his Heir and adopted me to Rule over this Nation In his Charter dated 1088. of the Liberties of St. Martins the Great in the Manuscript thereof are these words In Example of Moses who built the Tabernable and of Solomon who built the Temple Ego Guilielmus Dei dispositione consanguinitatis Haereditate Anglorum Basileus c. The Charter of Hen. 1. his Son to this Abby in honour of Edward my Kinsman who adopted my Father and his Children to be Heirs to this Kingdom c. In another Charter of Hen. 1. in the Book of Ely he calls himself the Son of King William the Great who by Hereditary Right succeeded King Edward It is true as to his pretence of Title by the Will of the Confessor Mathew Paris objecteth That the Devise was void being without the consent of the Barons To which may be answered That probably the Law might be so in Hen. 3. Time when Paris wrote and was so taken to be in the Statute of Carlisle and in the Case of King John. But at the time of Duke William's Invasion the Law was taken to be That a Kingdom might be transferred by Will. So was that of Sixtus Rufus and Asia came to the Romans by the Will of King Attalus the words by Annaeus Florus are Populus Romanus Bonorum meorum HAERES esto Bithinia came to the Romans by the last Will of their King Nicomedes which is remembred by Vtropius together with that of Libia Cicero in his Oration tells us That the Kingdom of Alexandria by the last Will of their King was devolved to Rome And Prasutagus Rex Icenorum in England upon his Death-bed gave his Kingdom to the Emperor Nero. As to Examples in this Point at Home This King William the first by his Will gave England to his younger Son William Rufus King Stephen claimed by the Will of Henry the first King Henry the eight had Power by Act of Parliament to order the Succession of the Crown as he pleased by Will. And the Lords of the Council in Queen Mary's Time wrote to her That the Lady Iane's Title to the Crown was by the Will and Letters of Edward the sixth As the case of Hen. 8. was by Act of Parliament so Duke William after he had conquered Harold was by the general consent of the Barons and People of England accepted for their King and so his Title by Will confirmed And he both claimed and governned the Kingdom as an Heir and Successor confirmed their Antient Laws and ruled according to them This appears by Chronica Chronicorum speaking of William the Bastard King of England and Duke of Normandy he saith That whereas as St. Edward had no Heir of England William having conquered Harold the Vsurper obtained the Crown under this Condition That he should inviolably observe those Laws given by the said Edward It is testified likewise by many of our Historians That the Ancient Laws of England were confirmed by Duke VVilliam Jornalensis saith That out of the Merchen-Lage West-Saxon-Lage and Dane-Lage the Confessor composed the Common Law which remains to this day Malmesbury who lived in Duke William's Time saith That the Kings were sworn to observe the Laws of the Confessor so called saith he because he observed them most religiously But to make this Point clear out of Ingulphus he saith in the end of his Chronicle I Ingulphus brought with me from London into my Monastery Crowland the Laws of the most Righteous King Edward which my Lord King William did command by his Proclamation to be Authentick and Perpetual and to be observed throughout the whole Kingdom of England upon pain of most heinous punishment The Lieger-Book of the Abby of Waltham commends Duke William for restoring the Laws of the English-men out of the Customs of their Country Radburn follows this Opinion and these Laws of Edward the Confessor are the same in part which are continued in our GREAT CHARTER of LIBERTIES A Manuscript entituled De Gestis Anglorum saith That at a Parliament at London 4. W. 1. the Lawyers also present that the King might hear their Laws he established Saint Edward's Laws they being formerly used in King Edgar's Time. There is also mention of the twelve Men out of every County to deliver truly the Estate of their Laws The same is remembred by Selden's History of Tythes and Titles of Honour and in a Manuscript Chronicle bound with the Book of Ely in Cotton's Library One of the worthy Gentlemen from whom I differ in Opinion was pleased to say That if William the Conqueror did not introduce the Laws of Normandy into England yet he conceives our Laws to be brought out of France hither in the time of some other of our Kings who had large Territories in France and brought in their Laws hither else he wonders how our Laws should be in French. Sir I shall endeavour to satisfy his Wonder therein by and by but