make Enuches themselues be made Enuches if they escape aliue their goods to be forfeited to the Exchequer and themselues be imprisoned all the dayes of their life Such as by force steale away women themselues such as are their abbetters and helpers are to dye therefore and that it shall not be lawfull for her that is carried away to marrie to him that doeth carrie her away and that if her father do giue his consent to such marriage he is to be banished but if she marry him without her fathers consent then is she not to take benefit by her fathers will or any other thing that is her fathers These and sundry matters of great importance and necessarie for the well gouerning of a Common wealth are conteyned in the Authenticks which I passe ouer with drie foote not because they are not necessarie to bée knowen but because I would not cloy the Reader euen with those things which are good All these workes are the labour of Iustinian as either gathered together by him out of auncient Lawyers bookes and such Emperors decrées as went before him or else were decréed ordeyned by himselfe as matter occasion offered it selfe the yongest of them is néere eleuen hundred yeares of age that is within 500. yeres after Christ or not much otherwise The last Tome of the Ciuill Law is the Feudes that is the bookes of Customes Seruices that the subiect or vassall doth to his Prince or Lord for such lands or fées as he holdeth of him This péece of the Law although it was not much in vse in the old Emperors dayes yet Iustinian himselfe séemeth to acknowledge them in his Nouell constitutions calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and those which are more carefull to séek out the beginning of them bring them some from the auncient Clientles or retinewes the ancient Romans before Christ his time had as Budeus doth some other from Alexander Seuerus time who as Lampridius in the life of Alexander saith gaue such lands as he won out of the Enemies hands to his Lords Marchers and his souldiors that they should be theirs their heires for euer so they would be Souldiers neyther should they come at any time to the hands of any priuat man saying they would more lustily serue if they fought for their owne land which opinion commeth next to the auncient border-grounds of the Romans whereof there is a Title in the 11. Booke of the Code Defundis Limitrophis that is of Border-ground Others refer it ouer to Constantine the greats time which inacted for the benefit of his souldiors that such Lordships lands as before time they had their wages out of should passe ouer vnto their heires and be appropriated to their familie or stocke so that they found and mainteyned continually a certaine number of souldiors From whence soeuer it descended this is certaine that it came verie late to be a particuler volume of the Law it selfe The compilers or gatherers together thereof were Obertus de Horto and Giraldus Compagist two Senators of Millaine who partly out of the Ciuill Law and partly out of the Customes of Millaine drew the same but without forme or order The word it selfe is a barbarous word but had his origen notwithstanding as Isidor saith from the word Foedus being a good Latin word and so is to be interpreted tanquam Feodum that is as a thing couenanted betwéene two Others deduce it from the word Fides as it were in Latin Fideum and by a more pleasant pronunciation Feudum whereupon such as are Feudataries to other are called in Latin Fideles because they owe fayth and allegeance to such whose feudataries they are who in the Lomhard tongue are called Vassals Beside Fealtie which some call Hominium by the Feudists is tearmed Homage for the nature of a Feude is this that it draweth with it fayth and homage so that such as are feudataries or fee men professe themselues to owe fayth to such to whom they are in fée and that they are his men insomuch as when a fée man dyeth his Heyre doth make fayth and doth his homage to the Lord as is well séene both in the Lord Spirituall and Temporall of this land who both in their creation and also in theyr succession one after an other sweare an oath doe their homage to their Soueraigne and doe pay other dueties which are simbols and signes of their subiection to their soueraigne And for others that are vnder the degrée of Barons and yet are fée men vnto the King and so do not manuell obedience vnto his Maiestie they pay yearely something in respect of theyr homage according to the quantitie or qualitie of the fée or tenure they hold of the Prince A Feude in English may be called a tenure which caused Littleton when he treated of Feudes so far forth as they are here in vse in England Such as are all those which are called in Latin Feuda militaria Feuda scutiferorum called by Iustinian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are by the Lawes of the land tearmed by the named of knights seruices and Escuage to call them by the names of Tenures A Feude is a grant of lands honors