this last mentioned sum much higher but in regard we can come to no certain knowledg thereof we forbear to make any further calculation about the same Both which sums being added together amount to Two hundred and forty thousand pounds 240000 l. In Wales and Ireland besides which have been and may be hereafter if not prevented half as much being One hundred and twenty thousand pounds 120000 l. The total in England Wales and Ireland Three hundred and sixty thousand pounds 360000 l. In Courts at Law or Courts which have been called Latin Courts Rules or Orders which have been and are above four times the number more then the former accounting so much only as by them hath been so extorted and exacted as before is mentioned in the other Courts called English Courts or Courts of Equity because there is not so much charge in soliciting breviating or entring Rules or Orders as in the former nor altogether in counsel yet too much being Three hundred sixty thousand pounds 360000 l. The Total concerning Motions Orders and Rules c. amount to seven hundred twenty thousand pounds 720000 l. Out of which deduct the tenth part being seventy two thousand pounds 72000 l. which will be sufficient for the performance of such businesses then will remain saved to those honest people yearly hereafter six hundred fourty eight thousand pounds 648000 l. 20. That Witnesses may be examined in all Courts by Commissioners mutually to be chosen But with this That any concerned in any Suit who will may at his own charge have any of such witnesses examined at any Tryal hearing or inquest taking or making 21. That all Commissioners may be to hear and determine or to certifie the doubt and that if the parties to the Suit shall not agree of the truth of that which any witnesss shall depose then may the Commissioners compel the Sheriff to summon a Jury to try the same and the Jury to be chosen as in the general Title of Juries and the matter to be determined above upon reading the Certificate 22. That no matter in Arrest of Judgment shall be moved or assigned to be Error in any Declaration Complaint Bill c. or Plea c. unless such matter be first shewed where the mistake is and how the same should be amended as certain as if the same were amended the Declaration Complaint Bill Plea and other things before therewith mentioned were or should be good in Law 23. And the like concerning Demurrers c. 24. That if any witness be sick and weak or travelling beyond the Sea or there the party concerned may deliver to the contrary party a Bill and require his Answer to the same and he to answer within the time mentioned in the Proposals at large and swear to it before the next Justice of the Peace and after or for default of Anâ—wer the party to examine for the perpetual remembrance of men of the matter 25. That publication may be in every Cause immediately or some short time after witnesses examined in such manner and form as is mentioned in the Proposals at large 26. That the first witness coming at the time and place of the Execution of every Commission may be first examined 27. That no stay of Suit may be by reason of any witnesses going beyond the Sea unless sufficient matter be made appear upon Oath what such witness can say 28. That tender of emends may be for walking with feet and upon a Replevyn after the Cattel in Pownd with damages and costs to that time 29. That Distresses after Apprizement by Jury if the owner of it doth not make satisfaction or replevyn the same within convenient time the same may be sold c. 30. For retorning of the names of the Bayl and Caption with it upon the removal in to the Superior Court and none other to be there put in 31. That no Writ of Error be brought till after Error shewed and allowed by some Judg. 32. For retorning of impartial Jurors to try Causes and for avoyding of Imbracery 33. And a Remedy for giving too little Damages 34. And against finding false Inquests and chargeableness of serving Execution 35. That if any person shall be summoned by Writ or Warrant to appear in Chancery or such like Court and shall not then he shall be arrested and detained not onely until he shall appear but also to stand to the order of the Court And that if the Plaintiff shall give security to make restitution after the Defendant shall appear and obey the Order of the Court and a hearing be then the Court may proceed to decree and sentence and issue out Execution 36. That such Actions as usually upon motions have been drawn from Tryal at London and Westminster into proper Counties may be there layd at first without troubling of poor men to come to London some from the furthest parts from thence to make oath to alter the Visne begging to and going from the City and there during their stay during which times the Countries and Cities have been filled with Beggers and their Countries Businesses left undone 37. That no Beggerly Fellows or Shurks may make Executions against goods Nor Writs for outing men of possession of Houses Lands or Tenements Nor delivering men out of prison for Debts or Duties until they have satisfied the same By permission of which divers just Debts have been lost and many thereby undance and others thereby sustained great loss 38. That no Beggerly Fellows may be permitted to plead false Pleas unless they have or shall first put in sufficient Bayl for payment of the Debt or Demand in question or yielding himself to prison or make or cause Oath to be made of the truth of such Plea or of his ability to satisfie 39. That Costs may be for the Defendants in Demurrers after they have been perplexed troubled and put to great charges and the Causes adjudged or considered of for them 40. And the like in Prohibitions 41. And upon issues of a Record or no Record And furthermore if the said 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 and 41. Proposals and Propositions were Enacted extraordinary charges by multitude of Tryals Non-suits Hearing Fees of over numerous Counsel Motions Arrests of Judgments by Motions and Reversals of the same by Writs of Error and bringing Witnesses many times to Tryals from far remore places from thence and there staying long in expectance of such Tryals sometimes by the space of two three four or five days to the great charge and trouble of the party bringing them in their maintenance and keeping them together the same Witnesses having been sometime brought from the one of the Corners of this Nation to another farthest remote from thence will be so abated and brought to that low ebb that thereby will be yearly saved to such honest people much Mony which formerly every year by such means they have been unnecessarily
