ewre324/Tiny-gutenberg · Datasets at Hugging Face

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ourselves, or in our absence abroad our chief justice, will send two
justices to each county four times a year, and these justices, with
four knights of the county elected by the county itself, shall hold the
assizes in the county court, on the day and in the place where the
court meets.

(19) If any assizes cannot be taken on the day of the county court, as
many knights and freeholders shall afterwards remain behind, of those
who have attended the court, as will suffice for the administration of
justice, having regard to the volume of business to be done.

(20) For a trivial offence, a free man shall be fined only in
proportion to the degree of his offence, and for a serious offence
correspondingly, but not so heavily as to deprive him of his
livelihood. In the same way, a merchant shall be spared his
merchandise, and a husbandman the implements of his husbandry, if they
fall upon the mercy of a royal court. None of these fines shall be
imposed except by the assessment on oath of reputable men of the
neighbourhood.

(21) Earls and barons shall be fined only by their equals, and in
proportion to the gravity of their offence.

(22) A fine imposed upon the lay property of a clerk in holy orders
shall be assessed upon the same principles, without reference to the
value of his ecclesiastical benefice.

(23) No town or person shall be forced to build bridges over rivers
except those with an ancient obligation to do so.

(24) No sheriff, constable, coroners, or other royal officials are to
hold lawsuits that should be held by the royal justices.

(25) Every county, hundred, wapentake, and tithing shall remain at its
ancient rent, without increase, except the royal demesne manors.

(26) If at the death of a man who holds a lay ‘fee’ of the Crown, a
sheriff or royal official produces royal letters patent of summons for
a debt due to the Crown, it shall be lawful for them to seize and list
movable goods found in the lay ‘fee’ of the dead man to the value of
the debt, as assessed by worthy men. Nothing shall be removed until the
whole debt is paid, when the residue shall be given over to the
executors to carry out the dead man’s will. If no debt is due to the
Crown, all the movable goods shall be regarded as the property of the
dead man, except the reasonable shares of his wife and children.

(27) If a free man dies intestate, his movable goods are to be
distributed by his next-of-kin and friends, under the supervision of
the Church. The rights of his debtors are to be preserved.

(28) No constable or other royal official shall take corn or other
movable goods from any man without immediate payment, unless the seller
voluntarily offers postponement of this.

(29) No constable may compel a knight to pay money for castle-guard if
the knight is willing to undertake the guard in person, or with
reasonable excuse to supply some other fit man to do it. A knight taken
or sent on military service shall be excused from castle-guard for the
period of this service.

(30) No sheriff, royal official, or other person shall take horses or
carts for transport from any free man, without his consent.

(31) Neither we nor any royal official will take wood for our castle,
or for any other purpose, without the consent of the owner.

(32) We will not keep the lands of people convicted of felony in our
hand for longer than a year and a day, after which they shall be
returned to the lords of the ‘fees’ concerned.

(33) All fish-weirs shall be removed from the Thames, the Medway, and
throughout the whole of England, except on the sea coast.

(34) The writ called precipe shall not in future be issued to anyone in
respect of any holding of land, if a free man could thereby be deprived
of the right of trial in his own lord’s court.

(35) There shall be standard measures of wine, ale, and corn (the
London quarter), throughout the kingdom. There shall also be a standard
width of dyed cloth, russett, and haberject, namely two ells within the
selvedges. Weights are to be standardised similarly.

(36) In future nothing shall be paid or accepted for the issue of a
writ of inquisition of life or limbs. It shall be given gratis, and not
refused.

(37) If a man holds land of the Crown by ‘fee-farm’, ‘socage’, or
‘burgage’, and also holds land of someone else for knight’s service, we
will not have guardianship of his heir, nor of the land that belongs to
the other person’s ‘fee’, by virtue of the ‘fee-farm’, ‘socage’, or
‘burgage’, unless the ‘fee-farm’ owes knight’s service. We will not
have the guardianship of a man’s heir, or of land that he holds of
someone else, by reason of any small property that he may hold of the
Crown for a service of knives, arrows, or the like.

(38) In future no official shall place a man on trial upon his own
unsupported statement, without producing credible witnesses to the
truth of it.

