Page:Ruffhead - The Statutes at Large - vol 9.djvu/20

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xiv
The EDITOR

Besides the Acts printed in the Appendix, which have been omitted by late Editors, the Reader will find several in the Body of the Work which are not inserted in later Editions. Some of these are promised in the Preface; such as 1 R. III. touching Acts of Cestui que use, the 34 and 35 H. VIII. c. 4. concerning Bankrupts [1], the 39 Eliz. respecting Poor Laws, the 13 Eliz. for making the River Lee navigable, and the 12 Geo. II. for improving its Navigation. There are others likewise which it has been judged expedient to insert therein, such as the 10 W. III. c. 1. for granting an Aid to his Majesty for disbanding the Army, and other necessary Occasions, and the 4 and 5

W. III.

    irresistible, that they induced the Lords to withdraw their Addition: And they at length agreed in all Points with the Commons [notes 1]

    It is worthy of Remark, with how much Difficulty his Majesty was brought to give a satisfactory Answer to this Petition. At first he answered, " The King willeth, that right be done according to the Laws and Customs of the Realm, &c." But this not being thought sufficiently clear and precise, the Commons pressed his Majesty to be more explicit: To which he replied, "The Answer I have already given you, was made with so good Deliberation, and approved by the Judgments of so many wise Men, that I could not have imagined, but it mould have given you full Satisfaction; but to avoid all ambiguous Interpretations, and to shew you there is no Doubleness in my Meaning, I am willing to pleasure you in Words as well as Substance: Read your Petition, and you shall have an Answer that I am sure will please you." Whereupon the Petition being read, the King returned the Answer, which the Reader will find in the Statute Book: Sett Droit fait tome est desire.

    But the last and most glorious Charters, by which our Liberty is secured, are the Bill of Rights, and the Act of Settlement. By these there is an actual Compact established between the King and the Subject. The Rights of the People are enumerated and asserted, the Crown is tendered and accepted, on the Condition of the King's preserving the Rights so asserted, from Violation: And publick Liberty is not left to be supported by obsolete Precedents or litigated Interpretations.

  1. In the 34th and 35th of Henry the Eighth, which is the first Act against Bankrupts, and which in this Edition is printed at large, there is a Clause which appears to be unrepealed; and which is as follows:

    " And be it enacted, That if any such Person or Persons, which shall be indebted, do withdraw himself out of this Realm, or other the King's Dominions, into any foreign Realm or Country, to the Intent thereby to abide and remain in Defraud of his Creditors; that then, upon Complaint in Writing, concerning the Premises thereof, made to the said Lords, having Authority as is aforesaid, the fame Lords shall, by Virtue and Authority of this present Act, have full Power and Authority to award Proclamations to be made in such Places as to them shall be thought meet and convenient; commanding by the same, such Offender, in the King our Sovereign Lord's Name, to return with all convenient Speed into this Realm, and to yield his Body before the faid Lords, having Authority as is aforesaid, or one of them; and if the said Person, within three Months next after he shall have knowledge of such Proclamation, or as soon after as he conveniently may, do not repair and yield his Body as aforesaid, that then the Body of all and every such Offender and Offenders, shall be judged, taken and deemed, to all Intents and Purposes, out of the King's Protection: And that also all Goods, Chattels, Lands, Tenements and Debts of every such Offender, shall be, by Order of the said Lords, employed and distributed among his Creditors, equally and indifferently, Rate for Rate, in like Manner and Form as is afore declared.

This

  1. For the Speeches made on this Occasion, see Rushworth's Collections, Vo'. 1.