trouve point soit en se cachant ou autre Collusion la Citation sera affichée à l'huis du Temple Paroissial d'icelle en cas qu'il n'ayt aucun Domicile ce en jour de Dimanche 49. S'il parvient aux oreilles du Doyen par Relation de gens de bien que quelqu ' un vit notoirement en quelque Scandale il en pourra avertir le Ministre les Surveillâ—ns de la Paroisse afin que s'en estant informés ils Presentent telles personnes qui meritent d'estre punies ou Censurées 50. Là où il constera de la faute commise par quelque Ministre le Doyen aprés Monition réitérée procédera à la Reformation par l'avis Consentement de deux Ministres jusqu'a Suspension Sequestration en cas que ledit Ministre demeure Refractaire le Doyen procédera par le Consentement de la plus part des Ministres presents en l'Isle jusqu'a Déprivation 51. On ne fera point de Commutation pour Pénitence sinon avec grande Circonspection ayant égard à la qualité des Personnes Circonstances des fautes Et sera la Commutation enregistrée ès Actes de la Court pour estre employée aux Pauvres usages pi eux dont Accomptes seront rendus selon ledit Registre 52. Aprés la premiere Defaute la Non-comparence de ceux qui seront derechef cités par Mandat sera reputée Contumace si estans cités par aprés en Péremptoire ils ne comparoissent on pourra procéder à l'encontre d'eux à l' Excommunication Que si dans le prochain jour de Court la Partie ne fait devoir d'obtenir Absolution on procédera à la Publication de la Sentence Mineure Excommunication laquelle sera delivrée au Ministre de la Paroisse pour en faire lecture à jour Solennel à l'oâ—ye de la plus part des Paroissiens assemblés lapartie persistant en son Endurcissement on procédera à la Majeure Excommunication qui forclost le Pécheur à Sacris Societate Fidelium Que si cette Censure ne sert pour l'induire à Obéissance se ranger dans le Terme de 40 jours alors le Doyen parson Certificat authentique donnera Avertissement au Bailly Jurétz de ladite Contumace les requerra en Assistance de sa Jurisdiction de le faire saisir par les Officiers Civils pour le rendre Prisonnier en Détention Corporelle jusqu'a ce quil se soit submis obligé d'obtemperer à l'Ordonnance de l'Eglise devant qu'estre Absous sera tenu de payer les frais Coustages de la poursuite de la Cause 53. En Causes de Paillardise sur la Presentation des Surveillans avec les Probabilités commun Bruit Scandale Presumptions à ce requises la partie sera sujette de subir le Serment de sa Purgation ou autrement sera tenu pour Convaincu 54. En cas d'Adultére à l'Instance de Partie on y procédera meurement par bonnes preuves Informations pour avoir Evidence du faict objecte le sujet Preuve du fait le requerant on pourra conclurre jusqu'a Séparation à Thoro Mensâ 55. Là où il y aura Calomnie ou Diffamation prouvée on fera Recognoissance des Injures selon l'Exigence du cas pourveu que l'Action ne soit prescrite par lapse de temps d'un an entier pourveu que le sujet de l'Action soit de Crimes Ecclesiastiques cy devant Specifiés Des Appellations 56. Les Appeaux en Causes Ecclesiastiques seront oûis définis par le Révérend Pére en Dieu l'Evesque de Winchestre en personne en cas de Vacance de ce Siége par le Trés Révérend Pére en Dieu l'Archvesque de Canterbury en personne 57. Tout Appels interjettera dans Quinze jours aprés Cognoissance de la Sentence sera la partie obligée de prendre exhiber tout le Procés Actes du Registre ou Rolles de la Court lesquels Actes aussy luy seront delivrés en forme temps convenable authentiqués sous le sceau de l'Office sera l'Appellant sujet de le poursuivre dans an jour aut Sententiae latae stare compellitur 58. Il ne sera licite d'Appeller qu'aprés Sentence Définitive de la Cause sinon pour ces deux égards ou quand l'Interlocutoire est telle qu'elle met fin à la Cause ou quand ladite Interlocutoire estant obéie elle apporte tel Damage irreparable à la partie qu'il ne peut estre amendé par Appel de la Définitive Of the King's Supremacy FIrst according to the Duty we owe to the King 's most Excellent Majesty it is ordained that the Dean and Ministers having Cure of Souls shall be obliged to the utmost of their Power Knowledge and Learning purely and sincerely without any Backwardness or Dissimulation to teach publish and declare as often as they may