43. If any one die holding of any escheat, as of the honour of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or other escheats which are in Our hands and are baronies, his heir shall not give any relief or do any service to Us other than he would owe to the baron if such barony should have been in the hands of a baron, and We will hold it in the same manner in which the baron held it. 44. Persons dwelling without the forest shall not for the future come before Our justiciaries of the forest by common summons, unless they be impleaded or are bail for any person or persons attached for breach of forest laws. 45. We will only appoint such men to be justiciaries, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs as know the law of the land and will keep it well. 46. All barons, founders of abbies by charters of English Kings or ancient tenure, shall have the custody of the same during vacancy as is due. 47. All forests which have been afforested in Our time shall be forthwith disafforested, and so shall it be done with regard to rivers which have been placed in fence in Our time. 48. All evil customs concerning forests and warrens, foresters, warreners, sheriffs, and their officers, rivers and their conservators, shall be immediately inquired into in each county by twelve sworn knights of such shire, who must be elected by honest men thereof, and within forty days after making the inquisition they shall be altogether and irrevocably abolished, the matter having been previously brought to Our knowledge or that of Our Chief Justiciary if We Ourself shall not be in England. 49. We will immediately give up all hostages and charters delivered to Us by the English for the security of peace and the performance of loyal service. 50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks the kinsmen of Gerard de Atyes, so that henceforth they shall hold no bailiwick in England, Engelard de Cygoyney, Andrew, Peter, and Gyon de Cancelles, Gyon de Cygoyney, Ralph de Martiny and his brothers, Philip Marc[el] and his brothers, and Ralph his grandson, and all their followers. 51. Directly after the restoration of peace We will dismiss out of Our kingdom all foreign soldiers, bowmen, serving men, and mercenaries, who come with horses and arms to the nuisance thereof. 52. If any one shall have been disseised or deprived by Us, without the legal judgment of his peers, of lands, castles, liberties, or rights, We will instantly restore the same, and if any dispute shall arise thereupon, the matter shall be decided by judgment of the twenty five barons mentioned below for the security of peace. With regard to all those things, however, whereof any person shall have been disseised or deprived, without the legal judgment of his peers, by King Henry Our Father, or Our Brother King Richard, and which remain in Our hands or are held by others under Our warranty, We will have respite thereof till the term commonly allowed to the crusaders, except as to those matters on which a plea shall have arisen, or an inquisition have been taken by Our command prior to Our assumption of the Cross, and immediately after Our return from Our pilgrimage, or if by chance We should remain behind from it We will do full justice therein. 53. We will likewise have the same respite and in like manner shall justice be done with respect to forests to be disafforested or let alone, which Henry Our Father or Richard Our Brother afforested, and to wardships of lands belonging to another's fee, which We have hitherto held by reason of the fee which some person has held of Us by knight's service, and to abbies founded in another's fee than Our own, whereto the lord of that fee asserts his right. And when We return from Our pilgrimage, or if We remain behind therefrom, We will forthwith do full justice to the complainants in these matters. 54. No one shall be taken or imprisoned upon a woman's appeal for the death of any other person than her husband. 55. All fines unjustly and unlawfully made with Us, and all amercements levied unjustly and against the law of the land, shall be entirely condoned or the matter settled by judgment of the twenty-five barons of whom mention is made below, for the security of peace, or the majority of them, together with the aforesaid Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, if he himself can be present, and any others whom he may wish to summon for the purpose, and if he cannot be present the business shall nevertheless proceed without him. Provided that if any one or more of the said twenty-five barons be interested in a plaint of this kind, he or they shall be set aside, as to this particular judgment, and another or others elected and sworn by the rest of the said barons for this purpose only, be substituted in his or their stead. 56. If We have disseised or deprived the Welsh of lands, liberties or other things, without legal judgment of their peers, in England or Wales, they shall instantly be restored to them, and if a dispute shall arise thereon the question shall be determined on the Marches by judgment of their peers according to the law of England with regard to English tenements, the law of Wales respecting Welsh tenements, and the law of the Marches as to tenements in the Marches. The same shall the Welsh do to Us and Ours. 57. But with regard to all those things whereof any Welshman shall have been disseised or deprived, without legal judgment of his peers, by King Henry Our Father or Our Brother King Richard, and which We hold in Our hands or others hold under Our warranty, We will have respite thereof till the term commonly allowed to the crusaders, except as to those matters whereon a plea shall have arisen or an inquisition have been taken by Our command prior to Our assumption of the Cross, and immediately after Our return from Our pilgrimage, or if by chance We should remain behind from it We will do full justice therein, according to the laws of the Welsh and the parts aforesaid. 58. We will immediately give up the son of Lewellyn and all the Welsh hostages, and the charters which were delivered to Us for the security of peace. 59. We will do the same with regard to Alexander, King of the Scots, in the matter of giving up his sisters and hostages, and of his liberties and rights, as We would with regard to Our other barons of England, unless it should appear by the charters which We hold of William his father, late King of the Scots, that it ought to be otherwise, and this shall be done by judgment of his peers in Our Court. 