appertaining to Christianity and such as without good knowledge in Divinty cannot be well judged of being heretofore held by Archbishops and Bishops as from the Pope of Rome but after his ejection they held them by the Kings Authority by virtue of his Magistracy as the Admiral of England holds his Court whence it proceeds that they send out their Precepts in their own names and not in the Kings as the Iustices of the Kings Courts do and therefore as the Appeal from those Courts did lie to Rome now by the Stat. of 25 H. 8. cap. 19. it lies to the King in his Chancery Court-Baron COurt-Baron is a Court that every Lord of a Mannor hath within his own Precincts Of this Court and Court-Leet Kitch hath writ a learned Book This Court as it seems in Cok. lib. 4. fol. 26. fs twofold And therefore if a man having a Mannor in a Town grants the inheritance of all the Copyholds therein to another this Grantee may hold a Court for the customary Tenants and accept of Surrenders to the use of others and make Admittances and Grants The other Court is of Free-holders which is properly called the Court-Baron wherein the Suitors that is the Free-holders are Iudges whereas of the other Court the Lord or his Steward is Iudge Coutheutlaugh COutheutlaugh is he that wittingly receives a man utlawed and cherishes or hides him in which case he was in ancient time subject to the same punishment as the man utlawed was Br. l. 3. tr 2. c. 13. nu 2. It is compounded of couth i. known and utlaw outlawed as we now call them Cranage CRanage is a liberty to use a Crane for drawing up wares or Goods out of any Ship Boat or Barge at any Creek or Wharf and to make profit of it It is used also for the Money that is taken for that work Creditor CReansor or Creditor comes of the French Coryance that is Confidence or perswasion and it signifies him that trusts another with any Debt be it money wares or other things This word is used in the Old N. B. in the Writ of Audita querela f. 66. a. Creek CReek is that part of a Haven from whence any thing is landed or disburthened out of the Sea And this word is used in the Stat. 5 El. cap. 5. and 4 H. 4. cap. 20. c. Croft CRoft is a little Close or Pightle adjoyning to an House used either for pasture or arable as the owner pleases And it seems to be derived from the old word Creaft that is Handicraft because these lands are for the most part manured with the best skill of the owner Cucking-stool CUcking-stool is an Engin invented for the punishment of Scolds and unquiet women and it was called in old time a Tumbrell as appears by Lamb. in his Eirenarc l. 1. c. 12. And by the Cases and Iudgements in Eire in the time of Ed. 3. a Pillory and a Tumbrell are appendant to a Leet without which right cannot be administred to the parties within the view Keloway fol. 140. b. And in the Stat. 51 H. 3. ca. 6. it is called Trebuchett Cui ante divortium CUi ante divortium is a Writ that lies when Alienation is made by the husband of the wifes Land and after Divorce is had between them then the woman shall have this Writ and the Writ shall say Whom she before the Divorce might not gain-say Cui in vita CUi in vita is a Writ that lies where a man is seised of Lands in Fee-simple Fee-tail or for life in right of his wife and aliens the same and dies then she shall have this Writ to recover the Land And note That in this Writ her Title must be shewed whether it be of the purchase or inheritance of the woman But if the husband alien the right of his wife and the husband and the wife die the wifes Heir may have a writ of Sur cui in vita Cuinage CUinage See Cuynage Cuntey CUntey cuntey is a kind of Trial as appears by Bract. in these words The matter in this case shall be ended by Cuntey cuntey as between coheirs l. 4. tr 3. cap. 18. And again in the same place In a Writ of right the business shall be determined by cuntey cuntey And thirdly l. 4. tr 4. c. 2. The cause shall be tried by Writ of right neither by Battel nor by the great Assise but by Cuntey cuntey only which seems to be as much as by ordinary Iury. Curfew CUrfew comes of two French words Couvrir to cover and Feu Fire It is used with us for an evening Peal by which the Conqueror willed every man to take warning for the taking up his Fire and putting out his Light So that in many places at this day when a Bell is customably rung toward Bed-time it is said to ring Curfew Curia avisare vult CUria avisare vult is a Deliberation which the Court purposes to take upon any difficult point of a Cause before Iudgement be resolved on For which see the New Book of Entries verbo Curia c. Curia claudenda IS a Writ or Action to compell another to make a Fence or Wall which the Defendant ought to make between his land and the Plaintiffs Currier CUrrier is one that dresses or liquors Leather and is so called of the French word Cuir id est Corium Leather The word is used in all the Statutes made for the good making of Leather as in 1 Jac cap. 22. c. Cursiter CUrsiter is an Officer or Clerk belonging to the Chancery who makes out Original Writs 14 15 H. 8. cap. 8. They are called Clerks of Course in the Oath of Clerks of