or fées made either to a man at the will of the Lord or Soueraigne or for the Feudataries owne life or to him or his heires for euer vnder condition that he and his heires in case where the feude is perpetuall doe acknowledge the gyuer and his heyres to be their Lord and Soueraigne and shall beare faith and alleageance vnto him and his for the said Tenure and shall doe such seruice to him and his for the same as is betwéene them couenanted or is proper to the nature of the feude Of Feudes some are Temporall some other are Perpetuall Temporall feudes are those that are gyuen eyther for terme of a mans life or for yeares or at the will of the Lord for some seruice done or to be done such as are Annuities giuen to Lawyers for counsell Pensions giuen to Phisitions for their aduise Stipends to any Teacher of artes and sciences Fées for kéeping of Towers or Castles called by Feudists Castalia and is by Littleton called Castle ward although by him it is taken for a state of inheritance Perpetuall Feudes are rights which men haue by grant from the Soueraigne or chiefe Lord of the soyle or territorie to haue hold vse occupie and inioy honors manors lands tenements or hereditaments to him and his heires for euer vpon condition that the said vassall or partie his heytes and successors doe homage and fealtie to his Lord his heires and successors for such honors landes or hereditaments and doe him eyther seruice in warre according as it is couenanted betwéene the Lord and his vassall or such other seruice as the nature of his tenure doth require or if he fayle therein shall either find some other in his roome to do the same or else pay a certaine summe of
money in liew thereof Although this Tenure by the first creation thereof be perpetuall yet that the soueraignty thereof should not still remaine vnprofitable to the first Lord the whole benefyt thereof going continually to the vassall or tenant it is prouided that the Soueraigne or chiefe Lord the first yeare the heyre or Successor of the vassall comes vnto his land shall haue the whole reuenue of his liuelihood for that yeare or a certeine summe of money in token of the retorne thereof vnto the Lord and the redemption thereof made againe by the tenant which by the Law of the Nouels is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is well nigh the same that we call liuery which euery heire that holdeth in Knights seruice sueth out before he take possession of his land as heire to his ancesters This Tenure is got eyther by Inuestiture or by Succession Inuestiture is the same that we call Creation and is the primier grant of a feude or tenure to any with al rights and solemnities thereto belonging wherein the homager or feodatarie for the most part vpon his knées promiseth faith and allegeance vnder a solemne oath vnto his Lord and his successors Succession is whereby the eldest sonne succéedeth the father in his inheritance and if he faile and haue no issue then the next brother and so in order successiuely and if there be no sonne then the next heire male and if their bée no heyre male then the land escheats vnto the Lord. For the Lumbards from whom the feudes first came or at the least were chiefly deriued from them directing all their policie as the Lacedemons did to matters of warre had no seminine feudes among them but after by processe of time there were created aswell Feminine feuds as Masculine feuds insomuch as where there was no issue male to put them from it women did succéed in the inheritance Of Feuds some are regall some not regall Regall are those which are giuen by the prince only neither doe belong to any inferior to giue Of these some are Ecclesiasticall as Archbishopricks Bishopricks and such like Others are Ciuile or Temporall as Dukedomes Earledomes Vicounts and Lords who by that are distinguished from the rest of the people that they haue the conducting of the Princes Armie at home and abroad if they be thereto appointed and haue right of Peeres in making of Lawes in matters of triall and such other like businesses Not Regall are those which hold not immediatly of the Prince but are holden of such Ecclesiasticall or Ciuile States which haue had their Honours immediatly from the Prince Besides of Feuds some are Liege others not Liege Liege Feuds are they in the which the vassall or feodatorie promiseth absolute fealtie or faith to his Lord against all men without exception of the King himselfe or any other more auncient Lord to whom besids he oweth alleagance or seruice Of this sort there is none in this Realme of England but such as are made to the King himselfe as appeareth by Littleton in the title of Homage wherein is specially excepted the faith which the Homager oweth to his Lord the King Feuds not Liege are such wherin Homage is done with speciall reseruation of his faith and alleageance to the prince and Soueraigne Of such as are Vassals or Liege men some are called Valuasores maiores others Valuasores minores