Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	baron_n	earl_n	lord_n	4,000	5	4.3844	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59100	Tracts written by John Selden of the Inner-Temple, Esquire ; the first entituled, Jani Anglorvm facies altera, rendred into English, with large notes thereupon, by Redman Westcot, Gent. ; the second, England's epinomis ; the third, Of the original of ecclesiastical jurisdictions of testaments ; the fourth, Of the disposition or administration of intestates goods ; the three last never before extant.; Selections. 1683	Selden, John, 1584-1654.; Littleton, Adam, 1627-1694.; White, Robert, 1645-1703.; Selden, John, 1584-1654. Jani Anglorum facies altera. English.; Selden, John, 1584-1654. England's epinomis.; Selden, John, 1584-1654. Of the original of ecclesiastical jurisdiction of testaments.	1683 (1683)	Wing S2441; ESTC R14343	196,477	246

or Borough and before lawful men he cannot deny it afterwards before the Justices And if the same person without Seisin with Seisin in this place is the same as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we commonly say in our Language taken with the manner shall recognize or acknowledge any thing of this nature before them this also in like manner he shall not be able to deny before the Justices 70. If any one shall dye holding in Frank Pledge i. e. having a free Tenure let his heirs remain in such Seisin as their Father had on the day he was alive and dyed of his fee and let them have his Chattels out of which they may make also the devise or partition of the deceased that is the sharing of his goods according to his will and afterwards may require of their Lord and do for their relief and other things which they ought to do as touching their Fee i. e. in order to their entring upon the estate 71. If the heir be under age let the Lord of the Fee take his homage and have him in custody or keeping for as long time as he ought let the other Lords if there be more of them take his homage and let him do to them that which he ought to do 72. Let the Wife of the deceased have her Dowry and that part of his Chattels which of right comes to her In former times peradventure it was a like generally practised by the English that the Wife and Children should have each their lawful Thirds of the estate each of them I say if they were in being but half to the Wife if there were no issue and as much to the Children if the Wife did not survive her Husband as it was practised by the Romans of old according to the Falcidian Law and of later time by the Novells of Justinian that they should have their Quarter-part For I see that those of Normandy of Arras of Ireland people that lay round about them had the same custom Of this you are to see Glanvill Bracton the Register of Briefs or Writs and William Lindwood beside the Records or yearly Reports of our Law 73. Let the Justices take the Fealties of our Lord the King before the close of Easter and at furthest before the close of Pentecost namely of all Earls Barons Knights and Free-holders and even of Rusticks or Vassals such as have a mind to stay in the Realm and he who will not do fealty let him be taken into custody as an enemy of our Lord the King 74. The Justices have also this to give in charge that all those who have not as yet done their homage and allegiance to our Lord the King do at a term of time which they shall name to them come in and do homage and allegiance to the King as to their Liege Lord. 75. Let the Justices do all acts of Justice and rights belonging to our Lord the King by a Writ of our Lord the King or of them who shall be in his place or stead as to a half-Knights fee and under a Knights fee in an old Book which pretends to more antiquity by far than it ought concerning the manner of holding Parliaments is said to be twenty pounds worth of Land in yearly revenue but the number prefixt before the Red Book of the Exchequer goes at the rate of Six Hundred and Eighty Acres unless the complaint be of that great concern that it cannot be determined without our Lord the King or of that nature that the Justices by reason of their own doubting refer it to him or to those who shall be in his place and stead Nevertheless let them to the utmost of their ability intend and endeavour the service and advantage of our Lord the King 76. Let the Justices provide and take care that the Castles already demolisht be utterly demolished and that those that are to be demolished be well levelled to the ground And if they shall not do this our Lord the King may please to have the judgement of his Court against them as against those who shew contempt of his Precept 77. A Thief or Robber as soon as he is taken let him be put into the Sheriffs hands to be kept in safe custody and if the Sheriff shall be out of the way let him be carried or brought to the next Constable of a Castle and let him have him in custody until he deliver him up to the Sheriff 78. Let the Justices according to the custom of the Land cause inquiry to be made of those who have departed or gone out of the Realm And if they shall refuse to return within a term of time that shall be named and to stand to right in the Kings Court i. e. to make their appearance and there to answer if any thing shall be brought in against them let them after that be outlawed and the names of the Outlaws be brought at Easter and at the Feast of St. Michael to the Exchequer and from thence be sent to our Lord the King These Laws were agreed upon at Northampton CHAP. XVIII Some Laws in favour of the Clergy Of forfeitures on the account of Forest or hunting Of Knights fees Who to bear Arms and what Arms. Arms not to be alienated No Jew to bear Arms. Arms not to be carryed out of England Rich men under suspicion to clear themselves by Oath Who allowed to swear against a Free-man Timber for building of Ships not to be carryed out of England None but Free-men to bear Arms. Free-men who Rusticks or Villains not such 79. THat henceforth a Clergy-man be not dragg'd and drawn before a Secular Judge personally for any crime or transgression unless it be for Forest or a Lay-fee out of which a Lay-service is due to the King or to some other Secular Lord. This priviledge of the Clergy the King granted to Hugh the Popes Cardinal Legate by the Title of S. Michael à Petra who arrived here on purpose to advance the Popish interest 80. Furthermore that Arch-Bishopricks Bishopricks or Abbacies be not held in the Kings hand above a year unless there be an evident cause or an urgent necessity for it 81. That the Murderers or Slayers of Clergy-men being convicted or having confest before a Justice or Judge of the Realm be punished in the presence of the Bishop 82. That Clergy-men be not obliged to make Duel i. e. not to clear themselves as others upon some occasion did by single combat 83. He ordained at Woodstock we transcribe these words out of Hoveden that whosoever should make a forfeit to him concerning his Forest or his hunting once he should be tyed to find safe Pledges or Sureties and if he should make a second forfeit in like manner safe Pledges should be taken of him but if the same person should forfeit the third time then for his third forfeit no pledges should be taken but the proper body of him who made the forfeit Moreover