the Chancery appointed anno 18 Ed. 3. Stat. 5. There are of them twenty four to each of whom is allotted certain Shires into which they make out such Original Writs as are by the subject required and are a Corporation among themselves Curtesie of England CUrtesie of England is where a man takes a wife seised in Fee-simple or Fee-tail general or seised as Heir of the tail special and hath issue by her male or female be the issue dead or alive if the wife die the husband shall hold the Land during his life by the Law of England And it is called Tenant by the Curtesie of England because this is not used in any other Realm but only in England If the Infant was never alive then the husband shall not be Tenant by the Curtesie but if the issue be born alive it suffices If the woman be delivered of a Monster which hath not the shape of mankind this is not Issue in Law But though the issue hath some deformity or defect in the hand or foot and yet hath humane shape if suffices to make the husband Tenant by the Curtesie And in some cases the time of the birth is material and in some not Therefore if a man marries a woman Inheritrix who is great with child by him
Woods turned up and all their Lands and Tenements forfeited to the King But if it pass against him that brought that Attaint he shall be Imprisoned and grievously ransomed at the Kings will See the Statute 23 Hen. â— cap. 3. Attaint also is when Iudgment is given in Treason or Felony Attendant ATtendant is where one ows a duty or service to another or as it were depends upon another As if there be Lord Mesne and Tenant the Tenant holds of the Mesne by a peny the Mesne holds over by two pence the Mesne releases to the Tenant all the right which he hath in the Land the Tenant dies his wife shall be endowed of the land and she shall be Attendant to the Heir of the third part of one peny and not of the third part of two pence for she shall be endowed of the best possession of her husband Also where the wife is endowed by the Gardian she shall be attendant to the Gardian and to the Heir at his full age Attournment ATtournment is when one is Tenant for term of Life and he in Reversion or Remainder grants his right or estate to another then it behoves the Tenant for life to agree thereto and this agreement is called an Attournment For if he in the Reversion grant his estate and right to another if the Tenant for life attourn not nothing passes by the grant But if it be granted by Fine in Court of Record he shall be compelled to attourn And see thereof after Title Quid juris c â— mat and in Littl. lib. 3. cap. 10. Atturney ATturney is one appointed by another man to do something in his stead whom West hath defined thus Attorneys are such persons as by consent commandment or request take care of see to and undertake the Charge of other mens Business in their absence And where in ancient time those of authority in Courts have had it in their dispose when they would permit men to appear or sue by any other than themselves as appears by F. N. B. 25. in the Writ of Dedimus potestatem Ä‘ Attornato faciendo where it is shewed that men were driven to procure the Writs or Letters Patents of the King to appoint Atturneys for them it is now provided by divers Stat. that it shall be lawful so to do without any such circuity And there is great diversity of Writs in the table of the Register by which the King commands his Iudges to admit of Atturneys By which means at last there were so many unskilful Atturneys and so many mischiefs by them that an Act was 4 H. 4 c. 18. ordained for their restraint that the Iustices should examine them and put out the unskilful and An. 33 H. 6. c. 7. that there should be but a certain number of them in Norfolk and Suffolk In what cases a man at this day may have an Atturney and in what not see F. N. B. in the place before cited Atturney is either general or special Atturney general is he that is appointed to all our Affairs or Suits as the Atturney general of the King Atturney general of the Duke Cromp. 105. Atturney special or particular is he that is imploi â— d in one or more things particularly specifyed Atturneys general are made two ways either by the Kings Letters Patents or by our own appointment before Iustices in Eyre in open Court See Glan lib. 11. cap. 1. Brit. 126. Audience Court AUdience Court Curia audientiae Canturiensis is a Court belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury of equal Authority with the Arches Court though inferior both in dignity and antiquity Of which you may read more in a Book entituled De antiquitate Ecclesiae Britannicae historia Audita Querela AUdita Querela is a Writ that lies where one is bound in a Statute-Merchant Statute-Staple or Recognisance or where Iudgment is given against him for Debt and his body in Execution thereupon then if he have a Release or other matter sufficient to be discharged of Execution but hath no day in Court there to plead it then he shall have this writ against him which hath recovered or against his Executors Auditor AUditor is an Officer of the King or some other great person who by yearly examining