of them or charge them aboue that which hath bin couenanted betwéene them as Tribute and Head-siluer to the common wealth for the declining of which and auoiding of necessarie seruices of the common wealth as no man can put himselfe vnder the patronage of any Noble man so also they cannot bee called from this seruice of the common wealth to any other Country men such as were addicted to the ground they tilled although the ground were their owne yet could they not sell it to any man but to him that was of the mother village wherein himselfe was A Mother village was that whence all the villages round about were deriued Although all such husbandmen as dwell in any village are to pay Subsidie for such goods as they possesse or such Lands as they hold yet one neighbour is not to be disquieted or arrested for another mans due for that it is a thing vnlawfull to trouble one for another or not to cesse men indifferently according to the value of their Lands and the worth of their goods And therefore the Romanes in rating of matters of taxes had first Cessers which rated men according to that which they thought their state to be then had they Leuellers or Surueyors which consired the rate set downe mended it and made it euen easing such persons or grounds as were ouer-rated and charging more déeply such others as were ouerlightly taxed procuring such grounds as were wast and barren should be brought to tyllage and that the barren should be ioyned with the fruitfull that by such meanes the Prince might receiue subsidy out of both March grounds such as lie in the bounds of any kingdome serue for the maintenance of such garrisons as are there placed for the defence of the Marches and such as hold the said lands are to pay an yéerely prouision or pension for the same as also the Princes pastures woodes and forrests which are let out vpon a certaine yéerely rent eyther for a certaine time or in fée farme for euer which in respect they pay an ordinary payment to the Prince eyther in money or in prouision are discharged from all other ordinary extraordinary burthens Publike things are those which appertaine to the Exchequer or to the Church which may in like sort be rented out for a season or for euer as the possession of the Exchequer may so it be done to the certaine benefit of the Church and vnder such solemnities as in this case are required otherwise it cannot be let out but for 30. yeares or for thrée liues Fée farme is when lands and tenements or other hereditaments are let out for euer vnder a certaine yearely rent in reknowledgement of the soueraigntie thereof belonging still to the first Lord whereby both the right and possession passeth to the farmer in fée The third and last of these Bookes treateth of the honors that the Exchequer giueth of which the first and chiefest was the Pretorship which anciently was a great dignitie but after became an idle name only a burthen to the Senators as in which at their owne charges they were to set out playes and shewes and gaue vnto the Emperor in consideration of his or their glebe land a certaine quantitie of gold called Aurum glebale or if they had no glebe land then offered they to the Emperor an other péece of gold called Follis aurea both which afterward were taken away Next was the Consulship which was not to be sought by ambition or by scatering money among the people but by cléere suffrages and desert After the Consulship came in place the Constable or Master of the Soldiors and those which were called Patricij for that their fathers had bin Senators whose place vnder Augustus was equall to the Consuls although they were in no office and function of the Common wealth the other is not so much an administration as a dignitie as the Senatorship aunciently was into the which who that were admitted were accompted as Parents to the Prince and Fathers to their Countrey Fourthly in place were the Princes Chamberlaines who were adorned with sundry priuiledges and had the title of honor Fiftly followed the Treasurer who was Master of all the receits and treasure of the Prince publike or priuat of all such officers as were vnderneath him Then the Prenotarie chiefe notarie or scribe of the Court who for that he had the preheminence aboue all the Gentlemen of the papers whom we now call Secretaries was called Primicerius of the Gréek word _____ which signifieth waxe which is interpreted a waxed Table in which aunciently they did write After him that was first secretary there was an other called second Secretary and so after other Clerks of the Counsell who were not all in one degree but some were first some were second and so in order as their person place and time did require Ouer which was the Master of the Rols who now is called Chauncellor and such as are of the Princes priuie Counsell or assessors of his priuie consistory wherin he heareth ambassages and debateth of the greatest affaires of the state and other waightie matters The President or Tribune of the Scholes where young men were trayned vp to feates of armes The Martials or Presidents of Militarie affaires the Phisitions of the Princes bodie Constantine in olde time honored with the title of Earles as he did the rest of his chiefe officers but now they are without the dignitie