rules ne gouvernes per la Loy Civil that is inasmuch as the Realm of England was not before this time nor in the intention of our said Lord the King and the Lords of Parliament ever shall be ruled or governed by the Civil Law And hereupon the persons impleaded are sentenced to be banished But here is an end of Stephen He fairly dyed CHAP. X. In King Henry the Seconds time the Castles demolished A Parliament held at Clarendon Of the Advowson and Presentation of Churches Estates not to be given to Monasteries without the Kings leave Clergymen to answer in the Kings Court A Clergyman convict out of the Churches Protection None to go out of the Realm without the Kings leave This Repealed by King John Excommunicate Persons to find Surety Laymen how to be impleaded in the Ecclesiastical Court A Lay-Jury to swear there in what case No Homager or Officer of the Kings to be Excommunicated till He or his Justice be acquainted AT length though late first Henry the Son of Jeoffry Plantagenet Count of Anger 's by the Empress Mawd came to his Grandfatherrs Inheritance Having demolished and levelled to the ground the Castles which had in King Stephen's time been built to the number of eleven hundred and fifteen and having retrieved the right of Majesty into its due bounds he confirmed the Laws of his Grandfather Moreover at Clarendon in Wiltshire near Salisbury John of Oxford being President by the Kings own Mandate there being also present the Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons and Peers of the Realm other Laws are recognized and passed whilst at first those who were for the King on one side those who were for the Pope on the other with might and main stickle to have it go their way these latter pleading that the secular Court of Justice did not at all suit with them upon pretence that they had a priviledge of Immunity But this would not serve their turn for such kind of Constitutions as we are now setting down had the Vogue 44. If any Controversie concerning the Advowson and Presentation of Churches arise betwixt Laymen or betwixt Laymen and Clergymen or betwixt Clergymen among themselves let it be handled and determined in the Court of the Lord our King 45. The Churches which are in the Kings Fee cannot be given to perpetuity without his assent and concession Even in the Saxons times it seems it was not lawful without the Kings favour first obtained to give away Estates to Monasteries for so the old Book of Abington says A Servant of King Ethelred's called Vlfric Spot built the Abby of Burton in Staffordshire and gave to it all his Paternal Estate appraised at seven hundred pounds and that this donation might be good in Law he gave King Ethelred three hundred Marks of Gold for his confirmation of it and to every Bishop five Marks and over and above to Alfric Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Village of Dumbleton 46. Clergymen being arighted and accused of any matter whatsoever having been summoned by the Kings Justice let them come into his Court there to make answer to that of which it shall be thought fit that there answer ought to be made So that the Kings Justice send into the Court of Holy Church to see after what manner the business there shall be handled 47. If a Clergyman shall be convicted or shall confess the Fact the Church ought not from thenceforth to give him protection 48. It is not lawful for Arch-Bishops Bishops and Persons of the Kingdom to go out of the Realm without leave of our Lord the King And if they do go out if the King please they shall give him security that neither in going nor in returning or in making stay they seek or devise any mischief or damage against our Lord the King Whether you refer that Writ we meet with in the Register or Record NE EXEAS REGNVM for Subjects not to depart the Kingdom to this time or instance or with Polydore Virgil to William Rufus or to later times is no very great matter Nor will it be worth our while curiously to handle that question For who in things of such uncertainty is able to fetch out the truth Nor will I abuse my leasure or spend time about things unapproachable An sit hic dubito sed hic tamen auguror esse Says the Poet in another case And so say I. Whether it be here or no Is a Question I confess And yet for all that I trow Here it is too as I guess Out of King John's great Charter as they call it you may also compare or make up this Repeal of that Law in part Let it be lawful henceforward for any one to go out of our Realm and to return safely and securely by Land and by Water upon our Royal word unless in time of War for some short time for the common advantage of the Kingdom excepting those that are imprisoned and out-lawed according to the Law of the Kingdom and any People or Nation that are in actual War against us And Merchants concerning whom let such Order be taken as is afore directed I return to King Henry 49. Excommunicate Persons ought not to give suretiship for the Remainder nor to take an Oath but only to find Surety and Pledge to stand to the Judgment of the Church that they may be absolved 50. Persons of the Laity ought not to be accused or impleaded but by certain and legal Accusers and Witnesses in the presence of the Arch-Bishop or Bishop so that the Arch Deacon may not lose his right nor any thing which he ought to have therefrom 51. If they be such Persons who are in fault as no one will or dare to accuse let the Sheriff being thereunto required by him cause twelve legal men of the Voisinage or of the Village to swear before the Bishop that they will manifest or make known the truth of the matter according to their Conscience 52. Let no one who holds of the King in capite nor any one of the Kings Officers or Servants of his Domain be excommunicated nor the Lands of any of them be put under an Interdict or prohibition unless first our Lord the King if he be in the Land be spoke with or his Justice if he be out of the Land that they may do right by him And so that what shall appertain to the Kings Court may be determined there and as to what shall belong to the Ecclesiastical Court it may be sent thither and there treated of CHAP. XI Other Laws of Church affairs Concerning Appeals A Suit betwixt a Clergyman and a Layman where to be Tryed In what case one who relates to the King may be put under an Interdict The difference betwixt that and Excommunication Bishops to be present at Tryals of Criminals until Sentence of Death c. pass Profits of vacant Bishopricks c. belong to the King The next Bishop to be Chosen in

