said Shire, Limit, Division, or Liberty: Conviction of a Recusant (3) And if at the said next Assizes and General Gaol-delivery or Sessions the same Offender so proclaimed shall not make Appearance of Record, that then upon every such Default recorded, the same shall be as sufficient a Conviction in Law of the said Offence whereof the Party shall stand indicted as aforesaid, as if upon the same, Indictment a Trial by Verdict thereupon had proceeded, and been found against him or her, and recorded.
The penalty of a convicted RecusantVIII. And be it further enacted, That every Offender in not repairing to Divine Service, but for bearing the same, contrary to the Statutes in that Behalf made and provided29. Eliz. c. 6, that hereafter shall fortune to be thereof once convicted, shall in such of the Terms of Easter and Michaelmas as shall be next after such Conviction, pay into the Receipt of the Exchequer after the Rate of twenty Pounds for every Month which shall be contained in the Indictment whereupon such Conviction shall be; (2) and shall also for every Month after such Conviction, without any other Indictment or Conviction, forfeit twenty Pounds, and pay into the Receipt of the Exchequer aforesaid, at two Times in the Year, that is to say, in every Easter and Michaelmas Term, as much as then shall remain unpaid, after the Rate of twenty Pounds for every Month after such Conviction; (3) except in such Cases where the King shall and may by Force of this Act refuse the same, and take two Parts of the Lands, Tenements, Hereditaments, Leases and Farms of such Offender, till the said Party being indicted for not coming to Church, contrary to former Laws, shall conform himself and come to Church, according to the meaning of the Statute in that Behalf made and provided.
Every conviction shall be certified into the exchequer IX. And that every Conviction recorded for any Offence before-mentioned, shall from the Justices before whom; the Record of such Conviction shall be remaining, be certified into the King's Majesty's Court of Exchequer, before the End of the Term following such Conviction, in such convenient Certainty for the Time and other Circumstances, as the Court of Exchequer may thereupon award Out Process for the Seizure of the Lands and Goods of every such Offender, as the Case shall require: (2) And if Default shall be made in any Part of any Payment aforesaid, contrary to the Form herein before limited, that then and so often the King's Majefsy, his Heirs and Successors, shall and may by Process out of the said Exchequer, take, seize and enjoy all the Goods, and two Parts as well or all the Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments, Leases and Farms of such Offender, as of all other the Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments liable to such Seizure, or to the Penalties aforesaid, by the true Meaning of this Act, leaving the third Part only of the same Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments, Leases and Farms, to and for the Maintenance and Relief of the said Offender, his Wife, Children and Family.
The Statute of 23 Eliz. c. 1. touching a Recusants' monthly foreiture. X. ' And whereas by an Act made in the Session of Parliament holden by Prorogation at Westminster in the three and twentieth Year of the Reign of the late Queen Elizabeth, intituled, "An Act to retain the Subjedts of the said late Queen in their due Obedience", It was amongst other Things enacted by Authority of the said Parliament, That every Person above the Age of sixteen Years, by Forfeiture, which should not repair to some Church, Chapel, or usual Place of Common Prayer, but forbear the same contrary to the Tenor of a Statute made in the first Year of the Reign of the said late Queen1 Eliz. c. 2., for Uniformity of Common Prayer, and being thereof ,lawfully convicted, should forfeit to the said Queen, for every Month after the End of the said. Session of Parliament which he or she should so forbear, twenty Pounds of lawful English Money, as in and by the said Act of Parliament more at large appeareth:'
How by the Statute of 29 Eliz. c. 6. the Queen should recover Forfiture due to her by recusants ' XI. And whereas afterward by another Act of Parliament of the said Queen, it was further enacted by the Authority of the said Parliament (amongst other Things) how and when the said Payments of the said twenty Pounds should be made, and that if Default should be made in any Part of any Payment of the said twenty Pounds, contrary to the Form in the said last specified Statute limited, that then and so often the said Queen should and might by Process out of her Highness Exchequer take, seize and enjoy all the Goods, and two Parts as well of all the Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments, Leases and Farms of such Offender, as of all other the Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments liable to such Seizure or to the Penalties aforesaid, by the true Meaning of the said Act of Parliament, leaving the third Part only of the same Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments, Leases and Farms, to and for the Maintenance and Relief of the fame Offender, his Wife, Children and Family, as in and by the last specified Statute more at large also may appear: (2) Now forasmuch as the said Penalty of twenty Pounds monthly is a greater Burden unto Men of small Living, than unto such as are of better Ability and do refuse to come unto Divine. Service, as aforesaid, who rather than they will have two Parts of their Lands to be seized, will be ready always to pay the said twenty Pounds according to the Limitatation of the said Statutes, and yet retain the Residue of their Livings and Inheritance in their own Hands, being of great yearly Value, which they do for the most Part employ (as Experience hath taught) to the Maintenance of Superstition and Popish Religion, and to the Relief of Jesuits, Seminaries, Popish Priests, and other dangerous Persons to the State; (3) Therefore to the Intent that hereafter the Penalty for not repairing to Divine Service might be inflicted in better Proportion upon Men of great Ability;' The king may refuse 20l. a month, and take two parts of a Recusant's Lands.[1][2][3](4) Be it enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament, That the King's The King may Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, shall from and after the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel next coming after the End of this Session of Parliament, have full Power and Liberty to refuse twenty Pounds a Month, though it be tendred ready to be paid according to the Law, and thereupon to seize and take to his own Use, and the Uses, Intents and Purposes hereafter limited, two Parts in three Parts to be divided, as well of all the Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments, Leases and Farms that at the Time of such Seizure shall be, or afterward shall come to any the said Offenders in not coming to Church, or any other to his or her Use, or in Trust for him or her, or at his or her Disposition, or whereby or wherewith, or in Consideration whereof, such Offender or his Family, or any of them, shall be relieved, maintained or kept, as of all other Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments in any wife or at any Time liable to such Seizure, or to the Penalties, aforesaid, and the same to retain to his, own and