Valuasores maiores are such as hold great places of the State vnder the Emperour or King as are the degrées of Honour before named and are called Péeres of the Land which only giues Nobilitie Valuasores minores are those which are no Péers of the Land and yet haue a preheminence aboue the people and are as it were in a middle Region betwéene the people and the Nobilitie such as are Knights Squires and Gentlemen The Feuds are lost by sundry waies by default of issue of him to whom it was first giuen which they call Apertura feodi by surrender therof which by them is termed Refutatio feodi by forfaiture and that was in two sorts either by not doing the seruice that his tenure did require or by committing some villenous act against his Lord as in conspiring his Soueraignes death defiling his bed or deflowring his daughter or some other like act treacherous to his Lord and vnworthy of himselfe And so much of the Ciuile Law and the Bookes thereunto pertaining Now it followeth I doe in like order speake of the Canon Law which is more hardly thought vpon among the people for that the subiect thereof in many points is of many grosse and superstitious matters vsed in the time of Papistrie as of the Masse and such other like trumperie and yet there are in it beside many things of great wisdome and euen those matters of superstition themselues being in a generalitie well applyed to the true seruice of God may haue a good vse and vnderstanding The Canon Law hath his name of the Gréeke word Canon which in English is a Rule because it leads a man straight neither drawes him to the one side or the other but rather correcteth that which is out of Leuill and Lyne The Canon Law consisteth partly of certaine Rules taken out of the holy Scripture partly of the writings of the auncient fathers of the Church partly of the ordinances of general prouincial Councels partly of the Decrees of Popes of formerages Of the Canon Law there are two principall parts the Decrées and the Decretals The Decrées are Ecclesiasticall constitutions made by the Pope and Cardinals at no mans suite and are either Rules taken out of the Scripture or Sentences out of the auncient Fathers or Decrées of Councels The Decrees were first gathered together by Ivo Bishop of Carnat about the yeare of our Lord God but afterward polished and perfected by Gratian a monke of the order of Saint Bennets in the yeare 1149. and allowed by Eugenius the Pope whose Confessor hee was to bee read in Schooles and to bee alledged for Law Of all the seuerall volumes of the Canon Law the Decrées are the auncientest as hauing their beginning from the time of Constantine the great the first Christian Emperour of Rome who first gaue leaue to the Christians fréely to assemble themselues together and to make wholsome lawes for the well gouernment of the Church The Decrées are diuided into thrée parts wherof the first teacheth of the origen and beginning of the Canon law and describeth and setteth out the rights dignities degrées of ecclesiasticall persons and the manner of their elections ordinations and offices and standeth of one hundred and ten distinctions The second part setteth out the causes questions and answeres of this Law which are in number 36. and are full of great varietie wisdom and delight The third and last part containeth matter of consecration of all sacred things as of Churches bread and wine in the Sacrament what daies and Feasts the Primitiue Church vsed for the receiuing thereof of
Court then needed not this complaint that now is but euery Iurisdiction should peaceably hold his owne right such as the Prince Law or Custome hath afforded vnto it THOMAS RIDLEY The contents of this Booke THE Diuision of the whole booke into foure parts pag. 1. What right or Law is ingenerall 1. What is the Law publicke and what the Law priuat 1. 2. What is the Law of Nature 2. What is the Law of Nations 2. What the Law Ciuile 2. That there be foure Tomes of the Ciuile Law The Digest the Code the Authentick and the Feuds 3. The Institutes are an Epitome of the Digest 3. What is the Digest and why it is so called and why the same are called the Pandects 3. What are the Institutes and why they are so called 4. The Pandects or Digest are diuided into seuen parts and they againe into fiftie Bookes 4. That the first part thereof conteineth foure Bookes and what is the sum thereof 4. That the second part hath eight books and what is the contents thereof 5. That the third part stretcheth it selfe into eight bookes and what they contein 6. That the fourth part containeth eight bookes and the contents thereof 7. That the fift part comprehendeth nine bookes and the matter thereof 9. That the sixt is spent in seuen bookes and the subiect thereof 11. That the seuenth part is diuided into six books and the matter thereof 15. The second Volume of the Ciuile Law is the Code which is distributed into twelue bookes 27 Why the Code is so called 28 The Argument of the first booke of the Code 30. 