of that title The Earles of the Countries who gouerned the prouinces or shires wherof they were Earles Professors of Law other sciences twentie yeares together deserued by the law to be made Erles The Porters of the Court and the Princes watch which watched nightly for the defence of his body the gard or protectors of the Princes body their Captaine among which were chiefe the Standerd bearers as in whom the Prince reposed most trust and vsed them chiefly in all matters of danger Next vnto the Chauncellor or Master of the Rolls were the Clerks and others that serued in the Rolles in which the decrees and rescripts of the Prince the Supplications of the subiect the orders therupon set down are recorded laid vp kept as the rols of Remembrances of Epistles libels ordinances gifts giuen by the Prince and such like besides such as serue the Prince not in matters of learning or war or the pen or other like places aboue named but in actions of the common wealth and in publicke offices eyther of peace or war and their Presidents or gouernors among whom are Postmasters to whom the care of the publike course doth appertein the Tresurer of the chamber who hath the keeping of the priuie purse and such things as come to the Prince by the way of gift The Master of the horse his Queries and riders the yeoman of the Styrop and the Princes footemen The Castillians or officers of the houshold which were part of the Princes family appointed for
the common contribution of all for good reason it is that they whose goods are saued hereby should againe with their goods redéeme the others losse according to such proportion of goods as they haue in the ship and the Law of the Sea allowes But in cases of Eiectments the Law of the Sea is this which was taken from the people of Rodes who in oldtime were great seafaring men and discouerers of sundry Countries whose Rules euen to this day are holden for good among al Mariners for the great equitie and indifferencie that is in them that as well the Master or Purser of the ship himself shal contribute for the preseruation of his ship as also the passengers for such ware as they haue in the ship of what sort soeuer it be albeit happily it be but of smal waight as pearls pretious stones and such like and if perchance there be some passengers in the ship who haue no ware nor marchandize in it yet because themselues are a burthen to the ship estimate is to be made of his or their apparell rings and Iewels according to which he or they are to contribute towards the losse of such things as are cast out into the sea neither is there any thing in the whole ship excepted saue onely those things which are put therein to be spent for the common good of all as victuals fuell and such like for those things are not brought in for any one priuat mans vse but for the benefit and seruice of all and so much the rather for that if victuals faile or other like necessaries want euery one must contribute thereto or impart of that which hee hath for his owne priuat prouision but of mens owne bodies vnlesse they be seruants there is no rate to be set because a fréemans body cannot be estéemed In prising estimate is to be made as well of those things which are lost as those things which are saued and the price is to be set downe not for how much they were bought but for how much they might be sold and that for the present lest the contributors should be ouermuch charged Neither is it to the purpose that the goods which were lost might haue béene sold for more for that herein is not regard to bee had of the gaine but of the losse And if any thing that was throwne out were knowne to be decaied or made worse by washing with salt water it is not to be estéemed as a new fresh thing but the price thereof is to bee abated accordingly Now the contribution is to be made in this manner first the losse is to be set down then the rate of those things which are saued out of which must bee drawne an equall portion proportionable to the quantitie of euery mans goods he hath in the ship to make vp the losse deducting out of the loosers goods himselfe so much as is answerable to his proportion so that hee shall neither bee made a cléere sauer nor a cléere looser but in a certaine quantitie ratable to his part But this contribution is in that case to be made if the ship be saued for otherwise if a wrack happen either before the eiectment or in the eiectment then whatsoeuer any of the vectors or passengers catch is his owne neither is there any regard to be had of the losse of the ship or of the goods vnlesse perhaps afterwards they be drawen out of the sea But here we are to note that neither the things that are thus eiected leaue to be the first owners neither become his that taks them vp for because the first owner doth not count them for goods cast away but still hee beares that mind to them that if he may recouer them he will hold them as his owne goods and in consideration of so much as afterward he shall recouer the contribution in the rest shall cease Neither if the Master of the ship himselfe by violence of the tempest shall loose a Maste or a Saile he shall be more allowed therefore than a Carpenter to whom a house is let out to bee built shall bee allowed for his axe or sawe if