first with your leave I shall offer to you some Probabilities out of the History That the Laws of England were by some of those Kings carried into France rather than the Laws of France brought hither This is expresly affirmed by Paulus Jovius who writes That when the English Kings reigned in a great part of France they taught the French their Laws Sabellicus a Venetian Historian writes That the Normans in their Manners and Customs and Laws followed the English Polydore Virgil contradicting himself in another place than before cited relates That in our King Hen. 6. Time the Duke of Bedford called together the Chief Men of all the Cities in Normandy and delivered in his Oration to them the many Benefits that the English afforded them especially in that the English gave to them their Customs and Laws By the Chronicle of Eltham H. 5. sent to Cane in Normandy not only Divines but English Common Lawyers by the agreement at Troys So there is much more probability that the Laws of England were introduced into France and Normandy than that the Laws of Normandy or any other part of France were introduced into England If the Normans had been Conquerors of England as they were not but their Duke was only a Conqueror of Harold and received as Hereditary King of England yet is it not probable they would have changed our Laws and have introduced theirs because they did not use to do so upon other Conquests The Normans conquered the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey yet altered not their Laws which in their local Customs are like unto ours The like they did in Sicily Naples and Apulia where they were Conquerors yet the Ancient Laws of those Countries were continued I hope Mr. Speaker I have by this time given some satisfaction to the Worthy Gentlemen who differed from me that the Laws of England were not imposed upon us by the Conqueror nor brought over hither either out of Normandy or any other part of France but are our Ancient Native Laws I must now come to indeavour
as the Rest in the consequent of a general consecration of Tithes to the Church in England For neither were the Laws formerly made abolish'd by that Conquest altho' by Law of i Vid. Quintilian lib. 5. Institution cap. 10. Athe. Gentil de â—â—re belli lib. 3. cap. 5. Hottoman illust Quaest 5. War regularly all Rights and Laws of the Place conquered be wholly subject to the Conqueror's Will. For in this of the Norman not only the Conqueeor's Will was not declared that the former Laws should be abrogated and until such Declaration Laws remain in force by the Opinion of k Calvin's Can. fol. 17. b some in all Conquests of Christians against Christians but also the ancient and former Laws of the Kingdom were confirmed by him For in his fourth Year by the Advice of his Baronage he summoned to London omnes Nobiles sapientes Lege sua eruditos ut eorum Leges Consuetudines audiret as the words are of the Book of Litchfield and afterward confirmed them as is further also related by l in H. 2. p. 347. Roger of Hoveden Those Lege suâ eruditi were common Lawyers of that Time as Godrie and Alfwin were then also who are spoken of in the Book of m MS lib. 2. p. 33. 30. in Biol Cotton Abingdom to be Legibus Patriae optime instituti quibus tanta secularium facundia praeteritorum memoria eventorum inerat ut caeteri circumquaque facilè eorum sententiam ratam fuisse quem edicerent approbarent And these two and divers other Common Lawyers then lived in the Abby of Abingdon Quorum collationi nemo sapiens says the Author refragabatur quibus rem Ecclesia publicam tuentibus ejus oblocutores elingues fiebant You must know that in those days every Monk here in England that would might remain so secular that he might get Mony for himself purchase or receive by descent to his own use And therefore it was fit enough for practising Lawyers to live in Monasteries But what had those praeteritorum memoria eventorum that is Reports and adjudged Cases of the Saxon Times availed in their skill if the former Laws had not continued More obvious Testimonies to this purpose are had out of u Videsis Cok. Praefar ad Relat. 3. 8. si placet Not. ad fortesc p. 7 8. Gervase of Tilbury Ingulphus and others and we here omit them But also indeed it was not to be reputed a Conquest or an Acquisition by right of War which might have destroyed the former Laws so much as a violent recovering of the Kingdom out of the hands of Rebels which withstood the Duke's pretence of a lawful Title claimed by the Confessor's adoption or designation of him for his Successor his nearness of Blood on the Mother's side not a little also aiding such a pretence to a Crown For the Confessor's Mother Emme was Sister to Richard the Second Duke of Normandy to whom William was Grand-child and Heir But these were only specious Titles and perhaps examined curiously neither of them were at that time enough And howsoever his Conscience so moved him at his death that he profest he had got * Historia Cadonensis England only by Blood and the Sword yet also by express Declaration in some of his Patents he before pretended his Right from the Confessor's Gift p Chart. Eccl s Westm in inspex part 7. 