King or his Council hath ordained and provided their deliverance upon record and if the goods or chattels of any singular person or persons of the said Forest and Hundreds being not guilty of the said Robberies happen to be put in Execution by reason of any such Action and Judgment that then the said person and persons so being not guilty may have their special Action of Debt or Trespass upon the case of the goods and chattels so upon Execution against the said Trespassers to recover their damages as well for the value of the same goods and chattels so put in Execution as for the damages and costs which happen to be had by reason of such Actions of Debt and they shall have such Processes in the said Actions of Debt or Trespass as is to be had in the said Actions of Debt for the said persons so endamaged or spoiled Of Huy and Cry FElony is so odious in the eye of Law that it punisheth the Authour thereof with death and will in no manner connive at the impunity such heinous Malefactors and lest such violators of the peace should escape her Justice she commands and requires the aid and assistance of all persons to apprehend and secure the Offender and in case he be not taken in the Fact to give by degrees a general and universal Alarm throughout the whole Kingdom for all people to take notice of the Offender so that they may pursue and follow him in order to prevent his flight And this grand Alarm is called in Law A Huy and Cry Huer in French from whence the Law-Latin word Hutesium is derived signifies to hoot or shout in English to Cry And the two words Huy and Cry have but one signification and as my Lord Cook terms it the one is but an expression of the other and sometimes one is used without the other as in Westm 1. cap. 9. where all men are commanded to be ready at the Cry of the Country And the Law does not require that this Huy and Cry be made onely with a vocal sound but it may well answer the ends of the Law if it be performed by an Instrument as a Horn a Trumpet c. as the Mirour and Briton have it avec Huy Cry de Corne de Bouche 2 Inst 173. viz. with Huy and Cry of Horn and Mouth This way of pursuing Felons by Huy and Cry is part of the ancient Common Law of this Realm as it appears by those Authours who write of the Laws of England in use long before the Conquest yet some have thought that Huy and Cry had its original from the foresaid Statute of Westm 1. but that Statute it self proves the contrary for it finds fault that good suit that is fresh suit was not duly made Who may raise the Huy and Cry and for what Cause THere are two sorts of Huy and Cry The one by Common Law the other by Statute The Huy and Cry by Common Law may be levied by any person who finds just cause to doe it neither when a Felony is committed is it necessary for him to resort to the Constable of the Town where it was done and acquaint him with the cause describing the person c. and require him to begin it but that either the party grieved or one that is eye Witness to the fact may raise the Huy and Cry themselves and the people of the Town are bound to follow it when it is once so raised and if the party does not so he incurs the penalty of the Law For if a man be present when one is either robbed or murthered 3 Inst 117. 8 Ed. 2. Coron 395. and does not endeavour to arrest the Offender he is punishable by Fine and imprisonment And so was the Law of old Siquis aliquem spoliatum viderit sontem per acelamationem insequatur and it is likewise to be found amongst the Laws of Carnutus that if a man met a Robber in the way 3 Inst 116. and would suffer him to pass without raising the Huy and Cry upon him he was to pay the uttermost penny the Felons life should be valued at It is not necessary that the Huy and Cry be made by the Constable the party grieved or him that saw the fact committed nor that it be raised in the Town where the Felony was done but that in all cases where every man has authority by a warrant in Law to arrest an Offender as a man attainted or indicted of Treason or Felony may be apprehended by any person whatsoever if an attempt be made to arrest any such person and he disobeys it and flies the Huy and Cry may be levied upon him where ever he be If a Felony be done and A. suspects John a-Styles to be the person that committed it the suspicion being personal none can attach him besides A. in this case if A. endeavours to apprehend him and he makes his escape 2 H. 7. so 15. I conceive A. may raise the Cry after him because he had power to arrest him Note the Spectators are not to be Judges of the degree or quality of the offence for it one kills another by chance-medly or se defendendo and flies for it the Town shall be amerced for the escape and by the same reason they may raise the Huy and Cry upon him because the Inhabitants being bound to apprehend him the Law allows them the means to effect it and one of them is by Huy and Cry Every Justice of the Peace by virtue of his Commission may cause Huy and Cry Dal. J. P. cap. 28. fresh suit and search to be made upon any Murther Robbery or Theft committed The Statute of the 3 d. of Ed. 1. entitled Officium Coronatoris does ordain That upon all Homicides Burglaries men slain or put in great danger the Huy and Cry shall be levied though generally a Felony ought to be the ground and foundation of the Huy and Cry yet in some cases it may be done though there be no Felony 3 Inst ib. supra as if a man be dangerously wounded or assaulted and attempted to be robbed in both these cases though in the one there was but a probability of a Felony and in the other onely a will discovered by the attempt to commit it So it seems if a rape be attempted upon a woman she may justifie the levying of the Huy and Cry though she was not ravished indeed The Huy and Cry is appointed to be raised in some particular cases by Acts of Parliament as the Statute of Winchester doth authorise the Watch to arrest night walkers and if they disobey the arrest and fly the Watchmen may make Huy and Cry Stat. Winton cap. 3. 