he breake it Beside in matters of wracke there is as it were a contract betwéene them which haue lost their goods by shipwrack and them vpon whose Lands the said goods are driuen that the same be restored to them or their heires if they come in due time to claime the same and therfore it is precisely forbid by L. ne quid ff de incendio ruina naufragio the Law that no man shall meddle with such goods as are wrecked and such as are proued to haue stolne any thing thereout are holden for robbers for that such goods being cast on land and recouered out of the sea remaine still his who was the owner thereof and descend vpon his heire neither excheat vnto the King neither to any other whom the King L. 1. lib. 11. C. de naufragiis hath priuiledged in this behalfe And therfore the Emperor Constantine the great saith worthily in this case If any ship at any time by shipwrack be driuen vnto the shore or touch at any Land let the owners haue it and let not my Exchequer meddle with it for what right hath my Exchequer in another mans calamitie so that it should hunt after gaine in such a wofull case as this is And yet if no kindred appeare within a yeare and a day or appearing proue not the goods shipwracked to be theirs the goods come to the Exchequer euen by that Law so much that law condemneth carelesnesse which is written Vigilantibus noÌ„ dormientibus And with this agrée the Lawes of this Land as taken out of these imperial laws whereby it is ordered that such goods as are saued out of the wrack shal be kept by the view of the Sherife or some other chiefe Officer and deliuered to the hands of such as are of the place where the goods were found so that if any sue for them and proue them to be his or to haue perished in his kéeping they shal be restored vnto him without delay otherwise they escheat vnto the king or to him to whom the king hath granted the same And if any conuey away any part of the same goods contrary to the law and bee attainted therof he shal be awarded to prison and make fine at the kings wil and yeeld damages vnto the party grieued and a wrack by the lawes of this land is where all liuing things within the ship doe perish but if a man a dog or a cat doe scape out of the ship aliue it is otherwise For matters of contract they are either in the petitorie or in the Possessorie The Petitorie is that where the propertie of any thing is challenged this of all other suits is the hardest because the proofe thereof is very difficill Institut de reruÌ„ dimissione § singulo 〈◊〉 acquirendo reruÌ„ dominio â—â—â—deo toto
the triall of such businesse as belongeth to one Court to pul it to another Court specially when as the Court from whence it is drawne is more fit for it both in respect of the fulnesse of knowledge that that Court hath to deale in such businesse and also of the competencie of skill that is in the Iudges and professors of those Courts correspondent to these causes more than is in the Iudges and professors of the other Courts for the deciding and determining of these matters For albeit otherwise they are very wise and sufficient men in the vnderstanding of their owne profession yet haue they small skil or knowledge in matters pertaining to the Ciuile profession for that there is nothing written in their bookes of these matters more than is to be gathered out of a few Statutes of former time whose drist was not to open any doore vnto them to enter vpon the admirall profession but to preserue the Kings Iurisdiction from the Admirall incrochment as may by the said Statutes appeare wheras contrarily the Ciuile law hath sundry titles included in the bodie thereof concerning these kind of causes whereupon the interpreters of the Law haue largely commented others haue made seuerall Tractats thereof So that by all likelihood these men are more fit and better furnished to deale in this businesse than any men of any other profession as hauing beside the strength of their owne wit other mens helps and labors to rely vpon Besides this businesse many times concerns not only our owne countrimen but also strangers who are parties to the suit who are borne and doe liue in countries ordered by the Ciuile Law wherby they may be presumed they haue more skill and better liking of that Law than they can be thought to haue of our Lawes and our procéedings and therefore it were no indifferencie to call them from the trial of that Law which they in some part know and is the Law of their country as it is almost to all Christendem beside to the tryall of a Law which they know in no part is méere forraine vnto them specially when the Princes of this Land haue aunciently allowed the Ciuile Law to bee a Common Law in these cases as well to their owne subiects as it is to strangers Further the auocating away of causes in this sort from one Iurisdiction to another specially when the cause hath long depended in the Court from whence it is called insomuch as now it is ready to sentence or rather is past sentence and stands at execution cannot be but great iniurie to the subiect after so much labour lost and money spent in waste to begin his suite a new againe which is like to Sysiphus punishment who when he hath with all his might forced his stone vp to the top of the hill and so is as