31. 32 The 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. booke of the Code containe like Titles as were handled in some one or other book of the Digest except onely a few as De Edendo de Indicta viduitate de Caducis Tollendis and some other small number beside 33 The Contents of the tenth booke of the Code 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. The Argument of the eleuenth booke of the Code 38. vsque ad pag. 41. The matter of the twelfth booke of the Code 41. The Authenticks are the third Volume of the Ciuile Law and why they are so called 45. That the Authenticks are diuided into 9. collations 45. What is the sum of the first Collation 46. What is the matter of the second collation 47. What of the third 48. What of the fourth 49. What of the fifth 50. What of the sixt 52. What of the seuenth 54. What of the eighth 55. What of the ninth 56. That the feuds are the fourth and last volume of the Ciuile Law 61. What a Feud is why it is so called and who were the first authors thereof 61. 62. How many kind of Feuds ther be viz. Temporal or perpetuall 62. 63. What is a Temporall Feud 63. What a perpetuall Feud 63. Perpetuall Feuds are gotten either by inuestiture or by Succession 63 What is Inuestiture 64 What is Succession 64 Of perpetual Feuds some are Regal some other not regal 65 What are Regall feuds 65 That of Regall Feuds some are Ecclesiasticall some Seculer and what either of them are 65 What be not Regall Feuds 65 Beside of Feuds some are Liege some other not Liege and what either of them are 65 What be vassals or liegemen and how many sorts there bee thereof 65 What be Valuasores Maiores and what Minores 65 By how many waies a Feud is lost 65 What is the Canon Law and that there are two principall parts thereof the Decrees and the Decretals 66 What be the Decrees and whereof they are collected and who was the author thereof 66 That there be two parts of the Decrees the Distinctions and the causes 66 What the Distinctions doe containe and what the causes 67 What be the Decretals and whence they are gathered 67 That there be three volumes of the Decretals the one called the Decretals of Gregory the ninth the other the sixt the other the Clementines who be the authors thereof when they were first set out 68 That each of them is diuided into fiue bookes 68 What the first booke of the Decretals comprehendeth 68. 69. 70. What the second 71. 72 What the third 73 What the fourth 74 What the fift 75. 76. 77 That the things the Ciuile Law is conuersant in here in this Realme are either ordinarie or extraordinarie 78 Of the ordinarie some are Ciuile some other are criminal 79 Ordinarie Ciuile matters are all Marine matters pertaining to the ship it selfe or any part thereof and all contracts betweene partie and partie concerning things done vpon or beyond the sea 79 Of shipwracks which notwithstanding are so of the cognition of the Ciuile Law within this Realme as that they are granted by the Kings Commission to the Lord Admirall and other which haue like Iurisdiction 83 The maner of proceeding in Ciuile Marine matters 84 Of Piracie and what it is which also is held by the Regall Commission and the maner of proceeding therein 85 Of extraordinarie matters belonging to the Ciuile law within this Land by the benefit of the Prince 86 Negotiation betweene Prince and Prince and the treatie thereof 86 Martiall causes in an Armie Ciuile or criminall and the ordering of them both 87 The bearing of Armes and the ranging of euery one into his roome of honor and the diuersitie of them and how they are to be come by 89 Of the diuersitie of colours in bearing Armes and which is the chiefest of them 91. 92 Of Emperours and Kings and the great Epithites they haue in the Ciuile Law 92 Of Precedencie and Protoclisie in great persons next after the Emperour and King 93 Of Knights and Doctors of Law and their precedencie 95 Of Esquires and Gentlemen 95. 96 Of great personages how they succeed each other in inheritance and other places of honour 97 Of womens gouernment and the defence thereof 98 Certaine questions in Succession betweene a brother borne before his fathers Kingdom and a brother after who shall succeed 100 Questions between the Kings second son liuing at his fathers death and the eldest brothers son his father dying before the Kings death who shall succeed 101 Of the Tytles of the Canon law in vse or out of vse among vs. 102 Some out of vse by reason of the palpable Idolatrie they conteined 103 Some other out of vse because they were contrarie to the laws of the land 103 Of Bishops Chauncelors their Office and Antiquitie 104 Of those Tytles that are absolute in vse among vs recited by Doctor Cousen in his Apologie for Ecclesiasticall proceeding 109 How the exercise of the Ciuile and Canon Law is impeached within this Realme and by how many waies 109 What is a Premunire 109 That Ecclesiasticall Iudges executing the Kings Ecclesiastical Law cannot be within the compasse of a Premunire as Prem is vnderstood by the statut of R. 2 and H. 4. 110 That the word Elswhere in the said statuts cannot be vnderstood of the
