12 THE GREAT CHARTER OF JOHN. which are in another's fee, in the same manner as we have hitherto enjoyed those wardships, by reason of a fee held of us by knight's service; and for the abbeys founded in any other fee than our own, in which the lord of the fee says he has a right; and when we return from our pilgrimage, or if we tarry at home, and do not make our pilgrimage, we will immediately do full justice to all the complainants in this behalf. 54. No man shall be taken or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman, for the death of any other than her husband. 55. All unjust and illegal fines made with us, and all amerciaments imposed unjustly and contrary to the law of the land, shall be entirely forgiven, or else be left to the decision of the five-and-twenty barons hereafter mentioned for the preservation of the peace, or of the major part of them, together with the aforesaid Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and others whom he shall think fit to take along with him; and if he cannot be present, the business shall notwithstanding go on without him; but so that if one or more of the aforesaid five-andtwenty barons be plaintiffs in the same cause, they shall be set aside as to what concerns this particular affair, and others be chosen in their room, out of the said five-and-twenty, and sworn by the rest to decide the matter. 56. If we have disseised or dispossessed the Welsh, of any lands, liberties, or other things, without the legal judgment of their peers, either in England or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them; and if any dispute arise upon this head, the matter shall be determined in the marche by the judgment of their peers; for tenements in England according to the law of England, for tenements in Wales according to the law of Wales, for tenements of the marche according to the law of the marche; the same shall the Welsh do to us and our subjects. 57. As for all those things of which a Welshman hath, without the legal judgment of his peers, been disseised or deprived * An appeal, in the sense wherein it is here used, does not signify any complaint to a superior court of an injustice done by an inferior one, which is the general use of the word; but it here means an original suit at the time of its first commencement. An appeal, therefore, when spoken of as a criminal prosecution, denotes an accusation by a private subject against another for some heinous crime, demanding punishment on account of the particular injury suffered, rather than for the offence against the public. This private process for the punishment of public crimes had probably its origin in those times when a private pecuniary satisfaction, called a weregild, was constantly paid to the party injured, or his relative, to expiate enormous offences. As therefore during the continuance of this custom, a process was certainly given for recovering the weregild by the party to whom it was due; it seems that when these offences by degrees grew no longer redeemable, the private process, was still continued, in order to insure the infliction of punishment upon the offender, though the party injured was allowed no pecuniary compensation for the offence.—4 Bl. Com. 312. An appeal of felony might have been brought for crimes committed either against the parties themselves or their relations. The crimes against the parties themselves were larceny, rape, and arson, and for these, as well as for mayhem, the person robbed, ravished, maimed, or whose houses were burnt, might have instituted this private process. The only crime against one's relation for which an appeal could be brought was that of killing him by either murder or manslaughter. But this could not be brought by every relation, but only by the wife for the death of her husband, or by the heir male for the death of his ancestor, which heirship was also confirmed by an ordinance of King Henry the First to the four nearest degrees of blood. It was given to the wife on account of the loss of her husband; therefore, if she married again before or pending her appeal, it was lost and gone; or if she married after judgment, she could not demand execution. The heir must also have been heir male, and such a one as was the next heir by the course of the common law at the time of the killing of the ancestor. But this rule had three exceptions; first, if the person killed left an innocent wife, she only, and not the heir, could have the appeal; secondly, if there were no wife, and the heir were accused of the murder, the person who next to him would have been heir male should have brought the appeal; thirdly, if the wife killed her husband, the heir might appeal her of the death. See further 4 Bl. Com. 315. THE GREAT CHARTER OF JOHN. 13 of by King Henry our father, or our brother King Richard, and which we either have in our hands, or others are possessed of, and we are obliged to warrant it, we shall have a respite till the time generally allowed the crusaders; excepting those things about which a suit is depending, or whereof an inquest has been made by our order, before we undertook the crusade: but when we return, or if we stay at home without performing our pilgrimage, we will immediately do them full justice, according to the laws of the Welsh and of the parts before mentioned. 58. We will without delay dismiss the son of Llewellin, and all the Welsh hostages, and release them from the engagements they have entered into with us for the preservation of the peace. 