the words of this Statute are sufficient to yield the party the benefit of a Traverse if there be cause and for president in the point Chart. of Romney Marsh pag. 23 and 24. one Godfrey Ro. Marsh being presented that he ought to repair a Bank or Wall and that he did neglect to do the same and he came in and pleaded a Plea thereto before the said Commissioners and in 19 lib. Assiz plac 6. there were divers Presentments before Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer for Nusances done in the River of Lee and the same were there traversed and tryed And the Statute of 1 H. 4. cap. 12. 1 H. 4. doth plainly admit of a Traverse wherein the words be That in case if any feel himself greived by execution or otherwise against right and reason let him pursue and he shall have right But I verily suppose that those things which the Justices of Sewers do by their view or by survey and discretion are so binding as in those cases no Traverses are to be admitted because these things are meerly the acts of the Court and of the Justices themselves and if they Fine a man for his contempt in Court by a Record of their own view and not upon a Presentment the party shall not be received to Traverse this and in Doctor Bonhams Case it is said That the act of a Judge is not Traversable if he be the absolute Judge of the Cause But in cases done or certified by such as be no absolute Judges of the Cause as Commissioners of Bankrupts which certifie one a Bankrupt he may Traverse this in an action brought as was done in the Case of Cut and Delaber in 7 Jac. in the Cut and Delaber 7 Jac. common place and Vernies Case 1 Mar. Dier fol. 89. no Averment could be taken to the certificate of a Judge and with this agreeth 7 H. 7. fol. 4. 7 H. 7. But although a Traverse may be taken to a Presentment in the Court of Sewers yet times and seasons must be observed for if a Presentment be there made it may be Traversed for the reasons cause presidents formerly mentioned Yet if the cause have been there so far proceeded in as the Commissioners make a decree thereupon I take it then no Traverse at all can be taken because a decree is the final Judgement of the Court and is an act Judicial which cannot be traversed and tryed by a Jury for that were to refer the Judgement of the Court to be examined by a Jury which may not be admitted and at the Common Law after Judgement no Traverse can be taken And if one be Indicted at the general Session of the Peace this is traversable but if the party suffer himself to be Outlawed upon the said Indictment there no Traverse lieth but a Writ of Error So if in our Sessions of the Sewers the cause proceed to a decree the party grieved is to take his way by preferring a Bill of Reversal in maner as is done in the High Court of Chancery and so he may have the cause here throughly examined Other legal proceedings THe words of the Statute which give the legal proceedings be these viz. That the Commissioners of Sewers may hear and determine all and singular the Premises as well at our suit as at the suit of any other complaining before them after the Laws and Customs aforesaid or otherwise by any other ways or means these words give the party remedy to sue before the Justices of Sewers for such things as are contained within these Laws and which have their dependency thereon In Colshils case in Dier fol. 175. the party preferred his Colshils case Bill of complaint to the Commissioners containing the effect of his Title to the Office in question and these were special Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer Justices of the general Oyer and Terminer may hear and determine Usury by the Statute of 13 Eliz. cap. 8. yet if I. S. be bound 13 Eliz. in a Bond of Ten pounds principal debt and for Forty shillings for Interest although this Bond be for payment for usury yet an Action of Debt doth not lie thereupon before the said Commissioners but an information may be preferred against the lender there to punish him So by our Statute of Sewers an Action of Trespass lieth not for a Trespass done within the reach of this Commission yet Distinguendum est for put the case a sesse is laid upon a man and the goods of I. S. not chargeable thereto be taken and distrained who is not chargeable to the payment thereof I. S. in my opnion though this case have but the countenance of this Commission may have his Action or prefer his complaint before the Commissioners in this Court of Sewers for the recovery of his damages And although this be but a private Action yet the Distress being taken by an authority drawn from the power of this Commission the party distrained may have his remedy in this Court by his private Action because it sprung by the colour of the general power of this Court If A. B. have a several Pischary in the River of Witham which is a River within the Commission of Sewers and the said Pischary by these Laws is chargeable to the repairs thereof if C. D. disseiz