some of them spoyled or quite worn out and yet many times such extorting Officers have been so impudent and voyd of all conscience or honesty that if the business be compounded so that such Defendant were to have such Goods Chattals and Cattel again they have caused such poor Defendants to pay great Sums of Mony for the keeping and Stoage of such Goods and Chattals and feeding of such Cattel And then such extorting Officers would be prevented of their continual usage of defrauding many poor people who have come to them for Writs and others to whom they have offered themselves to sue out Writs for by going to ignorant Attorneys or Officers who know the course of Actions as little as themselves to take out such Writs in Trespass when the Causes have been for great Debts or Demands who sometimes have made forth such Writs and thereby such Officers have Arrested divers Defendants of whom or their Sureties they have taken good security for the appearance of such Defendants but after by reason of Bribes given to such Officers by such Defendants such Officers have sometimes forborn to tell such simple people who have so first gone to such Officers for such Writs before they have advised with or acquainted any honest and learned Counsel Clerk or Attorney in their Causes of such Arrest done till after such Defendants have appeared at the day of their appearance and either foysted in common Bayl for want of marking the Rolls or calling for good Bayl or otherwise in some Courts have non-suited the Cause and obtained Costs against such simple people both which have usually been done and allowed by the course and practice of the Superior Courts or otherwise when such appearance and good Bayl hath been called for such Officers have forborn the return of such Writs and Warrants thereupon and Bonds many times half at other times a whole year and divers times several years and some of them after the return of such Writs have stood out Amerciaments for as long a time and divers times till many Debts have been lost and such Amerciaments have not redounded to the benefit of the Suitors but to the King or c. and after such Officers have stood out so long after appearance they have got off such Amerciaments for very little And some of them have bragged and boasted that they have obtained Patents for the benefit of Amerciaments within their Jurisdictions to their own uses and that therefore they have not cared how many Amerciaments have been imposed upon estreated or extracted out against them saying the more the better for their advantage and have jeered the Suitors and said that if they did not comply with them the said Sheriffs or Officers to their liking by giving of them such high Rewards as they have demanded or retained some Attorney of their Associates or Servants who use to squeeze and wring much Mony out of their Clyents in an excessive manner and with whom such Sheriffs or Officers use to share then such Suitors should have little benefit of their businesses some of such Officers who have gained peculiar liberties therein often reporting that they can do what they please in most Causes within their liberties And many times such Officers and Clyents have gone to such Attorneys or Solicitors as have been Associates of such Officers who have made out Warrants without Writs or otherwise such Officers have Arested the Defendants without Writs and then took Rewards or as they may more fitly be called Bribes of both Plaintiffs and Defendants in endevoring to end their business and threatning Plaintiffs that if they would not stand to their award they should have little good success in their businesses and by using the Defendants being simple ruggedly and terrifying them they have wrought them into Commpositions and shared in the Debts and Demands and in many that have not been they have gained a fourth third and sometimes half of such Debts and Demands and by such means have caused themselves to be made both Judges Attorneys or Solicitors and Bayliffs in such Causes And in many Causes wherein they have grasped into their hands the suing out of such Writs and in such Causes wherein they could not procure Compositions or References they have caused the Defendants to retain Attorneys being Associates of such Officers with whom they have shared in their Fees and in neither of both these cases last mentioned any Writs at all have been sued out and yet the Clyents have payd for Writs by which menas Mony hath been extorred and exacted out of Clyents for more Writs then have issued out of the Superior Court by which means the honest people of this Nation have been much defrauded for many years together And many such Officers that is to say Undersheriffs Bayliffs and Serjeants when they have Arrested honest meaning men had them to Tippling houses or houses of them and their Associates have extorted and exacted much Money out of them by threatning of them to carry them to prison and those who have not rewarded them to their liking or could not they have drag'd nd hurryed to prison hunching and kicking them though they have never resisted nor offered to resist such Officers nor given them any ill words And when such Officers have been imployed only to take appearance upon Arrest they have constrained the persons Arrested to pay down the Attorneys Fees and mony by them to be layd out in appearances into the hands of Officers and then would they seldom or never pay the same to such Officers if the business proceeded or restore the same to the Defendants if the same were ended and when some few have gotten some part of such mony out of such Hucksters hands they have spent as much and sometimes more then the value thereof besides the sustaining of great trouble in moving Courts by Counsel and complaining to Judges and Justices by which means such Officers have kept to their own uses such mony and the poor parties so Arrested constrained to procure so much more for their appearances And further if all the Propositions or Proposals before mentioned were Enacted besides the benefit which thereby would accrue to the honest people of this Nation as before is mentioned these benefits and advantages hereafter following would redound to the Publique Advantage and the ensuing Inconveniencies and Mischiefs which have much injured and prejudiced the honest people of this Nation be prevented and taken away For then it would be again as in ancient times when Parliaments have been once every year and more often when occasion in those times have happened being when Kings were vertuous and abhorred vice and had care of the then honest people of this Nation according as to their then light they were as of themselves when the people had Justice equally and without delay done by their Equals and thereby continued in great quiet but that they were besotted and beguiled by the Priest as before is mentioned who for such