and as occasion shall offer it self that all forreign strange and usurped Power for as much as it has no ground in the Word of God is wholly for good and just Causes taken away and abolished and that therefore no manner of Obedience or Subjection within His Majesty's Kingdoms and Dominions is due unto any such Power But that the King's Power within his Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and other his Dominions and Countries is the highest Power under God to which all Persons Natives and Inhabitants within the same do by God's Law owe Loyalty and Obedience before and above all other Power 2. Whosoever shall affirm and maintain that the King's Majesty hath not the same Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical which Godly Kings had among the Jews and Christian Emperors in the Primitive Church or shall in any manner of way impeach or obstruct the King's Supremacy in the said Causes Moreover whosoever shall affirm that the Church of England as it is established under the King's Majesty is not a true and Apostolical Church purely teaching the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles or shall impugne the Government of the said Church by Archbishops Bishops and Deans affirming it to be Anti-christian shall be ipso facto Excommunicated and not restored but by the Dean sitting in Court after his Repentance and publick Recantation of his Error Of Divine Service 3. It is injoyned unto all sorts of Persons to submit to the Divine Service contained in the Book of Common Prayers of the Church of England And for as much as concerns the Ministers they shall be obliged to observe with Uniformity the said Liturgy without Addition or Alteration And no Conventicle or Congregation shall be suffered to make Sect apart or withdraw themselves from the Ecclesiastical Government established in the Island 4. The Lord's Day shall be sanctified by the Exercises of publick
I shall begin with that of Edward III who had a particular kindness for this Island and as was said before made great use of it in his Wars with France EDOARDUS Dei Gratiâ Rex Angliae Franciae ac Dominus Hiberniae Omnibus ad quos Praesentes Litterae pervenerint Salutem Sciatis quod Nos gratâ memoriâ recensentes quà m constanter magnanimiter dilecti fideles Homines Insularum Nostrarum de JERESEY Guerneseye Sark Aureney in Fidelitate nostrâ Progenitorum nostrorum Regum Angliae semper hactenùs perstiterunt quanta pro Salvatione dictarum Insularum nostrorum Conservatione Jurium Honoris ibidem sustinuerunt tà m Pericula Corporum quà m suarum dispendia Facultatum ac proinde volentes ipsos favore prosequi gratioso Concessimus c. I shall next mention that of Edward IV in whose time the Inhabitants did that good Service in recovering Mont-Orgueil Castle from the French who had surprized it EDOARDUS Dei Gratiâ Rex Angliae Franciae Dominus Hiberniae Omnibus ad quos Praesentes Litterae pervenerint Salutem Cùm Nobilissimus Progenitor noster inclytae Memoriae Richardus quondam Rex Angliae Franciae Dominus Hiberniae post Conquestam Secundus per Literas suas Patentes datas apud Westmonasterium octavo die Julii anno Regni sui decimo octavo in consideratione benigestûs magnae Fidelitatis quos in Ligeis Fidelibus suis Gentibus Communitatibus Insularum suarum de JERESEY Guerneseye Sark Aureney indiès invenit de gratiâ suâ speciali concessit pro se haeredibus suis quantùm in eo fuit eisdem Gentibus Communitatibus suis quod ipsi successores sui in perpetuùm forent liberi quieti in Omnibus Civitatibus villis Mercatoriis Portibus infrà Regnum nostrum Angliae de omnimodis Theloniis Exactionibus Custumis taliter eodem modo quo Fideles Ligei sui in sao Regno praedicto extiterunt ità tamen quoddictae Gentes Communitates suae haeredes successores sui praedicti benè fideliter se gererent ergà ipsum Progenitorem nostrum haeredes successores suos in perpetuùm prout in Literis illis plenius continetur Nos continuam Fidelitatem Gentis Communitatis dictae Insulae de JERESEY pleniùs intendentes Literas praedictas omnia singula in eis contenta quoad Gentem Communitatem ejusdem Insulae de JERESEY acceptamus approbamus eidem Genti Communitati haeredibus successoribus suis per Praesentes ratificamus Confirmamus Et ulteriùs Nos Memoriae reducentes quam validè viriliter