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
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
paying Relief or making fine The Guardian of an Heirs Land shall take the reasonable Issues Customs and Services without destruction or waste of his Men or Goods And if such Guardian make destruction and waste he shall lose the Wardship and the Guardian shall keep in repair the Houses Parks Ponds Pools Mills and other Appurtenances to the Estate out of the Profits of the Land. And shall take care that the Heirs be married without disparagement and by the Advice of their near Kindred That a Widow shall give nothing for her Dower or Marriage after the death of her Husband but shall be suffered to dwell in her Husband's House Ninety days after his death within which time her Dower shall be assigned her and she shall immediately have her Marriage and her Inheritance The King nor his Bayliff shall not seize any Land for debt if the Debtors Goods be sufficient nor shall the Debtors Sureties be distrain'd upon when the Debtor himself is able to pay the Debt But if the Debtor fail of payment the Sureties if they will may have the Debtors Lands till the Debt be fully satisfied unless the Principal Debtor can shew that he is quit against his Sureties The King shall not allow any Baron to take Aide of his free Tenants but for the Redemption of his Person for the making his Eldest Son a Knight and towards the Marriage of his Eldest Daughter once and hereunto he shall have but a Reasonable Aid That none shall do more Service for a Knights Fee than is due for the same That Common Pleas shall not follow the King's Court but shall be holden in some certain Place And that Recognitions be taken in their proper Counties and after this manner viz. That the King shall send two Justices four times a year who together with four Knights of the same Shire chosen by the Shire shall take Assizes of Novel disseisin Mordancester and Darrein presentment nor shall any be summoned hereunto but the Jurors and the two Parties That a Freeman shall be amerced for a small fault after the manner of the fault and for a great fault according to the Greatness of the fault saving his Contenement A Villain also shall be amerced saving his Wainage and in like manner a Merchant saving his Merchandise by the Oath of good Men of the Vicinage That a Clerk shall be amerced according to his Lay-see in manner aforesaid and not according to his Ecclesiastical Benefice That no Town be amerced for not making Bridges nor Banks but where they have been of old time and of Right ought to be That the measure of Wine of Corn and the breadth of Cloth and the like be rectified and so of Weights That Assizes of Novel Disseizin and Mordancester be abbreviated and so of other Assizes That no Sheriff shall entermeddle with Pleas of the Crown without the Coroners and that Counties and Hundreds shall be at the ancient Farms without any Encrease except the King 's own Demesn Mannors If any Tenant of the King die the Sheriff or other the Kings Bayliff may seize and enroll his Goods and Chattels by the view of lawful Men but yet so as that nothing thereof be taken away till it be fully known whether he owe any clear debt to the King and then the Kings Debt shall be paid and the Residue shall remain to the Executors to perform the Testament of the Dead And if nothing be owing to the King all the Goods shall go to the use of the dead If any Free-man dye Intestate his Goods shall be distributed by his nearest Kindred and Friends and by the view of the Church Widows shall not be distrain'd to marry if they are minded to live unmarried provided they find Sureties that they will not marry without the King's Assent if they hold of the King or without the Consent of their Lords of whom they hold No Constable or other Bayliff shall take any Man's Corn or other Chattels but he shall forthwith pay for the same unless he may have respit by consent of the Seller That no Constable shall distrain any Knight to give Money for the keeping of his Castle if he himself will do it in his own proper Person or by another sufficient man if he may not do it himself for a reasonable Cause And if the King lead him in his Army he shall be discharged of Castleward for the time No Sheriff or Bayliff of the King nor any other person shall take the Horses or Carts of any Free-man to make carriage without his leave The King nor his Bayliffs shall not take any Man's Wood for Castles or other Occasions but by License of him whose the Wood is That the King do not hold the Lands of them that be convicted of Felony longer then a year and a day after which they shall be delivered to the Lord of the Fee. That all Wears from henceforth be utterly put down in Thames and Medway and throughout all England That the Writ called Precipe be not from henceforth granted to any person of any Freehold whereby a Freeman may lose his Court. If any be disseiz'd or delay'd by the King without Judgment of Lands Liberties or other his Right he shall forthwith have restitution and if any Dispute arise upon it it shall be determin'd by the Judgment of the Five and twenty Barons And such as have been disseiz'd by the King's Father or his Brother shall have Right immediately by the Judgment of their Peers in the King's Court. And if the King must have the Term of others that had taken upon them the Cross for the Holy Land the Archbishop and Bishops shall give Judgment therein at a certain day to be prefixt without Appeal That nothing be given for a Writ of Inquisition of Life or Member but that it be freely granted without price and be not denyed If any hold of the King by Fee-farm by Socage or Burgage and of any other by Knight's Service the King shall not have the Custody of the Heir nor of his Lands that are holden of the Fee of another by reason of such Burgage Socage or Fee-farm Nor ought the King to have the Custody of such Burgage Socage or Fee-farm and no Freeman shall lose his Degree of Knighthood by reason of petty Serjeanties as when a Man holds Lands rendring therefore a Knife an Arrow or the like No Bayliff shall put any man to his Law upon his own bare saying without faithful Witnesses That the Body of a Free-man be not taken nor imprisoned nor that he be disseiz'd nor Out-law'd nor Exil'd nor any way destroyed Nor that the King pass upon him or imprison him by force but only by the Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land. That Right be not sold nor delay'd nor denyed That Merchants have liberty to go and come safely to buy and sell without any manner of Evil Tolls by the Old and Lawful Customs That no Escuage or Aid be