Several sorts of Knights In what cases Honorary Knights to serve in Juries Those who come to Parliament by right of Peerage sit as Barons Those who come by Letters of Summons are styled Chevaliers NOt long after the King and the Barons meet at Northampton They treat concerning the Laws and the administration of Justice At length the Kingdom being divided into six Provinces or Circuits there are chosen from among the Lawyers some who in every of those Provinces might preside in the Seat of Justice Commissioned by the Name of Itinerant Justices or Justices in Eyre See here the List and Names of those Justices out of Hoveden Hugh de Cressi Walter Fitz-Robert Robert Mantel for Norfolk Suffolk Cambridge Huntington Bedford Buckingham Essex Hertford Hugh de Gundeville William Fitz-Ralph William Basset for Lincoln Nottingham Darby Stafford Warwick Northampton Leicester Robert Fitz-Bernard Richard Gifford Roger Fitz-Reinfrai for Kent Surrey Southampton Sussex Barkshire Oxford William Fitz-Steeven Bertam de Uerdun Turstan Eitz-Simon for Hereford Glocester Worcester Shropshire Ralph Fitz-Steeven William Ruffus Gilbert Pipard for Wiltshire Dorsetshire Somersetshire Devonshire Cornwall Robert de Wals. Ralph de Glanville Robert Pikenot for York Richmond Lancashire Copland Westmoreland Northumberland Cumberland These he made to take an Oath that they would themselves bona fide in good faith and without any deceit or trick 't is the same Author whose words I make use of keep the under-written Assizes and cause them inviolably to be kept by the men of the Kingdom He mentions them under this specious Title The ASSISES of King HENRY made at Clarendon and renewed at Northampton 66. If any one be called to do right or be served with a Writ before the Justices of our Lord the King concerning Murder or Theft or Robbery or the receiving and harbouring of those who do any such thing or concerning Forgery or wicked setting fire of houses c. let him upon the Oath of twelve Knights of the Hundred or if there be no Knights there then upon the Oath of twelve free and lawful men and upon the Oath of four men out of each Village of the Hundred let him go to the Ordeal of Water and if he perish i. e. sink let him lose one foot The Knights who are wanting here are perhaps those who hold by Knights service or if you had rather that hold by Fee betwixt whom and those who served in War for wages or pay which in the Books of Fees are called Solidatae the same peradventure as by Caesar are termed Soldurii that is Soldiers by Nicolaus Damascenus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by our Monks Bracton Otho Frisingensis and Radevicus in the Camp Laws of Barbarossa are styled Servientes that is Serjeants there is an apparent difference both of them being placed far below the dignity of those honorary Knights who are called Equites aurati But yet I do very well know that these honorary Knights also were of old time and are now by a most certain right cal●ed forth to some Tryals by Jury To the Kings Great or Grand Assise I say and to a Suit of Law contested when a Baron of Parliament is Party on one side i. e. Plaintiff or Defendant To the Assise in that it is the most solemn and honourable way of Tryal and that which puts an utter end to the claim of the Party that is cast To such an unequal suit that there may be some equality of Name or Title as to some one at least of the Judges for the Jury or twelve men are upon such occasion Judges made and as to the more honourable of the two parties whether Plaintiff or Defendant For the Peers of Parliament who are the greater Nobles amongst whom by reason of their Baronies Arch-Bishops and Bishops heretofore a great many Abbots such as are Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons who though they be distinguished by Order and honorary Titles yet nevertheless they sit in Parliament only as they are Barons of the Realm And those who at the Kings pleasure are called in by Letters of summons as Lawyers term it are styled Chevaliers not Barons For that of Chevalier was a Title of Dignity this of Baron anciently rather of Wealth and great Estate Which Title only such Writs of Summons bestowed till Richard the seconds time who was the first that by Patent made John Beauchamp of Holt Baron of Kiderminster Now both ways are in fashion CHAP. XVI The person convict by Ordeal to quit the Realm within Forty dayes Why Forty dayes allowed An account of the Ordeals by Fire and Water Lady Emme dear'd by going over burning Coulters Two sorts of tryal by Water Learned conjectures at the rise and reason of these customs These Ordeals as also that of single Combat condemned by the Church 67. AT Northampton it was added for the rigour of Justice remember what was said in the foregoing Chapter that he should in like manner lose his right Hand or Fist with his Foot and forswear the Realm and within Forty Dayes go out of the Kingdom into banishment He had the favour of Forty Dayes allowed him so saith Bracton that in the mean time he might get help of his friends to make provision for his Passage and Exile And if upon the tryal by water he be clean i. e. innocent let him find pledges and remain in the Realm unless he be arighted for Murder or any base Felony by the Community or Body of the County and of the Legal Knights of the Countrey concerning which if he be arighted in manner aforesaid although he be clean by the tryal of Water nevertheless let him quit the Realm within Forty Dayes and carry away his Chattels along with him saving the right of his Lords and let him forswear the Realm at the mercy of our Lord the King Here let me say a little concerning the Tryal by Fire and Water or the Ordeals It is granted that these were the Saxons wayes of tryal rashly and unadvisedly grounded upon Divine Miracle They do more appertain to Sacred Rites than to Civil Customs for which reason we past them by in the former Book and this place seemed not unseasonable to put the Reader in mind of them He who is accused is bound to clear himself 't is Ralph Glanvill writes this by the Judgement of God to wit by hot burning Iron or by Water according to the different condition of men by burning hot Iron if it be a free-man by Water if he be a Countrey-man or Villain The party accused did carry in his hand a piece of Iron glowing hot going for the most part two or three steps or paces along or else with the soles of his feet did walk upon red hot Plough-shares or Coulters and those according to the Laws of the Franks and Lombards nine in number The Lady Emme the Confessor's Mother being impeached of Adultery with Aldwin Bishop of Winton was wonderfully cleared by treading upon so

