Our Legal Heritage Part 55

English merchants may carry their merchandise in foreign s.h.i.+ps if there are no English s.h.i.+ps available.

Anyone may s.h.i.+p or carry grain out of the nation, except to enemies, after paying duties. But the council may restrain this pa.s.sage when necessary for the good of the nation. Any merchant, privy or stranger, who was robbed of goods on the sea or lost his s.h.i.+p by tempest or other misfortune on the sea banks, his goods coming to sh.o.r.e could not be declared Wreck, but were to be delivered to the merchant after he proves owners.h.i.+p in court by his marks on the goods or by good and lawful merchants.

All stakes and obstacles set up in rivers impeding the pa.s.sage of boats shall be removed.

Waterpower was replacing foot power in driving the mills where cloth was cleaned and fulled.

A boundary dispute between two barons resulted in the first true survey map. Nine cow pastures were divided by a boundary marked by a s.h.i.+eld on a pole which the commission of true and sworn men had set up.

King Richard II, an irresponsible sovereign, a.s.serted an absolute supremacy of the king over Parliament and declared certain statutes which he claimed to have been forced on him to be revoked. He interfered with county elections of knights to Parliament by directing sheriffs to return certain named persons. He wanted to dispense altogether with Parliament and instead have a committee of representatives. He claimed that the goods of his subjects were his own and illegally taxed the counties. There were many disputes as to who should be his ministers.

High treason was extended to include making a riot and rumor, compa.s.sing or purposing to depose the King, revoking one's homage or liege to the King, or attempting to repeal a statute. When Henry Bolingbroke reported to Parliament that another lord had cast doubt on the king's trustworthiness, a duel between them was arranged. But Richard, probably fearing the gain of power of the lord who won, instead exiled the two lords. He took possession of the Lancaster estates to which Bolingbroke was heir and forbade this inheritance. This made all propertied men anxious and they united behind Bolingbroke in taking up arms against Richard. Richard was not a warrior king and offered to resign the crown.

The "Merciless Parliament" of 1388 swept out Richard's friends.

Parliament deposed and imprisoned Richard. It revoked the extensions to the definition of high treason. It elected Bolingbroke, who claimed to be a descendant of Henry III, to be King Henry IV. This action established clearly that royal decrees were subordinate to parliamentary statutes, that Parliament was the ultimate legal arbiter of the realm, and that the consent of Parliament was necessary in determining kings.h.i.+p. The House of Commons became very powerful. It was responsible for the major part of legislation. It's members began to a.s.sert the privilege of free speech. That is, they wanted to discuss other matters than what was on the king's agenda and they opposed punishment for what they said unless it was treasonable. Henry IV agreed to their request not to consider reports of proceedings unless they came to him through official channels.

- The Law -

High treason was defined by statute in 1352 as levying war against the King, aiding the King's enemies, compa.s.sing or imagining the death of the King, Queen, or their eldest son and heir, or violating the Queen or the eldest unmarried daughter or the wife of the King's eldest son and heir; making or knowingly using counterfeits of the King's great or privy seal or coinage; or slaying the Chancellor, Treasurer, or any justice in the exercise of their duty. The penalty was forfeit of life and lands.

Pet.i.t treason was defined by statute and included a servant slaying his master, a wife her husband, or a man his lord, to whom was owed faith and obedience.

No one shall tell false news or lies about prelates, dukes, earls, barons, and other n.o.bles and great men or the Chancellor, Treasurer, a Justice, Clerk of the Privy Seal, Steward of the King's house whereby debates and discords might arise between these lords or between the lords and the commons. Cases shall be tried by the King's Council, which included the Chancellor, Treasurer, and chief justices.

Preachers drawing crowds by ingenious sermons and inciting them to riot shall be arrested by sheriffs and tried by the ecclesiastical court.

Any stranger pa.s.sing at night of whom any have suspicion shall be arrested and taken to the Sheriff.

No man shall ride with a spear, upon pain of forfeiting it.

No servant of agriculture or laborer shall carry any sword or dagger, or else forfeit it, except in time of war in defense of the nation. He may carry bow and arrow [for practice] on Sundays and holy days, when he should not play games such as tennis, football, or dice.

No one may enter another's land and tenements by strong hand nor with a mob, upon pain of imprisonment and ransom at the King's will.

Charters, releases, obligations, quitclaim deeds and other deeds burnt or destroyed in uprisings shall be reissued without fee, after trial by the king and his council. Manumissions, obligations, releases and other bonds and feoffments in land made by force, coercion or duress during mob uprisings are void.

Men who rape and women consenting after a rape shall lose their inheritance and dower and joint feoffments. The husbands, or father or next of kin of such women may sue the rapist by inquisition, but not by trial by combat. The penalty is loss of life and member.

The Statute of Laborers of 1351 required all workers, from tailors to ploughmen, to work only at pre-plague wage rates and forced the vagrant peasant to work for anyone who claimed him or her. It also encouraged longer terms of employment as in the past rather than for a day at a time. Statutory price controls on food limited profits to reasonable ones according to the distance of the supply. Later, wages were determined in each county by Justices of the Peace according to the dearth of victuals while allowing a victualer a reasonable profit and a penalty was specified as paying the value of the excess wages given or received for the first offense, double this for the second offense, and treble this or forty days imprisonment for the third offense.

A fugitive laborer will be outlawed, and when found, shall be burnt in the forehead with the letter "F" for falsity.

Children who labored at the plough and cart or other agriculture shall continue in that labor and may not go into a craft.

A statute of 1363 designed to stop h.o.a.rding various types of merchandise until a type became scarce so to sell it at high prices, required merchants to deal in only one type of merchandise. It also required craftsmen to work in only one craft as before (except women who traditionally did several types of handiwork). This was repealed a year later.

Where scarcity has made the price of poultry high, it shall be lowered to 8d. for a young capon, 7d. for an old capon or a goose, 9d. for a hen, and 10d. for a pullet.

The fares for pa.s.sage on boats on fresh waters and from Dover to the continent shall remain at their old rate.