4 H. 7. so 2.18 and such person shall be pursued from Town to Town and from Country to Country in the same manner with the Felon It is likewise ordained by a Statute made An. 21 Ed. 1. That if a Forester Parker
THE Traveller's Guide AND The Country's Safety BEING A Declaration of the Laws of England against High-way-men or Robbers upon the Road What is necessary and requisite to be done by such persons as are robbed in order to the recovering their damages Against whom they are to bring their Action and the manner how it ought to be brought Illustrated with variety of Law Cases Historical Remarks Customs Usages Antiquities and Authentick Authorities By J. M. LONDON Printed by the Assigns of Richard and Edward Atkins Esquires for Langley Curtis on Ludgate Hill and Thomas Simons at the Prince's Arms in Ludgate Street 1683. TO THE READER TO travel the Road in safety is none of the least advantages we receive by the Laws of England for by them it is that we are protected from the violence of those discontented designing profligate Wretches the Robbers upon the High-way fellows by their own Heraldry intitling themselves Gentlemen of the Road and glory in their invention of the most Gentile Trade of Ruining Mankind when alas if you look into their Pedigree you will find them so far from men of Honour or Vertue that nothing can be made of them but a pack of idle dissolute Rascals the best of them but Cadets most commonly the spawn of broken Tradesmen and worst of Debauchees But we design not so much by this Treatise to give the Character of these Disturbers of the Quiet and Repose of Mankind as to set forth what good and wholsome Laws have been formerly made by our discerning Ancestours against them and how the honest Traveller may obtain a Legal Recompence for the Losses he sustains by such Cattel The main scope and intent of this Discourse being to shew That whereas by the Statute of Winton made in the Thirteenth year of King Edward the First If divers persons had committed a Robbery the Hundred should have been amerced if they had not apprehended all the Felons and how that by the Statute of the Seven and Twentieth of Eliz. Chap. 13. a new Law is made in these points following 1. None shall have an Action upon the said Statute 13 Ed. 1. except that the party robbed doth give notice as soon as he can of the said Felony to some of the Inhabitants of some Town Village or Hamlet next to the place where the Robbery was done 2. If they in their pursuit apprehend any of the Offenders That shall excuse them although that they do not apprehend them all To which is added for the benefit of Clerks and Attorneys variety of Precedents from the Declaration to the Execution in all Cases relating to the prosecuting of the Hundred where the party is robbed that nothing may be wanting to compleat a Work so profitable both to the Attorney and his Client J. M. THE TABLE RObbery what it is fol. 1. Where and how the party is to have restitution of the Goods whereof he was robbed upon an Appeal or Indictment fol. 6. Of the Action upon the Statute of Winton against the Hundred fol. 14. Where and how notice is to be given of the Robbery fol. 25. At what time the Robbery must be committed to charge the Hundred by an Action upon the Statute of Winton fol. 32. In what place a Robbery must be committed to charge the Hundred fol. 42. How one or more against whom Execution is had may have contribution from the rest of the Inhabitants of the same Hundred fol. 48. Of Hue and Cry fol. 66. Who may raise the Hue and Cry and for what cause fol. 68. How and in what manner the fresh suit and pursuit is to be made upon a Hue and Cry levied fol. 74. Who are bound to pursue upon the Hue and Cry levied fol. 81. The Statute of Westminster 1. Cap. 9. Anno 3 Ed. 1. of Robberies fol. 86. The Statute of Winton Anno 13 Ed. 1. of Robberies fol. 88. The Proclamation or Writ directed to the Sheriff Anno 21 Ed. 1. to proclaim the Statute of Winton fol. 91. The Statute of 28 Ed. 3. Cap. 11. fol. 94. The Statute of 27 Eliz. Cap. 11. Of Hue and Cry fol. 97. The Form of an original Writ upon the Statute of Hue and Cry fol. 111. The Retorn of the same Writ fol. 115. A Declaration upon the same fol. 116. Aliter in Divisis Hundredorum fol. 117. General Issue pleaded with challenge to the Hundred fol. 118. Barr that no Hue and Cry was made fol. 119. Non inform ' to a Declaration upon the Statute with Judgment after a Writ of Inquiry fol. 120. Judgment upon the Statute after Verdict fol. 122. Venire Facias fol. 123. Distringas against the Jury with the Retorn fol. ibid. Writ of Inquiry fol. 124. The Oath to be taken before a Justice of