Editing Exchequer

{{Short description|UK government accounting process}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2015}}
[[File:Kingdom of England Exchequer note-5 Pounds (1697).jpg|thumb|250px|[[Kingdom of England]] Exchequer note, 5 Pounds, dated 6 August 1697]]
In the [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)|civil service]] of the [[United Kingdom]], '''His Majesty's Exchequer''',<ref name="InterpretationAct1978" /> or just the '''Exchequer''', is the [[accounting]] process of central government and the government's ''[[Transaction account|current account]]'' (i.e., money held from [[taxation]] and other government [[revenue]]s) in the [[Consolidated Fund]].<ref name="EFPA1950" /> The term is used in various financial documents, including the latest departmental and agency annual accounts.<ref name="RPAAccounts201516" /><ref name="DEFRAAccounts201516" /><ref name="DFEAccounts201415" /><ref name="ScotAccounts201415" />

Historically, it was the name of a [[British government departments|British government department]]<ref name="EADA1866" /> responsible for the collection and the management of taxes and revenues, making payments on behalf of the sovereign, and auditing official accounts. It also developed a judicial role along with its [[accountancy]] responsibilities and tried legal cases relating to revenue.<ref name="Bryson" />

Similar offices were later created in [[Normandy]] around 1180, in [[Scotland]] around 1200 and in [[Ireland]] in 1210.<ref name="Howard" />

==Etymology==
The Exchequer was named after a table used to perform calculations for taxes and goods in the medieval period.<ref>{{cite book | last = Noble | first = Thomas | title = The foundations of Western civilization | publisher = Teaching Co | location = Chantilly, VA | year = 2002 | chapter = 36 | isbn = 978-1565856370 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/foundationsofwes04nobl}}</ref> According to the ''[[Dialogus de Scaccario]]'' ('Dialogue concerning the Exchequer'),<ref name="Dialogue concerning the Exchequer" /> an early [[medieval]] work describing the practice of the Exchequer, the table was large, 10 feet by 5 feet with a raised edge or "lip" on all sides of about the height of four fingers to ensure that nothing fell off it, upon which [[Jeton|counters]] were placed representing various values. The name Exchequer referred to the resemblance of the table to a [[chess]] board (French: ''échiquier'') as it was covered by a black cloth bearing green stripes of about the breadth of a human hand in a [[check (pattern)|chequer-pattern]]. The spaces represented pounds, shillings and pence.<ref name="Dialogue concerning the Exchequer">[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/excheq1.html King John of England: Royal Licenses to Export and Import, 1205–1206 Dialogue concerning the Exchequer] Internet Medieval Sourcebook publ by Fordham University, New York. Source: Joseph Hunter, ed., Rotuli Selecti, (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1834), pp. 4–5, 11; reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H. Coulson, A Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1936; reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965), p.412</ref>

The term ''Exchequer'' then came to refer to the twice-yearly meetings held at [[Easter]] and [[Michaelmas]], at which government financial business was transacted and an audit held of [[sheriff]]s' returns.

==Exchequer of Normandy==
{{main|Exchequer of Normandy}}
{{Unsourced section|date=August 2024}}
The operation of an exchequer in Normandy is documented as early as 1180. This exchequer had broader jurisdiction than the English exchequer, dealing in both fiscal and administrative matters. The ''Dialogue concerning the Exchequer'' presents it as a general belief that the Norman kings established the Exchequer in England on the loose model of the Norman exchequer, while noting with some doubt an alternative view that the Exchequer existed in Anglo-Saxon times. The specific chronology of the two exchequers' foundings remains unknown.

== 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}}

== Exchequer in Scotland ==
{{main|Auditor of the Exchequer in Scotland|Court of Exchequer (Scotland)}}
The Scottish Exchequer dates to around 1200, with a similar role in [[Auditor of the Exchequer in Scotland|auditing]] and royal [[revenue]]s as in England. The Scottish Exchequer was slower to develop a separate judicial role; and it was not until 1584 that it became a court of law, separate from the king's council.  Even then, the judicial and the administrative roles were never completely separated as with the English Exchequer.

