CHAPTER II.

The Relief of the King's Tenant of full Age.

If any of our earls, or barons, or others, who hold of us in chief by military service, shall die, and at the time of his death his heir shall be of full age, and owes a relief, he shall have his inheritance by the ancient relief; that is to say, the heir or heirs of an earl, for a whole earldom, by a hundred pounds; the heir or heirs of a baron, for a whole barony, by a hundred pounds; the heir or heirs of a knight, for a whole knight's fee, by a hundred shillings at most; and whoever oweth less shall give less, according to the ancient custom of fees.

CHAPTER III.

The Wardship of the Heir within Age. The Heir a Knight. But if the heir of any such shall be under age, and shall be in ward when he comes of age, he shall have his inheritance without relief and without fine.

CHAPTER IV.

No waste shall be made by a Guardian in Ward Lands. The keeper of the land of such an heir being under age, shall take of the land of the heir none but reasonable issues, reasonable customs, and reasonable services, and that without destruction and waste of his men and his goods; and if we commit the custody of any such lands to the sheriff, or any other who is answerable to us for the issues of the land, and he shall make destruction and waste of the lands which he hath in custody, we will take of him amends, and the land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall answer for the issues to us, or to him to whom we shall assign them: and if we sell or give to any one the custody of any such lands, and he therein make destruction or waste, he shall lose the same custody, which shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall in like manner answer to us as aforesaid.

CHAPTER V.

Guardians shall maintain the Inheritance of Wards. Of Bishoprics, &c. But the keeper, so long as he shall have the custody of the land, shall keep up the houses, parks, warrens, ponds, mills, and other things pertaining to the land, out of the issues of the same land; and shall deliver to the heir, when he comes of full age, his whole land, stocked with ploughs and carriages, according as the time of wainage shall require, and the issues of the land can reasonably bear.

CHAPTER VI.

Heirs shall be Married without Disparagement.

Heirs shall be married without disparagement, and so that before matrimony shall be contracted those who are near in blood to the heir shall have notice.

CHAPTER VII.

A Widow shall have her Marriage, Inheritance, and Quarantine. The King's Widow, &c.

A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith and without difficulty have her marriage and inheritance; nor shall she give anything for her dower, or her marriage, or her inheritance, which her husband and she held at the day of his death; and she may remain in the mansion house of her husband forty days after his death, within which term her dower shall be assigned. No widow shall be distrained to marry herself, so long as she has a mind to live without a husband; but yet she shall give security that she will not marry without our assent, if she holds of us; or without the consent of the lord of whom she holds, if she hold of another.

CHAPTER VIII.

How Sureties shall be charged to the King.

Neither we nor our bailiffs shall seize any land or rent for any debt, so long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to pay the debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the principal debtor is sufficient for the payment of the debt; and if the principal debtor shall fail in the payment of the debt, not having wherewithal to pay it, then the sureties shall answer the debt; and if they will they shall have the lands and rents of the debtor, until they shall be satisfied for the debt which they paid for him, unless the principal debtor can show himself acquitted thereof against the said sureties.

CHAPTER IX.

The Liberties of London and other Cities and Towns Confirmed. And the city of London shall have all its ancient liberties and free customs, as well by land as by water: furthermore, we will and grant, that all other cities and boroughs and towns and ports shall have all their liberties and free customs.

CHAPTER X.

None shall Distrain for more Service than is Due.

No man shall be distrained to perform more service for a knight's fee, or other free tenement, than is due from thence.

CHAPTER XI.

Common Pleas shall not follow the King's Court.

Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be holden in some place certain.

CHAPTERS XII AND XIII.

When and before whom Assizes shall be taken. Adjournment for Difficulty. Assizes of Darrien Presentment.

Assizes of novel disseisin, and of mort d'ancestor, and of darrien presentment, shall not be taken but in their proper counties, and after this manner: We, or, if we should be out of the realm, our chief justiciary, shall send two justiciaries through every county four times a year, who, with four knights, chosen out of every shire by the people, shall hold the said assizes, in the county, on the day, and at the place appointed. And if any matters cannot be determined on the day appointed for holding the assizes in each county, so many of the knights and freeholders as have been at the assizes aforesaid shall stay to decide them, as is necessary, according as there is more or less business.

CHAPTER XIV.

How Men of all sorts shall be Amerced, and by whom.

