Truth We need only to lay open the nature and antient Power of the States General with the manner of their Behaviour towards those Kings who abused the Power committed to them to make it evident that the French Monarchy is limited in its Constitution Under the first and second Race of the Kings of France there was no mention of any Assembly of the States General but only of the Franks that is to say the Nobles and Prelats who were used to meet together on the first of May in the open Field where they deliberated with the King concerning matters of Peace and War and took Resolutions of what was to be done all the Year after After the breaking up of this Assembly the Court of the Royal Palace otherwise called the Court of France composed of the Prelats and Great Barons that is to say the immediate Vassals of the Crown met together five or six times a Year to take care of the Execution of what had been resolv'd upon in the General Assembly to deliberate about publick Affairs that offer'd themselves and to determine as Judges the most important matters of private Persons Under the declination of the 2d Race the Governours of Cities and Provinces having made themselves Hereditary Lords of the places of their respective Governments under the Title of Counties and Dutchies cut themselves large Portions out of the Soveraign's Lands by which means the Court of France was no more frequented by the Lords except only when they were obliged to do Hommage and take the Oath of Fidelity or when an Enemy invaded France for then they presented themselves before the King to advise about the present necessity This Disorder continued until the Reign of Philip Augustus who having conquer'd Normandy and the Counties of Tourain Anjou Maine from John without Land King of England and the Country of Vermandois from the Earl of Flanders restored in some manner the Royal Authority and forced the Barons to frequent his Court and to be present at the Assemblies he called for the Affairs and Necessities of State. Nevertheless those Assemblies consisted only of the Prelats and Barons and this till the Reign of King John some Authors say of St. Lewis who being taken at the Battle of Poictiers and carried to England they were forc'd to raise a great Sum of Money for his Ransom and to this End they appli'd themselves to the Merchants and other Inhabitants of Cities who were then the richest Men of the Kingdom who agreed to pay the King's Ransom upon condition that they might be received into the Charges and Offices as well of Peace as of War and be allowed to have a Place and deliberative Voice in the States-General which was accordingly granted to them The Power and Prerogative of the States-General was such that the Kings of France could not make any new Levies of Mony without them Which continued so till the Reign of Charles VII as is acknowledged by Philip de Commines Lib. 6 c. 7. Neither could they make any new Ordinances nor repeal or suppress the old without the consent of the said States as is owned by Davila lib. 2 de li Guerri Civili Under the First and second Race of the French Kings the Ordinances were likewise made in the Assembly of the Prelats and Barons which constituted the Soveraign Court of France 't was there the Treaties of Peace were made between the Kings of France and Foreign Princes and Nations the Portions of the Children of France were there regulated there they treated of their Marriages and generally of all that concern'd the Affairs of State of the King's Houshold and the Children of France The Ordinances that were made in the said Assemblies in the Name of the Kings of France were conceived in these Terms Nos de consilio consensu Procerum nostrorum statuimus c. We with the Advice and Consent of our Lords do ordain And from hence is derived the Custome observed at this Day of verifying the Royal Edicts in the Parliament of Paris which in some sort represents the Assembly of the Prelats and Barons who composed as we have said the Soveraign Court of France In the Treasury of the French Kings at Chartres are found several Treaties between King Philip Augustus and Richard and John without Land Kings of England at the bottom of which are the Seals of the Prelats and Barons by whose Consent and Approbation the said Treaties had been made And Pope Innocent VI having sent to entreat St. Lewis that he would be pleas'd to permit him to retire into France to secure himself from the attempts of Frederick II. the said King answered the Popes Nuncio that he would communicate the Matter to his Parliament without whose Consent the Kings of France could do nothing of Importance This is related by Matthew Paris in the Life of Henry the III. King of England ad Annum 1244. We find also the manner how the States determined all Affairs respecting the Crown and Succession as for Example the Process which was between Philip de Valois and King Edward In this Assembly of the States saith the Chancellor de l' Hospital was Tried and Debated the most Noble Cause that ever was viz. To whom the Crown of France did belong after the Death of Charles the Fair to Philip of Valois his Cousin or to Edward King of England King Philip not presiding in that Assembly because he was not yet King and besides was a Party It appears clearly from the Power of