A VIEW OF THE  AND ECCLESIASTICAL LAW, AND wherein the practice of them is straightened, and may be relieved within this Land.  
Written by THOMAS RIDLEY Doctor of the Civil Law.  jura sua unicuique professioni sunt servanda, alioqui nihil aliud erit, quàm omnium ordinum confusio. c. pervenit. 11. q. 1. 
LONDON, Printed for the Company of Stationers Anno. 1607.   

To the High and Mighty Prince JAMES, by the grace of God, King of great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc.  
MOST gracious Sovereign, since it hath pleased your Majesty of your Princely care towards the Church, and your common wealth, to take knowledge of some differences that are in judicature between your Ecclesiastical and Civil Law, and the Temporal Law of this Land (by which jointly your majesties State is managed next after your own most rare providence, and the wisdom of such, whom it hath pleased your Highness to associate unto yourself in the great affairs of your Kingdom) I have been bold to offer unto your Majesty this simple Treatise, as that which doth lay out the cause of those Differences more particularly than any man hitherto hath expressed the same. In coming to which (because I do speak for those parts of your majesties Laws, which are less known unto your people, and esteemed no otherwise of them than they see the practice thereof to be here within your Land) I have thought good, as it were in a brief, to set out the whole sum of both the Laws to the view of the people, that they may see there is more worth in those for whom I speak, than was by many conceived to be: so that the profession of the Ecclesiastical and Civil Law may appear to the world, neither to be ilde nor unfit for the State; so far as it hath pleased the Royal predecessors of your Highness to give entertainment unto it, and your Majesty yourself to admit of it. In all which there is no other thing sought, than that such grievances as have been of late offered by one jurisdiction unto the other, and in consequence, to all your subjects, who follow any suits in the Civil or Ecclesiastical Courts, may by your Princely wisdom be considered, and by your authority be redressed, if they be found to be grievances indeed: for now as things are, neither jurisdiction knows their own bounds, but one snatcheth from the other, in manner, as in a batable ground lying between two Kingdoms; but so that the weaker ever goeth to the worse, and that which is mightier prevails against the other: the professors thereof being rather willing to give Laws and interpretations to other, than to take or admit of any against themselves. For which, the weaker appeals unto your Highness, humbly desiring your majesties upright and sincere judgement to discern where the wrong is, and to redress it accordingly, which is a work worthy your majesties high consideration. For as the Land is yours, so also the Sea is yours, & the Church is under your highness protection, as a child is under his Tutor; so that all the Laws thereof appertain unto your majesties care and comfort alike: For which, not only the whole profession of your Ecclesiastical and Civil Lawyers that now are, but those which shall succeed in those places for ever hereafter unto the world's end, will praise and magnify your majesties gracious favour towards them, and we that now are will pray to God for the long and happy prosperity of your Highness, and your posterity over us, during the continuance of this Heaven and this Earth, and after the passing away thereof, a perpetual fruition of the new Heaven and the new Earth, wherein righteousness only shall dwell for ever.  
Your majesties most humble and dutiful Subject, Thomas Ridley.   

To the Reader.  
GENTLE Reader, I confess, as I meditated this Treatise upon mine own motion (as I do sometimes matters of other argument, when my leisure serves me thereto) so also I do not set it out to the view of the world upon mine own motion, but was desirous it should have been kept in, saving that I must obey where I am bound. The thing that gave me cause to this meditation, was, that I saw many times how meanly men esteemed of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Law of this Land, valuing them by the practice of so much of them, as we have among us. And therefore I thought good, although not wholly to unfold the riches of them, yet to make show of them folded up, in such sort as Mercers make show of their silks and velvets, laid up in whole pieces in their shops; whereby it may be seen what great variety they have of all these kind of wares, although the goodness of the ware itself cannot be discerned, because it is folded up: Beside, seeing how frequent prohibitions are in these days in causes of either cognisance more than have been in former time, I thought it not unworthy my labour to inquire and see upon what just grounds they are raised up in this multitude; not of any humour I have to gain say the lawful proceed of any court (which I reverence & most readily acknowledge their authority in all things belonging to their place) but to know and search out the truth of those suggestions that give cause unto these prohibitions. For whenas such Laws as are written of these businesses, are written indifferently as well for the one jurisdiction as the other, no man is to be offended, if the one jurisdiction finding itself pressed by the partial interpretation (as it supposeth) of the other, inquire the ground of such interpretation, & labour to redress it if it may be, by the right interpretation thereof: To the end that either jurisdiction may retain their own right, & not the one be overtopped by the other, as it seemeth to be at this day: And that in such matters (as they conceive) of their own right, as depend of no other authority but of the Prince alone: which is the thing only that is sought in this little Treatise. And therefore the Reverend judges of this Land are to be entreated, that they will vouchsafe an equal interpretation of these matters as well to the one jurisdiction as the other, for so it is comely for them to do; and if they do it not the other are not so dull sensed, but they can perceive it, nor so daunted, but that they can fly for secure unto him, to whose high place and wisdom, the deciding of these differences doth of right appertain. PENELOPE is said to have had many wooers comely in person and eloquent in speech, but she respected none but her own ULYSSES. Such should be the mind of a judge, that whatsoever other appearance or show of truth be offered, one saying this is the true sense of the Law, and another that; yet the judge should respect none but the very true german and genuine sense thereof indeed. Which if it were religiously or indifferently observed in every Court, than needed not this complaint that now is, but every jurisdiction should peaceably hold his own right, such as the Prince, Law, or Custom hath afforded unto it.  
THOMAS RIDLEY.   

The contents of this Book.  


THE Division of the whole book into four parts. pag. 1.  
What right or Law is in general. 1.  
What is the Law public, and what the Law private. 1. 2.  
What is the Law of Nature. 2.  
What is the Law of Nations. 2.  
What the Law Civil. 2.  
That there be four Tomes of the Civil Law; The Digest, the Code, the Authentic and the Feuds. 3.  
The Institutes are an Epitome of the Digest. 3.  
What is the Digest, and why it is so called, and why the same are called the Pandects. 3.  
What are the Institutes, and why they are so called. 4.  
The Pandects or Digest are divided into seven parts, and they again into fifty Books. 4.  
That the first part thereof containeth four Books, and what is the sum thereof. 4.  
That the second part hath eight books, and what is the contents thereof. 5.  
That the third part stretcheth itself into eight books, and what they contain. 6.  
That the fourth part containeth eight books, and the contents thereof. 7.  
That the fift part comprehendeth nine books, and the matter thereof. 9  
That the sixth is spent in seven books, and the subject thereof 11.  
That the seventh part is divided into six books, and the matter thereof. 15.  
The second Volume of the Civil Law, is the Code which is distributed into twelve books. 27  
Why the Code is so called. 28  
The Argument of the first book of the Code. 30. 31. 32  
The 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 book of the Code, contain like Titles as were handled in some one or other book of the Digest, except only a few; as De Edendo, de Indicta viduitate, de Caducis Tollendis, and some other small number beside 33  
The Contents of the tenth book of the Code. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37.  
The Argument of the eleventh book of the Code. 38. usque ad pag. 41.  
The matter of the twelfth book of the Code. 41.  
The authentics are the third Volume of the Civil Law, and why they are so called. 45.  
That the authentics are divided into 9 collations. 45.  
What is the sum of the first Collation. 46.  
What is the matter of the second collation. 47.  
What of the third. 48.  
What of the fourth. 49.  
What of the fifth. 50.  
What of the sixth. 52.  
What of the seventh. 54.  
What of the eighth. 55.  
What of the ninth. 56.  
That the feuds are the fourth and last volume of the Civil Law. 61.  
What a Feud is, why it is so called, and who were the first authors thereof. 61. 62.  
How many kind of Feuds there be, viz. Temporal or perpetual. 62. 63.  
What is a Temporal Feud. 63.  
What a perpetual Feud. 63.  
Perpetual Feuds are gotten either by investiture, or by Succession. 63  
What is investiture. 64  
What is Succession. 64  
Of perpetual Feuds some are Regal, some other not regal. 65  
What are Regal feuds. 65  
That of Regal Feuds, some are Ecclesiastical, some Secular, and what either of them are. 65  
What be not Regal Feuds. 65  
Beside, of Feuds some are Liege, some other not Liege, and what either of them are. 65  
What be vassals or liegemen, and how many sorts there be thereof. 65  
What be Valuasores Maiores, and what Minores. 65  
By how many ways a Feud is lost. 65  
What is the Canon Law, and that there are two principal parts thereof, the Decrees and the Decretals. 66  
What be the Decrees, and whereof they are collected, and who was the author thereof. 66  
That there be two parts of the Decrees, the Distinctions and the causes. 66  
What the Distinctions do contain, and what the causes. 67  
What be the Decretals, and whence they are gathered. 67  
That there be three volumes of the Decretals, the one called the Decretals of Gregory the ninth, the other the sixth, the other the Clementines: who be the authors thereof, & when they were first set out. 68  
That each of them is divided into five books. 68  
What the first book of the Decretals comprehendeth. 68 69. 70.  
What the second. 71. 72  
What the third. 73  
What the fourth. 74  
What the fift. 75. 76. 77  
That the things the Civil Law is conversant in here in this Realm, are either ordinary or extraordinary. 78  
Of the ordinary, some are Civil some other are criminal. 79  
Ordinary Civil matters are all Marine matters pertaining to the ship itself, or any part thereof, and all contracts between party and party, concerning things done upon or beyond the sea. 79  
Of shipwrecks, which notwithstanding are so of the cognition of the Civil Law within this Realm, as that they are granted by the King's Commission to the Lord Admiral and other which have like jurisdiction. 83  
The manner of proceeding in Civil Marine matters. 84  
Of piracy, and what it is, which also is held by the Regal Commission, and the manner of proceeding therein. 85  
Of extraordinary matters belonging to the Civil law, within this Land, by the benefit of the Prince. 86  
Negotiation between Prince and Prince, and the treaty thereof. 86  
Martial causes in an Army, Civil or criminal, and the ordering of them both. 87  
The bearing of Arms, and the ranging of every one into his room of honour, and the diversity of them, and how they are to be come by. 89  
Of the diversity of colours in bearing Arms, and which is the chiefest of them. 91. 92  
Of Emperors and Kings, and the great Epithets they have in the Civil Law. 92  
Of Precedency and Protoclisie in great persons next after the Emperor and King. 93  
Of Knights and Doctors of Law, and their precedency. 95  
Of Esquires and Gentlemen. 95. 96  
Of great personages, how they succeed each other in inheritance, and other places of honour. 97  
Of women's government, and the defence thereof 98  
Certain questions in Succession between a brother borne before his father's Kingdom, and a brother after, who shall succeed. 100  
Questions between the King's second son living at his father's death, and the eldest brothers son, his father dying before the King's death, who shall succeed. 101  
Of the Titles of the Canon law in use or out of use among us. 102  
Some out of use, by reason of the palpable Idolatry they contained. 103  
Some other out of use, because they were contrary to the laws of the land. 103  
Of Bishop's chancellors, their Office and Antiquity. 104  
Of those Titles that are absolute in use among us, recited by Doctor Cousin in his Apology for Ecclesiastical proceeding. 109  
How the exercise of the Civil and Canon Law is impeached within this Realm, and by how many ways. 109  
What is a Praemunire. 109  
That Ecclesiastical judges executing the King's Ecclesiastical Law, cannot be within the compass of a Praemunire, as Prem. is understood by the statut of R. 2, and H. 4. 110  
That the word Elsewhere, in the said statutes cannot be understood of the King's Ecclesiastical Courts here within the Land. 111  
What is a Prohibition, and how many sorts are thereof. 113  
Of Admiral causes, and in what sort they are hindered. 115  
Of Actions of Trover, and how far Fictions in Law are to be admitted, and how far not. 116. etc.  
Wherein last Wills and Testaments are impeached. 121  
Of the care that Princes of this Realm have had for the due payment of Tithes unto the Church, and the preserving of the cognisance thereof unto the Ecclesiastical Courts of this Land, both before the conquest and since. 124 etc.  
That the Statutes of the xxvii. and xxxii. of H. the viii and the 2. of Edward the vi. c. 13. intended for the true payment of Tithe, and the preservation of the trial thereof unto the Ecclesiastical Courts, are now turned to the hindrance of them both. 128. etc.  
That customs of payment of tithes are triable only at the Ecclesiastical courts. 131. etc.  
That the limits and bounds of Parishes are of the Ecclesiastical cognisance only. 135  
That the clause of triple Damages in the 13. chapter 2. Edw. 6. is to be sued in the Ecclesiastical courts only. 137.  
That the naming of law or Statute in a statut, doth not make it to be of the Temporal cognisance, if the matter thereof be Ecclesiastical. 139. etc.  
How it comes to pass that when tithes were never clogged with custom, prescription, or composition under the Law, they are clogged with the same under the Gospel, and the causes thereof. 142  
Tithes anon after the dissolution of the jews policy were entertained by the Christians, as a natural provision for the Ministers of the Gospel, and leased out by God unto the jews for the time of their policy only. 142  
That Charles Martell, Father of King Pippin was the first that ever took tithes from the Church, and assigned them over to Lay men in fee, and upon what occasion. 145  
That to the imitation of this fact of Martell, other Princes did the like every one in his Kingdom. 145  
That this fact of Martel, being done about the year 606. stood unreversed until the Lateran council, under Alexander, Anno 1189. and that the reformation was then but in part. 146  
That Ecclesiastical judges admit pleas in discharge of tithes, and the manner of tithing, contrary to the conceit that is had of them. 149  
Of Privileges, and how they came in. 150  
That by reason of the frequency of privileges, Statutes of Mortmain came in. 150  
Of the beginning of cloistered monks in the west Church of Christendom, and that the author thereof was one Benedict a Roman about the year 606. 153  
That from Benedict and his order flowed all the rest of the orders of Religious men. 153. etc.  
That the admiration that these Religious men did breed of themselves in the head of Princes and Popes, did procure appropriations of parsonages, and immunities from Tithes. 153  
That the over conceit that men had of prayer above preaching in the church, was an adiwant cause thereunto. 154  
Whether Appropriations came first from Princes or Popes it is questionable. 155  
Exemptions from tithes brought in by Pope Paschall in favour towards all sorts of Religious men. 158  
The same restrained by Pope Adrian, and limited to the Cystertians, hospitalers, Templars, and the Knights of Saint john of jerusalem only, saving to the other, the Tithes of grounds laboured with their own hands only 159  
That Innocent the third, in the third Lateran Council 1120. restrained those four orders from immunity of Tithes for such grounds as they should acquire after that council: which Henry the fourth imitating, provided by two Statutes of this Land against their immunity. 159  
That if this revocation of Immunity by Innocent the third, & these two Acts of Henry the fourth, were well weighed, they would overturn many of the privileges challenged by the Statut of 31. H. 8. c. 13. for exemption of Monastery Lands from Tithes. 160  
That Real compositions for Tithes are the devise of Ecclesiastical Lawyers, and are to be tried by the Ecclesiastical Courts. 160  
That the curiosity of Schoolmen in their distinctions upon Tithes have helped forward Appropriations and Exemptions from Tithes. 161  
The opinion examined, as concerning the quotity of tithes, whether it be Moral, Ceremonial, or judicial. 161. etc.  
That a Bishop being Lord of a Manor, and prime founder of a Benefice, could not in the first erection thereof, by his own capacity, retain any Tithes in his hand, and pass the same after in lay-fee to his tenants, and so give cause to his tenants of prescription against the parson. 165  
That Bishops endowments in the beginning stood not in Tithes, but in finable Lands. 167  
That the turning of Bishop's endowments into tenths or tithes for impropriat parsonages is unsuitable to the first institution, and very dangerous. 168  
That it had been a worthy work in the first reformers of Religion, if they had returned to every parish their own parsonage: and the dislike that God may seem to have conceived of that. 169  
That tithes are a Parochian right, and how Parishes in the Christian world, came first to be instituted. 171  
That tithes of Minerals are due. 174  
That tithes of Turfs be due. 178  
That the cognisance of barren, heath, and waste grounds belongeth to the Ecclesiastical courts, and what every of them are. 180  
That the boughs of great trees are tythable, and so also are the bodies, but in the case of the Statute only. 185  
In what cases diffamatory words belong to the Ecclesiastical, and in what to the common law. 191  
That the suit of bastardy, aswell in the principal as in the incident belongs unto the Ecclesiastical Law. 199  
The means to relieve the Ecclesiastical courts. 209  
The right interpretation of Laws and Statutes. 209  
Wherein the three Statutes for tithes may be supplied. 212  
What things may be ordered by the Civil Law, yet not provided for by the common Law, and others of like nature to those that are expressed. 215  
Of the necessity of retaining the practice of the Civil and Ecclesiastical law within this Land. 224. etc.    
FINIS.   

A VIEW OF THE Civil and Ecclesiastical Law: also wherein it is straighted, and wherein it may be relieved.  
BEFORE I show how necessary it is for his Majesty and the Realm, to maintain the Civil and Ecclesiastical Law, as they are now practised among us in this Realm, I will set down as it were in a brief, what the Civil and the Ecclesiastical Laws are: then will I show how far forth they are here in use and practise among us: thirdly wherein we are abridged and put beside the use and possession thereof, by the Common Law, even contrary to the old practice thereof, and the true sense and meaning of the Laws of this Realm and the Statutes in this behalf provided: and lastly, wherein we might be relieved and admitted to the practice of many things in the Civil Law without prejudice to the Common Law; and so both the Laws might know their own grounds and proper subjects, and not one to be jumbled with the other as it is at this day, to the great vexation of the Subject. But before I speak of the Civil Law in particular, I will define what Right or Law is in genetal: Law therefore is (as Ulpian saith, L. 10. in fin ff. de justicia & jure) the knowledge of Civil, and human things, the understanding of those things which are just unjust. This Law is primarily divided into the law public and the law private. The public, is that which appertaineth to the general state of the common wealth, for I mean the law public, not in respect of the form, that they were publicly made, as we make laws in our Parliaments, for so all the Civil Law is public, as made by public authority; but in respect of the object or end thereof, for that they concern the Church, the Clergy, the Magistrate, and other like public functions, none of which level at the rule of equity, or equality between man and man, as private laws do, but aim at that which is most fit in general for the common State.  
The private Law, or the private men's Law, is that which concerns every singular man's state, which, for that it is occupied in giving every man his own, it must of necessity be proportionable to the rule of Equality and justice.  
Private Law, is of three sorts, the law of Nature, the law of Nations, and the law Civil.  
The law of Nature, is that which Nature hath taught every living creature, as the care and defence of every creatures life, desire of liberty, the conjunction of male and female for procreation sake.  
The law of Nations, is that which common reason hath established among men, and is observed alike in all Nations, as distinctions of men's rights, building of houses, erecting of Cities, society of life, judgements of controversies, war, peace, captivity, contracts, obligations, succession, & such like.  
The law Civil, being largely taken, is the law that every particular Nation frameth to itself, as the Athenians laws, and the laws of Lacedaemon, in which sense also, the law of England may be called the Civil law, for that it is the proper and private law of this Nation: but in more strict sort, the Civil law is the law, which the old Romans used, and is for the great wisdom & equity thereof at this day, as it were, the common law of all well governed Nations, a very few only excepted.  
And certainly, albeit sundry other Nations by the light of Nature, have many Rules & Maxims of the Civil law: yet, if all the constitutions, customs, & laws, of all other people and countries were put together (I except none, save the laws of the Hebrews, which came immediately from God) they are not comparable to the law of the Romans, neither in wisdom nor equity, neither in gravity nor in sufficiency. Whereupon it is, that most of other Nations, (saving our own) although they receive not the Civil law wholly for their law, yet they so much admire the equity thereof, that they interpret their own laws thereby. Peckins de regul. juris reg. Quae à iure coni regul. 28.  
The whole Civil law itself, is reduced or brought into 4. Tomes, whereof the first containeth the Digest or Pandects, taken out of 27. old reverent lawyers works, whereof sundry were before the coming of Christ, other flourished in the Emperor's days, even unto the time of Maximinus, as it appeareth by Spartianus & Lampridius, in the life of the said Emperor: which said Tom is divided into 50. books, of which, every one containeth sundry titles of great wisdom & variety.  
To this Tome, I add the Institutions, which are a brief of all the former books, composed of purpose by the Emperor in the behalf of young learners, that thereby having the whole Digest drawn into a Compendium of 4. books only, they might with more alacrity, go forward in the study of the law having, as it were, the first Elements of the whole profession in this little Treatise; whereas otherwise without the help hereof, their weak minds might be clogged with the multitude & variety thereof, and so either altogether leave their studies, or with more labour & diffidence (which oftentimes discourageth young men's minds in a long matter) come to the end thereof, to which, by the direction of this brief, they might sooner attain unto, and that without much travel or distrust.  
The Digests have their name, of that they are put into a comely order by the Author, ranging every book & title into his proper place, such as either the course of Nature affords them, or are fittest for the practice of the profession.  
The same book again, is called Pandects, of the gréek words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, for that it compriseth in itself, all whatsoever justinian drew out of 150000. verses of the old books of the law.  
The Institutes are so called because they are as it were masters and instructors to the ignorant, and show an easy way to the obtaining of the knowledge of the Law.  
The matters wherein the whole law is occupied, are either the persons in the common wealth, or the things belonging or not belonging to them, or the actions whereby men do claim in judgements such things as are due unto them by law.  
Upon a more particular, division the whole Digest is divided into seven parts: whereof the first part standing upon four books, containeth the principles, and as it were, the first elements of the Law, as what justice and right is, from whence the Civil law hath his beginning, what persons be the object of the Civil law, what Magistrates the common wealth of the Romans had, by whom either the laws were made or executed: the divers kinds of jurisdictions which those magistrates used; mere, mixed, or simple, according to their place: the corrections which the law used against such as disobey the judge, either in not appearing, or not performing that which is enjoined them: what provision it made against such as by violence rescued men out of the judges hands: what Holidays there were, wherein the Courts were not held: what order the Law took against the plaintiff, that having cited the defendant had no Libel ready to put into the Court, unless happily otherwise the parties upon private agreement compounded the matter between them: who were to be admitted advocates, and what causes bard them from that office: what is the office of a Procurator, Solicitor, or Sindict, or Factor; and under what cautions they were admitted, if they had no Proxy, or Mandate, or the party principal did not in presence authorize them: how they were punished who upon reward took upon them to vex men unjustly in the Law, in manner as common Barators do: what persons having lost opportunity to allege any thing for themselves beneficial in Law, may be restored thereto again, as Minors and such other as by fear or craft of the adversary have been driven away from their lawful defence: how persons of common trust, as Mariners, Inholders, and such like, are bound by Law to restore such things as they have taken in charge to keep.  
The second part, being distributed into viii. books, yieldeth matter of judgement, as who may be judge and who not: where and before what judge every one is to be convented: how many kinds of judgement there are, Civil, Criminal, and mixed of both: by what actions things that are ours by right of inheritance may be challenged, whether they be corporal or incorporal, what action the Law affords, if any man conceal that is ours, that we may come to the sight thereof: what action lieth against him who by evil persuasions or lewd enticement hath corrupted another man's servant, or having run away by his ill counsel, hath concealed him from his master: what provision the Law hath against Diceplay and such as keep Dicing houses: how he is to be punished which being put in trust to measure any man's ground, makes a false report of the measure thereof: that no man hinder a corpse of a dead body to be carried to burial, or to be buried in such places as he and his predecessors have right unto, or to build a Tomb to that purpose, and beautify the same.  
The third part embracing xii. books, concerneth personal actions, which rise not of cause of right or possession, but of covenant and obligation; as things credited or lent in a certain sum, the means how to recover the same if it be denied, that is by oath of the party that denieth it, unless he may be convicted either by witness or instrument that he hath forsworn himself: how many kinds of oaths there are, voluntary out of judgement, necessary exacted by the judge in doubtful cases, where otherwise there wanteth proof to manifest the truth: judicial, such as one party offereth to another in judgement, and cannot be refused without just cause: and lastly, that which the judge offereth to the plaintiff, as concerning the value of the thing which is in strife, or the charges that he hath been at in recovering of the same: what exceptions there lies against Obligations, as that which for cause was given, and cause did not follow: that the cause was dishonest, for which that is challenged that was given: that the sum was not due which was paid; and therefore not to be exacted, but to be repaid: actions for things lent for a certain time and to a certain use: actions for things pawned: actions that either passengers have against Mariners for the goods or ware that they have brought into the ship, or Mariners have against Passengers for their fraught: actions of ejectment wherein the passengers and Mariners are bound each to other for contribution of the losses of such things that have been cast into the sea in the time of a storm or tempest, according to the quality and quantity of the goods they have in the ship: actions whereby masters are bound to answer for their servants contracts, and fathers for their children's, in such things, or negotiation as they have put them in trust withal, saving where the child borroweth money without his father's privity for riot, and for such purpose as his father hath no use thereof: Remedies for women, when by weakness of their sexes, and lack of council, they have enwrapped themselves in suretyship for other men: action of compensation, where a debt is demanded, for which an equivalent portion hath been received in am or satisfaction thereof: actions of mandate or commandment, wherein one hath done some work or laid out some money upon an other man's mandate or word, and yet when he requireth allowance thereof, it is denied him: actions of society or fellowship, wherein either the society is required to be maintained, and the money put in common bank to be divided: actions of bargain and sale, either pure or conditional, the bargain being once made, the loss and gain that after happeneth is the buyers, unless the seller retain some further right in the thing sold unto himself: actions of letting or setting either of the use of a person, or the use of a thing upon a certain higher: actions of change and such like.  
The fourth part being digested into eight books, ministereth actions for such things as are accessary to contracts, such as pawns and pledges are, which are given for the better security of the contract: actions for restitution wherein a man hath been deceived in a bargain more than the half value of the thing sold, or wherein the seller hath concealed some fault in the thing sold, which he ought by Law to have revealed, or promised some quality in the same, which was not in it, or where the thing sold, hath been evicted, by an other, out of the hands of the buyer, himself using all just defence of Law for himself: actions for interest and usury, and how many kinds thereof there be that men use by land, lucratorie, compensatorie, and punitorie; whereof the first is altogether unlawful, the other two allowed where either just gain ceaseth, or just loss followeth, upon that occasion, that which is lent is not paid according to the day of covenant. Sea usury, otherwise called nautick usury, is greater than land usury, and yet allowed by Law, for that the seafaring man takes upon himself the danger of the transporting thereof, and securing the same at such place as it is appointed to be delivered. In deciding of matters of controversy, the Law proceeds sometimes by witnesses, sometimes by instruments, sometimes by presumptions, where knowledge or ignorance of fact or Law is presumed. Spousals are mutual promises of a future marriage: marriage is a lawful coupling together of man and woman, the company and society of the whole life, the Communion of all Divine and human rites and things, and of one and the same house, wrought by the consent and mutual good will of the one towards the other: in espousals and marriages is to be considered, who is to be joined together, at what years, and by whose consent: there doth wait and attend upon Marriages, jointures, Dowries, and such like, and sometimes Divorce, which is so called of the diversity of the minds of those that are married; because such as are divorced go one a diverse way from the other. The causes whereupon Divorces grow, are Adultery, deadly hatred one toward another, intolerable cruelty, nearness of kindred and affinity in degrees forbidden, impotency on the one side or the other: actions of Dowry after divorce or separation; actions against a man's wife imbeaselling away his goods; actions against a husband, disclaiming his own child; and his wife being with child, if he make doubt thereof, means how and where she shall be kept until her delivery, so that no false birth shall be put in place of the true child; or that she abuse not her husband or the next heir with a false show of that which is not. Tutelage and government of children underage, which is either testamentary, or due to the next of kin, or dative, all which are either to be confirmed or disposed of by the Magistrate. Administrations of Tutors and Curators, and how far they are endangered by their office, and wherein they are to interpose their authority and consent, and for what acts the pupils or minors may be sued, done by the tutors or curators; how any may be argued to be a suspected tutor or curator; and how and by whom he may be removed, if there appear just cause of suspicion against him. A Tutor is chief set over the person of the child, secondly over his goods: but the Curator or Guardian is chief set over the goods, and then over the person of the child: children (their father being dead) by the order of the judge, are to be brought up with their mother, unless she hath fled unto a second marriage, which if she have done, then is he to be brought up with some of his nearest kin, such as is known to be an honest man, and will have a care of his good education; with whom the judge is to allow him such maintenance, as all his stock be not spent therein, but evermore something be left against he come to full age. When the time of Tutelage or curatorship is ended, they are to render account unto the judge, what they have received, and how they have expended the same, and what residue is left, and according as their proofs are, either by oath, or otherwise, so the judge either alloweth, or disalloweth the same. If the Tutors or Curators prove bankrupt, or unable to satisfy the Pupil or Minor, then lieth an action against their sureties for the satisfaction of the same; and if both of them fail, then lieth it against the judge, or Magistrate, if either he have not received any caution at all of the Tutors or Curators, or hath received an unsufficient caution, or unsufficient sureties, knowing them to be unsufficient; otherwise he is not to secure fortune and future cases of the child: the Tutors or curators are to sell nothing of those things that are the children's, saving such things which by keeping cannot be kept, unless they have the order or decree of the judge thereunto, which the judge is not to decree, unless the child be so far in debt that it cannot be satisfied without selling some part of the other goods, or there be some other like just and necessary cause like unto this which may not be avoided. As Minors have curators and governors, so also mad persons and prodigal persons are appointed to have governors by law, for that they can no more govern their own state than the others can. Prodigal persons are they that know no time nor end of spending, but riot or lavish out their goods without all discretion.  
Under the fift Section, which compriseth in it, nine books, are contained last Wills and Testaments, and who they be that can make the same: and how many kinds thereof there be, solemn or military, and they either put in writing, or else Nuncupative: what is an unjust, or void Will: what is to be thought of those things, which are found either to be blotted out, or interlyned in a Will: how Heirs or Executors are to be instituted, or substituted in wills, and under what conditions they may be either instituted, or substituted in the same: What time an heir hath to deliberat after the Testators death, before he prove the Will: what is a military testament, & what privileges it hath: how the inheritance may be either got or lost: how Testaments are to be opened, published, and writ out: what men's Testaments are not to be opened, and published: Of the punishment of such, which a will being extant, seek by administration, or some other like means to possess the goods: and of those which either forbidden, or compel any man to make a Will: Of the power or right of Codicils: of Legacies, and bequests, as what things may be bequeathed, and what not, to whom any thing may be bequeathed, and of the signification of the words, and things which do appertain unto Legacies: of yearly and monthly legacies, what time they be due, in the beginning of the year, or in the end: which of them be pure, and which conditional: Of the use, profit, and benefit of any thing bequeathed: of dwelling, and works of servants bequeathed: of Dowry bequeathed, and what profit the legatory hath thereby: Of choice or election bequeathed: Of wheat, wine, & oil bequeathed, and what is contained under every of them: Of ground furnished bequeathed, and the instruments thereto belonging, and what is to be understood by that bequest: Of store bequeathed, in Latin called Penus; what is comprised under that word: of household stuff bequeathed: of education & bringing up bequeathed: of gold, silver, women's attire, ornaments, and such like bequeathed, and what is to be understood by every of them: how Legacies may be taken away: Of things that are doubtful in a Will, and how they are to be understood: Of those things that are left for punishment sake in a will, whether they be available, or otherwise: Of those things which being bequeathed in a Will, are counted notwithstanding as not bequeathed: Of those things that are taken away from the Legatories in the will, as unworthy of them: Of conditions, demonstrations, & causes; what force they have, and how they provaile in a Will. Of the Law Folcidia, what it is, and how men thereby are restrained, for bequeathing any more, than the three parts of their goods, so that a fourth part thereof should still remainewith the heir; & if any man had received in Legacy more than he might by the law Folcidia, that he should put in band to restore that, if any unknown debt after should appear, so the same were true debt: at what day a Legacy becomes due; that is straight from the death of the Testator, unless it be left to be paid upon a certain or uncertain day, or under a condition; and that the heir enter into band to pay the legacy when the day comes, or the condition happen, and if he refuse to do it, than the legatory to be put in possession thereof until the day or condition happen.  
The sixth part spreading itself over seven Books, handleth matters of possession of goods, or administration thereof, not growing out of the Civil Law, which only makes heirs, and giveth right of succession, but out of the Praetorian Law, or Law of conscience, which in equity calleth sundry to the succession of other men's goods by administration, where there is no Will, and in some cases where there is a Will, as where the will is concealed, or the Erecutor renounceth the will, but if the will once appear, than the administration forthwith ceaseth. In cases where Administrations are to be granted, the children of the deceased have liberty to take it, within a year after the death of the deceased, and if they be further off of kind, than they have only a hundred days to take it in, unless those which are to take it are Infants, mad, deaf, dumb, or blind, in which cases there is a longer time assigned. The Praetor granted administration not only according to the tables of the Testament; but many times even against the tables of the Testament: as where a child is not disinherited in his Father's will by plain terms, but passed over with silence only, as not remembered; or that the child was not borne at the time of his death, & so not known whether any such child wear living, or to be hoped for or not: In which case if it do after appear, the Mother is put in possession of that which is the child's part. If there appear no Will, the Administration is committed in this order, First, the children of the deceased are admitted: Secondly, those that are next of kind in the Male line: Thirdly, those that are next of kind in the Female line, (which difference notwithstanding between Male & Female) at this day is taken away, and they that are next of kind are equally admitted of their sex; Lastly comes those which have right thereto, either in that they are man or wife. The Law sundry times, where a thing is done, or intended to be done, against an other man's right, and there is no provision for it in Law, yieldeth the party grieved an Interdict or Injunction to hinder that which was intended to his prejudice, As where one buildeth an house contrary to the usual and received form of building, to the injury of his neighbour, there lieth an Injunction de novi operis nunciatione, which being once served, the offender is either to desist from his work, or to put in sureties, he shall pull it down again, if he do not within a very short time avow the lawfulness thereof. Again, there lieth an Injunction where hurt is not yet done, but feared to be done; as where a house is ruinous, or the eves, or any outcast work thereof hangeth dangerously over the way, so that it is doubted it will fall and hurt some that pass by, the owner or Lord thereof is to put in surety to the Magistrate, that if any be hurt, or miscarry thereby he shall answer for it. If any cause the water of the river, or rain water to run an other course than before time it was wont to do, and that the neighbours are like to be prejudiced thereby, the Law yieldeth an Injunction, either to stay the work that is intended, or to secure the neighbours for the hurt that is like to follow thereupon. If Customers, Collectors, or Tolle-gatherers exact more subsidy, or other like public dueries then by Law they ought, or distrain any man's goods, upon pretence thereof, or stay in their hand such duties as they have received, whereby the party that hath paid it falleth into any forfeiture, or that they repair not the public high ways, in which respect subsidies, tributes, and other such like duties are given to Princes, they are to be punished in the double value of that which they have received, and otherwise to be fined for their ill dealing in that behalf. In gifts which are purely given, or under a day, or condition, and specially in those that are given in contemplation of death, which are compared to Legacies themselves, a right passeth without deliverance, and giveth sufficient matter of challenge unto him to whom they are given. The means or ways whereby the Lordship or right of any thing is gotten, be it natural, as by the first occupying the same, by finding the same, by bringing it into a form or fashion, by gaining by the sea or river, by delivery, or such like: or be it by civil means, as by getting the possession of any thing by good title, and good faith, so long as it will make a just usurpation, or prescription, by holding it as heir, by holding it by a gift, by taking it up as a thing forsaken, by holding it by legacy, dowry, or inheritance, by coming to it by sentence definitive, or interlocutory, by confession of the adversary, by session of the party, by authority of the judge, and the same have been fraudulently alienated by the debtors, there lieth an Injunction to put the party injured into possession. All Injunctions for the most part are prohibitory, and serve either to get, or to keep, or to recover possession, and are called commonly by the first name of the writ, as where one is denied the possession of inheritance belonging to him, an Injunction is granted him to put him in possession, called Quorum bonorum, or if it be for a legacy, Quod legatorum, and if it be in general cases, Ne vis fiat ei qui in possessionem missus est: That he that hath gotten the custody of the Will exhibit it: That no private building, or such like, be set up in a holy and sanctified place, and if it be that it be pulled down again: That no Nuisance be done in public places, or high ways, other than such as by the Law are allowable: That public high ways be repaired: That nothing be done in any River, or the banks thereof, whereby Ships or Barks may not pass thereon: That nothing be done in any common stream, whereby the water should be forced to run otherwise this year, than it did the last Summer afore: That it may be lawful for every man to sail or row in any public stream: That the banks of the river be repaired. Of force, and force armed, where two are in possession of one thing, and neither of them came by the same by force, or by secret slight, or by sufferance of an other, there lieth an Injunction for continuance of either of their possession, called uti possidetis: That a man may use such private way, as he hath used the year past, and repair the same without interruption of an other: That no man turn away the daily running water, or the water which falls in Summer from an other man's house, or ground to his hindrance: That water courses in rivers, and other like places be maintained: That such as have right to draw water out of any spring, or well, be not forbid the use thereof, and that every one have free liberty to cleanse, purge, and to repair the same, if there be any decay in it: That no man be forbid to scour, purge, or cleanse his privies, sinks, or vaults: That whatsoever is done by open force, or secret subtlety, be restored into place it was, before such force or subtlety was done, unless the party grieved release the same: That he that holds any thing at an other man's will, restore the same upon competent warning, or knowledge given him thereof: That a man may lop or cut the boughs of an other man's tree annoying his ground, if after warning given thereof, the owner thereof do not reform it. That it be lawful for a man to gather such fruits of his, as fall from his own tree into an other man's ground, without any trespass to the owner of the ground, so that he gather the same within three days after they are so fallen; for otherwise the law presumes he makes no reckoning of them, and fruits lying upon the ground do easily putrefy: That a man may challenge his children out of an other man's hand that holdeth them from him: That a Tenant after his Lease is expired may remove & quietly carry away such things from the farm, as he brought thither, so that the rent be paid, and those things which he brought thither were not bound for the payment thereof. Actions are taken away, and possessions maintained by exceptions, prescriptions, & preiudices, which themselves are many times in steed of actions, as is the exception de re indicata, which is an exception that determineth the cause in controversy. Of Exceptions, some are perpetual and peremptory, some are temporal and dilatory; Perpetual and peremptory are they which evermore have place & can nearer be avoided; Temporal and dilatory are they which are not evermore in place, but may be avoided: Exceptions are alleged either because that is done which ought to be done, or that is done that ought not to be done, or that is not done that aught to be done. Of prescriptions likewise some are perpetual, some temporal; the effect of either of them is to determine the actioney there in the manner of doing, or by the time when it was done, or by the place where it was done, or by some other like circumstance.  
An Obligation is a bond of the Law, whereby a man is necessarily bound to pay some thing to an other man: Obligations arise either out of bargains between man & man, or out of some offence that is done: Obligations by bargains are procured either by some thing that passeth between the parties, that do contract, or else is effected by words, or consent. Out of obligations spring actions, which are nothing else but a right to prosecute that in judgement which a man pretendeth to be due unto him, whereof there are two sorts; of which one is a challenge for right of a thing due, tother a suit against a person for some offence or trespass done.  
The seventh & last part being divided into six Books, treateth of Obligations which stand in words, and their effect; how far two or more principal debtors are bound to the creditor, in the whole, or every one for his own part: Of Sureties, and how far they are bound, and whether the discharge of the one be the release of the other: & by how many ways Obligations by words are dissolved or released, by renovation, by payment, by acceptation of the debt not paid, as if it were paid. Of Obligations some are civil, as those which have been heretofore handled, some Praetorian or pertaining to the Chancery, as those whereby Tutors, Curators, & Proctors, enter inte land unto a child, his state shall be safe, that is committed to their hands: That, that shall be paid which the judge ceaseth: That the Plaintiff shall ratify and allow that which his Proctor shall do for him, in judgement, and such like. Criminal judgements are private or public, that is, they are commenced either upon private offences, or upon public faults and suits. Private offences concern private men's revenge and injuries. Public, the revenge or injury of the whole state. Private offences which had ordinary proceedings, and ordinatie punishment, were many, among which Theft is the chiefest, which is a deceitful fingering of an other man's goods, with intent to gain either the thing itself, or the use or possession thereof, so that the mind alone maketh not theft, but the act joined to the mind, be the quantity never so small. Of Thefts, some are manifest, other not manifest; manifest is that wherein the offender is either taken in the deed doing, or taken before he could carry away the thing stolen thither whether he intended: the punishment whereof was four double the value of that, which was stolen: Not manifest was that wherein the party offending was not taken in the deed doing, and the pain thereof was the double of that which was purloined, or taken away. If any pilfery or theft be done in a Ship, Tavern, or Inn, the Master of the ship, tavern, or Inn, is to answer double the value thereof, if the same be done by himself, or their selves, or any of their mariners or servants: for it behoveth them to have honest men, whom they are to employ in such services: But if it be done by any of the passengers, or guests of the house, the owners of the ship, tavern, or Inn, are not to answer for the same, for they cannot turn away such guests as come into their house, neither in all likelihood know they the quality or condition of their guests. If any man privily, unwitting the owner thereof, cut down, hack, or bark any tree of any sort whatsoever, or those that are of the nature of trees, as juey reeds, willows, so that they be spoiled, he is to answer the double value of that he hath cut down & spoiled: and further, if it be a Vine tree, to be punished as a robber. He that taketh any thing away from another by violence, is to be punished in the worth four fold, for that it is a sin more grievous than theft: If any man, upon any ill intent, make a Tumult, whereby any hurt cometh to any man, he shall answer double of that the party is harmed in: If any, upon a burning of a house, or the fall thereof, or upon a shipwreck, or the spoiling of a boat or ship, steal any thing away, or being put in trust to keep any thing thereof, conceal the same, he shall pay the four double of the same; but if any man set the same a fire himself, he is either to be cast out to wild beasts, or is to be burnt with the same fire he went about to burn another with. If any have spitefully contumeltously injured another man his wife, or children, in deed, word, or writing, they are to forfeit so much as the party grieved shall esteem himself injured by, or the judge shall tax it at. A famous Libel is where a man hath of malicious purpose writ, compounded, or set out any thing to the infamy of another, without a name, or with a name, and the punishment thereof is death, and anciently was, that he lost the power or liberty to make a Will; the like punishment followeth him that having found an infamous Libel, doth not by and by spoil the same, that the knowledge thereof come not abroad, especially where the matter thereof is capital or worthy death. Extraordinary crimes, are those which have no ordinary punishment appointed them, but are arbitrary at the judges appointment, such as are Solicitors of other folks wedlocks, and Maids chastities, although they miss of their purpose; such as of purpose cast mire, dirt, or any like filth upon another, to the intent to disgrace him: such, as being with child, of purpose cause themselves to miscarry: Such as keep brothel and bawdy houses, or other unlawful company: jugglers, and such as carry about Snakes, and other like Serpents and trumpery to put men in fear: Such as hide and suppress Corn, to cause the price to be dearer: Such as either make, or use false weights wittingly; for all which, because there is no proper punishment provided in the Law, they are referred to the punishment of the judge, who is to punish them according to the quality of the fact, age, and understanding of the offender, and other circumstances according as he shall think good; so, notwithstanding that he exceed not a convenient measure therein, neither stretch the same to death: but upon some great and weighty cause, he is to be content with meaner punishment, as temporal banishment, whipping, or some moderate pecuniary mulct. For violating or defacing another man's sepulchre, Infamy was imposed, besides a pecuniary mulct to be divided between the Prince and the party grieved, but if any dig up the corpse of the deceased, the punishment is death: If any, by fear of his office or authority, wring any money from any man, or exact more fees in any matter than he ought to do, or cause him to marry or do any other thing he would not do, the forfeiture is four double the value of that which hath been taken, beside further punishment at the discretion of the judge. Such as drive men's cattle out of their ground, or sever them from the flock or heard, with intent to steal them, if they do it with a weapon like unto a Robber, are condemned to be thrown to wild beasts, otherwise are more lightly punished according to the discretion of the judge. Such as in judgement take money on both sides, or taking upon them, the defence of one side betray the cause and take money on the other side, are infamous by law, and are punished at the discretion of the judge. Such as receive thieves and other like malefactors are punished, in like sort as the thieves or malefactors themselves are; specially if they have assisted them in their wickedness: otherwise, if they only knew it and received them, they are more mildly to be punished, specially if the offenders were their kinsmen: for their offence is not like theirs which entertain those which are no kin unto them at all, when as it is natural for every one to regard his own blood: and fathers are many times more careful for their children then for themselves; but if that he that received them knew nothing of the offence, then is he altogether to be excused. Such as break prison are to be punished by death, because it is a certain treason to break the Prince's ward, but if they scape by the negligence of the Keepers, against whom the presumption lieth ever in this case, they are more lightly to be punished. If any commit Burglary, breaking up a door or wall, with intent to do a Robbery, if they be base companions they are to be condemned to the Mines or Galleys; but if they be of better reckoning, they are to be put from the rank or order wherein they are, or to be banished for a season. jugglers and like Impostors which go about deceiving of the people with false tricks and toys, hooks and such like, which insinuat themselves into other men's houses, with purpose to steal, are punished at the discretion of the judge. If any steal or take away any thing out of the inheritance of another man, before either the Will be proved, or adminstration be taken; an action of theft lieth not, because the inheritance, during the time, was counted no bodies, but he is to be punished by the discretion of the judge; yea, though it were the heir himself that did it. Cozenage, whereby a man craftily suppresseth something he should not, or putteth one thing in another's place, to the deceit of him that he dealeth withal, or corrupteth such wares which he uttereth, or doth any other thing collusorily, which is called of the Law Crimen Stellionatus, of a little vermin or creature called Stellio, much like to a Lisard, most envious to man, is censured by some ignominious and shameful punishment, or by disgracing the person, by putting him out of the Office, Place, or Order he is in, or by enjoining him some servile work, or by banishing him for a time, or by some like punishment, at the discretion of the judge. If any plough up a Mere baulk, or remove any other mark which hath accustomed to be a Mark or bound between ground and grounds, which anciently was counted reverend and religious among men the offence is punished either by a pecuniary mulct, or by banishment, or whipping, at the discretion of the judge. Unlawful Colleges, Corporations, and assemblies, gathered together to bad uses, as to eating, drinking, wantonness, heresy, conspiracy, as punished are public Routs or Riots, otherwise at the discretion of the judge: All these, before recited, are called Popular Actions, because, not only he that is injured, but every other honest subject may peruse and prosecute the same.  
Public judgements, are such which immediately pertain to the punishment of the common wealth for example sake, and are examined, tried, and punished by a public order appointed by Law, the party grieved, making himself party to the suit, and following the same; the party accused in the mean while remaining in prison, or putting in sureties for his appearance, and the party grieved for the prosecuting of the same. The chiefest of which sort is Treason, which is a diminishing or derogation of the Majesty of the people, or Prince, on whom the people have collated all their power, which is punished with death, and confiscation of the Lands and goods of the offender, and the eternal abolishment of his memory. The next is Adultery, which is violating of another man's bed, whose punishment anciently was death, both in the man and in the woman, but after it was mitigated in the woman, she being first whipped, and then shut up in a Monastery: but by the Canons, other pains are inflicted. Under Adultery are contained, Incest, Sodomy, Bawdry, and all the rest of the sins of that kind. Public force, is that which is done by a company of armed men, collected together, and the correction thereof is perpetual banishment. Private, which is done without Arms, the pain thereof is the loss of half the party's goods, and the infamy of his name. Murderers and Poisoners, Witches and Sorcerers, the crime being proved, die the death: such as set men's houses a fire, are to be consumed with fire themselves: such as Kill either Father or Mother, or those that are in the place of Father or Mother, or any that are of next a kin, their punishment is death; and in case of the Father and Mother, beside the pain of death, the Parricide being first well whipped, so that the blood do follow in good plenty, being sowed up into a sack, together with a Dung, a Cock, and an Ape, he is thrown into the depth of the Sea. Such as make false certificates, forge false Wills, Depose false wittingly, suborn witnesses, take money either to say, or not to say their knowledge of that which they are demanded of in judgement, corrupt judgement, or cause it to be corrupted, interline, put in, or raze out any thing out of any writing, that the truth thereof may not appear as it was written, suppress Wills or Testaments, or other like writings, counterfeit other men's hands and Seals, openeth any man's Will yet living, and imparteth the secrets thereof to the party's adversary, unsealeth such instruments or writings as are left with him to keep, bequeath unto themselves Legacies in an other man's Will without his good will and privity, wash or clip gold or sowder therein any corrupt metals, make base silver money, pretend themselves to be Noble men or Gentlemen, whereas otherwise they are but base persons, wilfully challenge unto themselves another man's name, or Arms, cog and foist in women's labours or otherwise, false births or Adulterous children, in stead of true and rightful heirs, sell one and the same thing to two men, carry about false Passports, use false Measures, or corrupt those that are true, in some cases, are punished by death, in other by banishment, imprisonment, or cutting of both or one of the hands of the offender. If any bearing any public office, abuse the same to gain, and doth that for money which he ought to do for thanks; the Law ordereth that the offender shall be called to account for his supposed bribery, and if he be found guilty thereof, fineth him four fold double to the party grieved, and beside, decreeth him to be banished. Such as by ill devices and policies, raise up the price of corn, and other victual, or get the whole sale of any merchandise into their hands, that they may sell it the dearer, are punishable at the discretion of the judge, which according to the quality of the person and fact reacheth sometimes to banishment, sometimes to death itself. If any take, purloin, or interuert to his own use any money dedicated to holy and public uses, or cause the same to be taken, purloined or interuerted, or if any take away any brazen table, wherein any public Laws are graven, or the bounds of any Lands are described, or blot out or change any thing thereof, or covenously pay in less money into the Exchequer, then by right he ought to have done, and hath not cleared with the Exchequer for the residue, is to be condemned in the three double of that which is the residue, and is beside to be banished.  
