sheriff, and the sheriff may receive him without damage, and shall keep him safely, until he be acquitted in due manner. And if they will not obey the arrest, they shall levy hue and cry upon them, and such as keep the watch shall follow with hue and cry with all the town and the towns near, and so hue and cry shall be made from town to town, until that they be taken and delivered to the sheriff as before is said; and for the arrestments of such strangers none shall be punished.

V. And further, it is commanded that highways leading from one market town to another shall be enlarged, whereas bushes, woods, or dykes be, so that there be neither dyke, tree, nor bush whereby a man may lurk to do hurt within two hundred foot of the one side and two hundred foot on the other side of the way; so that this statute shall not extend unto oaks, nor unto great trees, so as it shall be clear underneath. And if by default of the lord that will not abate the dyke, underwood, or bushes, in the manner aforesaid, any robberies be done therein, the lord shall be answerable for the felony; and if murder be done the lord shall make a fine at the king's pleasure. And if the lord be not able to fell the underwoods, the country shall aid him therein. And the king willeth that in his demesne lands and woods, within his forest and without, the ways shall be enlarged, as before is said. And if per case a park be near to the highway, it is requisite that the lord shall minish his park the space of two hundred foot from the highways, as before is said, or that he make such a wall, dyke, or hedge that offenders may not pass, ne return to do evil.

VI. And further it is commanded that every man have in his house harness for to keep the peace after the ancient assize; that is to say, every man between fifteen years of age and sixty years, shall be asses-ed and sworn to armour according to the quantity of their lands and goods; that is to wit, from fifteen pounds lands, and goods forty marks, an hauberke, an helme of iron, a sword, a knife, and a horse; and from ten pounds of lands, and twenty marks goods, an hauberke, an helme of iron, a sword, and a knife; and from five pound lands, a doublet, an helme of iron, a sword, and a knife; and from forty shillings of land, a sword, a bow and arrows, and a knife; and he that hath less than forty shillings yearly shall be sworn to keep gisarmes, knives, and other less weapons; and he that hath less than twenty marks in goods, shall have swords, knives, and other less weapons; and all other that may shall have bows and arrows out of the forest, and in the forest bows and boults. And that view of armour be made every year two times. And in every hundred and franchise two constables shall be chosen to make the view of armour; and the constables aforesaid shall present before justices assigned such defaults as they do see in the country about armour, and of the suits, and of watches, and of highways; and also shall present all such as do lodge strangers in uplandish towns, for whom they will not answer. And the justices assigned shall present at every parliament unto the king such defaults as they shall find, and the king shall provide remedy therein. And from henceforth let sheriffs take good heed, and bailiffs within their franchises and without, be they higher or lower, that have any bailiwick or forestry in fee or otherwise, that they shall follow the cry with the country, and after, as they are bounden, to keep horses and armour, so to do; and if there be any that do not, the defaults shall be presented by the constables to the justices assigned, and after by them to the king; and the king will provide remedy as afore is said. And the king commandeth and forbiddeth that from henceforth neither fairs nor markets be kept in churchyards, for the honour of the church. Given at Winchester, the eighth of October, in the thirteenth year of the reign of the king.-(Statutes of the Realm, i. 96-98.)

A.D. 1290. TRANSACTIONS IN PARLIAMENT.

The acts and character of the parliament of 1290, like those of the national councils of 1283, bear the marks of a transitionary period. It would seem that during the year there were three distinct parliaments, one on S. Hilary's Day, at which the king appointed new judges in succession to those whom he had displaced on his return from France in 1289; a second after Trinity, in which the business was transacted to which the following documents refer; and a third in October, during which the king and magnates sat at Clipston, and the clergy at Ely, (See above, p. 435.) The summer session is the only one to which the Commons are known to have been summoned.

The first of the following documents is the grant of an aid to the king for the marriage of his eldest daughter. It is made on the 29th of May, by the barons and bishops only, but in full parliament, and not only for themselves but for the commonalty, at the rate of forty shillings on the knight's fee. (No. I.) A fortnight after this, June 14th, the king issued a summons to the sheriffs to return two knights of each shire, to meet at Westminster on the 15th of July, to counsel and consent to what should be then and there ordained by the earls, barons, and proceres. (No. II.) It is probable that it was intended to urge on the representatives of the shires the duty of agreeing to a similar grant of money. Without, however, waiting for the arrival of the Commons, the king, at the instance of the magnates, enacted the statute Quia Emptores on the 8th of July. (No. III.) What was done further in the July session cannot be certainly determined; but it is probable that some difficulties arose, and that the settlement of the aid did not take place before September. On the 23rd of that month, the king, at Clipston, issued letters appointing collectors of a fifteenth, which, he says, the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, and others of the realm had granted him. The aid 'pur fille marier' was not exacted at this time, nor for several years after it was paid in 1302. It would seem then

that this fifteenth was accepted by the king instead of it, probably in consequence of some action taken by the Commons in July. The date of the king's letter from Clipston (which contains nothing of special importance besides) is a difficulty, for the Parliament at Clipston is dated in the Rolls a month after Michaelmas, whilst the grant made by the clergy at Ely is placed by the Ely historians on the 2nd of October. The king would seem then to have issued his order for the collection before the grant was actually made. If this were so, we must conclude that the terms of the grant had been settled in July, and that the king anticipated the formal vote. He himself was at Clipston throughout the month of October, but there is no evidence to show that he was attended by the Commons. The importance of these events consists in the facts, that, at this date, the presence of the representatives of the shires was not regarded as necessary for legislation; that the magnates still regarded themselves as competent to make a grant on the knight's fee for the whole community, without the presence of the Commons; and that notwithstanding, the subsequent consent of the shires was demanded of their representatives, and in consequence, we may infer, of their action, a change in the character of the aid was effected. The historians appear to have thought that the aid was granted in gratitude for the expulsion of the Jews, a measure determined on in the May .session.