59. We will treat with Alexander, King of Scots, concerning the restoring his sisters and hostages, and his right and liberties, in the same form and manner as we shall do to the rest of our barons of England; unless by the Charters which we have from his father, William, late King of Scots, it ought to be otherwise; and this shall be left to the determination of his peers in our court. 60. All the aforesaid customs and liberties, which we have granted to be holden in our kingdom, as much as it belongs to us, towards our people of our kingdom, as well clergy as laity shall observe, as far as they are concerned, towards their dependents. 61. And whereas, for the honour of God and the amendment of our kingdom, and for the better quieting the discord that has arisen between us and our barons, we have granted all these things aforesaid; willing to render them firm and lasting, we do give and grant our subjects the underwritten security, namely, that the barons may choose five-and-twenty barons of the kingdom, whom they think convenient; who shall take care with all their might, to hold and observe, and cause to be observed, the peace and liberties we have granted them, and by this our present Charter confirmed; so that if we, our justiciary, our bailiffs, or any of our officers, shall in any circumstance fail in the performance of them, towards any person, or shall break through any of these articles of peace and security, and the offence be notified to four barons chosen out of the five-and-twenty before mentioned, the said four barons shall repair to us, or our justiciary, if we are out of the realm, and laying open the grievance, shall petition to have it redressed without delay: and if it be not redressed by us, or if we should chance to be out of the realm, if it should not be redressed by our justiciary, within forty days, reckoning from the time it has been notified to us, or to our justiciary, (if we should be out of the realm,) the four barons aforesaid shall lay the cause before the rest of the five-and-twenty barons; and the said five-and-twenty barons, together with the community of the whole kingdom, shall distrain and distress us all the ways possible, by seizing our castles, lands, possessions, and in other manner they can, till the grievance is redressed according to their pleasure; saving harmless our own person, and the person of our queen and children; and when it is redressed, they shall obey us as before. And any person whatsoever in the kingdom, may swear that he will obey the orders of the five-and-twenty barons aforesaid, in the execution of the premises; and he will distress us, jointly with them, to the utmost of his power; and we give public and free liberty to any one that shall please to swear to them, and never shall hinder any person from taking the same oath. 62. As for all those of our subjects who will not, of their own accord, swear to join the five-and-twenty barons in distraining and distressing us, we will issue orders to make them take the same oath as aforesaid. And if any one of the five-and-twenty barons die, or goes out of the kingdom, or is hindered any other way from carrying the things aforesaid into execution, the rest of the said five-and-twenty barons may choose another in his room, at their discretion, who shall be sworn in like manner as the rest. In all things that are committed to the execution of these five-and-twenty barons, if, when they are all assembled together, they should happen to disagree about any matter, and some of them, when summoned, will not, or cannot, come, whatever is agreed upon, or enjoined, by the major part of those that are present, shall be reputed as firm and valid as if all the five-and-twenty had given their consent; and the aforesaid five-and-twenty shall swear, that all the premises they shall faithfully observe, and cause with all their power to be observed. And we will not, by ourselves, or by any other, procure any thing whereby any of these concessions and liberties may be revoked or lessened; and if any such thing be obtained, let it be null and void; neither shall we ever make use of it, either by ourselves or any other. And all the ill will, indignations, and rancours that have arisen between us and our subjects, of the clergy and laity, from the first breaking out of the dissension between us, we do 14 DEATH OF JOHN. RENEWALS OF THE CHARTER. fully remit and forgive moreover all trespasses occasioned by the said dissension, from Easter in the 15th year of our reign, till the restoration of peace and tranquillity, we hereby entirely remit to all, both clergy and laity, and as far as in us lies do fully forgive. We have, moreover, caused to be made for them the letters patent testimonial of Stephen, lord archbishop of Canterbury, Henry, lord archbishop of Dublin, and the bishops aforesaid, as also of master Pandulph, for the security and concessions aforesaid. 