and Wales ==
It is unknown exactly when the Exchequer was established, but the earliest mention appears in a royal writ of 1110 during the reign of King [[Henry I of England|Henry I]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Charles|last1=Johnson|first2=H. A.|last2=Cronne|year=1956|title=Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum 1066–1154|volume=II|at=961}}</ref> The oldest surviving  [[Pipe Roll]] is that of 1130 (already in mature form, indicating that such records existed for some time beforehand, though they do not survive).<ref name="Bartlett" />{{rp|p.159}}<ref>Chrimes ''Administrative History'' pp. 62–63</ref> Pipe Rolls form a mostly continuous record of royal revenues and taxation; however, not all revenue went into the Exchequer, and some taxes and levies were never recorded in the Pipe Rolls.<ref name="Dict219" />{{rp|p.219}}

Under Henry I, a procedure adopted for the [[audit]] involved the [[treasurer]] drawing up a [[summons]] to be sent to each [[sheriff]], who was required to answer with an account of the income in his [[shire]] both from royal [[demesne]] lands and from the county [[Farm (revenue commutation)|''farm'']] (a form of local taxation). The [[chancellor of the Exchequer]] then questioned him concerning debts owed by private individuals.<ref>{{cite book |last=Warren |first=W. L. |title=The Governance of Norman and Angevin England 1086–1272 |publisher=Edward Arnold |date=1987 |isbn=0-7131-6378-X}}</ref>{{rp|73–74}}

By 1176, the 23rd year of the reign of [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] which is the date of the ''[[Dialogue concerning the Exchequer]]'',<ref name="Dialogue concerning the Exchequer" /><ref>[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/excheq.asp Dialogue concerning the Exchequer]</ref> the Exchequer was split into two components: the purely administrative ''Exchequer of Receipt'', which collected revenue, and the ''[[Exchequer of Pleas]]'', a law court concerned with the King's revenue. Appeals were to the [[Court of Exchequer Chamber]]. Following the proclamation of [[Magna Carta]], legislation was enacted whereby the Exchequer would maintain the realm's [[prototype (metrology)|prototypes]] for the [[yard]] and [[pound (weight)|pound]]. These nominal standards were, however, only infrequently enforced on the localities around the kingdom.

From the late 1190s to the [[Edict of expulsion|expulsion of the Jews]] in 1290, there was a separate division for taxation of [[Jews]] and the law-cases arising between Jews and Christians, called [[Exchequer of the Jews]] (Latin: ''Scaccarium Judaeorum'').<ref>Joe Hillaby (2003) "[https://books.google.com/books?id=GKXbD-RiQ2oC&q=hillaby&pg=PA15 Jewish Colonisation in the Twelfth Century]" In Patricia Skinner (ed.) ''Jews in Medieval Britain: Historical, Literary, and Archeological Perspective'', pp. 16–17. {{ISBN|0-85115-931-1}}</ref><ref>Gross, Charles (1887), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=IFQUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA3 The Exchequer of the Jews of England in the Middle Ages]''. London: Office of the Jewish Chronicle; reprinted from ''Papers of the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exposition'', pp.&nbsp;170–230.</ref>

Through most of the 1600s, goldsmiths would deposit their reserve of treasure with the Exchequer, sanctioned by the government. [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] "shut up" the Exchequer in 1672, forbidding payments from it, in what [[Walter Bagehot]] described as "one of those monstrous frauds... this monstrous robbery". This ruined the goldsmiths and the credit of the Stuart government, which would never recover it. In 1694, the credit of [[William III of England|William III]]'s government was so bad in London that it could not borrow, which led to the foundation of the Governor and Company of the [[Bank of England]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Bagehot|first=Walter|title=Lombard Street: a description of the money market (1873)|date=November 5, 2010|publisher=Henry S. King and Co. (etext by Project Gutenberg)| location=London| url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4359|quote="Charles II. shut up the 'Exchequer,' would pay no one, and so the 'goldsmiths' were ruined. The credit of the Stuart Government never recovered from this monstrous robbery."}}</ref>

The records of the Exchequer were kept in the [[Pell Office]], adjacent to [[Westminster Hall]], until the 19th century. The office was named after the skins (then "pells" or pelts) from which the rolls were made.<ref>Urbanus [https://books.google.com/books?id=u1NIAAAAYAAJ&dq=pell+office+records&pg=PA20 Records of the Exchequer. The Issue Roll of Thomas de Brantingham, Bishop of Exeter, Lord High Treasurer of England, containing payments made out of His Majesty's Revenue in the 44th year of Edward Ill, AD 1370 translated from the original Roll now remaining in the ancient Pell Office, by Frederick Devon. London, 1835, pp. 516.] Gentleman's Magazine, 1836, vol. 5, pp. 17–22, publ. W. Pickering.(book review) Google books</ref>

=== Officers ===
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|style=width: 750px|
<!-- add in alphabetic order -->
*[[Auditor of the imprests]]
*[[Auditor of the Receipt of the Exchequer]]
*[[Baron of the Exchequer]]
*[[Chancellor of the Exchequer]]
*[[Chamberlain of the Exchequer]]
*[[Chief Baron of the Exchequer]]
*[[Clerk of the Pells]]
*[[Comptroller General of the Exchequer]]
*[[King's Remembrancer]]
*[[Teller of the Receipt of the Exchequer]]
*[[Treasurer of the Exchequer]]
*[[Clerk of the Pipe]]
}}

=== Reform and decline===
In the 19th century, a number of reforms reduced the role of the Exchequer, with some functions moved to other departments. The Exchequer became unnecessary as a revenue collecting department in 1834 with the reforms of Prime Minister [[William Pitt the Younger|William Pitt]], who also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The government departments collecting revenue then paid it directly to the [[Bank of England]], with all money previously paid to the Exchequer being credited to the [[Consolidated Fund]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/31-32/9/section/1|title= Exchequer Extra Receipts Act 1868|publisher=UK Government|website= legislation.gov.uk|page=Section 1|access-date=15 November 2016}}</ref>
 
In 1866, the [[Standards Department]] of the [[Board of Trade]] took over metrological responsibilities<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Standards Department |volume= 25 |short=x}}</ref> and audit functions were combined with those of the ''Commissioners for auditing the Public Accounts'' under the new post of [[Comptroller and Auditor General]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/29-30/39/section/5|title=Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866|publisher=UK Government|website= legislation.gov.uk|page=Section 5|access-date=15 November 2016}}</ref> The name continued as the ''Exchequer and Audit Department'' from 1866 until 1983 when the new [[National Audit Office (United Kingdom)|National Audit Office]] was created.<ref>“The Audit Commission” by Couchman V. in Sherer & Turley: ''Current Issues in Auditing'', Paul Chapman Publishing (1997)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/44/contents |title=National Audit Act 1983 |publisher=UK Government|website= legislation.gov.uk|access-date=15 November 2016}}</ref>
 
In modern times, "Exchequer" has come to mean the [[HM Treasury|Treasury]] and, colloquially, [[pecuniary]] possessions in general; as in "the company's exchequer is low".{{citation needed | date=October 2015}}