1. Ed. 4. m. 26. vid. Camb. pag. 104. In ore gladii saith he Regnum adeptus sum Anglorum devicto Haraldo Rege cum suis complicibus qui mihi Regnum cum providentia Dei destinatum beneficio concessionis Domini cognati mei gloriosi Regis Edwardi concessum conati sunt auferre c. And the Stories commonly tells us That the Confessor Successionem Angliae ei dedit And although Harold also pretended a Devise of the Kingdom to himself made by the Confessor in extremis and urged also that the Custom of England had been from the time of Augustine's coming hither q MS. sive Autor Guil. Pictav sive quis alius sit in Bibl. Cotton Donationem quam in ultimo fine quis fecerit eam ratam haberi and that the former Gift to the Norman and his own Oath for establishment of it were not of force because they were made r Malmesb. lib. 5. de Gest Regum p. 56. a. aliâ— in Will. 1. videsis Mat. Paris in Hen. 3. p. 1257. Edit Londin absque generali Senatus Populi conventu edicto yet for his own part he was driven to put all upon the Fortune of the Field and so lost it And the Norman with his Sword and pretence of the sufficiency and precedence of the Gift made to himself got the Crown as if he had been a lawful Successor to the Confessor and not an Vniversal Conqueror All this is plain out of the Stories and justified infallibly by that of the Titles of many common Persons made to their Possessions in England after his Kingdom setled upon the possession of themselves or their Ancestors in time of the Saxon Kings especially of the Confessor But this was always in case where they by whose possession the Title was made had not incurr'd Forfeiture by Rebellion Many such Titles are clearly allowed in the Book of Dooms-day written in the Conqueror's Time One especially is noted by the most learned Camden in his Norfolk That as I remember is touched in Dooms-day also but enough others are dispersed there which agree with it How could such Titles have held if he had made an absolute Conquest of England wherein an Vniversal Acquisition of all had been to the Conqueror and no Title could have been derived but only from or under him More might be brought to clear this but we add here only the judicious Assertion of a great s Shard in cas in itin temp Ed. 3. fol. 143. b. Lawyer of Edward the Third's Time Le Conqueror saith he ne vient pas pur ouster eux que avoient droiturell possession mes de ouster eux que de leur tort avoâ—ent occupie ascun terre en disheritance del Roy son Corone It was spoken upon an Objection made in a Quo Warranto against the Abbot of Peterborough touching a Charter of King Edgar which the King's Councel would have had void because by the Conquest all Franchises they said were devolved to the Crown But by the way for that of his nearness of Blood which could not but aid his other pretended Title let it not seem meerly vain in regard of his being a Bastard There was good pretence for the help of that defect also For although the Laws of this Kingdom and I think of all other Civil States at this day exclude Bastards without a subsequent Legitimation from Inheritance yet by the old Laws used by his Ancestors and Country-men that is by those of Norway a Prince's Son gotten
capiatur nisi SERVITIUM SUUM LIBERUM quod de Jure nobis facere debent facere tenentur prout STATUTUM est eis illis à nobis datum et concessum JURE HAEREDITARIO in perpetuum PER COMMUNE CONCILIUM TOTIUS REGNI NOSTRI praedicti The Second Branch is 2. Hoc quoque praecipimus UT OMNES Id. c. 63. HABEANT ET TENEANT LEGES EDWARDI REGIS in omnibus rebus adauctis hiis quas constituimus AD UTILITATEM ANGLORUM Sir I think by these two Branches you may plainly see King William when he came in was so far from forcibly taking away the Lands and Possessions of the English and sharing them among his Normans that he doth if possible more strongly establish their Estates to them by confirming the good and ancient Laws of Edward the Confessor which were their best security of all they enjoyed before his entrance and not only so but by freeing them from all unjust Taxes and Exactions excepting only their free Service which of right was owing to him and which