Owen Ruffhead

“ And whereas many poor honest Persons are obliged to contract small Debts within the said Town and Parish, and Limits of the same, and they being frequently rendered unable to pay the said Debts in due Time, their Creditors do often bring Suits and Actions against them for Recovery of the same, and in Consequence thereof their Goods and Effects are seized and sold, or their Persons imprisoned, to the utter Ruin of themselves and Families, the Loss of their Labour to the Publick, and the great Burthen and Charge of the Parish or Township to which they belong. ”

“ If an Offence, therefore, had been committed against an Act of Parliament, before Proclamation, the Offender had been at the King's Mercy, and he could not have pleaded Ignorance of the Law: For this manifest; Reason—Because all Persons are bound to take notice of Acts of Parliament, they being supposed to be present at the enacting of them, either in Person, or by their Representatives [48] .
The Point, however, concerning the Validity of an Act, extant on the Parliament Roll only, and not entered on the Statute Roll, was very amply discussed at the Trial of the Earl of Macclesfield [49] . ”

“ If such an Omission should be deemed sufficient to invalidate a Statute, then the Authority of the greater Part of the early Acts may be denied: For the Assent of the Commons is frequently omitted, more especially in the enacting Clauses of the Statutes prior to the Reign of Henry VII. nay, sometimes is not even inserted in the Preface [9]
Lord Coke however takes a Distinction between a general and a particular penning of an Act of Parliament. Thus he allows an Act to be good which runs in these general Terms: " It is enabled by Authority of Parliament." ”

“ In these Instances, the Statutes of Charles the Second, and Henry the Eighth, do not formally repeal the Feudal and Monastic Laws, but render them obsolete by destroying the Subjects themselves, over which alone their Force could extend. Where the Subject is destroyed, the Adjunct drops of Course. It may be proper to observe, however, that though the Editor has retained the Word Obsolete, which has been used in all former Editions, yet he apprehends that it would be more accurate to fay that these Laws were Superseded; since no Law, in our Constitution, can be properly, termed Obselete. ”

“ Offences will multiply, as the Pursuits and Occupations of Mankind grow more various and diffusive: And in a Kingdom so jealous of its Liberty, as to leave as little as possible to discretionary Power, every Offence must be precisely described, therefore it is well observed by Montesquieu, that the Multiplicity of our Laws is a Price we pay for our Freedom [56]
On this Occasion, however, it may not be improper to observe, that our Statute Laws, with respect to criminal Offences, seem to breathe too much the Spirit of Draco's ”

“ In Truth, the Confirmation of an Act did not add to its legal Efficacy, but, by bringing it more recently to Memory, under the Authority of the Legisature, was thought to make the Dread of Non-Observance the greater.
In the Year-Book of Mayn. Ed. II. it must be confessed that an Objection is there made to the Expositions of the Statute of Gloucester, because they were not under the Great Seal. But this appears to have been an Objection obiter, and nothing was determined on that Point. ”

“ In others, they seem to proceed from the King and Lords jointly, without the concurring Assent of the Commons.
It is observable likewise, that Offences are sometimes loosely and ambiguously described; and, in many Statutes, no certain Penalty is inflicted on the Offender; [1] whereby the Courts of Justice were not only entrusted with a Latitude of Construction respecting the Offence, but with a dangerous discretionary Power of punishing the Delinquent; which afforded room for Partiality and Oppression. ”

“ As an Author, therefore, he ought to be read with Caution: And as a Man, capable of prostituting his Talents to explain away the Rights of the People, he ought to be remembered with Concern. ↑ This, however, was more properly the Revival, than the Commencement of their Right. Indeed there are the strongest presumptive Proofs, that the Commons were a Part of the Parliament soon after the Conquest; or at least very early in the Reign of Hen. 3. For the 25th of Ed. I. which confirms Magna Charta, says, that it was made by the common Assent of all the Realm. ”

“ The Commons seem at first:, among other Reasons, to have been opposed as a Counterbalance to their exorbitant Power: And they naturally adhered to the Sovereign, from Aversion to the Barons, who were no less their Oppressors, than Opponents to the Crown [24]
The Commons were for a long Time, nevertheless, so far from being considered as essential Branches of the Legislature, that even after they were unquestionably restored to Parliament, yet we find that they were not constantly and regularly summoned as a distinct Order, the Sheriffs omitting them at Pleasure [25] ”

