THE STATUTE OF HERRING S. 31 Edw. III. Stat. ii. A. D. 1357· T appears by Dugdale [i], that a parliament intervened between the twenty-feventh and thirty-first year of this king's reign; we have however no laws of this intermediate feffions in the Statute book-The preceding law having made a complete body of regulations with regard to the wool ftaples, the legislature now take under their confideration the state of the herring fishery on the Eaftern coaft near Yarmouth, which at that time was one great branch of trade, not only because the country was now of the Roman-catholic perfuafion, but because falted meat and fish were the winter's ftore for every one's houfe, the markets not being fupplied with fresh meat as at prefent-The parliament undoubtedly intended to promote and encourage this fishery by regulations, which were fuppofed to be of a wife and beneficial nature; whoever reads them with attention, however, will wish that this ftatute was repealed, as indeed should most of the other antient ftatutes with relation to trade, as the principles of it were at this time but little understood-By way of proving what I have here ventured to fuggeft, I will only mention two of the new provifions-The first is, that no one fhall buy nets, hooks, nor other inftruments neceffary for fishing, which are used in the county of Norfolk, except the lords [k], masters, and mariners who use the craft of fishing, under pain of imprisonment, and being fined at the king's will-The other provifion is, that the chancellor, treasurer, and the king's privy council, may make what regulations they shall please with regard to the price of falted fifh—The thirty-third of Edward the Third, which likewise relates to herrings, recites, "that they were fold at a moft unreasonable price, occafioned (as "the ftatute fays) by many merchants [], as well labourers as fervants, "coming to the fairs, and every one by malice and envy encreasing the price upon his competitor, fo that if one bids four-pence, another offers ten-pence "more, and so every one furmounteth the other in bargaining." It is scarcely to be conceived, that a ftatute, which proceeds upon fuch recitals, fhould have continued fo many centuries unrepealed. [i] Summ. Parl. [k] In the original, feigneurs, maiftres, et mariners des nief; the tranflation fhould be owner, instead of lord. There are likewise several other mistakes. [The word merchant in the original is translated by the fame word in English: it now bears a much more confined sense than it did at the time of making this statute. STATUTES STATUTES MADE AT WESTMINSTER. THE 34 Edw. III. A. D. 1360. HESE ftatutes are a Capitularium, confifting of twenty-two chapters; and I should not have made any obfervations upon them, was it not for the opportunity of fixing the fignification of two words used in the first and last chapter of the law. The statute directs, that in every county in England there shall be appointed, for keeping the peace, "un feigneur, et ovefque lui troits ou quatre “de meult vavetz [n] du countée ensemblement ove afcuns fages de la ley."-This is tranflated "there fhall be one lord," &c.-Now the word feigneur by no means fignifies a lord who is a peer of parliament, as the word is generally understood; of this we had an instance in the preceding law, where the mafter or owner of a fishing vessel is styled seigneur [o]. And in the present statute it is impoffible it should fo fignify, as there were not at this time a fufficient number of peers to furnish a juftice of peace for each county-The common fenfe however in which this word is underftood, feems to have led Sir Edward Coke into a mistake, when he afferts, in his 4th Inftitute, p. 58. that the High Steward, at the trial of a peer, muft neceffarily be a lord of parliament-I have looked into the authorities from the Year Books, cited in proof of this pofition, which by no means warrant what he afferts, at least in the extent he hath advanced it— As for the cafe, in 1 Hen. IV. p. 1. there is not a word in it which proves the neceffity of this great officer's being a lord of parliament: As for the fecond authority, viz. (13 Hen. VIII. fol. 11.) the words used in the Year Book are thefe: "Nota quand un feigneur de parlement ferra arrain "de treason, ou felony, le roy per fes lettres patentes fera un grand et fage "feigneur [p] d'eftre le grand fenefchal d'Angleterre ;" which certainly imports nothing further than that he shall be a man of confequence [9], any more than the word feigneur does in the present statute: and we find, that when a peer is mentioned in the above-cited paffage from the Year Book, he is ftyled Seigneur de parlement. [n] Vavetz should be read valuetz, as I have before observed on another statute; and my manufcript of the statutes again confirms this alteration. [o] So by 37 Edw. III. ch. xix. which punishes the concealing of a hawk with two months imprisonment, the owner is ftyled feigneur. [P] The addition of de parlement is not here repeated. [4] The word feigneur is derived from fenior, age formerly giving the only rank and precedence. "Credebant hoc grande nefas, et morte piandum, "Si juvenis vetulo non affurrexerit." JUVENAL. The The last chapter relates to the reclaiming of a stray hawk, and directs, that it fhall be carried to the fheriff of the county, and, if no one claims the hawk within four months, that it fhall become the property of the fheriff, upon condition that he pays a proper fatisfaction to the perfon who brought the hawk, fil foit fimple-homme-But if a gentleman (gentil-homme) reclaims it after the four months are expired, the sheriff is still to restore the hawk, upon being payed the charges of keeping it -This diftinction. ufed between the fimple-homme, and the gentil-homme, feems to explain the meaning of the word gentil-homme, which