constanter dictae Gens Communitas ejusdem Insulae de JERESEY nobis Progenitoribus nostris perstiterunt quanta Pericula Perdita pro Salvatione ejusdem Insulae Reductione Castri nostri de Mont-Orgueil sustinuerunt de Vberiori gratiâ nostrâ Concessimus c. Queen Elizabeth's Charter begins thus ELIZABETH Dei Gratiâ c. Quùm Dilecti Fideles Ligei Subditi nostri Ballivus Jurati Insulae nostrae de JERESEY ac caeteri Incolae Habitatores ipsius Insulae infrà Ducatum nostrum Normanniae Predecessores eorum à tempore cujus contrarii Memoria hominum non existit per speciales Chartas Concessiones Confirmationes Amplissima Diplomata illustrium Progenitorum ac Antecessorum Nostrorum tà m Regum Angliae quà m Ducum Normanniae ac aliorum quamplurimis Juribus Jurisdictionibus Privilegiis Immunitatibus Libertatibus Franchisiis liberè quietè inviolabiliter usi freti and gravisi fuerunt tà m infrà Regnum nostrum Angliae quà m alibi infrà Dominia Loca Ditioni nostrae subjecta ultrà citráque Mare quorum ope beneficio Insulae praenominatae ac Loca Maritima praedicta in fide obedientiâ servitio tam Nostri quà m corundem Progenitorum nostrorum constanter fideliter inculpatè perstiterunt perseveraverunt liberaque Commercia cum Mercatoribus aliis Indigenis ac Alienigenis tà m Pacis quà m Belli Temporibus habuerunt exercuerunt c. Quae omnia singula cujus quanti Momentisint fuerunt ad Tutelam Conservationem Insularum Locorum Maritimorum praedictorum in Fide Obedientiâ Coronae nostrae Angliae Nos ut aequum est perpendentes Neque non immemores quam fortiter fideliter Insularii praedicti ac caeteri Incolae Habitatores ibidem Nobis Progenitoribus nostris inservierunt quantaque Detrimenta Damna Pericula tà m pro assiduâ Tuitione ejusdem Insulae Loci quà m pro recuperatione Defensione Castri nostri de Mont Orgueil infrà praedictam Insulam nostram de JERESEY sustinuerunt indiésque sustinent non solâ—m ut Regia nostra Benevolentia favor affectus ergà praefatos Insularios illustri aliquo nostrae Beneficentiae Testimonio ac certis indiciis comprobetur verum etià m ut ipsi eorum Posteri deinceps in perpetuùm prout antea solitam debitam Obedientiam erga Nos haeredes successores nostros teneant inviolabiliter observent has Litteras nostras Patentes Magno Sigillo Angliae roboratas in formâ quae sequitur illis concedere dignati sumus Sciatis c. Here followeth the Preamble of a Commission under the Great Seal directed to Sir Robert Gardiner and Dr. James Hussey who were sent to JERSEY in the time of King James I with the Character of Commissioners Royal upon an extraordinary occasion JAMES by the Grace of God King of England c. To Our trusty and well-beloved Sir Robert Gardiner Knight and James Hussey Doctor of the Civil Law and one of the Masters of Our Court of Chancery Greeting Whereas in Our Princely Care and earnest desire for the Establishment and maintenance of Justice and for the security and wealth of our Subjects generally in all Our Realms and Dominions We have been very mindful of the good Estate of Our loving Subjects the Inhabitants of Our Isles of JERSEY and Guernezey and other their Dependances a Portion remaining as yet unto Vs in possession of Our ancient Dukedom of Normandy and have been and are the rather moved thereunto both for their intire and inviolate Fidelity born by them towards Vs and Our Predecessors Kings and Queens of this Realm of England testified and declared by many their Worthy and acceptable Services towards this Our said Crown and also in respect of their Situation furthest remote from the rest of Our said Dominions and for that cause needing Our special Care and Regard to be had of them being thereby exposed to danger of an Invasion or Incursion of Foreign Enemies And whereas We are informed c. For these Causes know therefore that We have nominated You to be Our Commissioners c. I shall only add this notable Passage of that great Oracle of the English Law the Lord Chief Justice Coke The Isles