him thereof or commit a Trespasse by Fishing therein A. B. can neither have an Assize nor Action of Trespasse within this Court So if a Royal or common River hath his current through the town of Dale and one A. B. is tyed to repair the Banks there by Tenure Prescription or otherwise which notwithstanding in his default are broken down and the waters breaking out overflow the grounds of C. D. thereto adjoyning yet C. D. hath not any remedy to recover his damages against A. B. in this Court for the losse of his grounds but he is put to his private Action therefore at the Common Law and with this agreeth the Case of Keighley But if A. B. be presented therefore before our Commissioners of Sewers they may order A. B. to repair the breach but cannot award damages to C. D. for our Commissioners of Sewers are herein like to Justices of Peace and to Stewards of Leets and Law-days which have power originally to meddle only with the publike wrong Yet by the power of their Commission and of this Statute they many times accidentally meet with private injuries as by the insuing cases may appear If a Township be assessed by a Law of Sewers and the goods of one of the Inhabitants be taken for the sesse that party upon his complaint to these Justices of Sewers may have processe out of this Court to call before them the rest of the Inhabitants which were subject to the said sess to cause them to contribute towards the parties damage who was solely distrained for them all for otherwise this Court should fail of justice in his own proper materials the Statute of 1
altering former Laws It appears in Esther that the Laws of the Medes and Persians were so perdurable as they could never be changed And in my opinion there is required as great foresight judgement and as sound discretion and mature deliberation in repealing of old Laws as in making new ones For Quae preter consuetudinem morem major ' fiunt neque placent neque recta videmur I have noted how carefully and constant the Lords of the Parliament House were in the 20 year of H. 3. when they all cried out aloud Nolumus leges Angliae mutare Seeing therefore there ought to be great care in making Laws so must there be great heed taken in repealing of Laws And because Commissioners of Sewers have power herein I will therefore deliver my opinion how far that power will extend And if one note this Branch of the Statute well he shall well perceive the Judicious care taken by the Parliament in penning of it For the words be That the Commissioners of Sewers should have Power and Authority to make constitute and ordain Laws Ordinances and Decrees and the same Laws and Ordinances omitting the word Decrees to alter repeal and make void for a Decree is a Judgement and is Finis operis and a Judgement cannot be reversed without a Writ of Error Neither can a Sentence or a Decree in Chancery be reversed without a Bill of Review neither can the Commissioners of Sewers reverse a Judgement or Decree of Sewers Judiciously pronounced which is a Judgement upon a Tryal betwixt the King and the party or betwixt party and party without a Bill of Reversal for it is truly said Quod naturale est unum quodâ— dissolvi eo ligamine quo ligatum est A Writ of Error lay at the Common Law for to reverse a Judgement given by Commissioners of Sewers when the Commission was in Latine as is set forth in the Register being then one of the special Commissions of Oyer and Terminer but since the Commission was put into the English frame the Writs of Error ceased A Law for sale of Lands ingrossed into parchment and certified into the Kings Court of Chancery with the Kings Royal assent had thereto is not reversable without an Act of Parliament but then the said sale must be made according to the form frame and power of this Statute For put the Case that A. B. holdeth his Lands of I. S. by the payment of Twenty shillings yearly towards the repair of such a Bridge Bank or Wall it fortuneth that A. B. paid the Twenty shillings yearly to his Lord for that purpose who neglecteth to pay it though he be thereto Ordered and Assessed to pay the same to the said repairs by the Commissioners of Sewers the seigniory of Twenty shillings yearly is to be decreed and not the Land for that the fault was in I. S. and not in A. B. the owner of the Land If any persons be by Prescription Custom Tenure Covenant or otherwise bound to repair Walls Banks or other defences of Sewers the Commissioners have not any power by their Commission to repeal alter or make void any of these because these are establisht by the Common Law and Customs of the Realm and not by the power of the Commission of Sewers But their power is to repeal alter or make void Laws and Ordinances made by themselves or by the power of their Commission And so the words of their Commission plainly describe it For thereby they have power to make Laws and Ordinances and the same to repeal alter and make void so they must be the same and no other And herein I end all my Arguments and discourse upon this Statute for I accompt all the rest which remaineth unspoken of not to be worthy of a Readers dialect because I have fully handled all the materials of this worthy Law And therefore I may justly â—â—â—clude my Argument with this That Finitum est hoc opus â— consumatum FINIS
