the English Parliament

“ And if any Inheritance, whereof but one Suit is due, descend unto many Heirs, as unto Parceners, whoso hath the eldest Part of the Inheritance, shall do that one Suit for himself and his Fellows, and the other Coheirs shall be Contributaries, according to their Portion, for doing such Suit.
(6) And if many Feoffees be seised of an Inheritance, whereof but one Suit is due, the Lord of the Fee shall have but that one Suit; and shall not exact of the said Inheritance, but that one Suit, as hath been used to be done before. ”

“ And touching an Heir being fourteen Years old, or above unto his full Age, If he marry without Licence of his Lord to defraud him of the Marriage, and his Lord offer him reasonable [4] and convenient Marriage (without Disparagement) then his Lord shall hold his Land beyond the Term of his Age, that is to say, of One and twenty Years, so long that he may receive the double Value of the Marriage after the Estimation of lawful men, or [5] after as it hath been offered before without Fraud or Collusion, and after as it may be proved in the King's Court. ”

“ It was provided, agreed, and ordained, that whereas the Realm of England of late had been disquieted with manifold Troubles and Dissensions; for Reformation whereof Statutes and Laws be right necessary, whereby the Peace and Tranquillity of the People must be observed:Wherein the King, intending to devise convenient Remedy, hath made these Acts, Ordinances, and Statutes underwritten, which he willeth to be observed for ever firmly and inviolably of all his Subjects, as well high as low.
None but the King shall hold Plea of false Judgement. ”

“ Moreover, touching them that fain false Feoffments of their Lands, which they will lease for Term of Years, for to defraud the chief Lords of their Wards, wherein it is contained, that they are satisfied of the whole Service due unto them until a certain Term; so that such Feoffees are bound at the said Term to pay a certain Sum to the Value of the same Lands, or far above; so that after such Term the Land shall return unto them, or to their Heirs, because no Man will be content to hold it upon the Price; it is provided and agreed, that by such Fraud no chief Lord shall leese his Ward. ”

“ Vincent, the 20th Year of the Reign of King HENRY the Son of King JOHN, before William Archbishop of Canterbury, and other his Bishops and Suffragans, and before the greater part of the Earls and Barons of England, there being assembled for the Coronation of the said King, and Hellianor the Queen, about which they were all called, where it was treated for the Commonwealth of the Realm upon the Articles underwritten, thus it was provided and granted, as well of the foresaid Archbishops, Bishops, Earls, and Barons, as of the King himself and others. ”

“ None from henceforth shall cause any Distress that he hath taken, to be driven out of theCounty where it was taken;
(2) and if one Neighbour do so to another of his own Authority, and without Judgment, he shall make Fine (as above is said) as for a Thing done against the Peace:
(3) Nevertheless, if the Lord presume so to do against his Tenant, he shall be grievously punished by Amerciament. ”

“ We have provided also, That if any Person, Religious or other, do presume either by Craft or Engine to offend against this Statute, it shall be lawful to us and other chief Lords of the Fee immediate, to enter into the Land so aliened, within a Year from the Time of the Alienation, and to hold it in Fee as an Inheritance. ”

“ In what case the Ward shall pay to his Lord the Value of his Marriage.
If an Heir (of what Age soever he be) will not marry at the Request of his Lord, he shall not be compelled thereunto; but when he cometh to full Age, he shall give to his Lord, and pay him as much as any would have given him for the Marriage before the Receipt of his Land, and that whether he will marry himself, or not ”

“ And in a Plea ofQuare impedit, if the Disturber come not at the first Day that he is summoned, nor cast no Essoin, then he shall be attached at another Day; at which Day if he come not, nor cast no Essoin, he shall be distrained by the great Distress above given;
(4) And if he come not then, by his Default a Writ shall go to the Bishop of the same Place, that the Claim of the Disturher for that time shall not be prejudicial to the Plaintiff; saving to the Disturber his Right at another time, when he will sue therefore. ”

“ And if the Under-Sheriff, Constable, or Bailiff of such as have Fee for keeping of Prisons, do it contrary to the Will of his Lord, or any other Bailiff being not of Fee, they shall have three Years Imprisonment, and make Fine at the King's Pleasure. ”

“ NONE from henceforth may distrain his Freeholders to answer for their Freeholds, nor for any Things touching their Freehold, without the King's Writ:
(2) Nor shall cause his Freeholders to swear against their Wills; for no Man may do that without the King's Commandment. ”

“ Usury shall not run against any within Age.
Likewise it is provided and granted by the King, that from henceforth Usuries shall not run against any being within Age, from the time of the Death of his Ancestor (whose Heir he is) unto his lawful Age; so nevertheless, that the Payment of the principal Debt, with the Usury that was before theDeath of his Ancestor (whose Heir he is) shall not remain.'
Co. Lit. ”