to the utmost of his Power with them And the King shall give publick and free Liberty for any man to swear that will and shall never pohibit any to swear And all those of the Nation who will voluntarily of their own accord swear to the Five and twenty Barons to distress the King with them the King himself shall issue his Praecept Commanding them to swear as aforesaid Item If any of the said Five and Twenty Barons dye or go out of the Realm or be any other way hindred from performing these things the residue of the Five and twenty shall chuse another whom they think best in his place who shall be sworn as the rest are And in all matters referred to those Five and twenty Barons if they happen to be all present and differ amongst themselves or if any of them being thereto appointed will not or cannot come what the major part of them shall agree upon and enjoyn shall be valid as if all the Five and twenty had agreed in it And the said Five and twenty shall swear that they will faithfully observe and keep the Articles aforesaid and with all theit might cause them to be observed Moreover the King shall give them the Securities of the Archbishop and Bishops and Master Pandulphus that he will not obtain any thing from the Pope whereby any of these Articles of Agreement may be revoked or diminished And if any such thing be obtain'd that it be reputed void and of none effect nor shall ever be made use of THE GREAT CHARTER OF KING JOHN A True Copy from the Original French. JOHN by the Grace of God King of England to the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Earls Barons Justices Foresters Sheriffs Prevosts Ministers and all his Bayliffs and his Lieges Greeting Know ye that We by the Grace of God and for the saving of our Soul and the Souls of all our Ancestors and of our Heirs and for the Honour of God and the safety of Holy Church and for the amendment of our Government By the Advice of Our Honoured Fathers Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of All England and Cardinal of Rome Henry Archbishop of Dublin William Bishop of London Peter Bishop of Winchester Jocelin Bishop of Bath Hugh Bishop of Lincoln Walter Bishop of Worcester William Bishop of Chester Benedict Bishop of Rochester and Master Pandulph Sub-deacon of our Lord the Apostle and of our Friend and Brother Anner Master of the Order of Knights Templers in England And by the Advice of our Barons William Earl Marshal Earl of Pembroke William Earl of Salisbury William Earl of Warren William Earl of Arundel Alan of Galloway Constable of Scotland Warin Fitz-Gerard Peter Fitz-Herbert Hubert de Burgh Steward of Poictou Hugh Nevill Matthew Fitz-Herbert Thomas Basset Alan Basset Phillip d' Aubenie Robert de Ropelee John Marshall and John Fitz-Hugh and by the Advice of other our Lieges Have in the first place granted to God and confirmed by this our present Charter for us and for our Heirs for ever That the Churches of England shall be free and shall enjoy their Rights and Franchises entirely and fully And this our Purpose is that it be observed as may appear by our having granted of our meer and free Will that Elections should be free which is reputed to be a very great and very necessary Priviledgeâ— of the Churches of England before the difference arose betwixt Us and our Barons and by our having confirm'd the same by our Charter and by our having procur'd it moreover to be confirmed by our Lord the Apostle Innocent the third Which Priviledge We will maintain And our Will is that the same be faithfully maintain'd by our Heirs for ever We have also granted to all the Free-men of our Kingdom for us and our Heirs for ever all the Liberties hereafter mentioned to have and to hold to them and their Heirs of Us and our Heirs If any of our Earls our Barons or others that hold of us in Chief by Knight-Service die and at the time of his death his Heir be of full age and Relief be due he shall have his Inheritance by the ancient Relief to wit the Heir or Heirs of an Earl for an entire Earldom C pounds the Heir or Heirs of a Baron for an entire Barony C Marks the Heir or Heirs of a Knight for a whole Knights Fee C Shillings at most and where less is due less shall be paid according to the ancient Customs of the several Tenures If the Heirs of any such be within Age and in Ward they shall have their Inheritance when they come of Age without Relief and without Fine The Guardians of the Land of such Heirs being within age shall take nothing out of the Land of the Heirs but only the reasonable Profits reasonable Customs and reasonable Services and that without making destruction or wast of Men or Goods And if we shall have committed the Custody of the Land of any such Heir to a Sheriff or any other who is to account to us for the Profits of the Land and that such Committee make destruction or wast We will take of him amends and the Land shall be committed to two lawful and good Men of that Fee who shall account for the Profits to us or to such as we shall appoint And if we shall give or sell to any Person the custody of the Lands of any such Heir and such Donee or Vendee make destruction or wast he shall lose the Custody and it shall be committed to two Lawful Sage and Good Men who shall account to Us for the same as aforesaid And the Guardian whilst he has the Custody of the Heirs Land shall maintain the Houses Ponds Parks Pools Mills and other Appurtenances to the Land out of the Profits of the Land it self and shall restore to the Heir when he shall be of full age his Land well stockt with Ploughs Barns and the like as it was when he receiv'd it and as the Profits will reasonably afford Heirs shall be married without disparagement insomuch that before the Marriage be contracted the Persons that are next of Kin to the Heir shall be made acquainted with it A Widow after the death of her Husband shall presently and without oppression have her Marriage and her Inheritance nor shall give any thing for her Marriage nor for her Dower nor for her Inheritance which she and her Husband were seiz'd of the day of her Husband's death and she shall remain in her Husband's House Forty Days after his death within which time her Dower shall be assign'd her No Widow shall be compelled to marry if she be desirous to live single provided she give Security not to marry without our leave if she hold of us or without the Lord's leave of whom she holds if she hold of any other We nor our Bayliffs will not seize the Lands or Rents of a Debtor for any Debt so long as his Goods are sufficient to pay the
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