the States General That the Power of the King of France is bounded by Law indeed this is a Truth whereof we cannot make the least doubt forasmuch as we find it acknowledged by Lewis XI the most unbridled Monarch that ever was See what he writes in the Rosary of War composed by him a little before his Death for the use of Charles VIII his Son. When Kings or Princes saith he have no respect to the Law they take from the People what they ought to leave them possest of and do not give them what they ought to have and in so doing they make their People Slaves and thereby lose the name of a King. For no body can be called a King but he that rules and has Dominion over Free-men This thing was so notorious even to Strangers themselves that Machiavel maintained that the Stability of the Monarchy of France was owing to this because the Kings there were obliged to a great number of Laws which proved the Security and Safe-guard of all their Subjects Lib. 1 di Discorsi c. 16. Messire Claudius de Seissel in his Treatise of the French Monarchy part 2. chap. 12. dedicated to Francis I. maintains upon this account That the Monarchy of France does partake of Aristocrasy which makes it both more perfect and durable Yea he asserts that it was also in part Democratical and expresly maintains that an absolute Monarchy is no other than true Tyranny when it is made use of
shall be present or before Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury if he can be there and those that he shall call to him and if he cannot be present Matters shall proceed notwithstanding without him so always that if one or more of the said Five and twenty Barons be concern'd in any such Complaint they shall not give Judgement thereupon but others chosen and sworn shall be put in their room to act in their stead by the residue of the said Five and twenty Barons If we have disseiz'd or esloin'd any Welshmen of Land Franchises or of other things without lawful judgment of their Peers in England or in Wales they shall forthwith be restored unto them and if Suits arise thereupon right shall be done them in the Marches by the Judgment of their Peers of English Tenements according to the Law of England and of Tenements in Wales according to the Law of Wales and Tenements in the Marches according to the Law of the Marches And in like manner shall the Welsh do to us and our Subjects As for all such things whereof any Welshmen have been disseiz'd or esloyn'd without Lawful Judgment of their Peers by King Henry our Father or by King Richard our Brother which we have in our hands or which any others have to whom we are bound to warrant the same we will have respit till the common Term be expir'd of all that crost themselves for the Holy Land those things excepted whereupon Suits were Commenced or Enquests taken by our Order before we took upon us the Cross and when we shall return from our Pilgrimage or if peradventure we forbear going we will presently cause full Right to be done therein according to the Laws of Wales and before the said Parties We will forthwith restore the Son of Lewellyn and all the Hostages of Wales and the Deeds that have been delivered to us for security of the Peace We will deal with Alexander King of Scotland as to the restoring him his Suitors and his Hostages his Franchises and Rights as we do with our other Barons of England unless it ought to be otherwise by vertue of the Charters which we have of his Father William late King of Scotland and this to be by the Judgment of his Peers in our Court. All these Customs and Franchises aforesaid which we have granted to be kept in our Kingdom so far forth as we are concerned towards our Men all Persons of the Kingdom Clerks and Lay must observe for their Parts towards their Men. And whereas we have granted all these things for God's sake and for the amendment of our Government and for the better compremising the discord arisen betwixt us and our Barons We willing that the same be firmly held and established for ever do make and grant to our Barons the scurity underwritten to wit That the Barons shall chuse Five and twenty Barons of the Realm whom they List who shall to their utmost Power keep and hold and cause to be kept the Peace and the Liberties which we have Granted and Confirmed by this our present Charter insomuch that if we or our Justice or our Bayliff or any of our Ministers act contrary to the same in any thing against any Persons or offend against any Article of this Peace and Security and such our Miscarriage be shown to four Barons of the said Five and twenty those four Barons shall come to us or to our Justice if we be out of the Realm and show us our Miscarriage and require us to amend the same without delay and if we do not amend it or if we be out of the Realm our Justice do not amend it within Forty days after the same is shown to us or to our Justice if we be out of the Realm then the said Four Barons shall report the same to the residue of the said Five and twenty Barons and then those Five and twenty Barons with the Commonalty of all England may distress us by all the ways they can to wit by seizing on our Castles Lands and Possessions and by what other means they can till it be amended as they shall adjudge saving our own Person the Person of our Queen and the Persons