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XLII. From henceforward, nothing shall be given or taken for a writ of inquisition, from him that desires an inquisition of life or limbs-but shall be granted gratis and not denied.

XLIII. If any one hold of us, by fee-farm, or socage, or burgage,† and holds lands by another, of military service, we will not have the wardship of the heir or land, which belongs to another man's fee, by reason of what he holds of us, by fee-farm, socage, or burgage, unless the fee-farm is bound to perform military service.

XLIV. We will not have the wardship of an heir, nor of any land which he holds of another, by military service-by reason of any petit serjeantcy he holds of us, as by the service of giving us daggers, arrows, or the like.

XLV. No bailiff, for the future, shall put any man to his law, upon his single accusation, without credible witnesses produced to prove it.

XLVI. No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or disseised, or outlawed, or banished, or any ways destroyed; nor will we pass upon him, or commit him to prison, unless by the legal judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. XLVII. We will sell to no man, we will deny no man, or defer right nor justice. XLVIII. All merchants§ shall have secure conduct, to go out of and to come into England, and to stay there, and to pass as well by land as by water, to buy and sell by the ancient and allowed customs, without any evil toils, except in time of war, or when they are of any nation in war with us.

XLIX. And if there be found any such in our land in the beginning of the war, they shall be attached, without damage to their bodies or goods, until it may be known unto us, or our chief justiciary, how our merchants be treated in the nation at war with us; and if ours be safe there, they shall be safe in our dominions.

L. [It shall be lawful, for the time to come, for any one to go out of the kingdom, and return safely and securely by land or by water, saving his allegiance to us, unless in time of war, by some short space, for the common benefit of the kingdom, except prisoners and outlaws, (according to the law of the land,) and people in war with us, and merchants who shall be in such condition as is above mentioned.]

LI. If any man holds of any escheat, as the honour of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats which are in our hands, and are baronies, and dies, his heir shall not give any other relief, or perform any other service to us, than he would to the baron, if the barony were in possesion of the baron: we will hold it after the same manner the baron held it.

LII. [Those men who dwell without the forest, from henceforth shall not come before our justiciaries of the forest, upon common summons, but such as are impleaded or the pledges of any, for any that were attached for something concerning the forests.]

LIII. We will not make any justiciaries, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs, but what are knowing in the law of the realm, and are disposed duly to observe it.

Inquisition-This was a writ directed to the sheriff, to inquire whether a man sent to prison on suspicion of murder was so committed upon a reasonable ground of suspicion, or through malice and ill-will.

Fee Farm, Socage, and Burgage-To hold in Fee Farm, is when there is some rent reserved by the lord upon the creation of the tenancy. In Socage, upon condition of ploughing the lord's lands, and doing other inferior offices of husbandry: and in Burgage, when the inhabitants of a Borough held their tenements of the king at a certain rent.

To his Law, means to his oath.

By some old laws, foreign merchants were prohibited the kingdom, except in fair time, and their sojourn was then limited to forty days.

LIV. All barons who are founders of abbies, and have charters of the kings of England for the advowson, or are entitled to it by ancient tenure, may have the custody of them when void, as they ought to have.

LV. All woods that have been taken into the forests in our own time, shall forthwith be laid out again; and the like shall be done with the rivers that have been taken or fenced in by us during our reign.

LVI. All evil customs concerning forests, warrens, and forresters, warreners, sheriffs, and their officers, rivers and their keepers, shall forthwith be inquired into, in each county, by twelve knights of the same shire, chosen by the most creditable persons in the same county, and upon oath; and within forty days after the said inquest, be utterly abolished, so as never to be restored.

LVII. We will immediately give up all hostages and engagements delivered unto us by our English subjects as securities for their keeping the peace and yielding us faithful service.

LVIII. We will entirely remove from our bailiwicks the relations of Gerard de Athyes, so as that for the future they shall have no bailiwick in England. We will also remove Engelard de Cygony, Andrew, Peter, and Gyon de Canceles, Gyon de Cygony, Geoffry de Martyn, and his brothers, Phillip Mark, and his brothers, and his nephew, Geoffrey, and their whole retinue.

LIX. And as soon as peace is restored, we will send out of the kingdom all foreign soldiers, cross-bow-men, and stipendiaries, who are come with horses and arms, to the injury of our people.

LX. If any one hath been dispossessed or deprived by us, without the legal judgment of his peers, of his lands, castles, liberties, or rights, we will forthwith restore them to him; and if any dispute arises upon this head, let the matter be decided by the five-and-twenty barons hereafter mentioned, for the preservation of the peace.