they were to do as it was agreed on by themselves and granted by him to them by hereditary Right for ever and that by the Common Council of the whole Kingdom and this was done too wholly for the sake and benefit of the English I shall trouble you Sir with one more very memorable Record as late as to the 26. Hen. 3. which shews That from before the coming in of this Norman Conqueror down to that Time the English had a Property continued to them and so then this MIGHTY MAN of VICTORY did not govern them as an entire and absolute Conqueror what-ever our late Writers have been pleased to publish to the World. The words of the Record are Pro Jacobo Archamgere Communia de Term. Sanct. Mich. 35. fin An. 36. incipien H. 3. Rot. pr. penes Remem dom Thes Jus Anglorum ab Antiq. p. 112 113. Serjantia tempore Edwardi Confes Rex Baronibus Mandamus vobis quod occasione arrentationis Serjantiarum assessae per Robertum Passelewe non distringas Jacobum de Archamgere per 2. Marc. dimid de Tenemento quod de nobis tenet per Serjantiam in Archamgere in Comitatu Southampton c. per Chartam Beati Regis Edwardi Antecessoribus ipsius Jacobi super hoc confectam sed ipsum Jacobum de praedictis 2. Marcis dimid ' quietum esse faciatis in perpetuum quia Chartam praefati beati Edwardi confirmavimus ipsam volumus inviolabiliter observari Breve est in forulo Marescalli Mandatum est Vicecomiti South-hampton comparat die Jovis die 15. Jan. Anno Domini c. The English of it is this For Jacob Archamgere The King to the Barons We command you that by the occasion of the Rent of Serjanties assessed by Robert Passelewe you shall not distrain Jacob of Archamgere by two Marks and an half for the Tenement which he holds of us by Serjantie in Archamgere in the County of Southampton and granted by the Charter of the Blessed King Edward to the Ancestors of this Jacob but he the said Jacob shall for ever be freed from the aforesaid two Marks and an half because we have confirmed the Charter of the aforementioned St. Edward and we will have it to be inviolably observed I shall make no Remarks upon this Charter because it is obvious to every intelligent Reader the thing I drive at is to prove That the English were not violently dispossessed of their Properties which they quietly held and enjoyed in the Time of Edward the Confessor but that they still enjoyed them as before notwithstanding all the vain pretences to the contrary And now Sir I shall close up this third Point with a remarkable Passage or two out of Ordericus Vitalis a famous Historian who lived and writ in the latter end of the Reign of H. 1. and beginning of K. Stephen and for that reason must needs be admitted next to a Testis Ocularis for a Testimony beyond all exceptions His words are Omnia disponente Deo in spatio Orderic Vitalis Eccles Hist lib. 3. fol. 503. trium mensium per Angliam pacata sunt cunctique Praesules Regnique Proceres cum Willielmo concordiam fecerunt ac ut Diadema Regium sumeret sicut Mos Anglici Principatus exigit oraverunt Hoc summoperè flagitabant Normanni qui pro fasce Regali nanciscendo suo Principi subierunt ingens discrimen maris Praelii Hoc etiam divino Nutu subacti optabant Indigenae Regni qui nisi coronato Regi servire hactenus erant soliti The next Paragraph but one to this goes on thus Denique Anno ab incarnatione Domini MLXVII Indictione V. in die Natalis Domini Angli Lundoniae ad Ordinandum Regem convenerunt Normannorum Turmae circa Monasterium in armis equis nè quid doli seditionis oriretur praesidio dispositae fuerunt Adelredus itaque Archiepiscopus in Basilica Sancti Petri Apostolorum Principis quae Westmonasterium nuncupatur ubi Edwardus Rex venerabiliter humatus quiescit in praesentia Praesulum Abbatum Procerumque totius Regni Albionis Gulielmum Ducem Normannorum in Regem Anglorum consecravit Diadema Regium capiti ejus imposuit Gulielmus Rex multa Lundoniae Id. lib. IV. fol. 505 506. postquam coronatus est prudentèr justè clementerque disposuit quaedam ad ipsius Civitatis commoda vel dignitatem alia quae genti proficerent Universae Normulla quibus consuleretur Ecclesiis terrae Jura quaecumque dictavit optimis rationibus sanxit Judicium Rectum nulla persona nequicquam ab eo postulavit Neminem nisi quem non damnare iniquum foret damnavit Suis quoque Primatibus digna se gravitate praecepit diligenter aequitatem suasit Esse jugiter in Oculis habendum aeternum Regem cujus vicerint praesidio Nimium opprimi victos non opportere victoribus professione Christianâ pares nè quos justè subegerint injuriis ad rebellandum cogerent Seditiones interdixit caedem omnem rapinam fraenans ut Populos armis ita legibus Arma. Tributis cunctis rebus ad Regium