whom the lands are held.). In like manner, let it be with debts owing to others than Jews. (XII. 32.) No scutage nor aid shall be imposed in our kingdom, unless by the common council of our kingdom; excepting to redeem our person, to make our eldest son a knight, and once to marry our eldest daughter; and not for these, unless a reasonable aid shall be demanded.(XIII.) In like manner let it be concerning the aids of the city of London.-And the city of London should have all its ancient liberties, and its free customs, as well by land as by water. Furthermore, we will and grant that all other cities, and burghs, and towns, and ports, should have all their liberties and free customs. -(XIV.) And also to have the common council of the kingdom to assess and aid, otherwise than in the three cases aforesaid: and for the assessing of scutages, we will cause to be summoned the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Earls, and great Barons, individually, by our letters. And, besides, we will cause to be summoned in general by our sheriffs and bailiffs, all those who hold of us in chief, at a certain day, that is to say at the distance of forty days, (before their meeting,) at the least, and to a certain place; and in all the letters of summons, we will express the cause of the summons: and the summons being thus made, the business shall proceed on the day appointed, according to the counsel of those who shall be present, although all who had been summoned have not come.*-(XV. 6.) We will not give leave to any one, for the future, to take an aid

* The first regular Parliament was under King John in 1204. In 1694 an act was passed for making Parliaments triennial, which was repealed in 1716.-ED.

of his own free-men, except for redeeming his own body, and for making his eldest son a knight, and for marrying once his eldest daughter; and not that unless it be a reasonable aid.—(XVI. 7.) None shall be distrained to do more service for a knight's-fee, nor for any other free tenement, than what is due from thence. -(XVII. 8.) Common Pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in any certain place.— (XVIII.) Trials upon the Writs of Novel Disseisin, of Mort d'Ancestre (death of the ancestor), and Darrien Presentment (last presentation), shall not be taken but in their proper counties, and in this manner :-We, or our Chief Justiciary, if we are out of the kingdom, will send two Justiciaries into each county four times in the year, who, with four knights of each county, chosen by the county, shall hold the aforesaid assizes, within the county, on the day and at the place appointed.— (XIX. 13.) And if the aforesaid assizes cannot be taken on the day of the county-court, let as many knights and freeholders, of those who were present at the county court, remain behind, as shall be sufficient to do justice, according to the great or less importance of the business.-(XX. 9.) A free-man shall not be amerced for a small offence, but only according to the degree of the offence; and, for a great delinquency, according to the magnitude of the delinquency, saving his contenement: a merchant shall be amerced in the same manner, saving his merchandize; and a villain shall be amerced after the same manner, saving to him his Wainage, if he shall fall into our mercy; and none of the aforesaid amerciaments shall be assessed, but by the oath of honest men of the vicinage.-(XXI.) Earls

and Barons shall not be amerced but by their Peers, and that only according to the degree of their delinquency.-(XXII. 10.) No Clerk shall be amerced for his lay-tenement, but according to the manner of the others as aforesaid, and not according to the quantity of his ecclesiastical benefice.-(XXIII. 11.) Neither a town nor any person shall be distrained to build bridges or embankments, excepting those which anciently, and of right, are bound to do it.-(XXIV. 14.) No sheriff, constable, coroners, nor other of our bailiffs, shall hold pleas of our crown.-(XXV.) All counties, and hundreds, trethings, and wapontakes, shall be at the ancient rent, without any increase, excepting in our Demesne-manors.-(XXVI. 15.) If any one holding of us a lay-fee dies, and the sheriff or our bailiff shall show our letters-patent of summons concerning the debt which the defunct owed to us, it shall be lawful for the sheriff or our bailiff to attach and register the chattels of the defunct found on that lay-fee, to the amount of that debt, by the view of lawful men, so that nothing shall be removed from thence until our debt be paid to us; and the rest shall be left to the executors, to fulfil the will of the defunct; and if nothing be owing to us by him, all the chattels shall fall to the defunct, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.(XXVII. 16.) If any free man shall die intestate, his chattels shall be distributed by the hands of his nearest relations and friends, by the view of the Church, saving to every one the debts which the defunct owed.— (XXVIII. 18.) No constable nor other bailiff of ours shall take the corn or other goods of any one, without instantly paying money for them, unless he can obtain

respite from the free will of the seller.-(XXIX. 19.) No constable (Governor of a Castle) shall distrain any knight to give money for castle-guard, if he be willing to perform it in his own person, or by another able man if he cannot perform it himself, for a reasonable cause and if we have carried or sent him into the army, he shall be excused from castle-guard, according to the time that he shall be in the army by our command.—(XXX. 20.) No sheriff nor bailiff of ours, nor any other shall take the horses or carts of any person, free-man, for the purpose of carriage, without the consent of the said free-man.-(XXXI. 21.) Neither we, nor our bailiffs, will take another man's wood, for our castles or other uses, unless by the consent of him to whom the wood belongs.-(XXXII. 22.) We will not retain the lands of those who have been convicted of felony, excepting for one year and one day, and then they shall be given up to the lord of the fee.— (XXXIII. 23.) All kydells (wears) for the future shall he quite removed out of the Thames, and the Medway, and through all England, excepting upon the seacoast.-(XXXIV. 24.) The writ which is called Præcipe, for the future shall not be granted to any one of any tenement, by which a free-man may lose his court. -(XXXV. 12.) There shall be one measure of wine throughout all our kingdom, and one measure of ale, and one measure of corn, namely, the quarter of London; and one breadth of dyed cloth, and of russets, and of halberjects, namely, two ells within the lists. Also, it shall be the same with weights as with measures.— (XXXVI. 26.) Nothing shall be given or taken for the future for the Writ of Inquisition of life or limb; but

it shall be given without charge, and not denied.— (XXXVII. 27.) If any hold of us by fee-farm, or socage, or burgage, and hold land of another by military service, we will not have the custody of the heir, nor of his lands, which are of the fee of another, on account of that fee-farm, or socage, or burgage; nor will we have the custody of the fee-farm, socage, or burgage, unless the fee-farm owe military service. We will not have the custody of the heir, nor of the lands of any one, which he holds of another by military service, on account of any petty-sergeantry which he holds of us by the service of giving us daggers, or arrows, or the like.-(XXXVIII. 28.) No bailiff, for the future, shall put any man to his law, upon his own simple affirmation, without credible witnesses produced for that purpose.-(XXXIX. 29.) No freeman shall be seized, or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or outlawed, or in any way destroyed; nor will we condemn him, nor will we commit him to prison, excepting by the legal judgment of his peers, or by the laws of the land.-(XL. 30.) To none will we sell, to none will we deny, to none will we delay right or justice.-(XLI. 31.) All merchants shall have safety and security in coming into England, and going out of England, and in staying and in travelling through England, as well by land as by water, to buy and sell, without any unjust exactions, according to ancient and right customs, excepting in the time of war, and if they be of a country at war against us: and if such are found in our land at the beginning of a war, they shall be apprehended, without injury of their bodies and goods, until it be known to us, or to our Chief Justiciary, how the merchants of our country are