If any, to get an Office, procure a number of hired voices, besides the loss of the Office he sueth for, his punishment is temporal banishment. If any steal away any child, the body of any freeman, and sell the same away, or detain them against their will, the fault is death. If any slanderously charge another with any false crime, or wittingly bear any false witness against him, or willingly give any wrong Sentence against him, or on the contrary side, dissembleth such faults as he knoweth, and colludeth with the adversary, or giveth over the prosecution of a crime, he hath undertaken to follow, until he have leave granted him by the judge, to desist from his accusation, the same is to be punished with the like kind of punishment that he would have the other punished by, unless he be acquitted therefrom by the Prince's Pardon, or that the Aduersaris be dead. In public judgements where the Offender appears not, Process is to be awarded out against 'gainst him for his appearance, by a certain day to clear himself, at which day, if he appear not, an Inventory is taken of his goods, not to the intent they should be spent but that they should be reserved to his use, if he return again within a year, and clear himself; otherwise they become the Exchequers for ever, how innocent soever the party afterwards appears to be. If the Offender be present in judgement, and deny the fact, he is to be confuted by witnesses, or other proof, or if there be just matter of suspicion, to be put on the rack; which, albeit in matters of less danger, it is great cruelty, yet in great and horrible crimes it is necessary: If the Offender have either confessed the crime, or be convicted thereof, than it followeth that the party convicted, be punished either by death or otherwise, according to the qualitises of the person, or condition of the offence. Punishments by death are four, Hanging, Burning, Heading, and Casting the Offender to be devoured by wild beasts, amongst which may be reckoned, Exile or Banishment, for that it takes away a man's liberty, and bereaves him of his country, which to every good subject, is as dear unto him as his life itself.  
Punishments which did not inflict death, were many, and such as it pleased the Magistrate in his discretion to appoint. The Law having passed upon the Offender in such sort, as he hath lost his life, liberty, or country, his goods became forthwith forfeited to the Prince, such (I mean) as are of value: but for the other, the Law alloweth them the prisoner, for his maintenance during the time of his imprisonment, and satisfying such sees as are due to the Officers thereof; which hath place where the offender hath no children, otherwise the one half of his goods cometh to his children, unless it be in case of Treason where all is confiscated. They are also held for convict and guilty, which either upon a guiltiness of mind make away themselves before judgement, or stop their Adversaries with a bribe, that they shall not follow the Law against them, and their goods are no less confiscate than the others. But it is otherwise in those which are banished for a time, or to a certain place, or in such as the Law having once passed upon them, are either in their life or after their death, by the bounty and mercy of the Prince restored; in which case they recover Goods, Name, and Honour: the body being executed the carcase for the most part is granted to burial, unless it be for matter of Treason or other such like offence. If any have been unjustly condemned, either by the iniquity or unskilfulness of the judge, the law alloweth him an appeal, that is a provocation to a higher judge, that he may hear the cause anew, & reform that which is judged amiss into better: and if the higher judge find the party grieved, hath well appealed, he is to reverse the former sentence, otherwise to send the Offender back to the judge from whence he came, there to receive his punishment: yet some persons there be from whom no appeal lieth, as from the Prince, or Senate, because they represent the Prince; neither may he appeal which hath renounced his appeal. Appeals are made from lower judges to higher, and from him that is Delegated to him that did Delegate: Appeals are to be made within ten days after Sentence given, or within ten days after the Notice is come to the party, against whom the Sentence did pass, unless there attend thereon a continual grief, in which case, a man may appeal so long as the grief endures: the time to ask Dunissorie Letters, is thirty days from the Sentence given; the time to present the same to the judge, is at the discretion of the judge from whom; the time of prosecuting the same is a year, or upon just cause two years, in which time, if the suit be not ended, the cause is deserted, and to be sent back unto the judge from whom the Appeal was first made: while the Appeal hangeth, nothing is to be innovated, because by the Appeal the judges hands are, as it were, bound: but if the former Sentence were void by law, as in sundry cases they are, than there needeth no Appeal; for such Sentences never pass into a case judged. Appeals in criminal cases cannot be justified by a Proctor; but it is otherwise in Civil causes. An Appeal in one cause doth not exempt the party appellant from his own judge in other causes: If the appellant die, during the time of the Appeal, and leave no heir behind him, the Appeal ceaseth, but if he leave an heir behind him, & the matter of the Appeal concerns none but himself, he is not to be compelled to follow it, for every one may renounce his own suit: but if it concern the Exchequer, or any other body, then may he be compelled to follow it. The Exchequer is the Prince's Treasury, and the patrimony of the common wealth, and hath many & singular prerogatives, which private men have not. Such as are taken captive by the enemy, become their servants, who have taken them, unless either they escape home again themselves, or be ransomed by their friends, in both which cases they recover all right and privileges they had in their own common wealth before. By the Law all Subjects whatsoever are bound to serve the common wealth in war, insomuch that if any being priest withdraw himself, or his child from it, he is to be counted as a rebel, and for his punishment is to be banished, and mulcted or fined in the greatest part of his goods. As the privileges and rewards of Soldiers were many to encourage them to virtue and manhood; so their shames and punishments were great, to fear them from cowardice and vice: But among the rest of the privileges of Soldiers, the old Soldiers were the greatest. Of Subjects, some dwelled in Shires, and lived after their own Laws, and yet nevertheless were made partakers of the honours of the City: some other were inhabitants only in the common wealth, and had only a house in the same place to dwell in, and had no right to bear office: some other were strangers brought in, which were ruled by the Law of them among whom they dwelled. Amongst those that dwelled in Shires, the chiefest Magistrate was he whom they called Decurio, who was not sent by the people of Rome thither (for he was a Magistrate of Magistrates) but elected by the people there; and his office was, to keep the treasury of the Country, to provide victual, exact tribute, and govern the state there, in manner as our Sheriffs do here: His office was only annual, least by liberty, and lust of government and continuance thereof it might grow into a tyranny. Such as are Subjects, are to serve the common wealth in such offices, places, and services, as their ability is fit for, and the necessity of the common wealth requires. The services of the Common wealth were of three sorts; Patrimonial, such as belong to every man's patrimony to perform, which stood chief upon payments and charges, which were to go out of every man's inheritance towards the performance of such burden as lay upon him by law, custom, or command of him that had power thereto: Personal, which were to be performed by the care and industry of the party and his corporal labour, without expense of his purse. Mixed, which required both care of the mind, and labour of the body, and expense of the purse, and are imposed aswell in consideration of the thing, as the person, which every subject is to undergo, unless by the Law, or by the indulgence of the Prince they are excused; as some are excused by reason of old age, some by young age, some for their dignity, some for their calling, some for their state of body, some for that they serve in the necessary services of the Common wealth at home, or abroad, as Imbassadors do, some for that they are necessary places of services for God's Religion, as cathedral Churches, & other Churches are, some for that they are good and necessary places for Seminaries for the Common wealth, for learning and such other employments, as Colleges, Societies, and Schools of learn and nurture are. Legates and Imbassadors had immunity from all public services, not only the time of their embassage, but also two year after their return; They were called Legates, in that they were chosen as fit men, out of many; their person was sacred both at home and abroad, so that no man might lay violent hands on them without breach of the Law of Nations. Such as are Magistrates of cities ought so to govern, that no negligence may be justly imputed unto them, otherwise they are to answer it, and that when their office is expired, they give up a just account, both of what they have received, & what they have laid out, & pay in the residue, if there be any. Governors of Cities, together with the consent of the Burgesses thereof, may set down such orders and decrees, as are for the benefit & well ordering thereof, which are to be observed of all those which are Inhabitants thereof, and being once well and duly set down, are not to be reversed, but to the good of the City or Commonalty. New public works, such as are good for the Common weal every one may make without the leave of the Prince, unless it be done for emulation, or cause of discord; but for old works, in which stands the security of the Common wealth, as Castles, towers, gates, and walls of Cities, nothing is to be done or innovated in them without the Princes warrant, neither is it lawful for any man to grave his name in any public work, unless it be his at whose cost the work is done. Fairs are authorized by Princes only & are invented for trade of merchandise, & uttering of wares, which Countrymen have cause to buy, or sell: and have their privileges, that no man in any Fair can be arrested for any private debt; they are called Nundinae thereupon, that every ninth day they were holden, either in one place or other: He that for x. years space intermitteth to use his Fair, loseth the privilege thereof. If any make any promise to a City or Common wealth to do any thing upon certain cause, as that he might be made Consul, or that he would repair some part of the City that was burnt, he shall by the Law be compelled to perform his promise: for it is not meet that such promises should be satisfied with repentance. Such as profess liberal Sciences in any Common wealth, whereby youth is instructed, & brought up to knowledge, or be Scholmasters, or professors of Physic, or be Midwives, Notaries, Auditors, or Casters of accounts, or Registers, the Law alloweth not only a competent stipend in recompense of their skill & pains, but also affords them means how the same may be recovered, if it be denied. But as for Philosophers & Lawyers, the Law hath appointed them no stipend, not because they are not reverend Sciences, & worthy of reward or stipend, but because either of them are most honourable professions, whose worthiness is not to be valued or dishonoured by money: yet in these cases many things are honestly taken, which are not honestly asked; and the judge may according to the quality of the cause, and the skill of the Advocate, the custom of the Court, and the worth of the matter that is in hand, appoint them a fee answerable to their place, as also to such as are Interpreters between parties in matters of traffic, when one understands not an others language.  
The second Tome of the Law is the Code, & stands in xii. Books, whereof eight for the Titles follow in a manner the order of the Digest, a few titles only excepted, which are added, besides those of the Digest, but as for the 4. other, which are the first, the tenth, the 11. & the 12. although the subject they treat of be named in the Digest, yet the things which are there named are not handled in the Digest, and therefore will I pass over those 8. other, lest happily I might seem to do one thing twice, & therefore will I refer the Reader over to that which hath been said of them before in the handling of the Digest; for they are almost twins of one mother, so that whosoever knows the one, shall with no great difficulty discern the other, & come to the other four, yet not mentioned there: But yet before I lay open the matter thereof, I will in a word or two show why this volume of the Law is called the Code, who is the author thereof, & out of whom it was collected, what moved the author after so many learned titles set down before, of such things as are in the Digest deduced, by such a number of worthy Lawyers (as the laws of the Digest themselves do by their inscriptions show, for every law carrieth with him in his forehead the name of his Author) to make a new flourish of the same, & what the knowledge of the Code odth confer unto a Student or practiser of the Law more than the knowledge of the Digest doth.  
The Code therefore is named of the word Caudex, that is the trunk or timber of the tree from which the bark of the tree is piled or pulled off, of which men anciently used to make writing tables, artificially binding them up into the form of a book, and using them for books, before the use of paper or parchment was known, insomuch as many of these tables being bound together, they were called a Code, or book: beside whereas the ancient Lawyers before justinianus time, used to write their pleas and answers in scrolls of paper or parchment, justinian himself first put them in a book, and therefore termed them by the name of a Code.  
The Code itself is compiled of the answers of 56. Emperors, and their wise Council, whereof sundry were learned & skilful Lawyers, as the story of that time doth show, and the Laws themselves do name some of them, as that most excellent and famous man Papinian, and some others; that is from the days of Adrian the Emperor, unto the age of justinian himself.  
The cause that moved justinian hereto was, that in the Digest he found not every case decided that falls out in common use of life (for how is it possible when as every moment there falls out new matter, for which former Laws made no provision?) and therefore thought good to supply that by new Laws, which he found defective in the old: so that the multiplication of those titles grew not, that the Emperor had any meaning to fill the world with multitude of Laws, for he had found the inconvenience thereof already, and therefore had repealed and abolished so many thousand of old Laws, as he had; but it came rather of that, that the multitude of causes were so many, that every day there fell out some unexpected thing that was never heard of before: beside notwithstanding the carefulness of the Emperor himself, and his great Lawyer Treboman, and others, whom he used for the selecting & choosing out of the purest, best, and most agreeing Laws among themselves, out of that indigested heap of Laws, he then abolished; yet they were not so quick sighted, but in that great work sundry antinomies or contrary Laws past them, which had need to be expounded and amended, and the Authors to be recited. Further sundry of ancient Laws were so subtly written, that there was more wit than profit in them, so that it was expedient the Emperor should explain the same, and putting all subtlety a side, give a right sense unto the Law. Lastly whereas many things were delivered by them briefly, and therefore obscurely, the Lawgiver in his princely wisdom, set out the same in other Laws more plentiful and distinctly, all which were the chiefest causes why the Emperor set out the book of the Code.  
The Code neither in style neither in method cometh to the perfection of the Digest, as that which for the style is a barbarous Thracian phrase Latinized, such as never any mean Latinist spoke, whereas notwithstanding the style of the Digest is very grave and pure, & such as doth not much differ from the eloquentest speech that ever the Romans used, and for the Method, it hath no particular disposition, other than such as is borrowed of the Digest itself, & otherwise is rude and unskilful, where it doth recéede from the same: yet doth it not lack his good use, for to such as follow the practice of the law, the knowledge of the Code is much more expedient than the knowledge of the Digest is, for that the laws of the Code do determine matter in daily use of life; which, when they are like in all ages (for the same is evermore upon the stage, the persons a little altered) it cannot be but the learning thereof is very profitable and expedient for the Common wealth, whereas notwithstanding the learning of the Digest stands rather in discussing of subtle questions of the Law, & enumerations of the variety of opinions of ancient Lawyers thereupon, which have more commendation of wit, than benefit toward the common wealth in them; but hereof hitherto.  
The first Book of the Code treateth of Religion, and the Rites & Ceremonies thereto belonging, whereof I said there was no special Tractat in the Digest, saving that it divideth the public right into that which concerns the Church, and Church men, & the Magistrates of the Common wealth, prosecuting the latter branch thereof only, & omitting the first, because out of that heathenish Religion which was used in those ancient Lawyer's days, and those superstitious Rites, whereof their Books were full, nothing could be taken that might serve for our Religion: whereupon he instituted a new discourse thereof in the Code, beginning first with the blessed Trinity, one in essence, and three in person, wherein he sets down a brief sum of our Christian faith, agreeable to the doctrine of the Prophets, & Apostles, and the four first general Counsels, the Nicene, Constantinopolitan, Ephesine, and Chalcedon, forbidding any man publicly to dispute, or strive thereabout, taking occasion upon the Nestorian Heresy, which not long before had sprung up, and had mightily infected the Church, which justinian by this confession of Faith so published to the whole world, and penal Edict joined thereunto, hoped to repress: After he hath set down a full and sound confession of the Christian faith, conformable to the Primitive Church, next he addeth a title of the holy Church itself, and of her privileges, which either concern Ecclesiastical men's persons themselves, or their state, and substance, or the actions one Ecclesiastical man had against an other, or with or against Lay persons: where also he prosecuteth the degrees of Priests, or Ministers, their offices, orders, and how the same are to be come by, (that is without bribes or Simony, or other worldly respect save the worth of the person only) and the rights of holy places. Priests are so called, because they were consecrated, and as it were severed from the rest of the people, and given up to God: which also were called Elders, either because they were so in age, or aught to be in such manners, and careful carriage of themselves. Amongst Priests, or Ministers, Bishops have the first place, who are as it were the Overseers and Superintendents of the rest, so called of their watchfulness, care, labour, and faithfulness in teaching the people, and doing other duties, which they own unto the Church. The lowest degree of men among the Ecclesiastical hierarchy were the Clerks, so called of their lot by which they were chosen and allotted to God's service. To Bishop's Priests, and other of that rank, did appertain the care of Hospitals, whereof some were for Orphans, some for Infants, some for Impotent and diseased persons, some for Poor people, some for Strangers, & other like miserable persons, & therefore together with the title of Bishops & Clarks is joined the title of Hospitals, or alms-houses. In place next after the Bishops themselves, comes their power & audience; for albeit the chiefest office of a Bishop is to instruct the people in the doctrine of the word, & in good example of life: yet forasmuch as all will not be obedient unto the word, neither brought by the persuasion thereof to good nurture, & to be kept in order, & the eminency of the degree, wherein the Bishops are placed, is not sufficient to keep the people in obedience without some power & jurisdiction, and because the Church itself is the mother and maintainer of justice, therefore there is by the Emperor himself, and his predecessors, as many as professed Christianity, certain peculiar jurisdictions Ecclesiastical, assigned to the Bishops, more worthy than the Civil, over persons and causes Ecclesiastical, such as touch the Soul and Conscience, or do appertain to any charitable or godly uses: and over the Laity so far forth as either the Laity themselves have been content to submit themselves unto their government, that is so far, as either it concerns their Souls health, or the outward government of the Church in things decent or comely, or that it concerns poor and miserable persons, such as widows, orphans, captives, and such other like helpless people are, or where the Civil Magistrates cannot be come by, or doth voluntarily delay judgement; in all which anciently a Bishop was to perform double faith and sanctity, first of an uncorrupt judge, and then of a holy Bishop. But in many of these matters in these days, the Laity will not suffer themselves to be controlled, and therefore hath taken away most of these dealings from them, yea, even in charitable causes. Immediately followeth a title of Heretics, Manichees, Samaritans, Anabaptists, Apostates, abusers of the Cross of Christ, jews, and worshippers of the host of heaven, Pagans, and of their Temples and Sacrifices; whom the Bishop is not only to confute by learning, but also to suppress by authority, for he hath not the Spiritual sword in vain. The Heretics, jews, and Pagans shall not have Christian men and women to be their servants: that such as fly to the Church for Sanctuary, or claim the aid thereof, shall not be drawn from thence, unless the offence be heinous, and done of a pretenced and purposed malice, in which case no Immunity is to be allowed them, but wicked people are to be punished according to their desert, agreeable to the word of God itself, which would not have his Altar be a refuge unto the wicked: And so far of that part of public right, which appertaineth to the Priests, or Ministers, and their Function, which was omitted in the Digest, but prosecuted in the Code. Now it followeth, that with like brevity I run over the three last Books of the Code, which themselves were rather shadowed in the Digest, in the title of the right of the Exchequer, then in any just proportion handled.  
The first therefore of them setteth out, what is the right of the Exchequer, and in what things it standeth, as in goods excheted, because there is no Heir unto them, or that they are forfeited by any offence worthy death, or otherwise. How such as are in debt to the Exchequer, and their sureties are to be sued. Of the right of those things which the Exchequer sells by outcry, where he that offereth most carrieth it away, and how the same may be revoked, unless all rights and ceremonies be solemnly performed therein. How things that are in Common between the Exchequer and private men, may be sold, and that the Exchequer evict nothing that it hath once sold, for that, it were a thing against the dignity of the Exchequer, & would terrify private men for bargaining with it. Of those that have borrowed money out of the public receipts, and what penalty they incur, if they repay it not at their days covenanted, sometimes the forfeiture of four double of that they have borrowed, sometimes danger of life itself. That in cases of penalties, the Exchequer be not preferred before such as the Offender was truly indebted unto, but that they be first served, and then the Exchequer have only that which is left. What usury the Exchequer may take, that is for money lent, and not for such sums as grow out of Mulcts and Penalties. That such sentences that are given against the Exchequer, may be retracted within three year following, although ordinarily all other Sentences are irrevocable after ten days; neither can be reform after that time, either by rescript of the Prince, or by pretence of new proof. Of the goods of such as exchet by reason they have made no Will, and of the goods of Incorporations, that is, of such as die without Heirs, that they come not to the common bank of the city, but that they exchet unto the Prince: Of promoters, by whose information any goods are confiscate, either by reason of the goods themselves, as that they are adulterine, or that they are prohibited to be exported or imported, or upon some other like cause, or by reason of the persons that have offended, and crimes wherein they have offended; and their punishment, if they give in any wrong information, or other than such as they are bound unto, by virtue of their Office: and that they give no information in, but by advise of the Attorney of the Exchequer, and that they make no information against their Lord and Master, but in case of Treason: that it shall be lawful for no man to make suit unto the Prince for those things that are confiscated unto the Exchequer, as though it were more Honourable for the Prince to bestow such things on his Courtiers, then to keep them to himself: and therefore, such as are the Prince's Secretaries, his Masters of Requests, and others that are of his remembrance, are forbidden to make any Acts, Instruments, or other writings hereof, unless the Prince of his own motion, and at no other man's suit, will or command the same: Of such as put themselves into the Exchequer, upon any confession made against themselves: Of such to whom the Prince jointly hath given any farm or like thing, that where one of them dieth without an heir, the other may succeed him: Of Treasure found, that the Exchequer be made acquainted with it; and that if it be found in a public place, half goeth to the Exchequer, the other to the finder: but if it be in a private place, then half to the Lord of the soil, and the other to the Finder: Of provision for Corn and such other like: Of Tribute, which was an ordinary payment: Of imposition and super-impositions, which were payments laid upon the subject above ordinary tax, for some present necessity, to which charges the ordinary tax doth not suffice; which was not to be done, but upon great and urgent cause, by a council called together, and with the consent of the subject: Of Collectors of the Subsidy, and in what manner they are to be collected and brought into the Exchequer, and of the punishment of those that in the collection thereof extort more than is due: that it shall be lawful to distrain for Tribute unpaid: that such acquittances as the Exchequer shall deliver unto the accountants, shall be their full and final discharge: and that the Subsidy Books shall every quarter be sent up into the Exchequer, with the account of the Collectors, that thereby it may appear how much every man hath paid or oweth unto the Exchequer: and that nothing may be done for the grievance of the poor, or the favour of the rich: Of the book of accounts of yearly gifts that commonly Subjects present unto the Prince at New years tide and otherwise, and that they be divided from the accounts of the Exchequer: That no man be freed from the payment of Tribute: Of spending out such ancient grain and other like provision as is laid up in the common storehouse, and making provision for a new, and compelling the subjects, such as have plenty of such grain, if it happen to be vinoed and musty, to buy the same, that the whole loss thereof may not lie upon the Exchequer: What pension such Manors as the Prince hath given or released from payment of Subsidies shall give, and that no man be so hardy to beg such a matter of the Prince lest the revenues of the Exchequer be thereby diminished: Of Manors that have been translated from the payment of one kind of provision to another, or that have been in their taxation over rated: Of Brass that Mineral Countries are to yield, or money in am thereof: Of Controllers, whose Office it was to cast over again such accounts as were brought into the Exchequer, or to examine them a new, lest perhaps, there might be an error in them.  
And so far as concerning those things which do appertain to the account of the Exchequer, or the patrimony thereof, or such pensions or payments as are due unto the same. Now followeth the other part of this tenth Book, which containeth the burdens, duties, or offices imposed on the subject by the Exchequer, and what excuse the subject might allege in this behalf.  
Burdens or duties, were either personal, as places of Honour, which were not to be continued from the father to the child; or they be Patrimonial which are charged upon men's inheritance, either for the good of the common wealth, or to enrich the Exchequer against dangers that are like to ensue: which are undertook and performed either by those which are of necessity to obey that which is enjoined them, or by those which offer themselves voluntarily thereto, which seldom happeneth in patrimonial charges: but in matters of Honour and Personal services, it many times cometh to pass, that men excuse not themselves from bearing of Offices, or doing of Personal services, although they have an immunity from them, either by the grant of the Prince, (which is to be understood of extraordinary service only, and not of ordinary) or by the benefit of the Law; for by the law men are many times upon just causes excused from Personal services, so it be not from such services as no man can excuse himself from; such as are Postings and carriages, when the Prince passeth by, or the Tenure of his Inheritance do so require it, and the erecting and repairing of Bridges, Ways and Walls, the provision and carriage of Corn, and other like kinds necessary for the maintenance of the Prince's house. Men are excused either generally from all kinds of services, or particularly from some: as all Minors, specially such as are Students in any famous University, whilst they give themselves there unto their book, are excused from all Personal services, but not from Patrimonial services; as also all old men of the age of seventy years and upward, all professors of Liberal Sciences, whereby the common wealth is benefited, all professors of Physic, Grammar, Oratory or Philosophy, so they be allowed by the Magistrate and seven skilful men in the profession which they make show of, and be not Supernumerarii, or above the number of those that are to be allowed, in which number are, neither Poets or Auditors: they are also excused, which upon just cause are dismissed, either out of the Army or out of the Schools, either for lack of health, or that they are so wounded, that they can neither serve in war any longer, nor longer endure study, which are so to be understood that they yield excuse from Personal Services only and not from predial.  
Those things that yield excuse in part, from Personal services are these; the Renting of the Prince's custom, the baseness of the persons state, not fit to bear any Office of credit, infamy, banishment, an amotion from a man's place and degree, feminine sex, which are to undergo such Offices only, as are agreeable to their sex. Imbassages imposed upon any by the Prince and his Council, which hath immunity also of two years after their return, if the Embassage were into places becond the sea, or into any far country, not if it were into any Country near at hand. Skill in any Manuel Art or Mysteries, to the intent that they may have both time to learn their Arts, and so become the Skilfuller in the same, and also have more alacrity to teach others in their Mystery. That that care be had, that such are chosen to office, that they be of the worthier sort for their virtue and place, and the richest for their state: that no man be chosen to office for envy, and if any be, and the same be proved, he that did choose him thereto is to be fined, and to pay the expenses of the suit, unless he which is chosen die within short time after the choice, than his successors are not bound thereto. Further, men are excused, if being in one Office, they are chosen unto another, to the intent they may the better execute and perform that office they have in hand: Such as are remembrancers, which make Books of what is due to the Exchequer, and what is brought in, Auditors, Receivers, Tellers, Granarers, Weighers, such as weigh & try such gold as is brought and paid into the Exchequer; Collectors, that is, such as gather up the gold that is due in the Provinces to the Exchequer, and send the same over into the Exchequer, who are in no case to hold the same longer in their hands than the Law alloweth them, much less to turn the same to their own use, without great offence to the Prince and common wealth: the like is for Crown gold, that is, of such gold that is put in Crowns, and offered to the Prince upon any public gratulation, or any exploit that hath been happily achieved.  
justices of Peace, which are distributed by countries, for the more quiet and peaceable government of the same, whose care was to seek out thieves and malefactors, and to foresee that the Country people did make no mutiny, by reason of the Taxes and Subsidies that were levied upon them: that for gold, there might be paid silver, and again, silver for gold into the Exchequer, so that the value thereof were made equal. Usurers, although they have no possessions, yet they are no less bound to all patrimonial or predial charges, than if themselves had Lands and Hereditaments, although, for their infamy, they are excluded from all personal charges that are of credit.  
The Eleventh Book proceedeth in the enumeration of other vocations, that are exempted from personal services of the common wealth, besides those that have been named in the tenth Book: as masters of ships and Mariners, which served to bring in any Merchandise or provision for the Prince's household, out of foreign Countries into the Prince's storehouse; yea, although they were private men's ships, which were employed to that service, so that if a private man's ship were laden with any public provision, there could not any other private burden be imposed upon him: for that, if the ship perish by shipwreck by reason of the private burden that is put therein above the public charge, than he is to answer the loss thereof unto the Exchequer, otherwise than in the case of private men, who are themselves to bear the loss of those things which are exported or imported; neither can they make gain of private men's shipwreck or of those things which are cast out into the sea, to ease the lading of the ship, but are bound to restore it to the owner, under pain of confiscation of their goods by the Temporal Law, and excommunication of their persons by the Ecclesiastical Magistrate. Add to this, Miners or Metallers, and the governors of the same; gatherers of Muskels and other like shell fish, with whose blood either Purple is made, or out of which Pearls are taken: which colour Princes only might use, as also velvet and cloth of gold, neither was it lawful for any man (under the degree of the Prince) to wear the same, saving only women in some sort, for that such ornaments are fit for women than men. join to these Monetaries, which served to coin money, Wainemen or Carmen, which with their own cattle carried or conveyed things which belonged to the Prince's Treasury. The like privilege had they which made Armour for the Prince's armory, as Spears, Breast plates, Darts, and such like; or made Bridles, Girdles studded with pearl or precious stone unto the Court, for the King's household, who only were allowed to wear the same. Such as had the care and government of any Corporations, as the Prince's Bakers, Vintners, Papersellers, Money-changers, professors of Liberal Sciences, specially in Rome, and Constantinople, which after the seat of the Empire was translated thither, had all the privileges of old Rome, saving the Ecclesiastical primacy, for which notwithstanding there was long dissension between the two cities.  
Next after Rome and Constantinople, Beritus the chief City of Syria, had great privileges, for the famous University which was in the same, and such Provinces or Countries as served the same, or any of them with yearly provision of Corn, Oil, Beef, Mutton, Pork, and such other like victual: which provision was to be distributed among the poor and impotent of the Cities, and not to be given to stout and valiant beggars, which are able to get their living with their own hands, and therefore were to be compelled to work. The Aldermen or Governors of Cities, for that they are employed in matters of greater services: yet none of them were to be called to any office before he had been even with the common wealth, if happily any of them were in debt to it; neither were they or any of them excused more than from personal services, but in predial duties, they paid every one according to his rate. But as for Enterlud-plaiers and houses of bawdry, they had no exemption at all, but paid double charges to the rest. Of Husbandmen, some are servants, as Copiholders, others are free, as Fréeholders, which notwithstanding themselves are, as it were, bound unto the soil, and are rated in the Subsidy according to their Acres, and if they have no Land, then according to the head or number of their household; which notwithstanding, at this day is taken away, and these, as well pay rend to the owners of the ground (wherein notwithstanding, the Landlord cannot exact of them, or charge them above that which hath been covenanted between them) as Tribute, and Head-siluer to the common wealth: for the declining of which, and avoiding of necessary services of the common wealth, as no man can put himself under the patronage of any Noble man, so also they cannot be called from this service of the common wealth, to any other. Country men, such as were addicted to the ground they tilled, although the ground were their own, yet could they not sell it to any man, but to him that was of the mother village wherein himself was. A Mother village, was that whence all the villages round about were derived. Although all such husbandmen as dwell in any village, are to pay Subsidy for such goods as they possess, or such Lands as they hold; yet one neighbour is not to be disquieted or arrested for another man's due: for that it is a thing unlawful to trouble one for another, or not to cease men indifferently, according to the value of their Lands, and the worth of their goods. And therefore the Romans in rating of matters of taxes, had first Cessers which rated men according to that which they thought their state to be: then had they Levellers or Surveyors, which consired the rate set down, mended it, and made it even, easing such persons or grounds as were overrated, and charging more deeply such others as were overlightly taxed, procuring such grounds as were waste and barren, should be brought to tillage, and that the barren should be joined with the fruitful, that by such means the Prince might receive subsidy out of both: March grounds & such as lie in the bounds of any kingdom, serve for the maintenance of such garrisons as are there placed for the defence of the Marches, and such as hold the said lands, are to pay an yearly provision or pension for the same; as also the Prince's pastures, woods, and forests, which are let out upon a certain yearly rent, either for a certain time, or in fee farm for ever, which in respect they pay an ordinary payment to the Prince, either in money, or in provision, are discharged from all other ordinary & extraordinary burdens. Public things are those which appertain to the Exchequer, or to the Church, which may in like sort be rent out for a season, or for ever, as the possession of the Exchequer may, so it be done to the certain benefit of the Church, and under such solemnities, as in this case are required, otherwise it cannot be let out but for 30. years, or for three lives. fee farm is when lands and tenements, or other hereditaments, are let out for ever under a certain yearly rent, in reknowledgement of the sovereignty thereof, belonging still to the first Lord whereby both the right and possession passeth to the farmer in fee.  
The third and last of these Books, treateth of the honours that the Exchequer giveth; of which the first and chiefest was the Praetorship, which anciently was a great dignity, but after became an idle name only, & a burden to the Senators, as in which at their own charges they were to set out plays and shows, and gave unto the Emperor in consideration of his or their glebe land, a certain quantity of gold called Aurum glebale, or if they had no glebe land, than offered they to the Emperor an other piece of gold, called Follis aurea, both which afterward were taken away. Next was the Consulship, which was not to be sought by ambition, or by scatering money among the people, but by clear suffrages and desert: After the Consulship came in place the Constable, or Master of the Soldiers, and those which were called Patricij, for that their fathers had been Senators, whose place under Augustus was equal to the Consuls, although they were in no office and function of the Common wealth; & the other is not so much an administration as a dignity, as the Senatorship anciently was, into the which who that were admitted, were accounted as Parents to the Prince, and Fathers to their Country: Fourthly in place, were the Prince's Chamberlains, who were adorned with sundry privileges, and had the title of honour: Fiftly, followed the Treasurer, who was Master of all the receipts and treasure of the Prince, public or private, & of all such officers as were underneath him: Then the Prenotarie, chief notary or scribe of the Court, who for that he had the pre-eminence, above all the Gentlemen of the papers, whom we now call Secretaries, was called Primicerius, of the Greek word _____ which signifieth wax, which is interpreted a waxed Table, in which anciently they did write. After him that was first secretary, there was an other called second Secretary, and so after other Clerks of the Counsel, who were not all in one degree, but some were first, some were second, and so in order as their person, place, and time did require: Over which was the Master of the Rolls, who now is called Chancellor, and such as are of the Princes privy Counsel, or assessors of his privy consistory, wherein he heareth ambassages, and debateth of the greatest affairs of the state, and other weighty matters. The Precedent or Tribune of the Schools, where young men were trained up to feats of arms. The Marshals or Precedents of Military affairs: the Physicians of the Prince's body, Constantine in old time honoured with the title of Earls, as he did the rest of his chief officers, but now they are without the dignity of that title: The Earls of the Countries who governed the provinces or shires whereof they were Earls: Professors of Law & other sciences twenty years together deserved by the law to be made Earls. The Porters of the Court, and the Prince's watch, which watched nightly for the defence of his body, the guard or protectors of the Prince's body, & their Captain, among which were chief the Standard bearers, as in whom the Prince reposed most trust, and used them chief in all matters of danger. Next unto the Chancellor, or Master of the Rolls, were the Clerks, and others that served in the Rolls, in which the decrees and rescripts of the Prince, the Supplications of the subject, & the orders thereupon set down are recorded, laid up, & kept, as the rolls of Remembrances, of Epistles, libels, ordinances, gifts given by the Prince, and such like: besides such as serve the Prince, not in matters of learning, or war, or the pen, or other like places above named, but in actions of the common wealth, and in public offices either of peace or war, and their Precedents or governors, among whom are Postmasters, to whom the care of the public course doth appertain, the Treasurer of the chamber, who hath the keeping of the privy purse, and such things as come to the Prince by the way of gift, The Master of the horse, his Queries and riders, the yeoman of the Styrop and the Prince's footmen, The castilians or officers of the household, which were part of the Prince's family, appointed for the inward services of the Prince in the Court, as his tasters, butler's, waiters, chamberers, and such other, and their governors, Harbingers, which upon remove provide for the Prince's lodgings; all which had sundry privileges and immunities, for that they were all accounted as soldiers, as also the eleven Schools for Henchmen, wherein sundry youths, under masters appointed for that purpose were trained up, some in learning, some other in Military discipline, that they might be made fit for the service of the Prince, and Common wealth, and had for their better education an annual allowance of the Prince, and from thence when they were sufficiently instructed, or trained up, were sent out to such services as they were fit for.  
Of such as were attendants about the Prince, and were employed in his service, the chiefest of all were the Senators, and therefore are called in the Law, the Companions of the Prince, and have all the privileges that Soldiers have: The second order was of them that were Knight riders, which either did, or might serve in war: In the third rank were such as were in dignity. All may be compelled to serve in war, which have neither just excuse, nor exemption, nor have any leave of the Captain to be absent, unless they be Merchant men, or be indebted unto the Common wealth, or obnoxious to the Law, for any crime they have committed.  
Under the title of Military discipline is declared, how men are to be trained up to the knowledge of war, what oath is to be taken of such as are priest to be Soldiers, how they are to be distributed into bands, what use or benefit the Common wealth hath by them, what is their office, and how they are to be mustered, or else translated from one degree to an other, how they are to be judged, if they offend, what privileges belong unto them, what stipend or wages is due unto them; as allowance of Corn, and the baking of the same, into biscuit, which was a kind of bread, twice baked for the better durance of it, and the carriage thereof from place to place, so often as they happened to remove, their livery or apparel, and the times of the delivery of the same, or money in steed thereof, lodging and provision of salted meat the longer to endure: how long soldiers may be absent from the camp, and who is to give them leave of absence, and what is the punishment of them that without just cause be longer absent from the Army than they have leave; of young soldiers, and of their training up, of old soldiers, and of their privileges: Provision for keeping safe the Sea coast, and ordinary high ways of the Country, that such as journey may pass free without hurt or damage: of runagates out of the Army, and such as conceal them, and of either of their punishments: of the sons of such officers as have died in the war, and of their preferment, if any be fit for it, that they succeed in their father's office, or room: Of the Sergeant Maior, the Clerk of the band, and other such officers of the Camp, and of their office, reward, and punishment: of places disposed of, for public posts, & carriages in high beaten ways, and other by-ways on necessity, and how the same and the Cattle are to be used, that is, that they be not driven forward with staves or clubs, but with whips only: and that no post horse, or carriage be taken, but for public use of post letters; to whom they are to be granted, and for what time: Of the Apparitors, Sergeants, Sumners, or Bailiffs: of sundry great officers, and of their Scribes, and Registers, and of their trials: Of the fees of Advocates, & of the extortion of Apparitors. And this is the sum of those things which are specially contained in the Code, beside other things which it hath, common with the Digest; the knowledge whereof at this day, is not so necessary for the Civilian, who in this age hath little use thereof, as it is expedient for Councelors of State, and such as are called to place in court, who may thereout mark many things to direct them in their place, as the variety of those things which are herein handled doth very well show.  
The third Volume of the Law is called the Authentikes, of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, either because they have authority in themselves, as proceeding from the Emperors own mouth, or that they are originals to other writings, that are transcribed out of them.  
The Authentikes therefore are a volume of new Constitutions, set out by justinian the Emperor, after the Code, and brought into the body of the Law under one Book.  
In the Authentikes, is not that order observed in the disposition of the Laws, is either in the Digest, or the Code, but as occasion was offered of any doubt, wherein the Prince's resolution was necessary to every thing, so it is set down without any other Method or form.  
The whole Volume is divided into 9 Collations, Constitutions, or Sections, and they again into 168. Novels, which also are distributed into certain Chapters.  
They were called Novels, because they were new Laws, compared to the Laws of the Digest, or the Code.  
Of these Constitutions, some were general, and did concern all, who had like cause of doubt; some other were private, and did concern only the place or persons, they were writ for, which I will overpass with silence.  
Of the general, the first title and first Novel of the first collation is, that Heirs, Feoffées, executors, administrators, and their successors, shall fulfil the will of the deceased, and within one year after his decease, shall pay his Legacies and bequests: and if they be once sued for it, they shall forthwith pay that which is due upon the Will (deducting only a fourth part, which is due unto the heir by the Law Falcidia) or else to lose such bequests as themselves have in the Will.  
That it shall not be lawful for Widows coming to second marriages, after their first husband is dead, to sequester one of their children from the rest, upon whom they will bestow such things, as her first husband gave her before marriage, but that the benefit thereof shall be common to them all: Neither that she convey it over to her second husband, or his children, and so defraud her first husband's children. And that a man in like sort suruyving his wife, shall do the like toward his first wives children, as concerning such Dowry as the first wife brought to her husband.  
Of Sureties and Warranties, that the Creditors shall first sue their Debtors, and take erecution against their goods, and finding them not payable, shall then take their remedy against the Sureties.  
Of Monks, that they build no Monasteries, but with the leave of the Bishop, who is there with prayer to lay the first stone: And that the Bishop shall appoint such an Abbot over the Monks, as in virtue, and in merit excels the rest: And beside of their habit, conversation, professions, and change of life, and who is to succeed them in their goods and inheritance.  
Of Bishops and Clerks, that is, that Bishops and Clerks be of good fame, of competent learning, and age, and that they be ordained and promoted without Simony, or bribery, or the injury of the present Incumbent: And that there be a set number of Clerks in every Church, lest the Church and Parishioners thereby be over charged.  
The second Collation treateth of the Church's state, that the lands of the Church be neither sold, aliened, nor changed away, but upon necessity, or that they be let to farm for a time, or upon other just cause, no not with the Prince himself, unless the change be as good, or better, than that which he receiveth from the Church: and if any man presume contrary to this form, to change with the Church, he shall lose both the thing he changed, and the thing he would have changed for it, and both of them shall remain in the right of the Church: And that no man give or change a barren piece of the ground with the Church.  
That judges and Rulers of Provinces be made without gifts: of their office, power, authority, and stipend, and that they swear, they shall so sincerely and uprightly execute their office, as knowing they shall give an account thereof to God and the King: which oath they shall undergo before the Bishop of the place, and the chief men of that Province, whether they are sent to be judges or Governors.  
Of the Masters of Requests, and their office, which offer to the Prince suitors Petitions, and report them back from the Prince unto the judges.  
Of wicked and incestuous Marriages, and that such as marry within those degrees, forfeit all that they have unto the Exchequer, for that when they might make lawful Marriages, they rather choose to make unlawful Marriages.  
The third Collation containeth matter against Bawds, that they be not suffered in any place of the Roman Empire, that being once warned to forbear their wicked profession, if they offend therein again, they die the death therefore. If any man let any house to a bawd, knowing him to be a bawd, that he shall for fait x. li. to the Prince, and his house shall be in danger to be confiscated.  
Of Majors and Governors of Cities, that such be chosen that be honest people, and men of credit, and that no man of the City being thereto chosen, refuse the same, and that such as are thereto chosen, shall swears they will proceed in every matter, according to Law and conscience.  
That there be a certain number of Clerks in every Church, and that it be neither diminished, nor increased, and therefore that there be a translation of those that abound in one Church, into an other Church that wanteth.  
The precepts which Princes gave to Rulers of Provinces, were these in offect: that whereas themselves were freely chosen thereunto, they should in due sort and order go into their Provinces, that they should keep their hands pure from bribes, that they should carefully look unto the Revenues of the Exchequer, and the peace and quiet estate of the Province, repress outrages and rebellions, procure that causes be ended with all indifferency, and ordinary charges: to foresee that neither themselves, nor any of their officers, or underministers, do injury to the people, lest those that should help them, do hurt them: To provide that the people want not necessary sustenance, and keep the walls of the City in reparation: that they punish offences according to the Law, without respect to any man's privilege, neither admit any excuse in the examining or correcting of the same, save innocency only: that they keep their Officers in order: that they admit to their Counsel such as are good men, and are mild towards such as are good, and sharp towards such as are evil: that they afford not Protections to every man, neither to any one longer than it is fit and convenient it should be: That where they remove, they vex not the Country men with more carryages than is needful: that they suffer Churches and other like holy places, to be a Sanctuary to murderers, and other such like wicked men: that they suffer not Lands to be sold without fine made to the Exchequer: that they regard not Letters or rescripts contrary to Law, & against the weal public, unless they be seconded: That they suffer not the Province to be disquieted under pretence of Religion, heresy, or such sme, but if there be any Canonical or ordinary thing to be done, they advise thereabout with the Bishop: that they do not confiscate the goods of such as are condemned: that they patronize no man unjustly: that no man set his Arms or Cognusance upon another man's Lands: neither that any carry any weapon, unless he be a Soldier.  
What is an hereditary portion, and how children are to succeed: of such as deny their own hand writing, and how they are to be punished, as well in personal as in real actions; and that such deniers after their denial be not admitted to other exceptions: and the taking away the thing in controversy from him, which denied the true owner to be Lord thereof.  
The fourth Collation, handleth matters of Marriage, and that marriage is made only by consent, without either lying together, or instruments of dowry: Of women that marry again within the year of mourning, which by Law in sundry sorts was punished for confusion of their issue: that there be an equal proportion in the Dowry, and the jointure: Of Divorce and separation of marriages, and for what causes, by consent, for impotency, for adultery: and that Noble women, which after the death of their first husband, being noble personages, marry to inferior men, shall lose the dignity of their first husband, and follow the condition of their second husband.  
Of Appeals, and within what time a man may appeal, and from whom, and to whom the appeal is to be made.  
That none which lends money to an husbandman, take his land to mortgage, and how much usury money a man may take of an husbandman.  
Of her that was brought to bed the eleventh month, after her husband's decease, and that such as are borne in the beginning of the same month, are to be accounted for Legitimat, but such as are borne in the end thereof, are to be holden for bastards.  
Of instruments and their credit, and that in every instrument there be protochols left, that is, signs and notes of the time, when such a contract was made, and who was notary and witnesses to the same, and that after it be written fair, and engrossed in a leaguer or fair mundum Book.  
The fift Collation forbiddeth the alienation or selling away of the immovable possessions of the Church, unless it be done under certain solemnities, and then only when the movable goods are not sufficient to pay the debts of the Church or holy place.  
Further, it provideth that the name of the Prince for the time being, be put in all instruments, and the day and year when the instrument was made.  
That the Oath of the deceased, as concerning the quantity of his goods, so far as it toucheth the division of the same among his children, be holden for good, but that it be in no sort prejudicial to the creditors.  
Of women tumblers, & such other of like sort, which with the feats of their body, maintain themselves, that no oath or surety be taken of them, that they will not leave that kind of life, since such oath is against good manners, and is of no validity in Law.  
That such gifts as are given by private men to their Prince, need no record, but are good without enrolling of them, and in like sort such things as are given by the Princes to private men.  
That no person, thing, or gold of an other man be arrested for another man's debt, which they now call reprisals, & that he which is hurt by such reprisals, shall recover the four double of the damages that he hath suffered thereby, and that one man be not beaten or stricken for another.  
That he that calls a man into law out of his Territory, or Province where he dwelleth, shall enter caution, if he obtain not in the suit against him, he shall pay him so much as the judge of the Court shall condemn him in. And that he who hath given his oath in judgement, shall pay the whole costs of the suit, but after shall be admitted to prosecute the same if he will, so that he put in sureties to perform it.  
That such women as are unindowed shall have the fourth part of their husband's substance, after his death, and in like sort the man in the woman's, if the man or woman that surviveth be poor.  
That Churches or Religious persons may change grounds one with another: For that one privileged persons right ceaseth against another, that is in like sort privileged.  
That such changes of manors, Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, as are made by Churchmen to the Prince, be not feigned matters, and so by the Prince come to other men's hands, who have set on the prince to make this change, and that the change be made to the Prince's house only, and if the Prince, after convey or confer, the same upon any private man, it shall be lawful for the Church to re-enter upon the same again, and to reposseed it as in her former right.  
That in greater Churches, Clerks may pay something for their first admittance, but in lesser Churches it is not lawful.  
That such as build, found, or endow Churches (which must go before the rest) do the same by the authority of the bishop; and that such as are called patrons, may present their Clerks unto the Bishop, but that they cannot make or ordain Clerks therein themselves.  
That the sacred mysteries or ministries be not done in private houses, but be celebrated in public places, lest thereby things be done contrary to the Catholic and Apostolic faith; unless they call to the celebrating of the same, such Clerks, of whose faith and conformity there is no doubt made, or are deputed thereto by the good will of the Bishop, but places to pray in every man may have in his own house; if any thing be done to the contrary, the house wherein these things are done, shall be confiscated, and themselves shall be punished at the discretion of the Prince.  
That neither such as be dead, nor the Corpse or Funeral of them be injured by the creditors, but that they be buried in peace.  
That women's jointures be not sold, or made away, no not even with their own consent.  
In what place, number, form, manner, and order, the prince's counsel is to sit, and come together.  
That he that is convented in judgement, if he wilfully absent himself, may be condemned after issue is joined.  
That no man build a Chapel or Oratory in his house, without the leave of the bishop, and before he consecrate the place by prayer, and set up the Cross there, and make Procession in the place; and that before he build it he allot out lands necessary for the maintenance of the same, & those that shall attend on God's service in the place: and that Bishops be not nonresidents in their Churches.  
That all obey the Prince's judges, whether the cause be Civil or Criminal they judge in, and that the causes be examined before them without respect of persons, and in what sort the Process is to be framed against such as be present, and how against those that be absent.  
The sixth Collation, showeth by what means children illegitimate, may be made legitimat, that is, either by the Prince's dispensation, or by the father's Testament, or by making instruments of marriage between the Mother and Father of the children, so that the Mother die not before the perfecting of them, or that she live riotously with other men, and so make herself unworthy to be a wife.  
That Noble personages marry not without instruments of Dowry, and such other solemnities as are usual in this behalf, that is, that they profess the same before the bishop, or minister of the place, and three or four witnesses at the least, and that a remembrance thereof be left in writing, and kept with the Monuments of the Church; but that it shall not be needful for meaner persons to observe the former solemnities.  
That such as were indebted to the Testator, or they to whom the Testator was indebted, be not left Tutors or Gardens to their children; that if any such be appointed a Tutor, a Curator be joined to him to have an oversight of his dealing: that Tutors or Curators are not bound by Law to let out the Minors money, but if they do, the interest shall be the Minors; and the Tutor shall have every year two months to find out sufficient men, to whom he may let the money out to higher, for that it is let out at his peril: that if the Minors state be great, so that there will be a yearly profit above his finding, the Tutor shall lay up the residue for a stock against he comes to age, or buy land therewith, if he can find out a good bargain, and a sure title: but if the child's portion be small, so that it will not find him, than the Tutor or Curator shall dispose of the Minors state as he would dispose of his own, to which also he is bound by oath.  
How such instruments are enrolled before judges, as concerning matters of borrowing and lending and such like, may have credit: how men may safely bargain either with writing or without writing, if themselves be ignorant men; and of the comparison of Letters, and what credit there is to be given to an instrument, when the writings and witnesses do vary among themselves.  