fiscum reddendis modum qui non gravaret imposuit Latrociniis Invasionibus Maleficiis locum omnem intra suos terminos denegavit Portus quaelibet itinera Negotiatoribus patere nullam injuriam fieri jussit Sic omnino proba ejus in regnando initia fuere incrementa probitatum ad utilitatem Subditorum liquidò fulsere que in bonis perseverantia laudabilisque finis evidentibus signis confirmavere The sence of which is King William having sworn inviolably to observe the Laws of Edward the Confessor as I have already acquainted you and being crowned King the whole English Nation in three months time quietly submitted to him which the Historian observes to be by Divine Providence And they much relyed upon the force of that Solemn Oath he took
between the Arch-bishop of York and this same Bishop of Worcester was here judicially determined And 4. If there were no English Men in this great Council how then came it to pass that the Bishop of York and London were there who certainly were Bishops in the Saxon Times And it may also seem not improbable that there was then an universal Consent among them that these two Bishops should be intrusted to write down for them the English Laws 5. And there is one great Thing more to close withal which is That at this Parliament when the Saxon Laws were confirmed there was a particular Law past Carta Regis Wil. ielm apud Lambard c. 54. fol. 170. in favour of the Normans qui ante adventum Guilielmi Cives fuerant Anglicani that they should be participes Consuetudinum Anglorum quod ipsi dicunt Anhlote Anscote persolvant secundum Legem Anglorum The meaning of the words Anhlote Sir H. Spelm. Gloss verbo Anhlote f. 31. and Anscote as Sir Henry Spelman informs us is vulgò Scot Lot that is That every such French Man should not be charged with double Taxes and Duties as a Foreigner but that he should pay his easy share and proportion as any natural English Man. But then II. It was in such a grand Assembly of wise Men of the Kingdom where Lanfranc was elected to the See of Canterbury for it was by the Assent of the Lords and Prelats and of the whole People that is to say by the Parliament of England This likewise was about the fourth Year of the Conqueror And an Ancient Historian writes thus of Gervas Dorobernens Act. Pont. Cant. fol. 1653 l. 5. his Election Eligentibus eum Senioribus ejusdem Ecclesiae cum Episcopis ac Principibus Clero Populo Angliae in Curia Regis in Asumptione Sanctae Mariae But another Contemporary Writer gives it you in these words Relat. Willielm prim ad finem tract de Gavelkind à Syla Taylor p. 194. Rex mittens propter illum in Normanniam fecit eum venire in Angliam eique Consensu Auxilio omnium Baronum suorum omniumque Episcoporum Abbatum totiusque Populi Angliae commisit ei Dorobernensem Ecclesiam III. There was another General Ex Cartulario Coenobii Westmonasteriensis in Biblioth Cotton sub effigie Faustinae A. 3. Dugdal Orig. Juridic sol 16. Council or Parliament held at Westminster in the fourteenth Year of this King where by his Charter he confirmed the Liberties of that Church after he had subscribed his own Name with the Sign of the Cross adding many of the great Clergy and Temporal Nobility and instead of cum multis aliis says multis praeterea illustrissimis Virorum personis Regni Principibus diversi ordinis omissis qui similitèr huic confirmationi piissimo affectu Testes Fautores fuerunt Hii autem illo Tempore à Regia potestate Provincia i. e. Comitatus Seld. Tit. Hon fol. 273. Spelm. Gloss Tit. Provincia f. 471. diversis Provinciis Vrbibus ad Vniversalem Synodum pro causis cujuslibet Christianae Ecclesiae audiendis tractandis ad praescriptam Celeberrimam Parliamentum Synodus magna nuncupatur Somneri Gloss Synodum quod Westmonasterium dicitur Convocati c. In the Margin of the Book there is writ this Remarque Nota hic hos omnes convocari à Rege suâ auctoritate ad causas Religionis tractandas tà m Nobiles de Clero quà m Principes Regni cum aliis inferioris gradus Convocatio quorum videtur esse Parliamentum IV. I think by the general direction of the Writs of this King as also by that of his Charters some of which I have given you in my Argument to your third Question and therefore shall refer you back to them it is plainly demonstrable that William had as well English Barons as French Barons and that his Barons were always a part of his great Council will hardly I suppose be denied by any And that one Law of his which may be called the First MAGNA CHARTA in the Norman Times by which the King reserved to himself from the Free Men of this Kingdom nothing but their free Services due to him according to Law in the conclusion saith That they