himselfe hopes at an end of his labour yet the stone rowles downe againe on him and so his second labour his strength being spent with the toile of the first is more grieuous than the former was which being semblably true in a poore Clyent who hath his cause in hearing there can bee no equitie in this fiction whereby a cause so néere ended should againe bee put vpon the Anuill as though it were still rough worke and new to bee begun And surely as there is no equitie in it so there is no possibilitie such a fiction should be maintained by Law for that it hath no ground of reason to rest his féete on For if this be graunted that such a fiction by Law may be made then one of these absurdities must needs follow either that a ship may ariue in a place where no water is to carrie it or if that it ariue according to the fiction either the people their houses their wealth shall be all ouerwhelmed in the water as the world was in Noahs Floud and Deucalions Deluge and so no bodie there shall be left aliue to make any bargaine or contract with the Mariners and shipmen that arriue there or that the people that dwell there shall walke vpon the water as people doe on land which Peter himselfe was not able to doe but had suncke if Christ had not reacht his hand vnto him and therefore far lesse possible for any other man to do So that it may be wel said these things standing as they do no such fiction can hold and that no action can be framed vpon it for as there is no Obligation of impossible things so there is no Action of things that neither Nature nor Reason will afford to be done neither is it to the purpose that the maintainers of these fictions doe say that in this case the place where the contract is made is not considerable which I take to be far otherwise for that when that themselues will conuey a Marine cause from the Sea vnto the Land they will lay it to be done in some speciall place of a Countie bee the place neuer so vnproper for such an action for that the foundation of these actions is the place where they were done as namely that they were done in the bodie of such a Countie or such a Countie and not vpon the maine sea or beneath the lowest bridge that is vpon any great riuer next the sea And therefore in two emulous Iurisdictions when they are so deuided as that one is assigned the sea the other the land the place of the action can in no sort be suppressed and another supplyed in the roome thereof Quod enim vna via prohibatur alia via non est permittendum quod prohibitum est directo prohibetur etiam per obliquum for if this were graunted then matter enough would be offered to one Iurisdiction to deuour vp the other and the Law would be easily eluded which to restraine either of these Iurisdictions to their owne place and to prouide that one in his greatnesse doe not swell vp against the other hath set either of them their bounds and lymits which they shall not passe which as it is the good prouision of the Law so ought either Iurisdiction in all obedience to submit it selfe therunto for that the diminishing of either of them is a wrong to the Prince from whom they are deriued who is no lesse Lord of the Sea than he is King of the Land and therefore in no sort such libertie must bee allowed to the one directly or indirectly as that it should bee a spoyle vnto the other which would easily come to passe if when as the law alloweth not any man to sue a Marine by the ordinarie course of the lawes of this land yet a man will follow it by an extraordinarie But where there is an vniformitie of Iurisdiction as that it is all by sea or all by land there may a thing be fained to be done in one place that was done in another place without any mans preiudice for that in this case the place is not
the Ecclesiastical Law taketh place it was reiected by the Earles and Barons with one voice and answere made that they would not change the Lawes of the Realme in that point which to that time had bin vsed and approued All these cases of Bastardie in other Lands whither they be such or not such are triable by the Ecclesiasticall Law But here with vs it is questionable to what Law and how far they doe appertaine the Ecclesiasticall or Temporall For the matter of Bastardie what it is the Ecclesiasticall Law the Temporall differ not but there is a diuersitie betwéene them in the prosecution therof for the Ecclesiasticall Law bringeth it two waies in Iudgement the one incidently the other principally but the Common Law maketh two sorts thereof the one generall the other speciall But first of the Ecclesiasticall diuision then of the temporall Bastardie is then said to be incidently propounded when it is laied in bar of some other thing that is principally commensed as when one sueth for an inheritance that he pretendeth is due vnto him by his natiuitie an other crosseth him therein by obiecting against him bastardie with purpose to exclude him from his action in the inheritance here the barre is in the incident because it comes exclusiuely to the action of inheritance but the action for the inheritance it selfe was in the principall for that it was begun in consideration of the inheritance and not with intent to proue himselfe legitimate which happilie he neuer dreamed of when he first entered