Peace by the person or persons who are robbed whereupon the party robbed may ground his Action according to the Statute of 27 Eliz. fol. 126. THE Traveller's Guide AND The Country's Safety What is Robbery RObbery is the felonious taking of any thing from the person of another against his will whereby the person is put in fear though the thing taken be but to the value of a peny for which the Offender shall be hanged Yet in some cases it is not necessary that the thing whereof the party is robbed be actually taken from his person for if the Robbers obtain it by force and menaces though the owner himself delivers it to them yet this tantamounts to a taking from the person for the Law respects the original cause viz. the threats and menaces which necessitated the Propriator to quit his goods for the preservation of his life and person As if one command another presently to deliver him his purse or otherwise he will kill him which he does accordingly this is Robbery for the danger he confessed himself to be in by reason of those threatnings was the cause and motive of that delivery So if two or more take a man and by force compell him to take an Oath to bring them such a sum of money and if he does not they threaten to kill him Though he brings it in pursuance of his Oath and delivers it to them and they take it yet this is Robbery notwithstanding that by this inforced Oath he was not bound in conscience to bring them the money for he took it for fear of death and so not voluntarily If Felons come in the night to rob me in my house and I fearing lest they should enter the house and rob me and to prevent their entry I throw money or plate c. out at the window to them 44 Ed. 3.14 which they take and depart this is Robbery for in construction of Law it is the same as if they had taken it from my person If Felons take goods openly in a place where the Owner is present and thereby put him in fear or take his horse or drive his cattel out of his pasture or fold he standing by and looking on them
or Warrener shall find any Malefactors wandring within their respective precincts with an intent to commit any trespass or damage there 3 Inst 117. the said Officers may levy the Huy and Cry upon them and if the Offenders thereupon will not render themselves to the said Officers but fly or make resistance if any of them be slain by the forementioned Officers or by any other coming to their assistance within their bounds or limits and for the killing of such Offenders no person shall be answerable to the Law As the Law gives authority to every man to raise the Country when there is a just and legal cause for it so it does inflict a punishment upon such as shall alarm their Country without sufficient grounds to doe it for if any man shall upon a feigned cause raise a Huy and Cry upon another 3 Inst 118. 29 Ed. 3. Fitz Tresp 252. he may be punished by Fine and imprisonment and likewise may be bound to his good behaviour as a disturber of the publick peace And to the end that Malefactors should find no shelter or protection under the wings of any great Men or chief Officers of any Country and to engage them as well as other Inhabitants to promote the common Cry it is ordained by the Statute of Westm 1. Cap. 9. That if default be found in the Lord of a Franchise the King shall seise the Franchise into his own hands and if default be found in his Bailiff he shall suffer one years imprisonment and afterwards make Fine to the King and if he hath not wherewith he shall be imprisoned for two years And if the Sheriff Coroner or any Bailiff within such Franchise or without for reward or intreaty or any affinity conceal consent or procure to conceal the Felonies done within their Liberties or otherwise will not attach or arrest such Felons whereas they may or otherwise will not doe their Offices for favour that they bear to such Offenders and be thereof convicted they shall be imprisoned for one year and if they have not whereof to make Fine they shall have three years imprisonment 2 Inst 173 My Lord Cook in his Comment upon this Statute says that the King for such default shall retain the Franchise to himself for ever as forfeited And Anno 30 H. 3. before the making of this Statute W. de Haverhull the Kings Treasurer was commanded to seise the City of London into the King's hand for that the Citizens thereof did not levy Huy and Cry for the death of Mr. Guido de Arterio and others slain there 3 Inst 118. as the Laws and Customs of the Realm did require How and in what manner the fresh suit and pursuit is to be made upon a Huy and Cry levied THE Statutes of the 13 of Ed. 1. Cap. 2. 28 Ed. 3. Cap. 11. do command in general that Huy and Cry be made after Felons from Town to Town and from Country to Country But it seems that at Common Law the method of pursuing Felons was That the party robbed or otherwise grieved or some person for him though that be not necessary as I have shewed before should repair to the Constable of the Town and give him notice of the Felony c. and require him to raise the Huy and Cry and the Constable ought to raise the power of the Town and if the Offender be not found there to carry on the Huy and Cry to the next Constable who was to doe the like in his Town and so from Constable to Constable untill the Offender be taken and this is to be done as well in the night as by day Cook 3 Inst 116. 