And were Tertullian alive he would have Recanted that Opinion of his That none would be a Publican but a Heathen VI. Customes are Duties certain and perpetual payable to the King as the Inheritance of his Crown for Merchandizes transported from and beyond the Seas from one Realm to another Magna Custuma antiqua is payable out of Native Commodities scilicet Wooll Woollfels and Hides and that is certain imposed And this Custome which is called Magna Custuma is due to the King of Common Right for Four Causes 1. For leave to depart the Kingdome and to carry Commodities of the Realm out of it 2. For the Interest and Dominion which the King hath in the Sea and the Arms thereof 3. Because the King is the Guardian of all the Ports within the Realm Custos totius Regni 4. For Whaftage and Protection of Merchants upon the Seas against the Enemies of the Realm and Pyrats VII The Custome which is called Parva Custuma is a Custome or Duty payable by Merchants Strangers and begun in the time of King Edward the First when they granted him that they would pay to him and his Heirs 3 d. in the pound for all Merchandizes Exported and Imported by them c. And that the Charter was and may be of great Use I have here inserted the same as it was Faithfully Transcribed out of the Roll in the Tower For Merchant Strangers concerning Liberties granted to them THe KING to his Archbishops c. sendeth Greeting Concerning the good Condition of all the Merchants of the Kingdoms Lands and Provinces underwritten That is to say Germany France Spain Portugal Navarr Lombardy Tuscany Provence Cathalonia Our Dukedoms of Aquitain Tholous Turein Flanders Brabant and all other Lands and forrein places by what name soever called coming into Our Kingdome of England and there remaining We being very solicitous out of Our especial Care that under Our Dominion a freedom of Tranquility and full Security for the said Merchants may be provided for the future so as they may the more readily applythemselves to the service of Us and of Our Kingdome We graciously answering their Petitions and ordaining more amply for securing their Condition in form following underwritten are pleased to grant to the said Merchants for Us and Our Heirs for ever Imprimis That is to say That all Merchants of the said Kingdomes and Lands may come from any other place safe and secure under Our Tuition and Protection into Our said Kingdome of England and every where within Our Dominion with their Merchandizes of what sort soever and be unmolested and quiet concerning Murage Pontage and Pavage and that within Our said Kingdom and Dominion they may Traffique in the Cities Boroughs and Market Towns onely in gross as well with Natives or Inhabitants of this Our Kingdom and Dominion aforesaid as with Strangers Forrein and Domestick But so as their Wares vulgarly called Mercery or the SPECIES thereof they may sell by retail as formerly hath been accustomed And that all the said Merchants may carry or cause to be carried whither they please their Merchandize which they have brought into Our said Kingdom and Dominion or otherwise acquired Except to the Lands of the manifest and notorious Enemies of Our Kingdom paying the Customs which shall be due Wines onely excepted which shall not be exported out of Our said Kingdom or Dominion after they have been Imported into Our said Kingdom or Dominion without Pleasure and special Licence by any way or means whatsoever Item That the said Merchants may lodge in the Cities Boroughs Towns aforesaid at their own pleasure and there stay with their Goods to the content of them who entertain them Item That every Contract made by the said Merchants with what persons soever and from what places soever for what kind of Merchandizes soever shall be firm and stable so that neither of the Merchants shall depart from or go back from his bargain after a Gods-penny is given and received between the principal persons contracting and if it happen that a Contention arise on the said Contract there shall be a Tryal or Inquisition according to the Usages and Customs of the Fairs and Towns where such contract shall be made or begun Item We promise to the aforesaid Merchants and for Us and Our Heirs for ever grant That We by no meanes whatsoever will make nor suffer to be made any Prize or Arrest or detention by occasion of Prise for the future upon their said Wares Merchandizes or other their Goods by Us or by any other or others in any case and necessity whatsoever against the will of the said Merchants without the price presently paid for which the said Merchants might sell to others wares of the like sort for or otherwise to satisfie them so as they shall repute themselves contented And that no Appraisement or value shall be put upon the said Merchants Wares Merchandizes or Goods by Us or Our Ministers Item We will That all Bayliffs and Officers of Fairs Cities Boroughs and Market Towns shall do speedy