Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/477

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EDICT OF NANTES.
469

Exchequer, all to be as valid as if they were admitted by the said Courts and Chambers, or by the other Judges, to whom the right of admission belongs. And their salary shall be paid without objection by the Court of Exchequer; and if any have been struck off the list, they shall be reinstated without requiring further orders than those contained in the present Edict, and without obliging any Officer to bring fresh proof of admission, notwithstanding Decrees to the contrary, which shall be null and void.

56th.—Until means arise from the payment of fines, for the expenses of justice in the said Chambers, a sufficient assignment shall be made to meet the expenses, without prejudice to the recovery of interest upon the property of condemned persons.

57th.—The President and Councillors of the said pretended Reformed religion formerly received in our Court of Parliament of Dauphiny, and in the Chamber of the Edict, incorporated with it, shall continue to have their seats and rank therein; that is to say, the Presidents, as they have enjoyed and do enjoy them, and the Councillors, in conformity with the decrees and orders obtained from our Privy Council.

58th.—"We declare to be null and void, from this time forth, all sentences, judgments, arrests, prosecutions, seizures, sales and decrees made and given against persons, dead or alive of the said pretended Reformed religion, since the death of the late King Henry II., our much honored Lord and Father-in-law, on account of the said religion, the tumults and troubles thence arising, together with the execution of those sentences and decrees. We command all of them to be erased and taken away from the Records of the Registrars of all Courts, superior and inferior. It is also our will that all marks, vestiges and monuments of said executions shall be entirely effaced and removed, as well as all defamatory books or acts injurious to their persons, their memory or their posterity; and that wherever injury or destruction of property took place from that cause, the same shall be restored in its present condition to the former proprietors, to enjoy and dispose of as they please. And generally, we declare null and void all prosecutions and informations laid for pretended High Treason and other crimes. In spite of any prosecutions, decrees and judgments implying resumption, incorporation and confiscation that may have passed, we command the restoration in full, of all property to those of the said religion, others who belonged to their party and their heirs, and that they be put in real and actual possession of the same.