of JERSEY and Garnsey did of ancient time belong to the Dutchy of Normandy but when King Henry I. had overthrown his elder Brother Robert Duke of Normandy he did unite to the Kingdom of England perpetually the Dutchy of Normandy together with these Isles And albeit King John lost the Possession of Normandy and King Henry III. took Money for it yet the Inhabitants of these Isles with great Constancy remained and so to this day do remain true and faithful to the Crown of England AND THE POSSESION OF THESE ISLANDS BEING PARCEL OF THE DVTCHY OF NORMANDY ARE A GOOD SEISIN FOR THE KING OF ENGLAND OF THE WHOLE DVTCHY CHAP. II. Description of the Island THE Island of JERSEY is seated in the Bay of St. Michael betwixt Cap de la Hague and Cap Forhelles the first in Normandy the last in Bretagne both which Promontories may be seen from thence in a clear Day The nearest Shore is that of Normandy to which the Cut is so short that Churches and Houses may be easily discerned from either Coast It lies according to Mr. Samarâ—s his new Survey in 49 Deg. and 25 Min. of Northern Latitude which I take to be right enough But when he gives it but 11 Deg. and 30 Min. of Longitude I cannot conceive where he fixes his first Meridian For to say nothing of the Isles of Azores or those of Cap Verd which are at a much greater Distance if he takes it with Sanson and the French Geographers from the Isle of Feró the most Western of the Canaries it must be a great deal more than he says viz. 18 Deg. at the least Or if he takes it even from Tenarif which according to the best and latest Observations is 18 Deg. from London still the Longitude of JERSEY cannot be less than 15 Deg. 30 Min. It seems to me to have near the same Longitude as Bristol in England In Length it exceeds not 12 Miles The Breadth where it is broadest is betwixt 6 and 7. The Figure resembleth somewhat an Oblong long Parallelogram the longest Sides whereof are the North and South the narrowest are the East and West The North Side is a continued Hill or ridge of Cliffs which are sometimes 50 Fathoms high from the Water and render the Island generally unaccessible on that Side The South side is much lower and in some Places level as it were with the Sea I cannot better compare it than to a Wedge or to a Triangle Right-angle the Basis whereof may be supposed to be the Sea the Cathetus those high and craggy Cliffs which it hath on the North and the Hypothenusa the Surface of the Island which declines and falls gently from North to South according to the following Diagram JERSEY It receives two great Benefits from this Situation The First is that those Rivulets for I cannot call them Rivers with which this Island abounds do by this means run further and receive a greater Increase and Accession of Waters whereby they become strong enough to turn betwixt 30 and 40 Mills that supply the whole Country than they would do should the Island rise in the middle and all the Streams by an equal Course descend on every side to the Sea This Consideration would be of no great Moment to a larger Country but is of unexpressible Use and Advantage to so small an Island The Second Benefit which we receive from this Situation is that by this Declivity of the Land from N to S the Beams of the Sun fall more directly and perpendicularly thereon than if either the Surface was level and Parallel to the Sea or which is worse declined from S to N as it doth in Guernezey For there by an odd opposition to JERSEY the Land is high on the S and low on the N which causes if I may so speak a double Obliquity the one from the Position of the Sun it self especially in time of the Winter Solstice the other from the Situation of the Land and is probably the Reason of the great Difference observed in the Qualities of Soil and Air in both Islands GUERNEZEY This Declivity of JERSEY is not a smooth and even Declivity as some may 't think The Surface is extremely broken and unequal rising and falling almost perpetually For as on the N it is an entire Hill with few and short Vales so on the S SE and SW it is cut into sundry fruitfull Valleys narrow at the Beginning but growing wider as they draw still nearer and nearer to the Sea where they end in several Flats of good Meadows and Pastures Mr. Poingdestre thought that this Unevenness and Inequality of the Surface added much to the Quantity and Proportion of the ground and that the Island was so much the more Capacious and Productive by how much the more the Surface was expanded rising with the Hills and descending with the Valleys But herein I must take the Liberty to depart from so great a Man It being