to wit the English LL. Guilielm c. 55. shall hold and enjoy their Estates well and in peace free from all unjust Exactions and Tallage and this ratified and confirmed by the Common Council of the whole Kingdom which cannot be restrained to the Norman Barons only So that herein is asserted the Liberty of the English Free-men and of the Representative Body of the Kingdom These I think are uncontrovertible Proofs and Evidences 1. That there were General Councils or Parliaments in this first William's Time. 2. That in these Parliaments the English Barons as well as the French Barons were present 3. And lastly That there likewise was as an essential part thereof 1. The Communitas Anglorum the Community of English-men 2. Besides the Bishops and Nobility there were the Clerus Populus the Inferior Clergy and People of England And 3. Not only the Great Clergy and the Temporal Nobility but the Principes diversi Ordinis a Regià potestate diversis Provinciis Vrbibus ad Vniversalem Synodum Convocati c. viz. The Chief and Principal Men of several Ranks and Degrees in Condition were summoned by virtue of the King 's Writ out of their several respective Counties Cities and Burroughs to this General Synod or Parliament And Sir if this be so I doubt not but that both your self and all judicious and unbiassed Persons who have not resolved to espouse a Party and who will not suffer themselves to be drawn aside by any novel unwarrantable Opinions but will fairly submit their Judgments to clear and perspicuous Truth when once it manifestly appears I say both you and they will certainly rest satisfied in these great and powerful Authorities which I have here presented to publick view and serious consideration and I think these have sufficiently made out and proved That 1. William the first vulgarly called the Conqueror did not get the Imperial Crown of England by the Sword nor made an absolute Conquest of the Nation at his first entrance 2. Nor that he abolished all the English Laws or changed the whole Frame and Constitution of the Saxon Government But 3. That the English had still Estates and Fortunes continued to them and that it was a great mistake in any to affirm That the King and his Normans divided and shared them all among them As likewise 4. In the fourth place It has been a grand Error to ascertain That there were no English Men in the Common Council of the whole Kingdom in the Reign of William the Conqueror Now Sir as a corroborating Testimony to explain and enforce what I already have said I shall conclude my Discourse at present with a very memorable and studied Speech of a
Person of great Learning and Abilities in his Time collected out of a large Original Manuscript which I have seen of Sir Roger Owen a very great Antiquary that lived in the Time of King James and one who as appears by that Book was a Man not only of wonderful Knowledg and admirable Observation in the Records and Histories of his own Nation but also in those of Foreign Countries This was a Speech of the then Lord Whitlock in Novemb. 1650. upon the House's long and smart Debate touching the Act for putting all the Books of Law and the Process and Proceedings in Courts of Justice into the English Tongue In which Debate some spake in derogation and dishonour of the Laws of England For some vindication whereof and for satisfying some Mistakes he delivered his Opinion in the House to this effect It is now newly printed in Mr. Whitlock's MEMORIALS OF THE ENGLISH AFFAIRS c. and is here truly transcribed Mr. Speaker THe Question upon which your present Debate ariseth is of no small moment nor is it easily or speedily to be determined for it comprehends no less than a total Alteration of the Frame and Course of Proceedings of our Law which have been established and continued for so many Years I should not have troubled you with any of my weak Discourse but that I apprehend some Mistakes and dishonour to the Law of England if passed by without any Answer may be of ill consequence and having attended to hear them answered by others who are not pleased to do it I held my self the more engaged in the duty of my Profession to offer to your Judgment to which I shall always submit what I have met with and do suppose not to be impertinent for the rectifying of some Mistakes which are amongst us A worthy Gentleman was pleased to affirm with much confidence as he brought it in upon this Debate That the Laws of England were introduced by William the Conqueror as among other Arguments he asserted might appear by their being written in the French Tongue In his first Assertion that our Laws were introduced by William the Conqueror out of France