never obtain among us and our English Government is so well constituted that our Lords Spiritual and Temporal and our worthy Commoners will find it the interest of themselves and their posterities that they will ever have that duty and deference to our Soveraign as may secure Him and Us and discourage the designs and defeat the attempts of all such as wish ill to his honour and safety or to the publick peace Besides is it rational to imagine that the King whose absolute right by Law it is to convene the Estates when and where he thinks fit to call and dissolve Parliaments as he pleases in a word that He in whose Name all Justice is administred in whose Hands the Militia is and by whose Authority alone the Subjects can take up Arms should stand only in a Co-ordination of power with any other persons whatsoever or however assembled or associated within his Dominions This flaw I could not but take notice of in our Great Author and that only with an intention to undeceive the unwary Reader and not to reflect upon his Memory who though he kept along a great while with the Long Parliament yet never appeared in action for them that ever I heard much less used or owned that virulence and violence which many others of that ill Body of men judged necessary for their proceedings CHAP. XX. Pag. 96. lin 15. Alderman of England The word Alderman in Saxon Ealdorman hath various acceptions so as to signifie all sorts almost of Governours and Magistrates So Matth. 20.25 the Princes of the Gentiles in the Saxon translation are called Ealdormen and Holofernes I remember the General of the Assyrian Army is in an Old English Translation called the Alderman of the Army So Aethelstan whose younger Son this Ailwin was being Duke or Captain General of the East-Saxons is in this Book of Ramsey styled Alderman The most proper importance of the word bears up with the Latin Senator i. e. Parliament-man as the Laws of S. Edward make out In like manner say they heretofore among the Britons in the times of the Romans in this Kingdom of Britanny they were called Senators who afterwards in the times of the Saxons were called Aldermen not so much in respect of their Age as by reason of their Wisdom and Dignity in that some of them were but young men yet were skilled in the Law and beside that were experienced persons Now that Alderman of England as Ailwin here was had to do in affairs of Justice appears by the foresaid Book of Ramsey where it is said that Ailwin the Alderman and Aedric the Kings Provost sate Judges in a certain Court The Alderman of the County our Author makes to be the same as the Earl or Lord of the County and Spelman saith it is hard to distinguish but at length placeth him in the middle betwixt the Count and Viscount He and the Bishop kept Court together the one for Temporals the other for Spirituals The Title goes lower still to denote a Mayor or Bailiff of a Corporation a Bailiff of a Hundred c. Lin. 30. Healf-koning It was an oversight or slip of memory in our Author to say that Ailwin was so called when the Book of Ramsey tells us it was his Father Aethelstan who was of that great power and diligence that all the business of the Kingdom went through his hands and was managed as he pleased that had that Nick name given him therefore Lin. 36. The Graves Our Author makes them subordinate to the Aldermen of Counties but in the Laws of the Confessor they appear to be much what the same There we read And as they are now called Greves who are put in places of Rule over others so they were anciently among the English called Ealdermen Indeed the word Greve or Reev for it is all one is of as various use as that other of Alderman is In Saxon it is gerefa from gerefen and reafen to take or carry away to exact or gather Whence this Officer Graphio or Gravius from the Saxon is in other Latin called Exactor regius and by reason that the Sheriff gathered the Kings Fines and other Duties and returned them to the Exchequer he was called the Shire-greve or Shire-reev that is the Gatherer of the County But the truth is that Greve or Reev came at last in general to signifie any Ruler or Governour set over any place almost whatever as the same word Grave doth among the Dutch So a Shire-greve or hihgerefa the High Sheriff of a County a Port-greve the Governour of a City or Port. So the Lord Mayor of London was called formerly Tun-greve the Bailiff of a Town or Mannor Sometime Greve is taken for a Count or Earl as Alderman is CHAP. XXI Pag. 98. lin 22. For Toll and Gabell In the Latin pro theolonio gablo Now telonium from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies the place where the Officers of the Customs receive the Kings duties but is used also for a duty paid for the maintenance of Bridges and River-Banks So Hotoman But in our Law it is taken for the Toll of a Market or Fair. And Gablum or Gabellum a Gabell from the Saxon gafol or gafel signifies any Impost upon Goods as that in France upon Salt c. also Tribute Custom any kind of Tax or Payment c. Lin. 32. Through the Streets of Coventry There is a famous Tradition among the people of that Town concerning this matter that the Lady being to ride naked only covered all over with her hair had given order for the more decent performance of her Procession that all the Inhabitants should that day keep their Shops and Doors and Windows shut But that two men tempted by their Curiosity to do what fools are wont to do had some such penalty I know not what it was inflicted upon them as Actaeon had for the like offence And they now stand in some publick place cut out of Wood or Stone to be shewn to any stranger that comes thither like the Sign of the Two Logger-heads with the same Motto belike Nous sommes trois Pag. 99. lin 7. Brought in my Court a certain Toper In the Latin attulit in curiâ meâ quandam Toper I know what the adverb Toper signifies among the ancient Latines but what the word means here I confess I am in the dark It doth certainly stand for some thing I was thinking a Taper which he brought with him into Court and sware upon it as he should have done upon the holy Gospels I cannot imagine that by quandam Toper should be intended some Woman or Girl whose Name was Toper whom he brought along with him and in defiance to the Court laying his hand upon her took his Oath as formally as if he had done it upon the holy Evangelists Reader ONe thing I forgot to acquaint thee with in the Preface that whereas the Author himself had divided each Book into several Sections which