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
in all instruments and the day and yeare when the instrument was made That the Oath of the deceased as concerning the quantitie of his goods so far as it toucheth the diuision of the same among his children be holden for good but that it be in no sort preiudicial to the creditors Of women tumblers such other of like sort which with the feates of their body maintaine themselues that no oath or suertie be taken of them that they wil not leaue that kind of life since such oath is against good maners and is of no validitie in Law That such gifts as are giuen by priuat men to their Prince néed no record but are good without inrolling of them and in like sort such things as are giuen by the Princes to priuat men That no person thing or gold of an other man be arested for another mans debt which they now call reprisals that he which is hurt by such reprisals shall recouer the foure double of the damages that he hath suffered therby and that one man be not beaten or stricken for another That he that cals a man into law out of his Territorie or Prouince where he dwelleth shall enter caution if hee obteine not in the suite against him he shall pay him so much as the Iudge of the Court shall condemne him in And that he who hath giuen his oath in Iudgemēt shal pay the whole costs of the suite but after shall bee admitted to prosecute the same if hee will so that hee put in suerties to performe it That such women as are vnindowed shal haue the fourth part of their husbands substance after his death and in like sort the man in the womans if the man or woman that suruiueth be poore That Churches or Religious persons may change grounds one with another For that one priuiledged persons right ceaseth against another that is in like sort priuiledged That such changes of manors Lands Tenements and Hereditaments as are made by Churchmen to the Prince be not fained matters and so by the Prince come to other mens hands who haue set on the prince to make this change and that the change be made to the Princes house only and if the Prince after conuey or confer the same vpon any priuat man it shall be lawfull for the Church to reenter vpon the same againe and to reposseed it as in her former right That in greater Churches Clerkes may pay something for their first admittance but in lesser Churches it is not lawfull That such as build found or indowe Churches which must goe before the rest doe the same by the authoritie of the bishop and that such as are called patrons may present their Clarkes vnto the Bishop but that they cannot make or ordaine Clerkes therein themselues That the sacred misteries or ministeries bee not done in priuate houses but bee celebrated in publicke places lest thereby things be done contrarie to the Catholicke and Apostolicke faith vnlesse they call to the celebrating of the same such Clerkes of whose faith and conformitie there is no doubt made or are deputed thereto by the good will of the Bishop but places to pray in euery man may haue in his owne house if any thing be done to the contrarie the house wherein these things are done shall be confiscated and themselues shall be punished at the discretion of the Prince That neither such as be dead nor the Corse or Funerall of them be iniured by the creditors but that they bee buried in peace That womens Ioyntures be not sold or made away no not euen with their owne consent In what place number forme maner and order the princes counsell is to sit and come together That he that is conuented in iudgement if he wilfully absent himselfe may be condemned after issue is ioyned That no man build a Chappell or Oratorie in his house without the leaue of the bishop and before he consecrate the place by praier and set vp the Crosse there and make Procession in the place and that before he builde it he allot out lands necessarie for the maintenance of the same those that shall attend on Gods seruice in the place and that Bishops be not non-residents in their Churches That all obey the Princes Iudges whether the cause bee Ciuill or Criminall they iudge in and that the causes be examined before them without respect of persons and in what sort the Processe is to be framed against such as be present and how against those that be absent The sixt Collation sheweth by what means children illegitimate may be made legitimat that is either by the Princes dispensation or by the fathers Testament or by making instruments of marriage betwéene the Mother and Father of the children so that the Mother die not before the perfecting of them or that she liue riotously with other men and so make her selfe vnworthie to be a wife That Noble personages marry not without instruments of Dowrie and such other solemnities as are vsuall in this behalfe that is that they professe the same