his action for the inheritance In which case he which is charged with the bastardie may require himselfe to be admitted to proue himselfe legitimate before the Ecclesiasticall Iudge to be pronounced to be such a one Ad Curiam enim Regiam non pertinet agnoscere de Bastardia Glanuill Lib. 7. cap. 13. Against which the Law of the Land doth not oppose it selfe but acknowledge it to be the right of the Church And yet to auoid all subtil surrepticious dealing in this behalf it hath 9. Hen. 6. cap. 11 set downe a wary and cautelous forme of procéeding by which the same shall be brought vnto the Ordinary such as haue interest in the suit may haue notice therof and time to obiect in forme of Law against the proofes and witnesses of him that pretends himselfe to be Mulier if they so think good and what shall be certified herein by the Ordinarie as concerning the natiuitie of him that is burthened to be a Bastard that is whither he were borne before or after his Glanuill Lib. 7. cap. 15. Parents marriage shall be supplied in the kings Court eyther by Iudging for or against the inheritance But Bastardie is then taken to be principally propounded when eyther one finding himselfe to be gréeued with some malicious spéech of his aduersary reproching him with bastardy or himself fearing to be impeched in his good name or right doth take a course to cléere his natiuitie by calling into the law him or them by whom he is reproched or feareth to be impeached in his right and credit to see him to prooue himself legitimate to alleage obiect against it if they oght haue or can to the contrarie which if eyther they doe not or doing to the vtmost what they can can bring no good matter against his proofe but that it stands still good and effectuall in Law to all intents purposes whatsoeuer although perhaps hereby he shall not be able to carry the inheritance both for that it apperteineth not to the Ecclesiasticall Law to Iudge of lands tenements or hereditaments also for that there is a precise forme set downe by statute how suits of this nature shall be recouered yet if no oppositor or contradictor appeare herein the suit was only taken in hand against such as eyther openly reproched him or secretly buzzed abroad slanderous spéeches as concerning his legitimation it is not to be doubted but by an accident also it wil be good for the inheritance it selfe for where a mans legitimation is sufficiently prooued thereon followeth all things which naturally thereto belong But if any man vrge the forme of the statute 9. Hen. 6. cap. 11. being interessed therein then must it necessarily be followed for that otherwise it would be thought all that was done before so far as it may concerne the inheritance although it were but in a consequence were done by collusion This kind of procéeding hath bin much more in vse in former times than it is now neuer any opposition made against it but now it goeth not altogether cléer without contradiction as many other things are offensiuely taken which notwithstanding haue good ground sufficient warrant for them And so far as concerning the Ecclesiasticall procéedings in this businesse Now to the temporall sorts of them Generall Bastardie is so called because it comes in incidently and is in grosse obiected against some that sueth in a matter principall to disappoint his suit This suit because it is of the Ecclesiasticall cognisance it is sent by the Kings writ to the Ordinary with certeine additions for more perspicuitie of the inquirie thereof as that whether he that is charged with the Bastardie were borne in lawfull Matrimonie or out of Matrimonie or whether he were borne before his Father Mother were lawfully contracted together in Matrimonie or after All which the Ordinarie makes Lib. Intrac fol. 35. inquirie vpon by his owne ordinarie and pastorall authoritie for that matters of Bastardie doe originally belong to the Ecclesiasticall Court and not to the Temporall Court And as he findes the trueth of the matter by due examination to be thus or that so he pronounceth for the same in his owne Consistorie and makes certificat thereupon to the kings Court accordingly and as he pronounceth so the temporall Iudges follow his sentence in their Iudgements eyther for or against the inheritance that is in question Speciall Bastardy they say is that where the Matrimony Bracton is confessed but the prioritie or posterioritie of the Natiuitie of him whose byrth is in question is controuersed which to my thinking if I conceiue aright is no other thing than the generall bastardie transposed in words but agreeing in substance matter with the other for euen these things which they pretend make speciall Bastardie are parts and members of the generall bastardie and are eyther confessed or inquired vpon by vertue of the Kings writ in the same For first for the Matrimonie that is here mentioned it is there agnised both by the plaintife in pleading of it and the defendant in the answering thereto therefore the plaintifes plea is thus thou art a bastard for that thou wast borne before thy parents were lawfully contracted together in Marriage or before theyr marriage was solemnized in the face of the Church to which the defendants replie is I am no bastard for that I was borne in lawfull