“ VIII. commonly intitled, 'An Act concerning Richard Stroud,' is a general Law, extending to indemnify all and every of the Members of both Houses of Parliament, in all Parliaments touching any Bills, speaking, reasoning, and declaring, of any Matter or Matters concerning the Parliament, to be communed and treated of, and is a declaratory Law of the antient and necessary Rights and Privileges of Parliament [11] ." The Commons likewise, on the Consideration of this Act, held, that whatever concerns Privilege of Parliament, must be a general Law [12] . ”

“ Year of the Reign of the said late King, intituled, An Act for the Release of such as have obtained pretended Licences and Dispensations from the See of Rome; (2) and all and every Branches, Words and Sentences in the said several Acts and Statutes contained, by the Authority of this present Parliament, from and at all Times after the last Day of this Session of Parliament, shall be revived, and shall stand and be in full Force and Strength, to all Intents, Constructions and Purposes: The Sentences and Branches in the aforesaid Statutes shall extend to the the Queen. ”

“ Their Attendance was, for a long Time, deemed a Burthen both to Representatives and Conssituents; [27] and though after Election the Members gave Security for their Attendance, yet it is common to find the Parliament adjourned, because many of the Commons were not come, nor the Writs returned [28] .
In most of the antient Statutes, they are not so much as named: And in several, even where they are mentioned, they are distinguished as Petitioners merely, the Assent of the Lords, being expressed in Contradistinction to the Request [29] of the Commons. ”

“ And no valid Reason can be given, why the Assent of one Order, should not be intended as well as the Assent of two, Besides, the universal Reception in Courts of Justice, seems to be against his Lordship's Position: For the Statute de Malefactoribus in Parcis, where it is said, that "the King hath commanded, at the Instance of his Nobles," hath always been deemed a Statute. Other Statutes likewise, mentioned by Serjeant Hawkins, such as Quia emptores terrarum, which is worded as "an Ordinance at the Instance of the great Men;" ”

“ WHERE the Staple shall be kept. All Merchants may freely sell all their Merchandizes in the Staple. Merchants may buy Woolls, Leather, Fells, and Lead in England, so that they he carried to the Staple. That none going to the Staple be disturbed by the Purveyors. The King's Justices shall have no Cognizance of that which pertaineth to the Staple. That no Marshal or other Minister meddle with the Staple. Touching Licence of Passage of Woolls, Leather, Fells, or Lead. The Jurisdiction of the Staple. For Recognizance of Statutes of the Staple. For Weights and Measures of the Staple. ”

“ Clause, nevertheless, which contains general Provisions for the Preservation of publick Freedom, and the Security of Property, is still in force. The Liberties of the Subject, however, are farther and more particularly ascertained by the famous Petition of Right of the 3 Car. I. whereby the Lords and Commons, among other Things, claim, that no Man be compelled to make or yield any Loan, Tax, or such like Charge, but by Consent of Parliament: That no Freeman be imprisoned for such Refusal: That no Soldiers or Mariners be quartered upon the People, &c. ”

“ As the Statute Laws of this Kingdom are now become so exceedingly voluminous, and are daily increasing, both in Number and Extent, it is almost: impracticable to retain those Acts which are merely local. For this Reason it has been usual in the later Editions to omit the Road Acts, and others, which, though they are declared to be publick Acts, are nevertheless of a local and private Nature. ”

“ And to visit, reform, redress, order, correct and amend all such Errors, Heresies, Schisms, Abuses, Offences, Contempts and Enormities whatsoever, which by any Manner of Spiritual or Ecclesisastical Power, Authority or Jurisdiction, can or may lawfully be reformed, ordered, redressed, corrected, restrained or amended, to the Pleasure of Almighty God, the Increase of Virtue, and the Conservation of the Peace and Unity of this Realm ”

“ The Laws of those Times were likewise extremely defective with regard to civil Proceedings, whereby, in many Instances, the Courts of Judicature were left open to Temptations, and exposed to Menaces: And, even in the Decline of the feudal Policy, they were easily corrupted or overawed by the Influence of the Crown, or of some potent Baron. [2]
The Inconveniencies arising from such an imperfect System, wherein Power too often took place of Right, must, in those Days, have been frequently and fatally experienced, more especially by the Commoners, or inferior Orders, of the State. ”