unless in some extraordinary Causes and then if the same be not nor shall be agreed upon by parties on both sides after Notes delivered each to other in manner and form as is before mentioned in some of the former Proposals or Propositions then and not before the same to be ascertained by such Prothonatory or Deputy or moved for to such Court and thereby done and perfected or that four or more of the ancient Clerks of every Court to be esteemed of most ability and honest may sit every Term for every of the Superior or such like Courts termly held in Office of the same and there two or more of them sit two or three hours in every Juridical day in the afternoon and hear and determine if they can the doubts of and in every Cause which shall be brought before them in which never a one of them shall have any interest as in divers Courts have been anciently or otherwise to certifie their Opinious thereof to such COurt but this to be only for such Causes in which the Suiters and their Agents be so ignorant that they be not able to draw or procure the drawing of their Causes into writing according to the before mentioned Propositions If this wre Enacted then need not Suitors in such Courts or their Attorneys wait so long upon Prothonatories or their Deputies to have or procure Costs after Verdicts or Inquests to be signed very many times such Attorneys waiting long upon such Officers bare-headed in the cold like Slaves or Vassals as Counsel use to do to be heard to move at the Bars And then also may Suitors have Attorneys or Clerks who never use to give but abhor giving gratuities or new-years gifts or as they may more properly be called Bribes to any of such Prothonatories or their Deputies chearfully without trouble or slavish fear procure Judgments after such Verdicts and Inquests to be entred or signed without giving to such Attorneys or Solicitors who have used and do use to give such rewards gratuities or gifts and to give unto them excessive Fees and other great rewards to have great and extraordinary Costs taxed which by such means usually have been accomplished by such like Attorney or Clerk who for the most part have been of the more ignorant sort in Clerkship they only having betaken themselves to and studyed to perform such things and neglected Clerkship and for such knavery and knavish intentions have been had in higher esteen then any houest and learned Attorney or Clerk which hath brought an Odium up the Law Clerkship and honest Lawyers and Clerks of this Nation who have detested such unlawful actions and inventions and gone on in their business in an honest and ordinary way and not as such knavish and dishonest Attorneys and Clerks have done learned or gone about to leam the meaning of the Takers or Receivers of such rewards gratuities or gifts by their looks in such manner as Solicitors have done of Masters of the Chancery and other Referrees and Favorite Counself of those beofre whom they have moved and used to give such Rewards Gratuities or Gifts And besides Judges may very well out of such their large Salaries provide such Prothonatories and pay them for now they have and hold their place under the chief of such Judges who formerly had a larger Salary then any of the other sufficient to pay for writing all which then in such Courts was necessary to be written of which there is no other doubt to be made but it was that ways imployed and then would all references be speedily ended at every particular time appointed and none to stay or wait long the one after the other as hath been usual for several days the one after the other and then there would not be so much weight layd upon one mans back being almost enough to break the back of a Miller Load-horse but this to be for such Causes only in which the Suitors and their Agents be so ignorant that they be not able to have the doubt in their Suit to be drawn into writing in the nature of a Case in such manner and form as is mentioned in the before mentioned Propositions or Proposals for that purpose And this course will encourage many ancient Clerks to be and endevor to be learned and expert as they have been in ancient times when they have instructed the Judges when they have been mistaken and have spoken to the Judges in those times with boldness and by them have been patiently heard and their Instructions observed by the ancient Judges in those times who were milde and meek as formerly hath been mentioned and used not to check munt snarl at and dash Practizers and Clerks before them out of countenance as hath been used of late and by some who have been negligent enough at some times and have at the Tryals in some Causes and having been overcharged with uttered up that in an unseemly manner and at other times have jeered honest men out of their just Causes and have daunted their Witnesses by jeering and otherwise And also if this oighth Proposition were Enacted then would the common uses of Attorneys and especially of those coming from places far distant from Westminster be prevented which have been as followeth that is to say in their Travels to and from Westminster they have as it were hanged and drawn among themselves for when they have met at their usual Inns Thieves dividing the spoyl they have agreed to go to Tryals and enter Judgments in as many Causes only asby Information of one another they have thought would be searched for or after having not been above the tenth part of their Causes and yet they have caused their Clyents to pay for all the other as if Tryals and Judgments respectively have been in the same and as if they had payd unto the Monopolizing Officers to the most according to their Extortions One cheat dcceiving another and by such means they who could keep themselves from being questioned by such Monopolizers for taking that which they clairned to belong to them by giving Rewards to the Favotites of their Superiors to work them off such Reward-givers have grown great in Riches unto which such who have not been skilled in such subtilties or have been learned have never attained 9. That any such Clerk before mentioned may write the whole Record which any person shall have to be tryed at any Assizes upon any Issue or Issues joyned or to be joyned in any such Superior Court and that the same may be examined as before is mentioned and signed if well done in such manner as before is mentioned and that he or they so examining or signing shall take nothing for doing the same and that a common form shall be contrived for Writs in every such case to be affixed to every of such Records Authorizing and Commanding the Judges of such Assizes to Try or hear the Tryal of such Issues and to do all