I shall acknowledg that he hath several both Forreign and Domestick Authors whom he may follow therein The Forreign Authors are Jovius Aemilius Bodine Hottoman Dynothus Volateran Berault Berkley Choppinus Vspargensis Malines and Polidore who affirm this erròneous piece of Doctrine but the less to be regarded from them because they were strangers to our Laws and took up upon trust what they published in this Point Of our own Country-men they have Paris Malmesbury Matthew Westminster Fox Cosins Twyne Heyward Milles Fulbeck Cowell Ridley Brown Speed Martyr and some others All of them affirm That the Laws of England were introduced by William the Conqueror But their Errors are refuted by Sir Roger Owen in his Manuscript who saith That Roger Wendover and Matthew Paris were the first Monks that hatched these addle Eggs. I shall endeavour to shew you That the Original of our Laws is not from the French that they were not introduced by William the Conqueror out of Normandy And I shall humbly offer to you my Answer to some of their Arguments who are of a contrary opinion Polydore Hist Angl. l. 9. affirmeth That William the Conqueror first appointed Sheriffs and Iustices of the Peace erected Tenures brought in Trials by twelve Men and several other Particulars of our Laws For Sheriffs their name Scire Reeve shews them to be of the Saxon Institution And our Histories mention the division of Shires by King Alphred but in truth it was much more ancient And it is apparent by our Books and Records some whereof are in the Hustings of London and in the Tower that the same things were in use here long before the Time of King Will. 1. Sir Roger Owen shews at large That Livery of Seisin Licenses or Fines for Alienation Daughters to inherit Trials by Iuries Abjurations Utlaries Coroners disposing of Lands by Will Eseheats Gaols Writs Wrecks Warranties Catalla Fellonum and many other parts of our Law and the Forms of our Parliaments themselves were here in being before the Time of Duke William Agreeing hereunto are many of our Historians and learned Antiquaries But it is objected That in the Grand Custumary of Normandy the Laws are almost all the same with ours of England and the form of their Parliaments the same with ours That the Writer of the Preface to that Book saith It contains only the Laws and Customs which were made by the Princes of Normandy by the Councel of their Prelats Earls Barons and other Wise Men which shews the forms of their Parliaments to be the same with ours and the Laws in that Book to be the proper Laws of Normandy and ours to be the same therefore they argue that our Laws were introduced from thence by William the Conqueror This will be fully answered if that Grand Custumary of Normandy was composed in our King Edw. 1. his Time as good Authors hold it was then it cannot be That our Laws or Parliaments could be derived from thence These Learned Men say That this Custumary was a meer Translation of our Law-Book Glanvill as the Book of Regia Majestas of the Laws of Scotland is and the like of the Laws of Burgundy They farther add That the first establishing of the Custumary of Normandy was in Hen. 1. his Time and afterwards again about the beginning of Edw. 2. his Time. If the Laws in the Custumary were introduced there from England it will then be granted that the Laws of England were not introduced here by William the Conqueror But I think it very clear that their Laws were brought to them out of England and then you will all agree to the conclusion Our King Hen. 1. conquered Normandy from his Brother Robert and was a Learned King as his Name Beauclerke testifies whom Ivo calls an especial Establisher of Iustice Sequerius relates That this King established the English Laws in Normandy Herewith do agree Gulielmus Brito Armoricus Rutclurius and other French Writers who mention also That the Laws in the Custumary of Normandy are the same with the Laws collected by our English King Edward the Confessor who was before the Conqueror An additional Testimony hereof is out of William de Alenso Revile who in his Comment upon the Custumary saith That all the Laws of Normandy came from the English Laws and Nation In the Custumary there is a Chapter of Nampes or Distresses and decreed That one should not bring his Action upon any Seisure but from the Time of the Coronation of King Richard and this must be our King Richard the first because no King of France was in that Time of that Name and the words Nampes and Withernams were Saxon words taken out of the English Laws signifying a Pawn or Distress and in the same sence are used in the Custumary That which puts it further out of scruple is That