Of unchaste people, and such as Riot against nature, whose punishment is death.  
Of such as despitefully, on every light trifle, swear by God, and blaspheme his holy name, against whom also is provided the sentence of death.  
That the justices of Peace, or other officers to that purpose appointed, speedily dispatch the business of those which are of their jurisdiction: that such as come as strangers and foreigners out of other countries, having no just cause of their coming, they send back again with their substance, to such places as they came fro; but if they be idle vagabonds and Rogues, or other like valiant beggars, they either drive them out of the place, or compel them to labour: yet evermore having regard to provide for such as are honest, poor, old, sick, or impotent.  
That Clerks be first convented before their Ordinary, and that the Ordinary do speedily end the matter, that they may not be long absent from their benefices: and that they be not drawn before temporal judges, unless the nature of the cause do so require it, as that it be a mere Civil cause, or a criminal cause, belonging wholly to the Temporal court; wherein, if a Clerk shall be found guilty, he shall first be deprived from his ministery, and then shall be delivered over into the Secular hands: but if the crime be solely Ecclesiastical, the Bishop alone shall take knowledge thereof, and punish it according as the Canons do require.  
That where one dieth without issue, leaving behind him brethren of the whole blood, and brethren of the half blood; the brethren of the whole blood have the pre-eminence in the lands and goods of the deceased, before the brethren of the half blood, whether they be of the father's side, or the mother's side.  
That no man make Armour, or sell it, without the princes leave, unless they be knives or other such like small weapons.  
That proof by witnesses was devised to that end, that the truth should not be concealed; and yet all are not fit to be witnesses, but such alone as are of honest name and fame, and are without all suspicion of love, hatred, or corruption; and that their dispositions be put in writing, that after the witnesses be published, and their depositions be known, there be no more production of witnesses, unless the party swear those proofs, came a new unto his knowledge.  
If Parents give profusely to one of their children, the other notwithstanding, shall have their lawful portions, unless they be proved to be unkind towards their parents.  
That women, albeit they be debtors or creditors, may be Tutors or Curators to their children; and that there is not an oath to be exacted of them that they will not marry again, so that they renounce their privilege granted unto them per Senatus consultum Velleian, and perform all other things, as other Tutors do.  
That Governors of Provinces are not to leave their charges before they are called from thence by the Prince, otherwise they incur the danger of Treason.  
That women's Dowries have a privilege before all other kinds of debt; that what Dowry a woman had in her first marriage, she shall have the same in her second marriage, neither shall it be lawful for her father to diminish it, if it return again unto his hand.  
That a man shall not have the property of his wives dowry, neither a woman the property of that which is given her before marriage, but the property of either of them shall come unto their children, yea though they marry not again.  
Wills or Testaments made in the behoof of children stand good, howsoever imperfect otherwise they are, but they are not available for strangers (but strangers are they which are not children) neither mattereth it whether the Will or Testament be writ by the father's hand only, or by some other body by his appointment; & as the father divideth the goods among the children, so they are to have their parts.  
Of Heretics, and that such are Heretics which do refuse to receive the holy Communion at the ministers hand in the Catholic Church: that Heretics are not to be admitted to rooms and places of Honour, and that women Heretics may not have such privilege as other women have in their Dowries.  
That is called Mariners usury that is wont to be lent to Mariners or Merchant men, specially such as trade by sea, which kind of lending, the law calleth passage money, in which kind of usury, a man cannot go beyond the 100 part.  
That Churches enjoy a 100 yard's prescription.  
That such things as are litigious, during the controversy, are not to be sold away. A Litigious thing, is that which is in suit between the plaintiff and defendant.  
That while the suit dependeth, there be no Letters or Edict procured from the Prince concerning the cause in question, but that the cause be decided according to the general Laws in use.  
That in Divorces, the children be brought up with the innocent party, but at the charges of the nocent, and that Divorces be not admitted, but upon causes in Law expressed.  
That no woman, whose husband is in warfare, or otherwise absent, shall marry again, before she have certain intelligence of the death of her former husband, either from the Captain under whom he served, or from the governor of the place where he died; and if any woman marry again without such certain intelligence, how long soever otherwise her husband be absent from her, both she (and he who married her) shall be punished as adulterers, and if her former husband after such marriage, return back again, she shall return again to her former husband, if he will receive her, otherwise she shall live apart from them both.  
If any man beat his wife, for any other cause, than for which he may be justly severed or divorced from her, he shall for such injury be punished.  
If any man conceive a jealousy against his wife, as that she useth any other man more familiarly than is meet she should, let him three several times admonish him thereof, before three honest and substantial men, and if after such admonition he be found to commune with her, let him be accused of adultery before such judge, who hath authority to correct such offences.  
The ninth and last Collation containeth matter of succession in goods, that as long as there be any descendent, either Male or Female, so long neither any ascendent, or any collateral can succeed, and that if there be no discendent, than the ascendent be preferred, before the collateral, unless they be brethren or sisters of the whole blood, who are to succeed together with the ascendent; but in ascendants, those are first called which are in the next degree to the deceased, then after those which are in a more remote degree: that in collaterals all be equally admitted, which are in the same degree, and of the same Parents, whether they be male or female.  
That the lands of any Church, Hospital, or other like Religious place, be not sold, aliened, or changed, unless it be to the Prince's house, or to, or with an other like Religious place; and that in equal goodness & quantity, or that it be for the redemption of Prisoners: and that they be not let out to any private man more than for 30. years, or 3. lives, unless either the houses be so ruynated, that they cannot be repaired without great charges of the Church, or other religious houses, or that it be overcharged with any debts or duties belonging to the Exchequer, and thereby there cometh small revenue to the Church, or Religious place thereout; in every of which cases it is lawful to let out the same for ever, reserving a yearly competent rent, & other acknowledgements of other soverainties therein.  
That the holy vessels of the Church be not sold away, unless it be for the ransoming of Prisoners, or that the Church be in debt; in which case, if they have more holy vessels than are necessary for the service of the Church, they may sell those which are superfluous to any other Church, that needeth them, or otherwise dispose of them at their pleasure for the benefit of the Church, or other holy place whose they are.  
Where Usury in process of time doth double the principal, there Usury for the time to come doth cease, and those particular payments which afterwards do follow are reckoned in the principal.  
What kind of men are to be chosen Bishops, such as are sound in faith, of honest life & conversation, and are learned, that such as choose them, swear before the choice, they shall neither choose any for any reward, promise, friendship, or any other sinister cause whatsoever, but for his worthiness and good parts only.  
That none be ordained by Simony, and if there be, that both the giver, taker, and mediator thereof be punished according to the Ecclesiastical Laws, and they all made unworthy to hold or enjoy any Ecclesiastical living hereafter.  
That if any at the time of any Bishop's election, object any thing against him that is to be elected, the election be stayed, till proof be made of that which is objected by the adversary against the party elected, so that he prove the same within 3. Months; and if any proceeding be to the consecration of of the same Bishop in the mean time, it is void.  
That the Bishop after he is ordained, may with out any danger of Law give or consecrate his goods to the use of the Church, where he is made Bishop, and that he may give such fees as are due to the electors by Law or custom.  
That Clerks be not compelled to undergo personal functions, and services of the common wealth, and that they busy not themselves in secular affairs, & so thereby be drawn from their spiritual function.  
That Bishops for no matter or cause be drawn before a temporal judge, without the King's special commandment, and if any judge presume to call any without such special warrant, the same is to lose his office, and to be banished therefore.  
That no Bishop absent himself from his Diocese without urgent occasion, or that he be sent for by the Prince, and if any do absent himself above one year, that he shall lack the profit of his Bishopric, and be deposed from the same, if he return not again within a competent time appointed for the same.  
What manner of men are to be made Clerks, such as are learned, & are 〈◊〉 good Religion, of honest life & conversation, and are free from suspicion of incontinency: that no Minister be less than 35. years of age, and that no Deacon or Subdeacon be under 25. that all Clerks and Ministers be ordained freely.  
If any build a Church, and endow the same, that he may present a Clerk thereto; so that he be worthy to be admitted thereto: but if he present an unworthy man, than it appertaineth to the Bishop to place a worthy man therein.  
If any Clerk be convicted to have sworn falsely, he is to be deprived his office, and further to be punished at the discretion of the Bishop.  
That Clerks be convented before their own Bishops, and if the parties litigant stand to the B. order, the Civil judge shall put it in execution: but if they agree not upon the judgement, than the Civil judge is to examine it, & either to confirm or infirm the B. order, & if he confirm it, than the order to stand, & if not, than the party grieved to appeal.  
If the cause be criminal, and the Bishop find the party guilty, than the Bishop is to degrade him, and after to give him over to the secular power: the like course is to be held, if the cause be first examined before the temporal judge, and the party found guilty, for than he shall be sent to the Bishop to be deprived, and after again shall be delivered to the secular powers to be punished.  
That Bishops be convented before their Metropolitans.  
That such as in Service time do abuse, or injure the Bishop, or any Clerk in the Church, being at divine Service, be whipped, and sent into banishment: But if they trouble thereby the divine Service itself, they are to die the death for the same.  
That Lay men are not to say or celebrate divine Service, without the presence of the Minister, and other Clerks thereto required.  
That such as go to Law, swear in the beginning of the suit, that they have neither promised, or will give ought to the judge, and that usual fees be taken by the Advocates Counsellors, Proctors, or Attorneys, & if any man take more than his ordinary fees, he shall be put from his place of practice, and forfeit the four double of that he hath taken.  
That the 4. general Counsels be holden as a Law, and that which is decreed in them.  
That the B. of Rome hath the first place of sitting in all assemblies, and then the B. of Constantinople.  
That all Clergy men's possessions be discharged from all ordinary and extraordinary payments, saving from the repairing of Bridges and High ways, where the said possessions do lie.  
That no man build a Church, or holy place, without the leave of the B. and before the Bishop there say Service, and set up the sign of the Cross.  
That no man in his own house suffer Service to be said, but by a Minister allowed by the Bishop, under pain of confiscating of the house, if it be the Lord of the house that presumeth to do it, or banishment, if it be done by the tenant.  
If any bequeath any thing to God, it is to be paid to the Church where the Testator dwelled.  
If any devise by his last Will a Chapel, or Hospital, to be made, the Bishop is to compel the Executors to perform it within five years, after the decease of the Testator, and if the Testator name any governor, or poor thereto, they are to be admitted, unless the Bishop shall find them unfit for the room.  
That the Bishop see such Legacies performed, as either are given for the redemption of Prisoners, or for other godly uses.  
That Masters of Hospitals make an account of their charge, in such sort as Tutors do.  
That such as lust against nature, and so become brutish, receive condign punishment worthy their wickedness.  
That such as make Enuches, themselves be made Enuches, & if they escape alive, their goods to be forfeited to the Exchequer, and themselves be imprisoned all the days of their life.  
Such as by force steal away women, themselves, & such as are their abetters, and helpers, are to die therefore, and that it shall not be lawful for her that is carried away, to marry to him that doth carry her away: and that if her father do give his consent to such marriage, he is to be banished: but if she marry him without her father's consent, then is she not to take benefit by her father's will, or any other thing that is her fathers.  
These, and sundry matters of great importance, and necessary for the well governing of a Common wealth, are contained in the authentics, which I pass over with dry foot, not because they are not necessary to be known, but because I would not cloy the Reader even with those things which are good.  
All these works are the labour of justinian, as either gathered together by him out of ancient Lawyer's books, and such Emperor's decrees, as went before him, or else were decreed & ordained by himself, as matter & occasion offered itself, & the youngest of them is near eleven hundred years of age, that is within 500 years after Christ, or not much otherwise.  
The last Tome of the Civil Law is the Feudes, that is the books of Customs & Services that the subject or vassal doth to his Prince, or Lord, for such lands or fees as he holdeth of him.  
This piece of the Law, although it was not much in use in the old Emperor's days, yet justinian himself seemeth to acknowledge them in his Novel constitutions, calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and those which are more careful to seek out the beginning of them, bring them, some from the ancient Clientles or retinewes the ancient Romans before Christ his time had, as Budeus doth; some other from Alexander Severus time, who as Lampridius in the life of Alexander saith, gave such lands as he won out of the Enemy's hands to his Lords Marchers, and his soldiers, that they should be theirs, & their heirs for ever, so they would be Soldiers, neither should they come at any time to the hands of any private man, saying, they would more lustily serve, if they fought for their own land; which opinion cometh next to the ancient border-grounds of the Romans, whereof there is a Title in the 11. Book of the Code, Defundis Limitrophis, that is of Border-ground: Others refer it over to Constantine the greats time, which enacted for the benefit of his soldiers, that such Lordships & lands as before time they had their wages out of, should pass over unto their heirs, and be appropriated to their family, or stock, so that they found and maintained continually a certain number of soldiers.  
From whence soever it descended, this is certain, that it came very late to be a particular volume of the Law itself. The compilers or gatherers together thereof were Obertus de Horto, and Giraldus Compagist, two Senators of Milan, who partly out of the Civil Law, and partly out of the Customs of Milan drew the same, but without form or order.  
The word itself is a barbarous word, but had his origen notwithstanding as Isidor saith from the word Foedus, being a good Latin word, and so is to be interpreted tanquam Feodum, that is, as a thing covenanted between two: Others deduce it from the word Fides, as it were in Latin Fideum, and by a more pleasant pronunciation Feudum, whereupon such as are Feudataries to other, are called in Latin Fideles, because they own faith and allegiance to such whose feudatories they are, who in the Lomhard tongue are called Vassals. Beside, Fealty, which some call Hominium, by the Feudists is termed Homage: for the nature of a Feud is this, that it draweth with it faith and homage: so that such as are feudatories, or fee men, profess themselves to owe faith to such to whom they are in fee, and that they are his men; insomuch as when a fee man dieth, his Heir doth make faith, and doth his homage to the Lord, as is well seen both in the Lord Spiritual and Temporal of this land, who both in their creation, and also in their succession one after an other swear an oath, & do their homage to their Sovereign, and do pay other duties which are simbols and signs of their subjection to their sovereign: And for others that are under the degree of Barons, and yet are fee men unto the King, and so do not manuel obedience unto his Majesty, they pay yearly something in respect of their homage, according to the quantity or quality of the fee or tenure they hold of the Prince.  
A Feud in English may be called a tenure, which caused Littleton when he treated of Feudes, so far forth as they are here in use in England (Such as are all those which are called in Latin Feuda militaria, & Feuda scutiferorum, called by justinian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which are by the Laws of the land, termed by the named of knights services, and Escuage,) to call them by the names of Tenors.  
A Feud is a grant of lands, honours, or fees, made either to a man at the will of the Lord, or Sovereign, or for the Feudataries own life, or to him, or his heirs for ever, under condition, that he and his heirs in case where the feud is perpetual, do acknowledge the giver and his heirs to be their Lord and Sovereign, and shall bear faith and allegiance unto him, and his, for the said Tenure, and shall do such service to him and his for the same, as is between them covenanted, or is proper to the nature of the feud.  
Of Feudes, some are Temporal, some other are Perpetual.  
Temporal feudes are those that are given, either for term of a man's life, or for years, or at the will of the Lord, for some service done, or to be done; such as are Annuities given to Lawyers for counsel, Pensions given to Physicians for their advise, Stipends to any Teacher of arts and sciences, Fees for keeping of Towers or Castles, called by Feudists Castalia, and is by Littleton called Castle ward, although by him it is taken for a state of inheritance.  
Perpetual Feudes are rights which men have by grant from the Sovereign, or chief Lord of the soil or territory, to have, hold, use, occupy, and enjoy honours, manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments, to him and his heirs for ever, upon condition that the said vassal or party, his heytes and successors, do homage and fealty to his Lord, his heirs and successors, for such honours, lands, or hereditaments, and do him either service in war, according as it is covenanted between the Lord and his vassal, or such other service as the nature of his tenure doth require, or if he fail therein, shall either find some other in his room to do the same, or else pay a certain sum of money in lieu thereof.  
Although this Tenure by the first creation thereof be perpetual, yet that the sovereignty thereof should not still remain unprofitable to the first Lord, the whole benefit thereof going continually to the vassal or tenant; it is provided that the Sovereign or chief Lord the first year, the heir or Successor of the vassal comes unto his land, shall have the whole revenue of his livelihood for that year, or a certain sum of money in token of the return thereof unto the Lord, and the redemption thereof made again by the tenant, which by the Law of the Novels is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, & is well nigh the same that we call livery, which every heir that holdeth in Knight's service, sueth out before he take possession of his land, as heir to his ancestors.  
This Tenure is got either by investiture or by Succession.  
investiture is the same that we call Creation, and is the premier grant of a feud or tenure to any, with all rights and solemnities thereto belonging, wherein the homager, or feodatarie for the most part upon his knees promiseth faith and allegiance under a solemn oath unto his Lord, and his successors.  
Succession is whereby the eldest son succeedeth, the father in his inheritance, and if he fail and have no issue, than the next brother, and so in order successively, and if there be no son, than the next heir male, and if their be no heir male, than the land escheats unto the Lord. For the Lumbards', from whom the feudes first came, or at the least were chief derived from them, directing all their policy as the Lacedaemon's did, to matters of war, had no seminine feudes among them, but after by process of time, there were created aswell Feminine feuds as Masculine feuds, insomuch as where there was no issue male to put them from it, women did succeed in the inheritance.  
Of Feuds, some are regal, some not regal: Regal are those which are given by the prince only, neither do belong to any inferior to give.  
Of these, some are Ecclesiastical, as Archbishoprics, Bishoprics and such like: Others are Civil or Temporal, as Dukedoms, Earldoms, viscounts, and Lords, who by that are distinguished from the rest of the people, that they have the conducting of the Prince's Army at home and abroad, if they be thereto appointed, and have right of Peers in making of Laws, in matters of trial, and such other like businesses.  
Not Regal are those which hold not immediately of the Prince, but are holden of such Ecclesiastical or Civil States which have had their Honours immediately from the Prince.  
Besides of Feuds, some are Liege, others not Liege; Liege Feuds, are they in the which the vassal or feodatorie promiseth absolute fealty or faith to his Lord, against all men without exception of the King himself, or any other more ancient Lord to whom besides he oweth allegiance or service. Of this sort there is none in this Realm of England, but such as are made to the King himself, as appeareth by Littleton in the title of Homage, wherein is specially excepted the faith which the Homager oweth to his Lord the King.  
Feuds not Liege, are such wherein Homage is done, with special reservation of his faith and allegiance to the prince and Sovereign.  
Of such as are Vassals or Liege men, some are called Valuasores maiores; others Valuasores minores. Valuasores maiores are such as hold great places of the State under the Emperor or King, as are the degrees of Honour before named, and are called Peers of the Land, which only gives Nobility. Valuasores minores, are those which are no Péers of the Land, and yet have a pre-eminence above the people, and are, as it were, in a middle Region between the people and the Nobility, such as are Knights, Squires, and Gentlemen.  
The Feuds are lost by sundry ways, by default of issue of him to whom it was first given, which they call Apertura feodi; by surrender thereof, which by them is termed Refutatio feodi; by forfeiture, and that was in two sorts, either by not doing the service that his tenure did require, or by committing some villainous act against his Lord, as in conspiring his Sovereign's death, defiling his bed, or deflowering his daughter, or some other like act treacherous to his Lord, and unworthy of himself.  
And so much of the Civil Law, and the Books thereunto pertaining. Now it followeth I do in like order speak of the Canon Law, which is more hardly thought upon among the people, for that the subject thereof, in many points, is of many gross and superstitious matters used in the time of Papistry, as of the Mass, and such other like trumpery; and yet there are in it beside, many things of great wisdom, and even those matters of superstition themselves, being in a generality, well applied to the true service of God, may have a good use and understanding.  
The Canon Law, hath his name of the Greek word Canon, which in English is a Rule, because it leads a man strait, neither draws him to the one side or the other, but rather correcteth that which is out of Levill and Line.  
The Canon Law consisteth partly of certain Rules, taken out of the holy Scripture, partly of the writings of the ancient fathers of the Church, partly of the ordinances of general & provincial Counsels, partly of the Decrees of Popes of formerages.  
Of the Canon Law, there are two principal parts, the Decrees and the Decretals.  
The Decrees are Ecclesiastical constitutions, made by the Pope and Cardinals, at no man's suit, and are either Rules taken out of the Scripture, or Sentences out of the ancient Fathers, or Decrees of Counsels.  
The Decrees were first gathered together by Ivo, Bishop of Carnat, about the year of our Lord God but afterward polished and perfected by Gratian, a monk of the order of Saint Bennets, in the year 1149. and allowed by Eugenius the Pope, whose Confessor he was, to be read in Schools, and to be alleged for Law.  
Of all the several volumes of the Canon Law, the Decrees are the ancientest, as having their beginning from the time of Constantine the great, the first Christian Emperor of Rome, who first gave leave to the Christians freely to assemble themselves together, and to make wholesome laws for the well government of the Church.  
The Decrees are divided into three parts, whereof the first teacheth of the origen and beginning of the Canon law, and describeth and setteth out the rights, dignities, degrees of ecclesiastical persons, and the manner of their elections, ordinations, and offices, and standeth of one hundred and ten distinctions.  
The second part setteth out the causes, questions, and answers of this Law, which are in number 36. and are full of great variety, wisdom, and delight.  
The third and last part, containeth matter of consecration of all sacred things, as of Churches, bread and wine in the Sacrament, what days and Feasts the Primitive Church used for the receiving thereof, of the ministering of the Sacraments in Baptism, and the use of imposition of hands, all which is set out under five distinctions.  
The Decretals are Canonical Epistles, written either by the Pope alone, or by the Pope and Cardinals, at the instance or suit of some one or more for the ordering and determining of some matter in controversy, and have the authority of a law in themselves.  
Of the Decretals there be three volumes, according to the number of the authors which did devise and publish them.  
The first volume of the Decretals was gathered together by Ramundus Barcinius, chaplain to Gregory the ninth, at his the said Gregory's commandment about the year 1231. and published by him to be read in schools, and used for Law in all Ecclesiastical Courts.  
The sixth is the work of Boniface the eight, methoded by him about the year 1298. by which, as he added something to the ordinance of his predecessors, so he took away many things that were superfluous and contrary to themselves, and retained the rest.  
The third volume of the Decretals, are called the Clementines, because they were made by Pope Clement the fift of that name, and published by him in the Council of Vienna about the year of grace 1308.  
To these may be added the Extravagants of john the xxij. and some other Bishops of Rome, whose authors are not known, and are as Novel constitutions unto the rest.  
Every of these former volumes, are divided into five Books, and contain, in a manner, one and the same titles, whereof the first in every of them, is the title of the blessed Trinity, and of the Catholic faith, wherein is set down by every of them a particular belief, divers in words, but all one in substance, with the ancient Symbols, or belief of the old Orthodox, or Catholic Church.  
Secondly, there cometh in place the treaty of Rescripts, Constitutions and Customs, and the authority of them, and when they are to be taken for Law: after followeth the means whereby the greater governors of the Church, as namely, Archbishops, Bishops, and such like come unto their room, which was in two sorts, according as the party's place or degree was when he was called unto the room, as if he were under the degree of a Bishop, and was called to be Bishop, or being a Bishop, was called to be an Archbishop, or to be the Pope himself, he was thereto to be elected by the Dean and Chapter of the Church where he was to be Bishop, or by the College of the Cardinals in the Popedom; but if he were already a Bishop or an Archbishop, and were to be preferred unto any other Bishopric or Archbishopric, than was he to be required by the church, he was desired ●nto and not elected, which in the Law was called Postulation; after Postulation followed translation by the superior, to the Sea to the which he was postulated or required; after Election followed Corfirmation and Consecration of him that was elected, which both were to be done in a time limited by the Canons, otherwise the party elected, lost his right therein.  
Bishops and other beneficed men, sundry times upon sundry occasions resign their benefices, and therefore is set down what a renunciation or resignation is, who is to renounce, and into whose hands and upon what causes a man may renounce his benefice or bishopric: and because underministers are oftentimes negligent in their Cure, that the people, in the mean time may not be defrauded of Divine Service, the Sacraments, and the food of the word of God; it is provided that the Bishop shall supply the negligence of such Ministers as are underneath him in his jurisdiction: beside, because holy orders are not to be given but by imposition of hands, with prayer and fasting, four fit times in the year, are for the same lymitted, where also is set down how they are to be qualified which are to be ordered, what trial or examination is to be had of them, what age they are to be of, and what gifts of body or mind they are to be endowed withal: what Sacraments may be reiterated, what not: that Ministers sons are not to succeed their fathers in those benefices wherein their fathers immediately before were Pastors or governors, lest happily thereby there might be claimed a succession or inheritance in the same: that no bondmen or accountants, men distorted or deformed in body, bigamists or twice married men, be admitted to holy orders.  
Of wandering Clerks, and how that they are not to be admitted to minister in another Diocese, then where they are ordered without the Dimissarie Letters of the bishop under whom they were ordered.  
Of Archdeacon's, Archpriests, Sacrists, vicar's, what they are, and wherein their particular offices do consist.  
Of the office of judges in general, and their power, whether they be Delegates, Legates a latere, or judges ordinary.  
Of difference in jurisdiction between Ministers & Ministers, and what obedience the inferior Ministers are to yield unto their superiors.  
Of Truce and Peace, which Ecclesiastical judges are to procure, that truces be kept from Saturday in the evening, until Monday in the morning, and that there be no fight from the first day of the Aduent, until the eight day after Twelve tide, and that war likewise do cease, from the beginning of Lent, until the eight day after Easter, under pain of Excommunication, against him that presumeth to do the contrary; and that in time of war, neither Priests, Clerks, Merchant men, country men, either going to the field or coming from the field, or being in the field, or the cattle with which they plough, or the seed with which they sow, be hurt or violated.  
judges, before men enter into the dangerous events of Law, are to persuade the parties litigant by private covenants and agreement to compound the controversy between them, wherein if they prevail not, than the parties are to provide themselves of Advocates, Proctors, or Sindects according as they are private men or bodies politic to furnish their cause, and direct them in proceeding.  
If any Church hath been hurt in any contract of bargain or sale, or in demising of any Lease, or by the Proctor's negligence, it is to be restored again into her former state, to allege and plead that for itself, which is agreeable to Law and conscience. The like grace is to be granted to all other Litigants whatsoever, who have by fear or violence, or any other like unjust cause, been hindered from the prosecution of their right.  
If any, seeing a suit like to be commenced against him, do either appeal before he be served with Process, or alienat away the thing whereupon the suit was like to grow, he is to be compelled to hold plea of the same cause, before the judge from whom he did appeal, and to answer his adversary, as though still he were owner of the thing he did in policy sell or alienat away.  
Many times, things which otherwise can have no speedy end by Law, are compounded by arbitrement. Arbitrators ought to be odd in number, that if they disagree, that which is concluded by the greater part may prevail. An arbitrement is a power given by the parties Litigant to some, to hear and determine some matter in suit between them, & to pronounce upon the same, to which they are to bind themselves under a penalty to stand.  
The first Book, having set out the first object of the Law, which standeth in the persons who make up the judgement, as in the person of the judge himself, the Advocates, Proctors and Clients, there followeth in the second book, the second object of the same, which is the judgements themselves, which are to be commenced by a Citation, & that in a competent court fit for the same, by a Libel offered up in the court by the plaintiff, to the judge, which is to contain the sum of that which is required in judgement; where, if the defendant do again reconuent the plaintiff, he is to answer, albeit the defendant be not of that jurisdiction: the libel being admitted, the defendant is to join issue, and yet before either of them enter any further into the cause, that there may be fair and sincere dealing in the same, & that all suspicion of malicious dealing therein may be taken away, each of them are to take an oath, the Plaintiff, that he doth not of any malice prosecute the suit against the Defendant, or the Defendant of any malice maintain the suit against the plaintiff, but that they verily believe their cause is good, and that they hope they shall be able to prove, the one his libel, the other his exceptions, if he shall put in any into the Court. The cause being begun, delays are often granted, if either there come any Holiday between, or any other like just cause be offered, as for producing of witnesses and such like: If there be no just cause of delay, than the judge is to go on in the due course of Law, (provided always that more be not demanded by the plaintiff than is due) and that the cause possessarie be handled before the petitory, and that he that is spoiled, be first and before all things restored to that thing or place whereof he was spoiled, or from which he was put fro; yea, though he have nothing else to allege for himself beside the bare spoliation itself. If the one side or other wilfully or deceitfully decline judgement, the judge is to put the other in possession of that which is in demand, or at the jest, to sequester the fruits and possessions of that which is in controversy; but if both parties appear and join issue affirmatively, then is it but a question of Law, and not a fact, neither doth there remain aught else to be done by the judge, but that he give sentence against him that hath confessed it, and put his sentence in execution. But if issue be joined negatively, then is the plaintiff to prove his Libel, so far as it consists in fact, by witnesses which are to be compelled by Law if they will not come, or appear voluntarily, by public and private instruments, by presumptions, by conjectures, by oath; which being done, the Defendant in like sort is to be admitted to prove his exceptions, and clear his prescription if he be able to allege any, in which he is Plaintiff, neither is he bound thereto, before the Plaintiff have perfected and proved his own right.  
After proofs are brought on either side, and the same thoroughly disputed on by the Advocates, the judge is to give sentence, which he is to frame according to the Libel and proofs formerly deduced in the cause. The sentence being given, Execution is to be awarded, unless there be an appeal made from it within ten days by the Law, but fifteen days by the Statute of this Land, from the time the party, against whom sentence was given, had knowledge thereof, or unless it be appealed incontinently at the acts, and in writing before a public notary, or at the lest the party against whom the sentence proceeded, within due time, take his journey toward the higher judge to prosecute the same, by whom the former sentence is either confirmed or infirmed, in the second instance.  
The third book containeth such Civil matters, and causes as are liable to the Ecclesiastical Courts, as the honest life or conversation of Clerks, and their comely comportment in all their demeanour, with what women they are to cohabit, and dwell with, whereby they may be free from all suspicion of ill life, and with whom not, which of them may be married by the law of the Canons, and which not, in what cases they may be allowed to be non resident, and in what not, and how such as are non residents may be called home unto their cure, and if they return not upon process sent out against them, how they are to be punished, namely by deprivation or sequestration of the fruits and commodities of their benefice.  
Prebends and dignities are preferments for Clerks, but not for such as are idle or absent from the same without just cause: but if any Clerk or Minister be sick, and his disease be curable he is to receive the benefit of his prebend or dignity in his absence, as though he were present; but if it be contagious, or uncurable, then is he to be put from the exercise of his office, and a helper or coadjutor to be joined unto him, and they both to be maintained of his stipend.  
Prebends or dignities are to be got by institution, which are to be given by the Bishop, or his Chancellor, or such other as have Episcopal jurisdiction, without which, neither any benefice is lawfully gotten, or can lawfully be retained. Benefices not void, ought neither to be granted, neither to be promised; but such as are void aught to be granted within six months after knowledge of the voidance thereof, otherwise the grant of them divolueth & cometh unto the superior: he that causeth himself to be instituted into a benefice, the Incumbent thereof being alive, himself is to be deposed from his orders.  
While any Benefice, or Bishopric is void, nothing is to be changed or innovated in it; and such gifts, sales, or changes of Ecclesiastical things, as are made by the Bishop, or any other like Prelate, without the consent of the Chapter, are void in Law: and such Benefices as do become void, are to be bestowed without any impairing or diminution of the same.  
In what case the goods and possessions of the Church may be alienated, and in what not, and that such things as are alienated, be alienated by the greater part of the Chapter, otherwise the alienation is void: What goods of the Church may be lent, what sold, what bought, what changed, what demised, or let to lease, what Mortgaged, or let to pawn. After these follow tractates of last Wills and Testaments, of succession by way of Intestate, of Burials, of Tithes, first Fruits and Offerings: Of Monks, and their state in sundry sorts, of the right of Patronage, of Synodals and Procurations, of consecration of Churches, of Celebration of Divine service, and the Eucharist, of Baptism, and the effect thereof, of a Priest not baptised, of Fasting, Purification of women, and other like Ceremonies pertaining to Ecclesiastical discipline: Of building and repairing Churches, and of their Churchyards, and the immunity that belongs to them both, and of sundry other things in like sort pertaining to the Church. That Clerks and other Ecclesiastical men trouble not themselves about Civil matters, contrary to their office and profession.  
The fourth Book disposeth of matters of Espousals and Matrimony, & showeth what words make espousals, what Matrimony, of the Betrothing of such as are under age, of clandestine Espousals and Contracts, and of what account they are to be had of in the Church, and how they may be made good: Of her that hath betrothed herself to two men, whose wife she shall be, what conditions may be put in Espousals, and what not, what Clerks or Votaries may marry, and what not: of him that hath married her, with whom before he hath committed Adultery, and whether the same second Matrimony be good, whereupon the resolution of the Law is, that if the women knew not that he had an other wife, he cannot leave her, his fi●st 〈…〉 under pretence he had an other wi●e 〈…〉 that if she knew of it, and did join with him 〈…〉 ●●king away his wife, he cannot 〈◊〉 her, 〈…〉 he were separated from the other, as 〈…〉: Whether leprous men & other which are 〈…〉 with like contagious diseases may marry, and whether being married, the marriage may not be dissolved upon this point: Of kindred spiritual or legal, and in what sort they hinder marriage, of him that hath known his own wives sister, or his own cozen german, & whether this offence do break the Matrimony that is contracted, or do hinder the Matrimony that is to be contracted: Within what degrees of consanguinity or affinity a man may marry: Of such as are cold of Nature, or enchanted by Sorcery, whether they may marry; The like respect is of Women, who are unfit for men: Of such as marry against the Interdict or prohibition of the Church, and what penalty they incur: What Children be held legitimat: who they be that may be accusers or witnesses in cases of dissolution of Marriages between man and wife: Of Divorces between man and wife, which are called of the diversity of minds that are then between them, for that one seeketh to go apart from the other, and in what cases divorces are allowed, and how many kinds there be of them: of gifts between man & wife, what security they have in Law, and that the Dowry after the divorce be restored to the woman, so that it be not in case of Adultery, and other such like filthiness: Of second Marriages, in what cases they are to be permitted, in what not.  
The fifth Book treateth of such Criminal matters as are handled in Ecclesiastical Courts, wherein the proceeding is either by accusation, whereto the Accuser doth subscribe his name, because it tendeth to punishment: or else by denunciation, whereto the Informer doth not subscribe his name, because it tendeth only to the amendment of the party: or by Inquisition, which for the most part is not used, but upon fame precedent, albeit sometimes it be without fame: if once the fame be proved, then may inquiry be had of the truth of the fact, but yet without malice or slander. The Criminal matters which are prosecuted in the Ecclesiastical Courts, and censured by Canonical punishments, are Simony, and selling of Ecclesiastical graces and Benefices; whereupon Prelates are forbid to let out their jurisdictions under an annual rent, and Masters and Preachers to teach for money. The punishment of jews and Saracens, and their servants, that is, if a jew have a servant that desireth to be a Christian, the jew shall be compelled to sell him to the Christian for xii. pence: That it shall not be lawful for them to take any Christian to be their servant: that they may repair their old Synagogues, but not build new: that it shall not be lawful for them upon good Friday, to open either their doors, or windows: that their wives neither have Christian Nurses, nor themselves be nurses to Christian women: that they wear divers apparel from the Christians, whereby they may be known, and other ignominies of like sort. Who be Heretics, & what be their punishments: who be schismatics, & what be their punishments. Of Apostates, Anabaptists, & their punishments: of those that kill their own Children, & their punishments: of such as lay out young children, and other feeble persons to other men's pity, which themselves have not, and how they are to be punished: of voluntary or casual murders: of Tilts, Barriers, & Tornament: of Clerks that fight in combat: of Archers that fight against Christians: of Whoredom and adultery, and how they are to be punished: of such as ravish women, and their punishment: of thieves and Robbers: of usury and the pain thereof: of deceit and falsehood: of Sorcery: of collusion and Cozenage, and the revealing of the same: of children's offences and that they are not to be punished with the like severity as men's offences are: of Clerk's hunters, or hawkers, who if they often times use and sport themselves therein, if they be Bishops, they are to be suspended, from the Communion three months, if Ministers or Priests two, but if he be a Deacon, he is to be suspended from his office: If a Clerk often times strike other men, and being admonished to forbear such kind of violence, do nevertheless continue in his folly, he is to be deposed: If a Bishop cause any man rigorously to be whipped, he is to be suspended from saying service two months: Such as speak ill of Princes, and other like great persons spiritual or temporal, are to be punished, so that other by their example may take heed to speak ill, specially such as blaspheme the Majesty of the almighty God: If Clerks excommunicated, deposed, or interdicted, in that they came to the highest order without passing through the inferior orders, or that they came to the same order covenously, and deceitfully, or being not ordered at all, or at the lest not ordered lawfully, dare take upon them either to Minister the holy Sacraments, or to say divine Service, are to be deposed from their office and from their benefice, and never after to be ordered: Prelates are not to grieve their subjects either with rash suspension, or excommunication of their persons, or interdicting of their Churches, but they are to execute all those censures of the Church in judicial order: they are not easily to suffer any man to hold two Benefices, where one may suffice, or to retain any thing to his own use, in a Church wherein he hath collation, or subjection, and that he is not to bestow any benefice upon any that is unworthy for the same, either in life or doctrine, with sundry other excesses of Prelates in the like sort: If any begin to build a Church or Chapel to the prejudice of an other, and it be denounced unto him by the Parson or parishioners of the other Church, that he go no further in the said works, until the Law hath determined it, whether it be a nuisance or not. Of the Privilege of Prelates, and wherein they exceed there privilege: of canonical purgation which is enjoined, when as yet there is no certain proof of the crime, but there is a common voice and fame of the fact, which is to be cleared by the oath of him who is charged by the fame, that he hath not committed the fact, and the oath of his good neighbours, who swear they believe that he hath taken a true oath: Of vulgar purgation, which was performed by combat, and passing by burning fire, which is worthily rejected, for that thereby the innocent many times was condemned, and God thereby did seem to be tempted: Of injuries and wrongs done: Of Ecclesiastical punishments due to offences, among which one is, That so often as one offendeth, so often he is to be punished: And that Prelates do not take reward to wink at men in their sins, or turn corrections into pecuniary pains upon gain of filthy lucre: Of Penances and Pardons, or remissions: Of Excommunication, which is the greatest punishment in the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and who, and in what cases men are to be strooken thereby.  
Of all these goodly and excellent Titles of the Civil and Canon Law, so full of wisdom, so full of variety, so well serving for every moment, and state of the Common wealth in peace or in war, as nothing can be more, the Professors thereof have very little use here within this Realm.  
For first for the Civil Law, (beside the two Universities of this land, that of Cambridge, and the other of Oxford, to whom the Kings of this Realm have granted a larger liberty, in the practise of these Laws, than to any other place of the Kingdom; for that their purpose was to have young men trained up there, in a more ripe knowledge of these professions, that when they came abroad, they might be more ready in all matters of negotiation and commerce, that the Prince or state have need of them to deal in with foreign Nations, when they were thereto called; to which the Laws of this land, serve nothing at all, by reason of the difference that is between their Law, which is either wholly the Civil Law, or for the most part grounded on it, & the Law of our Nation) a very few Titles are left to the Practisers thereof to deal in, & most of them seldom and rare in use, as shall be hereafter showed, so that I may well divide all the profession here of the Civil Law with us, into matters ordinary and extraordinary.  
The matters of ordinary conusance of the Civil Law here in this Land, are Marine matters, of which some are Civil, some are Criminal.  
Civil matters are those which concern either the free use of the Sea itself, or the rights that men have to trade and traffic thereupon, or the bargains, sales, or contracts, or as it were contracts that are made or done beyond or upon the main Sea, or any creek thereof, or within as much space from the Sea, as the greatest winter wave runneth out, for any matter belonging to any negotiation or merchandise, or any other thing to the Ship or trade appertaining.  
And first for use of the Sea itself; the Law holds it to be 
ff ad legem Rhodian. de I●ct●. tot. tit.  common, and that every one hath right to trade & traffic upon the same, so that it be without the prejudice of that Prince or Land, to whom the Sea is adjoining. The like may be said for the shore itself, so that it be either for the refreshing of themselves with water, or victual, or for the repairing of their Ships, or buying any thing necessary thereunto, or it be either for uttering of any commodity they have, or buying any thing again of the people, upon whose land they touch: In which case it were barbarous to repel any coming in peaceable manner; albeit it may happen upon some jealously of the state, either for that it hath some great foreign Enemy, whose continual invasion they fear, or that the Sea coasts are much infested with Pirates, that in this case there be made resistance, but when it is made manifest by flag of Truce, or otherwise, they are no other but well meaning men, they are to be entertained with all kindness.  
For Contracts in Marine causes, some are contracts in deed, some are as it were contracts: Contracts in deed are all bargains and sales whatsoever made between Merchant and Merchant for any commodity, fraught, or traffic in the ship, or any sale or bargain made of the Ship, or any thing thereto belonging, as Masts, cordage, anchorage, victuals, or any other thing of like nature, necessary for the employment of the ship.  
Those things which are as it were contracts, are those perpetual rights, which are between the Purser or Master of the Ship, and the Passengers, or between one passenger and an other.  
The perpetual right which is between the Purser or Master of the ship, and the Passengers is, that the Purser or Master be answerable for all such wares or goods as are brought into the ship, whether it be delivered to himself, or any of his Mariners: for he ought not only to be just and honest himself, but also use the ministery of honest people about him; and therefore the Master of the ship is no less bound for their person, than his own. The Passengers again are honestly and readily to pay the Master of the ship their fraught, and all such other charges of diet, and other provision as they have put him to; wherein if there be any default of any side, the Law affords an action called Exercitoria, whereby the one or the other may be relieved.  
The Master of the ship is he who hath the charge of the 
L. 1. ff. de exercitoria action.  whole anchorage and government of the ship, and his office is either to let the ship to hire, or to buy and sell Merchandise, or to ply fares, or to provide tacle and furniture for the ship.  
The Purser, whom the Law calleth Exercitor Navis, is 
D●ā l. prima § 16. de exercit. act.  he to whom all the profit or revenue of the ship doth come, whether it be in his own right, or in an others.  
The Perpetual right that is between Passengers and Passengers, and Sailors and passengers is, that in case of eiectments, and casting out of goods, and other merchandise into the Sea in time of tempests, or other dangers, by rocks or quick sands, for the lightning of the ship, because it is for the common good of all that are in the ship, and the preservation of the rest of the fraught of the ship, it be made up with the common contribution of all: for good reason it is that they whose goods are saved hereby, should again with their goods redeem the others loss according to such proportion of goods as they have in the ship, and the Law of the Sea allows,  
But in cases of Eiectments the Law of the Sea is this, (which was taken from the people of Rhodes, who in oldtime, were great seafaring men, and discoverers of sundry Countries, whose Rules even to this day are holden for good among all Mariners, for the great equity and indifferency that is in them) that as well the Master or Purser of the ship himself shall contribute for the preservation of his ship, as also the passengers for such ware as they have in the ship, of what sort soever it be, albeit happily it be but of small weight, as pearls, precious stones, and such like; and if perchance there be some passengers in the ship, who have no ware nor merchandise in it, yet because themselves are a burden to the ship, estimate is to be made of his or their apparel, rings, and jewels, according to which he or they are to contribute towards the loss of such things as are cast out into the sea: neither is there any thing in the whole ship excepted, save only those things which are put therein to be spent, for the common good of all, as victuals, fuel, and such like; for those things are not brought in for any one private man's use, but for the benefit and service of all: and so much the rather, for that if victuals fail, or other like necessaries want, every one must contribute thereto, or impart of that which he hath for his own private provision; but of men's own bodies, unless they be servants, there is no rate to be set, because a fréemans' body cannot be esteemed.  
In prising, estimate is to be made as well of those things which are lost, as those things which are saved, and the price is to be set down, not for how much they were bought, but for how much they might be sold, and that for the present, lest the contributors should be overmuch charged. Neither is it to the purpose that the goods which were lost, might have been sold for more, for that herein is not regard to be had of the gain, but of the loss. And if any thing that was thrown out were known to be decayed or made worse by washing with salt water, it is not to be esteemed as a new fresh thing, but the price thereof is to be abated accordingly.  
Now the contribution is to be made in this manner, first the loss is to be set down, than the rate of those things which are saved, out of which must be drawn an equal portion, proportionable to the quantity of every man's goods he hath in the ship to make up the loss, deducting out of the losers goods himself, so much as is answerable to his proportion so that he shall neither be made a clear saver, nor a clear loser, but in a certain quantity rateable to his part.  
But this contribution is in that case to be made, if the ship be saved; for otherwise if a wrack happen, either before the ejectment, or in the ejectment, than whatsoever any of the vectors or passengers catch is his own, neither is there any regard to be had of the loss of the ship, or of the goods, unless perhaps afterwards they be drawn out of the sea.  
But here we are to note that neither the things that are thus ejected, leave to be the first owners, neither become his that takes them up; for because the first owner doth not count them for goods cast away, but still he bears that mind to them that if he may recover them, he will hold them as his own goods, and in consideration of so much as afterward he shall recover the contribution in the rest shall cease.  
Neither if the Master of the ship himself by violence of the tempest, shall lose a Mast or a Sail, he shall be more allowed therefore, than a Carpenter to whom a house is let out to be built, shall be allowed for his axe or saw, if he break it.  
Beside in matters of wrack there is, as it were, a contract between them which have lost their goods by shipwreck, and them upon whose Lands the said goods are driven, that the same be restored to them or their heirs, if they come in due time to claim the same: and therefore it is precisely forbid by 
L. ne quid. ff. de incendio, ruina, & naufragio.  the Law, that no man shall meddle with such goods as are wrecked, and such as are proved to have stolen any thing thereout are holden for robbers; for that such goods being cast on land and recovered out of the sea, remain still his who was the owner thereof, and descend upon his heir, neither excheat unto the King, neither to any other whom the King 
L. 1. lib. 11. C. de naufragiis.  hath privileged in this behalf. And therefore the Emperor Constantine the great, saith worthily in this case; If any ship at any time by shipwreck be driven unto the shore or touch at any Land let the owners have it, and let not my Exchequer meddle with it: for what right hath my Exchequer in another man's calamity, so that it should hunt after gain in such a woeful case as this is? And yet if no kindred appear within a year and a day, or appearing, prove not the goods shipwrecked to be theirs, the goods come to the Exchequer even by that Law: so much that law condemneth carelessness, which is written Vigilantibus & non dormientibus. And with this agree the Laws of this Land, as taken out of these imperial laws; whereby it is ordered that such goods as are saved out of the wrack, shall be kept, by the view of the Sheriff or some other chief Officer, and delivered to the hands of such as are of the place where the goods were found, so that if any sue for them and prove them to be his, or to have perished in his keeping, they shall be restored unto him without delay; otherwise they escheat unto the king, or to him to whom the king hath granted the same: And if any convey away any part of the same goods contrary to the law, and be attainted thereof he shallbe awarded to prison, and make fine at the kings will, and yield damages unto the party grieved: and a wrack by the laws of this land, is where all living things within the ship do perish, but if a man, a dog, or a cat do scape out of the ship alive, it is otherwise.  
For matters of contract, they are either in the petitory, or in the Possessory. The Petitorie is that where the property of any thing is challenged, this of all other suits is the hardest, because the proof thereof is very difficile: 
Institut. de rerum dimissione § singulo 〈◊〉 acquirendo rerum dominio. ●●●deo & toto titul. C. de quadrienni● prescript l. been.  for albeit the property of things may be got by many means, as well by the law Civil, as by the law of Nations; yet is it not a thing so easy to be proved, for that there must concur many things to the proof of a property, otherwise you shall fail in your suit, as in a case of bargain and sail, that there was such a contract between the buyer and the seller, that there was either money paid for it, or that he that sold it was content to take the buyers word for it, that delivery was made thereof, otherwise the 
C. de acquirend. possess. l. 1. ext. c. 1. de consuetudin.  property passeth not, but only in some few cases, in which neither possession nor delivery is required. Lastly, that he which sold it was rightful owner of it, otherwise can he not pass over a thing he had no right unto.  
The Lordship or property of things, is bipartite; for either it is direct or full, such as men have when they have not only the thing itself, whereof they are Lords or Proprietaries, but also the use and commodity thereof; or else it is profitable, as is the hold of Tenants and Farmers, who have the use, gain, and possession of the thing, but the Lord the property and rent in acknowledgement of his right and Sovereignty.  
The Possessorie is that right whereby the use or possession of a thing is claimed, of which there be three sorts: for it is either in getting of the possession of that a man hath not, or in keeping of the possession of that a man hath, or in recovering and regaining of the possession of that which is lost.  
The proceeding in all these Civil matters, is by Libel concluding to the action, the party agent giving caution to prosecute the suit, and to pay what shall be judged against him, if he fail in the suit; the Defendant on the contraris part, securing his adversary by sufficient surety, or other caution, as shall seem meet for the present to the judge, that he will appear in judgement, and will pay that which shall be adjudged against him, and that he will ratify and allow all that his Proctor shall do in his name: for to all these ends satisdation in judgement is, which is nothing else but a course to secure the adversary of that which is in debate before the judge, that on what side soever the cause shall have an end, the clients may be sure to get that which by law shall be adjudged unto them.  
And so much of those matters whereof the Civil law here in England usually holdeth plea, Now of the Criminal matters which belong to that Court, but yet by way of Commission from the prince, and that is that horrible crime of Piracy, detested of God and man, the actors wherein Tully 
Cicer. 3. lib. off.  calleth Enemies to all, and to whom neither faith nor oath is to be kept.  
piracy is called of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Deceptio in latin, and in English Deceit, for that many times they pretend friendship when they intent nothing else, but robbery and bloodshed; or they are so termed of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, of their wandering up and down and resting in no place, but coasting hither and thither to do mischief.  