LXI. As for all those things of which any person has, without the legal judgment of his peers, been dispossessed or deprived, either by King Henry, our father, or our brother King Richard, and which we have in our hands, or are possessed by others, and we are bound to warrant and make good, we shall have a respite till the term usually allowed the Croises, excepting those things about which there is a suit depending, or whereof an inquest hath been made by our order before we undertook the crusade; but when we return from our pilgrimage, or if we do not perform it, we will immediately cause full justice to be administered therein.

LXII. The same respite we shall have for disafforesting the forests which Henry, our father, or our brother, Richard, have afforested, and for the wardship of the lands which are in another's fee, in the same manner as we have hitherto enjoyed those wardships by reason of a fee held of us by knights' service; and for the abbies founded in any other fee than our own, in which the lord of the fee claims a right; and when we return from our pilgrimage, or if we should not perform it, we will immediately do full justice to all the complainants in his behalf.

LXIII. No man shall be taken or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman for the death of any other man than her husband.

LXIV. All unjust and illegal fines, and all amerciaments imposed unjustly and contrary to the law of the land, shall be entirely forgiven, or else be left to the decision of the five-and-twenty barons, hereafter mentioned, for the preservation of the peace, or of the major part of them, together with the aforesaid Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and others whom he shall think fit to take along with him; and if he cannot be present, the business

shall, notwithstanding, go on without him: but so that if one or more of the aforesaid five-and-twenty barons be plaintiffs in the same cause, they shall be set aside as to what concerns this particular affair, and others be chosen in their room out of the said five-and-twenty, and sworn by the rest to decide that matter.

LXV. If we have disseised or dispossessed the Welsh of any lands, liberties, or other things, without the legal judgment of their peers, they shall immediately be restored to them. And if any dispute arise upon this head, the matter shall be determined in the Marches by the judgment of their peers-for tenements in England, according to the law of England; for tenements in Wales, according to the law of Wales: the same shall the Welsh do to us and our subjects. LXVI. As for all those things of which any Welshman hath without the legal judgment of his peers been disseised or deprived by King Henry, our father, or our brother, King Richard, and which we either have in our hands, or others are possessed of, and we are obliged to warrant, we shall have a respite till the time generally allowed the Croises, excepting those things about which a suit is depending, or whereof an inquest hath been made by our order before we undertook the crusade: but when we return, or if we stay at home, and do not perform our pilgrimage, we will immediately do them full justice according to the law of the Welsh, and of the parts afore-mentioned.

LXVII. We will, without delay, dismiss the son of Lewelin, and all the Welsh hostages, and release them from the engagements they entered into with us for the preservation of the peace.

LXVIII. We shall treat with Alexander, King of Scots, concerning the restoration of his sister and hostages, and his rights and liberties, in the same form and manner as we shall do the rest of our barons of England, unless, by the engagements which his father, William, late King of Scots, hath entered into with us, it ought to be otherwise, and this shall be left to the determination of his peers in our court.

LXIX. All the aforesaid customs and liberties which we have granted to be holden in our kingdom, as much as it belongs to us towards our people, all our subjects, as well clergy as laity, shall observe, as far as they are concerned, towards their dependants.

LXX. And whereas, for the honour of God and the amendment of our kingdom, and for quieting the discord that has arisen between us and our barons, we have granted all the things aforesaid. Willing to render them firm and lasting, we do give and grant our subjects the following security; namely, that the barons may chuse five-and-twenty barons of the kingdom, whom they think convenient, who shall take care with all their might to hold and observe, and cause to be observed, the peace and liberties we have granted them, and by this our present charter confirmed; so that, if our justiciary, our bailiffs, or any of our officers, shall in any case fail in the performance of them towards any person, or shall break through any of these articles of peace and security, and the offence is notified to four barons, chosen out of the five-and-twenty aforementioned, the said four barons shall repair to us, or our justiciary, if we are out of the realm, and, laying open the grievance, shall petition to have it redressed without delay. And if it is not redressed by us, if we should chance to be out of the realm, if it is not redressed by our justiciary, within forty days, reckoning from the time it hath been notified to us, or to our justiciary, if we should be out of the realm, the four barons aforesaid shall lay the cause before the rest and the five-and-twenty barons; and the said five-and-twenty barons, together with the community of the whole kingdom, shall distrain and distress us all the ways possible, namely, by seizing our castles, lands, and possessions in any other manner they can, till the grievance is redressed

according to their pleasure, saving harmless our own person, and the persons of our queen and children; and when it is redressed, they shall obey us as before. LXXI. Any person whatsoever in the kingdom may swear that he will obey the orders of the five-and-twenty barons, aforesaid, in the execution of the premises, and that he will distress us jointly with them to the utmost of his power; and we give public and free liberty to any one that will swear to them, and never shall hinder any person from taking the same oath.