things for a Judg necessary to be done about the Tryal of the same For this may the chief Judg or Justice or any other Judg do if they will for in the Statute whereby such Tryals were created it is Enacted That such Records to be tryed should be sent to the Justices of Assize to be tryed by the Court or chief Justice thereof where the Cause to be tryed is depending and no Fees set what they should take for the same whereby it may be clearly gathered that the intent of that Law was that such Records should be sent down into the Countries to be tryed without such charge as now by making new Records thereof for which there is no mention made in the Statute and after returned thither for Judgments to be entred upon the same which may very well and easily be done if the particular Records of every Cause might be distinctly kept by themselves and Filed together and not to be bound up in Books or bundles till after final Judgment or sentence and why may not any man have his Judgment entred upon the same Record to be kept and filed and not to be at the charge against his Will to have them written again most of them being either satisfied or payd shortly after Judgment entred But if any new precedent happen then it is and will be convenient that all the proceedings thereupon should be entred at large and bound up into books or bundles but at the publique charge only and then care will be taken that no such books or bundles shall be stuffed with superfluous matter and thereby made long and the State be put to unnecessary charges by such Entries and the People to much trouble in searching for Records in such Court and as concerning the Examination of such Records and Proceedings there will be little need if the Propositions or Proposals for Amendment of Proceedings in Law do take effect 10. That if any Sheriff Bayliff or Serjeant at the Mace shall require exact or take any excessive sum of Mony of any who shall desire or require him to execute any Writ or Warrant according to his duty when he may attend the same and go about it without danger then shall such Sheriff Bayliff and Serjeant forfeit and lose to the party grieved thereby the value of his just Debt r Duty for recovery of which by such Writ he prosecuteth And that if any such Officer shall take or exact any excessive Mony of any Debitor or Defendant by colour of staying or waiting or for Lodging or Dyet whereby such Debtor or Defendant is disabled to satisfie the Creditor or Demandant his Debt or Demand then such Officer to forfeit to such Creditor or Demandant ten times the value of that which the said Officer shall so exact or take If this were Enacted then neither would nor could such Officers afford to buy their Offices at such dear Rates as they have used of latter years for making up of which they have used great and grievous Extortions whereby many poor people have been utterly ruined and others much impoverished and divers others put to excessive charges and trouble to as much or more then the value of that which they sued for such Officers most commonly when they have had Executions to serve having exacted of the Prosecutor sometimes half at other times a third and most commonly a fourth part of the Debt or Demand before they have or would serve such Execution against the goods or body of any and when they have had Writs to deliver to any possession of Messuages or Tenements they have usually taken and exacted of the Prosecutor one years Rent thereof or security for the same before they would go about it and besides if the Prosecutors have not by themselves or Solicitors danced attendance and waited on such Officers they neither have nor would serve such Executions until towards the end of the year of their remaining in Office taking Bribes in the mean time of the Defendant for forbearing such Execution and those who have made it as it were a Trade to be such Officer or Deputy from year to year in onc County or other for many years together and having by their secret Combination Practices and Confederacies with their Agents or Brethren in Iniquity have by themselves their Alies Servants or private Creatures took the benefit of the most part or a great part of the benefit of such Offices for divers years and have grown so cunning and subtil in the same that they have so seeretly extorted and exacted great sums of Mony by colour of such Offices which none but such as they could discover whereby they have given and could afford to give for such Offices more then any honest man whereby seldom or never any honest have medled or would meddle with any such Office and therefore such Officers so commonly continuing in Office have taken as it were a yearly Rent of many Out-liers and Fugitives in their Counties skulking and lurking there and never would arrrest nor have arrested them unless the Prosecutors or their Agents have been at their heels and by these means many just Debts have been lost by delay and the parties so lurking and skulking and bribing spent as much or more then would satisfie the Creditor and utterly undone themselves their wives and children in so living in expence and idleness for many years together And then also would be prevented the occasion of such Sheriffs and other Officers before with them mentioned exacting and extorting such great Sums of Mony out of many poor Defendants who have not so bribed such Officers and against whom such Officers have had Executions †A Sherift lately seized in Execution a Barn of Corn worth 40 l. he set one man to thresh it and two Bayliffs to oversee the work who sold the Corn to maintain themselves with good drink and victuals so that the Barn of Corn payd but about forty shillings of the Debt The said Sherist lately seized upon a Defendants Cows Horses and Sheep the Cows brought in dayly profit by their Milk the Horses by their dayly working so long as they were able to go on their lege the Sheep by being folded every night and kept in the common field where the Sherift had no right of common yet the Defendant when he redeemed his Cattel was compelled to pay for all their keepings as if they had done nothing but gone in Pasture-ground by selling the Cattel and Goods and Chattals at under-rates some to half at other times to less of the true value thereof to some of their Agents with whom by secret combination and practice between them which neither hath nor could be discovered they have shared and divided the spoyl and at other times by working and laboring Cattel and using and imploying the Goods and Chattals of such Defendants to and for the use of them and their Associates whereby the Cattel Goods and Chattals have been much impaired and
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