A Pirate is a sea-théefe, who for to enrich himself, either by subtlety, or open force, setteth upon Merchants & others, trading by sea, ever spoiling them of their loading, if they get the upper hand, and sometimes bereaving them of their life, and sinking of their ships.  
The proceeding in these Criminal matters, is by accusation and information, and after by trial of twelve men upon the evidence, according to the laws of this land, and the laws of the ancient Feudes of Lombardie, where the like trial is, and from whence, it seemeth, this of ours was first derived. But here must we note, that matters of reprisals are no Piracies, although many times there falls out no less outrage in them, for spoiling and slaying of men, than doth in the other: for that Reprisals are done by the prince's commission, granted to the subject for redress of some injury done to himself or his subject by some other foreign Prince or Subject, and amends hath been required by law, and cannot be had, whereupon licence is given to the subject to relieve himself by what way he can against the other Prince, or any of his subjects, by taking so much goods of his as himself was endamaged; which course is held among Princes the rather to afford justice where it is lawfully demanded. Bartol l. nullus num. 2. C. de judaeis & Caelicolis.  
And thus much of the causes  ordinarily do belong unto the cognisance of the Civil law within this land. Now it followeth that I speak somewhat of those things wherein the Civil Law dealeth incidently and by authority of the Prince, & is not the ordinary object of the Civil Law, howsoever otherwise they cannot be handsomely dealt in, but by such as have the skill of the Civil Law.  
Whereof there be three sort, the first is matters of foreign treaty between one prince and another, the second is the ordering of martial causes, whether they be Civil or criminal in an Army, the last is the judgements of ensigns and Arms, and the decisions for challenges of rights of Honour and precedency, where any of them is in controversy.  
For the first, whereas all other Nations in compass round about us be governed by the Civil Law, and treaties are to be decided by law, both for those things which are in question, and to be concluded by Law for those things which are determined by consultation and agreed upon; who is thereto to be chosen rather than a Civilian, to whom their law is known, as well as to themselves: and if perhaps he understand not their language: yet he understandeth that language wherein the laws themselves are written, and is the fittest tongue for treatises between Princes and Princes, because it is a common tongue to the learned of all the west part of the world, and thereby every Prince shall retain his own majesty in parlying, as it were, in his own language, and not be forced to speak in another Prince's tongue, which no doubt, is a great disadvantage to him that shall treat; for that every Nation hath some proper Idiom not so well discerned by the booke-speaker, as perceived by the Natives of the country where it is spoken, and wherein a stranger may easily be deceived.  
How much foreign Princes do esteem of the skill of a Civilian in these matters, it may be understood thereby, that they never, for the most part send any Embassage for the treaty of any league or matter of commerce, but that one or more of them are Civilians. And if the care of these things be so great with them, surely the estimation of the same ought not to be light with us: for by what laws their leagues and negotiations are to be directed, by the same must ours be ordered, so that for that point, one kind of learning must serve for both; for that otherwise one Nation will not be conceived by the other what their capitulations are.  
Surely, such as over and besides their own experience, have the knowledge of the Civil law, have herein a double help above another man that wanteth the same. First their own understanding, which for the most part is of like proportion as other folks is: Then the skill of the law itself, which is a quintessence of wit above other human learning, as being either wholly composed of the mature and deliberate resolutions of such Emperors as then swayed the whole world, or were the domes and judgements of such wise men, as then managed the whole world and the affairs thereof under them. But who, when he seethe a sword in a scabbard, knoweth whether it will cut or not, although the form thereof be a presumption, that it will cut: but do but draw it out of the scabbard, and try the blade thereof, and then shall you see the sharpensse of it: I make no application hereof, for that my meaning by my words may be well enough known.  
But in these matters, the wisdom of the State knows best what is to be done, and I only remember what other Nations do, leaving the rest to their gravest considerations, who by precedents of former times, and men of experience, furnished with exotic tongues, have carried this part of policy very well and safely hitherto: but now to the ordering of Martial causes.  
Martial causes are either Civil or Criminal, whereof both are determinable by the Civil law. A Civil Martial cause, is where either the Captain or the Soldier requireth some thing that is due & withholden from him, as his stipend, his apparel, which among the Romans was due twice a year, that is for Summer apparel from the first day of April to the first of September, and their Winter again from thence to April; his diet which among the Romans was two days hard biscuit, the third softer bread, one day wine, one other day vinegar, one day bacon and two days mutton; his privileges either in cases of preferment, as to be removed from one degree to another, or in cases of immunity, as 
ff. de re militari & C. eod. tit. lib. 12. ff. de privilegio veteranorun: & de castrensi peculio. & C. eodem tit. lib. 12. C. de erogatione militaris annone & C. de vest. militari.  to be freed from all servile functions, and sundry other like, which a diligent reader may gather out of the titles of the Digest and Code of military affairs, and other like titles which accompany them.  
soldiers faults are either proper to themselves, or common with others.  
Those are common with others, which fall into other men, and are corrected with like ordinary proceeding as other crimes of like nature are, as manslaughter, theft, adultery, and such like.  
Those are proper which do properly appertain to military discipline, and are punished by some unusual or extraordinary punishment, as are these, not to appear at Musters: to serve under him he ought not to serve: to vage or wander long from the Tents, although he return on his own head: to forsake his Colours, or his Captain: to leave his standing: to fly over to the Enemy: to utter the council of the Army unto the Enemy: to betray the Host: to be disobedient to his Captain, Colonel, or Lieutenant: to lose or sell his Armour, or to steal an other man's: to be negligent in forage, or providing of victual: to neglect his watch: to make a mutiny, or fly first out of the field, or other like, which are delivered in the late cited titles, of whom Arrian, who wrote the life of Alexander the great, thus saith; Every thing is counted an offence in a Soldier, which is done contrary to the common discipline; as to be negligent, to be stubborn, to be slothful.  
The punishments wherewith Soldiers are corrected, are these, either corporal punishment, or a pecuniary mulct, or injunction of some service to be done, or amotion or removing out of their places, and sending away with shame.  
By capital punishment is understood for the most part death, or at the least beating, unless happily it be pardoned, either for the unskilfulness of the soldior, or for the mutiny of the company, being thereto drawn by wine and wantonness, or for the miseration or pity of the party offending.  
All which a wise judge moderateth according to the quality of the person, the quantity of the crime, and the opportunity of the time.  
The last extraordinary matter that the Civil Law judge dealeth in, is the bearing of Arms, and the ranging of every man into his room of honour, according as his place requires: and here first of Arms. For skill in Armoury, although it be a thing now almost proper to the Heralds of Arms, who were in old time called Feciales, or Caduceatores, because they were messengers of war and peace, either to proclaim the one, or denounce the other: yet the ground thereof they have from the Civil Law, so that thereby to this day they may be directed in their skill, or controlled if they do amiss.  
For beside, that there are many other places in the Law, 
C. ut nemo privaetus praedijs suis, vel alienis vela regia imponat. ut nemini liceat sine jud. author signaimponere etc. De statuis & imaginib. ut nemini liceat signum salvatoris etc. De hi● qui potentiori● nomine titulos praedijs suis affigunt. & ibi dect. ff de rerum divisio. l. sanctum.  which touch Armoury, as appeareth by the titles here quoted in the margin, Barthol. himself maketh a special tractat thereof, and divideth the whole matter of Arms into 3. ranks, according to the diverse sorts of men that bore them: for some are Arms of some public dignity and office, as the Arms of the Legate, or Proconsul, the Arms of Bishops, the Arms of the Lord Admiral; other are Arms of special dignities, as Arms of Kings and Princes, which no man is to bear or paint in his house or stuff, unless it be for to show his duty or subjection therein.  
The third sort is, of those which are private men's Arms, of whom part have them by the grant of the Prince, or by authority of those to whom the Prince hath given power to grant Arms to other, as hath the Earl Martial within this Realm of England; others have taken them by their own authority, which albeit in former times they might do, as also they might take such names as every one did 
C. de ingenuis & manumiss. l. ad recognoscenda ff. de rerum division l. sanctum.  like of (for names and signs in the beginning were invented, for to know and to discern one man from an other) and as every man might change his name, so might he change his sign, so that it were not done in fraud and deceit: but after it was forbidden, both that any man should change his 
C. de mutatione noins l. 1. ff. de Falsis, l. falsi nominis.  name, because it was not thought it could be done with any good meaning, and that no man should bear Arms of his own authority; and therefore Officers were appointed under Princes, as I have said, who should give Arms to such as deserved well of the common wealth, either in war or peace: for albeit in the beginning Arms and Colours were proper to men of war, to avoid confusion in the host, & to discern one company from an other, yet when it came to be a matter of honour, it was challenged no less by men of peace, than by men of war; for true in deed is that saying of Tully, parva sunt foris arma nisi est consilium domi: and the Emperor speaking of the benefit, that Advocates, and 
L. advocati C. de Aduocatis diuersorum iudiciorum.  such like bring to states and Common wealths, saith thus, Advocates which break the doubtful fates of causes, and with the strength of their defence sundry times, aswell in public causes as in private, raise up those that are fallen, and relieve those which are wearied, do no less good unto mankind, than if by war and wounds they saved their parents and Country: for we (saith he) do not count that they only do war for our Empire, which do labour with sword, shield and Target, but also our Advocates, for indeed the Advocates or Patrons of causes do war, which by confidence of their glorious voice do defend the hope, life, and posterity of such as be in danger: thus sayeth he; and thereupon cometh that distinction of Castrense peculium, Et quasi castrense peculium, signifying thereby, that albeit Counsellors to the state, Lawyers, and such like be not actual warriors, yet they are representive warriors, and do no less serve the Common wealth than they. The Soldier riseth betime in the morning, that he may go forth to his exploit, the Advocate that he may provide for his clients cause, he wakes by the trumpet, the other by the cock, he ordereth the battle, the other his clients business, he taketh care his tents be not taken, the other that his clients cause be not overthrown: so then either of them is a warrior, the one abroad in the field, the other at home in the City, Beside Bartol treateth in that place, what things are borne in Arms, either natural, as beasts, birds, fishes, mountains, trees, flowers, sun, moon, stars, or such like: or artificial, not taken from things eristent, as colours, simple and mixed, divided by halves or quarters, or by lines, direct, cross, overthwart, or such other; then how each of these is to be carried, wherein art must follow nature, that every thing figured, be borne according to the nature of that which it doth figure, and not otherwise: and therefore as in Ensigns, flags, or standards, the spear or shaft goeth before, & the streamer or colours follow after, so the face of every creature that is figured or described in the banner or hatchment, must look unto the shaft or spear; unless a man bear two creatures, one looking toward the other, for then this observation hath no place, for vain it is to conjecture where things are certain, otherwise it is the nature of the face to go before, and the body to follow after: and the like reason is of the parts of every creature which is likewise borne in Armour, which are distinguished by before and behind, whose site must be such, that the head look to the spear, otherwise would it seem to go back like a monster: but if the forepart alone of any creature be borne in a Scuchin, as often it happeneth that men give only a Lion, Bear, or bulls head, for their Arms, then must not the head directly look unto the shaft, but aside: further every of these creatures, be so described in the coat as his vigour and generosity be best set out, whether it be a fierce or savage beast, or a mild or gentle creature. But for colours his rule is, that the noblest colour be put in the first part of the field, howsoever the coat be divided, quarter or pale. And of Colours the golden colour is the chiefest, as that which doth figure the Sun, which is the fountain of light, which is most acceptable to every man's eye. The next is Purple or Red, which doth figure the fire, that is the highest & noblest of the four Elements, and next the sun itself in dignity. The 3. is Blue, of the Heralds called Azure, & Ceruleus in Latin, which figureth the Air, which is a clear and transparent body, and most capable of light, and cometh in nobility next after the fire. The 4. is white, which cometh near to the Light, and therefore is more noble than Black, that draweth near to darkness, & therefore is the basest of all Colours. And for mixed colours, as every one hath more or less of White or Black, so either they are nobler or base in reputation or degree. And thus much in general as concerning the knowledge of Arms.  
Now followeth what the Civil Law holdeth as concerning Princes, and other Honourable persons, and their successions and places, which a grave judge of this land 
Nedham 37. Hen. 6. fol. 21.  hath anciently acknowledged to belong unto the Civil Law.  
By the Civil Law, all power cometh from God, as the Scripture teacheth, and among powers the two greatest are the Empire, and the Priesthood; for as God hath ordained the one to rule the outward man, and to bring all his actions within the compass of reason, & so to establish Common wealths, and to order the same: So also hath he provided the other for the instruction of the inward man, and the planting of Religion among men.  
By the Empire, I understand not only the Empire of Rome (which sometimes bare rule over most part of the world, at the  ten mighty Kingdoms, which now are grown into particular Empires and Monarchies themselves) but also every several Kingdom, which acknowledgeth no other Emperor than his own Sovereign; for howsoever they differ in name and title, yet is the office itself all one: For every one of them is Gods immediate Vicar upon earth in their own kingdoms, for matters appertaining unto justice. Whereupon the Civil Law gives them very honourable titles, sometimes terming them 
ff. de leg. 2. l. ff. de legate 2. l. C. 4. tit. 13. C. 1. tit. 3. l. 56. C. 1. tit. 1. l. 5.  Gods upon earth, for the great authority they have over other men under God; sometimes Ministers of God, for the service they do God in their Common wealths; sometimes most holy, and most Religious, for the care they ought to have about Religion, and correcting of those things which are done against the fear of God; for a king ought in all 
C. 1. tit. 1. l. 5.  things to propound the word of God before him for his rule, and to follow the doctrine of the Apostles: sometimes they are called most mild, because a king in all the course of his life, but specially in matters of punishment ought to imitate 
C. 5. tit. 4. l. 23.  the mercy and favour of Almighty God.  
Although the Emperor or King be reckoned among his 
L. fin. C. de verb. signif. C. de dignitat. l. 8. lib. 1●.  Nobility, because he should not be puffed up with the glory of his place, and conceive he were of a more excellent mould than the rest, when indeed we are all of one, & the self same clay; yet he is both by the ordinance of God & man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
1. Petri ca 2. vers. 13.  (as the Apostle terms him) among them, that is one which is supreme Sovereign above the rest, and whom they ought in all things to obey, so it be not against the Law of God, and common justice, for himself is in steed of the whole Law; yea he is the Law itself, and the only interpreter 
A b c. significs. via ext de penitentijs etc. C. 6. tit. 23. l. 19 C. de testib. l. omnium.  thereof, as in whose breast is the whole knowledge of the same; which albeit the Doctors do hold with a qualification, as thereby understanding, not only the Prince's person, but also his Councillors, both which put together, make up a perfect state of a Prince: yet forasmuch as all that benefit of wisdom and government that cometh from them unto the Common wealth, is principally derived from the Prince, as from the head, who hath vouchsafed to make them as it were members of his body, and so by them to derive the power of his government, unto all, it may be rightly said, that in the Prince's breast, resteth the fullness of all knowledge, for the well ordering of his Common wealth; for what they see, they see for him, what they hear, they hear for his use, what they understand, they understand to do him service, and so consequently of the rest of the actions of the mind and body, they obey the Prince, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 
Arist. primo Ethicorum.  as their Sovereign: so then as the Prince hath the primacy in the government of his Common wealth, and all those which govern under him, govern by, and for him, so also hath he the precedency, and protoclesie, or foresitting in all assemblies before the rest, and such other as have precedency or foresitting, have it by the Prince's indulgency.  
Next unto the Prince is his Queen, who shineth by the 
●. 7. tit. 37. l. 3. in princip.  beams of her King, and hath the like prerogative as himself hath. After them comes next in place the King's Children, because children in a sort are partakers of their Father's dignity: but yet among children there is a difference, that the male be preferred before the female, and among those which are males the eldest have the pre-eminence in going, sitting, speaking, and other like matters of respect. After the king's Children follow in the next rank Dukes, after them Marquesses, than Earls, four Viconts▪ and last Barons; all which have dignities either heritable, or granted by the bounty of the Prince, whereupon their nobility is founded, and whereby they only and no other are to be accounted Peers of the land. Among these for courtesy sake are reckoned such as descend of Noble houses, every one according to his degree, until the third generation: 
L. 1. C. de dignitat. lib. 12.  and the daughters of these great houses, so long as they marry to any that are in degree of Peers, retain their father's dignity, but if they marry under the degree of Peers, than they lose their father's place, and follow the degree of their husband; which notwithstanding is in practise otherwise here among us, but without any warrant of Law. The like is of the Widows of the Peers, 
L. Mulieres 13. C. de dignitat. li. 12. C. de equestri dignitat. l. ●nica lib. 12.  who while they live sole, and unmarried, retain the nobility of their husbands; but if they marry then they follow the condition of their second husbands, be it honourable, or otherwise.  
Next in place after Peers come Knights, whereof Cuiacius 
Cuiacius Lib. de ●eudis.  following the modern French Heraldry, maketh three sorts; one whereof he calleth Chevalliers, the other Bannerets, the third Bachelors, but setteth down no proper difference of the one from the other, and therefore I leave that to be inquired of those, which shall be curious thereof. Among the Romans for ought that I have read, 
●. cu● te. C. de Nuptijs.  there was but one order of them, and they were next in degree to the Senators themselves, as with us they are to the Peers.  
Between Knights, and Doctors of the Law, hath ever been question for precedency, since either of them hath but in credit in Common weals, as may appear both by the comparison that Tully maketh between Lucius Murena, a Knight of Rome, and Pub. Sulpitius a Lawyer, either of them standing for the Consulship, in his eloquent Oration made for Murena, and many disputes of Bartol and Baldus, arguing the case to and fro, which although be yet disputable in foreign Countries, where the Civil Law is in credit; yet here among us where all preferment is taken from it, and the Professors thereof are shut up as it were into a narrow corner of their profession, it is without controversy, and the priority thereof indubitable: but yet this 
Chassa●e●s de gloria mund● lib. 9  is the resolution of those which are learned in this point, that in such acts as concern learning, a Doctor is to be preferred before a Knight, but in acts that concern Military knowledge, a Knight takes place before a Doctor: but in other acts which are neither proper to the one, nor to the other, First are preferred such Doctors as attend about the Prince; secondly such Knights as wait upon the Prince: thirdly such Doctors as being not about the Prince, are excellent in learning; four come Knights without any place of preferment; last Doctors of meaner gifts and place.  
Although by the Civil Law there be no Gentlemen of title under Knights, but all the rest went under the name of people, yet in other common wealths there are, and with us be, even in this rank, which have names of pre-eminence, whereby they are in degree above the rest; as with the French there are les Gentilhomes, and le Gens de ordinances, and with us are squires and Gentlemen, all which give Ensigns, or coat Armours, and thereby are distinguished from the meaner people: in which respect Bartol calleth them Noble, but yet of a weak nobility, for that it hath no further prerogative 
Bartol tractat. de Insignis.  in it, then that it makes them differ from the base sort of people.  
Of these two sorts of Gentlemen with us, the Squire hath the priority, who seems by the common name we give him in Latin, to have had his origen, either for that he carired the Armour of the King, Duke, or other great parsonage, as we see not only in the holy Scriptures Saul 
Homer. Illiad. P●●n. lib. 35. natura●●nstor.  and jonathan, had their Armour bearers, but in Poets and other profane stories, Patroclus was Achilles' Armour bearer, and Clitus great Alexander's: whereupon some writ that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 siue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which is he whom we call Armiger in Latin, is a footman, that with a spear, shield, or headpiece, followeth an armed Knight in battle, or rather as some other suppose, it is the footman himself armed in the field: howsoever the word be taken, this is sure, that these were men of good account in the old time, as those which won themselves credit out of war, and so their estimation remained in their posterity; and as those were in time before, so are these which are in our days, as descending for the most part from their worthy ancestors.  
There is no dubbing or creating of these by the Prince's hand, or him to whom the Prince hath given authority, as it is in the creating of the Nobility, and the making of Knights, but every one whom the Captain hath vouchsafed, that service, is by the service itself a Squire; and that not only he which hath done the service in war, but also such which have done any equivalent service in peace, as Lieutenants, and Sheriffs of Shires, and justices of Peace within their County: for even in this as in other Promotions hath that distinction of the Law place, of Castrensis peculij, et quasi castrensis, whereby service of the Common wealth at home, is leveled and made equal with that abroad. Gentlemen have their beginning either of blood, as that they are borne of worshipful parents, or that they have done some thing worthily in peace or war 
L. 1. C. de dignitat. lib. 10. & 12.  whereby they deserve to bear Arms, and to be accounted gentlemen, for he is a gentleman who is commonly so taken and reputed.  
And this is the last and lowest order of them to whom the Law doth allow any challenge of precedency.  
Now it followeth that I speak some something how great personages one succeed in another in their places of honour.  
And first, to begin with the Empire itself, as the greatest earthly dignity under God, albeit in the beginning it were raised up by no right, but by usurpation, julius Caesar changing the former government of the State, and challenging to himself, the whole managing of the same; yet after it came to an orderly course, insomuch as he that had the present possession of it, disposed it to his best liking, by his last Will and Testament. So julius himself devised it to Octavius his sister's son: and albeit that devise took not effect, by reason of the treason that was wrought against julius own person, so that Octavius was feign to recover it by another right, even by the death of Lepidus and Antonius his colleagues in office; yet that very Will of julius gave a pretence to Octavius, who after was called Augustus (because he did increase the Empire with many worthy victories) to stand for the inheritance of the Empire, in consideration of which title the Senate and people of Rome more easily submitted themselves unto his government. Augustus in like sort bequeathed it to Tiberius, and Tiberius to Caius: and so it came from one to another, until some of them by cruelty and licentiousness of life, became so odious to God and man, that the people rose against them, and bereft them of that liberty, which they had prescribed in appointing of their Successors, and somewhiles themselves, and somewhiles the Soldiers made choice of whom they thought good, or by whom they thought best to be rewarded. And thus the right of Succession unto the Empire was tossed up and down many hundred years betwixt Inheritance, Bequest, and Election, until at the last, it came unto that establed state, as now it is in, and settled Electors of the Empire, so often as it happened to be void. Succession in Kingdoms, in most part of the world, in former time hath been, and at this day is by right of blood, (a few only excepted, which are Elective, as the Kingdom of Poleland is at this day) and in Succession the eldest son taketh place before the rest; and if there be no heir male, than the eldest daughter succeedeth in the kingdom, and her issue: for Kingdoms (as also succession in other dignities) are impartible. And yet France (to exclude Edward the third from the inheritance of the Crown thereof, who descended of Isabella the sister of Charles the fair, and so was next heir male unto the kingdom of France) alleged for themselves the Law Salic, pretending none which claimed by the woman, albeit he were the next heir male in blood, was to succeed, as long as there were of the male line alive, how far soever they were off in degree from the last king deceased. But this is but a mere device of the French, fathered upon some rotten Record of that part of their Nation, called Salii; of whom otherwise they have nothing memorable to speak of, as being the basest Nation among them all, of whom they report their people to have been compounded: but this devise served their turn then, whether it were anciently invented, or newly coined. But howsoever they oppose themselves against women's government, as Bodine 
Bodin lib. 6. de repub.  there contriman, hath of late stretched out the strength of his wit to devise reasons against the government of that sex: certain it is, that the Law of God hath allowed it, as it appeareth in the example of Deborah, who being a Prophetess governed Israel forty years, and by her direction got the Israelites a mighty victory over Sisera the captain of the host of jaben: and we among other Nations, have found by experience, gunaicotary or women's government is nothing so unfortunate, as Bodine would make us believe it is. For both in our late Queen, and also in her sister, (except only the case of Religion, wherein she followed the error of the time, and was carried way more with zeal than knowledge, and thereby is more to be pitied than to be envied) what is in their government, the wisest Man-Prince in the world would not desire to be in his own Regiment? for what is either in their private carriages, (so you give no ear to virulent and malicious tongues, who report surmises for substances, and tales for truths) or in their public government, (so you lay not other men's faults to their charges) that any man can justly blame? For that I may pass over the rest of their Heroical virtues fit for women of their State (specially the late Queen, who was peerless among all Queens that ever went before her, and unmatchable, as I verily do believe, by any that ever shall succeed her) as their magnanimity whereby they subdued, not only their domestical enemies, but vanquished even their foreign foes, were their designments never so dangerous, not showing any token of discouragement either in the treasonable attempts of the one, or in the malicious complotiments of the other.  
What an excellent work of hers was that, that then when all her neighbour Kingdoms round about her were drunk with the cup of the fornication of the whore of Babylon, she alone came out of Babylon, and so continued constantly to the end, maugre the threats of the red fiery Dragon, and the floods of water he cast out of his mouth after her? How excellent did she show herself in those two virtues which do chief preserve Princes States, that is, Mercy and judgement, the Records of her time do show, so that I may spare to remember any by name, which happily would be not well taken.  
And yet, truth it is, that men's government is more agreeable to Nature than women's is, whom God in the beginning put in subjection under man, and who for the most part are by Nature weak in body, and thereby unable to put in execution the great affairs of a Kingdom, and unsettled in judgement, and so hardly can determine that which is right, and settle themselves thereupon: yet by the numeration of certain ill governing queens, to conclude a generality against all government of women, is but an ill kind of arguing, for even by the like reason a man might conclude against Kings, of which sort, although there hath been many good, whom God hath used as instruments to work great good unto people in every kingdom, yet more of them have been evil, as the Stories of every country will show; and to abridge God of his power, that he cannot as well govern by a woman as by a man, when it is his good pleasure so to do, were great injury to God, and a great discredit to all woman kind: but to return thither where I left.  
In succession of Kings a question hath been, where the King hath had sons, both before he came to the Kingdom and after, which of them is to succeed, he that was borne before the Kingdom, as having the prerogative of his birthright, or he that was dorne after, as being brought into the world under a greater planet than the other, neither hath there wanted reason or example for each side to found themselves 
Herodot. lib. 4. justin. lib. 11. Plutarch in vita Artoxerxis.  on: for Xerxes the son of Darius' King of Persia being the eldest birth after his father was enthronized in the Kingdom, carried away the Empire thereof from his brother Artemines or Artebarsones borne before his father came to the royal possession thereof: so Arseces the son of another Darius borne in the time of his father's Empire carried away the garland from his brother Cyrus borne before the Empire: so Lewes Duke of Milan borne after his father was 
Gui●●ard. l. 1. Histor. ●lon●us Decad. 2. lib. 6. Mich. Ritius lib. 2. de regib. H●●gar. Sigeb. in ●roni.  Duke, was preferred to the Dukedom, before his brother Galliasius borne before the Dukedom. But these examples notwithstanding, and the opinion of sundry Doctors to the contrary, common use of succession in these latter days hath gone to the contrary, and that not without good reason: for that it is not meet, that any that have right to any succession by the progative of their birthright (such as all elder brethren have) should be despoiled thereof, except there be some evident cause of incapacity to the contrary.  
Beside sundry contentions have risen in kingdoms between the issue of the eldest son of the king dying before his father, and the second brother surviving the father, who should Reign after the Father, the Nephew challenging the same unto him, by the title of his father's birthright, and so by the way of representation; for the eldest son, even the father yet living, bears the person of the father: how much 
ff. de liberis & posthumis l in suis.  then rather his father being dead? Whereupon the Law calls as well the son Filiusfamilias', as the father Paterfamilias, for that the son, even during the father's life, is as it were Lord of his father's state: the other claiming as eldest son to his father, at the time of his death; upon which title, in old 
Pausanias' lib. 3. Historiaris.  time there grew controversy between Areus the son of Acrotatus eldest son to Cleomines King of Lacedaemon, and Cleomines second son to Cleomines, and uncle to the said Areus, but after debate thereof, the Senate gave their sentence for Areus right, against Cleomines: beside Eunomus 
Plutarch. in vita Licurg.  King of Lacedaemon having two sons, Polydectes and Lycurgus, Polydectes dying without children, Lycurgus succeeded in the kingdom, but after that he understood Polydectes widow had a child, he yielded the Crown to him: wherein he dealt far more religiously then either did king john, who upon like pretence not only put by Arthur Plantagenet his eldest brothers son, from the succession of the kingdom, but also, most unnaturally, took away his life from him; or king Richard the third, who most barbarously, to come unto the kingdom, did not only slay his two innocent Nephews, but also defamed his own mother, in publishing to the world that the late king his brother, was a bastard. Our Stories 
Bartel. l. si vi●ae matre C. de bonis maternis primogeniti filii non exclud● secundogenitum in regno.  do not obscurely note that controversy of like matter, had like to grown between Richard the second and john of Gaunt his uncle, and that he had procured the counsel of sundry great learned men to this purpose, but that he found the hearts of sundry Noblemen of the Land, (and specially the citizens of London) to be against him; whereupon he desisted from his purpose, and acknowledged his nephews right. Yet notwithstanding, when as Charles the second 
Vicerius in vita Henric● 7.  King of Cicill, departed his life, and left behind him a Nephew of Charles his clo●st son, surnamed Martellus, and his younger son Robert, and the matter came in question which of them should succeed, Clement the fifth gave sentence for Robert the younger son of Charles deceased, against the son of Martellus, being Nephew to his Grandfather, and so caused the said Robert to be proclaimed king of both Caecils; 
Clem. pastoralis de re iudicata.  which was done rather upon displeasure that Pope Clement conceived against the Emperor Frederick, than that there was just cause so to do. And yet Glanuill, an old reverent Lawyer of this Land, and Lord chief justice under Henry the second, seemeth to make this questionable here 
Glanuil l. 7. c. 3.  in England, who should be preferred, the Uncle or the Nephew.  
And thus much of succession of kings, wherein the eldest among Males hath the prerogative, and the like in Females, if there be no Male: for that a Kingdom is a dignity undivisible, and can come but to one, be he Male or Female; for that otherwise great governments would soon come to small Rules and Territories.  
And the like that is said of Kingdoms, is to be held of all Dignities under Kingdoms, where the eldest son is to be preferred before all his other brethren, and they successively one before another, if there be no issue left of them that go before; and the Male line is to be preferred before the Feminine, and the Feminine before all the rest of the kindred, so it be not a Masculine Feud, and the same entailed upon the heir Male.  
And thus far, as concerning the matters wherein the Civil Law dealeth directly or incidently within this Realm. Now it followeth, to show how much of all those titles of the Canon Law, which have been before set down, are here in practice among us.  
Of those Titles of the Canon Law, which before have been recited, some are out of use here with us in the singular or Individuum, by reason of the gross Idolatry they did contain in them; as the Title of the authority and use of the Pal, the title of the Mass, the title of Relics & the worship of Saints, the title of Monks, and Regular Canons, the title of the keeping of the Eucharist, and Cream, & such other of like quality: but yet are retained in the general: for in stead of them there are substituted in their places holy worships, tending to the like end of godliness those other did pretend, but void of those superstitious means the other thought to please God by; and so in stead of the Mass, hath come in the holy Communion; and in place of worshipping of Saints, hath succeeded a godly remembrance, and glorifying of God in his Saints, and so of the rest whereof there is any right use within the Church.  
Some other are out of use as well among the Civil as Criminal titles, because the matter that is therein treated of, is known notoriously to belong to the conusance of the Common Law at this day, as the titles of Buying and Selling, of Leasing, Letting, and taking to Farm, of Mortgaging, and pledging, of Giving by deed of gift, of Detecting of Collusion and Cozenage, of Murder, of Theft, and receiving of thieves, and such like.  
And yet, I doubt not, but even these matters, as well Civil as Criminal, or most of them, were anciently in practice, and allowed in Bishop's Courts in this Land, among Clerks, to the which I am induced by three reasons: First, that I find not only the foreign Authors of the Decretals, but also the domestical Authors of the Legantines, being all most excellent wise men, as the Stories of their several ages do report, to have enacted these several constitutions, and to have inserted them, not only in the body of the Canon Law, but also in the body of the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Land; and that some wise men, sundry years after their ages, did write and comment upon the same, as things expedient and profitable for the use of the Church, and the government of the Clergy in those days; neither of which, I do presume, they would have done, if in those ages there had not been good use and free practice of them.  
Secondly, that I find in the Code of justinian, by sundry Laws, some of his own making, some other of other Emperors before his time, even from the days of Constantine the great, bishops in their Episcopal audience had the practice of these matters as well Criminal as Civil, and to that end had they their Officials or chancellors, whom the Law calleth Ecclesiecdici or Episcoporum Ecdici, that is, Church Lawyers, or Bishop's Lawyers, men trained up in the Civil and Canon Law of those ages, to direct them in matters of judgement as well in Ecclesiastical Criminal matters, as Ecclesiastical Civil matters.  
And that these, which now are Bishops chancellors, are the very self same persons in Office, that anciently exercised Ecclesiastical jurisdiction under Bishops, and were called Ecclesiecdici, it may appear by that which Papias, an old ancient Historiographer cited by Gothofred in his Annotations upon the foresaid Law Omnem in the Code, and title de Episcopis and Clericis, and upon the §. Praeterea writeth of them, who saith thus, that Ecclesiecdici, or Ecdici were those that were aiders and assisters to the Bishops in their jurisdictions, not astrict or bound to one place, but every where through the whole Diocese supplying the absence of the Bishop, which is the very right description of the Bishop's chancellors that now are; who for that they carry the Bishop's authority with them every where for matters of jurisdiction, and that the Bishop and they make but one Consistory, are called the Bishop's Vicar's general, both in respect their authority stretcheth itself throughout the whole Diocese, & also to distinguish them from the Commissaries of Bishops, whose authority is only in some certain place of the Diocese, and some certain causes of the jurisdiction, limited unto them by the bishops, and therefore are called by the Law, judices or Officiales foranei as if you would 
Clem 2. ca foraneos de rescript.  say, Officiales astricti cuidam foro diocesis tantum.  
So that it is a very mere conceit, that a certain gentleman, very learned and eloquent, of late hath written, that chancellors are men but of late upstart in the world, and that the sloth of bishops hath brought in chancellors, whereas in very deed, chancellors are equal, or near equal in time to Bishops themselves, as both the Law itself, and Stories do show: yea chancellors are so necessary 
Baldus l. aliquando ff. de officio Proconsulis.  officers to Bishops, that every Bishop must of necessity have a chancellor, and if any Bishop would seem to be complete within himself, that he needed not a chancellor, yet may the Archbishop of the Province wherein he is, compel 
Covar. lib. 3. variarum resolute. c. 20. num. 4. S. Br●z●. l●b. 1. de vica●●o 〈◊〉 q. 46 n●m. 1. 4. 12. & 13.  him to take a chancellor, or if he refuse so to do, put a chancellor on him: for that the Law doth presume, it is a matter of more weight than one man is able to sustain to govern a whole Diocese by himself alone; and therefore howsoever the nomination of the chancellor be in the Bishop, yet his authority comes from the Law, and 
Hostiensis in sum made officio Vicarij numoro 2. in sine. nomirationem ab 〈◊〉, potestatem vero a iure recipiuntur.  therefore he is no less accounted an Ordinary by the Law, than the Bishop is. But truth it is, not the sloth of the Bishops, but the multitude and variety of Ecclesiastical causes brought them in, which could not be defined by like former precedents, but needed every one almost a new decision. And the cause why Princes in the beginning granted to Clergy men these causes and their Consistories, (for from Princes were derived in the beginning all these authorities, as also the Religion itself is settled and protected in Kingdoms by Princes, before there can be had a free passage thereof) was one that the Clergy men thereby might not be drawn from their prayer and exercise of divine service to follow matters of suits abroad: secondly that they were like to have a more speedy and better dispatch and more indifferency before a judge of their own learning, than before a judge of an other profession, for this is true, and ever hath been, and I fear ever will be unto the end, that is said in the gloss, and is in common saw, Laici opido semper infesti sunt Clericis: Lastly that Clerks suits & quarrels should not be divulged and spread abroad among the lay people, & that many times to the great discredit of the whole profession, specially in crimminall matters; wherein Princes anciently so much tendered the Clergy, that if any man among them had committed any thing worthy death, or open shame he was not first executed, or put to his public disgrace, before he was degraded by the Bishop, and his Clergy, and so was executed, & put to shame, not as a Clerk, but as a lay malefactor; which regard towards Ecclesiastical men, it were well it were still retained, both because the consideration thereof is reverent & worthy the dignity of the ministery, whose office is most honourable, & also for that it is more ancient than any Papistical immunity is.  
The third and last reason that moves me that I should believe, that these Titles sometimes were here in exercise among us in the Ecclesiastical Courts is, that I find Glanuill, 
Glanuill lib. 12. cap. 15. de Legibus Angliae.  who himself lived under Henry the second, and was Lord chief justice of England in his days, sort to the Ecclesiastical Courts the plea of Tenements, where the suit is between two Clerks, or between a Clerk and a Lay man, and the plea is, De libera eleemosina feodi Ecclesiastici, et non petitur inde recognitio, whether the frank fee be lay or Ecclesiastical: where also is further added that if it be found by the 
Idem lib. 13. cap. 25.  verdict of legal and sufficient men, that it is of Ecclesiastical fee, it shall not be after drawn to lay fee, no though it be held of the Church, by services thereunto due and accustomed: secondly whereas land is demanded in marriage by the husband, 
Idem lib. 7. cap. 18.  or the wife, or their heir, and the demand be against the giver, or his heir, than it shall be at the choice of the demander, whether he will sue for the same in the court Christian or in the secular Court: For saith he, it pertaineth unto the Ecclesiastical Courts to hold plea of dowries, which he calleth Maritagia, if so be the plaintiff so make choice of those Courts, for the mutual affiance that is there made between the man & the wife, for marriage to be had between them, & there is a dowry promised unto the man by the woman's friends, neither shall this plea be carried unto the temporal Courts, no though the lands be of Lay fee, so that it be certain the suit is for a Dowry, but if the suit be against a stranger, it is otherwise: thirdly the King's prohibition forbidding 
Anno 24. Ed. 1.  the Clergy the dealing in many things which are of lay fee, forbids them no one thing that is of Ecclesiastical fee, and to show the Prince's meaning precisely therein, that it was not his intent by that Prohibition to restrain the Ecclesiastical judges for proceeding in matters of Ecclesiastical fee, he sets down in very terms these words (Recognizances touching Lay fee) as though he would hereby signify to all men, that he would not touch matters of Ecclesiastical fee, which did then wholly & properly appertain to the trial of the Christian Court, as hath been before vouched out of Glanuill; who for the place he then held, may be thought to have known the Laws of England, as than they stood, and the right interpretation thereof, aswell as any man then or now living. And yet because there were some things of Lay fee, which the Clergy than had cognisance of, as yet they have in some measure; as causes and matters of Money, chattels, and debts, rising out of Testaments or Matrimony, because he would have whatsoever belonged to the Clergy to be undoubted, excepteth them from those things which belong to the Crown and dignity, and leaveth them to the ordering of the Christian Courts; which is nothing else but an affirmance of that which Glanuill, and the rest of the ancient English Lawyers, Bracton and Britton said before.  
Lastly the provincial Constitution Aeternae de poenis, made in the days of Henry the 3. plainly shows, that in those days all personal suits between either Clerk or Clerk, or between Lay men complainants, and Clerks defendants (for ever the Plaintiff must follow the Court of the Defendant, which to the Ecclesiastical men than was the Ecclesiastical Court) were tried by the Spiritual Law, and not by the Temporal Law: which practise for that it doth accord with the judgement of those ancient Lawyers that have been before cited, and with the Prohibition itself, which there restraineth only calling of Lay men to make recognizances of matters of Lay fee; it may be a great argument, that these things were of the Ecclesiastical right in those days: from which I see not how the Ecclesiastical Courts are fallen, for I see neither Law nor Statute to the contrary, unless perhaps they will say the Statute of the 
25. H. 8. cap. 19  25. of H. 8. cap. 19 took the same away, as being hurtful to the king's Prerogative royal, & repugnant to the Laws, Statutes, and Customs of this Realm; which whether they be, or be not taken away by the stroke of that Statute, I leave it to men of better experience in these matters than myself to judge.  
But yet this I find by experience to be true, That where there are two divers jurisdictions in one Common wealth, unless they be carefully bounded by the Prince, & an equal respect carried to both of them, so far as their places, and the necessary use of them in the Common wealth requires; as the advancement of the one increaseth, so the practise of the other decreaseth; specially if one have got the countenance of the State more than the other: which is the only cause at this day of the overflowing of the one, and the ebbing of the other, but it is in his Sacred Majesty to redress it, not by taking away any thing from that profession that is theirs, but by restoring to this profession, that which is their own; but hereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
For the rest of the matters that belong to the trial of the Ecclesiastical Courts, some are acknowledged to be absolutely in use, some other are challenged to be but in a certain measure in use.  
In absolute use are those which never had any opposition against them, which almost are those alone which belong to the Bishop's degree or order; for all things which come within the compass of the Ecclesiastical Law, are either belonging to the Bishop's degree, or his jurisdiction: To his degree or order belong the ordering of Ministers and Deacons, the confirmation of Children, the dedication of Churches and Churchyards, and such like, none of which have been challenged at any time to belong to any other Law. The second sort is of them that belong to the Bishop's jurisdiction, which is partly voluntary, partly litigious: Voluntary is, when those with whom the dealing is, stand not against it, but litigious it is, when it is oppugned by the one part or the other; Of this latter sort many things in sundry ages have been called in question, but yet rescued and recovered again by the wise & grave judges themselves, who have found the challenge of them to be unjust. But what doth belong to either of them in private, or what causes do appertain to the whole jurisdiction in general, because they have been already particularly set down by that famous man of worthy memory Doctor Cousin, in his learned Apology for certain 
Cos in in his Apology part 1. c. 2.  proceedings in Ecclesiastical Courts; I will not make a new catalogue of them, but send the Reader for the knowledge thereof unto his Book; but yet in my passage will I note which of them have been most chief oppugned, and as occasion shall fall out speak to them.  
And thus much as concerning those parts of the Ecclesiastical Law, which are here in use with us: Now it followeth to show whereby the exercise of that jurisdiction which is granted to be of the Civil and Ecclesiastical cognizance, is defeated & impeached by the Common Law of this Land, which is the third part of this Division.  
The impeachment therefore is by one of these means, by Praemunire, by Prohibition, by Injunction, by Supersedeas, by Indicavit, or Quare impedit: but because the four last are nothing so frequent, nor so harmful as the others, and that this Book would grow into a huge volume, if I should prosecute them all, I will only treat of the two first, and put over the rest unto some better opportunity.  
A Praemunire therefore is a writ awarded out of the king's Bench, against one who hath procured out any Bull, or like process of the Pope from Rome, or elsewhere, for any Ecclesiastical place, or preferment within this Realm; or doth sue in any forteine Ecclesiastical Court, to defeat or impeach any judgement given in the King's Court, whereby the body of the offender is to be imprisoned during the King's pleasure, his goods forfeited, and his lands seized into the King's hand, so long as the offender liveth.  
This writ was much in use, during the time the Bishop of Rome's authority was in credit in this land, and very necessary it was it should be so, for being then two like principal authorities acknowledged within this Land, the Spiritual in the Pope, and the Temporal in the King; the Spiritual 
25. Edw. 2. 27. Edw. 3. ca 1. 38 Edw. 3. ca 1. & 2. 7. Rich. 2. ca 12. 13. Rich. 2. ca 2. 2. H. 4. cap. 3.  grew on so fast on the temporal, that it was to be feared (had not these statutes been provided to restrain the Pope's enterprises) the spiritual jurisdiction had devoured up the temporal, as the temporal now on the contrary, side hath almost swallowed up the spiritual. But since the foreign authority in Spiritual matters is abolished, and either jurisdiction is agnized to be settled wholly, and only in the Prince of this land, sundry wise men's opinion is, there can lie no Praemunire, by those Statutes at this day, against any man exercising any subordinat jurisdiction under the King, whether the same be in the king's name, or in his name, who hath the same immediately from the King: for that now all jurisdiction, whether it be Temporal or Ecclesiastical is the Kings, and such Ecclesiastical Laws as now are in force, are called the King's Ecclesiastical Laws, and the King's Ecclesiastical Courts; For that the King cannot have in himself a contrariety of jurisdiction, fight one against the other, as it was in the case between himself and the Pope, although he may have diversity of jurisdiction within himself, which for order sake, and for avoiding of confusion in government, he may restrain to certain several kinds of causes, and inflict punishment upon those that shall go beyond the bounds or limits that are prescribed them: but to take them as enemies, or underminers of his state, he can not; for the question here is not, who is head of the cause, or jurisdiction in controversy, but who is to hold plea thereof, or exercise the jurisdiction under that head, the Ecclesiastical or temporal judge. Neither is that to move any man that the Statutes made in former time against such Provisors, which vexed the King, and people of this land, with such unjust suits, do not only provide against such process as came from Rome, but against all others that came elsewhere, being like conditioned as they: for that it was not the meaning of those Statutes, or any of them, thereby to tax the Bishop's Courts, or any Consistory within this land, for that none of them ever used such malapert sauciness against the King, as to call the judgements of his Courts into question, although they went far in straining upon those things and causes, which were held to be of the King's Temporal cognisance, as may appear by the King's Prohibition thereon framed. And beside the Archbishops, Bishops, and other Prelates of this Land, in the greatest heat of all this business, being then present in the Parliament  the rest of the Nobility, disavowed the Pope's insolency toward the King in this behalf; and assured him they would & ought to stand with his Majesty against the Pope, in these and all other cases touching his Crown and Regality, as they were bound by their allegiance: so that they being not guilty of these enterprises against the King, but in as great a measure troubled in their own jurisdiction by the Pope, as the King himself was in the right of his Crown, as may appear out of the course of the said Statutes; The word (Elsewhere) can in no right sense be understood of them, or their Consistories: although some of late time thinking all is good service to the Realm, that is done for the advancement of the Common Law, and depressing of the Civil Law, have so interpreted it, but without ground or warrant of the Statutes themselves, who wholly make provision against foreign authority, and speak no word of domestical proceed. But the same word (Elsewhere) is to be meant and conceived of the places of remove the Popes used in those days, being sometimes at Rome in Italy, sometimes at avignon in France, semetimes in other places, as by the date of the Bulls, and other process of that age may be seen; which several removes of his, gave occasion to the Parliament of inserting the word (Elsewhere,) in the body of those Statutes, that thereby the Statutes providing against Process dated at Rome, they might not be eluded by like Process dated at Avignon, or any other place of the Pope's abode, and so the penalty thereof towards the offender might become void, and be frustrated. Neither did the Laws of this Land at any time whiles the Pope's authority was in his greatest pride within this Realm, ever impute Praemunire to any Spiritual Subject, dealing in any Temporal matter, by any ordinary power within the land, but restrained them by Prohibition only; as it is plain by the King's Prohibition, wherein are the greatest matters that ever the Clergy attempted by ordinary and domestical authority, and yet are refuted only by Prohibition. But when as certain busy-headed fellows were not content to press upon the king's Regal jurisdiction at home, but would seek for means for preferment by foreign authority to control the judgements given in the king's Courts by process from the Pope; then were Premunires decreed, both to punish those audacious enterprises of those factious Subjects, and also to check the Pope's insolency, that he should not venture hereafter to enterprise such designments against the King and his people. But now since the fear thereof is past, by reason all intercourse is taken away between the King's good Subjects, and the Court of Rome, it is not to be thought the meaning of good and merciful Princes of this land is, the cause of these Statutes being taken away, the effect thereof shall remain; and that good and dutiful subjects stepping happily awry in the exercise of some part of their jurisdiction, (but yet without prejudice of the Prince, or his Regal power) shall be punished with like rigour of Law, as those which were molesters, gréevers, and disquieters of the whole estate. But yet notwithstanding the edge of those Premunires which were then framed, remain sharp and unblunted still against Priests, jesuits, & other like Runagates, which being not content with their own natural Prince's government, seek to bring in again, that and like foreign authority, which those Statutes made provision against; but these things I leave to the reverend judges of the land, and others that are skilful in that profession, only wishing that some which have most insight into these matters, would add some light unto them, that men might not stumble at them, and fall into the danger of them unawares: but now to Prohibitions.  
A Prohibition is a commandment sent out of some of the King's higher Courts of Records, where Prohibitions have been used to be granted, in the King's name, sealed with the seal of that Court, and subscribed with the Teste of the chief judge, or justice of the Court from whence the said Prohibition doth come, at the suggestion of the Plaintiff, pretending himself to be grieved by some Ecclesiastical or marine judge, in not admittance of some matter, or doing some other thing against his right, in his or their judicial proceedings, commanding the said Ecclesiastical or marine judge to proceed no further in that cause: & if they have sent out any censure Ecclesiastical or Marine against the plaintiff they recall it, and lose him from the same under pain of the King's high indignation upon pretence that the same cause doth not belong to the Ecclesiastical or Marine judge, but is of the temporal cognisance, and doth appertain to the Crown and dignity.  
Prohibitions, some are Prohibitions of Law, some other are Prohibitions of fact.  
Prohibitions of Law, are those which are set down by any Law or Statute of this Land, whereby Ecclesiastical Courts are interdicted to deal in the matters therein contained, such as are all those things which are expressed in the king's Prohibition; as are also those which are mentioned by the second of Edward the sixth, where judges Ecclesiastical 
C. 13. 2. Edw. 6.  are forbid to hold plea of any matter contrary to the effect, intent, or meaning of the statute of W. 2. Capite 3. The statute of Articuli Cleri, Circumspect agatis, Sylva Cedua, the treaties De Regia Prohibition, the Statute Anno 1. Edwardi 3. Capite. 10. or ought else wherein the King's Court ought to have jurisdiction.  
