The Ancient Practical Laws of England, compared with the Laws now practised, to the great Grievance of the Free-born Subject; By an Ancient Practising Barrister at Law, who for the greatest part of Seventeen Years last past, hath been a Prisoner of the King's-Bench, Fleet, and other Prisons, unjustly Confined under undue Practices, mentioned in Eight of the Ten Paragraphs underwritten.  
I. BY the Ancient Law of England, every Subject who came to the Kings Courts for the Kings Writ, was obliged to bring his Pledges to prosecute his svit with Effect, or to pay such Fine to the King as the Court should lay on him for his unjust clamour, as may appear in all Declarations, not only in the Courts at Westminster, but also in all inferior Courts, whether Courts of Record or Courts Baron; and if such Plaintiff were Nonsuited, or a Verdict passed against him, he was Amerced to the King, as appears by the Entry of every such judgement, which is qd. quer. sit in Misericordia, or Capiat. pro Injusto clamore suo.  
II. By the Ancient Law, the King by his Royal Prerogative might Imprison his Subject for Debt, but one Subject could not Imprison another, until the Statute of Action Burnell. 13 Ed. 1.& 27 Ed. 3. and some later Statutes in particular Cases, but never pretended to hold any Defendant to Bail, on measne Process unless it were for Debt upon Bond, or for Rent in Arrear, or for Debt appearing to be due by some Writing under the Defendants Hand at least, until within forty years last past.  
III. By the Ancient Law of England, when an Original was filled in Debt, the next Process was a Summons for the Defendant to appear at a certain day, to answer the Plaintiffs Action; at the Return whereof, if the Defendant did not appear a Writ of Capias was awarded to Arrest him, for his contempt of the Authority of the Kings Court, which Capias was made Returnable some day in that Term, or the next 15 days at least after the teste or date thereof; at which day, if the Sheriff did Return, that the Defendant was not found in his bailiwick, the Court granted another Writ called an alias Capias, directed to the same Sheriff, Returnable 15 days at least after the teste or date thereof, commanding him to Arrest the Defendant; at which day if the Sheriff returned that the Defendant was not found, &c. the Court granted a third Writ called a Pluries Capias, with the like teste and Return; whereon if the Sheriff Returned the third time, that the Defendant was not found, &c. the Court then granted a Writ of Exigent, commanding the Sheriff to call the Defendant from County Court to County Court, five Courts following; and also another Writ, called a Proclamation, commanding the Sheriff to make three public Proclamations, one at the County Court, another at the General Quarter Sessions, and the third at the Church-door where the Defendant lived, on a Sunday immediately after Sermon or Divine Service; and if the Defendant did then render himself, or retained an Attorney to File a Supersedeas, which cost him 2 s. 4 d. all these Proceedings were discharged, and his Appearance accepted without Bail, and the Defendant to make his defence as a Free man, but if he then failed to appear after Summons, and so many Writs and Proclamations, he was adjudged an Outlawed person, and thereby to Forfeit the Issues and Profits of all his Lands and Tenements, and all his Goods and Chattels to the King, and his Body to be committed to Prison, and not to have the benefit of the Kings Laws in any of the Kings Courts of Law or Equity.  
IV. By the Ancient Law, when the Plaintiff had recovered judgement in any Action, after a Year had passed without any Prosecution, he could not take out any Execution thereon, without suing forth a Scire facias, for the Defendant to show cause why Execution should not go against him, the Law supposing the Debt might be satisfied when there had been no Prosecution in all that time.  
V. By the Ancient Law, when a Writ of Error was brought to reverse any judgement, and the Plaintiff therein had put Bail, there was a Supersedeas to stay all Proceedings on the Original judgement, until the Error was tried, and the Defendant all that while was safe.  
VI. By the Ancient Law of England, generally where one was sued for a Debt without Specialty under the Defendants Hand and Seal, the Defendant might wage his Law by swearing he owed the Plaintiff nothing, and bringing his Compurgat into Court, to swear they believed him, he was discharged.  
VII. By the Ancient Law, when the Debtor had given Bond for what he owed, he was safe until the day of Payment.  
VIII. By the Ancient Rules of practise, when one brought an Audita Querela, two persons only were required for Bail, and the Presidents were so but forty Years since.  
IX. By the Law of England, no Attorney could appear for any Man without his Order.  
X. By the Ancient Law, If the Defendant pleaded several Matters in his defence or justification to the same thing, the Plaintiff might demur for the uncertainty, for that he could not thereon join a single Issue.  
I. BY the Law now in practise, every Man that pretends an Action against another, tho' but feigned, hath liberty to Arrest his Adversary for any Sum, and hold him to Bail at his pleasure, without giving any Pledges to Prosecute, but only naming Jo. do and Rich. row, or any two imaginary Persons for his Pledges; but if the nominating such Pledges be omitted in any Declaration, its held a manifest fatal Error not to be helped. So zealous are we for Shadows, neglecting Substances.  