of our children and when it is amended they shall be subject to us as before And whoever of the Realm will may swear that for the Performance of these things he will obey the Commands of the said Five and twenty Barons and that together with them he will distress us to his Power And we give Publick and free leave to swear to all that will swear and will never hinder any one And for all Persons of the Realm that of their own accord will swear to the said Five and twenty Barons to distress us we will issue our Precept Commanding them to swear as aforesaid And if any of the said Five and twenty Barons die or go out of the Realm or be any way hindred from acting as aforesaid the residue of the said Five and twenty Barons shall chuse another in his room according to their discretion who shall swear as the others do And as to all things which the said Five and twenty Barons are to do if peradventure they be not all present or cannot agree or in case any of those that are Summon'd cannot or will not come whatever shall be determined by the greater number of them that are present shall be good and valid as if all had been present And the said five and twenty Barons shall swear that they will faithfully observe all the matters aforesaid and cause them to be observed to their power And we will not obtain of any one for our selves or for any other any thing whereby any of these Concessions or of these Liberties may be revoked or annihilated and if any such thing be obtained it shall be null and void nor shall ever be made use of by our selves or any other And all ill will disdain and rancour which has been betwixt Us and our Subjects of the Clergy and Laity since the said discord began we do fully release and pardon to them all And moreover all Trespasses that have been committed by occasion of the said discord since Easter in the sixteenth year of our Reign to the restoring of the Peace we have fully released to all Clerks and Lay-men and so far as in us lies we have fully pardoned them And further we have caused Letters Patents to be made to them in testimony hereof witnessed by Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury Henry Archbishop of Dublin and by the aforesaid Bishops and by Mr. Pandulphus upon this Security and these Concessions Whereby we will and strictly Command that the Church of England be free and enjoy all the said Liberties and Rights and Grants well and in Peace freely and quietly fully and entirely to them and their Heirs in all things in all places and for ever as aforesaid And we and our Barons have sworn that all things above written shall be kept on our parts in good Faith without ill design The Witnesses are the Persons above-named and many others This Charter was given at the Meadow called Running-Mead betwixt Windsor and Stanes the 15th day of June in the Seventeenth Year of our Reign JOHN by the Grace of God King of England to the Sheriff of Hampshire and to the Twelve that are chosen in that County to enquire of and put away the evil customs of Sheriffs and of their Ministers of Forests and Foresters of Warrens and Warrenners of Rivers and of guarding them Greeting We command you that without delay you seize into our Hand the Lands and Tenements and the Goods of all those of the County of Southampton that will not swear to the said Five and twenty Barons according to the form exprest in our Charter of Liberties or to such as they shall have thereunto appointed and if they will not swear presently at the end of Fifteen days after their Lands and Tenements and Chattels are seized into our Hands that ye sell all their Goods and keep safely the Money that ye shall receive for the same to be employed for the Relief of the Holy Land of Jerusalem and that yeâ— keep their Lands and Tenements in our Hands till they have sworn or that Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury and the Barons of our Kingdom have given Judgment thereupon In witness whereof we direct unto you these our Letters Patents Witness our Self At Odibaam the Seven and twentieth Day of June in the Seventeenth Year of our Reign FINIS Books lately Printed for Richard Chiswell THE Case of Allegiance in our present Circumstances considered in a Letter from a Minister in the City to a Minister in the Country 4o. A Breviate of the State of Scotland in its Government Supreme Courts Officers of State Inferiour Officers Offices and Inferiour Courts Districts Jurisdictions Burroughs Royal and Free Corporations Fol. Some Considerations touching Succession and Allegiance 4o. Reflections upon the late Great Revolution Written by a Lay-hand in the Country for the satisfaction of some Neighbours The History of the Desertion or an Account of all the Publick Affairs in England from the beginning of September 1688. to the Twelfth of February following With an Answer to a Piece called The Desertion discussed in a Letter to a Country Gentleman By a Person of Quality K. William and K. Lewis wherein is set forth the inevitable necessity these Nations lie under of submitting wholly to one or other of these Kings And that the matter in Controversie is not now between K. William and K. James but between K. William and K. Lewis of France for the Government of these Nations An Examination of the Scruples of those who refuse to take the Oath of Allegiance by a Divine of the Church of England A Dialogue betwixt two Friends a Jacobite and a Williamite occasioned by the late Revolution of Affairs and the Oath of Allegiance The Case of Oaths stated 4o. A Letter from a French Lawyer to an English Gentleman upon the Present Revolution 4o. The Advantages of the Present Settlement and the great danger of a Relapse The Interest of England in the Preservation of Ireland