Prohibitions of fact, are such which have no precise word, or letter of Law or Statute for them, as have the other, but are raised up by argument out of the wit of the Deviser. These, for the most part, are mere quirks and subtleties of law, and therefore aught to have no more favour in any wise, honourable, or well ordered Consistory, than the equity of the cause itself doth deserve; for such manner of shifts (for the most part) breed nought else but matter of vexation, and have no other commendable end in them, though they pretend the right of the King's Court, as those other Prohibitions of the law do: but the Kings right is not to be supposed by imagination, but is to be made plain by demonstration, and so both the Statute of the 18. of Edward the third, Capite 5. is, where it is provided no Prohibition shall go out, but where the King hath the cognisance, and of right aught to have; and also by the forenamed Statute of Edward the sixth, which forbids that any Prohibition shall be granted out, but upon sight of the libel, and other wary circumstances in the said Statute expressed: by which it is to be intended the meaning of the Lawgivers was not, that every idle suggestion of every Attorney should breed a Prohibition, but such only should be granted, as the judge in his wisdom should think worthy of that favour, and of right and equity did deserve it: although (as I must deeds confess) the Statute is defective in this behalf for to exact any such precise examination of him in these cases, as it is also in other points, and is almost the general imperfection of all statutes that are made upon Ecclesiastical causes: but (I fear me) as emulation between the two laws, in the beginning brought in these multitudes of Prohibitions, either against or beside law, so the gain they bring unto the Temporal Courts maintaineth them; which also makes the judges they cease not costs and damages in cases of of Consultation, (although the statute precisely requires their assent and and assignment therein) because they would not fear other men from suing out of Prohibitions, and pursuing of the same.  
The Prohibitions of the law, as have been before showed, are neither many, nor much repined at, because they contain a necessary distinction between jurisdiction and jurisdiction, and imply the kings right, and subjects benefit: but the Prohibitions of fact or of men, are both infinite and odious, for that there is, well nigh, no matter either Civil or Ecclesiastical, be it never so clear or absolute, but they clog it and encumber it with some Prohibition; and the matter they contain, is (for the most part) absurd and frivolous, as shall first appear in Marine causes, and after in Ecclesiastical matters.  
For Marine causes, it is well known, that all such bargains and contracts, or as it were contracts, as are made by any persons either in any foreign country, or any Haven or creek of the Sea, or any shore thereof, as far as the greatest winter wave doth run out, or upon any great river, to the first bridge next to the Sea, for any merchandise, ship, tackle, or other negotiation belonging to the Sea, or to any merchandise brought from beyond the Sea, is and aught to be of the admiral cognisance, and so evermore hath been since the Court of the Admiralty was first erected: and yet the Common Lawyers to defeat the Civil Law of the trial thereof have devised sundry actions, and among the rest, an action of Trover, whereby they feign, that a ship arrived in Cheapside or some other like place within the city, and there the Plaintiff and Defendant meeting together, bargained upon some merchandise, or other like seafaring matter, by which fiction they pretend, the bargain now is to be tried in the Common Law, and not by the Civil Law, as being done in the body of a County, and not upon the main Sea, or any other place subject to the Admiral jurisdiction.  
But that this fiction, or any other like qualitied to this, should have any such force as to work any effect in Law, I will show, first by the definition of a fiction, then by those things that are necessarily attendant thereon.  
A fiction thereof is defined by Bartol (whom also the rest 
●. si is qui proemptore § 3. ff. de usucapiomb. & ibi Bartol.  of the Doctors do follow) to be an assumption of the Law upon an untruth, for a truth, in a certain thing possible to be done, and yet not done: upon which fiction the Doctors hold there wait two things, the one is Equity, the other Possibility. For first, unless there because why, that which is not, should be famed to be, and that which is, should be accounted not to be, and that which is done in one sort, or at one time, or in one place, should be imagined to be done in another sort, at another time, and in another place, there is no reason a fiction should be admitted: for the Law alloweth no man to come to extraordinary remedies, but where ordinary remedies fail: and therefore if that which is in controversy may be obtained by any other means than by a fiction, a fiction is not to be afforded: but if ordinary means cannot be had, than fictions may be entertained to supply the 
L. in causa. ff. de numrib.  defect of the ordinary means, that thereby, although the truth be otherwise, yet the effect of the Law may be all one.  
So then the Law feigneth an infant not yet borne, to be borne for his benefit, for that happily without that fiction, 
L. qui in utero & penult de statu hō●● ff.  the poor infant should be remediless of his Filial portion, Legacy, or other right in conscience due unto him: so Nephews and Nieces succeed together with their Uncles and 
L. 1. § si ●iliu● ff. de suis & legit. l. 2. l. 3. l. 4 C. ●od. l Gal●us 29 § & been & § videndum ff. de liberis & posthum● § cum filius Inst●t. de haered. ab●n●●●ato. L. very est. § vl ff. pro socio, L. action. § publication ff. eod. L. absentem. ff. de verhorun sign●ficat. L. lege Cornel ff. ff. de testamen●is.  Aunts in their Grandfathers and Grandmothers goods, for such portion as should have come to their parents, if they had lived; for that the Law presumeth them to represent the person of their parents: so he that is dead, is feigned to be alive to many constructions in Law, special if many of his equals in age, be alive at the time that he is feigned to be alive: so he that is alive and is in captivity, for the upholding of his will which he made in liberty, is feigned to be dead the hour before he became captive: so he that is obstinate and will not appear in judgement, being lawfully called thereto, is feigned to be present, that neither himself should take benefit out of his obstinacy, neither his adversary hurt by his absence and injury. Infinite more examples might be brought of this sort; but it would be too long to run through them all, and this shall suffice to have showed that the Law approveth fictions, but where there is equity for it, and the Law itself otherwise cannot have her effect. And as the Law cannot 
L. Gallus § fi eius ff. de liberis & posthumis. l. fi pater § sicum. ff. de adopt. Horat. de Arte poetica.  proceed to a fiction without equity, so neither can it feign any thing that is impossible, for Art evermore followeth Nature; and therefore if a man would feign disproportionable things, such as the Painter did in Horace, who made Boars wallow in the waves of the Sea, and Dolphins wander in the woods; these fictions in no sense can be admitted, for that they are such as neither nature nor reason can brook. In like sort, if a man would feign one to live, who were dead two hundred years since, so that it were not possible, that he or 
Bartol l. si is qu● proemptore num. 21. 22. 23. & s●…quentib.  any of his equals should live at that age, this would not hold in Law, for that it is above the age the Law doth presume any man may live by Nature; although the Law doth presume such as die in war for defence of their country (for the better encouragement of those that are alive, to venture themselves in like service for the common wealth) to live for ever; because their fame doth flourish for ever: and upon like reason the Law will not suffer any person to adopt another for his child, who is either elder or equal in age unto himself, or is not so far under his years, as by course of Nature he might be his natural child indeed: so much the Law detesteth impossibilities, that it will not suffer a man to fame that which in common Sense and Nature might not be true indeed.  
Now, if these things be true, as in all reason and show, by former precedents they appear to be true, I would gladly see how actions of Trover, (whereby the Common Lawyers translate unto themselves matters of Marine trial) if they be squared to these Rules of Fictions, can be maintained: for first to speak of equity, which the Law requires in these manner of proceed, what equity can it be to take away the trial of such business as belongeth to one Court, & to pull it to another Court; specially, when as the Court from whence it is drawn, is more fit for it, both in respect of the fullness of knowledge that that Court hath to deal in such business, and also of the competency of skill that is in the judges and professors of those Courts, correspondent to these causes, more than is in the judges and professors of the other Courts, for the deciding and determining of these matters. For, albeit otherwise they are very wise and sufficient men in the understanding of their own profession, yet have they small skill or knowledge in matters pertaining to the Civil profession: for that there is nothing written in their books of these matters, more than is to be gathered out of a few Statutes of former time, whose drift was not to open any door unto them, to enter upon the admiral profession, but to preserve the King's jurisdiction from the Admiral incrochment, as may by the said Statutes appear; whereas contrarily, the Civil law hath sundry titles included in the body thereof concerning these kind of causes; whereupon the interpreters of the Law have largely commented, & others have made several tractates thereof: So that, by all likelihood, these men are more fit and better furnished to deal in this business, than any men of any other profession, as having, beside the strength of their own wit, other men's helps and labours to rely upon.  
Besides, this business many times concerns not only our own countrymen, but also strangers, who are parties to the suit, who are borne, and do live in countries ordered by the Civil Law, whereby they may be presumed they have more skill and better liking of that Law, than they can be thought to have of our Laws and our proceedings: and therefore it were no indifferency to call them from the trial of that Law, which they, in some part know, and is the Law of their country (as it is almost to all Christendem beside) to the trial of a Law which they know in no part, & is mere foreign unto them; specially when the Princes of this Land have anciently allowed the Civil Law to be a Common Law, in these cases, as well to their own subjects, as it is to strangers.  
Further, the avocating away of causes in this sort from one jurisdiction to another, specially when the cause hath long depended in the Court from whence it is called, insomuch as now it is ready to sentence, or rather is past sentence, and stands at execution, cannot be but great injury to the subject after so much labour lost, and money spent in waste, to begin his suit a new again: which is like to Sisyphus punishment, who when he hath with all his might, forced his stone up to the top of the hill, and so is (as himself hopes) at an end of his labour; yet the stone rowles down again on him, and so his second labour (his strength being spent with the toil of the first) is more grievous than the former was: which being semblably true in a poor Client, who hath his cause in hearing, there can be no equity in this fiction, whereby a cause so near ended, should again be put upon the Anvil, as though it were still rough work and new to be begun.  
And surely, as there is no equity in it, so there is no possibility such a fiction should be maintained by Law; for that it hath no ground of reason to rest his feet on. For if this be granted, that such a fiction by Law may be made, than one of these absurdities must needs follow, either that a ship may arrive in a place where no water is to carry it, or if that it arrive according to the fiction, either the people, their houses & their wealth shall be all overwhelmed in the water, as the world was in Noah's Flood, and Deucalion's Deluge, and so no body there shall be left alive to make any bargain or contract with the Mariners and shipmen that arrive there; or that the people that dwell there shall walk upon the water, as people do on land, which Peter himself was not able to do, but had sunk, if Christ had not reached his hand unto him, and therefore far less possible for any other man to do. So that it may be well said (these things standing as they do) no such fiction can hold, and that no action can be framed upon it; for as there is no Obligation of impossible things, so there is no Action of things that neither Nature nor Reason will afford to be done: neither is it to the purpose that the maintainers of these fictions do say, that in this case, the place where the contract is made is not considerable, which I take to be far otherwise; for that, when that themselves will convey a Marine cause from the Sea unto the Land, they will lay it to be done in some special place of a County, be the place never so unproper for such an action: for that the foundation of these actions, is the place where they were done, as namely that they were done in the body of such a County, or such a County, and not upon the main sea, or beneath the lowest bridge, that is upon any great river next the sea. And therefore in two emulous jurisdictions, when they are so divided, as that one is assigned the sea, the other the land, the place of the action can in no sort be suppressed, and another supplied in the room thereof: Quod enim una via prohibatur, alia via non est permittendum, & quod prohibitum est directo, prohibetur etiam per obliquum: for if this were granted, than matter enough would be offered to one jurisdiction to devour up the other, and the Law would be easily eluded: which to restrain either of these jurisdictions to their own place, and to provide that one in his greatness do not swell up against the other, hath set either of them their bounds and limits, which they shall not pass: which, as it is the good provision of the Law, so ought either jurisdiction in all obedience to submit itself thereunto, for that the diminishing of either of them is a wrong to the Prince from whom they are derived, who is no less Lord of the Sea than he is King of the Land: and therefore, in no sort, such liberty must be allowed to the one directly or indirectly, as that it should be a spoil unto the other; which would easily come to pass, if when as the law alloweth not any man to sue a Marine by the ordinary course of the laws of this land, yet a man will follow it by an extraordinary. But where there is an uniformity of jurisdiction, as that it is all by sea, or all by land, there may a thing be feigned to be done in one place, that was done in another place, without any man's prejudice, for that in this case, the place is not traversable (so it be not in Criminal matters where time and place is required, that the accuser do not wander from place to place with the injury of the accused) for howsoever the place and the action is altered, yet the truth of the cause remaineth one and the self same still: and so far as concerning actions of Trover in Admiral causes. Now it doth follow that I should speak of like preiudices that grow to the same by actions of Trespass, but those will I pass over, for that in so small a Treatise as this is, I cannot go over all: and therefore will I only put the Reader in mind, that there are more devices rising out of the Common Law, that infest the Admiralty than one. But now to Wills and Testaments wherein they are impeached.  
For matters of Wills and Legacies, they are so proper to the trial of the Ecclesiastical Law of this Realm, as the professors of the Common Law themselves, do oftentimes confess and say, they have no more to do therewith, than the Civilian hath to do with the knowledge of the matters of Franktenement: and yet even these matters of Testaments & Legacies, although Prohibitions be not so frequent in them, as they are in the rest of Ecclesiastical causes, yet they are not quite void of them, and that in some points, wherein the very life & essence of a Will doth stand.  
For whereas the ancient Romans, knowing how subject matters of Wills are to forgery & corruption on the one side, and suppression & concealment on the other side, to meet with all craft & subtlety whatsoever, which might seize on them, did most carefully provide, that there should be seven witnesses at the least, present at the making of every Will & Testament, except it were in time of some general plague or sickness, when so many Witnesses could not conveniently be had together for fear of infection, or if it were in the Country, where there are small multitude of people, and that those witnesses should be particularly required to that purpose; with divers other observations and circumstances tending all to the safe and sure making thereof: which the Ecclesiastical Law altered afterward in sundry points, for that many true Wills were many times overthrown for want of those precise solemnities, & reduced the whole number of those seven witnesses, unto two only agreeably to the Law of God, & the Law of Nations, where that number of witnesses is allowed, as competent to prove any matter, so that the same witnesses be honest & credible persons, such as whose faith is not doubted of. The Common Lawyers, because themselves in sundry matters very dangerously many times admit one witness, & give him full credit, and that in matters of great weight & importance; (as though all should be squared to their rule, and framed to their compass) If an Ecclesiastical judge in the probate of a Will, contrary to the rules of his own Law, will not admit the testimony of one witness, they forthwith fling out a Prohibition against him, as though he had done an offence against the Crown and dignity, in that he doth not allow those number of witnesses in the Probate of a Will, that the Common Laws of this land allow almost in every matter.  
For answer to which, if I should allege the precise form of the Ecclesiastical Law, which to the essence of a will requireth this number of two witnesses, or else holdeth it not for a Will (but in cases inter liberos, & ad pios usus, where the only hand of the Father or Testator without witnesses serveth for a Will, so the same be known to be the Testators own hand, or so proved by comparison) I would think to wise men I had said sufficiently; but I will not rest hereupon, but will convince themselves, by themselves: for, do they I pray you in their own proceedings, where a Law or Statute requires more witnesses than one, content themselves with one witness alone? yea, do they not in all cases where a certain number of witnesses are appointed to prove a fact by Law or statute, furnish the cause with so many witnesses as the case desires, or else do they not account the proceeding void? And will they think themselves so precisely bound to the keeping of the letter of the Common law, and will they not suffer the Civilian in like manner to clean fast to the observation of the Civil Law, especially when it hath the consent of the Law of God, & the Law of Nations, and is his majesties Ecclesiastical Law of this land, aswell as the other is his Temporal Law of the same?  
I confess it may be true many times, which one man saith, specially when there concur therewith many great and violent presumptions, and the party that reporteth it is of good credit, but dangerous it is to open this gap to the malice of men, for even so, many things shall be obtruded to the judge for truth, which are stark lies, and many things shall be pretended to be gold in show, which in proof and practise will 
L. juris. urandi. §. Simili modo. C. de Testibus.  be found to be no other thing, but mere dross. And therefore well decreed the Emperor Constantine, that no one man's testimony should be heard, though he were never so great a man in Court.  
But perhaps some man will say, if credit shall not be given oftentimes to one man's testimony, much wickedness will pass away unpunished: for reply to which I answer, it is better to let a bad man scape, than to punish a good, and although it be true, if a man may excuse himself by denial, no man will be found guilty; so also it is true on the other side, if it be enough to condemnation to be charged by one man alone, without any other witnesses, no man shall be innocent, and therefore the admittance of one witness in causes, and the proceeding thereupon to judgement is very dangerous.  
another like bar to this they lay in against Ecclesiastical proceedings in matters of Testament; whereas an Ecclesiastical judge proveth a Will, wherein are manors, lands, tenements, and other like hereditaments bequeathed, challenging this also to be of the Crown and dignity, as though the Ecclesiastical judge thereby took upon him to decree which lands were devisable by will, and which not, or would by his probat add a strength unto the Will, to make the devise good or bad, whereas on the contrary part the Ecclesiastical judge by this act doth only testify, that such a person made such a will, & that the same was proved before himself under his Teste, for his last will & testament: but for the validity of the Will itself, and the Legacies & devices therein, whether they were of lands or tenements, or of goods or chattels, the Probat itself worketh nothing, but leaveth that to the Law, Common or Ecclesiastical, according as the bequest belongeth to either of them, whether it be good & available in Law, or no: for it oftentimes falleth out, notwithstanding the Will be lawfully proved before the Ordinary, yet the bequests are not good, either in respect of the person to whom the bequests are made, or in respect of the thing that is not devisable in all, or in part; as by the Common Law, lands in Capite cannot be devised, more than for two parts, but in Socage the devise is good for all; And by the Custom of the City of London, & some other places of the land, a man can bequeath no more than his deaths part, and if he do, his bequest is void for the rest; but in other places of the land a man may bequeath all. By the Civil Law a man can bequeath nothing to a Traitor, or an Heretic, or an unlawful College, or Company (unless perhaps it be for the aliment, or maintenance of them in extreme poverty, that they die not for hunger, which is the work of charity) and if he do, the legacy thereof is void to all intents & purposes. So then, the Probate of the Ordinary in matters of land, neither helpeth, nor hindereth the right of the devise itself, but is a declaration only of the dead Man's doom uttered before such, and such witnesses: which taketh his strength not so much from the Probat, as from the Law, and is testified only by the Probat, that the same was declared by the Testator, in the presence of the witnesses therein named, to be his true & Last Will. So that no man herein is to be offended with the Ordinary, as presuming of a matter not appertaining unto him: for this testification in all Law & conscience doth belong unto him, to give allowance so far unto the defuncts Will, as it is avouched before him to be his last act and deed in that behalf: but rather they are in this case to thank the Ordinary, that he by that act of his hath preserved the memory of that, which otherwise perhaps would have been lost & perished, to the great hurt of the Common wealth, and others which have private interest therein.  
Of all matters that appertain to the Ecclesiastical Courts, there is no one thing that the Princes of this land have made more careful provision for, since there was any Church government in this land, than that all manner of Tithes due by the word of God should be fully & truly paid unto their Parish Churches where they grew, & if they were denied should be recovered by the Law of holy Church. For first before the Conquest, king Athelstone made a Law, that every man 
Polychronicon.  should pay his Tithes to God, in manner as jacob did, who made a vow to God, If God would bring him back again to his country, he would when he returned home, pay tithes to God, of all that God should give him: the like did king Edgar, & king Edmund, commanding that those which wilfully refused to pay their tithes, should be excommunicated.  
William Conqueror, (as Roger Hovenden reporteth) in 
Hovenden part. 2. cap. de Decimis ecclesiae.  the 4. year after his conquest, having got some time of rest from war, & settling of rebellious spirits, who kicked at his government at home, entered into a consideration of the well ordering of the Church, and Common wealth by wholesome Laws: & therefore by the advise of his Counsel, let call all the great Prelates & Potentates of this Land, with twelve other sufficient men of every Shire experienced in the Laws and customs of the Land, that he might by them learn by what Laws & customs the land was governed, before himself came to the Crown thereof; straightly charging & commanding them upon his high displeasure, they should make true report to him thereof, without adding any thing thereto, or taking any thing therefrom: who beginning of the Laws of holy Church, because by it, the King and his throne are established, among other Laws and liberties of the Church, recorded this for one, which I will verbatim set down in Latin, as it is penned by the Author.  
De omni Annona, decima garba est Deo reddita, & ideo reddenda: Si quis gregem Equarum habuerit, pullum reddat decimun, qui unam tantum vel duas habuerit, de singulis pullis singulos denarios praebeat. Similiter qui plures Vaccas habuerit, decimum vitulum, qui unam vel duas de singulis vitulis singulos denarios; & qui caseum fecerit, det decimun Deo, et si non fecerit, lac decima die. Similiter Agnum decimun, vellus decimun, Butyrum decimum, Porcellun decimum. De Apibus vero similiter, decimun commodi, quinetiam de bosco, de prato, de aquis, de molendinis, & vivarijs, piscarijs, virgultis, & hortis, & negotiationibus, & omnibus rebus quas dederit Dominus decima pars ei reddenda est, qui novem partes simul cum decima largitur. Et qui eam detinuerit, per justitiam Epi, & Regis si necesse fuerit ad solutionem arguatur. Haec enim S. Augustinus praedicavit & docuit, et haec concessa sunt a Rege, Baronibus, & populo. Sed postea instinctu diaboli multi eam detinuerunt, & Sacerdotes negligentes non curabant inire laborem ad perquirendas eas, eo quòd sufficientér habebant vitae suae necessaria. Multis enim locis sunt tres vel quatuor Ecclesiae, ubi tune temporis una tantum fuit, & sic caeperunt minui.  
This Augustine to whom the Conqueror here referreth himself, was Augustine the Monk, whom Gregory the great about the year of our Lord God 569. sent here into England, to réestablish the Faith decayed by the Saxons; who set down sundry ordinances for the Church, & framed it in uniformity of Prayer & government to that, as then was used in the Church of Rome: but long before Augustins time, as it may by our Stories appear, (even in the days of king 
●●he●ward. lib. ●nico.  Lucius, who sent to Elutherius a Bishop of Rome, for learned men to instruct him and his people in the Faith, which was about a hundred and forty years after the Ascension of our Lord jesus Christ) the Faith of Christ was here preached in Britain, and fifteen Archbishops are by our Stories 
Io●elin of Furnes in h●s book of British Bishops.  reported, one to have succeeded an other in the Sea of London, before the irruption of the Saxons into this land; All which time it is not like the Churches of God that were in the land, were void of this provision for the ministery, so 
Marianus Scotus.  that I assure myself the payment of Tithes was far more ancient, than the time of Augustine; albeit the Conqueror citeth there the authority of Austen, rather than any former precedent of the Britan's, both for that the doctrine of Austen was better known unto the Saxons, among whose ancestors Austen taught & governed as an Archbishop, than any of the Fathers of the British Church, to whom the Saxons were enemies, and their tongue altogether unknown unto them; and beside, for that this doctrine of Austen, concerning Tithes, best suited with the general custom that was then used throughout all Europe in paying thereof.  
The next Prince after William Conqueror that ordered any thing about payment of Tithes, for ought that I have read to the contrary was Edward the first, who at the petition of the Clergy, established the Articles of the Clergy, which his son Edward the second confirmed by his Letters patents under his great Seal, and by consent of Parliament, at the petition of the Clergy in the ix. year of his Reign.  
In Edward the thirds time, writs of Scire facias were 
An. 18. Ed. 3. cap. 14.  granted out of the Chancery, to warn Prelates & other Clerks, to answer for Dimes there; but after the matter was well understood by the king, the parties were dismissed from the Secular judges, for such manner of pleas, saving to the king his right, and such as his Ancestors had, and were wont to have of reason.  
During the Reign of Richard the second, Parsons of 
An. 1. Rich. 2. cap. 14.  holy Church were drawn into secular Courts for their own Tithes, by the name of goods taken away; And it was decreed by the King that in such case the general averment of the plaintiff should not be taken, without showing specially how the same was his Lay cattle.  
By the Statute of the first of the same king cap. 14 it is acknowledged, that the pursuing for Tithes, of right doth, and of old times was wont to pertain to the Spiritual Court, and that the judges of holy Church only have the cognisance in these matters.  
By the Statute of the 15. of Edward the third, it is ordered, 
15. Edw. 3.  That Ministers of holy Church, neither for money taken for the redemption of corporal penance, nor for proof and account of Testaments, nor for travel taken about the same, nor for solemnity of Marriage, nor for any other thing touching the jurisdiction of Holy Church should be appeached, or arrested, or driven to answer the king's justices, or other ministers, & thereupon they should have writs in the Chancery, to the justices when they demanded them.  
In the second year of Henry the fourth, the Religious of 
2. Hen. 4.  the order of the Cystercians, that had purchased Bulls from the Pope to be discharged of the payment of Tithes, were by act of Parliament reduced to that state they were in before.  
In the 5. year of the same King it was ordered, That 
5. Hen. 4. ca 11.  all Farmers, and Occupiers of any lands or possessions belonging to any Friars Aliens, should pay all manner of Tithes due to Parsons and Vicars of Holy Church, in whose parishes the same were, as the Law of holy Church required, notwithstanding the same were seized into the K. hand, or any Prohibition were made, or to be made to the contrary.  
About the 7. year of the same king, such Religious persons as had purchased Bulls from the Pope in the days of Richard the second, to be discharged of Dimes pertaining to Parish Churches, Prebends, hospitals, or vicarages, not put in execution, were forbid from that time forward, to put them in execution, or to purchase any other in time to come.  
After king Henry the eight had dissolved the Monasteries, and other like Religious houses, and sold the Churches and Tithes thereto belonging to Lay men, (who before that time were not capable of the same; insomuch as after the dissolution, when the purchaser demanded the same, they were denied to hold plea thereof, by reason of their incapacity) a Statute was made in the 27. year of the same king, whereby 
27▪ Hen. 8. cap. 20.  all Subjects of the king's Dominions, were to pay their Tithes, and other duties of Holy Church, according to the Ecclesiastical Laws, & ordinances of the Church of England, and after the laudable uses & customs of the Parishes and places where they dwelled, or occupied lands, and the same to be sued for before the Ordinary, or some other competent judge of the place, according to the course & process of the K. Ecclesiast. Courts of England: which statute because it took little effect, by reason of the obstinary of the people in yielding these duties to the Laity, who had purchased them, & that the said purchaser could neither by the order or course of the Ecclesiastical Laws, sue for them in any Ecclesiastical Court of this land, neither was there found any remedy in the Common Law of this land, whereby they might be relieved against them that wrongfully detained the same. In the 32. following another Statute was made, wherein it was 
32. Hen. 8. ●7.  enacted that all & singular persons of this Realm, and other of the king's dominions, of what state, degree, or condition sooner they were, should fully, truly, and effectually divide, set out, yield, and pay, all and singular their Tithes and Offerings, to the owners, proprietaries and possessors of Parsonages, Vicarages and other Ecclesiastical places according to the Lawful customs and usages of the Parish and places where such Tithes or other duties rise and grow due. And in case where any are wronged and grieved, being either an Ecclesiastical or lay person, for the wrongful detaining or withholding of the said Tithes or offerings, or any part or parcel thereof, the same to have full power and authority to convent the same person or persons so detaining the same, before the Ordinary or other competent judge of the place, where such wrong was done: and the same Ordinary or competent judge to have power, by virtue of the said Act, to hear, decide, and determine the same by definitive sentence, according to the course and proceeding of the Ecclesiastical law, without reservation of any right to the Temporal judge to give remedy by any suit or action for the recovery of the same; saving in case where an inheritance or fréehold in the premises is claimed, and the person claiming, is disseised, deforced, and put from the possession of the same, in which cases only, the Statute alloweth the Temporal judge to take knowledge, and that only for the regaining of the right and the possession of the inheritance so lost.  
After the decease of king Henry, king Edward his son 
2. Edw. 6. c. 13.  tendering in like sort the state of the Clergy, the benefit of his subjects, and the practice of the Ecclesiastical Courts of this Land, made a Statute, whereby he did not only ratify, confirm, and allow such statutes as his father had formerly made, but did further order, that every of the king's subjects from thenceforth should justly and truly without fraud or deceit set out and pay all manner of predial Tithes in their proper kind, as they did rise and happen, in such manner as had been paid within the forty years next before the making of that act, or of right or custom ought to have been paid, with certain forfeitures and penalties, as well against them which carried away any predial Tithes, before the tenth part thereof were justly divided from the same, or otherwise agreed for with the owner thereof; as also against those that did let or hinder the owner thereof, his deputy or servant to view, take, or carry away the same. Enacting further that the party so substracting or withdrawing any of the Tithes, obuentions, profits, commodities, or other duties aforesaid, might or should be convented or sued in the king's Ecclesiastical Court, by the party complainant, to the intent the king's Ecclesiastical judge might then and there determine the same, according to the kings Ecclesiastical Laws. And that it should not be lawful for the Parson, Vicar, or any other owner or farmer thereof contrary to the same act to convent, or sue any withholder of Tithes, or any other like duties, before any other judge than Ecclesiastical; excepting only out of the said Statute things contearie or repugnant to, or against the effect and meaning of the Statute of Westminster the second, the fift Chapter, the Statutes of Articuli Cleri, Circumspect agatis, Sylva Cedua, the treaties De Regia Prohibitions, matters against the Statute of Anno primo Edwardi primi, Capite decimo, and such other matters beside, wherein the King's Court of right aught to have jurisdiction.  
Notwithstanding all which good provision of ancient kings before the Conquest, and modern kings since the Conquest, for the assuring of the suit of Tithes to the Ecclesiastical Courts only, and the continual possession that the Ecclesiastical Courts have had of the same, deduced from so ancient time as hath been before showed, and so often obtained in contradictory judgement, as the consultations thereupon granted do testify: yet sundry men in sundry ages, of this Land have by wrenches and subtle denises (which are odious in Law, and are by all godly and wise judges by all possible means evermore to be restrained) raised up matter out of the said statute themselves, contrary to the true sense and meaning thereof, to draw the trial of most of those matters away from the Ecclesiastical Courts. So that those Statutes which then were intended for the good of the Ecclesiastical 
L. legata inn●●liter. ff. de adimendis legatis. l. 2. ante finem. C. d● iure●ur. propter caluminan dando.  Courts are now become the utter ruin and overthrow of the same, contrary to the rule of the Law, and common reason, that things which were purposed for one end, should work unto another end.  
The first advantage they take against the Ecclesiastical Courts out of these Statutes, is gathered out of the twenty seven and thirty two of Henry the eight, where it is 
27. & 32. Hen. ●  ordered that all the King's subjects shall pay their Tithes according to the laudable uses and customs of their parishes, and places where such Tithes grow and become due: which, albeit is undoubtedly meant of Ecclesiastical customs, triable at the Ecclesiastical Law, and so ever held till now of late that men think all too much that goeth beside their own n●●; ye●, there want not in these days, which go about with all might and main to draw away these things unto the Temporal Courts, as belonging to the Temporal Crown and dignity: Wherein they do wrong, not only to the kings Ecclesiastical Courts, to spoil them ●● their ancient jurisdiction, but also do in 〈◊〉 to the king himself, as though he had but 〈◊〉 proper jurisdiction belonging to his Throne, and seat of Majesty, & that which were done by his Ecclesiastical power, were done against his Crown and Dignity▪ whereas they are equally unired in him, and his Thro●● is no less 〈◊〉 up by his Ecclesiastical power, th●● it is upholden by his Temporal authority. And therefore a mere Paradox is that, that they so constantly affi●●●, that customs in payment of Tithes are matters of Temporal cognisance only, and not of spiritual cognition. For as there 〈◊〉 Secular customs, such a●●●e the customs of Manor● and Lordships, where the Lord hath his Rent, hi● he●●●t, his relief and service, and the tenant again doth his homage and fealty, according to the Nature of his Tenure, which secular customs the forenamed statute De Regia Prohibitions forbiddeth Ecclesiastical judges to deal in: So also there are Ecclesiastical customs, such as is the payment of Tithes and other Ecclesiastical duties, to which common Lawyers are not to put their hands, but to abstain from them, as dedicated to the use and trial of the spiritual Courts. Otherwise would neither the ancient authors of the Legantines and Provincial constitutions of this Land (the eldest of which, are equal with the days of Henry the third, and the 
Provincial. c. quoniam de decimis.  youngest of them endeth in the reign of Henry the fift) ever have changed so many several customs of payment of Tithes, as then were within the Land, and in steed of them have brought in one uniform payment of the same, as is at this day used, save where either the negligence of the Parsons, or the covetousness of the Parishioners hath in some point changed the same. Neither would these statutes of Henry the eight ever ha●e ordered the people, should pay their Tithes after the laudable customs and usages of the Parishes where they grew, if the usage and custom of the payment itself had not been subject to the Ecclesiastical cognisance: for in vain shall 〈◊〉 sue for that, the Law allows him no course to come by, of it be denied in the special 
L. Finali. ff. de officio eius cui mandata est iurisd. & l. 3. ff. de pena legata.  〈…〉 belonging ● that 〈…〉 i● undoubted Law where 〈…〉 jurisdiction granted, 〈◊〉 in like manner granted all th●se things, without which, ●hat authority or jurisdiction cannot be perfected or performed.  
And therefore it is without question, ●● Tithes, by the sai● Statute, 〈…〉 by the Ecclesiastical law, and not 〈…〉 so 〈◊〉 the Custom whereby they are p●●d, i● only ●●●able at the Ecclesiastical Law. Otherwise this 〈…〉 follow thereupon, which in all other 〈◊〉 beside this of ●ur●, i● a great absurdity, 
Bartol. l. nulli C. de judiciis. Glos. c. significanerunt de indiciis.  th●● the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 which the Civilians call 〈…〉, ●ill be 〈◊〉 and ●●●oyned, which by ●ll good poli●ie, together with all her par●s emergent or 〈◊〉 ought to be 〈◊〉, discuss●●, and determined before one and the self same judge; one, I mean not in number, but one in profession, for otherwise I should by this assertion, bar Appeals, which is not mine intent.  
Which course, if it were held here in England, causes should not be drawn péecemaele in such sort as Medea tore her brother limme-meale, and one part of it carried to this 
Cicero pro Murena.  Court, another to that, like unto the rend limbs of the child that were cast here and there by Medea, thereby to hinder her father from pursuing of her; but all should be ended in one and the self same Court, which would be a great ease to the subject, who to his intolerable vexation, and eycessive charges is compelled to run from Court to Court, and to gather up as it were, one limb of his cause here, and another there, and yet happily in the end cannot make a whole and perfect body of it.  
Beside, it is a mighty disorder in a common wealth, thus to jumble one jurisdiction with another, & the very confusion as well of the one law as the other; for as kingdoms are preserved by knowing their bounds, and keeping their limits, so also jurisdictions are maintained and upheld by containing themselves within the lists or banks of their authority.  
Further, unless they will grant there is an Ecclesiastical custom, as there is a Secular Custom, and that the one is as well to be tried in the one Court, as the other is in the other, they will make their own Doctrine in the before-rehearsed Prohibition void, where they certain us there is a Secular Custom; and if there be a Secular custom, then doubtless there is also an Ecclesiastical or spiritual custom: for the word Secular, is not put in that place absolutely, 
Glos in Clem. vn●●a, in verbo aterna ●te●. de summa trinit. & f de catholica.  but relatively, and the nature of Relatives, is one to put another, & one to remove another: but by the Secular custom they but the Civilian, therefore they grant him the spiritual, for of contrary things there are contrary reasons and contrary effects: and what that which is proposed, doth work in that which is propounded, the same again that 
L. Fin. § p●us ●●tem de legatis 3. & ibi Angel.  which is opposed doth work in that which is opponed, by which Rule, as Temporal Lawyers are to deal in Temporal Customs, and spiritual men are not to intermeddle therein, so also Ecclesiastical Lawyers are to deal in Ecclesiastical causes, and that temporal Lawyers are not to busy themselves thereabout.  
And that this was the intent of the king, when he first received the Church into his protection, with all the privileges thereof, may appear hereby, that having united both the jurisdictions in his own person, he did not jumble them both together, as now they are, but kept them distinct, one from the other; not only in authorizing the Ecclesiastical Courts that were before, but also in using the very words and phrases that the jurisdictionaries Ecclesiastical did use every where in their writings, even these words whereupon men now take hold to frame Prohibitions upon, viz. (according to the laudable customs & usages of the parish and places where such Tithes grow) which were the words of Innocent the third, in the Decretals upon the title of Tithe long before these statutes were made, or any other statutes concerning the true payment of tithes; and Linwod in the same title of tithes often useth the very self same words and phrases that the other doth: so that if these words made no Prohibition before the statute (as I think, it cannot well be showed to the contrary) neither ought they to do it now since the statute, for that they are taken still in the Church business, and not in a temporal matter: whose government, although it be under one and the self same Prince that the Temporal state is, yet is it distinct from the same, as ever it hath been since there hath been any settled form of Church government many common 
1. Corinth. 5.  wealth, as may appear both by the example of S. Paul; which never goeth to any temporal power to punish the incestuous person, although there were sundry laws then both in Greek and Latin written of these matters, but doth it by the spiritual sword alone: and also by that, that in matters of jar for worldly causes between brother and brother, he forbids such as were new Christians, to go to law before 
1. Corinth. 6.  Infidels, but adviseth them rather to appoint judges among themselves to decide such controversies: which, albeit in those days was meant as well of lay Christians, as of the ministers of the Gospel, for that the number of them then was small, and the causes of suit they had one against another were not many, and might easily be ended by one and the self same consistory; yet when the number of the Christians increased, and the Church got some rest from persecution, the jurisdiction was again divided, and as there were Secular Courts appointed by Princes, wherein Temporal men's causes and Lay businesses were heard, so there were also by the same authority erected Ecclesiastical Courts and Bishops 
C. de episcopal audienta t●rtis.  audiences, wherein either Ecclesiastical men's causes alone, or such as they had against Lay men, or Lay men against them were treated of, and determined.  
So that this was no new devise of Henry the eight, or Edward his son, that when they took upon them the supremacy over the Church, as they had before over the common wealth, they did not mishmash both the states together, and made one confused heap of them both, but left them severed as they found them, only affording either of them an equal proportion of protection; for that by these two parts, the king's Monarchy is complete, and himself is the head and chief Governor of the whole and entire body of his Realm. For this was exemplaried unto them in all former ages since the Church and common wealth had any loving and kind cohabitation together, as hath been before remembered. And therefore do they wrong to the ashes of those kings deceased, which by subtle sense and strained interpretations, draw these Laws which they intended for the benefit of the Church, and Church government, to the overthrow of the same, as though the Positive Laws of the kingdom could not stand, if the Laws of the Church continued and stood up right.  
Upon the same words of the same Statute, (if perhaps at any time there grow any controversy about the limits or hounds of Parishes) they draw the same by like importunity from the trial of the Ecclesiastical Law unto the Common Law, avouching the same also to be of the Temporal cognisance, and yet Linwod, who lived in the days of Henry the fift, making a Catalogue of the principal matters, that in his days belonged unto the Ecclesiastical Courts, reckoneth the bounds of Parishes for one. And very like it is it should so be, for that Ecclesiastical men first in this Kingdom, made divisions of Parishes, as by our own Chronicles it appeareth; and the first practice thereof within this Realm, came from Honorius the fourth Archbishop of Canterbury after Augustine, who himself died in 
Registro Eccle. Xpi. Cant. Stow.  the year of our Lord God 693. although otherwise the thing itself be more ancient, and descends from the council of Saint Paul, he gave to Titus, to appoint Elders in every City: but that Cities and Countries again are divided into 
Tit. cap. 1. v. 5.  several Parishes, it was the ordinance of Pope Dionysius, about the year 266. & from him derived into this & other realms; & the distinction thereof was chiefly devised that it might be known of what congregation every people were, and that so they might be trained up in the School of godliness under their own Pastor or Minister. But that now the division of Parishes doth serve to other politic uses, it comes not of the first institution thereof, which was mere Ecclesiastical: but it groweth out of a second cause, that is because being so fitly and aptly primarily divided by Ecclesiastical men as they are; the Princes therefore did use the opportunity thereof for Temporal services, subdividing the same again into many tithings or like smaller divisions, for the more speedy service of the king, and better ordering of the common wealth. Which our ancient Fathers well knowing, never called the same in question, acknowledging therein the good they had received from Ecclesiastical men, by this partition of Countries into Parishes: but men of later age being less thankful than they, and loath to seem beholding to Ecclesiastical Courts for any matter of good order and disposition, have arrogated the same wholly to the Temporal Courts; as though the Ecclesiastical judge could not as well discern what two or three honest men depose and say, as concerning the limits or bounds of a Parish, as twelve mean men of the country, who are upon like depositions to give up their verdict. But for the limits of bishoprics, I acknowledge that they are Temporal, for that they were not primarily designed out by Ecclesiastical men, and their direction, but were assigned to Provinces, or Shires, first described and distynguished by Princes: but for Parishes, neither reason nor antiquity concurs with them, that they should be temporal, or that they should be usurped or challenged to be of the temporal cognisance.  
And so much for those Prohibitions, which they commonly frame out of the 27. and 32. of Henry the eight, not that there are no more but these, but that having a taste of these, there may be like judgement made of the rest.  
Out of the statute of the 2. of Edward the 6. cap. 13. they upstart many Prohibitions, the first whereof in order of the Statute, although the last in practice is the prohibition of triple damages, upon not dividing and setting out of Tithes, or at the least, for the not compounding for them before they be carried away: Which forfeiture they suggest, and thereupon bring a Prohibition, and so draw the whole suit of Tithes into their Courts, contrary to the true meaning of this Statute, which would those triple damages, in case of not justly dividing and setting out, or not compounding for the Tithes before they be carried away, be no less recoverable before an Ecclesiastical judge according to the King's Ecclesiastical Law, than the forfeiture of double value, by the letting and stopping of them to be carried away, whereby they are lost, with the costs thereon growing, is remediable at the same Law: For albeit the clause which is to redress this wrong, be put after that part of the Statute, which concerns the stopping and letting of Tithes to be carried away, yet when there is as great reason it should stretch itself to the first branch of the provision, as to the second, and the second branch hangeth on the first by a conjunction copulative, and there is no hetorogeny or disparity in the matter, whereby it may not be aswell verified in the one branch, as in the other, I see no reason why it should not equally respect them both, according to the rule of the Law; Clausula in fine posita refertur ad omnia 
C. 6. tit. 28. l. 1.  precedentia, maximè quando non resultaret intellectus contratius iuri, as here it doth not: for the intendment of either branch of the Statute is, to procure by their several forfeitures, a just and true payment of Tithes, the recovery whereof, as the precise words of the Statute in one member restrain unto the Ecclesiastical Law; so the Identity of reason in the other member doth confirm it unto the same Law, for where there is the like reason 
L. Illud ff. ad l. Aquiliam.  or equity, there ought to be the like disposition or order of Law.  
Beside if the principal cause itself be triable in the Ecclesiastical Court, why should not those things which hang thereon be tried in the same Court, for they are but as it were accessaries to the principal, and so not only follow the nature of the principal, but also belong to the Court of the principal, and are determinable where the principal is, for otherwise happily there might fall out contrary sentences of one and the self same thing, the one condemning, the other absolving.  
Further in that Court wherein the course of justice already is begun, the cause may with less labour and easier expenses be ended, being both for the most part determinable by one sentence, than that a new process thereof should begin before an other judge, who knoweth little or nothing of the principal matter, and therefore cannot so easily decide the accessary.  
Lastly, those which take this course, first to surmise a forfeiture, then to draw the original suit, whereupon the forfeiture grew into question, bring in a proceeding far different from the common style of all well ordered Courts, in all Nations, among whom the cognusance of the cause, & trial thereof goeth before, and the forfeiture or execution thereof followeth after: But in this Hysteron proteron, the execution is in the forward, and the trial is in the rearward: In which doing they deal much like as Cacus the Giant dealt with Hercules oxen, who to th'intent that Hercules should not find what way they were gone, drew them backward by the tail into his Cave; but as that devise setued not Cacus, but that Hercules had his oxen again, so it is to be hoped the Reverend judges of the land, will not long suffer this subtlety to prevail, but as it came in like a fox, and reigned as a Wolf, so in the end it shall die and vanish away like a vain devise, much like the destiny of Boniface the eight: for the reverend judges are not only to minister justice between man & man, so that every man may have his own, and none be eppressed of an other, but also they are to carry an upright and indifferent hand between jurisdiction and jurisdiction, yea, though themselves be parties to the matter in question, so that one jurisdiction eat not up an other, as the Locusts in Egypt devoured up all the green things of the land.  
another Rendezvous they make of the words of this Proviso (Law, statute, privilege, prescription, or composition real) as though all which passeth under any or these terms belongeth to the trial of the Common Law, and not to the cognisance of the Ecclesiastical Law, and that forsooth, because these words and terms are expressed in the Statute: which is much like unto that, as one would needs have a house, to be Master Peacock's house, because he saw a Peacock sit upon the top thereof: But it is not the naming of a thing in a Law or Statute, that makes it to be of the Temporal cognisance, or otherwise: but it is the nature or quality of the thing named, that rangeth it under the one Law, or the other. So that if the matter ordered in the Law or Statute be temporal, the cognisance shall be Temporal, if Spiritual, than the case is determinable in the Ecclesiastical Law: for this Proviso is not prohibitory, as the last Proviso of this statute is, whereby Ecclesiastical judges are forbidden to hold plea of any thing that is in the said Proviso contained; but it is rather directive, and showeth where the Ecclesiastical judge is to give way to immunities, and to pronounce for them: so that for any thing is contained in this Proviso to the contrary, the cognisance of these matters, specially Privilege, Prescription, and Composition, still remaineth at the trial of the Ecclesiastical Law, as they did before this Proviso was made 
De praescripr. lib. 2. tit. 26. De Privileg. lib. 5. tit. 33.  for Tithes, and other Ecclesiastical duties, as may appear by the several Titles in the same Law hereon written.  
And for the other words, Law and Statute therein mentioned: when as the King hath two Capacities of government in him, the one Spiritual, the other Temporal, and his high Court of Parliament, wherein Laws are made, doth stand aswell of Spiritual men, as Temporal men, and so ought to stand in both houses, if the ancient book, De modo tenendi Parliamenti be true and authentical, which makes the upper house of three states, the King's Majesty, the Lords Spiritual, and the Lords Temporal; and the Lower house in like sort of three other, the Knights, the Procurators for the Clergy, and the Burgesses; and his Majesty hath within this Realm aswell Ecclesiastical Lawyers, as Temporal, which are no less able to judge and determine of Ecclesiastical matters, than the Temporal Lawyers of temporal business: It is not to be imagined, but as his sacred Majesty will have those Laws to be held Temporal, and to have their constructions from Temporal Lawyers, which are made and promulged upon Temporal rights and causes: So also his highness pleasure is, and ever hath been of all his predecessors, Kings and Queens of this Land, that such Laws and Statutes as are set out and published upon Ecclesiastical things and matters, shall be taken and accounted Ecclesiastical, and interpreted by Ecclesiastical Lawyers, although either of them have interchangeably each others voice in them to make them a Law.  
And that the King doth infuse life into either of the Laws, when as yet their substance is unperfect, and they are as it were Embreos, is in Temporal matters, by his temporal authority, and in Spiritual matters, by his spiritual authority, for to that end he hath his double dignity in that place, as also the Ecclesiastical Prelates sustain two persons in that place, the one as they are Barons, the other as they are Bishops: So that even the orders of the house do evince, that they are two sorts of Laws in that place unconfounded both in the head and the body, although for communion sake, and to add more strength to each of them, the general allowance passeth over them all. And as they rest unconfounded in the creation of them, so ought to be likewise in the execution of them: and as the Temporal Law sorts to the Temporal Lawyers, so the Spiritual Laws or Statutes should be allowed and allotted unto the Spiritual Lawyers.  
And as the nomination of these words Law or Statute in this precedent Proviso, makes not the Law or statute Temporal, but remaineth wholly Ecclesiastical, by reason of the Spiritual matters it doth contain, and the power of him that quickeneth it, and poureth life thereinto: so much less can the inserting of these terms Privileges, Prescriptions, or Composition real, entitle the Common Law to the right thereof, or the Professors of the said Law, to the interpretation thereof: for that matters of these titles so far as they concern Tithes, and other Ecclesiastical duties, have been evermore since there hath been any Ecclesiastical Law in this land (which hath been near as long as there hath been any profession of Christianity with us) of Ecclesiastical ordinance, neither ever were of the Temporal cognisance, until new of late, that they transubstantiat every thing into their own profession; as Midas turned or transubstantiated every thing that he touched into gold.  
But here it will not be amiss to inquire, (since Tithes came in the beginning of the Primitive Church, within a little time after the destruction of jerusalem, and the subversion of the jews policy, unto the Christian Church, and Common wealth, void of all these encumbrances, as shall appear after by the testimony of sundry of the ancient Fathers, which were near the Apostles time) how it comes to pass (since Tithes are no less the Lords portion now, than they were then, and in the patriarchs time before them) that these grievances have come upon them, more under the Gospel, than ever they did under the Law: for than never any Lay man durst stretch out his hand unto them, to diminish any part thereof, but he was charged 
Malach. 3.  with robbery by the Lords own mouth; and in punishment thereof, the Heavens were shut up for giving rain unto the earth; and the Palmer worm and Grasshopper were sent to devour all the green things upon the earth. And for Ecclesiastical men, it is not read any where in the Scripture, that ever they attempted to grant out any privilege of Tithes to any person, other than to whom they were disposed by the Law, or to make any composition thereof, between the Lay jew, and the Lords Levites: every of the which have been, not only attempted against the Church in Christianity, but executed with great greediness: so far worse hath been the state of the ministery under the Gospel, than was the condition of the Priests and Levites under the Law.  
