not only over the feamen ferving in the ships of the ftate, but over all other feamen, to arrest them for the fervice of the state; and, by 13 and 2 ch. xvii. it is enacted, that no perfon may be preffed under the age of eighteen, or above the age of fifty-five, which feems by implication to authorize the preffing of thofe who are between those ages.

I have thought it not improper to ftate thefe authorities with regard to the great conftitutional queftion of preffing, as the argument of Mr. Juftice Fofter is the only treatife to be found in the law-books on this fubject, and which is, by many, conceived to have exhaufted all the learning and authorities on this head Should this point be ever agitated in a court of justice, he who makes a diligent and judicious fearch, need not despair of finding many fresh materials.-And the filence of the common lawyers (when they have difputed the admiral's jurifdiction) with regard to these admiralty warrants, feems to be one of the ftrongest proofs in fupport of their legality, as well as the filence of the preambles to the ftatutes, which recite the encroachments of the admiral's jurifdiction.

STATUTES

I

STATUTES MADE AT WESTMINSTER.

[d] 20 Rich. II. Stat. i. A. D. 1396.

HAVE before obferved, that the ftatutes throughout this reign con

tinue to be Capitularia-The three first chapters afford likewife an additional proof of the turbulent state of the times, and the great abuses in the adminiftration of juftice-We find in Rymer, as a prelude to the meeting of this parliament, an order from the king to his uncle the duke of Lancaster (who was unpopular not only for his oppreffions to the villeyns, but for his oppofition to Wyclif and the new Reformers) to raise 300 armed men, and fixty archers, for his protection during this feffions.

The first chapter enacts, that no one shall ride armed with a lancegage, which therefore must have been a weapon of which a very improper use might be made in a country now disturbed with every kind of riot and diforder I cannot find the fignification of this word in any Dictionary or Gloffary; it is however moft clearly a lance, and from the termination. gage, which fignifies in old French a jate, or caft [e], it must have probably been a light lance eafily thrown, and what we now generally understand by the word javelin-The ftatute afterwards directs, that no one fhall carry palet, ne chapelle de fer; and that the ftatute of Chaperons, made in the first year of this king's reign, shall he put in execution-The word palet is tranflated fallett, which conveys no idea whatsoever-The French Dictionaries render the word palet, by that fort of inftrument which the furgeons use in making plaifters; this weapon therefore muft have refembled the make of that chirurgical inftrument-As for the word chaperons,

[d] Grafton, in his Chronicle, fays, that Richard the Second granted the effects of the deposed archbishop of Canterbury to his fucceffor, on condition that he complied with the ftatutes made in the twenty and twenty-first year of his reign at Shrewsbury and Coventry-We muft however fuppofe the parliamentary roll to be more accurate, which ftates this parliament to be held at Wefiminfier, now become almoft the only place which had proper accommodations for the reception of so numerous an affembly- Grafton, p. 8.

[e] Cotgrave renders the word thus in his Dictionary.

it

it is most improperly rendered bats, as they were not known or ufed at this time; and the ftatute alluded to is the 7th chapter of the firft of Richard the Second, by which no one is permitted to wear the livery [f] of another by the name of chaperon, which fignifies a hood.

It may perhaps appear too minute to dwell upon the meaning of fuch words in an antient law: if they are printed however in our code of ftatutes, it is certainly proper that they fhould be underflood-Ignorance of terms used in records and books of antiquity hath occafioned the term of efcuage or fcutage (in every one's mouth who looks into the early parts of our history) to be entirely misapprehended-This is always fuppofed to be derived from the Latin word fcutum (or a shield); and therefore the meaning affixed to this term is a tax payed in commutation for providing a foldier with this kind of defenfive armour-The greater part of the antient armies by no means confifted of foldiers thus armed [g]; they had neither the practice nor habit which the Roman foldier was enured to, of marching under fuch a weight, nor could carriages be provided to relieve them from this incumbrance on their march-In Wachter's Gloffarium Germanicum [b], the word fchutz or fchiitz is rendered fagittator, in the Anglo-Saxon it is feytta, in the Belgic fchutten, and in Englifh fhooter-The fcutarii therefore, and the tax of the fcutagium, fignified only archers, and the tax payed for providing an archer, whofe arms were light, and could be eafily carried by the foldiers on a march — It is well known that the English were famous for their skill in archery [i]; and hence we hear fo much in the very early part of our hiftory of the fcutarii and fcutagium.