dispose of them Fourthly the Commissioners have a Clerk proper to themselves to Register their Laws Fifthly the Commissioners have power to make Orders and Decrees which are Judgements in effect and some of them cannot be reversed but by Act of Parliament And lastly Writs of Error have been brought to reverse Judgement given in that Court For all which causes I do conclude That the Commissioners of Sewers have a Court of Record although it be not holden in aliquo loco certo So was the Kings Bench a Court of more Eminency then this But ubicunque fuerimus in Angliae and for express Authority in the point of Gregories Case in the 6 Report of Cook chief Justice that the Sewers is a Court of Record Imprisonment imposed by the Commissioners of Sewers IT is a point of high consequence whether Commissioners of Sewers have power by these Laws to Imprison the body of a man for any thing touching the same for that Imprisonment of the body seemeth to sway somewhat against the grand Charter of England and against the liberty of a free-born Subject and it is said in Bonhams case 28 H. 8. in Dyer that liberty is a thing which the Law much favoreth and I finde in our Books of Law That the Judges have been very careful and curious in not extending words contained in Charters to the Imprisonment of mens bodies unless they were express in the point And therefore in Clerks case in Sir Ed. Cooks 5 Report fol. 64. Clarks Case The case is That the Term was to be kept at St. Albans and the Major there and his brethren did assess every townsman towards erecting and building of the Courts of Justice and made an Order That he which should refuse to assist and pay should be imprisoned and one being Arrested and imprisoned brought his Action of false imprisonment against the Major who pleaded in effect That they were incorporate by King Edward 6. and had power granted to them in their Major of St. Albans Charters to make Ordinances by reason whereof they made the said Order and so justified the imprisonment But it was adjudged against the Major for that by the said Charter they had not any power to make an Ordinance to imprison a mans body for that were against the grand Charter in Magna Charta cap. 29. Quod nullus liber homo imprisonetur Magna Charta nisi per legem terrae But by that Book they might have inflicted a penalty and have distrained or brought an Action of Debt for it In Doctor Bonhams case in the 8. Report King Hen. 8. incorporated the Physitians of London and gave them power by Charter to examine the Imperites to finde out the defects Et pro delictis suis in non bene exequendo faciendo utendo illos per punitionem eorum delinquentium per fines amerciamentum imprisonomentum corporum suorum So hereby it appears that by the Kings Letters Patents they had power to imprison the Body but I finde their Charters confirmed by Act of Parliament Yet in 2 Eliz. Dier fol. 175. the Case is That the Queen did award a Commission directed to certain Commissioners to Hear and Determine the controversies betwixt Scrogs and Colshil touching the Office of the Exigenter and that if Scrogs should refuse to obey to make answer before them they should commit him to Prison but the validity of this last Commission I much doubt of I am of Opinion That the Commissioners of Bankrupts and charitable uses have no power to commit any man but if any abuse or misdemeanor be committed in contempt or derogation of their Authorities they may make Certificate thereof into the Chancery and refer the punishment thereof to the will and discretion of the Lord Chancelor or Lord Keeper for the time being In Godfreys Case in the 11 Report there is a discourse what Godfreys Case Courts have power to Imprison and which not and there it is said Some Courts may Fine but not Imprison as the Courts Leet and Sheriff turn some others could neither Fine nor Imprison as Courts Baron and County Courts and some could neither Fine Imprison nor Amerce as Ecclesiastical Courts And some may Imprison and not Fine as chief Constables at their Petty Sessions for an affray done in disturbance of them And other Courts there were which might Fine Imprison and Amerce as the eminent Courts of Westminster So that Imprisonment is not incident to every Court nor to every offence Yet I am of opinion that the Commissioners of Sewers may Imprison the body for it is not only a Court of Record but is authorized by Act of Parliament and I suppose that there be words in the Commission and Statute which will bear this construction which are as follow viz. And all such as ye shall finde negligent gainsaying or rebelling in the works