However, among the other conceſſions made by that unhappy prince, before the fatal recourſe to arms, he agreed to diveſt himſelf of this undoubted flower of his crown, and it was accordingly aboliſhed by ſtatute 16 Car. I. c. 20.
5. But, before they came of age, there was ftill another piece of authority, which the guardian was at liberty to exerciſe over his infant wards; I mean the right of marriage, (maritagium, as contradiſtinguiſhed from matrimonium) which in it's feodal ſenſe ſignifies the power, which the lord or guardian in chivalry had of diſpoſing of his infant ward in matrimony. For, while the infant was in ward, the guardian had the power of tendering him or her a ſuitable match, without diſparagement, or inequality: which if the infants refuſed, they forfeited the value of the marriage, valorem maritagii, to their guardian[1]; that is, ſo much as a jury would aſſeſs, or any one would bona fide give to the guardian for ſuch an alliance[2]: and, if the infants married themſelves without the guardian's conſent, they forfeited double the value, duplicem valorem maritagii[3]. This ſeems to have been one of the greateſt hardſhips of our antient tenures. There are indeed ſubſtantial reaſons why the lord ſhould have the reſtraint and controll of the ward's marriage, eſpecially of his female ward; becauſe of their tender years, and the danger of ſuch female ward's intermarrying with the lord's enemy[4]. But no tolerable pretence could be aſſigned why the lord ſhould have the ſale, or value, of the marriage. Nor indeed is this claim of ſtrictly feodal original; the moſt probable account of it ſeeming to be this: that by the cuſtom of Normandy the lord's conſent was neceſſary to the marriage of his female-wards[5]; which was introduced into England, together with the reſt of the Norman doctrine of feuds: and it is likely that the lords uſually took money for ſuch their conſent, ſince in the often-cited charter of Henry the firſt, he engages for the future to take nothing for his conſent; which alſo he promiſes in general to give, provided ſuch