Aristocrasy and Democrasy That the Kings can do nothing without the States General which are the very same things with our Parliaments That the Judges are the Peoples Officers That the words so much abused Such is our Pleasure signify only This is the Decree of our Courts of Judicature That they have no Right to levy any Impositions without the Consent of the States and many other Articles of that Nature CHAP. XV. That the Royalty of England never had any other form than the rest of the Northern and Western States I Have insisted the longer to shew how the Royalty was limited in France because the most part of our Modern Writers seem to have had in their aims to reduce our Monarchy to the Form of that Kingdom as supposing that it would have been a most glorious and advantageous Thing for our late Kings to transform them into so many Lewis's XIV that is to say to change us into Slaves and our Princes into Tyrants I shall say nothing of the Royalty in Scotland nor of the Bounds have been always set it by the Fundamental Laws of the State. There has been lately so much writ concerning this Matter to justify the Proceedings of the Convention of that Kingdom that it would be of no use to repeat it here And for the same reason I shall excuse my self of the trouble of treating what concerns the Limitation of the Royalty in England so largely as the Subject seems to deserve however what I shall say will be sufficient to make it appear that Royalty has been always on the same foot in that Kingdom as it is still in the other Western Kingdoms If we consider the most remote times that History gives us any account of we shall find that the Saxons as to the Power of their Kings followed the Example of the Ancient Germans whose Authority if we may believe Caesar and Tacitus was altogether limited and restrain'd We find in the Mirror of Justices cap. 1 2. that the first Saxons created their Kings that they made them take an Oath and that they put them in mind that they were liable to be judged as well as their meanest Subjects After that the Right of Succession was received in England yet it never deprived the English People of the Right of choosing their Kings This is evident from the Form of the Coronation published by Hugh Menard at the end of the Book of Sacraments of St. Gregory p. 278. which Form was as follows After they had made the King promise to preserve the Laws and the Rights of the Church we read these words Deinde alloquantur duo Episcopi populum in Ecclesia inquirentes eorum voluntatem si concordes fuerint agant gratias Deo Omnipotenti decantantes Te Deum laudamus Then let two Bishops speak to the People in the Church and demand their Will and Pleasure and in case they do agree let them give thanks to Almighty God singing We praise thee O Lord. And pag. 269 270 We pray thee most humbly to multiply the gifts of thy Blessings upon this thy Servant whom we chuse to be our King viz. of all Albion and of the Franks That the Kings of England are as well bound by their Oath as their Subjects appears by the confession of Henry III upon occasion of one of his Councellors of State pretending that he was not obliged to preserve the Liberties of the Nation as being extorted from him expressing himself in these terms recorded by Mat. Paris under the Year 1223. Omnes libertates illas juravimus omnes adstricti sumus ut quod juravimus observemus pag. 219. All these Liberties we have sworn to and we are all bound to observe and make good what we have sworn English Men were always so well perswaded of this Truth that in their deposing of Richard II they thought they had done enough to prove That the King had forsworn himself by the Oath he had taken having broken several of the Articles he had promised to his Subjects by Oath to observe as we may see in the Acts of his Deposal recorded in the Chronicle of Knighton James the First was convinced of this when he told the Parliament of 1609. the 21st of March That the King is bound by a double Oath tacitly as being King and so bound to protect his People and the Laws and expresly by his Coronation Oath so as every just King is bound to preserve that Paction made with his People by his Laws framing the Government thereunto and a King leaves to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant as soon as he leaves off to govern by Law. For what concerns the Laws we find that the Kings alone had not the Authority of making them King Edwin published his Laws Habito cum Sapientibus Senioribus Consilio with Advice of the Wise Men and Elders Ina King of the West Saxons did the like The Laws of Alfrede were made after the same manner Ex consilio prudentissimorum atque iis omnibus placuit edici eorum omnium Observationes As for the Government of the State we find that the Parliaments met and that their Meetings were fix'd once a Year by Alfred which was