Justice to the said Merchants complaining to them from day to day without delay according to the Merchants Law concerning all and every thing which by the said Law may be determined And if any defect shall happen to be found in any of Our Bayliffs or Ministers aforesaid whereby the said Merchants or any of their Factors shall suffer loss although the Merchant recover his losses against the party in the whole Yet nevertheless the Bayliff or other Ministers of Ours as the fault requires shall be punished and We grant the said punishment in favour of the Merchants aforesaid for compleating their right Item That in all kinds of Pleas saving in the case of Crime for which the pain of Death is liable to be inflicted where the Merchant shall be impleaded or he implead another of whatsoever condition â—…e that is impleaded be of whether a Forreiner or a Domestick in the said Fairs Cities or Boroughs where there is a sufficient plenty of Merchants of the Lands aforesaid and Inquisition there ought to be made Half of the Inquisition shall be of the said forrein Merchants and the other half of honest and lawful men where the Plea happens to be And if a sufficient number of the Merchants of the said Lands shall not be found let those be put in the Inquisition who shall be found fit in that place and let the residue be of other good and fit men in the places in which that plaint shall be Item We will Ordain and appoint That in every Market Town and Fair of Our said Kingdom and elsewhere within our Dominion Our Weight is to be put in a certain place and before weighing thereof the Scale to be empty in the presence of Buyer and Seller and the arms thereof to be equal and when he hath set the Scale equal he is forthwith to take off his hands so that it
not Aliens Scotland is a Kingdom by union and therefore those that were born in Scotland under the allegiance of the King as of his Kingdom of Scotland before the Crown came united were Aliens born and such plea against such Persons was a good plea but those that were born since the Crown of England descended to King James are not Aliens for they were born sub side legiantia Domini Regis so those that are born at this day in Uirginia New England Barbadoes Jamaiâ—…a or any other of his Majesties Plantations and Dominions are natural born Subjects and not Aliens so likewise those that are born upon the King of England's Seas are not Aliens X. But if an Alien be made an Abbot Prior Bishop or Dean the plea of an Alien we shall not disable him to to bring any real or mixt action concerning the possessions that he hold in his politique capacity because the same is brought in auter droit The like Law is for an Executor or Administrator because the recovery is to anothers use If an action is brought against an Alien and there is a Verdict and Judgment against him yet he may bring a writ of Error and be plaintif there and that such plea is not good in that case Though an Alien may purchase and take that which he cannot keep nor retain yet the Law hath provided a mean of enquiry before he can be devested of the same for until Office be found the free-hold is in him And this Office which is to gain to the King a Fee or Free-hold must be under the Great Seal of England for a Commission under the Exchequer Seal is not sufficient to entitle the King to the Lands of an Alien born for the Commission is that which gives a title to the King for before that the King hath no title but in cases of Treason there upon Attainder the Lands are in the King without Office and in that case to inform the Court a Commission may go out under the Echequer Seal XI If an Alien and a Subject born purchase Lands to them and to their Heirs they are joint tenants and shall join in Assize and the Survivor shall hold place till Office found By the finding of this Office the party is out of possession if the same be of Houses or Lands or such things as do lye in livery but of Rents Common advowsons and other Inheritances incorporeal which lye in grant the Alien is not out of possession be they appendant or in gross therefore if an Information or an Action be brought for the same the party may traverse the Office in that Court where the Action or Information is brought for the King And if the King obtains not the possession within the year after the Office found he cannot seize without a scire facias It is not for the Honour of the King an Alien purchasing of a Copyhold to seize the same for that the same is a base tenure and so it was adjudged where a Copy-hold was surrendred to J. S. in trust that one Holland an Alien should take the profits thereof to his own use and benefit upon an Inquisition taken it was adjudged the same was void and should be quashed because the King cannot be entitled to the Copyhold Lands of an Alien nor to the use of Copyhold Lands as the principal case was An Alien Infant under the age of 21 years cannot be a Merchant