demonstrable that a Country that is exactly level will contain as many Houses and Inhabitants will produce as many Trees Plants c. as another Country whose Surface is as uneven and unequal as can be but whose Basis or Plane is equal to the other Therefore the true Dimension of any Country is not to be taken from those Gibbosities that swell the Surface in one Place or those Profundities that depress it in another but from the true Basis or Plane of that Country The Nature of the Mould and Soil admits great Variety which proceeds from this Difference of higher and lower Grounds The higher Grounds are gritty gravelly and some stony and rocky but others are Excellently good The Lower are deep heavy and rich Those near the Sea are light and sandy yet not equally so in all Places But generally there is little barren Ground in the whole Island almost none that is not capable of receiving some profitable Culture and recompensing one way or other the Pains of the Labouring Husbandman We must except a large Tract of once Excellent Lands in the West of the Island which within these 200 Years have been so over-run with Sands that the Island on that side beareth the Image of a Desart This is said to have happened by Divine Vengeance on the Owners of those Lands for detaining the Goods of Strangers that had been shipwrackt on that Coast though injoyned by the highest Censures of the Church to restore them There must be from time to time such publick Examples of Divine Justice among Men that the Inhabitants of the Earth may learn Righteousness And yet I confess it may 't be also the Effect of a Cause not Preternatural I mean of those high Westerly winds that blow here almost at all Seasons of the Year and which on this side of the Island are daily seen to drive the Sands from the Bottom to the Top of the highest Cliffs The Island produces all Manner of
used both in ancient and latter Days and upon extraordinary Occasions to send over hither special Commissioners authorized under the Great Seal who have always been Persons of Quality and Learning as Doctors in the Civil Law Masters in Chancery c. whose coming suspends the Ordinary Forms and Procedures of Justice But First they must shew their Commission in Court and have it there Enrolled And then they can in no Case concerning Life Liberty or Estate determine any thing contrary to the Advice and Opinion of the Jurats who are to Sit and Judge and make conjunctive Records of their Proceedings with them My Lord Coke owns that the King's Writ runneth not in these Islands His Commission under the Great Seal doth But the Commissioners must judge according to the Laws and Customs of these Isles The Laws of this Island which are to be the Rule and Measure of the Judgments of the Court differ in many things from those in England The particulars are too many to be instanced in In general our Laws may be reduced under these four Heads 1. The Ancient Custom of Normandy as it stood before the Alienation of that Dutchy in the time of K. John and was contained in an old Book called in the Rolls of the Itinerant Judges La Somme de Mançel or Mançel's Institutes For whatever Changes have since that time been introduced into the said Custom by French Kings or French Parliaments they can be of no force here This is to us what the Statute Law is in England 2. Municipal and Local Usages which are our Unwritten and Traditionary Law like the Common Law in England 3. Constitutions and Ordinances made by our Kings or their Commissioners Royal at their being here with such Regulations and Orders as are from time to time Transmitted hither from the Council-Board 4. Precedents and former Judgments recorded in the Rolls of the Court These last indeed cannot in strict and proper Sense be said to be Laws wanting the Royal Authority without which nothing can be Law Nevertheless great Regard is had to them upon occasion The same may be said of such Political and Provisional Ordinances as are made by the Court or the Assembly of the States like those made by other Bodies Corporate for the good Government of those Societies No Act of Parliament can reach us wherein we are not particularly named It has been often wished that our Laws were collected methodized and digested into a System or Code A work that would