reparation or reformation of the premises or negligent in the due execution of the Commissioners That ye Compel them by Distress Fines and Amerciaments and by other Punishments ways or means c. Which words are strong and large enough to authorize the Commissioners of Sewers upon just Cause to Imprison the body But here they are to be careful and not to think that they may Imprison Fine or Amerce in any case because the words be generally put together But this construction must be thereof made That they may Imprison where Imprisonment is due and Fine in cases Fineable and Amerce in cases Amerciable and Distrain where a Distress properly lyeth by the Rules of Law and they may not Imprison where by the Laws Imprisonment is not due but every one of the said punnishments is to be used in its proper kinde for these words promiscuously put together must be ordered by a just and legal construction according to the Rules of Law and Reason And I have known the words of a Statute generally and promiscuously put together have been marshalled according to their distributive operations as the Statute of 1 Rich. 3. which is That all Feoffments Gifts Grants Releases and Confirmations of Lands made by Cestui que use should be good Yet though these words were generally put together notwithstanding the wise and discreet Sages and Expositors of our Laws have so Marshalled the words of this Statute that they made construction thereof according to the Rules and reason of the Laws That is That Cestui que use in Possession might make a Feoffment and that Cestui que use in Reversion or Remainder might grant the Land and Cestui que use of a discontinued Estate might release or confirm and yet the words of this Statute were general howsoever Reason must be the Expositor that every thing be done in due form of Law and not in preposterous maner And these matters being thus passed over I shall endeavor my self to declare in what cases Commissioners of Sewers may Imprison Fine and Amerce and where not Imprisonment Fine and Amerciament Fines IF one
for a Distresse taken in the Kings Court for that they be of a superior authority and jurisdiction to these inferior Courts of Sewers And therefore the Replevins which our Statute aims to give way to are intended to be taken out of the Kings Courts which in Law and Justice ought to be obeyed and not from the Sheriff or his Officers by vertue of their Office only But in my case the Commissioners made a Law that the goods of A. should be sold without allowance of Replevin which is a good Law upon the distinctions and diversities aforesaid that is that A. who was the person assessed might not have or take a Replevin because he was a person bound expresly by the Law nor that the Sheriff or his Officers Ex Officio might grant a Replevin to deliver the same being under the power of this Law of Sewers But the Kings Courts at Westminster may in those cases of Sewers deliver the Distresses and this construction made of this Statute as I take it stands with Law and reason And in the 31 Ed. 3. Brook Replevin plac 60. the Case is put a man did grant to A. B. a rent out of his grounds 13 Ed. 3. with power that if it were behinde that he might distrain therefore and detain the Distresse against gages and pledges and yes it was adjudged that if the Rent were behinde and the grantor distrained he could not detain this Distresse against the Replevin Yet here were the direct words of the party himself to the contrary but his words could not overrule the Law So that upon all these matters I hold these Tenents following Imprimis To make a general Law to restrain all Replevins granted either from the Sheriff or the Kings Courts is no good Law or Ordinance of Sewers for that Replevins de jure are in such cases grantable out of the Kings Courts and such a general Law savors too much of oppression in stopping up the Gates of Justice Secondly for a Sheriff or his Deputy to grant and award Warrants of Replevin Ex officio to deliver goods or cattle distrained and detained for a Tax and Law of Sewers is in my opinion against Law and need not to be obeyed for that the Distres was Sub protectione superioris Curiae which is of a higher degree then a Sheriffs Ministerial Warrant Thirdly if a Distresse be taken and sold for a Sesse of Sewers a Replevin lyeth against the buyer for by the sale the goods and cattel were put out of the protection of the Court of Sewers Fourthly if a Rate or Tax be imposed by the Laws of Sewers upon I. S. the goods of Iohn a Downs be taken therefore on the ground of I. S. which were charged I. D. may sue a Replevin of his said cattel from the Sheriff for that he nor his goods were not expresly bound by the Laws of Sewers Fifthly a Replevin lyeth out of the Kings Courts of Westminster to deliver a Distresse taken and detained by the Laws of Sewers for that they be Courts de altiore natura Sixthly a Distresse taken by a Lord on his Tenant for not repairing a