Trader within this Realm nor can he enter any goods in his own name at the Custom-house If an Englishman shall go beyond the Seas and shall there become a sworn Subject to any Forraign Prince or State he shall be look'd upon in the nature of an Alien and shall pay such Impositions as Aliens if he comes and lives in England again he shall be restored to his liberties An Alien is robbed and then he makes his Executor and dyes and afterwards the goods are waift the Lord of the Franchise shall not have them but the Executors Vide Stat. 13. E. 4. All personal actions he may sue as on a Bond so likewise for words for the Common Law according to the Laws of Nations protects Trade and Traffique and not to have the benefit of the Law in such cases is to deny Trade CHAP. III. Of Naturalization and Denization I. Whether the Kings of England can naturalize without Act of Parliament II. What operation Naturalization hath in reference to remove the disability arising from themselves III. What operation naturalization hath as in reference to remove deffects arising from a lineal or collateral Ancestor IV. A Kingdom conquered and united to the Crown of England whether by granting them a power to make Laws can implicitely create in them such a Soveraignty as to impose on the Realm of England V. Of Persons naturalized by a Kingdom dependant whether capable of imposing on one that is absolute VI. Of Kingdoms obtained by conquest how the Empire of the same is acquired and how the Conqueror succeeds VII Ireland what condition it was accounted before the Conquest as in reference to the Natives of the same and whether by making it a Kingdom they can create a Forraigner as a natural born subject of England VIII Of Aliens as in reference to the transmission of their Goods Chattels by the Laws of France IX Of the Priviledges the Kings of England of old claimed in the Estates of Jews dying comorant here and how the same at this day stands X. Of Persons born in places annexed or claimed by the Crown of England how esteemed by the Laws of the same XI Of Denization and what operation it hath according to the Laws of England XII Where an Alien is capable of Dower by the Laws of England and where not and of the total incapacity of a Jew XIII Whether a Denizon is capable of the creation and retention of Honour by the Laws of England I. THe Father and the Mother are the fountain of the blood natural and as it is that that makes their Issue Sons or Daughters so it is that that makes them Brothers and Sisters but it is the civil qualifications of the blood that makes them inheritable one to the other and capable of enjoying the immunities and priviledges of the Kingdom but that is from another fountain viz. The Law of the Land which finding them legitimate doth transplant them into the Civil rights of the Land by an Act called Naturalization which does superinduce and cloath that natural consanguinity with a Civil hereditary quality whereby they are enabled not only to inherit each other but also to enjoy all the immunities and priviledges that meer natural born Subjects may or can challenge II. According to the Laws of Normandy the Prince might naturalize but such naturalization could not divest the descent already vested But according to our Law by no way but by Act of Parliament and that cures the defect as
for Decrees given in the Chancery in England which have been exemplyfied under the Great Seal directed to the Kings Lievtenant for the putting the same in execution there but in no case a Judgment given in England may be certified over under any other Seal but that of the Great one But in Scotland it is otherwise for that is a Kingdom absolute and not like Ireland which is a Crown annexed by Conquest but the other is by Union and though they be united under one Prince ad fidem yet their Laws are distinct so as if they had never been united and therefore the execution of the Judgments in each other must be done upon Request as above and that according to the Laws of Nations XI But in Collonies or Plantations which are reduced into the condition of great Families have not this Right of Requesting for they are governed by the Laws prescribed by the Souveraign of the same who may set Jurisdictions make them places priviledged not to have the Persons attached or arrested in any other places but within their own bounds so likewise upon their first forming or Institution may so declare that for any debt or Contract made or done in any place but in that of the same Plantation they shall not be impleaded and therefore in Virginia at this day if a Man contracts a debt in England flies to the same she cannot be there impleaded But if a Man takes up Goods and carries the same over thither there he may be sued in the place so likewise if it can be proved he carryed over the money borrow'd and this amongst others of the Laws and Constitutions of those Plantations is preserved