came in his way as he was passing by holding up their Ploughshares in token that their Husbandry was running to decay for they were put to a world of trouble upon occasion of the provisions which they carried from their own quarters through several parts of the Kingdom Thereupon the King being moved with their complaints did by the resolved advice of his Lords appoint throughout the Kingdom such persons as he knew were for their prudence and discretion fit for the service These persons going about and that they might believe their own eyes taking a view of the several Lands having made an estimate of the provisions which were paid out of them they reduced it into a sum of pence But for the total sum which arose out of all the Lands in one County they ordered that the Sheriff of that County should be bound to the Exchequer Adding this withal that he should pay it at the Scale Now the manner of paying the tryal of the weight and of the metal by Chymical operation the Melter or Coyner and the surveyor of the Mint are more largely handled and explained by my self in some other work of mine 13. That he might the more firmly retain Kent to himself that being accounted as it were the Key of England 't is the famous Mr. Camden tells the Story he set a Constable over Dover-Castle and made the same person Warden of the Cinque Ports according to the old usage of the Romans Those are Hastings Dover Hith Rumney and Sandwich to which are joyned Winchelsey and Rye as Principals and other little Towns as Members 14. To put the last hand to William I add out of the Archives this Law not to be accounted among the last or least of his William by the Grace of God King of the English to all Counts or Earls Viscounts or Sheriffs and to all French born and English men who have Lands in the Bishoprick of Remigius greeting This Remigius was the first who translated the Episcopal See from Dorchester to Lincoln Be it known unto you all and the rest of my Liege Subjects who abide in England that I by the common advice of my Arch-Bishops and the rest of the Bishops and Abbots and all the Princes of my Kingdom have thought fit to order the amendment of the Episcopal Laws which have been down to my time in the Kingdom of the Angles not well nor according to the Precepts of the holy Canons ordained or administred Wherefore I do command and by my Royal Authority strictly charge that no Bishop or Arch-deacon do henceforth hold Pleas in the Hundred concerning Episcopal Laws nor bring any cause which belongs to the Government of Souls i.e. to spiritual affairs to the judgment of secular men but that whosoever according to the Episcopal Laws shall for what cause or fault soever be summoned shall come to a place which the Bishop shall chuse and name for this purpose and there make answer concerning his cause and do right to God and his Bishop not according to the Hundred but according to the Canons and Episcopal Laws For in the time of the Saxon Empire there were wont to be present at those Country Meetings the Hundred Courts an Alderman and a Bishop the one for Spirituals the other for Temporals as appears by King Edgar's Laws CHAP. V. William Rufus succeeds Annats now paid to the King Why claimed by the Pope No one to go out of the Land without leave Hunting of Deer made Felony AFter the death of William his second Son WILLIAM sirnamed RVFVS succeeded in his room All Justice of Laws as Florentius of Worcester tells us was now husht in silence and Causes being put under a Vacation without hearing money alone bore sway among the great ones Ipsaque majestas auro corrupta jacebat that is And Majesty it self being brib'd with gold Lay as a prostitute expos'd to th' bold 15. The right or duty of First-Fruits or as they are commonly called the Annats which our Kings claimed from vacant Abbies and Bishopricks Polydor Virgil will have to have had its first original from Rufus Now the Popes of Rome laid claim to them anciently a sort of Tribute which upon what right it was grounded the Council of Basil will inform us and by what opinion and resolution of Divines and Lawyers confirmed Francis Duarenus in his Sacred Offices of the Church will instruct us 'T is certain that Chronologers make mention that at his death the Bishopricks of Canterbury Winchester and Salisbury and twelve Monasteries beside being without Prelates and Abbots paid in their Revenues to the Exchequer 16. He forbad by publick Edict or Proclamation sayes the same Author that any one should go out of England without his leave and Passport We read that he forbad Anselm the Arch-Bishop that he should not go to wait upon Pope Vrban but that he comprehended all Subjects whatsoever in this his Royal order I confess I have not met with any where in my reading but in Polydor. 17. He did so severely forbid hunting of Deer saith William of Malmesbury that it was Felony and a hanging matter to have taken a Stag or Buck. CHAP. VI. Henry the First why called Beauclerk His Letters of Repeal An Order for the Relief of Lands What a Hereot was Of the Marriage of the Kings Homagers Daughter c. Of an Orphans Marriage Of the Widows Dowry Of other Homagers the like Coynage-money remitted Of the disposal of Estates The Goods of those that dye Intestate now and long since in the Churches Jurisdiction as also the business of Wills Of Forfeitures Of Misdemeanors Of Forests Of the Fee de Hauberk King Edward's Law restored WIlliam who had by direful Fates been shewn to the World was followed by his Brother Henry who for his singular Learning which was to him instead of a Royal Name was called Beau-clerk He took care of the Common-wealth by amending and making good what had slipt far aside from the bounds of Justice and by softning with wholsome remedies those new unheard of and most grievous injuries which Ralph afterwards Bishop of Durham being Lord Chief Justice of the whole Kingdom plagued the people with He sends Letters of Repeal to the High Sheriffs to the intent that the Citizens and people might enjoy their liberty and free rights again See here a Copy of them as they are set down in Matthew Paris HENRY by the Grace of God King of England to Hugh of Bockland High Sheriff and to all his Liege people as well French as English in Herefordshire Greeting Know ye that I through the mercy of God and by the common advice of the Barons of the Kingdom of England have been crowned King And because the Kingdom was opprest with unjust exactions I out of regard to God and that love which I bear towards you all do make the holy Church of God free so that I will neither sell it nor will I put it to farm