point what things it alloweth may be sold without the decrée of the Iudge what not I wil set downe the words of the Law it selfe speaking of Tutors gouernors of Puples whose place Executors Administrators do supply so far forth as they haue the tuition gouernaÌ„ce of minors during their vnderage C. de administrat tuto â—m vel curatoruÌ„ l. lex quâ— faithfully translated And it is a law of Constantin the great reprouing a former law of Seuerus the Emperor which gaue leaue to Tutors and Curators to sell away al the gold siluer precious stone apparrell and other rich moueables the Testator had and to bring the same into money which turned greatly to the hinderance of many Orphans whereupon Constantine after he had first ordered nothing should bee sold of the pearl precious stone naperie vtensels of the house and other necessarie stuffe and ornaments of the same saith thus Neither shall it be lawfull for them meaning the Tutors or Curators to sell the house wherein the Father died and the child grew vp wherein it is woe enough to the child not to sée his auncestors images not fastened vp or els puld downe Therefore let the house and all other his moueable goods still remaine in the Patrimonie of the child neither let any edifices or buildings which came in good reparation with the inheritance ruine or decay by collusion of the Tutor but rather if the Father or he whosoeuer the minor was heire vnto left any building in decay let the Tutor both by the Testimonie of the worke it selfe and the faith of many be compelled to repaire it for so the yearely rent will bring in more profit to the Minor than the price of the things being deceiptfully sold vnder-foot will doe the Minor any good Neither doth this law only make prouision against Tutors but also against immodest and intemperate women which many times gage vnto their new married husbands not only their owne state but euen the state and liues of their children Further it crosseth the course of putting the childrens money to vsurie notwithstanding aunciently it was thought therein consisted all the strength of the Patrimonie for that course is seldome long scarcely continuall and stable and that therby many times the money being lost the childrens state come to nothing and therfore his conclusion is The Tutor should sell nothing without the order of the Iudge sauing the Testators ouerworne apparrell or those things which by kéeping could not be kept from corruption and such cattell as were superfluous Whereby it appeareth how carefull that age was to giue way to Executors by sale of the Testators goods to make gaine of the Orphans neither is this age better than that but that which was feared then may be prouided for now by like authoritie as was then In this Land a man dying leauing Legacies to his children and his wife Executrix or dying intestate and she taking administration and in her second marriage bringing all her first husbands state her childrens portions vnto her second husband and then dying there is no remedie against the second husband to recouer the said Legacies or porcions due vnto the children out of his hands because he is neither Executor nor Administrator and that he came not to those goods by wrong but by the deliuerie of the Executrix with whom he married but yet by the Ciuill Law there is and L. si me ff de rebus creditis si certum petatur that by this claime that the said goods came vnto his hands and that it is no reason any should be made rich by my goods against my wil for Legataries haue no action against any as Administrators in their owne wrong or hinderers of the performance of the last Wil of the deceased but Executors only they then alone when the party hauing it holds it by wrong and not by Lawful deliuerie which in this case is otherwise By the Law of this Land there is no prouision to preserue the state of a prodigall person from spoile which neither hath regard of time nor end of spending vnlesse the Father prouide for this mischiefe in his Will or by some other good order in his life but he is suffered to wast and spend his goods vntill there be nothing left as though the Prince and Common wealth had no interest in such a subiect to sée he did not waste his state and abuse his goods whereby many great houses are ouerthrowne and many children whom the Fathers carefully prouided for neuer leauing raking and scraping all their life time that their children after them might liue in great plentie and abundance come to great shame and beggerie But the Ciuill Law hath remedie for it for the ff de euratoriâ— furioso aliâ—â— extra minoreâ— dando Law counting such a man that is in this sort impotent in his déeds howsoeuer he be otherwise sensible in his words to be halfe mad and to be a young man in his manners how old soeuer otherwise he be in his yeares sets a Curator ouer him for the preseruing well ordering of their state no otherwise than if they were children or mad men indéed who so long haue power ouer them their goods vntil they come to sane maners to which if they once return the curators office ceaseth The like they doe to a widow or sole woman which liueth riotously hauing neither regard of her fame nor of her state L. et mulieri ff eod I find an old practise aunciently vsed in