A freeman shall not be amerced for a small fault, but after the manner of the fault; and for a great crime according to the heinousness of it, saving to him his contenement; and after the same manner a merchant, saving to him his merchandise. And a villein shall be amerced after the same manner, saving to him his wainage, if he falls under cur mercy; and none of the aforesaid amerciaments shall be assessed but by the oath of honest men in the neighborhood. Earls and barons shall not be amerced but by their peers, and after the degree of the offense.

CHAPTERS XV AND XVI.

Making and defending of Bridges and Banks.

Neither a town nor any tenant shall be distrained to make bridges or banks, unless that anciently and of right they are bound to do it.

CHAPTER XVII.

Holding Pleas of the Crown.

No sheriff, constable, coroner, or other our bailiffs, shall hold pleas of the Crown.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The King's Debtor Dying, the King shall be first Paid.

If any one holding of us a lay-fee die, and the sheriff, or our bailiffs, show our letters patent, of summons for debt which the dead man did

owe to us, it shall be lawful for the sheriff or our bailiff to attach and inroll the chattels of the dead, found upon his lay-fee, to the value of the debt, by the view of lawful men, so as nothing be removed until our whole clear debt be paid; and the rest shall be left to the executors to fulfill the testament of the dead, and if there be nothing due from him to us, all the chattels shall go to the use of the dead, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.

CHAPTERS XIX, XX, AND XXI.

Purveyors for a Castle. Doing of Castle-ward. Taking of Horses, Carts, and Woods.

No constable or bailiff of ours shall take corn or other chattels of any man, unless he presently give him money for it, or hath respite of payment by the good will of the seller. No constable shall distrain any knight to give money for castle guard, if he himself will do it in his person, or by another able man in case he cannot do it through any reasonable cause. And if we lead him, or send him in an army, he shall be free from such guard for the time he shall be in the army by our command. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or any other, shall take horses or carts of any freeman for carriage, but by the good will of the said freeman. Neither shall we nor our bailiffs take any man's timber for our castles or other uses, unless by the consent of the owner of the timber.

CHAPTER XXII.

How long Felons' Land shall be holden by the King.

We will retain the lands of those convicted of felony only one year and a day, and then they shall be delivered to the lord of the fee.

CHAPTER XXIII.

In what places Wears shall be put down.

All wears for the time to come shall be put down in the rivers of Thames and Medway, and throughout all England, except upon the

sea-coast.

CHAPTER XXIV.

In what case a Præcipe in Capite is grantable.

The writ which is called præcipe for the future, shall not be made out to any one, of any tenement, whereby a freeman may lose his court.

CHAPTER XXV.

There shall be but one Measure through the Realm.

There shall be one measure of wine and one of ale through our whole realm; and one measure of corn, that is to say, the London quarter;

and one breadth of dyed cloth, and russets, and haberjeets, that is to say, two ells within the lists; and it shall be of weights as it is of meas

ures.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Inquisition of Life and Member.

Nothing from henceforth shall be given or taken for a writ of inquisition of life or limb, but it shall be granted freely, and not denied.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Tenure of the King in Socage, and of another by Knight's Service. Petit Serjeanty.

If any do hold of us by fee-farm, or by socage, or by burgage, and he hold also lands of any other by knight's service, we will not have the custody of the heir or land, which is holden of another man's fee by reason of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage; neither will we have the custody of such fee-farm, socage, or burgage, except knight's service was due to us out of the same fee-farm. We will not have the custody of an heir, or of any land which he holds of another by knight's service, by reason of any petty serjeanty that holds of us, by the service of paying a knife. an arrow, or the like.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Wager of Law shall not be without witness.

No bailiff from henceforth shall put any man to his law upon his own bare saying, without credible witnesses to prove it.

*CHAPTER XXIX.

None shall be condemned or injured in property, person, or liberty, without Trial. Fustice shall not be sold or deferred.

No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or be disseised of his freehold, or liberties, or free customs, or be outlawed or exiled, or any otherwise destroyed; nor will we pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man, either justice or right.

CHAPTER XXX.

Merchant Strangers coming into this Realm shall be well used. All merchants shall have safe and secure conduct, to go out of, and to come into, England, and to stay there, and to pass as well by land as by

*CAP. XXIX. Nullus liber homo capiatur vel imprisonetur, aut disseisiatur de aliquo libero tenemento suo vel libertatibus vel liberis consuetudinibus suis, aut utlagetur aut exulet aut aliquo alio modo destruatur; nec super eum ibimus, nec super eum mittemus, nisi per legale judicium parium suorum vel per legem terræ. Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus, aut differemus rectum vel justitiam.