the Kings Chappel and to do Homage before Consecration Deforcements to the Bishop to be righted by the King And on the contrary Chattels forfeit to the King not to be detained by the Church Pleas of debts whatsoever in the Kings Court Yeomens Sons not to go into Orders without the Lords leave 53. COncerning Appeals if at any time there shall be occasion for them they are to proceed from the Arch-Deacon to the Bishop and from the Bishop to the Arch-Bishop and if the Arch-Bishop shall be wanting in doing of Justice they must come in the last place to our Lord the King that by his precept or order the Controversie may be determined in the Arch-Bishops Court so as that it ought not to proceed any further without the Kings assent This Law long since the famous Sir Edward Coke made use of to assert and maintain the Kings Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as a thing not of late taken up by him but anciently to him belonging 54. If a Claim or Suit shall arise betwixt a Clergyman and a Lay-man or betwixt a Layman and a Clergyman concerning any Tenement which the Clergyman would draw to the Church and the Lay-man to a Lay-fee it shall by the recognizance of twelve legal men upon the consideration and advisement of the Lord Chief Justice be determined whether the Tenement do appertain to Alms i. e. to the Church or to Lay-Estate before the Kings own Justice And if it shall be recognized or adjudged to appertain to Alms it shall be a Plea in the Ecclesiastical Court But if to a Lay-fee unless they both avow or avouch the Tenement from the same Bishop or Baron it shall be a Plea in the Kings Court But if each of them shall for that fee avouch the same Bishop or Baron it shall be a Plea in that Bishops or Barons Court so that he who was formerly seised shall not by reason of the Recognizance made lose the Seisin till it shall by Plea be deraigned 55. He who shall be of a City or a Castle or a Burrough or a Manner of the Kings Domain if he shall be cited by an Arch-Deacon or a Bishop upon any misdemeanour upon which he ought to make answer to him and refuse to satisfie upon their summons or citations they may well and lawfully put him under an Interdict or Prohibition but he ought not to be Excommunicated By the way seasonably remark out of the Pontificial Law that that Excommunication they call the greater removes a man and turns him out from the very Communion and Fellowship of the Faithful and that an Interdict as the lesser Excommunication separates a man and lays him aside only forbidding him to be present at Divine Offices and the use of the Sacraments I say he ought not to be Excommunicated before that the Kings Chief Justice of that Village or City be spoken with that he may order him to come to satisfaction And if the Kings Justice fail therein he shall be at the Kings mercy and thereupon or after that the Bishop may punish him upon his impleadment with the Justice of the Church 56. Arch-Bishops B●shops and all Persons whatsoever of the Kingdom who hold of the King in capite and have their possessions from our Lord the King in nature of a Barony and thereupon make answer to the Kings Justices and Officers and perform all Rights and Customs due to the King as other Barons do they ought to be present at the Tryals of the Court of our Lord the King with his Barons until the losing of Limbs or death be adjudged to the party tried 57. When an Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick or Abbacy or Priory of the Kings Domain shall be void it ought to be in his hand and thereof shall he receive all the profits and issues as belonging to his Domain And when the Church is to be provided for our Lord the King is to order some choice persons of the Church and the Election is to be made in the Kings own Chappel by the assent of our Lord the King and by the advice of those persons of the Kingdom whom he shall call for that purpose and there shall the Person Elect saving his order before he be Consecrated do Homage and Fealty to our Lord the King as to his Liege Lord for his life and limbs and for his Earthly Honour 58. If any one of the Nobles or Peers do deforce to do Justice to an Arch-Bishop Bishop or Arch-Deacon for themselves or those that belong to them the King in this case is to do justice 59. If peradventure any one shall deforce to the Lord the King his Right the Arch-Bishop Bishop and Arch-Deacon ought then in that case to do justice or to take a course with him that he may give the King satisfaction 60. The Chattels of those who are in the Kings forfeit let not the Church or Church-yard detain or keep back against the justice of the King because they are the Kings own whether they shall be found in Churches or without 61. Pleas of debts which are owing either with security given or without giving security let them be in the Kings Court. 62. The Sons of Yeomen or Country people ought not to be ordained or go into holy Orders without the assent of the Lord of whose Land they are known to have been born CHAP. XII The Statutes of Clarendon mis-reported in Matthew Paris amended in Quadrilegus These Laws occasioned a Quarrel between the King and Thomas a Becket Witness Robert of Glocester whom he calls Yumen The same as Rusticks i. e. Villains Why a Bishop of Dublin called Scorch-Uillein Villanage before the Normans time I Confess there is a great difference between these Laws and the Statutes of Clarendon put forth in the larger History of Matthew Paris I mean those mangled ones and in some places what through great gaps of sence disjointings of Sentences and misplacings of words much depraved ones whose misfortune I ascribe to the carelesness of Transcribers But the latter end of a Manuscript Book commonly called Quadrilegus wherein the Life of Thomas Arch-Bishop of Canterbury is out of four Writers to wit Hubert of Boseham John of Salisbury William of Canterbury and Alan Abbot of Tewksbury digested into one Volume hath holp us to them amended as you may see here and set to rights It is none of our business to touch upon those quarrels which arose upon the account of these Laws betwixt the King and Thomas of Canterbury Our Historians do sufficiently declare them In the mean time may our Poet of Glocester have leave to return upon the Stage and may his Verses written in ancient Dialect comprising the matter which we have in hand be favourably entertained No man ne might thenche the love that there was Bitwene the K. H. and the good man S. Thomas The diuel had enui therto and fed bitwen them feu Alas alas thulke stond vor all to well it greu Uor there had ere ibe