In 1707, the [[Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act 1707]] ([[6 Ann. (GB)|6 Ann.]] c. 53) reconstituted the Exchequer into a law court on the English model, with a lord chief baron and four barons.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Ann/6/53 |title=Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act 1707 |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=UK Government | access-date=11 November 2016}}</ref> The court adopted English forms of procedure and had further powers added. This was done in Section 19 of the [[Act of Union 1707]]<ref>Section XIX, "And that there be a Court of Exchequer in Scotland after the Union, for deciding Questions concerning the Revenues of Customs and Excises there, having the same power and authority in such cases, as the Court of Exchequer has in England": {{ws|[[s:Act of Union 1707|Act of Union 1707]] at Wikisource}}</ref>

From 1832, no new barons were appointed; their role was increasingly assumed by judges of the [[Court of Session]]. By the [[Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act 1856]] ([[19 & 20 Vict.]] c. 56), the Exchequer became a part of the Court of Session. A [[lord ordinary]] acts as a judge in Exchequer causes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/19-20/56 |title=Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act 1856 |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=UK Government | access-date=11 November 2016}}</ref> The English forms of process ceased to be used in 1947.

==Exchequer of Ireland==
{{Main|Exchequer of Ireland|Court of Exchequer (Ireland)}}
The [[Exchequer of Ireland]] developed in 1210 when King [[John of England]] reorganized the governance of his [[Lordship of Ireland]] and brought it more in line with English law.<ref name="Howard" /> It consisted of the ''Superior Exchequer'', a [[court of equity]] and revenue akin to the Exchequer of Pleas, and the ''Inferior Exchequer''.<ref name="Howard" /> The latter were the treasurers who handled all logistics from collecting the money (Teller or Cashier), logging it (Clerk of the Pells) and signing money orders accepting or paying money.<ref name="Thomas" /><ref name="MTH" /> It was managed by its own [[Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland]] and [[Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer]].

The [[Court of Exchequer (Ireland)]] existed from about 1299 to 1877. It was abolished under the [[Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877]] and was merged, along with the [[Court of King's Bench (Ireland)]], the [[Court of Chancery (Ireland)]]  and the [[Court of Common Pleas (Ireland)]], into the new [[High Court of Justice in Ireland]] (now replaced by the [[High Court (Ireland)|High Court]]).<ref name="Howard" />

The [[Central Fund (Ireland)|Central Fund]], the Republic of Ireland's equivalent of the UK's Consolidated Fund, is colloquially called the Exchequer when distinguished as a component of [[Government of Ireland|government]] funding.<ref name="fiscalcouncil">{{cite book |chapter=Appendix E: The General Government Sector |chapter-url=https://www.fiscalcouncil.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Appendix-E-The-General-Government-Sector-2.pdf |title=Fiscal Assessment Report |publisher=Fiscal Council |location=Dublin |pages=102–103 |date=November 2016}}</ref>

==See also==
<!-- add in alphabetic order -->
*[[Exchequer of Chester]]
*[[Exchequer Standards]]
*[[Fisc]]
*[[History of the English fiscal system]]
*[[Taxation in medieval England]]
*[[Red Book of the Exchequer]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name="Dict219">Coredon ''Dictionary'' p. 219</ref>

<ref name="Bartlett">{{cite book |author=Bartlett, Robert |author-link=Robert Bartlett (historian) |title=England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings: 1075–1225 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=2000 |isbn=0-19-822741-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/englandundernorm00bart_0}}</ref>

<ref name="Bryson">{{cite book|last=Bryson|first=W.H.|title=The Equity Side of the Exchequer|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2008|isbn=978-0-521-07659-3}}</ref>

<ref name="MTH">{{cite journal|last=H.|first=M. T.|date=1932|title=Review: History of the Financial Administration of Ireland to 1817 by T. J. Kiernan|journal=Irish Province of the Society of Jesus|volume=21|issue=81}}</ref>

