haue thought it their part to expound any thing they could meete with in their vvalke And in deede a Lavvyer professeth true Philosophy and therefore should not be ignorant if it vvere possible of either beastes foules or creeping things nor of the trees from the Cedar in Lebanon to the Hyssop that springeth out of the vvall And therefore if I haue either omitted any hard vvord vvithin my circuit or set it dovvne not expounded I giue you good leaue to impute the one to my negligence the other to mine ignorance and so cōmend these my paines to your best profit and you vnto God Nouember 3. 1607. IO. COVVELL These faults I haue noted according to the words alphabetically which of necessitie require emendation IN the word Rawnge for Pouralleeses read Pourallees In the word Reasonable ayde reade Claimeth of his tenents houlding c. For the word Remittere read Remitter In the word Returno habendo for Expleuied reade Repleuied In the word Scot and Lot for Aulote Auscote reade Anlote Anscote For the word Statutum de laboriis reade Laborariis In the word Terme for Certifie reade Rectifie For the word Thrid with hawan man reade Thrid nith For the word Tost read Toft In the word Tolle for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the word Verdour for Verdioir read Verdeur For the word Vicountie reade Vicountiel In the word Watlingstreat for Tosse read Fosse in the word Widow for Vide read Vuide For the word Woolferthfod read Wolferhefod The signification of Words A B ABATE Iutrudere seemeth to be taken from the French Abatre i. decutere destruere prosternere It is in the Writers of the Common law vsed both actiuely and passiuely or rather neuterly as to abate a castell or a fortlet Old Nat. br fo 45. which in Westm 1. cap. 17. is plainely interpreted to be as much as to beate downe And to abate a Writ is by some exception to defeate or ouerthrow it Britton cap. 48. And in this Actiue voice it hath two significations one generall another speciall generall as in the former examples and againe in Kitchin fol. 173. Abater meason is to ruine or cast downe a house especiall as in the Old Nat br fol. 115. A stranger abateth that is entreth vpon a house or lād void by the death of him that last possessed it before the heire take his possession and so keepeth him out Wherefore as he that putteth out him in possession is said to disseise so he that steppeth in betweene the former possessor and his heire is said to abate In the neuter signification it is vsed ann 34. Edw. 1. stat 2. of ioynt tenants viz. the Writ of the demandant shall abate that is shall be disabled frustrated or ouerthrowne So in Stawnfords plees of the crowne fol. 148. In this case a man may say that the appeale abateth by covin that is that the accusation is defeated by deceit See Intrusion Abatement Intrusio cōmeth also of the French abatement i. deiectio decussio prostratio and is likewise vsed as the verbe abate both actiuely and passiuely somtime signifying the act of the abator as the abatement of the heire into the land before he hath agreed with the Lord. Old nat br fol. 91. Sometime the affection or passion of the thing abated as abatement of the writ Kitchin fol. 214. And in this signification it is as much as exceptio dilatoria with the Civilians Brit. cap. 51. or rather an effect of it For the exception alledged and made good worketh the abatement And this exception may be taken either to the insufficiencie of the matter or to the incertaintie of the allegation by the misnaming of the plaintiffe defendant or place to the variance betweene the Writ and the specialtie or record to the incertaintie of the VVrit count or declaration or to the death of the plaintiffe or defendant new tearmes of the law verbo Abatement of Writ And he that will reade more of this may looke vpon the new booke of Entries verbo Briefe Abatour Intrusor is he that abateth that is thrusteth into a house or land void by the death of the former possessor and not yet entred or taken vp by his heire Old nat br fol. 115. Perkins fol. 76. If there be a disseissor abator or intrudor vpon any land by the deceipt of the woman c. Abbot Abbas in French Abbè is by skilfull Linguists said to come from the Syriacke word Abba i. pater and in our common law is vsed for him that in the covent or fellowship of Canons hath the rule and preheminence He is by Iustinian novel constitut 115. § 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tearmed Archimandrita of others Coenobiarcha vel Archimonachus Hoto in verbis feuda Of these some here in England were mitred some not Stowes annals pa. 442. And those that were mitred were