And therefore we command you, that ye cause the foresaid statute to be read before you, and from henceforth to be kept firmly and observed. Witness my self at Westminster the [fifteenth] day of November, the seventh year of our reign. (Ed. from Statutes of the Realm, I, 51.) 86. Freedom of Parliament (7 EDW. I., 1279) Book of Rights This provision is in line with the many designed to protect the commonalty when exercising their political rightss. From the days of the Saxon Kings this protection was constant in theory and usually in practice. To all Parliaments and Treatises men shall come without Force and Arms. Edward by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine; to the justices of his bench sendeth greeting. Whereas of late before certain persons deputed to treat upon sundry debates had between us and certain great men of our realm, amongst other things it was accorded, in our next parliament after, provision should be made by us and the common assent of the prelates, earls, and barons, that in all parliaments, treatises, and other assemblies which should be made in the realm of England for ever, every man shall come without all force and armour, well and peaceably to the honour of us and the peace of our realm. And now in our next parliament at Westminster after the said treatise, the prelates, earls, barons, and the commonalty of our realm, there assembled to take advice of this business, have said to us that it belongeth and our part is, through our royal seigniory, straightly to prohibit force of armour and all other force against our peace, at all times when it shall please us, and to punish them which shall do contrary, according to our laws and usages of our realm; and hereunto they are bound to aid us as their sovereign lord at all seasons when need shall be. We command you, that ye cause these things to be read afore you in the said bench, and there to be enrolled. (Book of Rights, ed. cit., p. 59. 87. Taxation of Religious Houses (35 EDW. I., 1306-7) Statutes of the Realm The statute De Asportatis Religiosorum was the first of a series of anti-papal statutes which extended even beyond the close of the Stuart period. The texts of the most important of these have been translated and are printed in full (Nos. 85, 90, 92, 93, 107, 108, 111), that the student may himself trace the claim of ecclesiastical independence put forward by English kings. The object of the following statute was to prevent the taxation of religious houses by non-resident superiors. STATUTUM DE ASPORTATIS RELIGIOSORUM In the Parliament held at Carlisle, on the Octave of St. Hilary (A.D. 1306-7) Of late it came to the knowledge of our lord the king, by the grievous complaint of the honourable persons, lords, and other noblemen of his realm, that whereas monasteries, priories, and other religious houses had been founded to the honour and glory of God, and the advancement of the Holy Church, by the king and his progenitors, and by the said noblemen and their ancestors; and a very great portion of lands and tenements had been given to them by the said monasteries, priories, and houses, and the religious men serving God in them, to the intent that as well clerks as laymen might be admitted in such monasteries and religious houses, according to their sufficient ability, and that sick and feeble men might be maintained, hospitality, almsgiving, and other charitable deeds might be exercised and done and in them, prayers might be said for the souls of the said founders and their heirs; the abbots, priors, and governors of the said houses, and certain aliens their superiors, as the abbots and priors of the orders of Cluniacenses, Cistercienses, and Premonstratenses, and of St. Augustine, and St. Benedict, and many more of other religion and order, of late, have appointed to be made and at their own pleasure ordained divers unwonted, heavy and importable tallages, payments, and impositions upon every of the said monasteries and houses in subjection unto them in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, without the privity of our lord the king and his nobility, contrary to the laws and customs of the said realm; whereby it happens that numbers of religious persons, and other servants in the said houses and other religious places being oppressed by such tallages, payments, and impositions, the service of God is diminished, and alms are withdrawn from the poor, the sick, and feeble, and the healths of the living and the souls of the dead be miserably defrauded, hospitality, almsgiving, and other deeds of charity, do cease; and so that which in times past was given to pious uses, and to the increase of the service of God, or to charity, is now converted to an evil payment: From whence, beside what is before mentioned, there groweth great scandal to the people, and infinite losses are well known to have ensued, to the disheritance of the said founders and their heirs, and are yet likely to ensue, unless speedy and sufficient remedy be provided to redress so many and grievous detriments: Our said lord the king, therefore, considering that it would be very prejudicial to him and his people if he should any longer suffer such great losses and injuries to be winked at, and thereupon being willing to maintain and defend the monasteries, priories, and other religious houses erected in his kingdom, and in the lands subject to his dominion, according to the will and pious wishes of the founders, and from henceforth to provide sufficient remedy to reform such oppressions, as he is bound, by the counsel of his earls, barons, great men, and other the nobles and the commonalty of his realm, in his parliament holden at Westminster, on the Sunday next after the feast of St. Matthias the Apostle, in the three-and-thirtieth year of his reign, ordained and enacted as follows: "That no abbot, prior, master, warden (nor any other religious person, of whatsoever condition, state, or religion he be, appointed under his power or jurisdiction,) shall by