2 Ed. 4.8 9. It seems no Town is bound to pursue any further than to the next Constable Co. li. 7. so 7. Dier 370. for such a pursuit is a good excuse for them if the Town be endicted at the King's Suit for the escape of a Felon And every Town in this respect is a distinct Body and ought to aid and assist their Constable when he requires them in the execution of his Office as the whole County is bound to obey the Sheriff's command when he hath occasion to make use of the Posse Comitatus And if the Inhabitants of any Town were obliged to prosecute a Felon further than to the next Constable then by the same reason they might be required to go on from one end of the Kingdom to the other which is both inconvenient and unreasonable And this seems to be the Law before the Conquest Mirour cap. 1. for the Mirour of Justice treating of the Ordinances of the ancient Kings saith it was Ordained That every one of the age of fourteen years and upwards should follow criminal Offenders from Village to Village at the Huy and Cry it is said elsewhere that Pervetusta Anglorum Lege sancitum est ut siquis damnum ex Furto passus 3 Inst 172. aut qui ipsum spoliatum viderit sontem per acclamationem insequatur Constabularius ejus Villa cujus opem implorat auxilia ciere furemque perquirexe debet quod si furem illic non deprenderit in proximam transmigrare Constabulariam ad ferendas suppetias iterum invocare It is established by the ancient Law of England that if any person be robbed either he himself or one that sees the Robbery done may follow the Offender with a Huy and Cry and the Constable of that Village whose help he requires ought to call in aid and make enquiry after the Felon and if he cannot find him there he ought to repair to the next Village and require the Constable of that place to bring in further aid to pursue the Felon If a Huy and Cry be levied the Officer of the Town where the Felony c. is done as also the Officers of other Towns whither the Huy and Cry is brought ought to give notice to all the Towns round about them respectively and not to one next Town onely Dal. J. P. cap. 28. to the end that the Cry may spread it self far and wide into all Countries So that it may be in a manner impossible for the Felon to escape and in such cases it is requisite to give notice in writing to the pursuers of the things stoln c. and of the colours and marks thereof and likewise to give a description of the person of the Felon his Horse and Apparel c. and if it can be known to shew which way he is gone After notice given St. 3 Fd. 1. de Offic. Cor. Braclon li. 3.10.121 the pursuit from place to place must be made immediately with all the haste and expedition that may be and that likewise carefully and industriously and the pursuers if possible are to find out the Felon's footsteps and to tract him all the way he went and to use all other devices and means which may seem most conducing and effectual for the apprehending of the Felon
since our Law of England directs the pursuers to tract the Felon I cannot pass over in silence what the learned Sir John Davice mentions in his Preface to his Reports That amongst the manifold absurdities of the Brehon's Laws formerly in use amongst the Irish they had one custom that deserves imitation which was That if any cattel were stoln and the Owner followed the tract wherein saith the Authour the Irish are incredible cunning insomuch as they can find the same by the bruising of a grass in the Summer-time if the person into whose land the tract is brought cannot make it off into some other land he is to answer the stealth to the Owner and this Law is ratified there as both usefull and necessary for that Kingdom though the rest of the Brehon's Laws be abolished Sir Nicholas Hide delivered in his Charge at Cambridge Assises Anno 1629. Dal. J. P. cap. 28. That a Huy and Cry must be made and pursued with Horsemen and Footmen and that not onely a private search must be made in every Town but that they must raise the Country as they go and all still to follow the Huy and Cry as against a common Enemy Also if a Huy and Cry be brought into a Town the Officers thereof ought forthwith to search all suspected Houses and places within their limits And any person who follows the Huy and Cry whether he be an Officer or no may arrest all such persons as in the search or pursuit shall be found suspicious and thereupon he that is so suspected ought to be carried before some Justice of the Peace of the Country where he is taken to be examined where he was at the time of the Felony committed It is provided by the Statute of the 27 El. That no Huy and Cry made by the Country or Inhabitants of any Hundred shall be allowed for a lawfull Huy and Cry or pursuit unless the same be done both with Horsemen and Footmen Quere Whether this Statute extends to a pursuit at Common Law or at the suit of the King 27 Eliz. cap. 13. or onely to a pursuit to be made at the suit of the party robbed who is to recover against the Hundred upon the Statute of Winchester Who are bound to pursue upon the Huy and Cry levied WHen the Huy and Cry is raised every Inhabitant whose assistance the Law requires ought to follow it though he receives no command or notice thereof from any Officer who hath authority to demand their aid in this case for if a