[f] There are laws against the wearing of liveries in moft of the countries of Europe, in order to prevent dangerous combination- By the laws of Macbeth it is even made capital. Hollinfh. Tranfl. of Hector Boëthius, p. 171.-If the officers of the new-established militia fhould look upon themselves as a diftinct body from the other inhabitants of the country, there are few points which might not be carried by fuch an affociation of men living often together, and wearing the fame uniform, which unaccountably cements the union.

[g] The officers might be armed in this manner, and perhaps fome other felect corps - If thefe fhields had been commonly ufed, we fhould find them buried in every field, and great numbers in every old castle-A man of confequence indeed hath fuch a fhield often on his tombstone in times of antiquity-But the common foldier had not the means of procuring fo burthenfome and expenfive a defence.

[b] Printed at Leipfick in 1757.

[i] Roger Afcham (in his Toxophilus) fays, that archery was first introduced by the Saxons in the time of Vortigern, which is an additional proof that we must have recourfe to the German language for the meaning of this word.

The

The 2d chapter forbids the yeomanry's [k] wearing the livery of any great man's band [], " s'il ne foit menial, et familier, ou officer continuel." And the 3d forbids any one fitting on the bench with the judge of affsise, which following the chapter with regard to liveries, fhews the influence that was fuppofed to be ufed with the judges of thofe times.

Thefe judges, viz. Trefilian, Belknap, Holte, and Bourghes, are names long fince branded and infamous in our annals-The three laft of thefe are permitted, by the 5th chapter of this law, to return from their banishment in Ireland, notwithstanding the ftatute of the eleventh of Richard the Second [m]-We find likewise that the next year the legislature reversed the fentence against Michael de la Pole (earl of Suffolk), who had acted in confequence of Trefilian and Belknap's opinion, which is declared to have been a good and legal one- I cannot therefore but think that much injuftice hath been done to the memory of thefe two judges, by the chroniclers writing with a strong biafs of party, which is but too common with English hiftorians-We have indeed the questions themselves, with the opinion of thefe judges [n], amongst the ftatutes of the next year; and Henry de Knighton [], who hath inferted the fame questions [p] and an

[] This chapter of the ftatute hath not been tranflated: the expreffion in the original is vadletz ou yomen. I take the etymology of the word vadletz, or valet, to be a villeyn, who was payed wages for his fervices I have already obferved, that the villeyns were fometimes styled liti, and the fignification of the word vadium for wages is well known-This agrees exactly with the common fignification of the word yeoman (which I take to be a corruption of year man, or fervant hired for that time); and in the king's houfhold, where the old names are retained, we ftill hear of the yeoman of the pantry, &c.-The name of year man may likewife have been used to distinguish him who held his land by a leafe for a year, or time, in contradiftinction to him who held at the will of the lord.

[1] In the original, "liverie de compagnie d'afcun feigneur"— I have already obferved upon the fignification of the word feigneur.

[m] I have looked into this ftatute, which is a very long one, but can find no name but that of Trefilian. This recital is therefore either inaccurate, or the eleventh of Richard the Second is not completely printed.

[n] Given at Nottingham in the eleventh year of Richard the Second.

[o] Knighton was ftrongly biaffed in favour of the duke of Gloucester, against the earl of Suffolk and the judges.