David Powell and others have informed us The Druids were wont to meet to explain the Laws in being and to make new ones as occasion required as is most likely in some certain place designed for that purpose as now at this very time all matters of Law go to be decided at Spire in Germany at Westminster-Hall in England and Paris in France Their publick Convention or Meeting-place was constantly as Julius Caesar tells us in the borders of the Carnutes the middle Region of all France Some think that a Town at eight Miles distance from the Metropolis of those people commonly called Dreux was designed for that use Whilst the Saxons governed the Laws were made in the General Assembly of the States or Parliament In the front of King Ina's Laws 't is above Eight Hundred and Eighty years that he first reigned we read thus It Ine mid godes gift West-Saxna Cyning mid getbeat mid lere Cenredes mines fader hedde Erconwald mine biscops mid eallum minum ealdor mannum tham yldestan Witan mines theode be beodeth c. which in our present English speaks thus I Ina by the Grace of God King of the West-Saxons by the advice and order of Kenred my Father and of Hedda and Erconwald my Bishops and of all my Aldermen and of the Elders and Wise Men of my people do command c. There are a great many instances of this kind in other places Moreover Witlaf and Bertulph who were Kings of the Mercians near upon Eight hundred years ago do in their instruments under their hands make mention of Synods and Councils of the Prelates and Peers convened for the affairs of the Kingdom And an ancient Book has this passage of Abendon Here was the Royal Seat hither when they were to treat of the principal and difficult points of State and affairs of the Kingdom the people were used to meet and flock together To this may be added that which Malmesbury sayes of King Edward in the year of our Lord 903. The King gathered a Synod or ●ssembly of the Senators of the English Nation over which did preside Pleimund Arch-Bishop of Canterbury interpreting expresly the words of the Apostolical Embassy These Assemblies were termed by the Saxons Widdena gemcdes i. e. Meetings of the Wise Men and Micil sinodes i. e. the Great Assemblies At length we borrowed of the French the name of Parliaments which before the time of Henry the First Polydore Virgil sayes were very rarely held An usage that not without good reason seems to have come from the ancient Germans So Tacitus sayes of them Concerning smaller matters the Princes only concerning things of greater concern they do all the whole body of them consult yet in that manner that those things also which it was in the peoples power to determine were treated of by the Princes too And I have one that hath left it in writing that when there was neither Bishop nor Earl nor Baron yet then Kings held their Parliaments and in King Arthur's Patent to the University of Cambridge for ye have my leave if you can find in your heart to give credit to it as John Key does by the counsel and assent of all and singular the Prelats and Princes of this Realm I decree There were present at Parliaments about the beginning of the Normans times as many as were invested with Thirteen Fees of Knights service and a third part of one Fee called Baron's from their large Estates for which reason perhaps John Cochleius of Mentz in his Epistle Dedicatory to our most Renowned Sir Thomas More prefixt before the Chronicle of Aurelius Cassiodorus calls him Baron of England But Henry the Third the number of them growing over big ordered by Proclamation that those only should come there whom he should think fit to summon by Writ These Assemblies do now sit in great State which with a wonderful harmony of the Three Estates the King the Lords and the Commons or Deputies of the People are joyned together to a most firm security of the publick and are by a very Learned Man in allusion to that made word in Livy Panaetolium from the Aetolians most rightly called Pananglium that is all England As in Musical Instruments and Pipes and in Singing it self and in Voices sayes Scipio in Tully's Books of the Common-wealth there is a kind of harmony to be kept out of distinct sounds which Learned and Skilful Ears cannot endure to hear changed and jarring and that consort or harmony from the tuning and ordering of Voices most unlike yet is rendred agreeing and suitable so of the highest and middlemost and lowermost States shuffled together like different sounds by fair proportion doth a City agree by the consent of persons most unlike and that which by Musicians in singing is called Harmony that in a City is Concord the straightest and surest bond of safety in every Common-wealth and such as can by no means be without Justice But let this suffice for Law-makers CHAP. XX. The Guardians of the Laws who In the Saxons time seven Chief One of the Kings among the Heptarchs styled Monarch of all England The Office of Lord High Constable Of Lord Chancellor ancient The Lord Treasurer Alderman of England what Why one called Healfkoning Aldermen of Provinces and Graves the same as Counts or Earls and Viscounts or Sheriffs Of the County Court and the Court of Inquests called Tourn le Viscount When this Court kept and the original of it I Do scarce meet before the Saxons times with any Guardians of the Laws different from these Law-makers In their time they were variously divided whose neither Name nor Office are as yet grown out of use The number is made up to give you only the heads by these to wit the King the Lord High Constable the Chancellor the Treasurer the Alderman of England the Aldermen of Provinces and the Graves Those of later date and of meaner notice I pass by meaning to speak but briefly of the rest The King was alwayes one amongst the Heptarchs or seven Rulers who was accounted I have Beda to vouch it the Monarch of all England Ella King of the South-Saxons so sayes Ethelwerd was the first that was dignified with so high a Title and Empire who was Owner of as large a Jurisdiction as Ecbright the second was Ceulin King of the West-Angles the third Aethelbrith King of the Kentish-men the fourth Redwald King of the Easterlings the fifth Edwin King of Northumberland the sixth Oswald the seventh Osweo Oswala's Brother after whom the eighth was Ecbright His West-Saxon Kingdom took in the rest for the greatest part The Office of Lord High Constable which disappeared in Edward Duke of Buckingham who in Henry the Eighth's time lost his Head for High-Treason was not seen till the latter end of the Saxons One Alfgar Staller is reported by Richard of Ely Monk to have been Constable to