exempted from the iurisdiction of the diocesan hauing in themselues episcopal authoritie within their precincts and being also Lords of the Parlament Of this kind thus saith Corasius Aliqui Abbates habent iurisdictionem episcopalem ad quos cum Ecclesia pleno iure pertineat in eorum Monasteriis Episcopus nihil exercet cap. Ea quae Vbi Panor extra de statu Monacho Haec dictus author in Paraphrasi de sacerdotio materia parte pri cap. 9. And these were called Abbots soueraigne anno 9. R. 2. cap 4. and Abbots generals as M. Fearne noteth in his glory of generositie pag. 126. The other sort were subiect to the diocesan in all spirituall gouernement cap. Monasteria 18. quaest 2. cap. Abbas cap. visit andi cum quatuor sequentibus ibidem ca. Omnes 16. quaest 7. cap. Cùm venerabilis extra de religîosis domibus And as Abbots so were there Lord Priors also who both had exempt iurisdiction were Lords of the Parlament as appeareth by S. Edward Cooke de iure Ecclesiastico fol. 28. a. Abeyance seemeth to be deriued from the French Abayer i. allatrare to barke at as dogs do against a stranger or spaniels at a Fesant put to the pearke So children are said bayer à la mamme when seing the dug they struggle and make meanes towards it And they likewise bayer a l'argent qui spe atque animo incumbunt pecuniae This word in Litleton cap. Discontinuance is thus vsed The right of Fee-simple lyeth in abeyance that is as himselfe interpreteth all onely in the remembrance intendmēt and consideration of the law Also in the same place the Francke tenement of the glebe of the parsonage is in no man during the time that the parsonage is void but is in abeyance And againe It is a principle in lawe that of euery land there is Fee-simple in some man or the Fee-simple is in abeyance Considering these places and comparing them with the signification of
the Lord Chancelour or by our appointment before Iustices in eyre in open court Glanvile li. 11. cap. pri Britton cap. 126. whome of this thing you may reade more at large There be also in respect of the diuers courts Atturneys at large and Atturneys special belonging to this or that court onely The name is borrowed of the Normanes as appeareth by the custumarie cap. 65. And I find the word attornati or as some reade tornati in the same signification in the title de statu regularium ca. vnico § Perrò i. n sexto where the glosse saith that Atturnati dicuntur Procuratores apud acta constituti Our old Latine word for this seemeth to be responsalis Bract. lib. 4. cap. 31. lib. 5. parte 2. cap. 8. and so it is in Scotland at this day but especially for the Atturney of the defendant as prolocutor is for the persewer M. Skene de verb. significatione Responsalis as Sigâ—nius witnesseth in his first booke de regno Italie was in auncient time the title of the Popes ambassadour pag. 11. Atturney of the court of wards and Liueries Atturnatus regis in curia Wardorum LiberaturaruÌ„ is the third officer in that Court who must be a person learned in the lawes of the land being named and assigned by the king At his admission into the office he taketh an oath before the Master of the said court well and truly to serue the king as his Atturney in all courts for and concerning any mater or cause that toucheth the possessions and hereditaments limited to the suruey and gouernement of this court and to procure the kings profite thereof truly to councell the king and the Master of the Court in all things concerning the same to the best of his cunning witte and power and with all speed and diligence from time to time at the calling of the Master to endeuour himself for the hearing and determination indifferently of such matters causes as depend before the Master not to take any gift or reward in any mater or cause depending in the court or else where wherein the king shall be partie whereby the king shall be hurt hindred or disinherited to do to his power wit and cunning all and euery thing that appertaineth to his office Atturney of the Court of the Duchie of Lancaster Atturnatus curia Ducatus Lancastriae is the second officer in that Court and seemeth for his skill in law to be there placed as assessor to the Chanceler of that court being for the most part some honorable man and chosen rather for some especiall trust reposed in him to deale betweene the king and his tenents then for any great learning as was vsuall with the Emperors of Rome in the choice of their Magistrates Attournment attornamentum commeth of the French tourner i. vertero and in our common lawe is an yeelding of the tenent to a new Lord or acknowledgement of him to be his Lord. For otherwise