Felony c. be committed and a Villor hears the Huy and Cry thereupon levied he is not to expect command or notice from any person but ought immediately to follow the Cry for the Law which enjoins this duty upon him gives him a tacit command to doe it and the Huy and Cry it self being once heard is a sufficient notice And this Law is as ancient as we are able to trace it by the light of Letters for many years before the Conquest it was held for Law Canuti Leges that if any man heard the Huy and Cry and did not pursue he was to be punished as a Contemner of the King's Laws The Statute of Westm 1. being but in affirmance of the Common Law commands all persons to be in readiness to arrest Felons when ever the Cry of the Country summons their attendance West 1. cap. 3. and by another Statute made the next year after it is commanded That all persons shall follow the Huy and Cry and whoever does not and be thereof convicted shall be attached to answer before the Justices of Gaol delivery and for such offence shall be fined and imprisoned Offic. Cor. 4 Ed. 1. Bracton li. 3. fo 118. 3 Ed. 3. Coron 333. And Bracton who writ before any Statute made concerning Huy and Cry saith Bracton li. 3. fo 118. That all Knights and others under the age of fifteen years ought to take an Oath that they will not receive any outlawed persons Murtherers Robbers or such as have committed Burglary and if at any time they should hear the Huy and Cry raised they should immediately follow it with their whole Family and herewith agrees Briton fo 15 â—â—9 but The Mirour of Justice Mirour cap. 1. who was the first Authour that writ of the Laws of England relates it to be a Law established by the ancient Kings of this Realm That such as be but of fourteen years of age are bound to pursue Felons upon the Huy and Cry Notwithstanding what is said before be general and its literal sense comprehends all persons yet there are some that may claim an exemption from this service or duty As if a man be sick and not able to travel the Law will allow him a privilege in respect of his infirmity as well in this as in other cases for if a Pracipe quod Reddat be brought against John a-Stiles returnable at such a day the Tenant may be essoined de malâ— lecto that is he may be excused of his appearance and thereby prevent his default because he is sick a bed and cannot travel So if the Sheriff arrests a man that is sick and returns Languidus this is a good return and the Sheriff shall not be amerced for the Law constrains no man to expose his life to imminent danger unless it be in the defence of the Commonweale wherein the publick safety ought to be dearer to every man than his life A man may be exempted in regard of any other corporal infirmity whereby he is visibly disabled to effect that which the Law expects to be done for Lex non cogit ad impossibilia The pursuit ought to be made by men that are endued with strength and agility of Body so that the pursuer may be in a capacity to follow the Felon either by running or riding c. with equal speed to that of the Malefactor whose fear and the sense of his guilt adds vigour to his flight and puts him upon all desperate enterprises in this extremity and to oblige a blind or lame person c. to the performance of this Office were to no end but should be in it self vanus inutilis labor and from the same reason I infer that one over-grown with years may be excused in respect of his age as a person superannuated is freed from serving upon Juries As for age I conceive there is no certain term of years limited when any person shall either begin or cease to pursue upon the Huy and Cry but in this case the abilities of the body must be the standing rule as that of the mind in committing of Felonies for though the Law computes fourteen years to be the age of discretion yet if one under that age kills another and it can be discovered by any circumstance that he had understanding to discern betwixt good and the evil he had done the Law will adjudge it Murther for in this case
scias universis singulis de Ballivae tua ex parte nostra scire facias quod exnunc conditiones poenas in dicto Statuto contentas de caetero volumus praecipimus firmiter teneri inviolabiliter observari Et istud mandatum ita celeriter diligenter exequaris quod ad te tua tanquam ad mandatorum nostrorum contemptorem graviter capere non debeamus Teste meipso apud Westm ’ xviij die Novembris Eodem modo mandatum est singulis Vic ’ per totam Angliam per diversa Mandata sub tenore istius Literae praecedentis de verbo ad verbum Teste at supra The Statute of 28 Ed. 3. Cap. 11. BEcause that great Clamour and grievous Complaints be made as well by Aliens as by Denisens the Merchants and others passing through the Realm of England with their Merchandizes and other goods be slain and robbed and namely now more than they were wont whereof remedy hath not been made to the Complainants our Sovereign Lord the King considering the profit which may come to the said Realm by coming and abiding of Merchants Aliens in the same Realm and the damage and mischief which to them and other is done daily by such Manslaughters and Robberies and willing to provide for the surety and indemnity of Merchants and others aforesaid Hath ordained and established by the assent of all his Parliament to the intent that Merchants Aliens shall