E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Green Cloth.
The Board of Green Cloth. A board connected with the royal household, having power to correct offenders within the verge of the palace and two hundred yards beyond the gates. A warrant from the board must be obtained before a servant of the palace can be arrested for debt. So called “because the committee sit with the steward of the household at a board covered with a green cloth in the counting-house, as recorders and witnesses to the truth.” It existed in the reign of Henry I., and probably at a still earlier period.
