the party, or left at his place of abode, and affidavit of the service must be made; for the form, see 4 Chit. Cr. L.; and see Hand. Prac. 2, 3, 87. In cases of informations against individuals, no notice is necessary, and the rule as to time is not so strict as in the case of magistrates. As the statute invests the court with a discretional power to grant criminal informations, every motion for the rule nisi must be founded on satisfactory affidavits, disclosing all the facts of the case; and, in the case of libel, denying the charge, usually in the very words of the charge: R. v. Wright, 2 Chit. Rep. 162. Such denial, however, upon oath, is not necessary where the charge is very general and does not impute any particular acts of criminality to the party aggrieved, as where a man has been libelled generally as a thief; see Doug. 387, and see 5 B. &A, 595, 1 D. & R. 197. As to the title of the affidavits at different stages of the proceedings, see 1 Chit. Cr. L. 858, Hund. Prac. Archb. 44. When the rule nisi is obtained, a copy must be served on the defendant, and the original tice of trial given, the prosecutor IRRELIGION. 1 Mary, sess. 2, c. 3. Forasmuch as it is most necessary in every Christian commonwealth, to provide that tranquillity and peace may be preserved and continued amongst the people, and specially in Holy Church in the time of Divine service, and administration of sacraments and sacramentals, as before this time it hath been accustomed in Holy Church within this realm; and that all things being contrary thereunto or that are or may be in disturbance thereof, may by foresight be eschewed and avoided, and remedy therefore in due time provided, as well for the preservation of the queen's highness' peace, as for an universal quietness and order to be used within this realm. II. Be it therefore enacted, by the queen our sovereign lady, the lords spiritual and temporal and commons, in this Abusing the blessed sacrament of the body and blood present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that if any person or persons of their own power and authority, at any time or times after the 20th day of December next coming, do or shall willingly and of purpose, by open and overt word, fact, act, or deed, maliciously or contemptuously molest, let, disturb, vex, or trouble, or by any other unlawful ways or means disquiet or misuse any preacher or preachers that now is, or that at any time or times hereafter shall be licensed, allowed, or authorized to preach by the queen's highness or by any archbishop or bishop of this realm, or by any other lawful ordinary, or by any of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or otherwise lawfully authorized or charged by reason of his or their cure, benefice, or other spiritual promotion or charge, in any of his or their open sermon, preaching, or collation, that he or theirs shall make, declare, preach, or pronounce in any church, chapel, church-yard, or in any other place or places used, frequented, or appointed, or that hereafter shall be used or appointed to be preached in. III. Or if any person or persons, after the said 20th day of December next coming, shall maliciously, willingly, or of purpose molest, let, disturb, vex, disquiet, or otherwise trouble any parson, vicar, parish priest, or curate, or any lawful priest, preparing, saying, doing, singing, ministering, or celebrating the mass or other such divine service, sacraments or sacramentals, as was most commonly frequented and used in the last year of the reign of the late sovereign lord King Henry the Eighth, or that at any time hereafter shall be allowed, set forth or authorized by the queen's majesty. IV. Or if any person or persons, at any time or times after the said 20th day of December, shall contemptuously, unlawfully, or maliciously, of their own power or authority pull down, deface, spoil, abuse, break, or otherwise of Christ, or unreverently handle or order the most blessed, comfortable breaking and holy sacrament of the body and blood of our Saviour any altar or Jesus Christ, commonly called the Sacrament of the Altar, crucifix. : being or that shall be in any church or chapel, or in any other decent place, or the pix or canopy wherein the same sacrament is or shall be; or unlawfully, contemptuously, or maliciously, of their own power and authority, pull down, deface, spoil, or otherwise break any altar or altars, or any crucifix or cross, that now or hereafter shall be in any church, chapel, or church-yard that then every such offender and offenders in any of the premises, his or their aider, procurer, or abettor, aiders, procurers, or abettors, immediately and forthwith after any of the said act or acts, or other the said misdemeanors so committed, done or made, or any time or times after, shall be apprehended, arrested, and taken by any constable or constables, church churchwarden or churchwardens of the said parish, town, or place where the said offence or offences shall be so committed, made, or done, or by any other officer or officers, or by any other person or persons then being present at the time of the said offence or offences so unlawfully committed, made or done. V. [Offences to be inquired into by two justices.] any of the VI. And if they, the said two justices of peace, shall, The punishupon their said examination, find or perceive the said per- ment of the son or persons so accused guilty of any of the said offence offender for or offences whereof he or they shall be so accused, and crimes that by two sufficient witnesses, or by his or their own aforesaid. confession or confessions, that then and immediately with convenient speed the said two justices shall commit and award the said person or persons so accused as is aforesaid, to the gaol of or for the said shire, city, borough, liberty, or town corporate where the said offence or offences was so committed, made, or done, there to remain without bail or mainprise by the space of three months then next ensuing, and further to the next quarter sessions to be holden within the said shire, city, borough, liberty, or town corporate, next after the end of the said three months; at which said quarter sessions, the said person or persons so committed to the gaol as is aforesaid, upon his or their reconciliation and repentance in that behalf before the said justices of peace at the said sessions, shall be delivered and discharged out of prison and gaol, upon sufficient surety of his good abearing and behaviour, to be then and there taken by the said justices for one whole year then next ensuing, as by the discretion or discretions of the said justices then and there being, or