before the bishop or minister of the place and thrée or foure witnesses at the least and that a remembrance thereof be left in writing and kept with the Monuments of the Church but that it shall not bee needfull for meaner persons to obserue the former solemnities That such as were indebted to the Testator or they to whom the Testator was indebted bee not left Tutors or Gardeins to their children that if any such bee appointed a Tutor a Curator bee ioyned to him to haue an ouersight of his dealing that Tutors or Curators are not bound by Law to let out the Minors money but if they do the interest shall be the Minors and the Tutor shall haue euery yeare two moneths to find out sufficient men to whom hee may let the money out to hyer for that it is let out at his perill that if the Minors state be great so that there will bee a yearely profit aboue his finding the Tutor shall lay vp the residue for a stock against he comes to age or buy land therwith if he can find out a good bargaine and a sure title but if the childs portion be small so that it will not find him then the Tutor or Curator shall dispose of the Minors state as he would dispose of his owne to which also hee is bound by oath How such instruments are inrolled before Iudges as concerning matters of borrowing and lending and such like may haue credit how men may safely bargaine either with writing or without writing if themselues be ignorant men and of the comparison of Letters and what credit there is to be giuen to an instrument when the writings and witnesses doe varie among themselues Of vnchaste people and such as Riot against nature whose punishment is death Of such as dispitefully on euery light trifle sweare by God and blaspheme his holy name against whom also is prouided the sentence of death That the
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
trauersable so it be not in Criminall matters where time and place is required that the accuser doe not wander from place to place with the iniurie of the accused for howsoeuer the place and the action is altered yet the truth of the cause remaineth one and the selfe same still and so far as concerning actions of Trouer in Admirall causes Now it doth follow that I should speak of like preiudices that grow to the same by actions of Trespas but those will I passe ouer for that in so small a Treatise as this is I cannot go ouer all and therefore will I only put the Reader in mind that there are more deuises rising out of the Common Law that infest the Admiraltie than one But now to Wils and Testaments wherein they are impeached For matters of Wills and Legacies they are so proper to the triall of the Ecclesiasticall Law of this Realme as the professors of the Common Law themselues do oftentimes confesse and say they haue no more to doe therewith than the Ciuilian hath to doe with the knowledge of the matters of Franktenement and yet euen these matters of Testaments Legacies although Prohibitions be not so frequent in them as they are in the rest of Ecclesiasticall causes yet they are not quite void of them and that in some points wherein the verie life essence of a Will doth stand For whereas the auncient Romanes knowing how subiect matters of Wils are to forgerie corruption on the one side and suppression concealment on the other side to méet with all craft subtilty whatsoeuer which might seize on them did most carefully prouide that there should be seuen witnesses at the least present at the making of euery Will Testament except it were in time of some generall plague or sicknesse when so many Witnesses could not conueniently be had together for feare of infection or if it were in the Countrie where there are small multitude of people and that those witnesses should be particulerly required to that purpose with diuers other obseruations and circumstances tending all to the safe and sure making thereof which the Ecclesiasticall Law altered afterward in sundry points for that many true Wills were many times ouerthrowen for want of those precise solemnities reduced the whole number of those seuen witnesses vnto two only agreeably to the Law of God the Law of Nations where that number of witnesses is allowed as competent to prooue any matter so that the same witnesses be honest credible persons such as whose faith is not doubted of The Common Lawyers because themselues in sundry matters very dangerously many times admit one witnesse giue him full credit and that in matters of great waight importance as though all should be squared to their rule and framed to their compasse If an Ecclesiasticall Iudge in the probate of a Will contrarie to the rules of his owne Law will not admit the testimonie of one witnesse they forthwith fling out a Prohibition against him as though he had done an offence against the Crowne and dignitie in that he doth not allow those number of witnesses in the Probate of a Will that the Common Lawes of this land allow almost in euery matter For aunswere to