and other Pleadings upon the same which after have been again recorded in a superfluous manner and other things which might very well have been forborn being only contrived for the only gain or Exactions of Prothonatories Philazers Exigenters their Clerks and other Clerks which Records without the expectance of further gain of such Officers in every Court might be contrived to be so short as formerly they have been For now in Criminal Causes against Felons who be to lose their lives the Clerks who draw and record the Proces against them have done and can do and contrive all the matter against such a Felon so short that about eight or ten of the same usually have been written in one hour but if any Criminal Cause have come in question not touching the life of man such an one hath been put to excessive charges especially when the Cause hath been removed into the Capital Office formerly called the Crown Office where they have been squeezed to the purpose by being compelled to pay for writing of Records several times over more then necessary and to pay sometimes double and at other times treble so much as for Records are usually paid 5. That there may be a Seal as anciently there hath been in some peculiar place to be for every of the Courts before mentioned to be come to at all times of every working day by any Clerk of every such particular Court so to be approved of or allowed as before is mentioned there to seal with the same any Writ of course without paying or giving any thing for so doing If this were done and Enacted then need not any man stay so many weeks for a General Seal and sometimes pay 5 s. 10 s. 20 s. 30 s. or more for a private Seal as too often hath been used and the Monopoly of the Green Seal Offices and Officers thereof abolished and the Great Seal to be only for such things as shall go or pass through the hands of the Attorney General or Soliciter General and approved by the State That such Attorney and Soliciter might only attend their places for their Salaries or Pensions as formerly and now in some other Nations and not intermeddle with any other thing in putting poor men to excessive charges in retaining them for their counsel with extraordinary large Fees or rewards or others powerful with such Fees or rewards to ballance them or otherwise such poor people have been utterly crushed though their Causes have been never so just and many such poor people who have made very hard shift to procure mony to retain such counsel have thereby been much impoverished and never recovered it during their lives And if these things were observed as anciently by the Attorney General and Serjeants Solicitors c. of this Republique then would they attend the publique business of this Nation only and not be intangled with any other and grow expert in State business as well as those in such like Imployment in other Nations And then if this were performed and other the best learned of this Nation put to their Salaries only and held strictly to their duties in a short time this Nation would exceedingly flourish and all self-end-gain being layd aside would be a means to bring the most wise and judicious of this Nation to become honest or at least to joyn with such as be or shall be so and then if the Advice and Directions of such be observed there can be no doubt but this Nation may be as happy or more then any other and be a pattern for them 6. That after any Writ of Justice with such Count Declaration or other thing therewith before mentioned be or shall be delivered to any Sheriff or Sheriffs his or their Deputy or Deputies he or they shall or may be Authorized to seize and take the Cattel Goods or Chattels of any against whom the same be or shall be awarded and keep the same until Judgment and Execution be or shall be upon the same or sufficient Sureties or Manucaptors found by the Defendant or Defendants in the same to satisfie the Debt or Demand which shall be recovered upon the same and that such Sureties or Manucaptors shall be liable so to do or attach or stay any Debt Duty or Demand owing or due to the Defendant in such cause by any other or others and that recovery upon such Writ of Justice if the same be not satisfied by such Defendant such person from whom such Debt or Duty shall be due shall satisfie the same and that the same course may be taken and the same proceedings in any of the superior Courts usually held at Westminster By this if the same were Enacted may be gained in many sums of mony very cheap with ease and speed and many chargeable Tryals abated or taken away and many such like Debts and Duties saved which formerly have been lost by reason of many wilful delays and fraudulent practises of Sheriffs and their Deputies 7. That in all such Causes wherein Rule or Orders of course have been usually given a general Rule or Order as anciently hath-been may be made in all Causes of the same nature in every Court If this were Enacted the Monopoly of offices of Registers and Drawers and Enterers of Rules and Orders and the Officers thereof would fall and thereby many intricacies and doubts in proceedings taken away whereby the people may the better understand the prosecution in their Causes or Suits and they or their Attorneys or Solicitors boldly ask or demand their Rights without fear of them or their Superiors and go chearfully and with ease about their business and have the better knowledg of the proceedings thereof and not to be troubled to wait or attend or be checked or contradicted by the cheating proud Officers in such Offices as they have been too often many times in divers Causes and Suits their Attorneys or Solicitors having been checked and taunted at and made as if it were slaves by such for matters of Proceedings and Entries in such Offices happening amiss which have been occasioned sometimes by the negligence at other times by the wilful mistake of such Officers for their own Exactions whereby divers proceedings in such Causes and Suits after much charges and trouble in the same have been avoyded and the parties to such Causes and Suits put to new trouble and charges about the same and yet by reason of the powerfulness of such Officers in such Courts no remedy hath been had against them but such poor Clerks Attorneys or Solicitors checked by some and jeered at by others of the Associates and Confederates of such Exacting Officers for the knavery and neglect of the same Officers 8. That a certainty in general of Costs after every Judgment of every respective nature given or pronounced in every Court may be and that the Judgment may be entred accordingly as anciently hath been before useless innovations crept in without waiting on Prothonatories or their Deputies