<ref name="Thomas">{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Francis Sheppard|title=The Ancient Exchequer of England; the Treasury; and Origin of the Present Management of the Exchequer and Treasury of Ireland.|publisher=J. Petheram|date=1848|oclc=465938569}}</ref>

<ref name="Howard">{{cite book|last=Howard|first=Gorges Edmond|author-link=Gorges Edmond Howard|title=A treatise of the Exchequer and revenue of Ireland.|publisher=J.A. Husband|date=1776|volume=1|oclc=5111516}}</ref>

<ref name="EADA1866">{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/29-30/39/section/2 |title=Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866 |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=UK Government | access-date=6 October 2016}}</ref>

<ref name="InterpretationAct1978">{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1978/30/schedule/1 |title=Interpretation Act 1978 |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=UK Government | access-date=6 October 2016}}</ref>

<ref name="EFPA1950">{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/apni/1950/3/section/19#text%3DExchequer |title=Exchequer and Financial Provisions Act (Northern Ireland) 1950 |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=UK Government | access-date=6 October 2016}}</ref>

<ref name="RPAAccounts201516">{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/539094/ARAC_15_to_16_for_web.pdf |title=Rural Payments Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2015–2016 |website=gov.uk |publisher=UK Government | access-date=6 October 2016}}</ref>

<ref name="DEFRAAccounts201516">{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/547296/defra-annual-report-2015-2016-web.pdf |title=Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Annual Report and Accounts 2015–16 |website=gov.uk |publisher=UK Government | access-date=6 October 2016}}</ref>

<ref name="DFEAccounts201415">{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/517766/DfE-consolidated-annual-report-and-a-counts-2014-to-2015-Web-version.pdf |title=Department for Education Consolidated annual report and accounts For the year ended 31 March 2015 |website=gov.uk |publisher=UK Government | access-date=6 October 2016}}</ref>

<ref name="ScotAccounts201415">{{cite web |url=http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0048/00486683.pdf |title=Consolidated Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2015 |website=gov.scot |publisher=The Scottish Government | access-date=6 October 2016}}</ref>

}}

== Further reading ==
* Keir, D. L., ''The Constitutional History of Modern Britain 1485–1937''. Third Edition. A & C Black, 1946.
* [[Anthony Steel (historian)|Steel, Anthony]] ''The Receipt of the Exchequer, 1377–1485''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954.
* Warren, W. L., ''The Governance of Norman and Angevin England 1086–1272''. Edward Arnold, 1987. {{ISBN|0-7131-6378-X}}
* [[Thomas Madox|Madox, Thomas]], 1666–1727; Fitzneale, Richard, 1130–1198; Gervasius, of Tilbury, supposed author (1711/1769), ''[https://archive.org/details/historyantiquiti01mado History of the Exchequer]'' Published 1769, etext on archive.org 
* [http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_123/123_439_452.pdf Murray, Athol L, Burnett, Charles J., ''The seals of the Exchequer of Scotland''. Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. 123 (1993) 439–52] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923083450/http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_123/123_439_452.pdf |date=23 September 2009 }}
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Exchequer |last= Spring-Rice |first= Stephen Edward |volume= 10 |pages= 54 - 58}}
*{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Francis Sheppard|title=The Ancient Exchequer of England; the Treasury; and Origin of the Present Management of the Exchequer and Treasury of Ireland.|publisher=J. Petheram|date=1848|oclc=465938569}}
* [http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/exchequer.asp National Archives of Scotland guide to Exchequer Records.] nas.gov.uk
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070208115037/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/excheq.htm Dialogue concerning the Exchequer] yale.edu

==External links==
{{wiktionary}}
* [http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about_history.htm HM Treasury history page]

{{English Exchequer}}

[[Category:Government of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Defunct departments of the Government of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Exchequer offices]]
[[Category:Taxation in England]]
[[Category:History of taxation in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Monarchy and money]]