inviolably the same being as it were a pledge and general safety which is given to those Inhabitants that shall resort thither and there plant themselves for the good of the Place and although those that thither flie by reason of great and unreparable losses have contracted debts far beyond their ability to satisfy a failer of which in strictness of Law may if the Creditor pleases oblidge their Bodies to Imprisonment yet doth it not thence follow that the same ought to exacted for though the Carcass of Men may gratify the revenge of the Creditor yet it never can pay the debt wherefore if those ends by themselves in a morall estimation be not necessary or if other ends on the opposit part occur not less profitable or necessary or if the ends proposed by Imprisonment may be attained another way it will then follow that if there be nothing of obligation on the Debtors part to render himself a Prisoner to the Creditor that then if the same can or may be avoided by flight the same in conscience may be done according to that of Cicero It was not fit perhaps to dismiss him being brought to Judgment but that he should be enquired after and brought to judgment was not necessary FINIS A Short Table of the Principal Matters contained in this Book Distinguished by Lib. for the Book Chap. for the Chapter and §. for the Paragraph Accessory Lib. Chap. § PYrat in the attempt kills a person by the Law Maritime the Slayer onely is Principall and the rest onely Accessories but by the Common Law otherwise 1. 4. 13 No Accessory to Pyracy can be tryed by virtue of the Stat. 28 H. 8. but he must be tryed in the Admiralty 1. 4. 23 26 Acceptance Acceptance of a Bill of Exchange what words amount to the same 2. 10. 15 20 Actions Actions of Trover will lye for an 8th or 16th part of a Ship 2. 1. 12 Admirals The reason of their power 1. 6. 5 Lib. Chap. § Admiral where 10th part of the Prize is due to him 1. 1. 〈◊〉 Admiral hath no Jurisdiction infra Corpus Com. 2. 2. 2 He may issue forth Commissions for the assembling of Court Martials 1. 14. 16 Execution of a Sentence of Death cannot be without his leave ibid. Agrument Made with Forraigners by the Commissioners of the Custome-House all persons Subjects shall have benefit of the same 2. 15. 3 Agreement for Freight where the same is determined by the fault of either party 2. 4. 3 Cannot be made with a Mariner for the Freightment of the Vessel 2. 4. 14 Averidge Vide Contribution Alien Not Capable of the Kings Pardon unless they were resident at the time the same was promulgated 3. 4. 7 Capable of taking but not of enjoying What they may hold and if they depart who will enjoy the same 3. 2. 1 Cannot transfer to his Heir to what he is disabled to hold 3. 2. 2 Alien marries an English Woman that is seized the Issue shall inherit 2. 2. 6 Though the Issue be born beyond the Seas shall inherit 3. 2. 7 Born in the Kings Dominions not Aliens Purchases Lands with a Natural born Subject to them and their heirs they are joynt-Joynt-Tenants 3. 2. 11 Aliens resident and Aliens travelling through France the difference bâ—…tween them as in reference to their Estates 3. 3. 8 Administration of an Alien's Estate may be committed to the next of Kin. 3. 3. 9 Diffâ—…rence between the Crowns of France and England in reference to the Births of persons born in places which they formerly possest 3. 3. 10 Alien in League his Action is only to be abated but in Enmity may conclude in barr 3. 4. 1 Alliances Alliances not determined by the death of the Prince 1. 7. 6 Ambassadors Where obliged not to Treat with any other but the Prince 1. 7. 4 How Regulated at the Congresse 1. 7. 5 Their Function 1. 10. 1 How protected though the Messengers of Rebels or Thieves 1. 10. 2 Violence or killing them how punishable 1. 10. 3 15 May be rejected and not received and when 1. 10. 4 Where punishable by the Lawes of Nations 1. 10. 5 6 14. 9 Are not to render account to none but to them that sent them 1. 10. 6 Not bound by any thing that is not malum in se jure gentium 1. 10. 10 Yet obliged to the formalities of Law 1. 10. 11 He may have Soveraign Jurisdiction over his Family by the concession of him with whom he resides 1. 10. 12 His Goods and Moveables cannot be seized on for any Civil matter 1. 10. 13 Ambassadors of Venice cannot receive any Present or preferment from any Forraign Prince or State 1. 10. 16 Bailio at Venice is the Ambassador for that Republique 1. 10. 6 Anchors Anchors may be placed for conveniency against the Owners will in other places 2. 9. 7 Not fastning of Buoyes to them punishable 2. 7. 7 Appeal Appeal lyes from the Commissioners of Assurances to the Lord Keeper 2. 7. 16 Assurance Assurances private and publique are both alike as in reference to the obtaining satisfaction 2. 7. 1 2 3 May be made on Ships or other things as well as Merchandize 2. 7. 4 Assurors are discharged upon the alteration of the property 2. 7. 13 They are not to answer