work of Sewers which by the Tenure of his Land he ought to do and repair the Tenant may sue a Replevin from the Sheriff Ex officio to deliver the Distresse for that this Distresse was not taken or detained by Warrant Judgement or Decree of Sewers Seventhly If upon a Judgement given in the Kings Court or upon a Decree made in this Court of Sewers a Writ or Warrant of Distringas ad Reparandum or of that nature be awarded and the parties goods be thereby taken these goods ought not to be delivered by Replevin to be taken either out of this Court or out of any other Court of the Kings because it is an Execution out of a Judgement Eighthly although one grant a Rent out of his Land with clause of Distresse and with Grant or Covenant that the Grantee may distrain and detain this Distresse till he shall be satisfied his Rent Yet a Replevin lieth in that Case A perpetual charge SO now I have fully and at large declared my opinion touching Distresses and Replevins wherein I hope I have fully satisfied the first point of my Case I intend therefore now to proceed to the sixth point which concerns charges and sales of Lands to be made by the Commissioners of Sewers by the power and authority of this Law And first I suppose the question may be extended to this that is Whether the Commissioners of Sewers can impose a perpetual charge upon Land to repair a work of Sewers for ever by the power of these Laws I do here acknowledge that this is a knotty Point yet something may be alleaged in maintenance of this Opinion Affirmatively For in the parts of Holland in the County of Lincoln almost every one knows which part he is to repair and maintain in perpetuity And Experientia est optima interpres rerum And it appeareth by the Charter of Romney Marsh pag. 12. That the use there was to impose perpetual charges on singular persons Char. Romney Marsh pag. 12. For the words there be these Juratores per eor ' sacrament ' mensur abunt per perticam omnes terr as Tenementa quae infra dictum Mariscum periculo subiacent quibus mensueration ' factis viginti quatuor per communitatem prius electi jurati habito respectu ad quantitatem Walliar ' terrar ' Tenement ' quae periculo subiacent per eor ' Sacramentum ordinabunt quantum ad predictarum Walliar ' sustentationem reperationem faciend ' sustinend ' ad quemlibet pertineat ita quod proportion ' acrar ' terrar ' periculo subiacent ' singulis assignetur sua portio perticar ' predict ' assignatio fiat per locos certos ita ut scietur ubi per quae loca ad quantum singuli defendere teneantur These words in this Charter seem to be plain That by the Laws established in Romney Marsh the Commissioners had power to assign to every man his portion to repair in perpetuity but I finde no such words in our Statute And whereas it may be said that our Commissioners have power to make sale of the Lands Ergo They may charge them perpetually but this is a non sequitur for that for the sale they have expresse Warrant but not so for the charge And powers and authorities must be duly pursued and are not to be taken by equitable or argumentable collections or implications so that it may seem the Laws of Sewers were never held so perdurable as to binde mens Lands with perpetual charges And therefore this difference I take That by the Custom of a town or country every one may know his particular portion which the owners of grounds are obliged and bound to repair perpetually but without such a Custom it hath been held That the Commissioners of Sewers cannot binde any mans inheritance to a
case and so the words of the Statute and of the Law may herein be satisfied Now I hope I have fully instructed the Commissioners wherein they may learn whom to Imprison when to Fine and how to Amerce in a legal and orderly sort and according to the ancient and approved Rules of Law and of the grand Charter for in those things they are to direct their discretions by the said Rules and they are to be guided thereby and are not to proceed therein according to their own wills And herein I shall conclude the second point of this part of the Law that is That Commissioners of Sewers have power to Imprison to Fine and to Amerce And that B. for refusing to obey their Order was justly imprisoned and C. was as justly fined And for the reasons and causes aforesaid the Commissioners in their discretions though the offences of both were alike yet they had power to imprison the one and to fine the other And now I do intend to proceed to the fourth point of my Case and the third point I intend to handle in a more convenient place Distress THe point of Distress in my Case is grounded upon these 4 Point words of this Law viz. And all those persons and every of them to tax assess distrain and punish as well within the metes limits and bounds of old time accustomed or otherwise or elswhere within the Realm of England Three sorts of Distresses First there be divers kindes of Distresses viz. Judicial which always issueth out of the Rolls of the Court. Secondly Ministerial and such Distresse is to be performed by the Officers of these Laws without any judgement directing the same Thirdly and there is a Distress of Common right not given nor awarded by Judgement in Court or by Warrant of the Commissioners but incident to the thing it self And first of the Iudicial Distress which is awarded by the Court upon a presentment found of a Nusans or in the recovery of an assize of Nusans or in an Action of the case as it appears by the 42 Assiz plac 15. 