renewed by Edward II by two Laws Moreover the King was obliged to assist at them in case he was not sick and nothing but his Sickness could dispense with his Attendance That English-men never believed that the King of England could violate the Laws and overturn the State at his Pleasure without making himself thereby liable to punishment clearly appears from the Laws of St. Edward and by the manner of holding Parliaments confirmed by William the Conqueror and printed by the care of Dom. Luc. D'achery in the 12 To me of his Spicilege Sure it is that we clearly find these three things 1st That by the Agreement and Consent of King John upon the Complaints made against him by the whole State there were chosen 25 Barons with Power to represent to the King his unjust Oppression of the Nation and to oblige him by force of Arms to redress them which he himself published by his Letters Patents in the Year 1215. which piece was published by Dom. Luc. D'achery in the old Norman Tongue Spicil Tom. XII p. 583 584 585. as it is to be read in Matthew Paris ad An. 1215. Secondly We find that the opinion of the English Nation of old was That they could not only resist their Prince which abused his Authority but wholly deprive him of it by driving him and his wicked Councellors out of the Kingdom as we see in Matth. Paris in the Year 1233 where he relates that Henry III having call'd a Parliament upon the Complaints that came in from all Parts against his Ministers and the Strangers whose Service he made use of in the management of the Affairs of the Kingdom the Members of the said Parliament perceiving that they could not with safety meet together refused to come up
of Henry I. and partly were gathered out of the Old Laws of King Edward The Historian speaketh of these very Articles here Printed 5. 'T is observable That in these Articles there is no care taken for the Liberties of the Church The reason of which I conceive to be this The Church-men mostly then held with the King. And the Hand of the King was most heavy upon the Laity who framed these Articles without the Clergy 6. These Articles provide nothing concerning the Summons and holding of the Common Council of the Realm The reason whereof probably was this The Barons of that time had introduced a Practice of themselves to appoint the Time and Place of the Meeting of the Common Council of the Nation At the granting of these very Articles King John sent to the Barons Vt diem locum providerent congruum ad haec omnia prosequenda That they the Barons would appoint Time and Place for the concluding that matter In the time of Henry III. in whose Charter the Article de communi concilio habendo was omitted and in whose time the Barons begun again to War we find that the Lords came unto the King and said He must ordain and see for the Welfare of the Realm and then set the King a Day to meet at Oxenford and there to hold a Parliament So the English Chronicle However this grand Affair as also that of the Church were provided for in the Magna Charta of King John. Whereby it further appears That these Articles were but the Rudiments of that Charter after further enlarged upon further deliberation I COME now in the second place to say a few things concerning the Perfect and Compleat Magna Charta of King John here printed in French. 1. It was the Custom of old Times to make three several Copies of Publick Acts and Charters Of the Magna Charta we have one in Latin in Matthew Paris This in French or old Norman Language was kept in the Records of France and thence Published some years past by Luke Dachery in his Spicilegium That in English was sent into all Counties but as yet no Copy in this Language appeareth Thus also the Laws of Canute and the Provisions of Oxford to mention no more made in the time of Hen. III. were Publisht in three Languages 2. The very same Charter Publisht in Latin by Matthew Paris is also extant in the History of Rad. Niger almost word for word and also in two several Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library where also about twenty years past the very Original was to be seen 3. The Magna Charta of King John is not extant in any Record in the Tower or elsewhere as several affirm nor the Magna Charta of H. III. but only by Inspeximus in the time of Edw. I. A thing much to be wondered at Rudburne writeth of the Charters of Hen. I. Sublatae sunt omnes variis fallaciis exceptis tribus All but three were embezel'd 4. The Magna Charta of King John and that of Hen. III. are said to be the very same where as they do exceedingly differ as Mr. Selden in his Epinomis hath partly observed and may further appear to any that will compare them Matthew Paris pag. 323. The Tenor of these Charters is fully set down above where our History treateth of King John So as the Charters of King John and Hen. III. are not found to differ in any thing These words are not the words of Matthew Paris but of Roger VVendover whom Matthew Paris often transcribeth very hastily in whose History the Charter entred as King John's is exactly the same with that Charter of Henry the Third 5. As to that remarkable Article Et ad habendum commune concilium Regni And to the holding the Commune Council of the Realm c. I shall briefly say 1. That it hath been left out of all the Charters