the Ecclesiasticall courts for restraining Executors or Administrators for dealing couenously alone in an Executorship or Administratorship when there are more Executors named in a Will than one or more Administrators deputed by the Ordinarie in an Administration than one which were well if it were recald brought back to his former vse againe For now as things stand many times one capricious fellow named an Executor in a Wil or appointed Administrator by the Ordinary with some other wel meaning men getting a start in this businesse of the rest ingrosseth all into his owne hands and without priuitie or concurrence of the other selleth releaseth disposeth all at his owne pleasure contrarie to the mind either of the Testator or the Ordinarie who would not haue named so many in the Wil or Administration but to the intent that all might or should execute and administer one communicate their acts with another The contrarie whereof is many times very preiudiciall and hurtfull to those that are to take benefit by the said Wil or Administration who for the want of the due performance of this kind of procéeding are defrauded of all that which in right or reason should haue come vnto them either by the Testators good-will or by the benefit of the Law And yet there is no remedie for this in law so far as I know for that al these making but one person in law the Law yéelds
Piracies and other Sea-robberies where the innocent is spoiled and the spoiler is enriched The redresse whereof is not but by the Admirall Law to whom the Princes of this Land haue graunted that authoritie For the often commerce of Princes with Princes the negotiation that one state hath with another there is nothing more necessarie than frequent Embassages wherby intelligence may be had what danger one State intendeth to another how the same may be preuented by Leagues or otherwise and how the same may be made and maintained I know not what Law serues better for all these ends and purposes than the Ciuile Law In matters that appertaine to the souls-health the Preacher teacheth out of the word of God wherein the right seruice of God standeth he ministreth the Sacraments vnto the people and instructeth them in other fundamental points of Religion but it is the Ecclesiasticall Law that compelleth men to the due obseruance hereof and punisheth the transgressors All men grant that there is a prouision to be made for the minister for that it is against reason that any man should go to warfare on his charges but it is the Law of the Church that sets out this prouision and yeeldeth remedie for the recouerie thereof if it be denied Nothing is more due vnto the dead that that their last Wils should be obserued for that it is such an ordinance as a man hath not in his power againe when God hath once cald him hence neither is there any thing that Princes haue more graciously granted vnto their subiects than that in their life time they may dispose of that which after they are dead is none of theirs and yet shall take place when they are not as though yet they were theirs in which prouision the Ciuile and the Ecclesiastical Law are aboue all other Lawes most Religious Christening Wedding Burying wherby a man entreth into this world conuerseth in the world and returneth againe vnto the earth from whence he was taken and so after passeth to glorie and euerlasting blisse are euery one of the Ecclesiasticall cognisance How many men of great skill such as few Princes haue greater in all kind of learning are of this ranke not only in the societie of them that professe this knowledge here in the chiefest citie of the Land but also in both the vniuersities and in sundry other parts of this Realm not strangers or forreiners but home-borne subiects of the same saith of the same Religion of the same kindred and familie of like allegeance to the Prince and seruice to the common wealth as other his good subiects are euen those that oppugne this profession chiefly whose practise if it be ouerthrowne or prouision lessened not onely those that are now present and make profession of this knowledge shall be faine to turne their copie but those that are futurely to come wil change their profession when they sée there is no reward or estimation belonging thereto for it is Honour that nourisheth Arts and no man will follow that profession that is out of count and credit but euery Father will say vnto his son in like sort as Ouids Father said to him when hée saw him addict and giue himselfe wholy to Poetrie Studium quid inutile tentas It was aunciently said of the profession of these Lawes Dat Iustinianus honores but now it is so far off from that that it confers Honours as that it is almost a discredit for any man to bee a Ciuilian in this State and the profession thereof doth scarce kéepe beggerie from the gate As God doth dispose his gouernment by Iustice and mercie wherof notwithstanding mercie hath the supreame place in the Lords Tabernacle as that which was put aboue vpon the Arke wherin were the two Tables Exod. 25. of stone in which the Law was written to which Iames 2. Saint Iames alluding saith that Mercie tryumpheth ouer Iudgement so the Princes of this Land to the imitation of that heauenly representation haue appointed two supreame