is used in so very vague a sense at prefent [r] fhould apprehend, that the fimple-homme, is John or Thomas, who hath no furname [s]; and in contradistinction he who hath a furname, or family name, from the word gens [t], is ftyled gentil-homme. - [r] In an action brought on this ftatute, the meaning of the word must be fettled; as that of the word Efquire must likewise be, on some of the fame laws. [] Surnames are of no great antiquity in this country, nor have many of the common people in Wales to this day any furnames. [t] The word gens fometimes fignifies family. STATUTES 7 STATUTES MADE AT WESTMINSTER. T 36 Edw. III. A. D. 1362. HIS Capitularium confifts of fifteen chapters, which have little connexion with each other-We have often heard before of the grievance of purveyance; and it is almost from year to year the fubject of parliamentary regulations, whilft, notwithstanding the repeated interpofition of the legislature, it is still matter of complaint-The device of making it more palatable to the subject, by the 2d chapter of this law, is a most extraordinary one, viz. " que le beignous nome de purveyor, foit "change, en nom d'achetour," which, as it hath not been tranflated, I shall render," that the bateful name of purveyor fhall be changed to that of "acatour [u]."-This conceit of remedying an oppreffion, merely by giving it another name, seems rather unworthy of a legislature-Yet the change of a name may perhaps fometimes have its effect; as if the taxes which are at prefent called the king's, were ftyled those of the public (for whofe benefit they are in reality collected) they might poffibly be more chearfully payed: or at least juries might be more willing to convict in offences against the laws of the customs and excife, which are feldom at present trusted to a common jury. The last chapter of this law recites, that great mischiefs have arifen, "because the laws, cuftoms, and Statutes of this realm are not commonly "known, and because they are pleaded, declared upon, and decided [w], in "the French language, which is much unknown in this kingdom, fo that "the parties to fuits do not know what is faid either for them or against "them by their ferjeants and pleaders."-And likewise because the king, the nobles, and others, who have travelled in diverfe regions and countries, have obferved that foreign countries are better governed by the laws being in their own tongue; the ftatute therefore enacts, that all pleas shall be in English, and that they fhall be entered on record in Latin. Selden fays, that this law took its rife from an inconvenience rather fuppofed than felt; for though some kind of knowledge of law-terms may be [] This word is derived from acheter, to buy; and there is an office of acatery still fubfifting in the king's kitchen. [w] In the original, pledex, monfirez, et juggez, which words are omitted in the common translation. increased thereby, yet, unless the law is profeffedly ftudied, it will breed nothing but notions and overweening conceits, which often engage men in law-fuits to their great lofs-He adds, however, "that thus in part the "reproach of Normandy rolled away, like that of the Ifraelites at Mount "Gilgal"-Sed, pace tanti viri, few fuch law-fuits have ever been occafioned by what he apprehends; and it is not only a wife law from the reasons mentioned in the preamble, but we find that the legislature have carried this alteration ftill further, by directing that the pleadings fhall be enrolled in English; and there is an ordinance of Oliver Cromwell's, that all the law-books fhall be tranflated from the old French into the English language [x]. This law does not want the approbation of many others who had occafion to confider it, and particularly of Raftell, who, in his Preface to the Abridgement of the Statutes, fpeaks highly in commendation of it [y].-Voltaire, in his additions to the Hiftoire Univerfelle, speaks thus of this law, and others to the fame purport: "Rodolphe de Hapfburgh "avoit ordonné dans l'Allemagne, qu'on plaidat, et qu'on rendit les arrets "dans la langue du pays. Alphonfe le fage en Caftille établit le meme "ufage. Edouard leigme en fit le meme en Angleterre. Enfin François "Premier ordonna qu'en France ceux qui avoient le malheur de plaider, "puiffent lire leur ruine dans leur propre langue."I fhall make no apology for this citation from Voltaire, though many think that he writes only to amufe, without any authority for what he advances-The letters of Fabricius (who was fecretary to Charles the Twelfth of Sweden at Bender), which have lately been publifhed, fhew, that what was looked upon as an entertaining romance, is the most authentic history-I have often heard the fame objection to Mr. Hume's Hiftory of England; and, as it fhould feem, with as little foundation-Both these masterly writers not only inftruct, but entertain the reader, and (from what cause I know not) we are always diffident of what pleafes On the contrary, we give implicite credit to a dull writer, who makes a perpetual parade of authorities which he [x] James the Firft, in his Speech from the throne to parliament in 1609, recommends, that the books of the common law be written in the mother tongue; that the people might know what to obey; and that the lawyers in law, like popish priests in the Gofpel, might not keep the people in ignorance. Wilfon's Life of James the First, p. 47.-I should imagine, that this recommendation arofe from the king's inclination to fit as judge in the King's Bench, which Sir Edward Coke objected to, and probably amongst other reasons, because his majefty would not understand the law French of the reporters. [y] This Abridgement of the Statutes, printed in 1517, is now very scarce; the whole Preface may however be feen in Ames's Hiftory of Printing, p. 142, et feq. does |