60. All which customs and liberties aforesaid, which We have granted to be enjoyed, as far as in Us lies, by Our people throughout Our kingdom, let all Our subjects, clerks and laymen, observe, as far as in them lies, towards their dependants. 61. And whereas We, for the honour of God and the amendment of Our realm, and in order the better to allay the discord arisen between us and Our barons, have granted all these things aforesaid, We, willing that they be for ever enjoyed wholly and in lasting strength, do give and grant to Our subjects the following security, to wit, that the barons shall elect any twenty-five barons of the kingdom at will, who shall, with their utmost power, keep, hold, and cause to be holden the peace and liberties which We have granted unto them, and by this Our present Charter confirmed, so that, for instance, if We, Our Justiciary, bailiffs, or any of Our ministers, offend in any respect against any man, or shall transgress any of these articles of peace or security, and the offence be brought before four of the said five and twenty barons, those four barons shall come before Us, or Our Chief Justiciary if We are out of the kingdom, declaring the offence, and shall demand speedy amends for the same. And if We or in case of Our being out of the kingdom, Our Chief Justiciary, fail to afford redress within the space of forty days from the time the case was brought before Us or Our Chief Justiciary, the aforesaid four barons shall refer the matter to the rest of the twenty-five barons, who, together with the commonalty of the whole county, shall distrain and distress Us to the utmost of their power, to wit, by capture of Our castles, lands, possessions, and all other possible means, until compensation be made according to their decision, saving Our person and that of Our Queen and children, and as soon as that be done they shall return to their former allegiance. Any one whatsoever in the kingdom may take oath that, for the accomplishment of all the aforesaid matters, he will obey the orders of the said twenty-five barons, and distress Us to the utmost of his power; and We give public and free leave to every one wishing to take such oath to do so, and to none will We deny the same. 62. Moreover We will compel all such of Our subjects who shall decline to swear to, and together with the said twenty-five barons to distrain and distress Us of their own free will and accord, to do so by Our command as is aforesaid. And if any one of the twenty-five barons shall die or leave the country, or be in any way hindered from executing the said office, the rest of the said twenty-five barons shall choose another in his stead, at their discretion, who shall be sworn in like manner as the others. And in all cases which are referred to the said twenty-five barons to execute, and in which a difference shall arise among them, supposing them all to be present, or that all who have been summoned are unwilling or unable to appear, the verdict of the majority shall be considered as firm and binding as if the whole number should have been of one mind. And the aforesaid twentyfive shall swear to keep faithfully all the aforesaid articles, and, to the best of their power, cause them to be kept by others. And We will not procure, either by Ourself or any other, anything from any man whereby any of the said concessions or liberties may be revoked or abated; and if any such procurement be made let it be null and void; it shall never be made use of either by Us or any other. We have also wholly remitted and condoned all ill-will, wrath, and malice which have arisen between Us and Our subjects, clerks and laymen, during the disputes, to and with all men; and We have moreover fully remitted, and as far as in Us lies, wholly condoned to and with all clerks and laymen all trespasses made in consequence of the said disputes from Easter in the sixteenth year of Our reign till the restoration of peace; and, over and above this, We have caused to be made in their behalf letters patent by testimony of Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry, Archbishop of Dublin, the Bishops above-mentioned, and Master Pandulph, upon the security and concession aforesaid. 63. Wherefore We will, and firmly charge, that the English Church be free, and that all men in Our Kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably, freely, quietly, fully, and wholly, to them and their heirs, of Us and Our heirs, in all things and places for ever, as is aforesaid. It is moreover sworn, as well on Our part as on the part of the Barons, that all these matters aforesaid shall be kept in good faith and without malengine. Witness the above-mentioned Prelates and Nobles and many others. Given by Our hand in the meadow which is called Runnymede between Windsor and Staines, on the Fifteenth day of June in the Seventeenth year of Our reign. The following documents are taken from the Appendix to Stubbs' Select Charters. A.D. 1628. PETITION OF Right. 3 CAR. I. c. 1. The Petition exhibited to his Majesty by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, concerning divers Rights and Liberties of the Subjects, with the King's Majesty's royal answer thereunto in full Parliament. To the King's Most Excellent Majesty, Humbly show unto our Sovereign Lord the King, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in Parliament assembled, that whereas it is declared and enacted by a statute made in the time of the reign of King Edward I, commonly called Statutum de Tallagio non Concedendo, that no tallage or aid shall be laid or levied by the king or his heirs in this realm, without the good will and assent of the archbishops, bishops, earls, barons, knights, burgesses, and other the freemen of the commonalty of this realm; and by authority of parliament holden in the five-and-twentieth year of the reign of King Edward III, it is declared and enacted, that from thenceforth no person should be compelled to make any loans to the king against his will, because such loans were against reason and the franchise of the land; and by other laws of this realm it is provided, that none should be charged by any charge or imposition called a benevolence, nor by such like charge; by which statutes before men |