after King John's time but is found in several Copys very Authentick and particularly in the French Copy now here printed 2. That this Article doth not as some have written give the Original to our Parliaments for such Parliaments or communia concilia were held before this time King Richard the First after his return from the Holy VVar summon'd a Common Council or Parliament at London of the Clergy and Laity where he demanded Council about his making War upon the King of France Earl Roger answered for the whole Parliament The Earls Barons and Knights will aid you O King with their Swords the Archbishops Bishops Citizens Burgesses and Ecclesiastick Persons will aid you with Money Abbates Priors and such others will aid you with their Prayers So the English Chron. And to omit others an Instance of such a Parliament is found in the Annales of Burton pag. 263. compared with page 265. King John call'd to Northampton all the Earls and Barons of England it followeth Pandulfus spake at the same time to the Earls Barons and Knights O that you c. The Clergy indeed are not here mentioned but were certainly present because the occasion of that Council was to restore Peace to the Church and Kingdom as Matthew Paris or as the Annalist of Waverly wordeth it betwixt the King and the Archbishop 3. I conceive the chief end of adding this Article was to prevent the taking of Aids commonly called Talliage or Escuage by surprize or by the consent only of a few which King John had lately done For the summoning of the Commune concilium here is plainly limited to the Sessing of Aids and Escuage But the Mirror giveth another account of the meeting of Parliaments worthy of Consideration page 225. where the Author refers us to higher times There is yet one Article more in this Charter of King John which deserveth our regards the rather because it being lately alledged in the Pastoral Letter hath much scandalized some with its suprising Novelty The words are Barones cum communia totius terrae gravabunt nos The Barons with the Community of the Land shall aggrieve or distress us c. But why should this sound uncouth to any who have with Reflection perused the Histories of this or the Neighbouring Kingdoms wherein the same Practice is frequently found Andrew King of Hungary allowed the same Liberty to his People as may be seen at large in the Decrees of the Kings of Hungary in the end of Bonfinius Like Examples occur in the French Annales and in the Annales of Waverly in the time of Hen. the Third pag. 217. If any will yet suspect that Matthew Paris in this Point hath not writ fairly or that the Articles produced by the Bishop of Salisbury are not to be relied on and some such dissatisfied People there are then let them if they can be believed desirous of satisfaction repair to the Red Book of Exchequer where fol. 234. they may find the very same VVords and Liberty granted as before Which Record cannot well be suspected of being corrupted because it
Debt Nor shall the Pledges be distrain'd upon whilst the Principal Debtor is able to pay the Debt But if the Principal Debtor have not wherewith to pay the Debt the Pledges shall answer for it And if they will they shall have the Lands and Rents of the Debtor till they have received the Debt which they payed for him if the Principal Debtor cannot show that he is quit against his Pledges If any Persons have borrowed Money of Jews more or less and die before they have paid the Debt the Debt shall not grow whilst the Heir is under age and if such Debt become due to us we will take no more than the Goods exprest in the Deed. And if any die and owe a Debt to the Jews his Wife shall have her Dower and shall be charged with no part of the Debt and if the Children of the deceased Person be within age their reasonable Estovers shall be provided them according to the value of the Estate which their Ancestor had and the Debt shall be paid out of the Residue saving the Services due to the Lord In like manner shall it be done in Cases of Debts owing to other persons that are not Jews We will impose no Escuage nor Aids within our Realm but by the Common Council of our Realm except for our Ransom and for the making our eldest Son a Knight and for marrying out eldest Daughter once And for these purposes there shall but a reasonable Aid be required In like manner shall it be done within the City of London and moreover the City of London shall have all her ancient Customs and Liberties by Land and Water We Will moreover and Grant that all other Cities and Boroughs and Towns and Ports have in all respects their Liberties and free Customs And as for coming to the Common Council of the Kingdom and for assessing Aids except in the three cases aforesaid And as for the assessing of Escuage we will cause to be summoned the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Earls and the Greater Barons each in particular by our Letters and moreover we will cause to be summon'd in general by our Sheriffs and Bayliffs all that hold of us in Chief at a certain day to wit Forty days after at least and at a certain place and in our said Letters we will express the cause of the Summons And when Summons shall be so made business shall go on at the day assign'd by the Advice of such as are present though all that are summoned do