First Jeoffrey de Magna Villa made Earl of Essex by Mawd the Empress It seems that the Saxon Earls had the self-same right of sharing with the King So in Doomsday Book we find it The Queen Edeua had two parts from Ipswich in Suffolk and the Earl or Count Guert the third and so of Norwich that it paid Twenty Pound to the King and to the Earl Ten Pound so of the Revenues of the Borough of Lewes in Sussex the King had two shares and the Earl the third And Oxford paid for Toll and Gable and other customary Duties Twenty Pound a year to the King besides Six Quarts of Honey and to Earl Algar Ten Pound To conclude it appears also that these Norman Earls or Counts had some power of making Laws to the people of their Counties For instance the Monk of Malmesbury tells us that the Laws of William Fitz-Osborn Earl of Hereford remained still in force in the said County that no Souldier for whatsoever offence should pay above Seven Shillings The Writings and Patents of the men of Cornwall concerning their Stannaries or Tinn-Mines do prove as much nor need I tell the story how Godiva Lady to the Earl Leofrick rid on Horse-back through the Streets of Coventry with her hair disshevelled all hanging about her at full length that by this means she might discharge them of those Taxes and Payments which the Earl had imposed upon them Out of the Countreys wherein all Estates were subject to Military Service the Barons had their Territories as we call them Mannors and in them their Courts to call their Tenants together at the end of every three Weeks and to hear and determine their Causes A Civilian one Vdalricus Zazius would have the original of these Courts among other Nations to have come by way of imitation from Romulus his making of Lords or Patrons and their Clanns or Tenants The use of them at this day is common and ordinarily known But to shew how it was of old we will borrow out of Hoveden this spark of light John Marshall complained to Henry the Second that whereas he had claimed or challenged in the Arch-Bishops Court a piece of Land to be held from him by right of inheritance and had a long time pleaded upon it he could obtain no Justice in the case and that he had by Oath falsified the Arch-Bishops Court that is proved it to be false by Oath according to the custom of the Realm to whom the Arch-Bishop made answer There has been no Justice wanting to John in my Court but he I know not by whose advice or whether of his own head brought in my Court a certain Toper and swore upon it that he went away from my Court for default of Justice and it seemed to the Justices of my Court that he did me the injury by withdrawing in that manner from my Court seeing it is ordained in your Realm that he who would falsifie anothers Court must swear upon the holy Gospels The King not regarding these words swore that he would have Justice and Judgement of him and the Barons of the Kings Court did judge him to be in the Kings Mercy and moreover they fined him Five Hundred Pound As to doing Justice in all other Cases and managing of Publick Affairs the Normans had almost the same Names and Titles of Officers and Offices as the Saxons had FINIS A Brief CHRONOLOGY TO Attend and Assist THE HISTORY In the Year of the WORLD   1910. Samothes if there ever were such a man bears rule 2805. Brutus makes a descent that is lands with his Trojans in Cornwall or Devonshire 3516. Dunvallo Molmutius swayes the Scepter 3627. Martia Dowager of King Quintilen is Queen Regent during the Minority of her Son Sisillius the First 3942. Caius Julius Caesar arrives at Deal on the Sea-Coast of Kent and Territa quaesitis ostendis terga Britannis that is Having inquiry made After the Britans bold He turn'd his back 't is said His courage would not hold and was the first that discover'd Britanny to the Romans In the Year of CHRIST   44. Claudius Caesar Emperour sends over Aulus Plautius with an Army as his Lieutenant General and by degrees reduceth the Countrey into the form of a Roman Province 52. A Colony of Veterans or old Roman Souldiers is sent down to Maldon in Essex 86. Britanny is subdued or brought under the yoke by the Conduct of Junius Agricola in the time of Domitian the Emperour 183. Lucius or King Lucy was the first Christian King Forasmuch as he was of the same standing with Pope Eleutherius and the Emperour Commodus Whence it appears that Beda makes others mistake and is himself mistaken in his wrong account of time in this affair 428. The Saxons Angles Jutes Danes Frisons or Friselanders arrive here from Germany Taurus and Felix then Consuls in the one and twentieth year of Theodosius the younger The common or ordinary account of Writers sets it down the four hundred forty ninth year but that great man both for Authority and Judgement William Camden Clarenceaux King at Arms hath upon the credit of ancient Records closed this Epoch or Date of time within that term of years which I have set in the Margin 561. King Ethelbert the First King of the English Saxons who profest Christianity 800. King Egbert 872. King Alured or Alfred 959. King Edgar 1017. Canute or King Knute the Dane 1036. Harold eldest Son to King Knute called for his swiftness Harefoot 1042. Edward the Confessor after whom Harold Son to Godwin Earl of Kent usurp't the Throne where he continued only nine Months 1066. William Duke of Normandy after a Battel fought upon the Plain near Hastings got the Dominion or Soveraignty of the British Island 1088. William Rufus second Son of the Conquerour 1100. Henry the First younger Brother to Rufus 1135. King Stephen Count of Blois in France Nephew to Henry by his Sister Adela 1153. Henry the Second Grand-child to Henry the First by his Daughter Mawd the Empress and Jeoffrey Count of Anger 's in France FINIS BRIEF NOTES UPON Some of the more Difficult Passages IN THE TITLE-PAGE COmmon and Statute Law So I render Jus Prophanum as Prophane is opposed to Sacred and Ecclesiastical as himself explains the term in his Preface out of Festus Otherwise it might have been render'd Civil Law as relating to Civil affairs and the Government of State not medling with the Canons and Rules of the Church but that the Civil Law with us is taken generally in another sense for the Imperial Law which however practised in several other Nations hath little to do in England unless in some particular cases Of English Britanny that is that part of Britain which was inhabited by the Angles in Latin called Anglo-Britannia by us strictly England as for distinction the other part of the Island Wales whither the Welsh the true and ancient Britans were driven by the Saxons