himself, or by merchants or others, secretly or openly, by any art or device, carry or send, or by any means cause to be carried, any tax imposed by their superiors, abbots, priors, masters or wardens of religious houses or places, or in any way assessed among themselves, out of his kingdom and dominion, under the name of a rent, tallage, tribute, or any kind of imposition, or otherwise in the name of exchange, sale, loan, or other contract howsoever it may be termed; neither shall himself depart into any other country for visitation, or, upon any other colour, by that means to carry the goods of their monasteries and houses out of the kingdom and dominion aforesaid. And if any presume to offend this present statute, he shall be grievously punished according to the quality of his offence, and according to his contempt of the king's prohibition. "Moreover, our said lord the king doth inhibit all and singular abbots, priors, masters and governors of religious houses and places, being aliens, to whose authority, subjection, and obedience, the houses of the same orders being in his kingdom and dominion be subject, that they do not at any time hereafter impose, or by any means cause to be assessed, any tallages, payments, impositions, tributes, or other burdens whatsoever, upon any of the monasteries, priories, or other religious houses so as aforesaid in subjection unto them; and this upon forfeiture of all that they obtain in their power, and can forfeit in future. "And further, our lord the king hath ordained and established, that the abbots of the orders of Cistercienses and Premonstratenses, and other religious orders, whose seal hath heretofore been used to remain only in the custody of the abbot, and not of the convent, shall hereafter have a common seal, and shall deposit the same in the custody of the prior of the monastery or house, and four of the most worthy and discreet men of the convent of the same house, to be kept under the private seal of the abbot of the same house; so that the abbot or prior of the house which he doth govern, shall not be able of himself to confirm any contract or obligation, as heretofore he hath been used to do. And if it fortune hereafter that any writings obligatory of donations, purchases, sales, alienations, or of any other contracts, be found sealed with any other seal than such a common seal, kept as is aforesaid, they shall be adjudged void and of no force in law. "But it is not the meaning of our lord the king to exclude the abbots, priors, and other religious aliens, by the ordinance and statutes aforesaid, from executing their office of visitation in his kingdom and dominion; but that they may visit at their pleasure, by themselves or others, the monasteries and other places in his kingdom and dominion aforesaid in subjection unto them, according to the duty of their office, in those things only that belong to the regular observance and the discipline of their order. Provided, that they which shall execute this office of visitation, shall carry, or cause to be carried out of the kingdom and dominion aforesaid, none of the goods or things of such monasteries, priories, and houses, saving only their reasonable and competent charges. And though the pronouncing and publication of the ordinance and statutes aforesaid was stayed in suspense, from the parliament last passed, until this present parliament holden at Carlisle in the octaves of Saint Hilary, in the five-and-thirtieth year of the reign of our said lord King Edward, for certain causes, and to the intent they might proceed with greater deliberation and advice; our lord the king, after full deliberation and conference had with the earls, barons, lords, and other the nobles and the commonalty of his realm, touching the premisses, by their unanimous consent and agreement hath ordained and enacted, that the ordinance and statutes aforesaid, under the manner, form, and conditions aforesaid, from the first day of May next ensuing, shall thenceforth be inviolably observed and in force for ever, and the offenders of them shall thereafter be punished as is aforesaid. (Edited from Statutes of the Realm, I, 150.) 88. The Statute of "Quia Emptores" (18 EDW. I., 1289-90) Statutes at Large The feudal lord enjoyed many profitable rights in the property held by another under him. He obtained certain sums from the heir who was of full age at the death of his father, and also profits from the estates of minors and from their marriages. Not only was his ransom paid, if he were taken prisoner, but when his son became a knight or his eldest daughter married, the expenses of the ceremonies were borne by his tenants. Besides all this, on certain contingencies the entire estate of his vassals became his. Prior to the eighteenth year of the reign of Edward I., these rights had been seriously impaired by the practice of subinfeudation, or subdivision of holdings. To exemplify this, let us suppose that A. held lands of B., and owed him the above-mentioned rights. If A. sold part of his lands to C., the latter would owe rights to A., and not to B. Thus B. would be deprived of his rights over the lands sold to C. This was a direct loss to the lord, and the statute of Quia Emptores was passed to prevent its occurrence. By the provisions of this enactment, the transfer could still be made, but C. would hold of B. instead of A., and would owe the rights of the land to the former. THE STATUTE OF WESTMINSTER THE THIRD: CAP. I Purchasers shall hoid of the chief lord, and not of the Feoffor Forasmuch as purchasers of lands and tenements of the fees of great men and others, have many times heretofore entered into their fees, to the prejudice of the lords, the freeholders of such great men and others having sold such lands and tenements to be holden in fee by such purchasers and their heirs, of the feoffors, and not of the chief lords of the fees, whereby the same chief lords have many times lost their escheats, marriages, and wardships of lands and tenements |