of the more part of them, shall be thought meet and convenient: and if the said person or persons so in gaol as is aforesaid, will not be reconciled and repent at the said quarter sessions, that then the said person or persons immediately in time convenient shall be further awarded and committed to the said gaol, by the said justices, or by the more part of them, there to remain without bail or mainprise, until he or they so committed and awarded to gaol as is aforesaid, shall be reconciled, and be penitent for his or their said offence or offences. der, or dis VII. And be it further enacted, by the authority afore- The penalty said, that if any person or persons at any time or times for rescuafter the said 20th day of December, of their own authority ing an offen and power, willingly and unlawfully do rescue any offen- turbing the der or offenders so apprehended, taken, or arrested, as is arrest. aforesaid, or will disturb, hinder, or let the said offender or offenders so offending as is aforesaid, to be apprehended, taken, or arrested, that then every one of the said rescuers or disturbers shall suffer like imprisonment as is aforesaid, and further shall pay, forfeit, and lose for a fine, for every The penalty if an often der be not taken, but doth escape. What magistrates shall have authority to inquire of and punish the offenders. of his or their said offences, five pounds to the queen's majesty, her heirs and successors. VIII. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that if any of the offenders aforesaid be not taken, apprehended, or arrested immediately in time convenient, as is aforesaid, but do escape or go away, that then the said escape shall be lawfully presented before the justices of the peace in the said shire, city, borough, liberty, or town corporate, at the next quarter sessions to be holden where the said escape was made and suffered, and that then the inhabitants of the parish where the said escape was so suffered, shall forfeit and lose to the queen's majesty, her heirs and successors, for every such escape five pounds, to be levied and taken as other like amerciaments and fines before this time hath been levied and taken upon any village, hundred, or town, for the escape of any murderer or other felon, for not making pursuit upon hue-and-cry, according to the estatute of Winchester, and the estatute made and provided in the third year of the worthy king Henry the Seventh. IX. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that all and singular justices of peace, justices of assize, justices of oyer and determiner, and all and singular mayors, bailiffs, and justices of peace within any city, borough, or town corporate, in any parts within this realm, within the limits of their commission or commissions, shall have full power and authority, by virtue of this act, after the said 20th day of December, to inquire of all and singular the offences and misdemeanors aforesaid, and to hear and determine the same, and to set the fines and amerciaments of the said offender or offenders, as is afore said. XI. [There shall be but one punishment for one offence.] Note.-The disturbance of a minister, in saying the present common prayer, is within this statute: 1 Russ. 280. Disturbers ed. 1 W. & M. c. 18. XVIII. Be it enacted, &c., that if any person or perof religious Sons, at any time or times after the said 10th day of June, worship, do and shall willingly and of purpose, maliciously or conhow punishtemptuously come into any cathedral or parish church, chapel, or other congregation permitted by this act, and disquiet or disturb the same, or misuse any preacher or teacher, such person or persons, upon proof thereof before any justice of peace, by two or more sufficient witnesses, shall find two sureties to be bound by recognizance in the penal sum of fifty pounds, and in default of such sureties shall be committed to prison, there to remain till the next general or quarter sessions; and upon conviction of the said offence at the said general or quarter sessions, shall suffer the pain and penalty of twenty pounds, to the use of the king's and queen's majesties, their heirs and suc cessors. XIX. Provided always, that no congregation or assem- Place for bly for religious worship shall be permitted or allowed by worship to this act, until the place of such meeting shall be certified be certified. to the bishop of the diocese, or to the archdeacon of that archdeaconry, or to the justices of the peace at the general or quarter sessions of the peace for the county, city, or place in which such meeting shall be held and registered in the said bishop's or archdeacon's court respectively, or recorded at the said general or quarter sessions; the register or clerk of the peace whereof respectively is hereby required to register the same, and to give certificate thereof to such person as shall demand the same, for which there shall be no greater fee nor reward taken than the sum of sixpence. Note. It is not necessary, in case of an indictment upon this act, for disturbing a dissenting congregation, to prove that the minister has taken the oaths prescribed by this act; they are therefore here omitted. An indictment upon the statute, found at the quarter sessions, may be removed by certiorari be 52 Geo. 3, c. 155. II. Be it enacted, that from and after the passing of All places this act, no congregation or assembly for religious wor- of religious ship of protestants (at which there shall be present more be certified worship to than twenty persons besides the immediate family and and regisservants of the person in whose house or upon whose pre- tered. mises such meeting, congregation, or assembly shall be had) shall be permitted or allowed, unless and until the place of such meeting, if the same shall not have been duly certified and registered under any former act or acts of parliament relating to registering places of religious worship, shall have been or shall be certified to the bishop of the diocese, or to the archdeacon of the archdeaconry, or to the justices of the peace at the general or quarter sessions of the peace for the county, riding, division, city, town, or place in which such meeting shall be held; and all places of meeting which shall be so certified to the bishop's or archdeacon's court, shall be returned by such court once in each year to the quarter sessions of the county, riding, division, city, town, or place; and all places of meeting which shall be so certified to the quarter sessions of the peace, shall be also returned once in each year to the bishop or archdeacon; and all such places shall be registered in the said bishop's |