“ It was not till the reign of Henry II. that the title summus or capitalis justiciarius, or justiciarius totius Angliae was exclusively applied to the king’s chief minister. The office, however, existed before the style of its holder was fixed; and, whatever their contemporary title (e.g. Custos Angliae) , later writers refer to them as justiciarii, with or without the prefix summus or capitalis (ibid. p. 346) . Thus Ranulf Flambard, the minister of William II., who was probably the first to exercise the powers of a justiciar, is called justiciarius by Ordericus Vitalis. ”

“ Justiciarius meant simply “judge,” and was originally applied, as Stubbs points out (Const. Hist. i. 389, note) , to any officer of the king’s court, to the chief justice, or in a very general way to all and sundry who possessed courts of their own or were qualified to act as judices in the shire-courts, even the style capitalis justiciarius being used of judges of the royal court other than the chief. ”