" 'justices assigned to take assises, or in any county before Sheriffs, or in any Court Baron, may make a general attorney to sue for them in all pleas in the circuit of justices moved or to be moved for them, or against them during the circuit; which attorney or attornies shall have full power in all pleas moved during the circuit, until the plea be determined, or that his master remove him; yet shall they not be 'excused thereby, but they shall be put in juries and assises before the 'same Justices.' [No. IV. ] 13 Edward I. st. 1. (Westminster 2.) c. 15.An infant eloined may sue by Prochein Amy. IN every case whereas such as be within age may sue, it is ordained, That if such within age be eloined, so that they cannot sue personally, their next friends shall be admitted to sue for them.' [No. V. ] 12 Edward II. stat. 1. c. 1.-Tenants in assise of Novel disseisin may make atturnies. FIRST, for divers mischiefs that have been because tenants in assise 12 Edward II. of Novel disseisin might not make atturnies heretofore:" 'it is 'agreed that the tenants in assise of Novel disseisin from henceforth may make atturnies. Yet the King intendeth not hereby that the ⚫tenants and defendants in assises of Novel disseisin should not plead by ⚫ bailiffs, if they will, as they have used to do heretofore.' [ No. VI. ] 4 Henry IV. c. 18.-The punishment of an 66 66 attorney found in default. ITEM, For sundry damages and mischiefs that have ensued before this time to divers persons of the realm by a great number of “attornies, ignorant and not learned in the law, as they were wont to "be before this time;" it is ordained and stablished, That all the attornies shall be examined by the justices, and by their discretions their names put in the roll, and they that be good and vertuous, and of good fame, shall be received and sworn well and truly to serve in their offices, and especially that they make no suit in a foreign county; and the other attornies shall be put out by the discretion of the said 'Justices; and that their masters, for whom they were attornies, be warned to take others in their places, so that in the mean time no damage nor prejudice come to their said masters. And if any of the said attornies do die, or do cease, the Justices for the time being by their discretion shall make another in his place, which is a virtuous man and learned, and sworn in the same manner as afore is said; and if any such attorney be hereafter notoriously found in any default of record, or otherwise, he shall forswear the Court, and never after be received to make any suit in any Court of the King. And that this ordinance be holden in the Exchequer after the discretion of the Trea"surer, and of the Barons there.' [ No. VII. ] 4 Henry IV. c. 19.-No officer of a lord of a franchise shall be attorney in the same. c. 1. Pleading by 4 Henry IV. c. 18. What sort of men shall be Attornies. TEM, it is ordained, that no steward, bailiff, nor minister of lords of 4 Henry IV. franchises, which have return of writs, be attorney in any plea within the franchise or bailiwick whereof he is or shall be officer or minister, in any time to come.' [ No. VIII. ] 7 Henry IV. c. 13.-Impotent persons that be outlawed may make attornies. c. 19. No. VIII. 7 Hen. IV. c. 13. Capias ad satisfaciendum. ITEM, Whereas many of the King's liege people be outlawed, a many waved, by erroneous process in law, and be so impotent "their bodies, by divers maladies and infirmities, that they cannot con "in their proper persons before the King in his bench, there to mal "their suit to reverse such erroneous process;" it is ordained a 'established, That every Justice of the one bench and of the othe and also the chief Baron of the Exchequer, shall have power to e 'amine the same persons, having such malady and diseases openly know and thereupon may the same Justices and Baron, and every of ther by their discretion, record their attorney in this case. Provided a ways, That in the writ of Capias ad satisfaciendum the common la 'shall hold place.' [No. IX. ] 1 Henry V. c. 4.-Sheriffs' bailiffs shall n be in the same office in three years after. Sheriff officers shall not be attornies. 1 Henry V. c. 4. " 33 Henry VI. c. 7. A Practice of contentious attornies, to stir up suits for their private profits. There shall be but six com mon Attornies in Norfolk, six in Suffolk, and two in Norwich. 