he that buyeth or obtaineth any lands or tenements of another which are in the occupation of a third cannot get possession yet see the statute an 27. H. 8. cap. 16. The words vsed in atturnment are set downe in Litleton I agree me to the graunt made to you c. But the more common atturnment is to say Sir I attourn to you by force of the same graunt or I become your tenent c. or else deliuer vnto the grauntee a peny halfepeny or farding by way of attournment Litleton lib. 3. cap. Attournment 10. whome you may reade more at large and find that his definition proceedeth from more lawe then Logickeâ— because he setteth downe diuers other cases in the same chapter whereto attournment appertaineth as properly as vnto this But you may perceiue there that attournment is the transposing of those duties that the tenent ought to his former Lord vnto another as to his Lord and also that attournment is either by word or by act c. Also attournment is voluntarie or else compulsorie by the writ tearmed Per quaeseruitia Owld nat br fol. 155. or sometime by distresse Fitzh nat br fol. 147. Lastly attournment may be made to the Lord himselfe or to his Steward in Court Kitchin fol. 70. And there is attournment in deede and attournment in lawe Coke vol. 6. fo 113. a. Attournment in lawe is an act which though it be no expresse attournment yet in intendment of law is all one Atturnato faciendo vel vecipiendo is a writ which a man oweing suite to a countie hundred weapon take or other court and desiring to make an attourney to appeare for him at the same court whome he doubteth whether the Shyreeue or bailiffe will admit or not for his Attourney there purchaseth to commaund him to receiue such a man for his attourney and admit his appearance by him The forme and other circumstances whereof see in Fitzh nat br fo 156. Audiendo terminando is a writ but more properly tearmed a commission directed to certaine persons when as any great assembly insurrectioÌ„ or heinous demeanure or trespasse is committed in any place for the appeasing and punishment thereof which you may read at large in Fitzh nat br fo 110. See also oyer terminer Andience courte Curia audientiae Cantuariensis is a court belonging to the Archbishop of Canterburie of equall authoritie with the Arches court though inferior both in dignity and antiquitie The originall of this court was because the Archeb of Canterbury heard many causes extra iudicially at home in his owne palace in which before he would finally determine any thing he did vsually commit them to be discussed by certaine learned men in the ciuile canon lawes whome thereupon be termed his auditors And so in time it grew to one especiall man who at this day is called Causarum negotiorumque audientiae Cantuariensis auditor seu officialis And with this office hath heretofore commonly bene ioyned the Chancelership of the Archbishop who medleth not in any point of coÌ„tentious iurisdiction that is desciding of causes betweene party and party except such as are ventilated pro forma onely as the confirmation of bishops elections or such like but onely of office and especially such as are voluntariae iurisdictionis as the granting of the custody of the spiritualties during the vacation of Bishoprickes Institutions to benefices dispensing with banes of matrimonie and such like But this is now distinguished in person from the Audience Of this Audience court you may reade more in the booke intituled De antiquitate ecclasiae Brittannicae historia Audita querela is a writ that lieth against him who hauing taken the bond called statute Merchant of another and craving or hauing obteined execution of the same at the Maior Bayliffes hands before whome it was entred at the complaint of the partie who entred the same vpon suggestion of some iust cause why execution should not be graunted as a release or other exception This writ is
called the foote of the fine The Chirographer also or his debuty doth proclaime all the fines in the court euery tearme according to the Statute and then repayring to the office of the custos breuium there indorseth the proclamations vpō the backside of the foot thereof and alwaie keepeth the writ of couenant as also the note of the fine Chivage See Chevage Chivalrie servitium militare commeth of the French chevalier i. eques and signifieth in our common lawe a tenure of land by knights seruice For the better vnderstanding whereof it is to be knowne that there is noe land but is holden mediatly or immediatly of the Crowne by some seruice or other and therfore are all our free-houlds that are to vs and our heires called feuda feese as