be of very great Use in regard that not only all Causes and Suits within the Island whether by the ordinary Judges or extraordinary Commissioners from England but Appeals also before the Council-Board are to be determined secundùm Leges Consuetudines Insulae which Laws and Customs not being so generally known 't is scarce possible but Judgment must sometimes be given contrary to the same Causes are not brought into Court or treated there confusedly For tho' there be but one Tribunal and the Judges always the same Persons yet because matters are of more or less moment or require different Methods of proceeding they have been distinguished into IV Classes or Courts The First is of those that respect the Property of Lands and Inheritance These we decide in a more solemn Assembly call'd La Cour d'Heritage i. e. The Court of Inheritance Which continueth so many days as are necessary to dispatch all Causes of that Nature The first day is kept very Solemnly For then all the Jurats are bound to be present and without seven of them at least the Court cannot be kept that day without absolute necessity which is tied to no Rule The Governor or his Lieutenant useth to assist that day and to answer in the King's Name for such Fiefs as are in His Majesty's hands and owe Suit of Court All Gentlemen holding Fiefs from the Crown by that Service called in Records Secta Curiae are also to answer to their Names or be Fined The Advocates renew their Oaths The Provosts and Sergeants who are inferior Officers belonging to the King's Revenue are to declare all Escheats Forfeitures and other Contingent Profits and Emoluments accrued to his Majesty There also Political Sanctions relating to Order and Government are continued or if need be abrogated and new ones made The Governor in the King's Name or the Receiver by Command of the Governor causeth a solemn Dinner to be prepared where besides the Court those Gentlemen before mentioned holding Fiefs from the Crown have Right to Sit and are therefore said in the Extent and other Records edere cum Rege ter in anno i. e. to eat with the King three times a Year a Custom doubtless older than the Conquest 'T is said Three times a year because we have so many Terms and this Court is the opening of every Term. After the first day the Court is continued every Tuesday and Thursday following till the end of each Term Three Jurats always assisting the XII taking it by turns Matters treated in this Court are Partitions of Inheritance betwixt Coheirs Differences betwixt Neighbours about Bounds new Disseisines and Intrusion upon other Men's Lands Challenges of Propriety Pre-emptions between Kindred which we call Retraict Lignager Retractus Consanguineorum and Jus Protimeseos the Property of Rents due for Lands let out in Fee-farm which we call Rentes Foncieres Reditus Fundiarius and such like The Second Court is that of Catel i. e. Chattels or moveables For tho' at present few Causes purely Mobiliary be determined in this Court as they were before the Extraordinary Court was set up nevertheless as in the Court of Heritage Rents are demanded without Relation to Arrears so in this Court they are demanded principally with reference to those Arrears But the principal Business of this Court is the Adjudication of Decrees Now a Decree with us is this When a man becomes unable to pay his Debts he comes into Court and there publickly makes Cession of his Estate which we call Renoncer i. e. To renounce Whereupon all that have been concern'd with him are by Three Proclamations and a Fourth Peremptory cited to come in and insert into a List or Book made for that purpose their several Demands Which done they are called in Order That is to say the last Creditor first and so on Retrograding The last Creditor is asked whether he will substitute or put himself in the place of the Cessionary and take the Estate paying the Debts that are of an older Date than his Which if he Assents to the Decree is at an end and he is put into Possession of the Estate Such a one we call a Tenant If he says he will rather lose his Debt than take the Estate on condition to satisfie the other Creditors the Judge proceeds to him that stands next in Order of Time and so on Retrograding still and propounding the same Question to all till so many