II. By the Law now in practise, every Man hath liberty not only to Imprison his fellow Subject in Execution for Debt, but also to hold him arbitrarily to Bail on mesne Process, which was never practised in Westminster Hall in the time of King Char. I. the Rump Parliament, the Protectors, nor in the beginning of King Char. II. until the Court of Kings Bench growing much on the Common Pleas by the Writ of Lat. which paid no Fine, as Originals in Debt did in the Common Pleas, whereby that Court lost not only great part of the practise, but also the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice of that Court finding themselves much prejudiced in their Shares of those Fines, they joined to procure the Statute made in the second Session of Parliament, 13 Car. 2. that no Man should be held to Bail, unless the Cause of Action appeared in the Writ; after which, for some Years, the Common Pleas recovered ground on the Kings Bench, until Sir Matthew Hale was made Lord Chief Justice of England, who about 1667. inserted the Clause of ac Etiam bill, &c. in the Writ of Lat. and by that means regained their ground of the Common Pleas, whereof that Court being sensible, found it absolutely necessary to make all their Originals in Trespasses, and to incert the same Clause of ac Etiam, &c. in their Writs of Capias, and after judgement, to File an Original in Debt, perchance in one case of twenty; ever since which time, both Courts have vied on each other in the point of holding Defendants to Bail: So that in the least Action upon the Case, Trespass, or any other Action, feigning any special Matter whatsoever, tho' never so false in the ac Etiam, every Man is Arbitrarily Imprisoned as abovesaid, whereby all the Prisons in England, especially the Kings Bench and Fleet are so crowded with Prisoners.  
III. By the Law now Practised, the Summons is only mentioned in the Declaration, but never served on the Defendant, the three several Writs of Capias, alias& Pluries, are all sealed at once, and brought to the Sheriff together, but with several Trespasses and Returns, with 15 days betwixt each of them; and the Sheriff, who is sworn to make no false Returns, must at his peril return then altogether at once, though brought to him so long after their several days of Return, and the Proclamations at the County Court, the Quarter Sessions, and the Church-door, are either not made at all, or so made that they are but a mere Mockery, so contrived that the Defendant shall have no notice at all, until he is taken on the Outlawry, and hath thereby forfeited the Issues and Profits of his Lands, and all his Goods and Chattels; and he being a close Prisoner, his Adversary takes advantage to proceed against him in all Courts, who for want of making his Defence, is condemned and ruined without being heard, and all this Calamity brought upon him without any Fault or Neglect of his in the least; and the Peers of England are not absolutely out of Danger in this Case.  
IV. By the Law now, when a judgement is Entred, and a Year, two, three, ten, or more are past, the Plaintiff takes an ac Etiam out of either of the Courts of W●stminster, and holds the Defendant to Bail in double the judgement, which is the same in effect as if he were taken in Execution; and if sometimes there be a scire facias, its but a Formality; for its so managed, that the Defendant shall have no notice thereof, until taken in Execution.  
V. But now though the Plaintiff in the Writ of Error, hath put in never so good Bail, the Plaintiff in the Original Action may Arrest the Defendant on that judgement, and Declare in a new Action of Debt, and recover another judgement, and take the Defendant in Execution thereon, tho' his Writ of Error be depending undetermined.  
VI. But now all such Actions are turned into Actions on the Case, Indebitat. Assumpsit, quant. meruit, Insimul Computasset, mutuat. and several other Actions wherein the Plaintiff may declare for 1000 l. or as much as he please, and hold the Defendant to Bail, and if he proves but a penny, he recovers it and his full Costs.  
VII. But now though the Debtor hath given Bond for what he owes, the Creditor, on pretence the Debtor is about to run away, may Arrest him before the day of Payment, and hold him to Bail.  
VIII. By the practise now, four persons are required for Bail in Audita Querela, and in time may require four and twenty.  
IX. By our Law now, if two, three, or four persons, or more, are bound in a Bond or a Bill Obligatory, any one of them may give an Attorney order to appear for himself, and all the rest, and recover Execution against all or any of them without their knowledge, and then he himself goes free.  
X. By the practise now, the Plaintiff may lay 2, 3, 5, 10, 20 several Promises or more, in one Declaration, and oblige the Defendant to make his Defence to them all at his peril.  
By these and divers other strange Practices of this sort, the Law of England, as it is now practised, compared with what it was anciently, looks like a prodigious Monster, absolutely destructive to the Liberty of the Subject, whereby all the Prisons in England, though they have often been emptied by many good Acts, especially in His present Majesties Reign, yet are they now as full as ever; and should they now be cleared again, will in a Year or two be as full as they are now, unless these Abuses, and many others, be reformed by some good Act or Acts of Parliament.