66 66 ITEM, For as much as the King's liege people dare not pursue complain of the extortions and of the oppressions to them don by the officers of sheriffs, that is to say, by under-sheriffs, clerks "sheriffs, receivers and bailiffs of sheriffs, because that the sai "under-sheriffs, clerks, receivers, and bailiffs be continually, from yea "to year, abiding with the sheriffs interchangeably out of one offic "into another;" our Lord the King, by the advice and assent afore *said, and at the request of the said Commons, hath ordained an ⚫ established, That they which be bailiffs of sheriffs by one year shal be in no such office by three years next following, except bailiffs o 'sheriffs which be inheritable in their sheriffwicks. And that no un dersheriff, sheriff's clerk, receiver, nor sheriff's bailiff, be attorney i the King's Courts during the time that he is in office with any suc 'sheriff.' [No. X. ] 33 Henry VI. c. 7.-How many attornies may be in Norfolk, how many in Suffolk, and in Norwich. TEM, Whereas of time not long past, within the City of Norwich and the Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, there were no more bu six or eight attornies at the most (coming) to the King's Court, in whic time great tranquillity reigned in the said city and counties, and littl trouble or vexation was made by untrue or foreign suits; and now so i is in the said city and counties there be fourscore attornies, or more the more part of them having no other thing to live upon, but only hi gain by (the practice of) attorneyship, and also the more part of them no being of sufficient knowledge to be an attorney which (come) to every fair market, and other places, where is any assembly of people exhorting, pro curing, moving, and inciting the people to attempt untrue and foreign suit for small trespasses, little offences, and small sums of debt whose actions be triable and determinable in Court Barons; whereby proceed many suits, more of evil will and malice than of the truth of the thing, to the manifold vexation and no little damage of the inhabitants of the said city and counties, and also to the perpetual (diminution) of all the Court Barons in the said counties unless convenient remedy be provided in this behalf: the foresaid Lord the King considering the premises by the advice, assent, and authority aforesaid hath ordained and esta blished, That at all times from henceforth there shall be but six common attornies in the said county of Norfolk, and six common attornies in the said county of Suffolk, and two common attornies in the said City of Norwich, to be attornies in the Courts of Record and that all the said fourteen attornies shall be elected and admitted by the two Chief Justices of our Lord the King, for the time being, of the most sufficient and best instructed by their discretions. And that the election and admission of all attornies which shall be elected and admitted by the said justices for the time being above the said number No. X. in the said county shall be void, and of no authority nor record; and if 33 Hen. VI. c. 7. and that found by inquisition taken before the Justices of Peace in the Justices of of debt at the common law upon an obligation. Provided always, Qu. If in Use? c. 30. This Act ex- Writs of Man 9 Ann. c. 20. damus, &c. by [ No. XI. ] 32 Henry VIII. c. 30.-Mispleadings, jeofails. FORASMUCH as the party plaintiffs and demandants in all manner 32 Henry VIII. of actions and suits, as well real as personal, at the common law of this realm, before this time have been greatly delayed and hindered in their suits and demands, by reason of the crafty, subtle, and negligent pleadings of the plaintiffs or demandants, defendants or tenants, where any action or demand hath been sued, had, or made, as well in ministering of their declarations and bars, as also in their replications, 1. rejoinders, rebutters, joining of issues, and other pleadings, to the great hurry, delay, and hindrance of the said plaintiffs or demandants, or to the vexation of the defendants or tenants; (2) insomuch that when the issues joined in the same actions between the parties to the same hath been tried and found by the verdict of twelve or more The several in⚫ indifferent persons, for the said plaintiffs or demandants, or for the conveniences ⚫ tenants or defendants, and the justices ready to give judgment for the which have ⚫ said parties for whom the same issue was found, the same parties have heretofore folbeen compelled by the course and order of the common law of this realm lowed by deafore this time, to replead, and the said verdicts so given, as is afore lays in Suits. rehearsed, to be taken as void and of none effect; sometime because the issues have been misjoined, and jeofail, and sometime by taking advantages of the parties' own mispleading, or in the pursuing, miscontinuing or discontinuing of process of any of the parties, and for divers other causes, the which is thought as well a great slander to the ⚫ said common law of this