which if I should alleage the precise forme of the Ecclesiasticall Law which to the essence of a will requireth this number of two witnesses or else holdeth it not for a Will but in cases inter liberos ad pios vsus where the only hand of the Father or Testator without witnesses serueth for a Will so the same be knowen to be the Testators owne hand or so prooued by comparison I would think to wise men I had said sufficiently but I will not rest hereupon but will conuince themselues by themselues for doe they I pray you in their owne procéedings where a Law or Statute requires more witnesses than one content themselues with one witnesse alone yea doe they not in all cases where a certeine number of witnesses are appointed to prooue a fact by Law or statute furnish the cause with so manie witnesses as the case desires or else doe they not accompt the procéeding void And will they think themselues so precisely bound to the kéeping of the letter of the Common law and will they not suffer the Ciuilian in like maner to cleane fast to the obseruation of the Ciuile Law especially when it hath the consent of the Law of God the Law of Nations and is his Maiesties Ecclesiasticall Law of this land aswell as the other is his Temporall Law of the same I confesse it may be true many times which one man saith specially when there concur therewith many great and violent presumptions and the party that reporteth it is of good credit but dangerous it is to open this gap to the malice of men for euen so many things shall be obtruded to the Iudge for trueth which are stark lyes and many things shall be pretended to be gold in shew which in proofe and practize will L. iuris urandi §. Simili modo C. de Testibus be found to be no other thing but méere drosse And therefore well decréed the Emperor Constantine that no one mans testimonie should be heard though he were neuer so great a man in Court But perhaps some man will say if credit shall not be giuen oftentimes to one mans testimonie much wickednesse will passe away vnpunished for reply to which I aunswere it is better to let a bad man scape than to punish a good and although it be true if a man may excuse himselfe by deniall no man will be found guiltie so also it is true on the other side if it be ynough to condemnation to be charged by one man alone without any other witnesses no man shall be innocent and therefore the admittance of one witnesse in causes and the procéeding thereupon to iudgement is verie dangerous An other like bar to this they lay in against Ecclesiasticall procéedings in matters of Testament whereas an Ecclesiastical Iudge prooueth a Will wherein are mannors lands tenements and other like hereditaments bequeathed challenging this also to be of the Crowne and dignity as though the Ecclesiasticall Iudge thereby tooke vpon him to decrée which lands were deuisable by will and which not or would by his probat adde a strength vnto the Will to make the deuise good or bad whereas on the contrarie part the Ecclesiasticall Iudge by this act doth only testifie that such a person made such a will that the same was prooued before himselfe vnder his Teste for his last will testament but for the validitie of the Will it selfe and the Legacies deuises therein whether they were of lands or tenements or of goods or chattels the Probat it selfe worketh nothing but leaueth that to the Law Common or Ecclesiastical according as the bequest belongeth to either of them whether it be good vailable in
Law or no for it oftentimes falleth out notwithstanding the Will be lawfully prooued before the Ordinarie yet the bequests are not good eyther in respect of the person to whom the bequests are made or in respect of the thing that is not deuisable in all or in part as by the Common Law lands in Capite cannot be deuised more than for two parts but in Socage the deuise is good for all And by the Custome of the Citie of London some other places of the land a man can bequeath no more than his deathes part and if he do his bequest is void for the rest but in other places of the land a man may bequeath all By the Ciuile Law a man can bequeath nothing to a Traytor or an Hereticke or an vnlawfull Colledge or Companie vnlesse perhaps it be for the aliment or maintenance of them in extreame pouertie that they dye not for hunger which is the worke of charitie and if he doe the legacie thereof is void to all intents purposes So then the Probate of the Ordinarie in matters of land neyther helpeth nor hindreth the right of the deuise it selfe but is a declaration only of the dead Mans doome vttered before such and such witnesses which taketh his strength not so much from the Probat as from the Law and is testified only by the Probat that the same was declared by the Testator in the presence of the witnesses therein named to be his true Last Will So that no man herein is to be offended with the Ordinary as presuming of a matter not appertayning vnto him for this testification in all