the Accounts of all under-Officers accountable makes up a general Book that shews the difference between their Receipts or Charge and their Payments or Allowances See the Statute 33 H. 8. c. 33. There is also another sort of Auditor assigned by any Court wherein a Defendant is adjudged to Account who take the Account and put it in form into Writing and then it is inrolled and the Plaintiff pleads to it and the Defendant replies if occasion be and so go to issue upon divers points and particulars of the Account Average AVerage is that Service which the Tenant owes his Lord to be done by the Beasts of the Tenant and it seems to be deriv'd from the word Averia because it is the Service which the Tenants Beasts perform for the Lord by carriage or otherwise This word also hath another signification and is much used in the Statute 32 H. 8. c. 14. for a certain Contribution which Merchants and others pay proportionably towards their losses that have their goods cast out in a tempest for the saving of the Ship or of the goods or lives of them that are therein Averment AVerment is where a man pleads a Plea in Abatement of the Writ or Bar of the Action which he saith he is ready to prove as the Court will award This offer to prove the Plea is called an Averment Also there is a Writ called a Writ of Averment which is made out of any of the Law Courts of Westminster-Hall when the Action is depending when the Sheriff upon a Distringas returns small issues then the Iudges of Assise may cause it to be enquired by a Iury if the Sheriff could return more issues of the Lands of the Defendant and if it be found he may then he must return more issues to force the Defendant to appear to the Plaintiffs suite or to do what the Distringas required him to do Averpeny AVerpeny is to be quit of divers sums of money for the Kings arrerages Augmentation AUgmentation was the name of a Court erected in the 27 year of King Henry the eighth And the cause thereof was that the King might be iustly used touching the profits of such Religious Houses and their Lands as were given him by Act of Parliament the same year not printed For dissolving which Court there was an Act made in the Parliament held in the first year of the Reign of Queen Mary Sess 2. cap. 10. which she afterward put in execution by her Letters Patents The name of the Court arises from this That the Revenues of the Crown were so much augmented by the Suppression of the said Houses as the King reserved to the Crown and neither gave nor sold to others But the Office of
the Law gives much credit and authority to Coroners Corporation Corporation is a permanent thing that may have succession And it is an Assembly and joyning together of many into one Fellowship Brotherhood and mind whereof one is Head and chief the rest are the Body and this Head and Body knit together make the Corporation And of Corporations some are Spiritual some Temporal and of Spiritual some are Corporations of dead persons in Law and some otherwise and some are by authority of the King only and some have been of a mixt authority And of those that are Temporal some are by the authority of the King also and some by the Common Law of the Realm Corporation Spiritual and of dead persons in the Law is where the Corporation consists of an Abbot and Covent which had beginning of the King and the Pope when he had to do here Corporation Spiritual and of able persons in Law is where the Corporation consists of a Dean and Chapter Master of a Colledge or Hospital and this Corporation had beginning of the King only Corporation Temporal by the King is where there is a Mayor and Commonalty Corporation Temporal by authority of the Common Law is the Assembly in Parliament which consists of the King the Head of the Corporation the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons of the Realm the Body of the Corporation Bodies politick BOdies politick are Bishops Abbots Priors Deans Parsons of Churches and such like which have succession in one person only If land be given to a Maior and Commonalty for their lives they have an Estate by intendment not determinable So it is if a Feoffment be made of land to a Dean and Chapter without speaking of Successors Release of a Mayor for any summ of money due to the Corporation in his own name is not good in Law In case of a sole Corporation or Body politick as Bishop Parson Vicar Master of Hospital c. no Chattel either in action or possession shall go in succession but the Executors or Administrators of the Bishop Parson c. shall have them for Succession in a Body politick is as Inheritance in case of a body private But otherwise is in case of a Corporation composed of many as a Dean and Chapter Mayor and Commonalty and such like for there they in judgement of the Law never die Yet the case of the Chamberlain of London differs from all these and his Successors may in his own name have Execution of a Recognisance acknowledged to his Predecessor for Orphanagemoney and the reason is because in this case the Corporation of the Chamberlain is by Custome and the same Custome that hath created him and made a Corporation in