have the greater will and courage to come into the said Realm of England and that remedy from henceforth be speedily made to such Merchants and others robbed according to the form contained in the Statute late made at Winchester that is to say that solemn Cry be made in all Counties Hundreds and Markets Fairs and all other places where solemn assembly of the people shall be so that none by ignorance shall excuse him that every Country from henceforth be so kept that immediately after Felonies and Robberies done fresh suit be made from Town to Town and from Country to Country and Inquests if need be shall be also taken in the Towns by him which it Sovereign of the Town and after in Hundreds Franchises and in the County and sometime in two three or four Counties in case when Felonies shall be done in the Marches of the Counties so that the Offenders may be attainted and if the Country doth not answer of such manner of Offenders the pein shall be such that every Country that is to say the people dwelling in the Country shall answer of the Robberies done and of the damages so that all the Hundred where the Robbery shall be done with the Franchises which be within the precinct of the same Hundred shall answer of the Robbery done and if the Robbery be done in the Devises of two Hundreds both Hundreds shall answer together with the Franchises and longer term shall not the Country have after the Robbery or Felony done than forty days within which them behooveth to make gree of the Robbery or of the Offence or that they answer of the Bodies of the Offenders The Statute of 27 Eliz. Chap. 11. Of Huy and Cry WHereas by two ancient Statutes the one made in the Parliament holden at Winchester in the thirteenth year of the reign of King Edward the First and the other in the eight and twentieth year of the reign of King Edward the Third it was for the better suppressing of Robberies and Felonies amongst other things enacted to this effect That if the Country do not answer for the bodies of such Malefactours that then the pein should be such that is to wit That the people dwelling in the Country shall be answerable for the Robberies done and the damages so that the whole Hundred where the Robbery shall be done with the Franchises which are within the precinct of the same Hundred shall answer the Robberies done And if the Robbery chance to be done in the division of two Hundreds that then both the Hundreds together with the Franchises within the precinct of them shall be answerable as in the said two several Statutes it doth more at large appear Forasmuch as the said parts of the said several Statutes being of late days more commonly put in execution than heretofore they have been are found by experience to be very hard and extreme to many of the Queens Majesties good Subjects because by the same Statutes they do remain charged with the penalties therein contained notwithstanding their unability to satisfie the same and though they doe as much as in reason might be required in pursuing such Malefactours and Offenders whereby both large scope of negligence is given to the Inhabitants and Resiants in other Hundreds and Counties not to prosecute the Huy and Cry made followed and brought unto them by reason they are not chargeable for any portion of the goods robbed nor with any damages in that behalf given and also great incouragement and imboldening is likewise given unto the Offenders to commit daily more Felonies and Robberies as seeing it in manner impossible for the Inhabitants and Resiants of the said Hundred and Franchises wherein the Robbery is committed to apprehend them without the aid of the other Hundreds and Counties adjoining and for that also that the party robbed having remedy by the aforesaid Statutes for the recovering of his goods robbed and damages against the Inhabitants and resiants of the Hundred wherein the Robbery was committed is many times negligent and careless in prosecuting and pursuing the said Malefactours and Offenders Our Sovereign Lady the Queens Majesty not willing therefore that her people should be impoverished by any such pein or penalty which should be hard or grievous to them and have special regard to abate the power of Felons and to repress Felonies doth for remedy hereof with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and of the Commons of this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same Parliament establish and enact That the Inhabitants and Resiants of every or any such Hundred Hundred with the Franchises within the precinct thereof wherein negligence fault or defect of pursuit and fresh suit Fresh suit Huy and Cry after Huy and Cry made shall happen to be from and after forty days next after the end of this present Session of Parliament Moiety shall answer and satisfie the one moiety or half of all and every such sum and sums of money and damages as shall by force or virtue of the said Statutes or either of them be recovered or had against or of the said Hundred with the Franchises therein in which any Robbery or Felony shall at any time hereafter be committed or done And that the same moiety shall and may be recovered by Action of Debt Bill Plaint or Information in any of the Queens Majesties Courts of Record at Westminster by and in the name of the Clerk of the Peace for the time being Clerk of the