1921 WRITS OF ASSISTANCE, 1558-1700 359 be seen by an examination of the Pawn for 35 Elizabeth (1593), where the name of Sir William Peryam, who was made chief baron after the writs had been issued for the parliament of that year and had therefore a writ of a later date than the others, occurs in the middle of the list before the names of judges who undoubtedly received the earlier writs. 1 Therefore all that can be said is that, though the Pawns may usually have been drawn up when the writs were issued, the fair copy which we possess 2 may quite well have been prepared after the dissolution of parliament. In form there is only one of the Pawns that presents any- thing of much interest ; this is the one 3 for the parliament of 30 Henry VIII (1539). A very large number of the names on it have been scored through and others inserted, and a careful examination shows that the original list is that belonging to the parliament of 1539, and that it has been brought up to date and used again as a rough list for the parliament of 6 Edward VI (1553) ; from this a fair copy has been made. 4 That this is the case can easily be proved. * Anno tricesimo ' has been altered to ' anno sexto ' ; Roger Cholmley, who became chief justice of the king's bench in March 1552, has been substituted for Edward Montagu, who was chief justice in 1539; John Baker — attorney- general in 1539 — is scored out and Edward Gryffin, who was not attorney-general till the following reign, is inserted, and John Gosnold is added as solicitor-general, an office he did not hold till May 1552. The names of the three secretaries of state (Petre, Cecil, and Cheke), who certainly received writs of assistance in 1553, are not, however, inserted in this rough copy, though they appear in the fair one drawn up later. Blackstone, writing of these writs of assistance, says: In the «*iext place they 5 have a right to be attended, and constantly are, by the Judges of the court of king's bench and common pleas, and such of the barons of the exchequer as are of the degree of the coif, or have been made Serjeants at law ; as likewise by the masters of the court of chancery ; for their advice in point of law, and for the greater dignity of their proceedings. The secretaries of state, the attorney and solicitor general, and the rest of the king's learned counsel being Serjeants, were three persons were summoned as solicitor-general during the course of this parliament, Sir Thomas Fleming, Sir John Dodderidge, and Sir Francis Bacon ; three as chief baron of the exchequer, Sir William Peryam, Sir Thomas Fleming, and Sir Lawrence Tanfield : two as chief justice of the king's bench, Sir John Popham and Sir Thomaa Fleming ; ^wo as chief justice of the common pleas, Sir Edmund Anderson and Sir. Francis Gawdy ; while Sir John Croke is summoned both as a serjeant-at-law and as a justice of the king's bench. * Parliament Pawns, bundle i, no. 14.
- In two cases both the rough and fair copies have been preserved : the amended
Pawn of 1539 which serves as the rough copy for the parliament of 1553 (see below) and the two Pawns (nos. 28 and 29) for the parliament of 1690. 3 Parliament Pawns, bundle i, no. 2. * Ibid., no. 5. 6 i. e. the peers