“ Some Degree of Order, however, beamed forth under the Reign of Edward I, many Laws of that Time being penned with a Brevity and Perspicuity, which might do Honour to more enlightened Days. But still the greater Part of the Statutes even of that Reign, and of those immediately succeeding, are not only vague and unsettled in Point of Form, but are sometimes defective in Substance. In many, there are no Words expressing by what Authority they were promulgated; and in those wherein the enacting Authority is declared, it is variously described. ”

“ The Penalty if any do sell Ware at a Fair after it is ended. Nisi prius shall be granted in Attaint, but no Essoin or Protection: Days given. Attaint shall be granted in Trespass, if the Damage pass 40 s. The Marshals of the King's Bench shall not bail Felons. An Act that none be attached or judged, nor outed of his Lands or Goods, contrary to the Great Charter. An Act for Punishment of Jurors that take Money to give their Verdict. Process against those that be appealed, indicted, or outlawed in one County, and remain in another. ”

“ An Act for rendering for effectual several Acts passed in the tenth Year of her late Majesty Queen Anne, in the eleventh Year of his late Majesty King George the First, and in the eleventh Year of his late Majesty King George the Second, for enlarging, amending and maintaining the Road from Dartford to Northfleet and Gravesend, and from Gravesend to Chalk, and from Northfleet to Chalk, and from thence to the Stones End near the Parish Church of Strood, in the County of Kent. ”

“ In the rude State of human Government, while personal Strength and Courage were chiefly held in Esteem, as Qualities most conducive to Honour and Security, Men yielded with Reluctance to the Obligation of Civil Institutions, which were calculated to abridge and restrain their natural Rights and Prerogatives. ”

“ An Act for veiling the Estate late of Edmund Hungate Beaghan Esquire deceased, in the Counties of Kent and Sussex, in Trustees, in Trust, to sell and convey the same to Edward Louisa Mann Esquire, or as he shall appoint, pursuant to an Agreement for that Purpose, and for applying the Money arising by such Sale, for the Benefit of George Edmund Beaghan, his only Son and Heir, an Infant. ”

“ And the said Commissioners, or any three or more of them, shall, after such Summons as aforesaid, have full Power and Authority, by virtue of this Act, to make, or cause to be made, such Acts, Order or Orders, Decrees, Judgments and Proceedings, between the Parties-touching such Debt or other Things, not amounting originally to the Sum or Value of forty Shillings, as they shall find to stand with Equity and good Conscience ”

“ An Act to indemnify such as have omitted to qualify themselves for Offices and Employments, and to indemnify justices of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenants, and Officers of the Militia, or others, who have omitted to register or deliver in their Qualifications within the Time limited by Law, and for giving further Time for those Purposes ”

“ No Matter of Religion, &c. made by this Parliament shall be adjudged Error, Heresy of Schism. XXXV. Provided always, and be it enacted as is aforesaid, That no manner of Order, Act or Determination for any Matter of Religion, or Cause Ecclesiastical, had or made by the Authority of this present Parliament, shall be accepted, deemed, interpreted or adjudged at any Time hereafter, to be any Error, Heresy, Schism or schismatical Opinion ”

“ A Certificate shall be made of Goods brought into one Port and removed to another. One man shall not enter Goods in the Name of another. 109 4 Hen. 7. 115. The Mayor of London, and his Successors, shall have the like Conservation and Authority, in all the Issues, Breaches, and Ground overflown, as far as the Waterebbeth and floweth, grown out of the River of Thames, as touching the Punishments for using unlawful Nets and Engines, as he hath within the said River. ”

“ And it appears by the Preamble to the Aft of the 25th, that the Pope had been actually made acquainted with the Contents of the former Act, and that gentle Means had been used to prevail on his Holiness to reform the Abuse complained of; which proving ineffectual, the King ratified the Act, in Pursuance of the special Power given to him by the Clause above recited. ☞ Note, The Act of the 23d is not printed in any of the Statute Books, but will be inserted in the Appendix to this Edition. ”