63. Wherefore we will and firmly enjoin, that the Church of England be free, and that all the men in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, truly and peaceably, freely and quietly, fully and wholly to themselves and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all things and places, for ever, as is aforesaid. It is also sworn, as well on our part as on the part of the barons, that all the things aforesaid shall be observed bonâ fide and without evil subtilty. Given under our hand, in the presence of the witnesses above-named, and many others, in the meadow called Runingmede, between Windsor and Staines, the 15th day of June, in the 17th year of our reign. John died soon after the grant of the Great Charter, leaving England torn by civil war and foreign invasion, both of which had been caused by his perfidy and tyranny. The first act of the great Earl of Pembroke, as Protector of the Kingdom on the accession of Henry III., was to renew the Great Charter, but with several changes, the most important of which was the omission of the provisions concerning the manner and reason of levying scutages. It assigned as a reason for the omission of this and other weighty matters, that the prelates and barons had agreed to respite the consideration of them till further deliberation could be had, when they and such other things as pertained to the welfare of all should be most fully reviewed and set right. The stipulations in John's Charter, which were of a temporary nature, and referred to the troops and allies of that king and his barons respectively, were of course not copied into Henry's Charters. And the provisions for empowering the twenty-five chosen barons to redress violations of the Charter, were not renewed. A duplicate of the Charter was forthwith transmitted to Ireland, for the benefit of the king's subjects there; and writs were sent to the sheriffs of the several English counties, commanding them to cause the Charter of Liberties to be publicly read in full County Court, and to see that its ordinances were fully observed within their several jurisdictions. In the next year, after the French Dauphin had been driven out of the kingdom, and the malcontent English who had fought under him had returned to their allegiance, the Charter of Liberties was granted again, and was again renewed by Henry in the ninth year of his reign, at which same time the Charter of the Forest was granted, whereby many of the most atrocious iniquities of the primitive game-laws were redressed. The two Charters were five times renewed between this period and Henry's death. At some of these renewals temporary variations were introduced; but it is in the form in which it was promulgated in the ninth year of Henry's reign that the Great Charter was solemnly confirmed by his successor, and in that form it appears at the head of our statute book, where (as before mentioned) it is printed from the inspeximus and confirmation of it by Edward I. THE GREAT CHARTER OF HENRY III. 15 Magna Charta, THE GREAT CHARTER, (TRANSLATED AS IN THE STATUTES AT LARGE,) MADE IN THE NINTH YEAR OF KING HENRY THE THIRD, AND CONFIRMED BY KING EDWARD THE FIRST, IN THE FIVE-AND-TWENTIETH YEAR OF HIS REIGN. EDWARD, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Guyan: to all archbishops, bishops, &c. We have seen the Great Charter of the Lord Henry, sometimes King of England, our Father, of the Liberties of England, in these words: 66 " HENRY, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, "Duke of Normandy and Guyan, and Earl of Anjou: To all archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, sheriffs, provosts, and "officers, and to all bailiffs and other our faithful subjects, which "shall see this present Charter, greeting: Know ye that We, unto the “honour of Almighty God, and for the salvation of the souls of our progenitors and successors, kings of England, to the advancement of Holy Church and amendment of our realm, of our mere and free will "have given and granted to all archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, "earls, barons, and to all freemen of this our realm, these liberties following, to be kept in our kingdom of England for ever." 66 66 CHAPTER I. A Confirmation of Liberties. "FIRST, we have granted to God, and by this our present Charter have con"firmed for us and our heirs for ever, that the Church of England shall be free, " and shall have all her whole rights and liberties inviolable. We have granted "also, and given to all the freemen of our realm, for us and our heirs for ever, "these liberties under written, to have and to hold to them and their heirs, of us "and our heirs for ever." CHAPTER II. The Relief of the King's Tenant of full Age. CHAPTER III. The Wardship of the Heir within Age. The Heir a Knight. CHAPTER IV. No waste shall be made by a Guardian in waste lands. CHAPTER V. Guardians shall maintain the Inheritance of Wards. Of Bishoprics, &c. [Similar to 5th Chapter of John's Charter, with addition of like provisions against the waste of ecclesiastical possessions while in the king's hand during a vacancy in the see, &c.] 16 THE GREAT CHARTER OF HENRY III. CHAPTER VI. Heirs shall be Married without Disparagement. CHAPTER VII. A Widow shall have her Marriage, Inheritance, and Quarantine. The King's Widow, &c. [Similar (with additions) to the 7th and 8th Chapters of John's Charter.] CHAPTER VIII. How Sureties shall be charged to the King. CHAPTER IX. The Liberties of London and other Cities and Towns confirmed. CHAPTER X. None shall distrain for more Service than is due. CHAPTER XI. Common Pleas shall not follow the King's Court. CHAPTERS XII. & XIII. When and before whom Assizes shall be taken. Adjournment for Difficulty. Assizes of Darrein Presentment. [Analogous to 18th and 19th Chapters of John's Charter.] CHAPTER XIV. How Men of all sorts shall be amerced, and by whom. CHAPTERS XV. & XVI. Making and defending of Bridges and Banks. CHAPTER XVII. Holding Pleas of the Crown. [Same as 24th Chapter of John's Charter.] CHAPTER XVIII. The King's Debtor dying, the King shall be first paid. CHAPTERS XIX, XX., & XXI. Purveyors for a Castle. Doing of Castle-ward. Taking of Horses, Carts, and Woods. [Same as 28th, 29th, 30th, and 31st Chapters of John's Charter.] CHAPTER XXII. How long Felons' Lands shall be holden by the King. [Same as 32nd Chapter of John's Charter.] |