32 Ed. 3. 23. and 7 H. 4. 8. there a Distringas ad Amovendum shall be 32 Ed. 3. 7 H. 4. awarded to remove the Nusans and so in case of a decay presented As if I. S. suffer a Bank or Wall to decay and that be presented a Distringas ad reparandum shall be directed to the Sheriff to distrain I. S. to repair the same Secondly a Distress Ministerial is where one is assessed or rated to pay a certain sum of mony towards the repairing of a Wall Bank Sewer or Goat here upon Warrant from the Commissioners of Sewers the Officer expressed in that Warrant may distrain the cattel of the party which ought to pay the said Rate and Sess and which did neglect to pay the same And yet where there is a Rate and Sess imposed upon one by the Commissioners of Sewers I am of opinion that the Collector or Officer may distrain therefore without any express Warrant from the Commissioners so to do and my reason is grounded upon the Statute which is this because the Statute and Commission which be the general Laws do of themselves in this case give a distress And therefore in these cases the Warrant of the Commissioners is superfluous like to the Case in 20 Eliz. Dyer 20 Eliz. fol. 362. where a Fine was levied of Lands to the intent that I. S. should have and receive a yearly Rent thereout although in the conveyances there was no mention made that the party might distrain for the same Yet in that Book it is mentioned to be adjudged That the owner of that Rent might distrain for the same because the Statute of 27 H. 8. in 27 H. 8. that Case gave a distress Upon which Statute the said conveyance was grounded So if their be two coparceners to whom Land doth descend and they make partition and for more equality she that hath the better part doth grant to the other and her Heirs a yearly Rent out of her Land but limits no clause or power of distress she to whom this yearly Rent is granted may distrain therefore And so may a Bailiff distrain for an Amerciament in a Leet without a Warrant because the general Law gives a Distress in these cases Thirdly and as touching a Distress of common right It is in case where one doth hold his Land of his Lord as of his Mannor to repair a Bank Wall or other work of Sewers the Lord of whom these Lands be holden may distrain his Tenant of common right to compel him to make these repairs and the Distress given in the said Case of the coparceners and in the said Case of Amerciament in a Court of Leet seem both to be Distresses of Common right And that the Law is that a Distress lyeth for a Rate Lot or Tax imposed by the Commissioners of Sewers it is manifest by the Case of Rooks in Cooks 5 Report which is full and direct authority in the point In what place a Distress is to be taken NOw touching the place where these distresses are to be taken comes next into our consideration wherein the quality of the matter distrained for and the power from whence the distresses are derived are to be considered of And therefore if a Lord do distrain his Tenant Ratione tenurae for to repair a Wall Bank or other defence this Distress must be taken on the Ground holden by this Tenure and not elsewhere for these grounds are chargeable therewithal as the opinion of Iustice Sylliard is 21 Ed. 4. fol. 38. But not as that Case is but in point of Tenure 21 Ed. 4. for there the Case was That a presentment was found in hec verba videlicet Iuratores present ' quod est communis Regia via in Parochia Sancti Martini in Campis in Com' Middlesex inter Hospitia Epis ' Dunelmensis Epis ' Norwich totalitur superundat ' aquis quod tam domini spirituales quam temporales Justiciarii domini Regis Servientes ad legem omnes alii Legis ministri omnes alii per viam illam versus Westmonaster ' itinerantes pro legibus domini Regis ibidem ministrandis observandis sepius impediuntur per quod via illa totalliter superinundata existit excessu emanationis aquae pluvialis ibidem remanent ' quam quidem aquam Episcopus Norwicensis rationae tenurae suae ibidem evacuaere debuit quod ipse omnes predecessores sui ratione Tenurae suae ibidem evacuaere debent And in this case I take it the Land was charged not as in respect the Bishop of Norwich did hold the same of some Lord by the Tenure to repair the Sewer to avoid the water but his Land stood charged with the same as a charge imposed thereon by Custom or Prescription as by the president it self appeareth for if the Bishop of Norwich had been