The enactment of the statute Quia Emptores without the presence of the Commons, is consistent with the proceedings in the case of the aid. It, as well as the aid, affected the landowners only. There would be no occasion to consult the cities or boroughs on such a point; but that it should be enacted without the assent of the knights of the shire shows distinctly that the king, either alone or with the counsel and consent of the barons, was at this moment held competent to legislate without the consent of the representatives, so far at least as to publish a statute before that consent could be obtained.

No. I. Grant of Aid 'pur fille marier.' MEMORANDUM quod in crastino Sanctae Trinitatis, anno regni regis decimo octavo, in pleno parliamento ipsius domini regis, Robertus Bathoniensis et Wellensis, Antonius Dunelmensis, Johannes Wyntoniensis, Thomas Menevensis, Radulfus Karleolensis, episcopi ; et Willelmus electus Eliensis, Edmundus frater domini regis, Willelmus de Valencia comes Penebrok, Gilbertus de Clare comes Gloucestriae et Hertfordiae, Johannes de Warennia comes Surreiae, Henricus de Lacy comes Lincolniae, Humfridus de Bohun comes Herefordiae et Essexiae, Robertus de Tipetot, Reginaldus de Grey, Johannes de Hastinges, Johannes de Sancto Johanne, Ricardus Filius Johannis, Willelmus le Latymer, Rogerus de Monte alto, Willelmus de Brewose, Theobaldus de Verdun, Walterus de Huntercumba, Nicolaus de Segrave, et ceteri magnates et proceres tunc in parliamento existentes, pro se et communitate totius regni quantum in ipsis est, concesserunt domino regi, ad filiam suam primogenitam maritandam, quod ipse dominus rex percipiat et habeat tale auxilium et tantum quale et quantum dominus Henricus rex pater suus percepit et habuit de regno ad filiam suam, videlicet sororem domini regis nunc, regi Scotiae maritandam. Et licet idem dominus Henricus rex tempore illo ad praedictum auxilium plenarie non percepit de quolibet feodo militis nisi tantummodo duas marcas vel parum plus, praedicti tamen praelati, comites, barones et proceres concesserunt quod dominus rex percipiat et habeat de quolibet feodo militari quadraginta solidos hac vice plenarie et integre; ita tamen quod alias non cedat eis in praejudicium vel consuetudinem; et ita quod istud auxilium nunc concessum levetur eodem modo quo. praedictum auxilium domino Henrico regi concessum, ut praedictum est, levabatur.-(Rolls of Parliament, i. 25.)

No. II. Summons of Knights of the Shire.

REX vicecomiti Northumbriae, salutem. Cum per comites, barones, et quosdam alios de proceribus regni nostri, nuper fuissemus super quibusdam specialiter requisiti, super quibus tam cum ipsis quam cum aliis de comitatibus regni illius colloquium habere volumus et tractatum, tibi praecipimus quod duos vel tres de discretioribus, et ad laborandum potentioribus, militibus de comitatu praedicto sine dilatione eligi, et eos ad nos usque Westmonasterium venire facias; ita quod sint ibidem a die Sancti Johannis Baptistae proximo futuro in tres septimanas ad ultimum, cum plena potestate pro se et tota communitate

comitatus praedicti, ad consulendum et consentiendum pro se et communitate illa hiis quae comites, barones et proceres praeIdicti tunc duxerint concordanda. T. Rege, apud Westmonasterium XIIII. die Junii.-(Report on the Dignity of a Peer, App. i. 54.)

No. III. Statute Quia Emptores.

The importance of this act is chiefly prospective: consisting in the greater facilities afforded for the division of estates; the multiplication of tenants in capite of the Crown; and at the same time of socage tenants also; the stereotyping of local divisions; the stopping the creation of manors, and of new grades of middle-men between the chief lord and the cultivator; and the fusion of the rural population without distinction of tenure. But viewed in itself, its relation is rather to the Statute of Mortmain, which it resembles in principle, and in the securing of the legal rights of the Crown and feudal baronage. It is one of the few acts of legislation which, being passed with a distinct view to the interests of a class, have been found to work to the advantage of the nation generally.

QUIA emptores terrarum et tenementorum de feodis magnatum et aliorum in praejudicium eorundem temporibus retroactis multoties in feodis suis sunt ingressi, quibus libere tenentes eorundem magnatum et aliorum terras et tenementa sua vendiderunt, tenenda in feodo sibi et haeredibus suis de feoffatoribus suis et non de capitalibus dominis feodorum, per quod iidem capitales domini eschaetas, maritagia, et custodias terrarum et tenementorum de feodis suis existentium saepius amiserunt; quod quidem eisdem magnatibus et aliis dominis quam plurimum durum et difficile videbatur, et similiter in hoc casu exhaeredatio manifesta: dominus rex in parliamento suo apud Westmonasterium post Pascha anno regni sui XVIII, videlicet in quindena Sancti Johannis Baptistae, ad instantiam magnatum regni sui, concessit, providit et statuit, quod de cetero liceat unicuique libero homini terram suam seu tenementum sive partem inde pro voluntate sua vendere ; ita tamen quod feoffatus teneat terram illam seu tenementum de eodem capitali domino et per eadem servitia et consuetudines per quae feoffator suus illa prius tenuit. Et si partem aliquam earundem terrarum seu tenementorum suorum alicui vendiderit, feoffatus