[p] Hayward, in his Life of Henry the Fourth, fays, thefe quæries were drawn up by a barrifter, whofe name was Blake-Skelton is another barrister, mentioned in the 12th chapter of the twenty-first of Richard the Second, and is defcribed as apris de la leie, or "learned and versed in the laws," which makes it poffible, that the word apprentice of the law may have been an erroneous manner of filling up the contraction ap. de la ley, which meant, perhaps, appris, and not ap prentice de la ley-It is not probable likewife that the law, which was fo liberally profeffed in England, and which had fuch noble establishments, according to Fortefcue's account, should have borrowed, for one of their degrees in fcience, a term of mechanics and trade.

4

fwers

fwers in his Chronicle, gives us at the fame time the following introduction to them [q].

The parliament of the twenty-first [r] of Richard the Second was the last held during his unfortunate reign; and as he was a weak prince, and entirely governed by the factious minifters to whom he abandoned implicitely the care of all public affairs, it is impoffible to form any idea of his merits or demerits as a legiflator, and he hath permitted the preamble of one of the ftatutes of his reign [s] to inform pofterity, that a meffage brought by a fingle peer (attended with menaces) was fufficient to deter him from his moft fettled purpofes-He fuffered in the public opinion not only from his own weakneffes, but from the comparative luftre of the characters of his father and grand-father-This prejudice went fo far, that it was infinuated that he was not the real fon of the Black Prince; and, if the picture which hangs near the pulpit in Westminster-Abbey is really an original (as fuppofed by fome) he certainly had not the complexion of his father, as I am perfuaded he had the appellation of the Black Prince [t]

[9]" Poft hæc rex venit per Notyngham rediens de partibus borealibus, et tenuit apud "Notyngham concilium in craftino fancti Bartholomæi. In quo affuerunt quinque nephandi "feductores regis, fcilicet Alexander Archiepifcopus Eboracenfis, dominus Robertus Ver Dux "Hiberniæ, Michael de Pole Comes de Suthfolk, Robertus Trefylyen jufticiarius, Robertus Brem"bylle, jufticiarii quoque omnes regni juffi funt ibidem accurrere, dominus Willielmus Skipwith non erat cum eis, infirmitate detentus. Tunc juffi funt jufticiarii figilla fua apponere ad in"frafcriptas quæftiones, ut exinde feductores fæpedici caperent occafionem occidendi ducem "Gloverniæ et omnes reliquos qui in ultimo parliamento conftituti funt ad gubernationem regis "et regni, et omnes in parliamento eis confentientes in hac parte. Quidam de jufticiariis renu"erunt figilla fua apponere, fet hoc facere artati funt. Dominus Johannes Belknappe jufticiarius "cum multa inftancia renuit. Set Dux Hiberniæ et Comes de Suthfale compellebant eum ad hoc "faciendum, nam fi non feciffet minabantur ei mortem, et manus eorum (ut fibi videbatur) non "evafiffet. Cumque figillum fuum appofuiffet, ait, Jam, inquit, michi non deeft nifi ratis, equus "et funis, ut dignam mortem fuftineam: fi vero hoc non egiffem, mortem manus veftræ fustinu"iffem. Et quia voluntatem regis et veftri jam adimplevi, mortem proditionis erga magnates "regni merui; unde in proximo parliamento fequenti cum fociis morti adjudicatus eft, ut patebit." Many other curious anecdotes with regard to Trefilian and Belknap may be found in the Decem Scriptores, p. 2693, & feq. "that

[r] Sir Robert Cotton (in his Pofthuma) mentions a statute which paffed this year, "whatever efcheats to the king shall not be difpofed of, and that the procurer of any fuck grant fall "be punished by fine and imprisonment." Cotton, p. 170.-We find no fuch law however in the Statute book-All the proceedings in parliament of the twenty-first of Richard the Second are repealed by the firft of Henry the Fourth, and the eleventh of Richard the Second re-enacted. [] 21 Rich. II. ch. ii. already obferved upon.

[] I have fomewhere read a paffage in one of the old Chroniclers, where he is styled the Black Prince, before he had diftinguifhed himself in arms - Befides this, all princes and generals wore the fame armour for the greater part of their campaigns, and yet we never hear of a Blue a Red Prince.

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