“ And in like Manner it is agreed and established, that Hundreds, whether they belong to the King, or to other, shall be kept by convenient and able Persons, that have sufficient Land within the same Hundred or Shire where the Hundred is; and that the Chancellor, Treasurer, Barons, and Justices shall do and assign in Manner aforesaid, without having other Regard.
(7) And if any Sheriffs or Hundreders be insufficient at this Time, they shall be removed, and other more convenient put in their Rooms. ”

“ It is provided also, That none high nor low, by Colour of Kindred, Affinity, or Alliance, or by any other Occasion, shall course in any Park, nor fish in any Pond, nor come to eat or lodge in the House or Manor of a Prelate, or any other Religious Person, against the Will or Leave of the Lord, or his Bailiff, neither at the Cost of the Lord, nor at his own. ”

“ And likewise if one Neighbour take a Distress of another without Award of the King's Court, whereby he hath Damage, he shall be punished in the same wise, and that after the Quantity of the Trespass.
(6) And nevertheless sufficient and full Amends shall be made to them that have sustained Loss by such Distresses. ”

“ IT is provided also, That notorious Felons, and which openly be of evil Name, and will not put themselves in Enquests of Felonies, that men shall charge them with before the Justices at the King's Suit shall have strong and hard Imprisonment, as they which refuse to stand to the Common Law of the Land. ”

“ And then it shall be commanded to the Sheriff, that he, taking with him the Keepers of the Pleas of the King's Crown, and other lawful Knights, in his proper Person, shall go unto the Land or Pasture, where the Plaint hath been made, and that he make before them, by the first Jurors, and other Neighbours and lawful Men, diligent Inquisition thereof ”

“ Lords shall not imprison Offenders at their own Wills for Trespasses in their Parks and Ponds.
Concerning Trespasses in Parks and Ponds it is not yet discussed; for the Lords demanded the proper Imprisonment of such as they should take in their Parks and Ponds, which the King denied; whereof it was deferred.'
2 Inst. 100.
By 3 Ed. 1. c. 20. Malefactors in Parks and Ponds may be punished by three Years Imprisonment. By 21 Ed. 1. stat. 2. Malefactors in Forests, Parks, &c. may be killed, if they will not stand to the King's Peace. By 1 H. 7. c. 7. bunting in disguise in Parks is Felony. ”

“ And if the chief Lords in such Cases recover their Wards by Judgment, the Feoffees shall nevertheless have their Action to recover such Term or Fee, which they had therein, when the Heirs come to their lawful Age. ”

“ And this is the Form how such convict Persons shall be punished;2 when the Plaintiffs come into the Court of our Lord the King, they shall have the King's Writ directed to the Sheriff, in which must be contained the Plaint of Disseisin framed upon the Disseisin. ”

“ ALSO because many great men of England (which have infeoffed Knights and their Freeholders of small Tenements in their great Manors) have complained that they cannot make their Profit of the residue of their Manors, as of Wastes, Woods, and Pastures, whereas the same Feoffees have sufficient Pasture, as much as belongeth to their Tenements ”

“ IT is provided also, That if the Beasts of any Man be taken, and wrongfully withholden, the Sheriff, after Complaint made to him thereof, may deliver them without Let or Gainsaying of him that took the Beasts, if they were taken out of Liberties. ”

“ AND forasmuch as mean Persons, and undiscreet, now of late are commonly chosen to the Office of Coroners, where it is requisite that Persons honest, lawful, and wise, should occupy such Offices:"'it is provided, That through all Shires sufficient Men shall be chosen to be Coroners, of the most wise and discreet Knights, which know, will, and may best attend upon such Offices, and which lawfully shall attach and present Pleas of the Crown ”

“ See 28 Ed. 1. stat. 1. where Lands in Socage descend on the Part of the Mother, the Guardianship belongs to the next of Kin on the Part of the Father; and 12 Car. 2. c. 24. giving Power to the Father to dispose of the Wardship of his Child by Will.
Note : this act is listed in the Chronological Table of Statutes as the Guardians in Socage Act, 1267
This work is in the public domain worldwide because it was created by a public body of the United Kingdom with Crown Status and commercially published before 1974. ”

“ Widows may bequeath the Crop of their Lands.
Also from henceforth Widows may bequeath the Crop of their Ground, as well of their Dowers, as of other their Lands and Tenements, saving to the Lords of the Fee, all such Services as be due for their Dowers and other Tenements.'
Kel. 125. Fitz. Bar. ”

“ And they that are infeoffed by Deed to do a certain Service, as, for Service of so many Shillings by Year, to be acquitted of all Service from henceforth shall not be bounden to such Suits, or other like, contrary unto the Form of their Feoffment. ”

“ And the King forbiddeth and commandeth, that none from henceforth do Hurt, Damage, or Grievance to any Religious Man, or Person of the [4] Church, or any other, because they have denied Meat or Lodging unto them, or because that any complaineth in the King's Court that he hath been grieved in any of the Things above mentioned ”

“ Mortmain Act 1279
Who shall take the Forfeiture of Lands given in Mortmain.
WHERE [2] of late it was provided, That Religious Men should not enter into the Fees of any without Licence and Will of the chief Lord, of whom such Fees be holden immediately ”