Law conscience doth belong vnto him to giue allowance so far vnto tho defuncts Will as it is auouched before him to be his last act and déed in that behalfe but rather they are in this case to thank the Ordinary that he by that act of his hath preserued the memorie of that which otherwise perhaps would haue bin lost perished to the great hurt of the Common wealth and others which haue priuate interest therein Of all matters that appertain to the Ecclesiastical Courts ther is no one thing that the Princes of this land haue made more carefull prouision for since there was any Church gouernment in this land than that all maner of Tythes due by the word of God should be fully truely paid vnto their Parish Churches where they grew if they were denied should be recouered by the Law of holy Church For first before the Conquest king Athelstone made a Law that euery man Polychronicon should pay his Tythes to God in maner as Iacob did who made a vow to God If God would bring him back againe to his countrie he would when he retorned home pay tythes to God of all that God should giue him the like did king Edgar king Edmund commaunding that those which wilfully refused to pay their tithes should be excommunicated William Conqueror as Roger Houenden reporteth in Houenden part 2. cap. de Decimis ecclesiae the 4. yeare after his conquest hauing got some time of rest from warre setling of rebellious spirits who kicked at his gouernment at home entred into a consideration of the well ordering of the Church and Common wealth by wholsome Lawes therefore by the aduise of his Counsell let call all the great Prelates Potentates of this Land with twelue other sufficient men of euery Shire experienced in the Laws and customes of the Land that he might by them learne by what Lawes customes the land was gouerned before himselfe came to the Crowne thereof straitly charging commaunding them vpon his high displeasure they should make true report to him therof without adding any thing thereto or taking any thing therefro who beginning of the Lawes of holie Church because by it the King and his throne are established among other Lawes and liberties of the Church recorded this for one which I will verbatim set downe in Latin as it is penned by the Author De omni Annona decima garba est Deo reddita ideo reddenda Si quis gregem Equarum habuerit pullum reddat decimuÌ„ qui vnam tantum vel duas habuerit de singulis pullis singulos denarios praebeat Similiter qui plures Vaccas habuerit decimum vitulum qui vnam vel duas de singulis vitulis singulos denarios qui caseum fecerit det decimuÌ„ Deo et si non fecerit lac decima die Similiter Agnum decimuÌ„ vellus decimuÌ„ Butyrum decimum PorcelluÌ„ decimum De Apibus vero similiter decimuÌ„ commodi quinetiam de bosco de prato de aquis de molendinis viuarijs piscarijs virgultis hortis negotiationibus omnibus rebus quas dederit Dominus decima pars ei reddenda est qui nouem partes simul cum decima largitur Et qui eam detinuerit per iustitiam EpÌ„i Regis si necesse fuerit ad solutionem arguatur Haec enim S. Augustinus praedicauit docuit et haec concessa sunt a Rege Baronibus populo Sed postea instinctu diaboli multi eam detinuerunt Sacerdotes negligentes non curabant inire laborem ad perquirendas eas eo quòd sufficientér habebant vitae suae necessaria Multis enim locis sunt tres vel quatuor Ecclesiae vbi tune temporis vna tantum fuit sic caeperunt minui This Augustine to whom the Conqueror here referreth himselfe was Augustine the Monke whom Gregory the great about the yeare of our Lord God 569. sent here into England to réestablish the Faith decayed by the Saxons who set down sundry ordinances for the Church framed it in vniformitie of Prayer gouernment to that as then was vsed in the Church of Rome but long before Augustins time as it may by our Stories appeare euen in the daies of king â—â—heâ—ward lib. â—nico Lucius who sent to Elutherius a Bishop of Rome for learned men to instruct him and his people in the Faith which was about a hundred and fortie yeares after the Ascention of our Lord Iesus Christ the Faith of Christ was here preached in Brytaine and fiftéene Archbishops are by our Stories Ioâ—elin of Furnes in hâ—s booke of Brittish Bishops reported one to haue succéeded an other in the Sea of London before the irruption of the Saxons into this land All which time it is not like the Churches of God that were in the land were void of this prouision for the Ministerie so Marianus Scotus that I assure my selfe the payment of Tythes was far more auncient than the time of Augustine albeit the Conqueror citeth there the authoritie of Austen rather than any former precedent of the Britans both for that the doctrine of Austen was better knowen vnto the Saxons among whose auncestors Austen taught gouerned as an Archbishop than any of the Fathers of the Brytish Church to whom the Saxons
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
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