not appear We will not allow for the future that any take Aid of his free men but only to ransom his Person to make his eldest Son a Knight and to marry his eldest Daughter once and for these purposes there shall but a reasonable Aid be given None shall be distrained to do greater Service for a Knight's Fee or for any other Frank-Tenement then what is due by his Tenure Common Pleas shall not follow our Court but shall â—e held in a certain place Recognizances of Novel Disseisin Mordancester and Darrein presentment shall be taken no where but in their proper Counties and in this manner We or our Chief Justice if our Selves shall be out of the Realm will send two Justices through every County four times a year who with four Knights of every County to be chosen by the County shall take the said Assizes in the Country at a day when the County Court is held and in a certain place and if the said Assizes cannot be taken upon that day so many Knights and free Tenants of them that were present in the County Court that day shall stay as may give a good Judgment according as the concern may be greater or less A Free man shall not be amerced for a little offence but according to the manner of his offence and for a great offence he shall be amerced according to the greatness of his offence saving his Contenement And so a Merchant saving his Merchandise And a Villain in like manner shall be amerced saving his Wainage if he fall into our Mercy and none of the said Amercements shall be affeered but by Oaths of good and lawful Men of the Visinage An Earl and a Baron shall not be amerced but by their Peers and according to the manner of their Offence No Clerk shall be amerced but according to his Lay-fee and in like manner as others aforesaid and not according to the quantity of his Church Living No Ville nor any man shall be distrain'd to make Bridges over Rivers but where they anciently have and of Right ought to make them No Sheriffs Constables Coroners nor other our Bayliffs shall hold the Pleas of our Crown All Counties Hundreds Wapentakes and Tythings shall be at the ancient Farms without being rais'd except our own demesne Mannors If any that holds of us a Lay-fee dye and our Sheriffs or other our Bayliffs show our Letters Patents of Summons for a Debt which the deceased owed to us our Sheriff or Bayliff may well Attach and Inventory the Goods of the Dead which shall be found upon his Lay-fee to the value of the Debt which the deceased owed to us by the view of Lawful Men yet so as nothing be removed till such time as the Debt which shall be found to be due to us be paid and the residue shall go to the Executors to perform the Testament of the dead and if nothing be owing to us all his Goods shall go to the use of the Dead saving to his Wife and Children their reasonable Parts If any Free-man dye intestate his Goods shall be divided by the hands of his near Kindred and Friends by the view of Holy Church saving to every one their Debts which the Dead owed them None of our Constables nor other our Bayliffs shall take the Corn nor other the Goods of any Person without paying for the same presently unless he have time given him by consent of the Vendor Our Constables shall distrain no man who holds by Knight Service to give Money for Castle-garde if he has perform'd it himself in proper Person or by another good Man if he could not perform it himself for some reasonable Cause And if we lead him or send him into the Army he shall be discharg'd of Castle-garde for so long time as he shall be with us in the Army Our Sheriffs our Bayliffs nor other shall not take the Horses nor Carts of any Free-man to make carriage but by leave of such Free-man Neither our selves nor our Bayliffs shall take another Man's Wood for our Castles or other occasions but by his leave whose Wood it is We will hold the Lands of such as shall be convict of Felony but a year and a day and then we will restore them to the Lords of the Fees. All Weares shall from this time forward be wholly taken away in Thames and Medeway and throughout all England except upon the Sea-Coast The Writ called Precipe henceforth shall be made
to none out of any Tenement whereby a Free-man may lose his Court. One Measure of Wine shall be used throughout our Kingdom and one Measure of Ale and one Measure of Corn to wit the London Quart. And there shall be one breadth of dyed Cloth Russets and Haubergets to wit two Ells within the Lists And concerning Weights it shall be in like manner as of Measures Nothing shall be given or taken henceforth for a Writ of Enquisition of Life or Member but it shall be granted freely and shall not be denyed If any hold of us by Fee-farm or by Socage and hold likewise Land of others by Knight-Service we will not have the Custody of the Heir nor of the Land which is of the Fee of another by reason of such Fee-farm Socage or Burgage unless such Fee-farm owe Knight-Service We will not have the Wardship of the Heir nor of the Land of any Person which he holds of another by Knight-Service by reason of any Petit Serjeanty by which he holds of us as by the Service of giving us Arrows Knives or such like No Bayliff for the time to come shall put any Man to his Law upon his bare word without good Witnesses produced No free man shall be taken nor imprisoned