Succession as to the said special purpose concerning Orphanage hath enabled the Successor to take such Recognisances Obligations c. that are made to his Predecessor And this Custom is founded upon great reason for the Executors or Administrators of the Chamberlain ought not to intermeddle with such Recognisances Obligations c. which by the said Custom are taken in the corporate capacity of the Chamberlain and not in his private But a Bishop Parson c. or any sole Corporation that are Bodies politick by prescription cannot take a Recognisance or Obligation but only to their private and not in their politick capacity for they want Custome to take a Chattel in their politick or corporate capacity Corpus cum Causa or Habeas Corpus COrpus cum Causa is a Writ issuing out of the Chancery to remove both the body and the Record of the Cause of any man lying in Execution upon a Iudgement for Debt into the Kings Bench c. there to lie till he have satisfied the Iudgement Fitzh Nat. Brev. fol. 251. e. It lies also to remove any Action from inferiour Courts of Record into any of the 3 Courts in Westm Corruption of Blood COrruption of Blood is when any one is attainted of Felony or Treason then his Bloud is said to be corrupt by means whereof neither his children nor any of his bloud can be heirs to him or to any other Ancestor for which they ought to claim by him And if he were a Noble or Gentleman before he and all his children are made thereby ignoble and ungentle having regard to the Nobility or Gentry they claim by their father which cannot be restored by the Kings Grant without authority of Parliament But if the King will pardon the offendor it will cleanse the corruption of the Blood of those children which are born after the Pardon and they may inherit the land of their Ancestor purchased at the time of the Pardon or afterwards but so cannot they who were born before the Pardon Also he that is attainted of Treason or Felony shall not be heir to his father but this disability shall hinder others to be heir so that during his life the land shall rather escheat to the Lord of the Fee then discend to another But if he who is attainted dies without issue of his body during the life of his Ancestor then his younger Brother Sister or Cousin shall inherit for if the eldest Son be hanged or abjure the Realm for Felony during the life of the Father it is no impediment but that the youngest Son may inherit 27 Edw. 3. c. 77. And if he who is attaint of Treason or Felony in the life of his Ancestor purchase the Kings Pardon before the death of his Ancestor yet he shall not be Heir to the said Ancestor but the Land shall rather escheat to the Lord of the Fee by the Corruption of bloud 26 Ass pla 2. But if the eldest son be a Clerk convict in the life of his Father and after his Father dies in this case he shall inherit his Fathers Land because he was not attainted of Felony for by the Common Law he should inherit after he had made his Purgation And now by the Statute of 18 El. cap. 6. he shall be forthwith enlarged after burning in the hand and delivered out of prison and not committed to the Ordinary to make his Purgation but he is in the same case as if he had made his Purgation If a man that hath Land in right of his wife hath issue and his Bloud is corrupt by Attainder of Felony and the King pardons him in this case if the wife dies before him he shall not be Tenant by the courtesse for the corruption of the blood of that issue But it is otherwise if he hath issue after the Pardon for then he shall be Tenant although the issue which he had before the Pardon be not inheritable 13 H. 7. c. 17. If a man seised of Land hath issue two sons and the eldest is attainted in the life of his Father of Felony and therefore executed or otherwise dies during the life of his Father and after the Father dies seised the Land shall descend to the youngest son as Heir unto his Father if
the Province against any inferiour Ordinary for Delaying Iustice in any Cause Ecclesiastical as to give sentence or to institute a Clerk presented or such like the effect of which is That the Archbishop taking knowledge of such Delay directs his Letters under his authentical Seal to all and singular Clerks of his Province thereby commanding and giving authority to them and every of them to admonish the said Ordinary within nine days to do the Iustice required or otherwise to cite him to appear before him or his Official at a day in the said Letters prefixed and there to alledge the cause of his Delay and lastly to intimate to the said Ordinary that if he performs not the thing injoyned nor appears at the day assigned he himself without other Delay will proceed to perform the Iustice required And it seems to be called a Double Quarel because it is most commonly made against the Iudge and him at whose request Iustice is delayed Dower DOwer by the Law of the Realm is a Portion which a Widow hath of the Lands of her husband which by the Common Law is the third part but by her husbands assignment by his fathers assent at the Church-door she may have so much of his fathers Land as is so assigned and so