<<<<is "chuse" ever used in the UK? >>
No, never seen it.>>
It's not current in the US, either. One thing to keep in mind is that back in 1787 when the Constitution was drafted (it took effect in 1789) English spelling was not as standardized as it was today whether we're talking about American or British writers. It was, in fact, the norm of the era for the individual writer to use different spelling variants within the same document or even sentence. It wasn't until the mid-1800s when spelling became really standardized. The idea of there being just one correct spelling for a word and being able to just run to the dictionary to check simply did not exist until well into the 19th century. For example, while for British people today the OED is often seen as an immutable, eternal source it hasn't been around all that long, comparatively. Preliminary work that would later become the Oxford English Dictionary did not begin until the 1850s, with the complete OED not being finished until much later in 1928.
No, never seen it.>>
It's not current in the US, either. One thing to keep in mind is that back in 1787 when the Constitution was drafted (it took effect in 1789) English spelling was not as standardized as it was today whether we're talking about American or British writers. It was, in fact, the norm of the era for the individual writer to use different spelling variants within the same document or even sentence. It wasn't until the mid-1800s when spelling became really standardized. The idea of there being just one correct spelling for a word and being able to just run to the dictionary to check simply did not exist until well into the 19th century. For example, while for British people today the OED is often seen as an immutable, eternal source it hasn't been around all that long, comparatively. Preliminary work that would later become the Oxford English Dictionary did not begin until the 1850s, with the complete OED not being finished until much later in 1928.