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Barraty, ex- Barretry, extortion at common law, forestalling tortion, fore

stalling, lewd and engrossing, lewdness, libels, the whole sysness, libels, tem of the highway, and poor-laws, are among highways,

& poor-laws. the subjects most commonly cognizable by a Court of Quarter Session.

Assembling

The Court being assembled, (which must be of the court. before twelve of the clock at noon of the day

Proclama

tion.

Statutes to be read.

for which it has been summoned, in order that such persons who have to take the Oaths of Office, of Supremacy, Abjuration, &c. may comply with the statutes which enjoin them,) the usual course is first to proclaim the Session, which is done by a Bailiff of the Court in the following form:

"60 yez, 0 yez, O yez,-The King's Justices do strictly charge and command all manner of persons to keep silence, while the King's Commission of the Peace for this County of openly read, upon pain of imprisonment."

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Then the commission, the King's proclamation against profaneness, &c. and the several statutes which are severally directed to be read at the Sessions, ought so to be by the clerks of the peace, and town clerks respectively, in an audible voice. These are principally the following;-5 Eliz. c. 1, against popery; 30 Car. 2, c. 3, as to burying in woollen; 11 and 12 Will. 3, c. 15, as to ale measures; 1 Geo. 1, c. 5. as to riots; and the black act, 9 Geo. 1,

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c. 22, which are required to be given in charge at every Quarter Session; and the 4 & 5 Wil. & Mar. c. 24. 7 & 8 Will. 3, c. 32. 3 & 4 Ann. c. 18, and 3 Geo. 2, c. 25, concerning jurors, which are to be read in Midsummer Sessions yearly; and 2 Geo. 2, c. 24, for preventing bribery and corruption in the election of members of parliament, which is to be read at every Easter Session.

disuse.

Some of these are become nearly obsolete, Fallen into others in effect superseded, and a reasonable apology may be made for the general disuse into which the practice of reading others of them is fallen, from the notoriety which is attached to many of them that are still in full force, as well as from the pressure of business which is of late prodigiously augmented, by recent statutes having thrown such a variety of additional burdens on Justices, both in, and out of, Sessions.

The persons who attend to take the several Oaths to be oaths are next called, and such oaths are

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administered to them by the clerk of the peace.*

* Persons qualifying for offices are directed to take the oaths between the hours of nine and twelve in the forenoon, and not otherwise; 25 Car. 2, c. 2.-1 Geo. 1. St. c. 13. But the oaths of allegiance, supremary, &c. may be taken between the hours of one and two; it has been held a sufficient compliance with the statute however, if the ceremony of adminis tering the oaths of qualification for offices be commenced previous to the first hour of limitation appointed by the statute, and continued till all are sworn.

taken.

Papists'
Bath.

Those of allegiance, supremacy, &c. themselves have been already given in a former chapter, and require no repetition; but it is necessary to notice two statutes passed in this King's reign, relative to the oaths to be taken by persons dissenting from the established church. The former of these relates to papists, who laboured under various disabilities, and were liable to numerous penalties, by previous statutes, but were relieved by the 31st. of Geo. 3, c. 32, on taking the oath therein prescribed as follows.*

"It shall be lawful for persons professing the Roman catholic religion, personally to appear in the Court of Chancery, King's Bench, Common Pleas, or Exchequer, at Westminster, or in any Court of General Quarter Session of, and for, the country, city, or place where such person shall reside, and there in open Court, take, make, and subscribe the declaration and oath."

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"I, A. B. do hereby declare, that I do pro"fess the Roman catholic religion.

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"I, A. B. do sincerely promise and swear "that I will be faithful, and bear true allegiance to his Majesty King George the Third, "and him will defend, to the utmost of my power, against all conspiracies and attempts

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*This oath is directed to be taken between nine in the morning and two in the afternoon.

"whatever that shall be made against his person, "crown, or dignity; and I will do my utmost "endeavour to disclose and make known to "his Majesty, his heirs and successors, all 'treasons and traiterous conspiracies which "may be formed against him or them; and I "do faithfully promise to maintain, support, "and defend, to the utmost of my power, the "succession of the crown, which succession

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by an Act, entitled, 'an Act for the further "limitation of the crown, and better securing "the rights and liberties of the subject,' is and stands limited to, the Princess Sophia, "electress and duchess dowager of Hanover, "and the heirs of her body, being protestants; 'hereby utterly renouncing and abjuring any "obedience or allegiance unto any other person claiming, or pretending a right to, the crown

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of these realms; and I do swear that I do reject "and detest as an unchristian and impious posi

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tion, that it is lawful to murder or destroy any "person or persons whatsoever, for or under the

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pretence of, their being heretics or infidels; and "also that unchristian and impious principle, that "faith is not to be kept with heretics or infidels ; " and I further declare, that it is not an article "of my faith, and that I do renounce, reject, "and abjure the opinion that princes excom"municated by the Pope and Council, or any

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authority of the See of Rome, or by any au

thority whatsoever, may be deposed or mur

-dered by their subjects, or any person what ؟

Oath to be made a re

oord.

soever; and I do promise that I will not hold, maintain, or abet, such opinion, or any "other opinions contrary to what is expressed * in this declaration; and I do declare that I *do not believe, that the Pope of Rome, or any "other foreign prince, prelate, state, or poten"tate, hath, or ought to have, any temporal or "civil jurisdiction, power, superiority, or pre

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eminence, directly or indirectly, within this "realm; and I do solemnly in the presence “ of God, profess, testify, and declare, that I "do make this declaration, and every part “ thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of the "words of this oath, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatever, and without any dispensation already granted by the Pope, or any authority of the See of "Rome, or any person whatever; and without "thinking that I am, or can be, acquitted before "God or man, or absolved of this declaration, "or any part thereof, although the Pope or any "other person, or authority whatsoever, shall dispense with or annul the same, or declare "that it was null or void."

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"So help me God.". Which said declaration and oath shall be subscribed by the person taking and making the same with the name at length, if such person can, write, or with his mark, the name being written by the officer, where, such person

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