seats of Gouernment within this Land the one of Iustice wherein nothing but the strict letter of the Law is obserued the other of Mercie wherein the rigor of the Law is tempered with the swéetnesse of equitie which is nothing els but mercie qualifying the sharpnesse of Iustice to either which Courts they haue sorted men fit for their skil and education to manage the same that is to the seat of Iustice the professors of the Law of this Land who may be thought best to know the Iustice of the same but to the other they haue assigned the professors of the Ciuile law for that a great sort of titles of that law are titles of equitie as whatsoeuer is Ius praetorium or Ius adilicium with them is matter of equitie so that they might séeme best able for their skill in these tytles of which no other Law hath the like to assist the Lord Chancellor in matters of conscience Who though he be a man for the most part chosen by the Prince himselfe out of the rest of the Sages of this Land for his speciall good parts of learning and integritie aboue the rest as now the Honorable person is that occupieth that place who is as Tully said of that eloquent Orator Marcus Crassus non vnus ex multis sed vnus inter omnes prope singularis so that they might be thought for their great and eminent wisdome in all things appertaining to their place able to direct themselues yet because it is Diuinitatis potius qudm humanitatis omnium rerum habere memoriam in nullo errare as one well saith It was prouidently done by Princes of former ages to ioyne to these great personages men furnished with knowledge in these cases of conscience wherein if they should at any time stick they might be aduised by them that are assessors with them what they find in the Law proportionable to the case in hand that thereto they might square their decrée or order accordingly whose varietie in these cases is such that hardly there can fall out any case in practise but there will be some law in that learning conformable vnto it which opportunitie of men furnished with this knowledge for that seat his Maiestie shall want vnlesse the study of the Ciuile and Ecclesiasticall Law be maintained which also for the cases of equitie and conscience therein is called of the old writers Aequitas Canonica And what reason gaue occasion to the precedent Princes to place men indowed with the skill of the Ciuile Law in the court of Chancerie the same also ministred to them minds to commit vnto the selfe same men the ordering of their Courts of Requests for that therein for the most part are handled poore miserable persons causes as Widowes and Orphans and other distressed people whose cases wholly rely on pietie and conscience as a fit subiect for that Law to deal in which also will take a maime if the studie of the Ciuile Law bee not vpholden So then to deny a frée course to the Ciuile and Ecclesiasticall Law in this Land in such things as appertaine to their profession or to abridge the maintenance thereof is to spoile his Maiestie of a part of his Honour whose glorie it is to be furnished with all sort of professions necessarie for his state and beneficiall for his subiect to weaken the state publicke and to bereaue it of graue and fage men to aduise the State in matters of doubt and controuersie betwéene forraine Nations and themselues to disarme the Church of her faithfull friends and followers and so to cut the sinewes as much as in them lyeth of Ecclesiasticall discipline and to expose her to the téeth of those who for these many yeares haue sought to deuour her vp and so now would do it if the mercifull prouidence of God and the gracious eye of the Prince did not watch ouer her And so far of the necessitie of these two professions and generally of the vse and disuse of the Ciuile and Ecclesiasticall Law in this Land and wherein it is ouerlaid by the Common Law and how it may be relieued if it seeme good vnto his Maiestie and the wisdome of this Realme All which I haue written not of any purpose to derogate from the credit of that Law vnder which I was borne and by which I hold that small maintenance that I haue for I reuerence it as a necessarie Law for this state and make such reckoning of euerie of the professors in his place as becommeth me but that it pitieth me and not only me but all those that tender good learning and haue no preiudicat minde toward the Common Law to sée two such Noble Sciences as the Ciuile and Ecclesiasticall Law are so to be disgraced as that there is no more reckoning made of them or their professors than if they were matters and men of no worth and fit or apt for no seruice in the common wealth and yet notwithstanding the vse of them is so necessarie as that the common wealth cannot want the seruice of them in matters of great importance to the State which if the profession should come to a downefall as it is like shortly to doe if it be no more cherished and made of than it is will be sooner séene by the want of them than is now perceiued by the hauing of them and then perhaps will the State lament for the losse of such a goodly Profession when it will bee hardly recouered againe as the children of Israell did for the Tribe of Beniamin when they had in one day slaine well nigh the whole number of them FINIS