The beginning whereof, although it be hard for me to find out, because there is small memory thereof left in Stories; yet as far as I can by all probabilities conjecture, this great alteration in Ecclesiastical matters, came by two occasions: the one by the violence of the Laity, thrusting themselves into these Ecclesiastical rights, contrary to the first institution thereof; for when they were first received into the Christian world, they were received and yielded to, for the benefit of the Clergy only, as in former time under the Law, they had been for the use of the Priests and Levites only: The other was the too too much curiosity of Schoolmen, who being not content with the simple entertainment of Tithes into the Church, as the ancient fathers of the Primitive Church received them, would needs seek out how, and in what right, and in what quantity, this provision belongs unto the Church, wherein they did by their overmuch subtlety rather confound the truth, than make that appear they intended to do. By the first of these was brought in that great prescription, which is called the Prescription beyond the Lateran Council, whereby Lay men held Tithes in see, without paying any thing therefore unto the Church; and out of that issued the rest of those petty Prescriptions, which we now have, which are nothing else but imitations of the first. By the second came in Privileges, Customs, and Compositions, or if they came not in wholly by them, yet surely were they much strengthened by them; but of either of these after in their places. But for that of all these forenamed grievances in the Church, as far as my trading serves me, Prescription is the eldest, and first rushed into the Church, and violated the Liberties thereof; I will first begin thereby, and show upon what occasion it first seized upon the Church, and prevailed against her, and then will I speak of the rest in order.  
It is out of question, that from the time of Origen, who lived within four score years after the death of Saint john the Evangelist, as also did Cyprian, who was his coequal in time, and so along by the ages of Chrysostome, Ambrose, and Augustine, and some of the purer Popes, as Vrban the second, Dyo●isius, and Gregove the great, there was good use of Tithe in the Churches, where Christian Religion was embraced, as may appear by every of their testimonies, that God had not appointed it to be a provision only for such as served at the Altar under the Law, but also was purposed by him from the beginning, to be a maintenance for the ministery under the Gospel: and therefore Origen in his xi. Hemily upon Numbers, speaking of Tithes, saith thus, I hold it necessary that this Law or precept be observed, according to the letter: and upon the 22. of Matthew, he thinketh Christ's words uttered there as concerning Tithe, to be a precept no less necessary for the use of Christians, than they had been for the jews: and therefore he accounteth Tithe neither ceremonial, nor judicial, but moral and perpetual. Cyprian in his lxuj. Epistle, adviseth the Clergy of his time, since they had Tithes allotted unto them for their maintenance, they should not absent themselves from God's service. Chrysostome upon the viii. of the Acts, useth this argument to persuade husbandmen to pay their Tithes truly unto the Church, that it is good for them so to do, for that there are continual prayers and intercessions made for them by the ministery. Jerome upon Tymothy sayeth, The precept of payment of Tithes, is aswell to be understood in the Christian people, as in the jews. Read Ambrose, upon his Lent Sermon, and Augustine upon his xliiij. Homily, and Gregory upon his xuj. Homily, and you shall find no less plain places for the continuance of the payment of Tithes among the Christians, than the former were. Add to these the practice of Dionysius himself, who by Ieromes account flourished in the year 266. who not only divided out Parishes, drawing the example thereof from Saint Paul, who first appointed Bishops in Cities, but also assigned orderly to every Parish his Tithes. All which held in the Christian common wealth, in a decent and comely sort, until the irruption of the Huns, Goathes, and Vandals, upon the Christian world, who first invading Italy under the Emperor justinian, did for many years so harrow the whole Country, and specially Lombardy, as that they left not almost a man of excellent Religion any where unpersecuted, overturned Churches,  Libraries, overthrew Schools of learning, and to be short, what wickedness did they not? insomuch as Gregory the great, being otherwise a very good man, and one that did rely himself upon the providence of almighty God, verily thought and taught that the end of all things was then come: but after those fierce and barbarous 
Hospinland●●r g. n●m. 〈◊〉.  people once set their face to go against France, (which had been hitherto free from that mundation) which happened in the days of King Theodorick, who lived about the 650. year of the Incarnation of our Saviour jesus Christ; Charles Martel the father of Pippin, after king of France, being then great master of the king's house, would not (although otherwise he were a very victorious man, and valiant Captain) oppose himself against them, unless the under-clergie of France would be content to resign every 
Gagni●●● lib. 4 Histor. Fra●●.  man his Tithes into his hands, that thereby he might reward the Soldier, and support the charges of the war then present: which the poor Clergy, in respect of the eminent danger, and for that Charles Martell himself did solemnly vow and promise that they should be forborn no longer, than for the time of the war, and that they should be restored unto them again at the end of the war, with a further gratuity for their good will, yielded most willingly thereunto, specially the Bishops not contradicting it, leaving to themselves a small portion of their living only, during the time of the danger. Whereupon Charles Martell undertaking the enterprise, get a mighty great victory against the enemies, insomuch that he slew in one battle 34500. of the Infidels: which battle being happily achieved, and the danger of the war being past, the poor Clergy men hoping to receive again their Tithes, according as it was promised them by Charles Martell, they were put from the possession thereof, and say or do what they could, their benefices were divided before their face, in recompense of their service, to such of the Nobility as had done valiantly in that action, and the same assured to them and theirs for ever in fee. And this is the first violence that ever Tithes suffered in the Christian world, after they left the Land of jury, and came to inhabit among the Christians; which albeit was a nefarious act, and nothing answerable to the late mercy that God had vouchsafed them in conquering of their enemies, yet there wanted not like sacrilegious minds in all Christian Lands, which did imitate this wicked fact of Martellus, insomuch as the example hereof passed over the Alps into Italy, and mounted above the Pyrenie Hills into Spain, and within short time after sailed here into England: in such sort, as that even to this day sundry Monuments thereof appear everywhere in the Land, where any title of immunity is challenged from payment of Tithes, reaching beyond the Lateran Council,  can descend from no other head, than from this fact of Charles Martell; neither was there any redress thereof until the said Lateran Council, before mentioned, which notwithstanding came near five hundred years after: for this fact of Martellus was done about the six hundredth and threescore year after the Nativity of our Saviour jesus Christ, but the Council that reform it, and was holden under Alexander the third, was not celebrated before the year of the Incarnation 1189. neither was the reformation thereof at that time total nor suitable to the first institution of Tithe among Christians.  
For neither could many wilful and refractarious persons, be then brought to obey the Canons of the Council, in restoring any part thereof again unto the Church, although they were charged so to do under pain of damnation. Neither did all such as did then restore them, restore them to the Churches from whence they were taken, which had been most agreeable to the ordinance of the Church set down by Dionysius, who first divided Parishes and assigned unto them Tithes, as hath been aforesaid; and also to the Scripture itself from whence Dionysius▪ took his light to divide Parishes and dispose of Tithes as he did, by which it was not lawful for him that paid his Tithes to pay them to what Priest or Levite 
Deuteron. 18.  him liked, but he must pay them to the Priest or Levite that dwelled in the place where himself made his abode: but yet this liberty that was given them by the Council then, gave cause unto the error that the common Lawyers hold at this day (not knowing the ancient proceedings of the Church in these cases) that before the Lateran Council, it was lawful for every man to give his Tithes to what Church he would, which was so far otherwise, as that before this violence offered unto the Church, there was a flat Canon, more ancient than the fact of Charles Martellus, 
Leo. 4. 13. q. 1. c. Eccl.  which did precisely forbid any man to pay, or a Bishop to give leave to any man to pay his Tithes from the baptismal Church to another: and that the contrary was yielded to in the Lateran Council, was not that they held it lawful to enrich one Church in this sort, with the impoverishment of another, but the cause was the hardness of men's hearts, who scarcely could be won by this favour to restore that little again unto the Church, that their forefathers had in such abundance taken away from it: and that the Fathers of the said Council did yield thereunto (although it were an inconvenience thus to do) was for that they did count, although they did admit that for the present, yet there might be a better time found out after for the reformation thereof, and so sustained the inconvenience for the present upon this reason; that the universal Church of Christ is one body, and every particular Church a part of that body, and so it less mattered to what particular Church they were restored, so that they were restored at all: for that by the restitution to one they hoped in time they might with more likelihood come unto the other; for in those things wherein there is an Identity or like representation of Nature and condition, as is between Church and Church, is easier passage the one from the other than is in those that are of different nature and disposition, as is in a lay man and a Church.  
Out of these ruins of these violent and presumptuous prescriptions, which have now obtained strength of a statute in the world have issued out sundry petty prescriptions, which also are confirmed by law and custom as the other were; as the prescription wherein one Church prescribeth Tithes against another Church, the Law punishing therein the negligence of the one and rewarding the vigilancy of the other: Prescriptions, wherein one Ecclesiastical body corporate or politic, prescribeth Tithes or other Ecclesiastical duties against the Parson or Vicar of the Parish, and the Parson and Vicar again against them: A prescription whereby a Lay man having no right to prescribe 
Regul. sine posssession●d. regul●● idris in 6.  Tithes (because he can in no right possess Tithes, and prescription cannot proceed without possession) doth notwithstanding by pernancie or giving some part of his ground or pension in money in licu thereof, prescribe a discharge thereof: A prescription wherein a lay man doth prescribe the manner of tithing, which albeit by the common Law is counted to be good by paying a thing never so small in am thereof, yet neither by the Canon Law, neither by the Law of God itself, it could ever be less than the just tenth itself; so that the manner of tithing with them is not understood in that sense, as the Common Lawyers do take it, by paying any thing whatsoever in place of the just tenth, but their intendment hereby, is that no country can be bound to an uniformity 
Li●wod Provin. qu●●am verbo vn●form●● in Glo. de decim.  of payment of Tithes to be used everywhere: but every man is to pay Tithes according to the manner of the Country where he dwells, that is, that one pays his Tithe corn, and binds up the same in sheaves, another leaves it scattered in the furrows, another Tithes it in Cocks or Pookes; and this is that, that they mean, that there cannot be an uniformity of tithing prescribed to every man after which he is of necessity to set out his tithes, but that he may prescribe some other manner of tithing against the Parson or Vicar: but against that uniformity that the whole tithe 
●●d. verbo cons●●tudines.  should not be paid, was never any prescription allowed among them, for they evermore have been of this mind contrary to that that the Schoolmen hold, that Tithes are part of the Moral Law, and not of the judieiall or Ceremonial Law; and that in the Precept of Tithes; there is a double 
Ca a nobis de decimis in Glos.  consideration, one of the honour of God, whereby be retained tithes unto himself, in sign of his universal Lordship over the whole world, which is irremissable, the other of the profit or utility of man in that it concerns the provision of the Minister in all ages, which is undispensable.  
And yet, notwithstanding all this, the Ecclesiastical judge admitteth all kinds of prescription beforenamed, and according to the proofs thercon brought, giveth sentence either to absolution or condemnation: albeit the reverent judges of the Land, upon an erroneous report made in the eight year of Edward the fourth, have a conceit to the contrary, viz. That no Ecclesiastical judge will admit any Plea in discharge of Tithe, or the manner of tithing, as it is in their sense taken; and therefore they hold whatsoever the defendant doth allege in his suit for a consultation, and namely that the Ecclesiastical judge did allow of the Plaintiffs Plea and allegation, and did admit him to the proofs thereon without denial, are idle speeches, and rather words of course than of effect and substance. And therefore notwithstanding, whatsoever is alleged by the Defendant as concerning the Ecclesiastical judges well acceptance thereof, it is counted nothing material by the Temporal judges, for that they have a prejudicate opinion of the Ecclesiastical judge in these cases, and therefore howsoever the refusal be, or be not, they grant out their Prohibition in these cases. And yet if the judges Ecclesiastical proceedings might be seen and vouchsafed to be read before them, it would be plain, there were no such cause of their hard opinion against them; for everywhere they do allow such & like allegations. And if perhaps one inferior judge should make refusal as they pretend, yet could it not be reform, by another in an ordinary course of appeal, but that there must needs be brought a Prohibition out of the Common law to redress the same? unless happily they can show, it is a general conspiracy in the Ecclesiastical judges, or a Marime in their learning, that they will not or cannot admit any Plea of discharge in this case, which they can never do. And therefore they are to be entreated to change their opinion in this point, and do not the Ecclesiastical judges that wrong, as to charge them with such an imputation, whereof their whole practice is witness to the contrary: for it is unworthy such men's gravity as theirs is, who propound unto themselves the inquiry of the truth in all matters, thus to be misconceived and masked in an error, and that for so many years, and not to be willing to hear the contrary, which is an obstinacy in policy no less indurat, than the Papists is in Religion, who see the truth and will not believe it. And so far as concerning Prescriptions and the first cause and beginning thereof.  
Now it followeth I speak of Privileges which are immunities granted unto private men beside the Law.  
Of these, some are very ancient, such as true zeal toward the Church bred, and the just admiration of the holy men of God for their sanctimony of life, their great knowledge in the word of God, their great patience in persecution for Christ and his Gospel, the vigilancy and care they had in their Office, stirred up both in Prince and people. So Constantine the great, being ravished with the love of Religion, and the good opinion he had of the Ministers of his time, erected Churches, and endowed them with large possessions, and granted them sundry immunities, whereby they might more securely intend to the preaching of the word of God, and the winning of souls to the Christian congregation, wherein they laboured with all their might and power, God still adding to the number of the Elect. Neither did he this alone in his own person, but he also gave leave to all other of his subjects that would do the like: whereupon 
L. 1. C. de sacros. Ecclesiis §. si qui● authent. de Ecclesia.  the Church was so enriched within a short time, that as Moses in the building of the Ark, was feign to make Proclamation, no man should bring in more towards the building thereof, the people bringing in continually such great abundance of all things necessary towards the furnishing thereof, as that there was enough and much to spare: So also Theodosius the thirteenth Emperor after Constantine, (although otherwise a most loving and favourable Prince towards the Church) was feign to make a Law of Amortisation or Mortmain, to moderate the people's bounty towards the Church; as did also many wise Princes in other Nations upon like occasion, and in imitation of this Act of Theodosius, many years after; and among the rest, diverse 
Magna charta. cap. ●6. W. 1. 〈◊〉. 31. an. 13. E●. 1.  Princes of this Land did the like, upon the dotage of the people towards the Religious parson, & specially towards the four Orders of Friars that were then newly sprung up in the world. But yet this Act of Theodosius was done with the great dislike of these blessed men jerom and Ambrose, who lived in those days, for that jerom thus complaineth of that Law to Nepotian: I am ashamed to say it, the Priests of Idols, Stage-players, Coachmen, and Common Harlots, are made capable of Inheritance, and receive Legacies, only Ministers of the Gospel, and Monks are barred by Law thus to do; and that not by persecutors, but by Christian Princes, neither do I complain of the Law, but I am sorry we have deserved to have such a Law made against us: In like manner, and upon the same occasion doth Ambrose deplore the state of the Clergy in his one and thirtieth Epistle: We count it (saith he) no injury, in that it is a loss, we are not grieved that all sorts of men are made capable of Wills, none excepted; how base, profane, or lavish of his life or honesty soever he be, but I am sorry that the Clergy men only of all sorts of people, are bard the benefit of the Law that that is common to all; who notwithstanding, only pray for all, and do the common celebration of the Service for all▪ So far they.  
And yet whosoever looks into this constitution, whereby it was forbidden that any man should pass any Lands or other immovable possession unto the Church, without the Prince's leave (for that thereby the things that are so passed, come as it were, into a dead hand, which holdeth surely fast that it once apprehendeth, neither easily parteth with it, so that it cannot without much difficulty be reduced and brought again to the commerce and common use of men) shall find it was rather for the benefit of the common wealth, than for the dislike of the Church, it was so ordered.  
For if that course had been holden on still, the greatest part of the livelihood of the common wealth, woule in short tune have come unto the Church, and so Lay men should not have been able to have borne the public burdens of the common wealth; which it concerns Secular Princes to be careful of, and to foresee that by overmuch bounty towards the Church they impoverish not their own state, and lose the rights of Escheats, Primer season, and other Privileges of the Crown in cases of forfeiture, and specially make bare their Lay subjects, upon whom a great service of the common wealth doth lie. And yet otherwise the beneficiallest state of this Realm unto the Prince is the Clergy, as from whom the King hath a continual revenue in Tenths, and is deepest in Subsidy, and not the least in all other extraordinary charges according to the proportion of their place. And therefore, as the King is to maintain the one, so he is also to cherish the other, and not to suffer their state in any sort to be diminished, for that all other states are made for the service of the Church, and the Church again for the benefit of them.  
But this was none of those Privileges I spoke of, for these are more ancient than they, and granted out upon better devotion than the other: but after this, the zeal of Religion being almost extinguished in the Christian world, partly by the great uproars and tumults that were in every Country, by the influence of one barbarous Nation or other into them, who pulled down Churches faster than ever they were built, and made havoc both of Priest and people, that professed the name of Christ, partly by the heresies that rose every where in the Church in those days, which distracted men's minds, and made them waver in the constancy of their Religion, it was revived again upon this occasion.  
One Benedict, who otherwise had been a man of action 
Hospinian de Origine Monachatu●.  in the Common wealth, (that Benedict which was as it were the Father of all those that professed a Regular life, within the West part of Christendom; for before his time the Monks of the West Church, served God freely abroad, without being shut up in a Cloister) he I say finding himself, wearied with the tumults and broils which happened under the government of justinian, and some years after by the incursion of those barbarous Nations before named into Italy, retired himself into a desert and solitary place, intending there to give himself wholly to the service of God: where when he had a while remained, he grew so famous by his Christian exercises of fasting and prayer, and the good and wholesome exhortations that he made to those that resorted unto him, that within a very little time after, there was great confluence of people unto him, not only from divers parts of Italy, but even from sundry other parts of the world, so that within a short time they grew into fraternities underneath him, to whom he gave rules to live by, to the imitation of that, that Saint Basill did in the East Church: to which his disciples submitted themselves with all alacrity, leading a life far different from the common sort of men, denying unto themselves all those ordinary delights that other men do commonly take, out of meat, drink, apparel, marriage, Temporal preferment, & such other things which worldly and carnal men seek for very greedily, humbling themselves only to God, and the rule of their Master. Which thing bred such an admiration of him, and of his Scholars, that not only many other orders sprang out from them within few years; as the Premonstratenses, Clunacenses, Templarians, hospitalers, Cystertians, and the order of Saint john's of jerusalem, but even Popes, Princes, and people were wholly carried away with the wonderment of them, insomuch as every of them did as it were strive, who might show themselves most kind unto them; whereupon Princes built them houses, every one in his kingdom, as Clito Ethelbald king of Mercia, built the Monastery of Crowland here in England, of black Monks, under the rule of the said Benedict, in the year 716. Popes and Princes granted them privileges, so far as it concerned either of their particulars: the Clergy, Nobility, and People, conferred goods and lands upon them, every one according to his ability.  
In this zealous bounty of every degree towards these new sort of men, there were two undigested Privileges granted them, both of them so hurtful and injurious to the Church of God, as never any was the like. The one was the annexation or appropriation of presentative Benefices to these Religious houses: The other, the fréeing of such lands or hereditaments, as they held in sundry Parishes from the payment of Tithes to the Parsons and Vicars thereof; to both of which the Scholmens' divinity gave great advantage, as shall be showed hereafter.  
Either of these had their beginning of one root, that is to say, of this false ground, that Preaching which is the most true, and most natural food of the Soul, in a congregation that is come to the profession of Religion already, & knows but only the Articles of the Christian Faith, the Lords Prayer, the ten Commandments, and other principles and Rudiments of Christian Religion, is nothing so necessary for the salvation of a man's Soul, as Prayer is: beside, that preaching oftentimes gives more cause of Schism and dispute in Religion, than it doth of profiting & edifying the Soul: and therefore it was not permitted by the Provincial constitutions of this Realm, that Parsons or Vicars 
Linwood puin. eisdem, de offi●. Ar●hidiaconi●, et ca ignorantia Sacerdotum, de officio Archipresbyteri.  of Churches, should expound or preach any other matter or doctrine, than the Lords prayer, the ten Commandments, the two precepts of the Gospel, that is, the love of God, and the love of a man's Neighbour, the six works of Mercy, the seven principal Virtues, the seven Sacraments, (for so many than the Romish Church held) the seven deadly Sins, with their progeny, and this to be done vulgarly and plainly, Absque cuiuslibet subtilitatis textura fantastica, for so they call learned and orderly Preaching; whereas notwithstanding Prayer is evermore profitable, every where necessary, and never dangerous: Furthermore, Preaching only profiteth those, that be present and do hear it, and attend upon it: but Prayer is available, even to those that be far distant, yea, though they be in the remotest place of the world. By which, and other like arguments, they translated away that maintenance that was provided for the home Pastors, (who by Gods own institution, were to watch over their Souls) to foreign and strange Guides, who never communicated to their necessity in any heavenly comfort, but only took the milk of the flock, and fed themselves withal. But by this pretence of theirs, ought not Preaching to have been disgraced, for albeit Prayer be a necessary piece of God's service, and so necessary, that the Soul of man is as it were dead without it; yet is it not equal to the dignity of Preaching, which God hath ordained to be the only means to come to Salvation by: for Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, and without Faith it is impossible to be saved: for Faith is a gift that purifies the heart, and makes a man's prayers acceptable to God; and therefore neither of them ought so to take place, as that the one should shoulder out the other, but they ought so to go hand in hand together, as that one should help, assist, and countenance tother.  
But how these annexations of Benefices first came into the Church, whether by the Prince's authority, or the Pope's licence, it is very disputable, and there are reasons on both sides for to show the same.  
For whereas there are reported by Ingulphus Abbot of Crowland before mentioned, to have been viii. Churches, beside the Patronage of some other, annexed and appropriated to the said Abbey, by sundry Saxon Kings, it doth not appear by ought that I can find; whether they were done by the sovereign authority of the kings alone, to the imitation of that, that was done by Martellus, who made all Christian Kings to sin in this point, or that it was done by any other Ecclesiastical authority, for that there is nothing extant for the allowance thereof, save the several Charters of those ancient Kings only: and that I should be rather induced to believe that it was done by those King's authority only; I am thereto persuaded, that I find William the Conqueror, immediately upon the great victory that he got over this kingdom, to have appropriated three Parish Churches to the Abbey of Battle, which he built in memory of his Conquest. And whereas William his son had depopulated & overthrown sundry Churches in the new Forest, Henry his brother by his Letters Patents gave the Tithe thereof to the Cathedral Church of Sarum, and annexed thereto xx. other Churches in one day, if the copy of that Record that I have seen, as concerning these appropriations, be true: yea the matter was gone so far in those days, that even Noble persons, and other meaner men, would command Corrodies and Pensions to their chaplains, and other servants, out of Churches, and could not be redressed, until such time as there was made a Statute to 
A●no 1. Edw. 3. cap. 10.  reform it.  
On the contrary side, that I should take it to be a devise of the Pope, I am moved thereto, that I find every of these orders of Religious men were confirmed by one Pope or other; and as they confirmed them, so it is like they made provision for them, and that most especially this way; and that chief after the Laws of amortisation were devised and put in ure by Princes: and thereupon it is that we find sundry sorts of annexation made by Popes & Bishops under 
Linwood. c. licet bona memoria. gloss. in verb. asserunt non ligari. de locato & conducto.  them, every one in their Diocese: as some were made so far as concerned the Patronage only, & then had the Monks therein presentation only: some other were made pleno iure, and then might the Monks both institute & destitute therein without the Bishop, and turn all the profit thereon to their own use, reserving only a portion to him that should serve the Cure there: some other Churches did they grant simply to them, without any addition of full right, or otherwise, and then if the Church were of their own foundation, they might choose, the Incumbent being once dead, whether they would put any other therein, unless perhaps the same Church had people belonging unto it, for than must they of necessity still maintain a Curate there; and of this sort were their Granges & Priories, & those which at this day we call Donatives: but if it were of another man's foundation, than was it otherwise. To this also I add that, that the Pope every where in his Decretals, arrogateth this right unto himself, as a Prerogative of the Apostolic Sea, to grant these privileges to Religious orders, to take and receive Benefices at lay men's hands, by the mediation of the Diocesan whose office it was to be a mean between the Religious house and the Incumbent, for an indifferent rate that neither of them should press too much the one upon the other: 
Gloss. in verb. de Decim.  and therefore in the beginning, the usual rate that they set down between the beneficed man, and the Religious person was the one half of the Benefice, for that it was not thought that the Pope would charge a Church above that rate. But after by the covetousness of Monks and Friars themselves, and the remissness of the Bishops, who had the managing of this business under the Apostolic Sea, the Incumbents part came to so small a portion, that 
Othobon. c. quoniam de Appropriationibus Ecclesiarum.  Vrban the fifth, by Othobon his Legate here in England, in the year of Salvation 1262. was feign to make a Legantine, whereby he forebad all Bishops of this Land to appropriate any more Churches, to any Monastery, or other Religious houses, but in cases only, where the persons or places to whom they were appropriated, were so poor, as that otherwise they were not able to sustain themselves; or that the cause were so just, that it might be taken rather to be a work of charity, than any enforcement against Law: and that beside with this Proviso; as that if the new Proprietaries within six Months next after, should not set out a competent portion for the Minister, of the fruits of the Benefice, themselves should assign out a sufficient maintenance thereout, according to the quantity and quality thereof; Which constitution, because it took not that effect that was hoped, there were two Statutes made, the one by Richard the second, the 
An. 15. Rich. 2. cap. 6. An. 4. H. 4. cap. 12.  other by his successor Henry the fourth, both for the convenable endowment of the Vicar, there to do divine Service, and inform the people, and to keep hospitality among them.  
Albeit most of these Appropriations were principally in Monks and Friars, and such other Religious persons, yet were not Bishops Seas, and Cathedral Churches, altogether free from them, as I have before showed in the Cathedral Church of Salisbury, to whom Henry the first appropriated near twenty Churches in one day: And the Sea of Winchester, which hath had two Benefices anciently annexed to the Bishop's table, the Parsonage of Eastmeane, and the Parsonage of Hambleden. Neither do I doubt, but the like was done in other Bishop's Seas, and other Cathedral Churches, if I had as good instruction to report of them, as I have had information to speak of these.  
And so far as concerning the first effect of Privileges, whereby sundry fat Benefices have been injuriously drawn from their own Churches, and unnaturally appropriated to Monkries' and Fryeries, and other secular and Religious places; which as I have said, hath been partly the act of Lay men, and partly of Ecclesiastical men. Now followeth the second effect hereof.  
And that is, the exemption of these Religious men's possessions from payment of Tithes, which is a privilege of the Pope alone: for Monks anciently paid Tithes of 
Ca ex part tua. gloss in verb. laborum de decim.  their land, before these privileges, as other Lay men did. But Pascalis the second, casting a more favourable aspect towards Monks, and other Religious men, than any of his predecessors before time had done, did order together with the Council of Ments, That neither Monks, nor other Religious persons, or any other that lived in common, should pay Tithes of their own labours: Which immunity 
Fod. in dean gloc. verb. laboris.  in process of time, Pope Adrian recalled, so far as it concerned the rest of the Religious persons, and limited it only to the Cystertians, hospitalers, Templars, & those which were of the order of S. john's in Icrusalem, leaving only to the rest freedom from paying Tithes of lands newly broken up, and laboured with their own hands, and of their garden, and of their cattle. In which state the matter stood until Innocent the thirds days, who although he were in no other point of better mould than the rest of the Popes were; yet was he in this more pitiful towards poor Incumbents of Parish Churches, than any of his predecessors had been; who seeing hereby the inconveniences of beggary and ignorance that grew upon sundry of the Parochian Priests, by means of these Privileges, ordered in the second Lateran Council, holden in the year of grace 1120. that for such lands as any of the 
Ca nuper Abbates, de decimis.  said four Privileged orders, should acquire and get after the said general Council, they should pay Tithes, or compound for them as other men did; yea though they laboured them with their own hands, or manured them at their own charges. Which consideration also moved Henry the fourth, a king of this Realm, to provide by Statute, first, that such of the order of Cystertians, as had purchased 
An. 2. H. 4. ca 4.  Bulls to be discharged of Tithes, should be reduced into that state, as they were before: Then, that no 
An. 7. H. 4. ca 6.  person Religious or Secular, by colour of any Bulls, containing any privileges, to be discharged of Dimes pertaining to any Parish Church, not put in execution, should put the same in execution, or should purchase the like in time to come.  
Whereby it is very probable, that few of those lands which are now challenged to be free of Tithe by the Statute of the xxxj. of Henry the eight are free of Tithes in 
31. Hen. 8. cap. 13.  deed: for that they are no otherwise freed by that Statute, than that they were first freed in the Religious men's hands; so that if they were never freed in their hands, they remain still charged with Tithes.  
But between this interruption of not paying of Tithes wrought by Innocent, in the second Lateran Council, and the dissolution of Monasteries effected by Henry the viii. are three hundred and thirty years, and between the foresaid Statute, made in the seventh year of Henry the fourth, and the subversion of the Monasteries brought to pass by Henry the eight, as hath been before remembered, are one hundred and thirty years. In which long distance of time the one from the other, it is not to be doubted but many of those Religious houses were built and endowed, which by no possible means could be partakers of those privileges which were abolished before the time of their erection: neither was there any revyuing or renewing of these privileges by any Pope of Rome, or Prince in this Realm, after they were thus first repealed by the Pope and Prince aforesaid, for ought that I have read, or heard to the contrary.  
So that if this matter were well understood, and the ages and orders of those Religious persons from whom the claim is made, were rightly conceived, it would give great light unto the judges to discern what lands were exempted from the payment of Tithes, and what not: for now many are pretended to be exempted from Tithes, which never were of any of those four orders, and if they were, yet were they not before the time of the interruption, but since.  
And so far as concerning the second effect of these Privileges. Now it followeth that I speak a word or two of compositions, which are agréements between persons litigant, whereby either party may know their own right, and not strive again about doubtful matters. As good Laws have grown out of ill manners, so compositions have risen out of quarrels, caused by privileges, and other like exemption for matter of Tithe: whereof although there be no special Treatise in the Law, as there is of the rest, yet they are so often mentioned by the Decretals themselves, as that it is not to be doubted, but that they are part of the Ecclesiastical Law, aswell as the rest are, & that they are the devise of the Ecclesiastical Lawyers, and not the conceit of the Common Lawyers, the form and style of them doth well show, which savoureth wholly the manner and phrase of writing of the Ecclesiastical men, & hath no touch of the Common Law at all. And if the devise be the Ecclesiastical men's, as all Bishop's Registers every where do show, which are full of these compositions, why should not also the total be theirs, that every cause might have his ending, where it hath his beginning? Eorum enim est legem interpreta●i, quorum est con●●r●.  
And these are those grievances of the Church, which I said the Schoolman's curiosity in their distinctions, either invented, or gave strength unto them after they were invented; but invent them all I think they did not, for that these Acts of appropriations of benefices were somewhat more ancient than the Schoolmen themselves are: but the rest of the Privileges, they either came into the world with them, or ensued anon after them, so that I may well say they much strengthened this iniquity. For when that every man understood by their Doctrine the quotity of Tithes, or the tenth part thereof was not precisely by God's Law (since the light of the Gospel sprang out as the day light unto the Christians, who before sat in darkness, and the shadow of death) but that it was by the institution of the Church only; then began they freely to spoil the Church, of her due Tithes, and to give away that to one Church, that was due to another. And the reason that persuadeth the Schoolmen to this, was that after much ado, dividing the whole Law of Moses into three parts, the Moral, the judicial, and the Ceremonial, they did conclude that there were three parts likewise in the Tithe, the one Moral, which was a necessary maintenance for the Minister, and therefore was natural and perpetual: the other judicial, which was the number of ten, fit as they taught for that people only, and therefore was positive and remotive: the last Ceremonial, and that was the mystery contained in this quotity, or number of Ten, which being but a shadow only, was abolished with the Law itself: whereby they did (infer the precise number of Ten being taken away, by reason of the Ceremony itself) a competency now only doth remain for the Minister out of the tithes: which opinion hath been well confuted of late, by a very learned man, as his Treatise thereof doth well show; but I fear with less success than the truth of the cause doth deserve, for this is a point that toucheth many men's private benefit, & therefore shall have no more favour than it needs must.  
But the devise whereon the Schoolmen did build this Ceremony 
Thom. in quodlibet part. 3. art. 6. q. 6.  is this, that as all Digits under ten are unperfect, & do tend to ten as to their perfectness; so all men, save Christ alone, are unperfect & have need of Christ's righteousness to make them perfect: Which Abraham well knowing, paid Tithes to Melchisedech, who was the figure of Christ, as therein acknowledging that himself & all mankind, who were represented by the other nine Digits were unperfect by reason 
Idem part 22. q. 87. art. 1.  of Original sin dwelling in them, & therefore had need to be perfected by Christ who was figured by the tenth number.  
All which that we may grant to be true between Christ and all mankind, as it is true indeed, and that ten is the pefection of the other numbers under ten, for that all the rest of the Digits, when they come to ten, return back again to ten, and are multiplied by the coupling of themselves with ten: yet where is this proportion between Christ and ten in the Scripture, that should make this Ceremony: which if it cannot be found any where, nor any consent of the primitive Church showed for it, as I think it cannot be, then may it with as good authority be rejected as it is received. For albeit Thomas Aquinas himself were trammed a Seraphical Doctor, that is, such a one as had a sense in the understanding of the holy Scripture above all others of his age, and that he did much profit the study of Divinity, with his witty distinctions: yet is not his authority such, that it must prcuaile in cases of Divinity, without the authority of the scripture & the consent of the ancient fathers of the primitive Church, interpreting this piece of Scripture in that sense as he doth, which would make aswéet harmony if it might be had.  
And therefore as to my poor sense, better said a learned 
Iun●us in. 2. c. 3. Gen●s●●s.  man of our time to this point, writing upon the Sabbaoth day in the second of Genesis, which may be also proportionably understood of the tenth, for that they were both before the Law in their very number, and were but repeated by Moses under the Law, because they had been approved by God before the Law in the self same numbers: and that which he saith of the Sabbaoth is this, that albeit it hath a Ceremonial designation of the day, that is, that it doth figure unto us our perpetual rest, which we shall have in heaven, after that there is a new heaven & a new earth, yet there is therein two parts, the one natural the other positive, as that God should have a seventh day of worship, this is Natural, & therefore doth remain, because it is perpetual: but that this seventh day of the Lords worship should be the seventh day after the Creation of the word, this was positive, & therefore was changed by the apostles & blessedmen of the prsmitive church into the seventh day after the resurrection of our Saviour jesus Christ: which as it is verified by him in the Sabbaoth, so may it be in like sort vouched by like reason in the tenth, wherein also by like semblance there are two parts, the one natural the other positive. The natural is this; that God out of all the fruits of the earth, the increase of cattle that are worthy of him and fit for man's use, should have a tenth, both in the acknowledgement of his universal government over us, and also for the provision of his ministers, & therefore this remaineth: and in that sense immediately after the dissolution of the jews policy, the good Christians of the Primitive Church as soon as they could get any outward form of a Church, & peace from persecution received it in the very quotity, as a thing no less belonging to their ministers, than it did appertain to the priests and Levites of the Law: But that the Lord annexed these tithes by Moses to the Priests & levites for their maintnance during the time of the dispensing of the mysteries under the law, this is positive, & therefore changed by the good christians in the primitive church from the jews ecclesiastics to the Christian Ecclesiastiques.  
Neither can it be thought this number came from the judicial part of the Law, as a fit proportion to maintain one Tribe, out of the revenues of the other eleven Tribes: for that this number or quotity was revealed to be Gods long before the Law, and before there was any such division of Tribes among the people of Israel; which yet were not, but were parted afterward by Moses into families according to the number of the Twelve sons of jacob. And therefore it is not to be presumed that the Law which came long after, imprinted a form upon that, which was so long in being before there was any Law or ceremony. But as the Apostles or prime-Christians, whenas they did first change the day of the Sabbaoth by divine inspiration or otherwise, from the day of the Creation, to the day of the Resurrection, durst not substitute any other day into the place of the first day than a seventh; for that the Lord had revealed his pleasure in many places of the Scripture as concerning that number, for his day of worship, so that no other day could be appointed for his day of worship than a seventh: So neither durst the good Christians of the Primitive Church (moved no doubt with no other instinct than the other were, when they translated this provision of tithes for their ministery from the jewish Church unto their own Church) change the number of ten into another number beside more or less: For that God had no less manifested his will in sundry parts of the Scripture. as concerning this number, to be a number for the maintenance of his ministery, than he had declared his pleasure as concerning that other number to be a day for his honour, challenging it everywhere in the Scripture, in the very quotity for his own right, and counting it robbery if it were at any time withholden from him. And therefore it may be well thought, the Schoolmen herein did great wrong to the Church, who by their acquaint distinctions brought this certainty to an uncertainty, which is no where to be found in the Scripture. Which I am more bold to speak, for that I see some have trod this path before me, and showed by good demonstration, that the turning of this quotity into a competency is a thing nothing warrantable by the word of God, but that the quotity ought still to stand as a perpetual right due to God and his Church. But hereof hitherto.  
And so having passed over this whole proviso of Law, Statute, Privilege, Prescription, and Composition, I might well leave the turning of this stone any more, but that yet there remaineth one Prohibition of prescription to be handled, which in my fancy is worse than all the rest, for that it draweth away from the Parochian Church her maintnance, and transferreth it upon lay men: and that which worse is, it makes Bishops to be instruments hereof, who are to be Patrons and defenders of Churches, and not pillars or powlers of the same. And yet the authors thereof do embrace it and kiss it as a golden birth, or as if that juno herself had been present at the Nativity thereof. And the devise is this.  
A Bishop being owner of a Manor yet not divided into Tenancies, nor having any Parsonage erected upon it, ordaineth the one and divideth out the other: here the Bishop being seized in the whole Manor before the said division, because he is a clergy man, is supposed to be in possession aswell of the Tithes as of the Manor itself, and therefore after creating a Parsonage, and dividing out his Tenancies, may retain and keep to himself, and his said tenants, so much of the said Manor discharged of tithes as him listeth, and assign over the rest for the maintenance of the Minister, and that his tenants after may challenge exemption from tithe, as the Bishop did, for that they were exempted by his capacity while they were in his own hand.  
Neither of which is so by Law; for insomuch as a Bishop is an owner of a Manor, and is a prime-founder of a benefice, he hath no more right to the Tithe thereof than a mere Lay Pat●on hath, who for his zeal to the Church, and to encourage other to be like affected to God's Religion as himself is, may have some small pension assigned him and his for ever by the Bishop out of the same benefice, in acknowledgement of the erecting, founding, or endowing thereof: but for any portion of tithes to him or his, he could never retain any, nor can to this day, neither yet can the Bishop himself, unless perhaps he will be like to Ananias and Zaphira, 
Actorun 5.  which held part of the price of their ground from the Lord, and were worthily punished for the same. And as they cannot detain it themselves, being spiritual men, so much less can they pass it over to any Lay man, for that Lay people neither by God's Law, neither by the Canons and Decrees of the Church, were ever capable of them: yea, it was so 
Ca quamuis de decimis. & ibi Abnum. 5.  far off, that ever any Bishops durst enfeoff any Lay man in Tithe; that who so did it, was to be deposed and excommunicated until such time as he restored the same to the Church again. And to say the truth, Tithes were never 
Ca●●a nobis de decimis.  at any time in Bishops as in Fee, but in vetie few cases, as were the Bishop had a Parish himself distinct from other Parishes, for sundry Bishops in sundry places had so, and then the Tithes of the Parish did belong unto them in such sort as they do now belong unto the Incumbents thereof: Or if the Tithe were not within any Parish, for then in like sort it did belong unto the Bishop of the Diocese, in whose Territory it was, albeit now within this Realm it belongs unto the King: Or where the Parishes were undistinguished, for than were they the Bishops, not to convert unto his own use, but to divide among the Ministers and Clerks which laboured in the Diocese under him, in Preaching, Teaching, Ministering of the Sacraments, and executing of other Ecclesiastical functions, every one according to his desert: Or that it were the fourth part of the Tithe, for than did it belong to the Bishop in Law, towards his own relief, and the repairing of the Parish Church where they grew, and not to confer or bestow the same, as him thought best; which notwithstanding now also is grown out of use, and nothing left unto the Bishop from the Churches of his Diocese, beside his Procurations and Synodals to be paid by the Incumbents in the time of his Visitation. Beside which cases, it cannot be found that ever any Bishop had to do with Tithe, much less to alien, dispose, and transfer the same as him listed, and to whom him listed.  
For it is very certain, Bishop's endowments themselves, in the beginning of the Primitive Church, stood not in Tithes, but in good Temporal and finable Lands, which gracious Princes and other good benefactors of former Ages 
C. de sacro sanct. Eccl. & de Epis. & clericis tot. titul.  bestowed upon them, as it doth appear out of the first book of the Code; whereas sundry Laws of Constantine the great, and other gracious Emperoves, even unto the time of justiman himself are recorded, both for the conserring of Lands upon the Church, and those, such as should neither be barren, neither charged with Statutes, or other debts of the Exchequer, as also for the conserving and 
Authent. m●lto magis C. de sacro sanct. Eccle.  safe keeping of such Lands as were in such sort conferred and bestowed upon them: & is manifest also out of our own Stories, both in Britan's time, during whose Reign there 
jocelin of 〈◊〉 in his book of British Bishops. Stow fol. 37.  are reported to have been fifteen Archbishops in the Sea of London well endowed with possessions, and if they were Archbishops, then must necessarily also follow there were Bishops, for that these are respective one to the other. The like is written of the Sarons Reign, under whom the 
Hen. Huntingdon lib. 3.  Sea of Canterbury, the Sea of London, the Sea of Rochester, and the Sea of York (for these four were first set up again after the Sarons first received the faith at the Preaching of Augustine, Melitus, and justus Paulinus) are namely reported to have been enriched with large Dominions 
Charta regis ●the●be ●i, & charta Will. primi. St●w fol. 77.  and possessions, given to every of them for their maintenance. And what course hath been held with Bishoprics erected since the Conquest, the ruinated state of them and others do show, among whose ancient livelihood is not to be found any endowment by Tithes, but such as of late have come unto their hands, and that for the most part, by change of their good finable Lands for impropriat parsonages. And therefore much to blame are some of our time, who (whenas their predecessors in former ages never admitted of any impropriat parsonage into their possessions, but only in such cases as have been before remembered) for the name and place of a Bishop will be content to make Glaucus' change with Diomedes, that is, give 
Homer. Illiad. 6.  their golden Armour for the others brazen Armour: or do like as Roboam did, who in stead of the golden shields that his 
Regum 1. c. 1●.  father Solomon did hang up in the Temple, put in their places Shields of brass: for the change is no better, and so well know they that procure the same, otherwise would they never so instantly desire it.  
And therefore an unsuitable devise was that, and contrary to the course of former Ages, which was procured in the first year of the late blessed Queen, not (as I think) by her own seeking, for she (good Lady) did in this as she was directed, but upon some other policy; that it should be lawful for her to take away so much finable Lands from any of the Bishops as her pleased, and to give them back again in am thereof Tenths, or Parsonages impropriat: which hath patched them up again but with unsuitable pieces to their coat; whereby they are both brought into obloquy, as though they detained the due provision of the Parochian Church from it, and are set in a way ready to be overthrown if every bird have his own feather again. 
Authent. de non alienand, aut permutand. reb Eccl. etc. § si minus.   
And therefore those good Emperors are most worthy of commendations, that when they had any occasion to make change of Lands with the Church, would still allow them the like in value or better: for a small gain it is unto a Prince for a few thousands of increase of temporary benefices unto his Exchequer, to draw a perpetual loss upon a Church or Bishopric: for so dear ought the Spiritual state to be unto a Prince (upon whom God hath bestowed so many Kingdoms, and other things of price as he hath done, and put such an infinite number of people in subjection under his feet) that he would not in any case be hard with God, but think every greatest liberality towards God & the Church to be the best.  
For certain it is the Empire and Church do not much 
Die. § si minus Authent. ut sup.  differ the one from the other: for as the Empire doth govern the outward man, and frameth him by outward policy to be a good and loyal subject to the state: So also the Church frameth the inward man by the word of God, and causeth him not only to be a dutiful subject unto his Prince, but also to be an acceptable servant unto his Maker: So that there must be aswell had an awful care of those things that are consecrated to God, as there is a heedful regard had of those things that belong to the good of the Common state: for the Church was not made of God for the Common wealth, but the Common wealth for the Church. And therefore most 
Anno pr●●● jacob. Regis cap. 3.  gracious hath been the consideration of our dear Sovereign, who to stop all importunate suits made to Bishops, for the granting away of any of their revenues to himself, or any other, and to meet with the too too easy facility of many Bishops, in yielding unto such suits; of his Christian and Princely piety and care, hath made a Law, whereby to protect the Church's possessions from alienation or diminution, that they may remain and continue, according to the true intent of their foundation to their successors for ever, to the uses and purposes therein limited.  
But here is occasion offered by the example of our gracious King to wish that such as were authors to the King, for the dissolving of Monasteries, and other houses of Religion, had been likewise councillors to him for the restoring of all appropriated parsonages of Tithes, which were as it were in captivity under those houses of Religion, unto their proper parishes from whence they were taken. Which had been a memorable work, & easy to have been persuaded the King, having so many great mountains of temporalities and Seas of goods & chattels come unto his hand: so that these spiritualties would have seemed matters of small account unto him in comparison of those other great riches and possessions that came unto him. Which if it had been done, how blessed a state and Church had this been, when every congregation should have had a sufficient provision to maintain a learned Preacher among them: for so was it by the first institution, and so continued till violence and superstition changed it. But I fear those men which began this worthy work, had not such a sincere mind towards Almighty God in this reformation, as they ought to have had, but that they sought therein their own advancement more than they did the glory of of God; which I doubt me, lest God hath remembered, in some of their posterity, which being left in great state, have either so vanished away, as that their place is scarce to be found, or else do so continue, as that their posterity ever since hath been as it were in a minority, so that they are as though they were not, great in place, but small in reputation: yea, the three fairest branches or boughs that ever were in the world, issuing out of that tree, under whose shadow all these things were done, are quite gone, and live by no other posterity, but by their own worthy fame and glorious acts which they did in their life time; which also now being gone, do follow them, & so shall do unto the world's end, for they were all three memorable worthies in their place. So dangerous a thing it is to mixed our own ambition, or any other carnal consideration with God's glory. But God be thanked such is the careful consideration of our most gracious Governor, that now is, in this behalf, that it may be hoped, that God will remember him, and his posterity in goodness, according to all that good that he hath done for the Church, that he and his posterity after him, may sit upon his seat so long as the Sun & Moon endures: for certainly his godly and gracious comportment, hath been such hitherto, as that he may be verily thought to be a man according unto the heart of God, as David was. But now to the loss that comes to the Church by these impropriations.  
Whilst the Parochian Churches stood in their essentialities, that is while they did enjoy the natural endowments due unto their place, that is, all manner of Tithes, and other Ecclesiastical duties, growing & arising within the compass of their Parish, due by the word of God, they preached unto their congregation, they prayed for them, they ministered unto them the Sacraments, they kept hospitality among their Parishioners, and relieved the poor, so far as their portion would reach unto; which was a comely thing to behold, acceptable to God, comfortable to their Parishioners, & convenable to their calling: but after the same were appropriated to Religious houses, these good courses were much disguised: for albeit those Religious men, to whom these Parochian Churches were annexed, did much prey for those congregation, as they pretended, from whom they had the fat of the Benefices, yet they preached little to them, kept small hospitality among them, or did any other spiritual work belonging to any Pastoral charge; yet notwithstanding the whole institution for which benefices in the beginning were erected, was not altogether extinct in them, but there was some outward shape or form of the first ordinance left them, so far forth, as that they made continual prayers & intercessions to God for them: but when it came once into the Laities hands, there was not so much as a footestep left of the first institution, for they neither preach unto the people, pray for them, nor keep any hospitality among them, but spend all the whole revenues of the Church upon their private uses, which many times are unfit for such Spiritual provision to be spent in: so that for the benefit of the Church, the return of them might be well wished, albeit in so far as they are perplexed and intricated by the Laws of this land, with private men's states, it would be hard to be performed; for the changing of them would be much like, as if a man should move one stone in a vauted work, such as the stony roofs of many Cathedral Churches and Colleges are, where the taking of one stone away is the jeopardy of the whole building: But yet let those to whom this doth appertain, consider whither in this it were better to please God, than man.  
But now to return thither where I left: as every good Bishop, or any of his Clergy, did win any country village, which the Latins call Pagus, to the Faith; so they erected up a Church there, and appointed a Pastor or Minister over them, to inform them in the Law of God, and to minister 
Hespinian de origine Monochatus.  the Sacraments unto them: and set out for his maintenance the Tithe of that Page, or Village, to which he was assigned Pastor; which they did in Tithes, rather than in any other provision, both because it was the Lord's inheritance in all ages, and appointed by him for the maintenance of such as served in his Tabernacle, during the dispensation of the mysteries of the Law, & now was returned again into God's hand by the expyration of the demise of them made unto the Levites, during the said time of dispensation; and also because the people would be the more easily induced to part with one part out of every ten, of all the fruits of their grounds, and labours of their hands, unto the Minister, than if there had been any other regular imposition laid upon them: for certain it is, Villages & Pages came more hardly and more lately unto the Faith, than great Towns & Cities did; and thereupon grew that name of opposition, which was between Christians that dwelled in Cities, & the Infidels that dwelled in Pages, that the one were called Pagans, the other were called Christians, taking their names upon the difference of the places where they dwelled. But from these Pages, (as I have said) came first the use and practise of Tithes in the Christian world, insomuch as after when any Law was made, as concerning Tithes, they held them evermore for a Parochian right only, & in no sort at the disposition 
●a. Cum contingat de Decim. verb. de sure coī●n g●os.  of the Bishop, but in such cases as before is rehearsed; insomuch, that if a Bishop challenged any Church in his Diocese, he challenged it not in respect of any fee simple he had in it, but in regard of the Spiritual jurisdiction he had over it. And therefore the Authors of this opinion were far out of 
Ab. ca nuper de Decim. et ca deputati de judicijs num. 16.  the way, when as they thought the Bishop had like right in the Tithes of a Church of his Patronage, to give & bestow them as he listeth, as he hath in his demeans, and other his Temporal lands, either to lease them out, or divide them into Tenancies, as him best liketh.  