realm, and to the ministers of the same, as also a plain delay and hindrance unto the said parties, in that they should not have their judgments when the issue hath been found and tried as is aforesaid, to their great costs and charges:' (3) Be it therefore enacted by the King our Sovereign Lord, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from henceforth if any issue be tried by the oath of twelve or more indifferent men, for the party, plaintiff or demandant, or for the party of the tenant or defendant, in any manner of action or suit at the common law of this realm, in any of the King's Courts of Record, that then the Justice or Justices by whom judgment thereof ought to be given, shall proceed and give judgment in the same; (4) any mispleading, lack of colour, insufficient pleading or After an Issue jeofail, (5) or any miscontinuance or discontinuance, or misconveying tried, there of process, (6) misjoining of the issue, lack of warrant of attorney for shall be judgthe party against whom the same issue shall happen to be tried, (7) or ment given, any other default or negligence of any of the parties, their counsellors notwithstandor attornies, had or made to the contrary notwithstanding; (8) and the ing any jeofail said judgments thereof, so to be had and given, shall stand in fall or mispleading. strength and force to all intents and purposes, according to the said verdict, without any reversal or undoing of the same by writ of error, 1 or of false judgment, in like form as though no such default or negligence had never been had or committed. II. Provided alway, and be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, in avoiding of errors and other great inconveniencies that daily do fortune to arise and grow in the King's Courts of Record at Westminster, through the negligence of attornies, because they deliver not their warrants of attorney in such actions and suits, wherein they be named attorney, according to the laws of this realm, (2) That all and every such person and persons, which shall fortune hereafter to be attor ney to or for any other person or persons, being demandant or plaintiff tenant or defendant in any action or suit at any time hereafter com menced or taken in any of the King's said Courts, and plead to an issu in the same action or suit, that then the same attornies, and every o them, from time to time shall deliver, or cause to be delivered, his o their sufficient and lawful warrant of attorney, to be entered of record for every of the said actions or suits wherein they be named attornies to the officer or his deputy, ordained for the receipt and entering thereof in the same term when the said issue is entered of record in the said Court, or afore, (3) upon pain of forfeiting unto our said Sovereig Lord x. 7. sterling for every default for not delivering of the said warrant of attorney. III. And also further to suffer such imprisonment, as by the discretion of the Justices of the Court for the time being, where any such default shall fortune to be had or made, shall be thought convenient. This present Act, with the proviso, to endure till the last day of the next Parliament. [No. XII. ] 29 Elizabeth, c. 5.-An Act for the continuance and perfecting of divers Statutes. XXI. PROVIDED always, That whereas divers her Majesty's loving subjects dwelling in the remote parts of this realm are many times maliciously troubled upon informations and suits, exhibited in the 'Courts of the King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, upon penal statutes, and are drawn up upon process out of the countries where 'they dwell, and driven to attend and put in bail, to their great trouble ' and undoings;' (2) For reformation whereof, be it enacted that if any person or persons shall be sued or informed against, upon any penal law in any the several Courts of the King's Bench, Common Pleas or Exchequer, where such person or persons are bailable by law, or where by the leave or favour of the court such person or persons may appear by attorney, that in all and every such cases the person or persons so to be impleaded or sued, shall and may at the day and time contained in the first process served for his appearance appear by attorney of the same court where the process is returnable, to answer and defend the same, and not be urged to personal appearance, or to put in bail for the answering of such suit; any former law, custom or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. [No. XIII. ] 31 Elizabeth, c. 10.