from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Exchequer \Ex*cheq"uer\, n. [OE. escheker, OF. eichekier, fr.
LL. scaccarium. See {Checker}, {Chess}, {Check}.]
1. One of the superior courts of law; -- so called from a
checkered cloth, which covers, or formerly covered, the
table. [Eng.]
[1913 Webster]
Note: The exchequer was a court of law and equity. In the
revenue department, it had jurisdiction over the
proprietary rights of the crown against subjects; in
the common law department, it administered justice in
personal actions between subject and subject. A person
proceeding against another in the revenue department
was said to exchequer him. The judges of this court
were one chief and four puisne barons, so styled. The
Court of Exchequer Chamber sat as court of error in
which the judgments of each of the superior courts of
common law, in England, were subject to revision by the
judges of the other two sitting collectively. Causes
involving difficult questions of law were sometimes
after argument, adjourned into this court from the
other courts, for debate before judgment in the court
below. Recent legislation in England (1880) has
abolished the Court of Exchequer and the Court of
Exchequer Chamber, as distinct tribunals, a single
board of judiciary, the High Court of Justice, being
established for the trial of all classes of civil
cases. --Wharton.
[1913 Webster]
2. The department of state having charge of the collection
and management of the royal revenue. [Eng.] Hence, the
treasury; and, colloquially, pecuniary possessions in
general; as, the company's exchequer is low.
[1913 Webster]
{Barons of the exchequer}. See under {Baron}.
{Chancellor of the exchequer}. See under {Chancellor}.
{Exchequer bills} or {Exchequer bonds} (Eng.), bills of
money, or promissory bills, issued from the exchequer by
authority of Parliament; a species of paper currency
emitted under the authority of the government, and bearing
interest.
[1913 Webster]