their actings deservedly fell and it is thought others who have done as bad or worse then they on a sudden will do the like if they do not timely repent and amend And then would again the Members of Parliaments or Representatives be only of the most honest and discreet of the people of this Nation and no other equally and impartially Elected without trouble or charge to any as formerly hath been and dispatch all business coming before them speedily the one of them seldom contradicting the other as hath been in those ancient times without sitting of full Parliament or Representative any extraordinary long time together but conclude all business for them necessary to be done which no other Courts could remedy within a Month six weeks or two Months time at the most unless upon extraordinary occasions before Adjournment Prorogation or Ending which caused the English Laws to be accounted the best in Christendom and deservedly before Innovations crept in and then were few Motions in respect of the extraordinary multitudes which have been of late made by Favorite Counsel or any other Motions by any other the Attorneys or Clerks unless it were in cases extraordinary by honest learned Counsel and not by Favorites to begin a Cause and have a large Fee for so doing usually only saying such an one is Plaintiff and such an one is Defendant and then an honest learned Lawyer have usually gone on with the same throughly or otherwise such Favorites have or could say little more and some of them have not been of ability or capable to say any more though they have received extraordinary large Fees double treble sometimes fourfold of that which such honest Lawyers have had which Favorites the Suitors have been constrained to retain or otherwise such learned and honest Lawyers have several days the one after the other waited till some of them have been wearyed out and given the business over and others who have attended to be heard have took as much pains as a Porter hath in going of errands and earning as much mony in such time and besides such honest Lawyers when they have long waited and have been heard they have had little or no fruit of their Motions but have been flammed off baffled and girt up and checked before they have been half heard out their Motion and have been sent home with a sleeveless errand and been discouraged And thereby the Favorites by Alliances or yearly presents gratuities or new-years gifts learning the meaning of their Superiors by their looks have ingrossed up all or the most part of the gains in every Cause and thereby they and their Superiors have climbed to a great height in few years and many times when one Suitor having retained one two or three Counsel to plead his Cause at the Assizes and other places where several Counsel have used to attend to the number of twenty or thirty or sometimes more at several Bars such Suitor hath been baffled out and lost his Cause unless he had retained half such Counsel by reason some crafty person have caused the Record of such Cause to be carryed to another Bar where such Suitor nor his Counsel have expected the Cause should be tryed and many times the principal Counsel of such Suitor being called to and attending another Cause at another Bar and from the Bar where such Suitors Cause was expected to be tryed and then when the Cause of such Suitor hath been called and he desiring the Judg to stay until his Counsel came or that the Cause might be tryed where they were to attend other Tryals the Judges before whom such Causes have been to be tryed have denyed to admit the same casting an angry look upon such Suitor saying there were other Counsel enough whom they might retain nodding towards Favorite Dunces standing in sight ☞ and thereupon such poor Suitors have been constrained to retain Lawyers of mean Judgment on a sudden who could not understand their Causes soon enough and some not at all nor capable thereof and such Causes having been tryed in the absence of such honest and learned Counsel retained and instructed at the first have gone and passed against such Suitors having had the best and most right to recover in such Cause And when any of such Favorite Lawyers have failed in such their presents or gifts at the usual time of the presenting of the same have grown out of favor and after they so failing have had a grin or a wry face from some of such Superiors they have not come into favor again a long time and some of them never which hath caused most of them constantly to continue the same and by those means grow the more expert in such their Combinations the more to keep others who do not use such dealing ignorant thereof and be suffered to foam out non-sence and lye bark brawl and wrangle as they have pleased when others of ability have not been suffered scarce to speak three or four words in a cause and thereby to gain the affection of Suitors in such Causes and sometimes such Favorites though they have been many on a side have not dared to speak a word more in any Cause after they have received a private look from some Superior which none other but themselves have understood which is thought hath been when some such Superior or some of his Alies or Private Creatures have grasped and hooked in more then such Favorites have received for their Fees Coventry and Manchester wherein Coventry and Queen Besse have been accounted very expert And by such means other under or petty Officers to Inferiors under the high Superiors who have learned the skill to give Rewards or Bribes to those Superiors to keep them from questioning by such Inferiors when they have done amiss have gained much And then would Suitors know what evidence they were to produce at Tryals and not to be triced or non-suited on a sudden many times the one after the other as many times hath fallen out to the infinite gains of such ignorant Favorite Lawyers and great damage to the honest people neither would Juries be pusled with multitudes of Issues at a time but all Causes tryed in an easie way as hath been in the best time And then could not such Inferior and the greater Monopolizing Officers before mentioned by the favor which they have gained of their Superiors by contributing to them part of the gains of such innovated and extorting Offices before mentioned take such occasion as they have done to increase their Exactions by colour of such Offices to cause Orders to be made whereby many Mischiefs and Inconveniencies have faln upon Suitors in Causes and when complaint hath been thereof they have caused the poor Prosecutors thereof to be blamed and checked for the faults or neglects of such Officers and their Superiors and still kept such Prosecutors under that they have not dared to complain or so much as publiquely reveal what