(39) No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his

ourselves, or in our absence abroad our chief justice, will send two

justices to each county four times a year, and these justices, with

four knights of the county elected by the county itself, shall hold the

assizes in the county court, on the day and in the place where the

court meets.

(19) If any assizes cannot be taken on the day of the county court, as

many knights and freeholders shall afterwards remain behind, of those

who have attended the court, as will suffice for the administration of

justice, having regard to the volume of business to be done.

(20) For a trivial offence, a free man shall be fined only in

proportion to the degree of his offence, and for a serious offence

correspondingly, but not so heavily as to deprive him of his

livelihood. In the same way, a merchant shall be spared his

merchandise, and a husbandman the implements of his husbandry, if they

fall upon the mercy of a royal court. None of these fines shall be

imposed except by the assessment on oath of reputable men of the

neighbourhood.

(21) Earls and barons shall be fined only by their equals, and in

proportion to the gravity of their offence.

(22) A fine imposed upon the lay property of a clerk in holy orders

shall be assessed upon the same principles, without reference to the

value of his ecclesiastical benefice.

(23) No town or person shall be forced to build bridges over rivers

except those with an ancient obligation to do so.

(24) No sheriff, constable, coroners, or other royal officials are to

hold lawsuits that should be held by the royal justices.

(25) Every county, hundred, wapentake, and tithing shall remain at its

ancient rent, without increase, except the royal demesne manors.

(26) If at the death of a man who holds a lay ‘fee’ of the Crown, a

sheriff or royal official produces royal letters patent of summons for

a debt due to the Crown, it shall be lawful for them to seize and list

movable goods found in the lay ‘fee’ of the dead man to the value of

the debt, as assessed by worthy men. Nothing shall be removed until the

whole debt is paid, when the residue shall be given over to the

executors to carry out the dead man’s will. If no debt is due to the

Crown, all the movable goods shall be regarded as the property of the

dead man, except the reasonable shares of his wife and children.

(27) If a free man dies intestate, his movable goods are to be

distributed by his next-of-kin and friends, under the supervision of

the Church. The rights of his debtors are to be preserved.

(28) No constable or other royal official shall take corn or other

movable goods from any man without immediate payment, unless the seller

voluntarily offers postponement of this.

(29) No constable may compel a knight to pay money for castle-guard if

the knight is willing to undertake the guard in person, or with

reasonable excuse to supply some other fit man to do it. A knight taken

or sent on military service shall be excused from castle-guard for the

period of this service.

(30) No sheriff, royal official, or other person shall take horses or

carts for transport from any free man, without his consent.

(31) Neither we nor any royal official will take wood for our castle,

or for any other purpose, without the consent of the owner.

(32) We will not keep the lands of people convicted of felony in our

hand for longer than a year and a day, after which they shall be

returned to the lords of the ‘fees’ concerned.

(33) All fish-weirs shall be removed from the Thames, the Medway, and

throughout the whole of England, except on the sea coast.

(34) The writ called precipe shall not in future be issued to anyone in

respect of any holding of land, if a free man could thereby be deprived

of the right of trial in his own lord’s court.

(35) There shall be standard measures of wine, ale, and corn (the

London quarter), throughout the kingdom. There shall also be a standard

width of dyed cloth, russett, and haberject, namely two ells within the

selvedges. Weights are to be standardised similarly.

(36) In future nothing shall be paid or accepted for the issue of a

writ of inquisition of life or limbs. It shall be given gratis, and not

refused.

(37) If a man holds land of the Crown by ‘fee-farm’, ‘socage’, or

‘burgage’, and also holds land of someone else for knight’s service, we

will not have guardianship of his heir, nor of the land that belongs to

the other person’s ‘fee’, by virtue of the ‘fee-farm’, ‘socage’, or

‘burgage’, unless the ‘fee-farm’ owes knight’s service. We will not

have the guardianship of a man’s heir, or of land that he holds of

someone else, by reason of any small property that he may hold of the

Crown for a service of knives, arrows, or the like.

(38) In future no official shall place a man on trial upon his own

unsupported statement, without producing credible witnesses to the

truth of it.

(39) No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his