proceeding frō the benefit of the King for some small yearely rent and the performance of such seruices as originally were laid vpon the land at the donation thereof For as the king gaue to the great Nobles his immediat tenents large possessions for euer to hold of him for this or that rent and seruice so they againe in time parcelled out to such as they liked their lands so receiued of the kings bountie for rents and seruices as they thought good And these seruices are all by Litleton diuided into two sorts chivalry and socage The one is martiall and military the other clownish and rusticall Chivalrie therefore is a tenure or seruice whereby the tenent is bound to performe some noble or military office vnto his Lord and is of two sorts either regall that is such as may hold onely of the king or such as may also hold of a common person as well as of the king That which may hold onely of the King is properly called servitium or sergeantia and is againe diuided into grand or petit i. great or small Great commonly called grand sergeantie is that where one holdeth lands of the King by seruice which hee ought to doe in his own person vnto him as to beare the kings baner or his speare or to leade his hoast or to be his Marshall or to blow a horne when he seeth his enemies inuade the land or to find a man at armes to fight within the foure Sease or else to do it himselfe or to beare the kings sword before him at his coronation or at that day to be his sewer caruer butler or chamberlaine Litleton tit Sergeantie Petit Sergeantie is where a man holdeth land of the king to yeeld him yearely some small thing toward his warres as a sword dagger bowe knife speare paire of gloues of maile a paire of spurs or such like Litleton titulo petit Sergeanty Chivalry that may hould of a common person as well as of the king is called scutagium escuage that is seruice of the shield And this is either vncertaine or certaine Escuage vncertaine is likewise two-fold first where the tenent by his tenure is bounde to follow his lord going in person to the kings wars against his enemies either him selfe or to send a sufficient man in his place there to be maintained at his cost so many daies as were agreed vpon betweene the lord and his first tenent at the graunting of the see And the daies of such seruice seeme to haue bene rated by the quantity of the land so houlden as if it extend to a whole knights fee then the tenent was bounde thus to follow his lord fourty dayes And a knights fee was so much land as in those dayes was accoumpted a sufficient liuing for a knight and that was 680 acres as some opinion is or 800 as others thinke or 15 pounds per annum Camdens Brittan pa. 110. in meo S. Thomas Smyth sayeth that census equestris is 40. poundes reuenew in free lands If the law extend but to halfe a knights fee then the tenent is bounde to follow his lord as aboue is said but twenty dayes If to a fourth part then ten daies Fitzh nat br fo 83. C. 84. C. E. The other kinde of this escuage vncertaine is called castelward where the tenent by his land is bound either by him selfe or by some other to defend a castell as often as it shall come to his course Escuage certaine is where the tenent is set at a certaine summe of money to be paide in lieu of such vncertaine seruice as that a man shall yerely pay for a Knights Fee 20. shillings Stow annal pag. 238. for halfe a Knights Fee tenne shillings or some like rate And this seruice because it is drawne to a certaine rent groweth to be of a mixt nature not meerely socage for that it smelleth not of the plough and yet so cage in effect being now neither personall seruice nor vncertaine Litleton titulo Secage This tenure called chiualry hath other conditions annexed vnto it as homage fealty wardship reliefe and mariage Bracton li. 2. ca. 35. which what they signifie looke in their places Chilualry is either generall or especiall Dier fo 161. nu 47. Generall seemeth to be where only it is said in the feofment that the tenent houldeth per seruitium militare without any specification of sergeanty escuage c. Speciall that which is declared particularly what kinde of knights seruice he houldeth by Chorall choralis seemeth to be any that by vertue of any of the orders of Clergie was in auncient time admitted to sit and serue God in the Quier which in Latine is tearmed Chorus Chose res is the French word as generall as thing is with vs. It is in the common lawe vsed with diuers epithites worthie the interpretation as chose locall is such a thing as is annexed to a place For example a mill is chose locall Kitchin fol. 18. Chose transitorie in the same