nor disseised nor outlawed nor exil'd nor destroy'd in any manner nor we will not pass upon him nor condemn him but by the Lawful Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land. We will sell to none we will deny nor delay to none Right and Justice All Merchants may with safety and security go out of England and come into England and stay and pass through England by Land and Water to buy and sell without any Evil Tolls paying the Ancient and Rightful Duties except in time of War and then they that are of the Country with whom we are at War and are found here at the begining of the War shall be attach't but without injury to their Bodies or Goods till it be known to us or to our Chief-Justice how our Merchants are entreated which are found in our Enemies Country and if ours be safe there they shall be safe in our Land. It shall be Lawful for all men in time to come to go out of our Kingdom and to return safely and securely by Land and by Water saving their Faith due to us except it be in time of War for some short time for the profit of the Realm But out of this Article are excepted Persons in Prison Persons out-law'd according to the Law of the Land and Persons of the Country with whom we are at War concerning Merchants what is abovesaid shall hold as to them If any hold of any Escheat as of the Honour of Wallingford Nottingham Boloin Lancaster or of other Escheats which are in our hand and are Baronies and dye his Heirs shall owe us no other relief nor do us any other Service then was due to the Baron of such Barony when it was in his hand and we will hold the same in like manner as the Baron held it Men that dwell out of the Forest shall not appear before our Justices of the Forest by common Summons unless they be in suit themselves or Bail for others who are attach't for the Forest We will not make Sheriffs Justices nor Bayliffs but of such as know the Law of the Land and will keep it All that have founded Abbies whereof they have Charters from Kings of England or ancient Tenure shall have the custody thereof whilst they are vacant as they ought to have All the Forests that have been Afforested in our time shall instantly be Disafforested in like manner be it of Rivers that in our time and by us have been put in defence All evil Customs of Forests and Warens and of Foresters and Warenners of Sheriffs and their Ministers of Rivers and of Guarding them shall forthwith be enquired of in every County by twelve Knights sworn of the same County who must be chosen by good Men of the same County And within forty days after they have made such Inquisition the said evil Customs shall be utterly abolished by those same Knights so as never to be revived provided they be first made known to us or to our Chief Justice if we be out of the Realm We will forthwith restore all the Hostages and all the Deeds which have been delivered to us by the English for surety of the Peace or of faithful Service We will wholly put out of Bayliffwicks the Kindred of Gerard de Aties so that from henceforth they shall not have a Bayliffwick in England and Engeland de Cygoigni Peron Guyon Andrew de Chanceas Gyon de Cygoigni Geffry de Martigni and his Brothers Philip Mark and his Brothers Geffray his Nephew and all their Train And presently after the Peace shall be reform'd we will put out of the Realm all Knights Foreigners Slingers Serjeants and Soldiers who came with Horse or Arms to the nusance of the Realm If any be disseiz'd or esloyn'd by us without Lawful Judgement of his Peers of Lands Chattels Franchises or of any Right we will forthwith restore the same and if any difference arise upon it it shall be determined by the Judgement of the Five and twenty Barons of whom mention is made hereafter in the security for the Peace As to all things whereof any have been disseiz'd or esloyn'd without Lawful Judgement of their Peers by King Henry our Father or by King Richard our Brother which we have in our hands or which any other has to whom we are bound to warrant the same we will have respit to the common Term of them that are crost for the Holy Land except such things for which Suits were commenced or Enquest taken by our Order before we took upon us the Cross And if we return from the Pilgrimage or perhaps forbear going we will do full Right therein The same Respit we will have and the same Right we will do in manner aforesaid as to the Disafforesting of Forests or letting them remain Forests which the Kings Henry our Father or Richard our Brother have Afforested and and as to Custodies of Lands which are of the Fee of other Persons which we have held till now by reason of other Men's Fees who held of us by Knight-Service and of Abbies that are founded in other Men's Fees in which the Lords of the Fees claim a Right And when we shall be returned from our Pilgrimage or if we forbear going we will immediately do full Right to all that shall complain None shall be taken nor imprisoned upon the Appeal of a Woman for the death of any other than her Husband All the Fines and all the Amercements that are imposed for our use wrongfully and contrary to the Law of the Land shall be Pardoned or else they shall be determined by the Judgment of the Five and twenty Barons of whom hereafter or by the Judgement of the greater number of them that