of the husbands assignment of part of his own Land And Dower by the Custome of some places is to have half the husbands Land Dower is also a Writ that lies where a man is sole seised during the Coverture between him and his wife of Lands or Tenements in Fee-simple or Fee-tail where by possibility the issue between them may inherit if such a man die his wife shall recover the third part of all the Lands whereof the husband was sole seised any time during the Coverture by a Writ of Dower unde nihil habet though he died not seised and though he made Alienation thereof in his life But if a man before the Statute of Vses 27 H. 8. had Lands in which another man or other men were seised to his use always during the Coverture and he to whose use they were seised died before the said Statute his wife should not be endowed And if before the said Statute two men were seised of Lands to the use of one of them and he to whose use c. died before the said Statute his wife should not be endowed Also if a woman bring a Writ of Dower she should recover Dammages for the profit run after the death of her husband if he died seised thereof but if any Alienation or Estate were made during the Coverture so that the husband died not seised then though she should recover the Land yet no Dammages Also there is another Writ of Dower called a Writ of Right of Dower which lies where a woman hath recovered part of her Dower in one Town and the other part she is to recover But in divers cases a woman shall not have Dower as if the husband commit Treason for which he is attainted then his wife shall have no Dower And if she elope from her husband with another man in Adultery and be not reconciled to him of her own will without coercion of the Church she shall not be endowed See Lit. l. 1. cap. 4. And note where in the Civil Law Dower is that which the husband hath with his wife in Marriage to maintain the married estate by the Laws of this Realm the word Dower signifies such Portion as the wife after her husbands death shall have to live on Dozeine DOzeine See Deciners Drie Exchange DRie Exchange Anno 3 H. 7. cap. 5. Seems to be a subtile term invented to disguise Vsury in which something is pretended to pass on both sides whereas in truth nothing passes on the one side Drift of the Forest DRift of the Forrest is nothing else but an exact view or Examination taken once twice or oftner in a year as occasion shall require what Beasts there are in the Forrest to the end that the Common in the Forrest be not over-charged that the Beasts of Foreiners that have no Common there be not permitted and that Beasts not commonable may be put out See for this the Statute of 32 H. 8. cap. 35. and Manwoods Forrest Laws cap. 15. Right RIght is where one hath a thing that was taken from another wrongfully as by Disseisin Discontinuance or such like the Challenge or Claim of him that ought to have it is called Right If a woman release all her Right to him in Reversion her Dower is extinct for when the Right which is the foundation and principal is released by Consequence the Action which is but the means to recover is also released By Release of all Title to the Land all his Right is extinct So when a man hath Title either by Condition or by Alienation in Mortmain the Release of all his Right shall extinguish this Title Cok. lib. 8. fol. 151 153. Right of Entry RIght of Entrie is when one seised of Land in fee is thereof disseised now the Disseisee hath Right to enter into the Land and may so do when he will or else may have a Writ of Right against the Disseisor Duces tecum DUces tecum is a Writ out of the Chancery commanding a man to appear there and to bring with him some piece of Evidence or other thing that the Court would have a sight of Dum fuit infra Aetatem DUM fuit infra aetatem is a Writ that lies where an Infant aliens his Land in Fee-simple or for term of life when he comes to his full age he shall have this Writ or he may enter if he will but he must be of full age the day of his Writ brought Also if an Infant alien his Land and die his issue at his full age shall have this Writ or he may enter but the issue shall not have this Writ within his age Dum non fuit compos mentis DUM non fuit compos mentis is a Writ that lies when a man that is out of his wit viz. Mad or Lunatick aliens his Land in Fee-simple and dies then his Heir after his decease shall have this Writ but he himself shall not have it for that a man shall not be received to disable himself Also this Writ may be made in the Per Cui and Post Duplicat DUplicat is a Second Letters Patents granted by the Lord Chancellour in case where he hath granted the same before and therefore they are held void by Crompton in his Jur. of Courts fol. 215. Duresse DUresse is where one is kept in Prison or restrained from his Liberty contrary to the order of Law or threatned to be killed maimed or greatly beaten and if such person so in Prison or in fear of such Threatnings make any Specialty or Obligation by reason of such Imprisonment such a Deed is void in Law and in an Action brought upon such a Specialty he may say it was made by Duresse