place seemeth to bee that thing which is moueable and may be taken away or caried from place to place Chose in action is a thing incorporeall and onely a right as an annuitie an obligation of debt a couenant or vowcher by warrantie Broke titulo Chose in action And it seemeth that chose in action may be also called chose in suspence because it hath no reall existence or being neither can be properly sayde to bee in our possession Broke ibid. Churchwardens Ecclesiarum gardiani be Officers yearely chosen by the consent of the Minister and parishioners according to the custome of euery seuerall place to looke to the church church-yard and such things as belong to both and to obserue the behauiours of their parishioners for such faults as appertaine to the iurisdiction or censure of the court ecclesiasticall These be a kind of corporation inabled by lawe to sue for any thing belonging to their church or poore of their parish See Lamberd in his pamphlet of the duty of Church-wardens Churchesset is a word that I find in Fleta lib. 1. cap. 47 in fine whereof he thus writeth Certam mensuram bladi tritici significat quam quilibet olim sanctae Ecclesiae die
Yere and day annus dies is a time thought in construction of our common lawe fit in many cases to determine a right in one and to worke an vsucapion or prescription in another As in a case of an estray if the owner proclamations being made chalenge it not within that time it is forfeit So is the yeare and day giuen in case of appeale in case of descent after entry or claime of no claime vpon a fine or writ of right at the common lawe so of a villein remaining in auncient demeane of the death of a man sore bruised or wounded of protections essoines in respect of the Kings service of a wreck and divers other cases Coke vol. 6. fol. 107. b. And that touching the death of a man seemeth an imitation of the civile lawe Nam si mortifere fuerit vulneratus postea post lon gum intervallum mortuus sit inde annum numerabimus secundum â—ulianum l. ait lex Î . ad legeÌ„ Aquil. Yeare day and waste annus dies vastum is a part of the Kings prerogatiue whereby he challengeth the profits of their lands and tenements for a yere and a day that are attainted of petit treason or felonie whosoeuer be Lord of the maner whereunto the lands or tenements do belong and not onely so but in the end wasteth the tenement destroyeth the houses rooteth vp the woods gardens pastures and ploweth vp medowes except the Lord of the fee agree with him for the redemption of such waste afterward restoring it to the Lord of the fee. Whereof you may reade at large in Stawnf praerog cap. 16. fol. 44. seqq Yoman seemeth to be one word made by contraction of two Danish words yong men which I gather out of Canutus Charter of the Forest set out by M. Manwood parte prim fol. prim num 2. in these words Sunt sub quolibet horum quatuor ex mediocribus hominibus quos Angli Legespend nuncupant Dani verò yong men vocant locati qui curam onus tum viridis tum veneris suscipiant These M. Camden in his Britan. pag. 105. placeth next in order to Gentlemen calling them Ingenuos whose opinion the statute affirmeth anno 16. R. 2. cap. 4. whereunto adde the statute anno 20. eiusdem Regis cap. 2. Sir Thomas Smith in his Repub. Anglor lib. prim cap. 23. calleth him a Yoman whom our lawes call legalem hominem which as he saith is in English a Free man borne that may dispend of his owne free land in yerely reuenew to the summe of forty shillings sterling Of these he writeth a good large discourse touching their estate and vse in this common wealth The former etymologie of the name he liketh not making question whether it come of the Dutch yonker yea or not which in the Low countries signifieth a meane Gentleman or a gay fellow But he that hath added the marginall notes to that booke seemeth to draw it from the Saxon Geman which signifieth a maried man M. Versteg an in his restitution of decayed intelligence cap. 10. writeth that Gemen among the auncient Teutonicks and Gemein among the moderne signifieth as much as Common and that the first leter G. is in this word as in many others turned into Y. and so written Yemen and that therfore Yemen or Yeomen signifieth so much as Commoner Yoman signifieth an Officer in the Kings house which is in the middle place betweene the Serge an t and the Groome as Yoman of the Chaundrie and Yoman of the Scullerie anno 33. H. 8. cap. 12. Yoman of the Crowne anno 3. Ed. 4. cap. 5. anno 22. eius cap. 1. anno 4. H. 7. cap. 7. This word Yongmen is vsed for Yomen in the statute anno 33. H. 8. cap. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS