arms   

 arms Commune Concilium tent' in Guildhall Civitatis London, decimo tertio dic Octobris, Anno Regni EDVARDI Sexti, Dei gratia, Angliae, Franciae,& Hiberniae Regis, Fidei Defensoris,&, in terra, Ecclesiae Anglicanae& Hybernicae supremi Capitis, quinto; coram Andrea Judd, Milite, Majore Civitatis praed', Richardo Laxton, Hows, Syll, Jervys, White, Turk, hind, lion, Kyrton, Ofley, Ayliff, where, Huet, Robyns, &c. Lambd Vic', ac majore parte Communiar', &c. sic ordinat' fuit.  
FOrasmuch as the City of London is of late years sore decayed, and daily is likely to decay more and more; A great Cause and Occasion whereof( amongst other) hath been, for that Free-mens Children, Orphans of the said City, sometimes in the Lives of their Parents, and sometimes after their Decease, being left wealthy and rich, do bestow themselves in ungodly Marriages for the most part in their young age at their own wills and pleasures, without the Consent and against the minds of their Friends, saying and affirming, that the Law and Custom of the said City giveth unto them their Portions, whether they mary by the Consent of their Friends or not; and so do daily cast away and undo themselves in trust to have their said Portions, whether their Parents or Friends will or will not; And thereby do bestow themselves upon simplo and light Persons, having neither Cunning or Knowledge, Substance ne good or honest Conditions, by reason whereof such Orphans inordinately and insolently do spend and consume their Patrimony and Portions in short time, not only to the undoing of themselves, and to the great ignominy and shane of their Friends, but also to the great Slander of the Lord Maior and Aldermen of this City, who have been reputed and taken as Fathers and Protectors of the same Orphans, and to the great Loss and hindrance of the said City: And forasmuch as the said Lord Maior and Citizens have by their Laws and Customs, Power and Authority to make Laws and Ordinances by their Common Council for Redress of the same; It is therefore now( to the intent to reduce the same to a more godly, more profitable, and decent Order and Conformity) by the said Lord Maior and Commonalty and Citizens in this present Common Council assembled, and by the Authority of the same Common Council, Ordained, Enacted, authorised, and Established for a Law perpetually to be observed and kept within the said City:  
That if any Orphan or Child of any Free-man or Free-woman of the said City do offend in any the things hereafter expressed, and be thereof lawfully convicted before the Maior and Aldermen or elsewhere; That then they and every of them shall to all Intents, Purposes, Constructions, and Meanings be unabled and barred to demand and claim their Portion or Portions, and also shall lose and forego, and be debarred for ever of all and every his, her, or their Part or Parts and Portions to him or them belonging by and after the Death of his said Father or Mother of the Goods and Chattels of every such Father and Mother, by reason of any Law, Custom, Ordinance, usage, Franchise, privilege, Act of Common Council, or other thing heretofore had or used within the said City, the same Law, Custom, Ordinance, or other thing whatsoever heretofore had, made, ordained, allowed, and put in use to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding: that is to wit, First, if any Man-child or Woman-child shall maliciously go about or attempt to do or cause to be done any bodily Harm, Death, or Destruction to his or their Father or Mother; or if any Man-child do hereafter mary or contract Marriage in the Life of his Father or Mother, by whom he will claim any Port on, under the age of One and Twenty years, without the Consent of his said Father or Mother, by whom he will claim any Portion: Or if any Woman-child do hereafter mary or contract Marriage in the Life of her Father or other Parent, by whom she shall claim any Portion, before the age of Eighteen years, without the Consent of her Father, or such other Parent, by whom she shall or may claim any Portion; or if any Man-child be a Thief or a fellow, or common Whore-Haunter, or common Dicer, or a common Player at unlawful Games notoriously known; or if any Woman-child shall hereafter commit any Whoredom, or be a common Picker, then every of the Persons so offending shall be barred and excluded to have or demand any Portion.  
Provided always, that it shall be lawful for the Father or Mother of any such Child or Children to give and bequeath in Legacy to such Child or Children as much as the Portion of such Child so offending shall amount unto by the Custom of the said City, and then such Child thereby to be enabled to have and demand the same as Portion, this Act notwithstanding; so that the same Legacy be contained in his or their Testament in writing and not otherwise; and that then and from thenceforth his said Child or Children to be admitted and restored to claim such Legacy or Legacies in such sort, manner, and form as if there had been never any such Offence done or committed by any such Child.  
Item, It is further Ordained, Enacted, authorised, and Established by Authority aforesaid, That if any Woman-Child being an Orphan and under the age of Twenty One years, at any time hereafter, after the Death of her Father do ensure or contract herself in Marriage, or else according to the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Realm, do perfectly solemnize or consummate Marriage with any Free-man of this City, the Consent and Agreement of the Lord Maior and Aldermed of the said City of London for the time being not obtained and had; that then for every such Default and Offence committed or done by any Orphan or Orphans of the said City, the same being confessed or sufficiently proved by two Witnesses or otherwise before the said Lord Maior and Aldermen of this said City of London for the time being at or in a Court of Aldermen, she or they that so happen to behave her or themselves as is aforesaid, shall forfeit, forego, and lose twelve pence of and for every pound so due or to be due unto her or them by reason of such Orphanage, the Sum of twelve pence of every pound to go or to be to the use of the Chamber of the said City, according to the ancient Custom before this time in such case used; and if the said Contract or Marriage of the said Orphan or Orphans be made with any foreign, not being free of this City at the time of any such Contract or Marriage made; that then the said Orphan or Orphans and every of them shall forfeit and lose three shillings of every pound due or to be due unto her or them by virtue of any Orphanage or Custom had or used within the said City; the one shilling of the said three shillings of every pound to go or to be to the use of the Chamber of the said City in such manner and form as is aforesaid, and the other two shillings so forfeited of every pound, to go to the use of such other Orphan or Orphans as then shall remain unmarried, or else for default of such Orphans or Orphan, to remain to the next of the kindred of the Orphan so offending.  
Also, Be it further Enacted, Ordained, and Established by Authority aforesaid, for and in discharge of divers Variances, Contentions, and Suits that daily heretofore have, and hereafter may ensue, That if any Freemans Child, Man or Woman, fortune to be married hereafter in the Life-time of his or their Father, by his Consent, and not fully advanced of and to his or her full Part or Portion of his or her said Fathers Goods as he shall be worth at the time of his Decease, according to the ancient Laws and Customs of this said City; that then every such Free-mans Child so being married in the Life-time of his or her Father, shall be to all intents and purposes disabled to demand any further Part or Portion of his or her Fathers Goods after the Decease of his or her Father, but shall be adjudged, reputed, or taken to be fully advanced according to the Law and Custom of this City hath been long time out of mind: Except his or her said Father do mention certainly in his last Will or Testament, or by some other Writing signed with his own proper name or mark, the certainty of the Sum or Sums of Money, Goods, and Chattels, and the value of them that the Father gave, paid, or departed withal, or otherwise assured, or hereafter shall give, pay, depart withal, or otherwise make assurance of unto him or her, before at or after the Marriage of him or her, or otherwise in his Life-time for and towards their Advancement in the name of his or her Part or Portion; and then every such Orphan or Child which after the Decease of his or her said Father, can bring forth the said Testament or other Writing signed or marked with the Fathers Hand or Mark, wherein the certainty of such Money, Goods, or Chattels as they gave or shall have received of their said Father, or by the same Father assured by especialty or otherwise, shall have as more of the ready Money, Goods, Chattels, and Debts of the said Father, as with that which he or they shall have received towards their Advancements in the Life of their said Father shall make up a full Childs Part of his Goods and Chattels as he shall be worth at the time of his Decease; the same to be demanded, asked, and claimed, or sued for against the Executor or Executors, Administrator or Administrators of the Goods and Chattels of the said Father, by Bill original to be commenced in our Sovereign Lord the King's Court holden in the utter Chamber of the Guildhall of the said City before the said Lord Maior and Aldermen of the same City for the time being, any Law or Custom heretofore made or used to the contrary notwithstanding; in which Action no Wager of Law or Essoin shall be admitted or allowed.  
Provided always, and it is further Enacted, That if any Freemans Son being of full age, which shall hereafter be married with the Consent of his Father, or any other Person being of full age, which shall hereafter mary any Freemans Daughter do at the time of the Espousals, or at any time after, confess themselves by Writing fully satisfied of his or their Portion, or do otherwise acquit or discharge the said Father of such Freemans Sons or Daughters of all their Part and Portion due or to be due by the Law and Custom of the City, that then every such Person so confessing, acquitting or otherwise discharging, shall be reputed and taken as fully advanced of his or their whole Part or Portion, and shall not be able to demand any further or greater Part of the Substance, Goods, and Chattels of his or her Father, this Law or any other Law or Custom heretofore had, made, or used to the contrary notwithstanding.  
And further forasmuch as it is thought very prejudicial and hurtful to the fatherless Children and Orphans when the Mother or Mother in Law being Executrix of the last Will and Testament of her late Husband, by whom and after whose Death the Orphans are entitled to an Orphanage according to the laudable Customs and Ordinances of this City, do divers times mary or contract Matrimony, some with foreigners and Persons unknown, and some with Freemen, or ever a just Inventory of the Goods, Chattels, Plate, jewels, ready Money of the Testators be by them brought in, by reason whereof many times they either for fear or affection of their Husbands, or for some other sinister cause, do bring in very suspicious Inventories omitting therein either ready Money, Plate, jewels, or Debts or some other thing or things whereby some Benefit should redound to the fatherless Children to the great Loss and Hindrance of the Orphans, and sometime Slander to the Lord Maior and Aldermen of this City, notwithstanding the great Care and Travail that they take for the good ordering and true answering of the said Orphans: It is therefore by like Authority Ordained, Established and Enacted, that if, after the first day of November next ensuing, any Widow which is or shall be made Executrix of the Testament and last Will of her late Husband being a Freeman, or shall take upon her the Administration of the Goods and Chattels of her late Husband being a Freeman, do not upon her Oath bring in and exhibit, or cause to be brought in and exhibited before the Lord Maior and Aldermen of this said City for the time being, at and in a Court of Aldermen, a just and perfect Inventory to their knowledge of all the Goods, Chattels, Plate, and jewels, ready Money, and Debts as were her said Husbands at the time of his Death, appraised according to the Law of the said City, before she do ensure herself in Marriage or contract Marriage, or else according to the Laws of the Realm, do perfectly solemnize or consummate Marriage with any Person before such time as aforesaid, that then every Person so offending shall forfeit and lose eight shillings of every pound of her Portion of the Goods of her late Husband due to her by the laudable Customs of this said City, the same to go to the use of such Orphan or Orphans as then shall be entitled to have or demand any Orphanage or Portion after the Death of his or her late Father, the same to be demanded, asked, claimed, or sued for against such Executrix or Administratrix by Bill original of Debt to be commenced in our Sovereign Lord the Kings Court holden in the utter Chamber of the Guildhall of the said City before the Lord Maior and Aldermen of the same City for the time being, any Law, &c. In which Action no Wager, &c.   

Printed by Andrew clerk, Printer to the Honourable City of London, 1671.