Berthelet’s Antiq. Stat. & Secunda Pars Vet. Stat. 1531, 1532. Catalogue, A. No. 21, 22.
In 1531 Berthelet printed an Edition of the Antiqua Statuta, similar to the Editions by Pynson, with some Additions. In 1532 Berthelet also printed a Collection of Statutes previous to 1 Edw. III. not included in the the Antiqua Statuta. This Collection he entitled “Secunda Pars Veterum Statutorum,” and it is always so distinguished: It was frequently reprinted. The Statutes contained in it are in French and Latin respectively.
Neither in the Antiqua Statuta by Pynson, nor in the Secunda Pars Veterum Statutorum, were the Contents arranged with any Chronological Accuracy: In the Antiqua Statuta the Two Charters, and the Statutes of Merton, and Marlbridge, and Westminster 1 and 2, are placed first, and the other Matters follow in a very confused Manner. No better Order is preserved in the Secunda Pars. These Two Parts of the Vetera Statuta were frequently reprinted together. Tottell’s Antiq. Stat. & ada Pars. 1556, &c. Catal. A. No. 35, 36, 41.The Edition of them by Tottell in 1556 is the most known: This varies from Pynson’s and Berthelet’s, in some Readings of the Text of the Statutes; and it is enlarged by the Addition of “certain Statutes with other needful Things taken out of Old Copies examined by the Rolls,” printed at the End of the First Part. Editions by Tottell in 1576, and 1587, and later Editions by various Printers, insert only a partial Selection of Antient Statutes, with further various Readings, and add some modern Statutes. On a Comparison, made for the Purpose of ascertaining the Fact, there is reason to conclude that the Copy used by Lord Coke in his Second Institute was that of 1587.
The earliest Printed Translation, not abridged, of the Charters, and of several Statutes previous to 1 Edw. III. appears to have been made by Ferrers, a Member of Parliament, from the Editions of the Vetera Statuta and Secunda Pars before noticed; It was first printed in 1534, and contains the greatest Part, but not all, of the Matters included in those Editions, but does not arrange them in Chronological Order. In 1540 and 1542, other Editions of this Translation were published, with some Amendments and Additions.
In 1543, The Statutes in English, from the time of Henry III. to 19 Hen. VII. inclusive, chronologically arranged, were printed by Berthelet, in one Volume, Folio. It has not been satisfactorily ascertained that any complete chronological Series of the Statutes from Magna Carta to 1 Edw. III., either in their Original Language, or in English, or that any Translation of the Statutes from 1 Edw. III. to 1 Hen. VII. had been published previous to this Edition by Berthelet; though some Books refer to Editions by Berthelet as of 1529 and 1540.[1] It appears probable that the Translation in this Edition by Berthelet was made from the small Editions of the Vetera Statuta and Secunda Pars, and from Pynson’s Edition of the Nova Statuta 1 Edw. III. to 1 Ric. III. inclusive. This Edition contains some Translations, particularly of the Dictum de Kenilworth, not included in either of the Editions of Ferrers’s Translations: With respect to the others previous to 1 Edw. III. it agrees in general with the Second Edition of Ferrers’s Translation; and Cay, in the Preface to his Edition of the Statutes, conjectures that the Whole of the Translation in this Edition was made by Ferrers. No Translation of the Statuta Walliæ 12 Edw. I. is given either by Ferrers or in any subsequent Edition: Several other Statutes also have been always printed without Translations.
Myddylton and Berthelet, Engliſh, 1541–8. 1 Edw. III. to 34 Hen. VIII. Catalogue, A. No. 33.“The Great Boke of Statutes” commences with 1 Edw. III. and ends with 34 Hen. VIII. It is entirely in English. It appears to have been published at different Times, in separate Parts; and it seems not unlikely that the earliest Part may have been published previous to the English Edition printed by Berthelet in 1543, from which it differs in some Particulars: Of such Difference one Instance is the Insertion of Cap. 7. of 2 Ric. II. Stat. 1. respecting Pope Urban, which is omitted in Berthelet 1543 and subsequent Editions; from whence it seems probable that this Part was published before the severe Prohibitions, by the Acts of Hen. VIII, against acknowledging the Papal Power.
W. Raſtall’s Collection, 1557, 1579, &c. Hen. III. to 4 & 5 P. & Mar. Catal. A. No. 37, 42.William Rastall (or Rastell) who in 1557 published his first Edition of a Collection of all the Statutes which were before that Year imprinted, was a Serjeant at Law; and was made a Judge in 1558. In this Collection the Statutes are distributed under apt Titles in Alphabetical Order, the Preambles for the most part being omitted, and a brief Mention only made of such Statutes as were expired or repealed, or of a private or local Nature. It gives all the Statutes to the End of Richard III. in Latin or in French, as they were at first published;[2] and all the subsequent Statutes in English. The same Collection, having the Statutes prior to Henry VII. translated into English, instead of being inserted in their Original Language, was printed about 1579, and reprinted very frequently afterwards, until 1621. In these successive Editions, the New Statutes were from Time to Time abridged, and inserted under their proper Titles. The Translation contained in this Collection appears to have been executed with superior Care and Industry; where it borrows from foregoing Versions, it, occasionally, amends what was faulty: Translations are inserted in it of some Matters not before translated; of others, Translations entirely new and more faithful are given; and the whole was sedulously revised from Time to Time; the later Editions, particularly those of 1591 and 1603, correcting Errors which had escaped Notice in the earlier Editions. Rastall died in 1565, and it is not known by whom these English Editions of the Collection bearing his Name, were prepared, or edited.
- ↑ Herbert’s Ames 417: Brady’s History of England, vol. i. pa. 658.
- ↑ “I have put every Statute in the tonge that it was first written in. For those that were first written in latin or in frenche dare I not presume to translate into English for fear of misseinterpretacion. For many wordes and termes be there in divers Statutes, both in latin and in frenche, which be very hard to translate aptly into English.”—Epistle or Preface prefixed to W. Rastall’s Collection; Edit. 1557. In the Edition of 1579 and the subsequent Editions, this Sentence is omitted from the Preface.