LXXII. As for all those of our subjects who will not of their own accord swear to join the five-and-twenty barons in distraining and distressing us, we will issue our order to make them take the same oath, as aforesaid.

LXXIII. And if any one of the five-and-twenty barons dies, or goes out of the kingdom, or is hindered any other way from putting the things aforesaid in execution, the rest of the said five-and-twenty barons may chuse another in his room, at their discretion, who shall be sworn in like manner as the rest. LXXIV. In all things that are committed to the charge of these five-andtwenty barons, if, when they are all assembled together, they should happen to disagree about any matter, or some of them, when summoned, will not or cannot come, whatever is agreed upon or enjoined by the major part of those who are present, shall be reputed as firm and solid as if all the five-and-twenty had given their consent; and the foresaid five-and-twenty shall swear that all the premises they shall faithfully observe and cause with all their power to be observed.

LXXV. And we will not, by ourselves or others, procure any thing whereby any of their concessions and liberties be revoked or lessened; and if any such thing be obtained, let it be null and void; neither shall we ever make use of it, either by ourselves or any other.

LXXVI. And all the ill-will, anger, and malice that hath arisen between us and our subjects, of the clergy and laity, from the first breaking out of the dissension between us, we do fully remit and forgive. Moreover, all trespasses occasioned by the said dissension, from Easter, in the sixteenth year of our reign, till the restoration of peace and tranquillity, we hereby entirely remit to all, clergy as well as laity, and, as far as in us, do fully forgive.

LXXVII. We have, moreover, granted them our letters patent testimonial of Stephen, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry, Lord Archbishop of Dublin, and the bishops aforesaid, as also Master Pandulph for the Pope's security and concessions aforesaid.

LXXVIII. Wherefore, we will, and firmly enjoin, that the Church of England be free, and that all men in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, truly and peaceably, freely and quietly, fully and wholly, to themselves and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all things and places, for ever, as is aforesaid.

LXXIX. It is also sworn, as well on our part as on the part of the barons, that all things aforesaid shall faithfully and sincerely be observed.

Given under our hand, in the presence of the witnesses above-named, and many others, in the meadow called Runymede, between Windsor and Stanes, in the 15th day of June, in the 17th year of our reign. So as we are first acquainted therewith, or our justiciary if we should not be in England.

o And in the same manner about administering justice, deforesting the forests, or letting them continue.

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Charter of Forests.

The FORESTS belonged originally to the crown, and the kings had at different periods granted parts and parcels of them to private individuals, who had grubbed them up, and made them arable and pasture: but yet all those parts retained the name of forest. These forests belonging to the king as his own demesnes, or as the sovereign lord, were a continual source of vexatious suits, as well against those who held them of the king, as against the neighbouring freemen, under pretence of the rights of the crown.

Every article of this charter clearly demonstrates how much the subject had been oppressed under pretence of preserving the Royal Forests.

John, by the Grace of God, King of England, &c.: Know ye, that for the honour of God and the health of our soul, and the souls of our ancestors and successors, and for the exaltation of Holy Church, and for the reformation of our kingdom, we have, of our free and good will, given and granted, for us and our heirs, these liberties hereafter specified, to be and observed in our kingdom of England for ever.

I. Imprimis. All the forests made by our grandfather, King Henry, shall be viewed by honest and lawful men; and if he turned any other than his own proper woods into forests, to the damage of him whose wood it was, it shall forthwith be laid out again and disaforested. And if he turned his own woods into forests, they shall remain so, saving the common of pasture to such as were formerly wont to have..

II. Is the LII. and LV. of the great charter put into one chapter.

III. The archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, knights, and free tenants, who have woods in any forests, shall have their woods as they had them at the time of the first coronation of our grandfather, King Henry, so as they shall be discharged for ever of all purprestures,* wastes, and assarts,† made in those woods, after that time, to the beginning of the second year of our coronation; and those who for the time to come shall make waste, purpresture, or assart in those woods, without our licence, shall answer for them.

IV. Our inspectors or viewers shall go through the forests to make a view, as it was wont to be at the time of the first coronation of our said grandfather, King Henry, and not otherwise.

Purprestures-Encroachment upon the king's lands.

Wastes and Assarts-Grubbing up wood, and making it arable, without licence.

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