Neither is that case clear or without question whereby they pretend, a Bishop being seized in a Manor, may prescribe the Tithes of the demeans thereof, by an immemorial prescription for him & his Tenants, and Farmers for years, and Tenants at will, to be exonerated, acquitted, and privileged from all Tithes growing thereupon: which if it be against an other person than himself, may hap to be true, although perhaps also that be questionable, for that it is not long since Lay people were capable of that right; neither could themselves by Law of the Church at any time grant such Spiritual rights as these are, to a Lay man, either in Feudum, or Emphiteusim, without danger of Excommunication, 
Ab. ca ad h●● de Decimis n●mer. 4.  or deposition of their own place, as hath been before showed. But if himself, or his predecessors were Parsons there, either in the right of their Bishopric, as hath been of late before remembered, or that the Benefice was annexed unto their Sea, for the provision of their Table, as many Bishoprics had some one or more benefices appropriate unto them to this purpose, than could they not prescribe the Tithes in such sort as is pretended: For albeit no prescription proceeds without possession, yet no man can prescribe against himself, although he be in possession; for that evermore there must be two persons in a prescription, the one which doth prescribe, the other against whom it is prescribed; and therefore in these cases it is never said, they hold their Tithes by prescription, but in the right of their Church, or Parsonage. In either of which cases, if they were Lords of the Manor, & Parsons of the Parsonage together, it is not to be thought they would so respect the good of their Farmer, as that they would either hurt their Church, or prejudice their own Table, for their farmer's sake: which they must do, if they suffer a Prescription to run against the Church, or themselves, to exempt the demeans of the Manor from payment of Tithes, which were due both to the Church, & themselves: For they were men, that both knew in their conscience, how much they were bound unto the Church in this behalf; & they were not ignorant what prejudice they should do unto themselves, if by prescription they should yield to exempt so necessary a provision for the maintenance of their Hospitality, as the tithes of the demeans of a whole Manor, & their tenancies are: for no small part of their commendation stood in those days in their hospitality, & therefore it is not to be presumed that they would easily cut off any provision that was fit for the same. Beside, if by either of these two ways, the Bishop were Parson in the place, than did the fruits of the Benefice, during every Vacation of the Bishopric, not come to the King, as they now do, whereby the Parsonage & Manor are both consolidated into one, for that they are now both holden to be Temporalties; but the Parsonages came to the Archbishops of the province, as a spirituality granted to his Sea by privilege, during the vacancy of the Seas of such Bishops as were in his Province, as may appear by the Lord Archbishop's Records of Canterbury, so that it cannot 
E● Registro Archiepi Cant.  be thought any prescription could run in these times, being so often interrupted by vacancies as they were. Which being well considered, the conclusion is very doubtful, whither ever any prescription ran in this case, neither would it easily be believed by those that know the course of Antiquity, but that there hath a judgement passed in this part, & therefore will I stay myself here, and prosecute this point no further.  
I intended to say nothing in this treatise of the Tithes of Minerals, & other subterraneous bodies, because I know by Law, they are holden by the like right, as the Tithes of those things are, which grow in the upper face of the earth; but yet because I see there is a question made of them, by some that will make every thing controversable, that is due unto the Church, I will satisfy also their curiosity: And therefore, for Metals, & other substances which are digged out of the bowels of the earth, & therefore are called Fossilia, this is certain, that what God worketh here in the superficies of the Earth, for those things that spring out of the earth, by the heat of the Sun, the temperature of the Air, & the influence of the Celestial bodies; the same he effecteth below in the depth of the Earth, for the generation of Metals & other subterraneous bodies by the heat & cold of the earth, that is included in 
Erastus tractat. de ortu Metalloram.  the bowels thereof: For by the heat, he raiseth up vapours & exhalations in the matrix thereof, as the matter of those subterraneous bodies: but by the cold, he drieth, thickneth, hardeneth, and indurateth the same into a metal, or Mineral, whereby he giveth as it were a form unto it. And as the disposition of every exhalation so compacted & drawn together is finer or grosser, hotter or colder, so is the metal or Mineral, or other subterraneous body more noble or more base: yea, sometimes by reason of this diversity of exhalations & vapours drawn together at one time, are divers conditions of Metals there confounded together, whereof some are noble, as Gold, Silver, & Copper; some other are of less estimate, as Tyn, Led, and such like. Neither do these grow only in the beginning, but they renew again when they are digged up, (as Trees & plants in the upper face of the earth do rise out of the roots & stems of those trees which have been cut down) if the place of their new generation be prepared accordingly: For whereas the place of their generation is far below in the Earth, nature of a certain modesty in herself, will not yield to the generation of these subterraneous bodies, but in secret places, far remote from the sight of the Sun, & the privity of other meteorical bodies, which are under the firmament. And by that means it happeneth, that these Mineral bodies are rarely known & perceived to renew again; for that being once exposed to the light of the Sun, they are seldom or never closed up again, by reason of the greatness of the gulf that is made in opening of them. But yet the nature of them is such, that if their bed were thereto prepared accordingly, they would conceive a new: Which is a thing so notorious 
ff. Soluto Matrimonio, l. fructus eos. §. 13. Plin. lib. 36. cap. 15. et 18. de naturali Histor.  in Quarries of stone, which are less abashed at the sight of the Sun, & the presence of other meteorical bodies in their generation, that the Law itself, & other good Authors have set it down for an undoubted experience, that being digged up, they do renew again, by the nature & disposition of the mould wherein they are engendered: For some earths do as naturally yield stones, & other minerals out of them, as others 
Strabo lib. 5.  bring forth Corn, Hay, & other fruits: which if it be true in those bodies which are in the upper crust of the Earth, why not also in those bodies which are found & framed below in the Matrix thereof. And if these bodies do both engender & renew, which are conceived so far below in the Navel of the earth, why is not Tithe due of them, aswell as it is of other fruits that are in the summitie or height of the earth. Whether is it that God's hand less laboureth in the procreation of these subterraneous bodies, than it doth in the ripening & quickening, of that fruit that springs out of the upper face of the earth? But that is far otherwise, for here in these upper fruits, one planteth, an other watereth, and God only gives the increase: But in the other Mineral bodies, God alone doth all, for he only is the planter, he is the waterer, and he gives the increase alone. Or is it that God hath less delight to be honoured with these hid treasures of the earth, than he hath to be worshipped with the labour of the plough, or the increase of the cattle of the field? But that this is not so, it is plain by the glorious Temple that Solomon made, which 
2. Chro. ca 2.  had not only Cedar trees for the roof thereof, and Algummin wood for the ornaments thereof, but also had quarry stone for the walls thereof, & gold of Paruaim for the beautifying of it, & for the overlaying of it within. And of all other kind of Metals, gold is first remembered in the Scripture, immediately 
Genef. 2. vers. 21. & 12.  after the creation of the world, so that God himself may seem to have a special regard of this metal above the rest, for that this alone above all the rest, by purifying is not diminished. Or is it that God loveth his Ministers less than other men, so that he would have the Laity to have all the precious things of the earth, & his Ministers to have no part of any other thing, but that which is vulgar & common? But how unlike that is, who sees not, when he seeth that God hath committed unto them, the inestimable treasures of his word; in comparison whereof, both these upper fruits of the earth, & those hid treasures below, are mere dross & corruption? and therefore it is not like, when he hath committed unto them those great matters, he would deny unto them these smaller blessings. Or is it that there hath been paid tithes of the upper fruit of the earth already, & therefore cannot Tithe be twice 
Ca en part de Decimis, & ibi ●b. 18.  demanded of one ground in one year, according to a new over ruled doctrine? But that opinion is both contrary to Law many hundred years obtained in the Church without contradiction, whereby it is ordained, that as often as the earth fructifieth in one year, so often shall Tithes in the same year be paid of it: & also it is contrary to Divinity & reason that it should be otherwise. For when as God hath given thee more Harvest or more Vintages in one year, is it not both godly and reasonable, as God hath increased his blessings towards thee, so thou also shouldest rise in thankfulness towards him? For, where every one hath receive dmore grace or more favour, there ought he to be more thankful, lest God for lack of this correspondency in thankfulness, bring thy nine parts, for thine ingratitude towards him, to a tenth only. For certainly so he is able to do by sending deluge and drought upon the earth, by bringing barrenness upon it, by destroying that which is sprung out of the earth already, by storm and tempest, by the grasshopper and the caterpillar: for all this hath he threatened to all those that are unthankful this way, neither is the Lords hand more shortened now than it was then. Whereas not withstanding to the contrary, he hath promised great kindness unto such as shall pay their Tithes truly and cheerfully, as that he will open the windows of heaven and power out his blessings without measure upon them. Hilarem enim datorem amat Deus. Beside this, that earth that bringeth out metals in the Matrix of the earth, is not that that bringeth out corn and grass in the top of the earth: for that earth that is the mother of metals, being priest down far into the bowels of the earth, can yield no sustenance to those fruits that grow so many fathoms above it, to which it confers nothing save that it doth support and bear up that other earth, which nourisheth the plants and fruits of the upper earth, whose sustenance is not fet deep out of the earth, but is sucked out of that earth which is within one cubit or two of the top of the earth: which may be easily perceived by those fruits and trees that grow upon hard rocks near to the top of the earth, whose food, although it be near unto the top of the earth, yet do they flourish and stand fast, as other trees and fruits do, which have more fat and deep mould under them. And therefore cannot the tithing of those things which are above, excuse the tithing of the treasures that are below, albeit the conclusion were true, that two thing are not to be paid out of one ground in one year, for these are neither one ground, and the conclusion itself is erroneous, and therefore I conclude this point thus: Since Metals and Minerals, and other subterraneous bodies are in no less Obligation to God, than other fruits of the earth are, there must be no less tithes paid of them, than are of other fruits of the earth; for that these are the inward fruits of the earth, as well as those are the outward, and therefore of like things, there must be like judgement and like consequence. And thus much as concerning the Tithes of Metals and Minerals.  
And now because I am in this matter of Tithes, I will shape an answer to one doubt that is made, as concerning the tithes of Turfs, that is, of earth disposed and prepared for fuel, which are said not to be tytheable, & that upon this reason: That tithes are not paid of the earth itself, but of those things which spring out of the earth: which opinion is true, if it be understood of earth not separated from the body & mass of the rest of the earth. For if tithes should be yearly paid thereof, as it is paid of other things that grow out of the earth, all the whole earth in a short time would become the Clergies. But if it be meant of earth that is severed from the rest of the mass & globe of the earth, then is it otherwise. For that earth that is thus severed from the other earth is no more part of that earth from whence it is severed, than a man's hand or leg being cut from the body, is part of his body after it is cut off from it. And therefore of this earth so provided for fuel may tithes aswell be paid as of any other fuel of wood, coal, or otherwise that is provided to be burnt. For there is one reason of things when they are united together in one booby, and another of those things when they are divided from the same body: for so long as they are in one and the self same body, they follow the nature of the whole, but when they are divided, then is there another consideration of them. Seperatorum 
L. finali. ff. de calumuiatoribus.  enim seperata est ratio, & ex seperatis non infertur de vn● ad aliud. Corn, grass, and such like, while they stand are not Titheable, although the tithe than is in them pro Indiviso: For while that they stand they are part of the earth upon which they stand, and therefore so long untithable, because the earth itself is untytheable. But if they be cut down, then are they to be tithed, because they are now no longer parts of the earth, but bodies by themselves separated from the earth, so that now the not tithing of them is penal: Of which sort are turfs separated from the rest of the mass of the earth. Neither is this my opinion alone, but it was 
Provincial. de decim. c sancta & ibi Linwood verbo turbarun.  Linwoods' long ago, and other Ecclesiastical writers, who not only make Turf Tythable when it is prepared for fire, but also great rods, and small twigs, sticks, & chips of timber, butts and roots of trees, thorns, briars, walnut shells, and 
L. Ligni appellatione §. 4. 5. & 6. ff. de legate 3.  nut shells, weeds, coals and colebrands (called Titiones, because they are so burnt as they shall not make a smoke) cowshards, which the Law calls Editus boum. All which a man can use to no other purpose than to burn: for where wood lacks, these succeed in place of wood, & are called by the name of wood, & are in like Obligation, as concerning the Tithe due thereout, as wood itself is; Vbicunque enim est eadem ratio, veleaden 
L. Illud. ff. ad ●egem Aquilian.  aequitas, ibi debet esse eadem juris dispositio. And therefore not in that, that Turfs sometimes were gremiall earth they are to be discharged of tithe: but in that they are accounted for Fuel by the law, when they are so prepared to be burnt, they are to pay tithes in like sort, as other things applied to that use do.  
And so far as concerning the Prohibitions which arise out of this proviso. Now it followeth that I speak something of 
2. Edw. 6. c. 13.  the next proviso, which is concerning the Tithes of barren heath, and waste ground, and the Prohibitions thereupon.  
This proviso hath two branches, the one for comparative barren, heath, & waste ground, the other for absolute barren, heath & waist, for either of which is assigned a time of 7. years, either for the payment of such tithes, as before the time of their improvement, and converting to errable, they were charged with, or for the free and absolute discharge of them from all manner of Tithes for seven whole years next after their improvement ended and determined. For so I take the Statute meant, when as it made the one Tythable, the other not, for if otherwise they had been both in one predicament of barrenness, the Statute had not made one free from tithe for so many years as it doth, and charged the other all that time with Tithe.  
For these two kinds of grounds, although the Statute say nothing, which is comparative barren, which is absolute, yet reason telleth us, that is Comparative that hath a positive under it, and a Superlative above it: and therefore that is Comparative waste, barren, or heath, in respect whereof there is some over ground more or less, waste, heath, or barren, so that it hath simply and positively in it some condition of heath, waist, or barren: but if it hath nothing of any of these qualities in it, then is it neither heath, barren, or waste, howsoever long otherwise it hath lain unmanured, and not turned to tillage: For it is not the turning of a ground to tillage that makes it heath, barren, or waste, but it is the ill disposition of the ground itself, subject to these inconveniences, that causeth it not to be turned to tillage; for no man will willingly till that, where the gain of the tillage will not quit the cost and labour of the husbandry, as for the most part it falleth out in these grounds they do not.  
Barren ground therefore simply, is that, which being eared, 
Glos. L. licet. C. de locato & conducto verbo sterilitates.  yieldeth not the seed again, or at the most, yieldeth so small advantage for the tillage, as that the tenant after that he hath paid his Rent, hath not the worth of half his seed again; much like unto that ground whereof the Scripture speaketh, whose barrenness is such, as being eared and sowed, neither the Mower filleth his hand, neither the Gleaner his lap, with the yield thereof. These grounds are not only called Sterilia of the Latins, but also Infaecunda, Infrugifera, & sine prole, for the excessive barrenness that is in them: and the Greeks upon like occasion term such conditioned grounds; 
L. si quis usuras. ff. de eo qui pro tutore.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in which sense, money not put to usury is by the Law called barren money, and Aristotle calleth it fruitless money: for that money was not devised thereby 
Arist. 1. lib. politicorum.  to increase money, as greedy Usurers in all ages have done, but that by the means thereof men might ease the difficulties, and necessities of change of one kind of thing for another, as a horse for an ox, a sheep for a goat, Iron for brass, and such like: for there is nothing that may not be 
Arist. 4. ethicorum. c. 1.  esteemed by money, and the use of money is the uttering of money, whereby it is commonly said, Money is lost by the use thereof, not that money doth perish or decay by use, for we see the clean contrary to that, though money go through a thousand men's hands, yet it is still of the same value, and remaineth in her proper essence or being: but that the use of money is in the laying of it out, and that by the use thereof, money passeth from him whose it was, and the property thereof goeth to another, and therefore as to the first owner it is spent, & lost: without which losing, money naturally gaineth nothing; for lay it up in a coffer or chest never so long, it will never be the more in number, although perhaps as S. 
jam. cap. 5. v. 1.  james saith, It will gather a rust & canker, & that rust and canker will be a witness against them which so hoard it up from the service of God and the common wealth, in the day of the Lord: so then, as that money is barren, that lieth still and bringeth out nothing, so is that ground barren that being tilled, yieldeth no fruit, or at the most, so little, as the gains will not recompense the charge.  
Although heath ground, and barren ground be almost Synonomies, yet to speak properly, heath is as it were an effect of barrenness, for that there is no ground that bringeth forth heath, but for the most part it is barren. And therefore as heath itself is an unfruitful kind of shrubs, and is good almost for nothing but for the fire; for that neither growing or cut down, it hath any beneficial use at all for the common wealth: so also the ground it springeth out of, hath neither faicenesse to the eye, nor goodness to the yield, but is commonly either a black sour ground, that hath no sweetness at all in it, or is a dry hungry soil, such as evermore crieth 
Proverb, 12.  give, give, and never restoreth ought again.  
Waste is that which for the unfruitfulness thereof hath lain time out of mind unmanured, in which sense it is all one with barren ground; or it is such ground as for the charge of hedging, ditching, fencing, and tilling no man will manure.  
Our forefathers anciently comprised all these three under one name calling them all by the name of Novalia, that is new broken up ground not only because they were not broken up in the memory of man before, but also for that being eared, they yielded little or no fruit at all: and therefore the interpreters of the Law defining what Novalia are, say that they are such grounds as before the tillage thereof were inutilia; and example them out, in Mountains, Marshes, 
C. commissum de decimis verbo i●●tilia.  Thickets, and such other unprofitable ground, as out of which before the stocking of them up and converting them to tillage, the Church took little or no benefit at all. And those are the same or cozen German to those which this Statute calleth heath, barren and waste; for they are one and the very self same with them, in all the chief points, for which they are excepted out of the Statute.  
So then now, there is no further question what is heath, barren, and waste ground, but who shall try the matter of this quality, the Ecclesiastical judge, in whose continual possession this trial hath been until now of late, that under colour of this Statute, it hath been encroached upon, as it may appear by all the Titles of the Ecclesiastical Law, where there is any mention of the Tithes of new broken up ground, and the Decrees of the Lawgivers in the same, between the Monasteries challenging them by grant, and the Parochian Ministers of the Parish where they grew, claiming the same by right: Or the Temporal judges, whose is the cognisance of the Title and Tenure of the ground, as also is the setting, letting, buying, selling, and other alienating of the same.  
For the point itself, the Statute maketh no mention, but passeth it over with silence; and therefore it is to be presumed that it meant, that it should there rest, where it was before the making of the statute: for the statute was not made in derogation of the Ecclesiastical proceedings, that were before; but in affirmance thereof, as the whole drift of the said Statute doth show.  
And if the Statute had meant otherwise, it would surely have expressed it either in the proviso itself, or after in the derogatory clause; where it maketh an enumeration of such things as it intended should be exempted from the trial of the Ecclesiastical Law, and by virtue of this Statute, should not be comprised under the same, among which there is no word of this proviso, or any other in the same Statute before named.  
Neither is it unto the purpose, that the Common Law of this Land taketh knowledge of the Tenure and Title of Lands, and such other compliments belonging to the same; for these things that are here in question, are no part of those Legal Essences, which the Law requireth to the Title and Tenure thereof, as is Féesimple, féetaile, and other of like nature, according to the learning of that Law, but these are certain accidents over and beside the Tenure of the land, which may be present or absent without the injury of the Title: as God many times turneth floulds into wilderness, & springs of water again into dryness, & a fruitful land makes he barren for the wickedness of them that dwell therein, and yet the Title or Tenure of the ground is not changed, by these changes of qualities, but remains the self same that it was: so that these things are no more subject to the ordering of the Common Law, than it is in the Common Law, to judge & determine what mould is white & what is black: what ground will bear wheat, what barley, what oats; for these things are no matters of skill of law, that they need to be fetched out of books, but they are matters of common experience which every country man can as well skill of as the greatest Lawyer that is, and therefore the Law in this case is not desirous of any curious proof, but contenteth itself only with the depositions of two or three honest men, which speak sensibly and féelingly to the point that is in hand, which is enough to direct any wise judge in his sentence, so that it needs not these long circumstances of twelve men to teach the judge what and how truly the witnesses have deposed. For if every quality of the ground resteth in the mouth of twelve men only, then should no man be able to say out of the mouth of a witness, and pronounce thereupon, this ground is mountain, this is plain, this is meadow, this is errable, unless he were warranted by the verdict of twelve men thereunto: which if it be an absurdity to hold, then sure it is like absurd to say, that barren, heath, and waste cannot be pronounced without a jury; for that these things are like obvious to sense, and like qualitied as the other are.  
And I pray you, when they have drawn it unto their trial, what do they in effect otherwise than the Ecclesiastical judge would or should have done, if it had remained still under him? for do they give credit simply to the conceit of the jury, as touching that which hath been declared and pleaded in the cause before them, or do not the judges themselves rather make a brief of all that hath been pleaded in the cause before them, and thereof make as it were a verdict, and put the same in the mouth of the twelve for their verdict, before they go from the bar? So that the whole weight of the cause standeth rather in the judges direction, in such sort as it is at the Ecclesiastical Law, than it doth in the mouth of the jury; for the jury men for the most part, are simple people, & scarce four of the twelve understand their evidence: so that it may seem rather to be a matter of superfluity than of good policy, to refer a matter to their verdict, when as they say no other thing, than that the judge taught them before; Stultum enim est id facere per plura, quod fieri potest per pauciora: for albeit perhaps some capricious fellow of the jury, upon the confidence of his own brain, sometimes start aside from that which the judge hath told him, and draw the rest of his fellows, as so many sheep, after him; yet for the most part the judges voice is their direction, their loadstone, and and North pole to guide them in this business.  
Besides, in this Proviso, as in some other precedent, there is a great disadvantage offered to the Clergy, which they much complain of, and that is, that in cases of this nature, they are compelled to suffer trial under them, who are as in a manner parties unto the suit, by reason of the interest they have therein, either in present, or in consequence; so that many now a days (learning too late by other men's harms what the event in theirowne cause willbe) choose rather to lose their right, than to venture their cause upon such partial judges, as the 12. men are.  
And so far as concerning those prohibitions as are forced out of this Statute, for naturally they grow not out thereof: so that I might now pass over to the other branch of my division, that is of such matters as are now held by the Common Lawyers, to be in a certain measure only of the Ecclesiastical proceeding, but were anciently wholly of the Ecclesiastical cognusance; but that the name of the Statute, De Sylva caedua, offering itself unto me in the conclusion of this Statute of Edward the vj. gives me occasion to speak something thereof, before I come to the rest.  
This Statute as the words thereof do show, was made in behalf of the Laity against the Clergy, for the exemption of great Woods of xx. years growth, & upward, from the payment of Tithes; and that in three cases only, where the wood was great, where it was of xx. years of age and upward, where it was sold to Merchants, either to the profit of the owner himself, or in aid of the King in his wars; so that without these cases, it seemeth the Statute intended no further exemption: for Statutes are things of strict Law, and are no further to be extended, than the words thereof give matter thereunto, specially when the thing itself naturally was liable to ordinary course of the Law, as other things of like nature are, and the statute comes in derogation of their ordinary course: as in this case, great timber auntiently was no less tythable than small trees are, and so by nature ought to be if the statute were not to the contrary; yet notwithstanding these limitations of the same, if great wood be cut down to any other use then to sale, as to build, or to burn to a man's own use, a prohibition in this case lieth, and yet is there no Identity of reason to extend it, nor any absurdity would follow, if it were not extended, for here is neither money sought (which gave occasion unto the Lawgivers to make this statut of exemption) neither is it an unnatural thing for to pay Tithes of great wood; for before this time they were paid, and by the Law of God it seems they ought to be paid, for that he that is taught, aught to communicate to him that teacheth him in all things: and therefore since the reason that moved the Lawgivers to order it so in one case, ceaseth in the other, there is no reason of extension, & when there is not an Identity of reason, in the things that are in demand, there can no sound inference be brought in from the one to the other, for of several things, there is a several reason, and a several consequence, neither can there be framed thereof a good implication, either positively, or remotively: neither hath this interpretation of theirs any warrant of Law for it, save that it hath been so defined and decided: but what is that to the purpose, if it hath been wrested and wronged contrary to the true sense of the Statute, and that by those that take benefit thereby, whose partiality being taken away, the thing itself would easily turn again to his own nature, and right would take place?  
The reason they yield for the exemption of great woods of the ages aforesaid, although to themselves, it be plausible, yet to others it is strange, as namely, that great Trees are 
Ploughed. in Soby contra Molyns.  part of the Fréehold, and that men use not to pay Tithes of their fréehold, but of those things which spring out of their fréehold, as out of Corn, grass, fruit, & such other; whereas in deed the tallest Timber tree, that is, if it were as high as the highest Cedar in Lebanon, is no more part of the inheritance or fréehold, than the lowest bramble that groweth in the field; for they are both equally part of the ground wherein they grow, and do take a like nourishment and sustenance from the same, neither do they differ in that they are trees the one from the other, secundum magis et minus, as the Logicians say; but in that, the one is a great tree, and the other a small shrub: and the cause of this provision here in England for these great trees, was not for that one was more of the inheritance than the other, but for that the one yieldeth more profit to the common wealth, than the other, & therefore they have made the cutting down of the one more penal, than the other: as in like case by the Civil Law, who so privily cutteth down, or barketh a vine, an olive, or a fig tree, 
ff. Arborum furtim caesarum, toto tit.  or doth any other unlawful act, whereby any fruitful tree, or any Timber tree doth perish and decay, it is Theft; and it is punished in the double value of the hurt which is done, and if he be tenant to the ground which hath done this villainy, he loseth his hold: which cometh not of that, that one kind of Tree hath more state in the ground than an other hath, but that the Law hath respected, the necessary use of the one more than the other.  
By the Civil Law, although this word Would be general, 
L. Ligni appollatione de L●g. 3 & L. Carbonum ff. de verb. significat.  yet it is thus distinguished, that some is wood, some is Timber, which the Law calls Materia. Timber is that which is fit to build or underprop withal: Wood is whatsoever is provided for fuel, so that under that name there passeth Réed, Coal, Turf, Cow dung, and whatsoever 
L. ligni appellatione, § Ofil●us, & §. idem ff. de legate 3.  is any where ordinarily used for fuel. Timber is of a higher consideration than wood is, insomuch as if a man bequeath unto an other all his wood that is in grove field, there shall not pass by this legacy such Trees as are cut down for timber: but if they were dotterd Trees, or the owner thereof purposed them for fuel, and so cut them out into billet, or faggot, in such sort as there could be no other use thereof than to burn, than it is otherwise: for by this means, of great wood, it is become small wood, as being cut out in shides, or splinters, fit for to burn. So that in the reckoning of the Civil Law, timber stands not only in the nature of the wood itself, but is in the destination and purpose of the owner, who according to his good liking, may make that wood, which is fit for timber, fire wood, or timber: which if it were so in account with the great Lawyers of this land, the Church should have more Tithes of Wood appointed for fuel, and les●e suit for the same.  
As they exempt the bodies of great Trees above xx. years 
Ploughed. ut sup.  growth, from payment of Tithes, so also they free the boughs thereof, upon this reason, that the boughs thereof are fit and serviceable for building, which although haply may be in some of them that are next to the Trunk of the tree; yet it is far otherwise in those that are more remote from the same, whereof there can be no other use than to burn: and therefore the Law precisely holds, in case where wood is bequeathed, by which is meant fire would only, unless the Testator otherwise express his mind, the lops of timber 
L. Ligni appellatione §. Ofili●● de Leg. 3.  trees, which the Law calls Superamenta materiarum are bequeathed, for that the lops have not that use that the Timber hath, that is to build or prop up withal, but they serve to burn only: by which several ends, there is several consideration and account made of them. Neither is it to the purpose that they allege for the defence hereof, that the accessory followeth the nature of the principal, for that rule is not true in every accessary, but only in such, in whom is the like reason as is in the principal, which in the trunk 
L. ●tsi. C. de Praedijs minorum.  and lop of a tree cannot be alike for building.  
Further, how the Boughs of a tree that are of the same substance, as the body of the tree is, should be accessaries to the tree, I see not, for nothing can be an accessary to an other that is of the same nature and substance as the other is; as the leg, or hand, are no accessaries to the body, for that the leg or hand are of the same substance that the body is: The Child, neither while it is in the Mother's womb, neither after it is borne is an accessary to the Mother, for 
L. 1. ff de ventre inspiciendo.  while it is in the Mother's womb, it is part of her womb, and after it is severed from her womb, it is a man or woman like principal as herself is: But that which is an accessary to an other must be of an other nature than the principal is; so in natural living creatures, hair, hooves, horns, and fins, and such other like excrements, are accessaries to the creature whose they are, for that they are of a far different nature, from the bodies, out of which they come: and so in other natural things not living, as the Earth itself is, the trees, grass, and fruit that spring out of the same, are accessaries thereto. Further in Civil matters, expenses and executions are accessaries to the causes out of which they rise: and in Marriages, Dowries and 
L. do●is. ff. de iure do●ium.  jointures are counted accessaries to them, for that without Marriage, neither jointure, nor dowry can stand. Usury is said to be an accessary to the principal, not in respect that the proper subject of either of them is Money, and so there is one substance or nature of them both, but in regard of the dependency the one hath of tother; for he that will make challenge to Usury, must first prove there is a principal. But for the better clearing of these matters of accessary and principal, we must know in bodies whose substance is all one; There are some parts like, which the Logicians call parts similares, some other unlike, being likewise called of them parts dissimilares, which in no sort are accessaries one to an other, but make one continued body of both, which the Law calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: Simular parts are such, as have one substance, form, and figure, as the trunk or body of a tree is all one in inward essence, and outward shape: Dissimular parts are those, which have one inward nature with the other, but are divers in outward show, as the boughs and roots of the Tree are divers between themselves, and different from the body, and yet all agree in one substance, and have all the general name of Wood, whereby they are discharged from being accessaries the one to the other, and yet they are not under one capacity or service, or one comprehension of Law, because they are unlike one to tother; and of unlike things, there is unlike reason, and unlike consequence.  
Now upon these grounds to exempt Timber Trees wholly from the service of him, that is Lord aswell of the tall woods, as of the low shrubs, is very hard, for though himself dwells not in houses that are made with man's hand, nor hath any need of tall Trees to repair his Tabernacle, or prop up his dwelling: yet since he hath left such behind him, as have charge of his flock, and feed them in word and work, until he come, and they dwell in earthly habitations, as other men do, and there edifices and buildings, have need of repair, in like sort as other mortal men's houses have, being all in like manner subject to rottenness and corruption; great reason it had been to have allowed him some proportion of these great woods, towards his servants necessary uses, during the time of their service here, and if not in the very tenth itself, yet in the thirty. xl. or l. part of the same, that God thereby might have been aswell acknowledged to be the Lord of the great Oaks of the forest, and that by him they have there length, breadth, and thickness, as he is accepted and reputed to be Lord of the small brambles and bushes of the field: for as now the case standeth, God may either seem to have forgot himself, that he hath not made timber trees Tythable, as he hath done other smaller woods, specially having such occasion to use them, both in the Chancels of Churches that are dedicated to his uses, and also in the buildings and repayring of his Ministers houses, who supply his room in their several Congregations, until he return to judgement; or that may well be objected against us, in allowing such things for Tithes as us please, and disallowing the rest, as was by that ancient father of the Church Tertullian objected against the Senate of Rome, who being entreated by the Emperor Tiberius (for the strange wonders and Miracles he heard to be wrought by our Saviour jesus Christ) that he might be entertained among the number of their Gods, refused so to do, for that they heard our Saviour was a jealous God, and did in no sort admit the society and fellowship of other Gods; which this grave father hearing, (although many years after) said merrily, although wisely, That God should be God, if Man would let him.  
And thus far of those causes which are held to be absolutely of the Ecclesiastical cognisance, & yet notwithstanding are eclipsed by interposition of sundry contrary matters.  
Now as concerning those things which have been accounted but in a certain measure of the Ecclesiastical cognisance, and yet notwithstanding have anciently in a manner been tried wholly at the Ecclesiastical Courts, such as are matters of Diffamation, and matters of Bastardy, both which now a days are much challenged by the Temporal Courts to be of their cognisance. But here first of diffamation, then of Bastardy.  
To diffame therefore is as Bartol saith, to utter reproachful 
Bartol l turpia ff. de legate. 3.  speeches of an other, with an intent to raise up an ill fame of him; and therefore himself expresseth the act itself in these words, Diffamare, est in mala fama ponere.  
Albeit Diffamations properly consist in words, yet may they also be done by writing, as by defamatory Libels, & also by deeds, as by signs, & gestures of reproach; for these no less show the malicious mind of the diffamer than words do.  
Defamatory words are uttered either in some scoffing or jesting manner, so as facete & merry men use to do, to make the 
Linwood c. author tate verb. quacu● que de causa i● glos. de snina ex●omm.  company merry wherein they are, or they are spoken by some that have some weakness, or distemperature in their brain, either by drink, frenzy, or other lightness, or by any rashness in their tongue, or they are poured out upon some rancour & malice, by some that envy an other, with intent to diffame him, and spread abroad a matter of disgrace upon him.  
If they be spoken in a testing manner to make the company 
Aristot. 4. ethic. c. antepenult.  merry, if it be in a fine sort delivered, it is by the Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and is by Aristotle held to be a virtue, although by S. Paul it is condemned as a vice; but if it be in 
●phes. 5. 4.  homely & gross sort delivered, than is it accounted to be a kind of rudeness or rusticity; but whether ways soever they be uttered, there is for the most part no vantage taken of 
Extra de presumpt. ca 1.  them, unless thereby there follow any discredit to the party upon whom such jests are broken, for than are they not without blame, Noxius enim ludus est in vitio, neither can that 
ff. ad l. Aquiliam, l. nam indu●.  be called jest or sport, whereby a man's good name is hurt, or any crime imposed upon him.  
The like may be said of those which speak hardly of any by the lubricity of their tongue, or weakness of their brain, who for that they are not thought, to speak such words maliciously, pass for the most part unpunished, Lubricum 
ff. ad l. jul. Maiestatis l. famosi.  enim linguae non facilè ad poenam trahendum est, no though a man in this case speak ill of the Prince himself: which is so far off from that, that the Civil Law takes hold of such words in these cases, that the Emperor himself hath said of them thus: Si id ex levitate processerit, 
C. Si quis Imperatori maledi●erit.  contemnendum est, si exinsania, miseratione dignissimum est.  
But if the cause of such words be rancour or malice, then are they altogether to be punished, for that there can be no just excuse made for them.  
Such defamatory words as proceed of malice, imply 
Bohic. ca Si culpa de iniurijs.  either matters of crime, or matters of defect.  
Such as imply matters of Crime, either are such crimes as it is expedient for the Common wealth to know, as Treason, 
Linwood provinc. de snina excomm. ca 1. verb. maliciose.  Felony, Murder, Incest, Adultery, and such like, to the end they may receive due punishment, whereby God may be pleased, and the Common wealth satisfied: Or they are such crimes or faults, as it is not expedient for the Common 
Bohic. ubi sup.  weal to be acquainted with; as where one calleth one Prodigal, or spendthrift: for albeit it be expedient for the Common wealth, that no man misspend his estate, for that the Common wealth hath as it were an interest in every private subjects state, yet this is rather his own hurt, than any other man's, and that which he spends away unthriftily, commonly turns to an other better subjects gain, whereby the Common wealth is relieved in one, that it lost in an other; and for the most part there is no great corruption of manners in the example thereof.  
A great while it was before the Laws of this Land took knowledge of Diffamations, as counting them things belonging to the Spiritual Law, so they were duly 
Term▪ 12. H. 7. fol. 22. Regist. pag. 49.  prosecuted, as may appear by certain judgements & consultations which have issued out thereon: but now let men prosecute them never so duly, yet Prohibitions go out on them daily, and sundry others are drawn to the common Law Courts by action of the case; wherein they have so enfranchised themselves, as that they take upon them to confine the Ecclesiastical Law how far it shall go therein. Which limitations notwithstanding, as far as I can conceive, are but distinctions without differences, and so are in very deed but bare Synonomies, that is, diverse names expressing one thing: for all the words in the said limitation infer no more than this, that Ecclesiastical men are not to deal in matters of diffamation, but where the matter of diffamation is only Ecclesiastical; and yet I reverence the author thereof as a great man, and of like excellency in this Law, as Papinian was in the other Law, & this I think to be commendation enough, for never any Lawyer in former age had more commendation, or eulogy of wit than himself had.  
In the first of these cases, if a man proceed by ordinary 
C. ad L. jullam repetundarum. l. 1. & 2. 〈◊〉 de ordin. cognition. c. dilectus. ff. de aqua pl●●. arcenda. l. 1. §. denique. L. Proc●lus. & l. fluminum in ●in. ff de damno infecto. ff de regul juris. l. factum. § non videtur.  course of Law, either for the punishment of the sin, as by presenting the offender to the Ordinary or indicting him before the Temporal judge, or by admonishing him by any charitable denunciation, with purpose to amend him, and to recall him from such offensive ways as he is charged to walk in: Or do any thing in judgement for the defence of his own cause, as in objecting some thing against the party himself or his witnesses, either for the elevating or discrediting the truth of the cause, or the testimony of the witnesses; there can be no advantage taken against him, for he cannot be said to diffame, which useth the liberty the Law gives him: albeit in this case some advise that a man shall object none of these matters against another in judgement, but when his cause necessarily requires such things to be spoken for the defence thereof, and that the party that objecteth them do protest he doth it not with a calumnious mind, but that the defence of his cause otherwise would not be justified.  
But if any man do any of these things maliciously, with purpose rather to utter his own cankered stomach, than that 
L. Labeo de supell. legate. C. de famosis libel. l. 1. ff. ad. l. Aquileam l. si ita vulneratus.  he would benefit the common wealth thereby, then is he punishable: for although it be behooveful for the common wealth that bade men's faults should be manifested, that so wickedness may be punished, yet is it not fit they should be uttered in reproach and choler.  
Of the second sort, although there be some that contain petty crimes, yet are they many times so frivolous, as that they yield no action: for frivolous and small things the Law regardeth not.  
For such Diffamations as rise upon defects, if the defects be such that the contagion thereof is to be feared, unless the people be forewarned of the danger that may ensue thereon, as in cases of Leprosy, the Plague, the French Pox, and other like infectious diseases, and that it be revealed with a sincere mind rather to cause men to refrain their company for fear of the infection, than of any malicious humour against the party, thereby to reproach him, it is no Diffamation. But if it be uttered in any spleen or choler against the party defective, then is it actionable; for it is an uncivil part to 
C. quando & quib. quarta pars. l. 2. lib. 10.  lay open another man's defects: but if the defects be such as it nothing availeth the common wealth they should be known; as where a man objecteth against another any imperfection of his mind, or deformity of his body, which he had from his cradle, or hath happened to him by any accident without any default of his, and cannot be easily remedied; or reproacheth him with any thing in his state or condition, wherewith he is not justly to be charged, neither is there any just cause offered the diffamor why he should use such disgraceful speeches against the other, than is it altogether punishable: For that such things tend only to contumely and despite, which the Law seeketh by all means to repress, for that thereby charity between man and man is violated, and the peace of the common wealth is many times broken and disturbed.  
The proceeding in these causes in the Civil Law was of two sorts: for it was either ad publicam vindictam, or else, ad privatum interest, as the party injuried made his choice thereof.  
Ad publicam vindictan, was when the party defamed, sought 
ff ad L. Corneliam. l in constitutionibus. §. vlt.  to have the Diffamer recant his words, or to undergo some open & infamous punishment for his rash & malicious speeches, whereby it might be publicly known abroad he did the other wrong.  
But Ad privatum interest, was when he sought not the recalling of the slanderous speeches which were given out against 
ff de verborum obligation. l stipulationem. §. plané. ff de re judicat. L. siqui● ab alio.  him, but esteemed his credit at some great rate (as that he would not for a thousand pounds, or more or less quantity according as the worth and calling of the person is, have had such speeches gone out of him) and so seeks to have his credit salved by recompense in money, as the judge or jury, upon proof of his worth and place, shall esteem it and tax it. In these Actions, he that sued ad publicam vindictam, and had followed it so far, as that he had brought it to a Recantation, or a public disgrace, could not have recompense of his credit by money, save only in case of commutation: neither he that had got his credit valued by money, could have a public disgrace also inflicted for his satisfaction, but what way he had chosen, with that he must have rested contented, for that irèful men's wraths otherwise would never have been satisfied, & the prosecution of these actions otherwise would be confounded.  
These two kinds of proceedings the Princes and Sages of former ages seem to have sorted to the two kinds of jurisdiction that are amongst us, the one Spiritual, the other Temporal: and therefore the Law of the Land itself saith in a cause of Diffamation, when money is not demanded, but a thing done for punishment of sin, which is all one, as when the Civilians say, when it is done ad publicam vindictan, it shall be tried in the spiritual courts: whereupon by argument of contrary sense it followeth, that where the punishment of sin is not required, but amends in money is demanded, there it is to be tried in the temporal Court, for the law would that every man should have his remedy agreeable to reason in what sort him best liketh. And therefore be the fault what it may be, that the words of the Diffamation do sound unto, as long as it stands but in words, & the party doth not take upon him to justify the matter that is comprised under those words, and doth seek but for the punishment of the slanderous words only, so long it is to be tried at the Spiritual Law; for the Law speaketh in general in cases of Diffamation, where punishment of sin only is required: so that where a man is called Traitor, Felon, or Murderer, or any other crime belonging unto the Common Law, being every one of them words of great diffamation, so the party therein seek punishment only, and not his private interest, there the Spiritual Law is to hold plea thereof: For where the Law doth not distinguish, there neither aught we to distinguish; but the Law hath said in general, that causes of Diffamation, whose prosecution is thus qualified, do belong unto the trial of the spiritual Law: and therefore even those cases before remembered where the party followeth this kind of prosecution, aught by that Law to belong unto the Spiritual court, as on the contrary side, Spiritual causes of Diffamation being propounded to a pecuniary end ought to be ordered in a Temporal Court.  
But where any man takes upon him to justify the crime that he hath objected, there either Court is to hold plea of the crime that properly belongeth to that Court, for that now no longer words are in question, but matter is in trial, whether the party defamed hath indeed committed that offence that he is charged withal or no; which can be tried in no other Court, than in that to which it doth properly appertain. And that this was the Course anciently held in matters of diffamation between the Ecclesiastical and Common Law, it is manifest by the Statute of 2. of Edward the 3. chapter 11. 
2. Edw. 3. c. 11.  where, although the Statute taxeth the perverse dealing of such as when they had been indicted before the Sheriffs in their Return, & after delivered by Inquest before the justice of the Assize, did sue the indictors in the Spiritual Court, surmising against them that they had defamed them, and therefore in that case forbade the like suits; for that justice thereby was hindered, and many people were feared to indict Offenders: yet that Statute plainly showeth that in all other cases of Diffamation rising out of Temporal crimes beside this, the Ecclesiastical Law had the cognisance: and that this was forbidden, it was not for that, that words of this nature, could not be censured at the Ecclesiastical Law, when punishment of sin only is required, but for that it was not fit that those things which had been once ordered in one Court, should be called again to examination in another Court: and therefore the general proceeding in matters of Diffamation, is not there prohibited, but the particular crossing of matters after judgement is there reprehended.  
So that, that distinction I have here before spoken of, which taketh upon it to determine when a case of Diffamation is of the Temporal cognisance, & when of the Ecclesiastical, cannot here take place: for that it is contrary to the former Statute or Decree that divided these cases into Temporal or Ecclesiastical cognisance by the variety of the prosecution thereof, and that it is contrary to the ancient practice that hath confirmed this prosecution in either Court, but specially in the Ecclesiastical Court, which hath still holden the trial of such Diffamations wherein sin hath been only sought to be punished, until now of late, that men have stepped over the banks of their authority and confounded either jurisdiction with the promiscuous acts one of another; when as the Statute itself is plain, that the authors of this Statute or Decree, whethersoever you call it, which set these bounds to either law, in proceeding upon matters of Diffamation, respected not so much the quality of the crime, upon which the Diffamation grew, as the manner of proceeding therein, aiming in the one at public vindict, which is to be sought out of the Ecclesiastical law, and in the other at private interest, which is to be had out of the Temporal Law.  
Neither is an Action of Diffamation, a matter of so light esteem or quality (a man's fame or good name being in equal balance with his life) as that it should be drawn away to be attendant on any other action that is of smaller weight or importance than itself is: for this is one of those Actions which for the special pre-eminence thereof, are called Actiones praeindiciales, that is, such that draw smaller causes unto them, but themselves are drawn of none other, but such as are like principal or greater than themselves are. So that unless the manner of proceeding bring these causes under the compass of the common Law, in such sort as I have before showed the coupling of them with another matter of the same Law, will hardly bring them under the trial thereof: For that there be few actions greater than itself is, so that if the crime be Ecclesiastical, howsoever it toucheth a Temporal cause, the trial shall be still at the Ecclesiastical Law. And the same that I say of Diffamations rising out of Ecclesiastical crimes, I hold also to be true in Diffamations springing out of Temporal crimes, where punishment is required for the offence committed, and amends in money is not demanded, unless happily that grow of penance enjoined, which the offender will redeem by giving money to the judge, or to the party grieved. And this I take to be a far better limitation for either Law, having the ground of the Civil Law, and a statute of the Common Law, and common reason itself for it, than the other devise is, which so distinguisheth this business, as still it makes it rest in the mouth of the judge, which cause of Diffamation is mere spiritual, and which not, which were not to be done if there were clear dealing in the matter: for Laws are so to be made, as that as little as may be, be left to the discretion of the judge, but all be expressed as far as the nature of the cause will give leave: which albeit it be hard to do, for the variety of the cases that every day happen, never thought on before, yet that is to be laboured so far as may be; for this liberty of leaving many things to the judges discretion, is many times great occasion of confusion in judicature, saying sometimes this and sometimes that, as his private humour shall lead him: and therefore a plain distinction between both the Laws were best, that every man may see and say what is proper to either of them.  
And thus far as concerning matters of Diffamation. Now followeth that I speak of matters of Bastardy.  
Bastardy is an unlawful state of birth disabled by divine and human Laws to succeed in inheritance.  
Of Bastards, some are begot and borne of single women, (in which rank also I put widows) some other of married women.  
Of single women some are such as a man may make his wife, if himself be sole and unmarried, as those that are kept as Concubines in place of a man's wife; some other are such as a man cannot make his wife, although himself be sole and unmarried, for that either they are already precontracted to some other, or that they be in so near a degree of affinity or consanguinity one to the other, that the marriage would be damnable, and the issue thereof unlawful.  
Of such as are begotten of single women, by single men, who are in case to marry them if they will, some are called by the Civil Law filii Naturales, because they were begot by such as they held for their wives, and yet were not their wives, who might be legitimat by sundry ways, as hereafter shall be showed.  
Some other begot upon single women, if they were begot in vage lust, without any purpose to hold such a one for a Concubine, but upon a desire only to satisfy a man's present Lust, whether they were begotten by married men or single men were called Spurij, who for the most part are putative children, and their Father is not otherwise known than by the mother's confession, which sometimes saith true, sometimes otherwise. Isidor saith, they were so called because they were borne out of purity, for that such kind of lust is contrary to holy Matrimony, whose bed is undefiled, and therefore the other is corrupt and abominable.  
But where any was borne of a woman single or married, that prostituted herself to every man's pleasure, and made public profession of herself to be an harlot, such as are they whom the Law calleth Scorta, these were called Manzeres.  
Those which were begotten of married women were called Nothi, because they seemed to be his children whom the marriage doth show, but are not, no otherwise than some fevers are called Nothae, that is, bastard fevers, because they imitate the tertian or quartan Fever in heat and other accidents, but yet are neither tertians or quartans, as the learned Physicians well know: but these are counted so to be bastards, if either the husband were so long absent from his wife, as by no possibility of Nature the child could be his; or that the Adulterer and Adulteress were so known to keep company together, as that by just account of time, it could not fall out to be any other man's child but the Adulterers himself: and yet in these very cases within this Realm, unless the husband be all the time of the impossibility beyond the Seas, the Rule of the Law holds true, Pater is est quem nuptia demonstrant.  
The most nefarious and last kind of bastards are they whom the Law calleth Incestuosis, which are begot between ascendants and descendants in infinitum, and between collaterals, so far as the Divine Prohibition and the right interpretation thereof doth stretch itself.  
The effects of these sorts of bastardies are diverse.  
First, it staineth the blood, for that he that is a bastard can neither challenge Honour nor Arms from the Father or Mother, for that he was begot and borne out of Matrimony which is the first step to Honour: and therefore the Apostle calleth Marriage honourable, whereupon it must follow that the opposite thereof is shame; for, albeit it be no sin for a bastard to be a bastard, yet is it a defect in him to be such a one, and a thing easily subject to reproach.  
Secondly, it repelleth him that is a bastard, from all succession descending from the Father or the mother, whether it be in goods or Lands, unless there be some other collateral, provision made for the same: for that all such Laws and statutes as are made to any of these purposes, were intended to the benefit of such as are Legitimat, and are next of kin by lawful succession, and not by unlawful conjunction.  