-An Act for the con xx. WH an Act was then made, intituled "An Act for the co'tinuance and perfecting of divers statutes;" in the end of which Act one proviso is contained in these words following, viz. Provided al ways that whereas divers her Majesty's loving subjects dwelling in 'the remote places of this realm are many times maliciously troubled upon informations and suits, exhibited in the Courts of King's Bench, 'Common Pleas, and Exchequer, upon penal statutes, and are drawn up upon process out of the countries where they dwell, and driven to attend and put in bail, to their great troubles and undoings; (2) For reformation whereof, be it enacted, that if any person or persons any c. 10. No. XIII. shall be sued or informed against upon any penal law, in 31 Elizabeth of the said Courts of the King's Bench and Common Pleas, or Exchequer, where such person or persons are bailable by law, or where by the law or favour of the Court such person or persons may appear by attorney, that in all and every such case the person or persons so to be impleaded or sued should and might at the day and time contained in the first process served for his appearance, appear by attorney of the same Court where the process is returnable, 'to answer and defend the same, and not to be urged to personal appearance, or to put in bail for the answering of such suit; any former law, custom or usage to the contrary notwithstanding;' (3) Be it now enacted by the authority of this present parliament, that the same The statute of branch of the said Act shall extend, and shall be interpreted, expounded, 29 Eliz. c. 5. and understood to extend, only to the natural subjects born or to be touching appearing by atborn within the dominions of the Queen's Majesty, her heirs and suctorney in suits cessors, and to persons made free denizens, and to no others; any thing upon penal laws shall extherein contained to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. free denizens. tend only to natural born subjects or [No. XIV. ] 3 James I. c. 7.-An Act to reform the multitudes and misdemeanors of attornies and solicitors at law, and to avoid unnecessary suits and charges in law. 3 James I. c. 7. An Attorney shall have a ticket of the money which he giveth for fees, &c. FOR that through the abuse of sundry attornies and solicitors by charging their clients with excessive fees, and other unnecessary demands, such as were not, ne ought by them to have been employed or demanded, whereby the subjects grow to be overmuch burthened, and the practice of the just and honest Serjeant and Counsellor at Law greatly slandered: And for that to work the private gain of such atfornies and solicitors, the client is oftentimes extraordinarily delayed;' Be it enacted by the authority of this present parliament, that o attorney, solicitor, or servant to any, shall be allowed from his lient or master, of or for any fee given to any Serjeant or Counsellor t law, or of or for any sum or sums of money given for copies to any Clerk or Clerks or Officers in any Court or Courts of Record at Westminster, (1) unless he have a ticket subscribed with the haud and name of the same Serjeant or Counsellor, Clerk or Clerks, or Officers aforeaid, testifying how much he hath received for his fee, or given or paid For copies, and at what time, and how often: And that all attornies and solicitors shall give a true bill unto their masters (2) or clients, or their assigns, of all other charges concerning the suits which they have for hem, subscribed with his own hand and name, before such time as they or any of them shall charge their clients with any the same fees or charges: And that if the attorney or solicitor do or shall willingly delay An Attorney his client's suit to work his own gain, or demand by his bill any other delaying his sums of money, or allowance upon his account of any money which he client's suit, nath not laid out or disbursed, that in every such case the party grieved or demanding shall have his action against such attorney or solicitor, and recover more than is herein costs and treble damages, and the said attorney and solicitor due. shall be discharged from thenceforth from being an attorney or solicitor any more. A Bill of Charges. II. And to avoid the infinite numbers of solicitors and attornies, Who only shall be it enacted by the authority of this present parliament, that none be Attornies or shall from henceforth be admitted attornies in any the King's Courts of Solicitors. Record aforesaid, but such as have been brought up in the same courts, or otherwise well practised in soliciting of causes, and have been found (1) The Statute does not extend to business done in inferior Courts, Brickwood v. Farnshaw, Carth. 147. (2) Business done by an agent for an attorney, is not within the Act; Jones v. Price, 1 Selw. N. P. 149; Bridges v. Francis, Peake N. P. C. 1. |