To Legitimat him that was a bastard, when there could no claim be made unto his birthright but by grace, among the Romans were sundry ways; first where the Father of the Bastard, they being both single persons, married the woman by whom he begot the child; secondly where the father did by his last will and Testament, or by some public instrument subscribed by witness, name him to be his natural and lawful son, or simply his son, without the addition of any of these two words, base, or natural, & therewithal did make him his heir, which could not be, but in such cases only, where the father had no other natural & lawful child left alive.  
Thirdly, whereas the Prince by his rescript, or the Senate by their decree, did do any one that credit, as to grant them the favour of legitimation, which was done for the most part in such cases only, whereas either the father of the child, or the child himself, offered himself to be attendant on the Court or Prince.  
In this Realm none of the foresaid legitimations take place, as far as I can learn, but only that which is done by Parliament, and that very rarely; for beside those that King Henry the 8. did in the variety and mutability of his mind, 
28. 8. cap. 7.  towards his own issue, I think there cannot be many examples showed: for, as for that which is wrought by subsequent 
1. Mar. 1. parliament. cap. 1.  Marriage, being a thing auntiently pressed by the Clergy of this Land, to be admitted in like sort, as it is used in other Lands, where the Ecclesiastical Law taketh place; it was rejected by the Earls and Barons with one voice, and answer made that they would not change the Laws of the Realm in that point, which to that time had been used and approved. All these cases of Bastardy in other Lands, whither they be such, or not such, are triable by the Ecclesiastical Law; But here with us it is questionable to what Law, and how far they do appertain, the Ecclesiastical or Temporal.  
For the matter of Bastardy, what it is, the Ecclesiastical Law, & the Temporal differ not, but there is a diversity between them in the prosecution thereof, for the Ecclesiastical Law bringeth it two ways in judgement; the one incidently, the other principally, but the Common Law maketh two sorts thereof the one general, the other special: But first of the Ecclesiastical division, then of the temporal.  
Bastardy is then said to be incidently propounded, when it is laid in bar of some other thing, that is principally commenced; as when one sueth for an inheritance that he pretendeth is due unto him by his nativity, an other crosseth him therein, by objecting against him bastardy, with purpose to exclude him from his action in the inheritance: here the bar is in the incident, because it comes exclusively to the action of inheritance, but the action for the inheritance itself was in the principal, for that it was begun in consideration of the inheritance, and not with intent to prove himself legitimate; which happily he never dreamt of when he first entered his action for the inheritance. In which case he which is charged with the bastardy, may require himself to be admitted to prove himself legitimate, before the Ecclesiastical judge, & to be pronounced to be such a one, Ad Curiam enim Regiam non pertinet agnoscere de Bastardia: 
Glanuill Lib. 7. cap. 13.  Against which the Law of the Land doth not oppose itself, but acknowledge it to be the right of the Church. And yet to avoid all subtle & surrepticious dealing in this behalf, it hath 
9 Hen. 6. cap. 11  set down a wary and cautelous form of proceeding, by which the same shall be brought unto the Ordinary, & such as have interest in the suit, may have notice thereof, and time to object in form of Law against the proofs and witnesses of him that pretends himself to be Mulier, if they so think good: and what shall be certified herein by the Ordinary, as concerning the nativity of him that is burdened to be a Bastard, (that is, whither he were borne before or after his 
Glanuill Lib. 7. cap. 15.  Parent's marriage) shall be supplied in the king's Court, either by judging for, or against the inheritance.  
But Bastardy is then taken to be principally propounded, when either one finding himself to be grieved with some malicious speech of his adversary reproaching him with bastardy, or himself fearing to be impeached in his good name, or right, doth take a course to clear his nativity, by calling into the law, him or them by whom he is reproached, or feareth to be impeached in his right and credit, to see him, to prove himself legitimate, & to allege & object against it, if they ought have, or can, to the contrary: which if either they do not, or doing to the utmost what they can, can bring no good matter against his proof, but that it stands still good and effectual in Law to all intents & purposes whatsoever (although perhaps hereby he shall not be able to carry the inheritance, both for that it appertaineth not to the Ecclesiastical Law, to judge of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, & also for that there is a precise form set down by statute, how suits of this nature shall be recovered) yet if no oppositor or contradictor appear herein, & the suit was only taken in hand against such, as either openly reproached him, or secretly buzzed abroad slanderous speeches, as concerning his legitimation: it is not to be doubted, but by an accident also it will be good for the inheritance itself, for where a man's legitimation, is sufficiently proved, thereon followeth all things which naturally thereto belong. But if any man urge the form of the statute, 
9 Hen. 6. cap. 11.  being interessed therein, then must it necessarily be followed, for that otherwise it would be thought, all that was done before, so far as it may concern the inheritance, although it were but in a consequence, were done by collusion. This kind of proceeding hath been much more in use in former times than it is now, & never any opposition made against it: but now it goeth not altogether clear without contradiction, as many other things are offensively taken, which notwithstanding have good ground, & sufficient warrant for them.  
And so far as concerning the Ecclesiastical proceedings in this business: Now to the temporal sorts of them.  
General Bastardy is so called, because it comes in incidently, and is in gross objected against some that sueth in a matter principal, to disappoint his suit. This suit because it is of the Ecclesiastical cognisance, it is sent by the Kings writ to the Ordinary with certain additions for more perspicuity of the inquiry thereof; as that whether he that is charged with the Bastardy, were borne in lawful Matrimony, or out of Matrimony, or whether he were borne before his Father & Mother were lawfully contracted together in Matrimony, or after. All which the Ordinary makes 
Lib. Intrac. fol. 35.  inquiry upon by his own ordinary and pastoral authority; for that matters of Bastardy do originally belong to the Ecclesiastical Court, and not to the Temporal Court: And as he finds the truth of the matter by due examination to be thus, or that, so he pronounceth for the same in his own Consistory, and makes certificate thereupon to the king's Court accordingly; and as he pronounceth, so the temporal judges follow his sentence in their judgements, either for or against the inheritance that is in question.  
Special Bastardy they say is that, where the Matrimony 
Bracton.  is confessed, but the priority or posteriority of the Nativity of him whose birth is in question, is controversed; which to my thinking, if I conceive aright, is no other thing than the general bastardy, transposed in words, but agreeing in substance & matter with the other: for even these things which they pretend, make special Bastardy, are parts and members of the general bastardy, and are either confessed or inquired upon by virtue of the Kings writ in the same: For first for the Matrimony that is here mentioned, it is there agnized both by the plaintiff in pleading of it, and the defendant in the answering thereto, & therefore the plaintiffs plea is thus; thou art a bastard, for that thou wast borne before thy parents were lawfully contracted together in Marriage, or before their marriage was solemnized in the face of the Church; to which the defendants reply is, I am no bastard for that I was borne in lawful matrimony, or that I was borne after that my father and mother were lawfully married together, in both which you see, there is a marriage confessed, & the question only is of the priority or posteriority of the nativity of him that is charged withal, whither it happened before, or after his parent's marriage, which as they hold is the other member of special bastardy: and yet this priority or posteriority of nativity, by virtue of the Kings writ, comes no less in inquiry to the Ordinary in the case of the general bastardy, than they make it to be traversable in the special bastardy; and therefore the writ to the Ordinary for general bastardy is conceived in this manner. viz. Inquiratis 
Lib. Intrac. fol. 35.  utrum praedictus A. pars rea, genitus vel natus fuit ante matrimonium contractum inter talem patrem suum, et talem 
G●anuill Lib. 7. cap. 15.  matrem suam, vel post. So that either they must confess there is no such bastardy, as they make show there is, diverse from that that is tried before the Ecclesiastical judge, or that themselves do confound the members that should divide the same, and make them one, or the other, as them list; for both simply they cannot be, unless they be distinguished with other notes and differences, than hitherto I find they are. But to say the truth, if these things be well weighed and considered, special Bastardy is nothing else, but the definition of the general, and the general again is nothing but the definite of the special: for whosoever is borne out, or before lawful Matrimony, he is a bastard, and he again is a bastard that is borne before or out of lawful matrimony, so that these things to be a bastard, and to be borne out of lawful matrimony are convertible one with the other: so then as it were very hard to make a divorce between these things that are so near in nature one to the other, being convertible terms one to the other, so hard again it were in policy to disjoin these things in trial, that are so near in affinity one to the other, because they are the same in substance & nature as the other are, and therefore eodem iure censeri debent, 
1●. q. ca 2. cogno●imus.  then nè continentiae causarum dividantur, which is no less absurdity in Law, than it is a grossness in other learning, to deny a principle, or general Maxim of the profession.  
And so far hitherto as concerning the reasons & arguments, that may be brought against this special Bastardy. Now it resteth that I show by ancient precedents, both these sorts of Bastardy have appertained to the Ecclesiastical Courts only, and the first precedent is in the incident, the other in the principal: and the precedent is no less ancient than Henry the seconds time, as that which happened under Alexander the third, about the year of our Lord 1160. & the case is this.  
A certain man of Norwich Diocese called R. H. had issue 
Ca Lator. ext. qui filii sunt legitimi.  I. H. who had a son called C. H. I. H. deceasing before R. H. his father, C. H. succeeded in his Grandfathers in heritance, his said Grandfather being dead; but M. H. brother to the said Grandfather, pretending the said I. H. was a Bastard, draweth the said C. H. into the Temporal Court upon the inheritance, whereupon C. H. called the said M. H. into the Bishop of Norwich his Court, for the trial of his nativity; but the Bishop long protracting the cause, C. H. appealed to the Pope, who delegated the same cause to the Bishop of Excester, and the Abbot of Hereforde, with order, That if the said M. H. should not within two Months, prove that which he objected against C. H. that then they should Intimate the same to the secular judge, before whom the inheritance was in question, that he should not stay any longer upon the question of legitimation, but proceed to judgement in the cause of the inheritance. Which precedent though it be long before the Statute of Bastardy made by Henry the 6. and so no writ went from the temporal Court for the certificate thereof: yet it shows that the Temporal judges in those days did not proceed to judgement in the principal cause, before the incident were decided by the Ordinary; & that they counted bastardy then to be of the Ecclesiast. cognisance; and that it was lawful for him that was pretended to be a bastard, to appeal from his Ordinary, if either the Ordinary detracted the determination thereof, or were suspected of parciality.  
And thus far of the incident. There is an other much like precedent to this in the same King's days, but that is in the principal, for that the inheritance came not first in question, but the legitimation itself, and the case is as followeth. A certain man called Ralph, kept one Analine, the wife of one 
Ca Causam. ext. qui filii sunt legitime.  Allin, by whom he was supposed to have begot one Agatha, who also being married, had a son called Richard; Ralph going beyond the Sea, left Richard and his Mother Agatha in possession of all his goods & lands; but news being after brought, that the said Ralph was dead beyond sea, Francis the brother of the said Ralph, spoiled the said Richard of the possession of all the goods & lands he had of the said Ralph his grandfather, for that he did pretend the said Agatha his niece & Mother of the said Richard was not borne of lawful Matrimony, so that neither she herself, nor her son ought to succeed the brother of the said Francis, but that the inheritance thereof did belong unto himself: whereupon the said Richard being thus spoiled by Francis his great uncle, obtained letters of restitution to the Bishop of London, the B. of Worcester, & the B. of Excester, under this form; That before they entered into the principal cause, which was this, whether the said Agatha were borne in lawful Matrimony or not, they should restore the said Richard to his Grandfather's inheritance. But the Bishop of Rome after understanding by the said Delegates, that the plea of inheritance within this Realm, did not belong unto the Church, but unto the King, recalled that part of his rescript, which concerned the restitution of the said Richard to his inheritance, & gave order to the foresaid Bishops, to proceed in the cause of legitimation; willing them to inquire whether the said Agatha were borne of the said Aneline in the life time of her husband Allin, and when she dwelled & cohabited with him, as with her husband, or whether the said Ralph, father of the said Agatha, kept the said Aneline openly & publicly, while the said Allin yet lived; And if they found it to be so, than they should pronounce her the said Agatha to be a Bastard, for that Aneline her Mother could not be counted to be a wife, but a whore, which defile her husband's bed, presumed to keep company with an other, her husband yet being alive: But if they found it otherwise, than they should pronounce her the said Agatha to be legitimate. All which was done after the death of the said Ralph and Aneline, as the Decretal itself shows: Neither was there any authority that opposed itself against that proceeding, but held it to be good and lawful, though it were in terms of special Bastardy, for than that which they now call special Bastardy, was not borne. Besides hereby it appeareth, that the Ordinaries than did not only proceed in cases of Bastardy incidently, that is, when a suit was before begun in the Common Law, upon a trial of inheritance, & that by writ from the Temporal Courts, but even originally, & that to prepare way unto inheritance, or any other good that was like to accrue unto a man by succession, or to avoid any inconvenience that might keep him from promotion, as may appear by this practise following.  
Priests in the beginning of the Reign of Henry the 3. 
Constitut. Oth●n. innotuit de vxovati● à Beneficijs amovendis.  yet married secretly, & their Children were counted capable of all inheritance, and other benefits that might grow unto them by lawful Marriage, so that they were able to prove that their parents were lawfully married together by witnesses, or instruments: which many Children did, either upon hope of some preferment that by succession, or otherwise was like to come unto them, or to avoid some inconvenience that otherwise might light upon them for the want of that proof, some their parents yet living, others their parents being dead, and the proceedings before the Ordinary was holden good, to all intents & purposes, even in the Common Law, for otherwise they would not have so frequented it: for as yet there was made no positive Law against Marriages of Priests, or Ministers, but the Church of Rome then plotting against it, for that by that they pretended the cure of Souls was neglected, & the substance of the Church wasted and dissipated, did by Otho then Legate a Latere to Gregory the 9 order by a Constitution, that all such Ministers as were married, should be expelled from their Benefices, & that their Wives & Children should be excluded from all such livelihood, as the Fathers had got during the time of the Marriage, either by themselves, or by any middle person, & that the same should become due unto the Church, wherein they did reséed, and that their children from that time forth should be disabled to enjoy holy orders, unless they were otherwise favourably dispensed withal; which Constitution although it wrought to that effect, to bar Priests for that time of their Marriage, until the light of the Gospel burst out, and showed that that doctrine was erroneous, yet to all other effects, the proceeding in the case of Bastardy stood good as a thing due to be done by holy Church. And therefore Linwod coming long after, in his Catalogue that he maketh of Ecclesiastical causes, reciteth Legitimation for one among the rest, for that in those days there was no dispute or practise to the contrary.  
And thus ●ar as concerning those things wherein the Ecclesiastical Law is hindered by the Temporal in their proceed contrary to Law, Statute, and custom anciently observed, which was the third part of my general division. Now it followeth that I show wherein the Ecclesiastical law may be relieved, & so both the laws know their own bounds, and not one to overbear the other as they do at this day, to the great veration of the subject, and the intolerable confusion of them both, which is the last part of this Treatise.  
The means therefore to relieve the profession of the Civil Law are two. The first is, by the restoring of those things which have been powerfully by the Common Law, taken from them, & the bringing of them back again unto their old and wont course: The other is by allowing them the practice of such things as are grievances in the Common wealth, and fit to be reform by some court, but yet are by no home-Law provided for.  
The first of these stands in two things, whereof the one is the right interpretation of those Laws, statutes and customs which are written and devised in the behalf of the Ecclesiastical Law. The other consisteth in the correcting and supplying of such Laws and Statutes that are either superfluous or defective in the penning, made in the behalf (as it is pretended) of the Ecclesiastical profession, but yet by reason of the unperfect penning thereof, are construed for the most part, against them.  
The right interpretation of the Laws, Statutes, and Customs pertaining to the practice, standeth as is pretended in the judges mouth, who notwithstanding hath that authority from the Sovereign, and that not to judge according as him best liketh, but according as the right of the cause doth require.  
The supply or reforming of that which is overplus, or defective, is in the Parliament, so notwithstanding as that the Prince evermore breatheth life into that which is done.  
Laws, Statutes, or Customs, are then best interpreted whenas the very plain and natural sense of them is so sought after, and no foreign or strained exposition is mixed with them; for that turneth justice into wormwood, and judgement into gall: then that the judge be nont to subtle in his interpretation, but follow such exposition of the Laws, as men of former age have used to make, if they be not plainly absurd and erroneous, for oft shifting of interpretations breedeth great variance in men's states, among such as have busy heads, & much discrediteth the Law itself, as though there were no certainty in it: with which although the sage judges of our time cannot be charged, for ought that I know, yet (I cannot tell how) men much complain that laws are far otherwise construed in these days than they were in former ages: which as it is an ordinary complaint in the Temporal Courts, so it is not without cause, much lamented at in the spiritual Courts where the interpretation upon the three Statutes of Tithes made by King Henry the eight, and Edward his son, among sundry other inconstancies of other Laws, hath such great variety of sense and understanding in sundry points thereof, as that if the makers thereof were now alive and the first expositors thereof sat in place of judgement again (the Statutes being measured by the interpretation they now make of them) would hardly acknowledge them either to be the Statutes that they made, or the other did after expound, and declare: for every of these Statutes, and the sense that was given of them, was wholly for the benefit of the Church, according to the tenor thereof, but as they now receive explication, they are not only not beneficial unto the Church, but the greatest hindrance to the same that may be; for the words are made to jar with the sense, and the sense with the words, neither is there kept any right analogy in them: and therefore the Reverend judges are to be entreated (because they challenge unto themselves the opening of the statutes alone, albeit peradventure that be yet sub judice, where the Statute of Ecclesiastical causes is to be interpreted) that they would recall such exorbitant interpretations as have of late gone abroad upon these Statutes, and restore them to their ancient sense and understanding. No man can so cunningly cloak an interpretation, but another will be as cunning as he to spy it out, and then the discredit will be the Laws. A small error (saith Aristotle) in the beginning, is 
Lib. 1. Poli●i●.  a great one in the end, and he that goeth out of the way a little, the longer he goeth on, the further he is off from the place his voyage was to: and therefore the speedier return into the way again is best. The old Proverb is; He that goeth plainly goeth surely, which may be best verified in the exposition of the Law, if any where else; for commonly men offend no where more dangerously than under the authority of the Law, and therefore one saith very well, that There are two salts required in a judge, the one of knowledge, whereby he may have skill to judge uprightly; the other of conscience, whereby he may be willing to judge according to that as his skill leadeth him unto: both which being in the grave judges, it is not to be doubted, but they will be easily induced to revive their own, and their predecessors interpretations, and reduce such exorbitant expositions as have scaped out thereof unto the right and natural sense thereof: which if perhaps they shall be loath to do, for because it makes for them, or for some other like partial respect, then humble supplication is to be made unto his Majesty, himself will be pleased to give the right sense of those things which are in controversy between both the jurisdictions: for his Majesty by communicating his authority to his judges to expound his Laws, doth not thereby abdicate the same from himself, but that he may assume it again unto him, when and as often as him pleaseth. Whose interpretation in that is to be preferred before theirs, first that his interpretation is impartial as he that will not weaken his left side to make strong his right (for so are these jurisdictions as they are referred unto his politic body) but will afford them equal grace and favour, that he may have like use of them both either in 
● 1. num. 8. C. 〈◊〉 L. 1. num. ● C, eod. l omnes popule ff. de in. stit. & iure.  foreign or domestical business as occasion shall serve: then that his judges interpretation maketh right only to them between whom the cause is, but his highness exposition is a Law unto all, from which it is not lawful for any subtect to recéed, neither is reversable by any, but by himself, upon a second cogitation; or him that hath like authority as himself hath: and therefore most fit to be interposed between jurisdiction and jurisdiction, that the one party be not judge against the other in his own cause, which is both absurd and dangerous.  
And let this suffice for the right interpretation of Laws and Statutes: now it followeth that I speak something of the supplies that may be made to the defects that are in the same.  
It is not to be doubted, but it was the full mind & intent of the Lawmakers, which made those three Statutes to enfeoff the Ecclesiastical Courts in the inheritance of all those causes that are comprised in those Statutes, save those that are by special name exempted, and did by the said Statute, as it were deliver unto them full and quiet possession of the same, for even so sundry branches of the said Statute do show, as I have elsewhere made it manifest: and that there hath grown question upon many points thereof, and that the professors of the Ecclesiastical law have been interrupted in the quiet possession thereof, cometh of the unperfect penning of the same, and not of any just title or claim that may be made by the porfessors of the other Law thereunto: but this is a thing not only proper to these three Statutes, but also Common to all other Statutes which are writ of any Ecclesiastical causes within this Land; which notwithstanding may be remedied, if it seem good unto his sacred Majesty & the rest of the wisdom of the land assembled together at any time for the making of wholesome Laws and the reforming of the same, by supply of a few words in some places or periods that are defective, and yet keeping the true meaning and sense of the same.  
As for example in the statute of the two and thirtieth of Henry the eight in the § wherefore, near the beginning of the same Statute, the Statute ordering, that all persons of this Realm and other of the King's Dominions shall truly and effectually set out and pay all and singular Tithes, according to the lawful customs and usages of the Parishes where they grow and become due: because there is a question made where these customs and usages shall be tried in the Ecclesiastical or Temporal Law; if these or the like words had been added to the same (to be proved before an Ecclesiastical judge after the form of the Ecclesiastical Law, & not elsewhere) the whole matter had been clear for that point.  
And whereas again in the end of the same Statute, there be some good words tending to the appropriating of these matters of Tithes and Oblations and other Ecclesiastical duties to the Ecclesiastical Courts; as that the remedy for them shall be had in the Spiritual Court according to the ordinance of the first part of that Act, and not otherwise: yet because there is no penalty to that act, busy men easily make a breach thereinto, for that Laws without penalties, for the most part are weak and of no force: if therefore this or the like supply were made (if any man sue for these or like duties in any other Court, than in the King's Ecclesiastical Court, the party so suing, to forfeit the triple value of that which he sued for to be recovered in the king's Ecclesiastical Court, where it ought to have been commenced by the way of Libel, or Articles, the one half thereof shallbe to the king, the other to the party grieved) many of these suits would easily be met withal. Neither is it to the purpose, that this is matter of money and Lay fee that should be in this sort forfeited, and therefore is not Regularly to be sued for in the Ecclesiastical Court; yet because the cause is Ecclesiastical, upon which the matter of forfeiture ariseth, it may be very well allowed, Ne continentiae causarum dividantur: and for that ordinarily every jurisdiction that is wronged, may defend itself with a penalty: beside, we do by the like right in the Ecclesiastical courts, recover expenses of suits in Law, fees of Advocates and, proctors and money for redemption of sin, so that it will be no strange matter to have this kind of suit allowed unto the Ecclesiastical Court.  
Further, whereas there are in the Statute of Edward the sixth, chapter 13. in the beginning almost of the said Statute, two clauses under pain of for faiture, one of triple value, for Tithes carried away before they were divided, set out or agreed for: The other of double value where the Tithes were hurt or impaired by the party stopping or letting him that had interest thereunto to carry them away, or by withdrawing or carrying them away himself; and the same, is ordered by a clause in the second branch thereof reaching unto them both, for that a clause put in the end of two sentences, streacheth itself indifferently unto them both, if there be no more reason it should belong to the one than the other, as there is not in this case (for if it were not so, the first penalty had no order set down, how it might be recovered) that the same shall be recovered according to the King's Ecclesiastical Law: to which if there were added this word (only, and not elsewhere, or otherwise) and they marshalled in their right places there were nothing more sure or strong.  
Moreover, whereas in the first proviso of that Statut it is decreed, that none shall be compelled to pay any manner of Tithes for any Here ditaments which by the Laws or Statutes of this Realm, or by any Privilege, Prescription, or composition Real, are not chargeable therewithal; whereby it is doubtful in what Court the said Exemptions are to be alleged: if there were inserted these words, or other of like nature (the said Laws, Statutes, Privileges, Prescriptions, or Compositions Real to be alleged, argued, traversed, and determined before the Ecclesiastical judge only according to the form of the Ecclesiastical Laws, and not elsewhere) upon like for faiture of triple damages, as is aforesaid, it would make this point sure unto the Ecclesiastical Law.  
Over and beside this, whereas in the same statute there is a discharge allowed to barren, heath, & waste ground, in some for not payment of tithes, in other for the manner of payment of them for the space of seven years after the improving and converting of them into Arable ground or meadow; it would make the matter plain, which law should have the pronouncing thereupon, if there were added these or the like words (so the same ground be proved in form of law in the Ecclesiastical Court to be barren heath and waist.)  
Lastly whereas in the said Statut among other limitations of causes wherein the Ecclesiastical judge is not to deal by virtue of the said statut, there is one in these words, near the end of the said statut (ne in any matter whereof the King's Court of right aught to have jurisdiction) which limitation is so vage & large, that thereout there may be forged as many divers kinds of Prohibitions, as the Poets feigned Vulcan ever made thunderboults for jupiter. And therefore it were very well & consonant to the good meaning of the said statut, this vagenes were restrained & reduced to a more certainty of matter by these or like words, By any ancient law or statut of this land.  
And so far as concerning the imperfection of the said three Statutes, and how they may be amended and made reducible to the first meaning and intent of the makers thereof, by some small supply, alteration, or change of words, the sense and groundwork standing ever the same, according to the wisdom of his Majesty & his great counsel assembled in parliament.  
Now it followeth I show wherein the practice of the Ecclesiastical Law, under which I comprise the Civil Law so far as it is in use among us, may be increased to the benefit of the subject & the enlargement of the profession without the prejudice of the common law. And that I may first begin of the piety of Fathers towards children, & children again towards their parents, which is the beginning of all common wealths, for even Nature itself hath taught that not only in the most brutish people that be, but also settled it in the savagest kind of beasts that are upon the earth, the one to cherish that which itself hath brought out, and the other to love again that which hath brought it out: and yet, what Law is here in England, which provideth for the one or the other, unless it be the statut of the eight of Elizabeth? & that is but for poor folk's children only (where otherwise they should be a burden to the Parish) but for the Parents themselves, or other children that are cast off, either by the negligence or the unnaturalness of the one toward the other, there is no provision at all. Yet by the Civil Law there is a purveyance made, whereby both the Father is compelled to acknowledge his child (if 
ff. de agnoscend. & alendu liberis vel parentib. C. de al●ndis liberis vel parentib. ff. de ventre inspiciendo, custodiendoque partu. ff. de offi●io proconsu●is. l. nequic. quam §. de p●ano.  there be any variance between the husband and the wife upon any jealousy or suspicion of Adultery, if the same cannot be proved by the woman's own confession, by witnesses, by the act itself, or some other violent presumption) and to nourish and maintain the same; but if the fault appear against her, and it be so sentenced by the judge, then may he as well refuse the one as the other: but for other children upon whom there is no such doubt, the Parents may be constrained to maintain, cloth, and feed them, and to set them out a Portion of their goods, so that either the state and faculty of the Parents will bear it, or the children have not deserved to the contrary, wherefore they should not in that sort be provided for. And as the Father in this sort is bound unto the Child, so the child again is obliged unto his Parents to provid for their sustenance, so far forth as their ability will reach unto: for it is very unnatural the Parents should want, so long as the children have means to relieve them. In both which cases, if either the Parents refuse to admit of their Children, or the Children again refuse to yield comfort unto their Parents, the judge may interpose his authority, and enjoin each to maintain other according to their ability, and as to his discretion shall seem meet, which if any of them should deny to yield unto, the judge may by Distress of their goods taken and sold to the value thereof, compel them to perform his order: and yet that only in case of Maintenance, and not to discharge debts wherein either of them stand bound unto their creditors.  
A man here in England dying and leaving his wife Executrix, she after marrying, carrieth away all his state unto her second busband, who gives & spends thereof as him listeth without any regard of the children of the first husband, by whom all, or most of those goods came, insomuch as many times those children when they come to age, & are to goabroad into the world, they have nothing to begin the world withal, whereby many of them come to beggary, and others to more fearful ends (for necessity as the Proverb hath it, is a hard weapon) neither is there any means in this common wealth to relieve this mischief, for ought I can learn: but by the Civil Law there is very good remedy, for by that Law neither the woman surviving her husband, neither the man 
C. de secundi● nuptijs tot. tit.  surviving his wife, having issue between them during the Matrimony have the property of those goods, which either of them brought one to the other, and are left behind by the defunct; but the property is the children's of the deceased, & the use or benefit his or hers only which doth survive, during his or her natural life: which course if it were taken here in England, many poor fatherless and motherless Children would be in better state than they are, for then howsoever their present state were hard, yet their future would be better, when they should be secured to enjoy their fathers or mother's right: neither could such men or women which marry, or are married with persons of this sort, much complain if this Law were established here, for so should they have, though not a perpetuity in an other man's state, yet a long and beneficial fruition thereof, even so long as the party in whom they were interessed did live: but for the return thereof unto the right owners, the Law is so scrupulous, that if the husband or wife do remarry, it will have him that is to marry the widow bound with good sureties for due restitution of the defuncts part, unto the children of the former marriage.  
another inconvenience there is in Executors in this land cozen german to the former, which goeth altogether uncontrolled, whereby I guess there is no Law in this land to correct it. And that is, the trifling of Executors in paying of Legacies and bequests, under pretence of debts unknown, which they make show they must provide for, upon danger of their own indemnity; whereby many Legacies are never paid, but stand as it were suspended until the day of Dome. Against this abuse the Civil Law hath two remedies; One by exacting bond of the Executor, that he shall pay the Legacies 
L. 1. §. 1. 2. & 3. ff. ut legatorum nomine caveatur.  without fraud or deceit, according to the will of the defunct; The other, that if he refuse so to do, than the judge may put the party complainant in the possession of that which is demanded: for it is not enough for the Heir or Executor to 
L. haec autem ff. si cui plus quam per Legem falcidiam. ff. de regulis juris L. vani timoris.  pretend a debt, to the end that he may stay the legacies which the testator hath given, in his hand, but he must make plain & manifest unto the judge, there is such a debt owing, & that the suit thereupon is either already begun, or very like to be begun in very short time, without fraud or collusion, otherwise many of those pretences & threats may be vain & elusory. And in case there be any such just cause of fear in deed, or there be any such suit in truth commenced upon the same, the 
L. Nisi si dolo §. si Legatarius ff. si cui plus quam per legem falcidiam licu●rit.  Executor may secure himself by bond or surety from the legatory, that in case the debt be evicted of him, he shall repay to the Executor what he hath received: wherein, although it may be said, it is safer for the executor to secure himself by keeping the Legacy still in his hand, than to trust upon surety or other caution, for that these provisions many times are frail; yet since this kind of dealing is injurious to the legatory, & the withholding thereof, for the most part, hath no honest defence, but is grounded upon deceit and covetousness, it were behoosefull for the Common wealth, such ill dealing were redressed: for so men's Wills, which are their last Ordinances, (than the which Princes have granted no greater benefit to men, than that in their life time they may dispose how their goods shallbe bestowed after their death) shall have that end 
ff. Si quis omissa causa testament. L. nam facit totum, l. 4 ff. de haeredib. instituend. l. paterfamilias. §. 3.  the Testators themselves intended: which if they had known in their life time their Executors would not have performed, they would never have put them in trust as they did. Beside, hereby the names of Executors which now are charged with manifold imputations, by the ill dealing of some, shall by this means be unburdened & restored unto their former credit, which was, to discharge the trust that by the Defunct was reposed upon them: for the Will of the defunct cannot be defrauded without great sin.  
another mischief there is in Executors & Administrators, not only uncontrollable by the Law of this Land, but rather allowed & justified by it; & that is when they have once got the authority into their hands, & praised all at the lowest rate, they will sell away all at the highest price they can, & answer the poor Children, & Legatories, for whose good they were appointed Executors, at the value in the inventary only, contrary to all right & reason: for by the law, an Executor is to sell 
ff. de reb. eoris qui sub tutela sunt sine decreto non alienandis, vel obligandis. tot. tit. & ibi Bartol in rubrica.  nothing of those things which are left unto the Children, or Legatories, but such things only, which by keeping cannot be kept, or which being kept, will be charge able to the inheritance: or otherwise the Testator were so indebted, that his state must needs be sold, for the satisfying of the Creditors: or lastly, that he himself ordered by his Will something should be sold. But for such things as may be kept, & by keeping will not be the worse, he ought precisely to preserve them, specially where the Testator hath bequeathed any thing in kind. And if he sell ought of those things which he ought not to sell, he may not sell it but by the decree of the judge interposed upon the same, & upon just cause proved before him: wherein if it appear after, the judge was abused, by any false allegation & corrupt testimony, the sale is void, & the Minor when he comes to his full age, or within 5. years after, may reverse & recover that which is thus sold by collusion, out of the hands of him to whom it was sold, as being done against the authority of the law. And that it may be better understood, how precise the law is in this point, & what things it alloweth may be sold without the decree of the judge, & what not, I will set down the words of the Law itself, speaking of Tutors & governors of Puples; whose place Executors & Administrators do supply, so far forth as they have the tuition & governance of minors during their underage, 
C. de administrat tuto ●m, vel curatorun, l. lex qu●.  faithfully translated. And it is a law of Constantin the great, reproving a former law of Severus the Emperor, which gave leave to Tutors and Curators to sell away all the gold, silver, precious stone, apparel, and other rich movables the Testator had, and to bring the same into money, which turned greatly to the hindrance of many Orphans: whereupon Constantine after he had first ordered, nothing should be sold of the pearl, precious stone, naperie, utensels of the house and other necessary stuff and ornaments of the same, saith thus. Neither shall it be lawful for them (meaning the Tutors or Curators) to sell the house wherein the Father died, and the child grew up, wherein it is woe enough to the child not to see his ancestors images not fastened up, or else pulled down. Therefore let the house, and all other his movable goods still remain in the Patrimony of the child, neither let any edifices or buildings, which came in good reparation with the inheritance, ruin or decay by collusion of the Tutor: but rather if the Father, or he whosoever the minor was heir unto, left any building in decay, let the Tutor both by the Testimony of the work itself, and the faith of many be compelled to repair it: for so the yearly rent will bring in more profit to the Minor, than the price of the things being deceitfully sold underfoot, will do the Minor any good. Neither doth this law only make provision against Tutors, but also against immodest and intemperate women, which many times gauge unto their new married husbands, not only their own state, but even the state and lives of their children. Further, it crosseth the course of putting the children's money to usury (notwithstanding anciently it was thought, therein consisted all the strength of the Patrimony) for that course is seldom long, scarcely continual and stable, and that thereby many times the money being lost the children's state come to nothing: and therefore his conclusion is, The Tutor should sell nothing, without the order of the judge, saving the Testators overworn apparel, or those things which by keeping could not be kept from corruption, and such cattle as were superfluous. Whereby it appeareth how careful that age was to give way to Executors by sale of the Testators goods, to make gain of the Orphans; neither is this age better than that, but that which was feared then, may be provided for now, by like authority as was then.  
In this Land a man dying, leaving Legacies to his children, and his wife Executrix, or dying intestate, and she taking administration, and in her second marriage bringing all her first husband's state, & her children's portions unto her second husband, and then dying, there is no remedy against the second husband, to recover the said Legacies or portions due unto the children out of his hands, because he is neither Executor nor Administrator, and that he came not to those goods by wrong, but by the delivery of the Executrix, with whom he married: but yet by the Civil Law there is, and 
L. si & me ff. de rebus creditis si certum petatur.  that by this claim, that the said goods came unto his hands, and that it is no reason any should be made rich by my goods against my will, for Legataries have no action against any as Administrators in their own wrong or hinderers of the performance of the last Will of the deceased, but Executors only, & they then alone, when the party having it, holds it by wrong and not by Lawful delivery, which in this case is otherwise.  
By the Law of this Land, there is no provision to preserve the state of a prodigal person from spoil, which neither hath regard of time, nor end of spending, unless the Father provide for this mischief in his Will, or by some other good order in his life, but he is suffered to waste and spend his goods until there be nothing left (as though the Prince and Common wealth had no interest in such a subject, to see he did not waste his state, and abuse his goods) whereby many great houses are overthrown, and many children whom the Fathers carefully provided for, never leaving raking and scraping all their life time, that their children after them might live in great plenty and abundance, come to great shame and beggary. But the Civil Law hath remedy for it: for the 
ff. de euratori●. furioso, & ali●● extra minore● dando.  Law counting such a man that is in this sort impotent in his deeds, howsoever he be otherwise sensible in his words, to be half mad, and to be a young man in his manners, how old soever otherwise he be in his years, sets a Curator over him for the preserving & well ordering of their state, no otherwise than if they were children or mad men indeed, who so long have power over them & their goods, until they come to sane manners to which if they once return the curators office ceaseth.  
The like they do to a widow or sole woman which liveth riotously, having neither regard of her fame, nor of her state. 
L. et mulieri. ff. eod.   
I find an old practice anciently used in the Ecclesiastical courts, for restraining Executors or Administrators for dealing covenously alone in an Executorship or Administratorship, when there are more Executors named in a Will than one, or more Administrators deputed by the Ordinary in an Administration than one, which were well if it were recalled & brought back to his former use again. For now, as things stand many times one capricious fellow named an Executor in a Will, or appointed Administrator by the Ordinary with some other well meaning men, getting a start in this business of the rest, engrosseth all into his own hands, and without privity or concurrence of the other, selleth, releaseth, & disposeth all at his own pleasure, contrary to the mind either of the Testator, or the Ordinary, who would not have named so many in the Will or Administration, but to the intent that all might or should execute and administer, & one communicate their acts with another. The contrary whereof is many times very prejudicial and hurtful, to those that are to take benefit by the said Will or Administration, who for the want of the due performance of this kind of proceeding, are defrauded of all that which in right or reason should have come unto them, either by the Testators goodwill, or by the benefit of the Law. And yet there is no remedy for this in law, so far as I know, for that all these making but one person in law, the Law yields no action to the one to sue the other: but yet the ancient practice of the Ecclesiastical Law hath remedy, which would redress all this mischief, if it were called again to use, & might go without controlment, as the equity of the cause doth require. And the remedy is this, that such other of the Executors or Administrators as are in this sort interuerted from the execution of the Will or Administration by the subtlety of any like Executor or Administrator, should crave the assistance of the judge, & will him by virtue of his office, to call in such practic Executor or Administrator, and to command him under pain of excommunication, he proceed no further in the sole execution thereof, but communicate all his acts & dealings with the rest of his Coexecutors or Coadministrators: which if it were so ordered, would make many men's Wills & Administrations better performed than they are, & a great sort of poor Orphan's states more sure & certain, than commonly they are in such executors or administrators hands.  
And certainly in this case, there is some good use of supervisors in dead men's Wills (whom many men merrily jest at, calling them candle-holders', as though they could do nothing else in the execution thereof, but hold the candle while the Executors tell the Defuncts money) if they might be permitted to put in practise that authority which the Law giveth them, and that is when they find any Executor deal fraudulently in the execution of any Testators Will, wherein they are named supervisors, or do engross all the state of the Defunct into his hands, as hath been before said, they call him to a particular account, that it may be seen how the administration stands, & each executor may communicate to other their particular receipts & disbursements: which if any shall refuse to do, then may the supervisor make thereof complaint unto the judge, as though the 
ff. de administratione tutorum. l. 3. §. 1.  same man dealt not truly in the execution thereof, who though perhaps in the beginning could not take bond of him for the true execution of the Will, because the Testator had made choice of him, & therein approved his faith, & that no man required caution of him for any Legacy in the will bequeathed, (in which case the judge might take bond of him for security of such legacies as are bequeathed in the will, yea though his faith hath been approved by the Ordinary, as hath been before remembered) yet may the judge in this case, if he find him justly susspected of fraud & deceit, remove him by the learning of that Law. For neither the Testator himself, if he were alive 
Instit. de suspectis tutorib. vel curator. toto tit.  again, would endure him in this case, but would blot his name out of his Will, neither aught the judge to suffer him, whose care is to see that dead men's Wills take their effect, according to the Testators meaning. All which, the law hath provision for, and for infinite things else of like good order in these cases, if they might be suffered to put them in execution without impeachment.  
And so far as concerning those things wherein the Civil and the Ecclesiastical Law might be relieved without prejudice to the common Law, for because they have no practice thereof: and yet do not I bring forth these as the only causes wherein the Civil and Ecclesiastical Law may be licensed to deal in, over and beside the practice of those things that they have already, but that these are few among many other which might be sorted out, if so be there were any hope for the further enlargement of the profession. But now to the necessity of the maintenance of the civil and Ecclesiastical Law in this Realm, as they are now practised or ought to be practised, which was a thing first propounded, but last put in execution in this work.  
Albeit that which hath been already said as concerning the Civil and Ecclesiastical Law may well imply the necessary preservation of them both within this Land, yet because it was a thing I promised to show in the beginning of this Treatise after I had gone over the rest of the parts of my division, I will in a word or two, make plain the necessity thereof.  
And therefore for a ground of all the rest, I will assume this for a matter confessed, that every man knows, that every well ordered Common wealth stands on two parts principally, the public part, which consisteth of the Prince and people, and the Ecclesiastical part, which standeth in Sacris & Sacerdotibus. And therefore well said the Emperor, 
In authent. quon oportet epos in princ. col. 1. Auth. de non alienand. & reb●● Eccl. c. §. 1.  Two of the greatest things that God ever gave unto the world (meaning earthly things) was the Empire or secular government whereby the outward man is ordered & made, as Aristole saith, bonus civis, that is, a good and loyal subject: and the Priesthood whereby the inward man is ruled, and is made, as the said author testifieth, bonus vir, that is, a good and virtuous man, which are two wonderful effects of the whole government in general; neither can the one of these be wanting, but the other will be ruinated and brought to desolation.  
Secondly, no man is ignorant of this, but in politic government two things sway the whole state, the one is peace at home, and the other is war abroad: which as they have their seasons, so they have their causes and effects, the one from council at home, the other from discipline abroad; neither can the one or the other of these be maintained, but by their private and proper Laws.  
Beside, in peace who seeth not, there is as much need of vent by sea, for to benefit the common wealth by, either by importation of those things that we want at home, or by exportation of those things that we abound with; as there is provision to be made for the increasing and preserving of those things that we have rising and growing by land in our own country, neither of which can be had or enjoyed without their proper laws fit and appertaining to either policy. And what Law is there that ordereth these businesses but the Civil law only, which giveth a form to Navigation, and all occurrents that happen by sea, whether they be in or about the Navigation itself or the contracts, or as it were contracts, that are made in, upon, or beyond the same.  
As a Legal form is requisite in peace at home, and Marine affairs abroad, that every thing may have his due effect according to the right thereof, so also it is necessary in warlike exploits upon the Sea that every action have his limits and bounds, whereby justice may be ministered: which if it be to be observed where lawful war is held between Prince and Prince, that every one be not left unto his own lust, much more is it expedient to be put in ure in Piracies and other Sea-robberies, where the innocent is spoiled, and the spoiler is enriched. The redress whereof is not, but by the Admiral Law, to whom the Princes of this Land have granted that authority.  
For the often commerce of Princes with Princes, & the negotiation that one state hath with another, there is nothing more necessary, than frequent Embassages, whereby intelligence may be had what danger one State intendeth to another, & how the same may be prevented by Leagues or otherwise, and how the same may be made and maintained: I know not what Law serves better for all these ends and purposes than the Civil Law.  
In matters that appertain to the souls-health, the Preacher teacheth out of the word of God, wherein the right service of God standeth; he ministereth the Sacraments unto the people, and instructeth them in other fundamental points of Religion: but it is the Ecclesiastical Law that compelleth men to the due observance hereof, and punisheth the transgressors.  
All men grant, that there is a provision to be made for the minister, for that it is against reason that any man should go to warfare on his charges: but it is the Law of the Church that sets out this provision, and yieldeth remedy for the recovery thereof, if it be denied.  
Nothing is more due unto the dead, that that their last Wills should be observed; for that it is such an ordinance as a man hath not in his power again, when God hath once called him hence, neither is there any thing that Princes have more graciously granted unto their subjects, than that in their life time they may dispose of that, which after they are dead, is none of theirs; and yet shall take place when they are not, as though yet they were theirs: in which provision the Civil and the Ecclesiastical Law, are above all other Laws most Religious.  
Christening, Wedding, Burying, whereby a man entereth into this world, converseth in the world, and returneth again unto the earth from whence he was taken, and so after passeth to glory, and everlasting bliss, are every one of the Ecclesiastical cognisance.  
How many men of great skill, such as few Princes have greater in all kind of learning, are of this rank, not only in the society of them that profess this knowledge here in the chiefest city of the Land, but also in both the universities and in sundry other parts of this Realm not strangers, or foreigners, but home-born subjects of the same saith, of the same Religion, of the same kindred, and family, of like allegiance to the Prince, and service to the common wealth, as other his good subjects are, even those that oppugn this profession chief? whose practise, if it be overthrown, or provision lessened, not only those that are now present, and make profession of this knowledge shall be feign to turn their copy, but those that are futurely to come, will change their profession, when they see there is no reward or estimation belonging thereto: for it is Honour that nourisheth Arts, and no man will follow that profession that is out of count, and credit; but every Father will say unto his son in like sort as Ovid's Father said to him, when he saw him addict and give himself wholly to Poetry, Studium quid inutile tentas? It was anciently said of the profession of these Laws, Dat justinianus honores; but now it is so far off from that, that it confers Honours, as that it is almost a discredit for any man to be a Civilian in this State, and the profession thereof doth scarce keep beggary from the gate.  
As God doth dispose his government by justice and mercy (whereof notwithstanding mercy hath the supreme place in the Lord's Tabernacle, as that which was put above upon the Ark, wherein were the two Tables 
Exod. 25.  of stone, in which the Law was written, to which 
james 2.  Saint james alluding, saith that Mercy triumpheth over judgement) so the Princes of this Land to the imitation of that heavenly representation, have appointed two supreme seats of Government within this Land, the one of justice, wherein nothing but the strict letter of the Law is observed, the other of Mercy, wherein the rigour of the Law is tempered with the sweetness of equity, which is nothing else but mercy qualifying the sharpness of justice: to either which Courts they have sorted men fit for their skill and education to manage the same, that is, to the seat of justice, the professors of the Law of this Land, who may be thought best to know the justice of the same: but to the other they have assigned the professors of the Civil law, for that a great sort of titles of that law, are titles of equity, as whatsoever is Ius praetorium, or Ius adilicium, with them is matter of equity; so that they might seem best able for their skill in these titles (of which no other Law hath the like) to assist the Lord Chancellor in matters of conscience. Who though he be a man, for the most part, chosen by the Prince himself, out of the rest of the Sages of this Land, for his special good parts of learning and integrity above the rest (as now the Honourable person is that occupieth that place, who is as Tully said of that eloquent Orator Marcus Crassus, non unus ex multis, sed unus inter omnes prope singularis) so that they might be thought for their great and eminent wisdom in all things appertaining to their place, able to direct themselves; yet because it is, Divinitatis potius qudm humanitatis, omnium rerum habere memoriam, & in nullo errare, as one well saith, It was providently done by Princes of former ages, to join to these great personages, men furnished with knowledge in these cases of conscience; wherein if they should at any time stick, they might be advised by them that are assessors with them, what they find in the Law proportionable to the case in hand, that thereto they might square their decree, or order accordingly; whose variety in these cases is such, that hardly there can fall out any case in practice, but there will be some law, in that learning, conformable unto it: which opportunity of men furnished with this knowledge for that seat, his Majesty shall want, unless the study of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Law be maintained, which also for the cases of equity and conscience therein, is called of the old writers, Aequitas Canonica.  
And what reason gave occasion to the precedent Princes to place men endowed with the skill of the Civil Law, in the court of Chancery, the same also ministered to them minds to commit unto the self same men, the ordering of their Courts of Requests: for that therein, for the most part, are handled poor miserable persons causes, as Widows and Orphans, and other distressed people, whose cases wholly rely on piety and conscience, as a fit subject for that Law to deal in; which also will take a maim, if the study of the Civil Law be not upholden.  
So then, to deny a free course to the Civil and Ecclesiastical Law in this Land, in such things as appertain to their profession, or to abridge the maintenance thereof, is to spoil his Majesty of a part of his Honour (whose glory it is to be furnished with all sort of professions necessary for his state, and beneficial for his subject) to weaken the state public, and to bereave it of grave and fage men, to advise the State in matters of doubt and controversy between foreign Nations and themselves, to disarm the Church of her faithful friends and followers, and so to cut the sinews (as much as in them lieth) of Ecclesiastical discipline, and to expose her to the teeth of those, who for these many years have sought to devour her up: and so now would do it, if the merciful providence of God, and the gracious eye of the Prince did not watch over her.  
And so far of the necessity of these two professions, and generally of the use and disuse of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Law in this Land, and wherein it is overlaid by the Common Law, and how it may be relieved, if it seem good unto his Majesty, and the wisdom of this Realm. All which I have written not of any purpose to derogate from the credit of that Law, under which I was borne, and by which I hold that small maintenance that I have: for I reverence it as a necessary Law for this state, and make such reckoning of every of the professors in his place, as becometh me: but that it pitieth me, and not only me, but all those that tender good learning, and have no preiudicat mind toward the Common Law, to see two such Noble Sciences as the Civil and Ecclesiastical Law are, so to be disgraced, as that there is no more reckoning made of them, or their professors, than if they were matters and men of no worth, and fit or apt for no service in the common wealth: and yet notwithstanding, the use of them is so necessary, as that the common wealth cannot want the service of them in matters of great importance to the State, which (if the profession should come to a downfall, as it is like shortly to do, if it be no more cherished and made of than it is) will be sooner seen by the want of them, than is now perceived by the having of them; and then perhaps, will the State lament for the loss of such a goodly Profession, when it will be hardly recovered again, as the children of Israel did for the Tribe of Benjamin, when they had in one day slain well nigh the whole number of them.  
FINIS.