Page:Select historical documents of the Middle Ages.djvu/176

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
156
SELECT HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS.

case they shall receive daily ten pence. And these clerks shall write down the objections and responses which they (the bishops, clergy, etc.) make to the king and the parliament; and shall be present at their councils whenever they wish to have them. And, when they (the clerks) are at leisure, they shall aid the principal clerks with their enrollments.

Concerning difficult Cases and Judgments.

When a dispute, a doubt, or a difficult case, whether of peace or war, comes up in the kingdom or out of it,—that case shall be drawn up in writing and read in full parliament; and shall be treated of and disj)uted there among the peers of parliament; and, if it be necessary, it shall be enjoined—through the king, or on the part of the king if he be not present—on each of the grades of peers, that each grade shall go apart by itself; and that that case shall be delivered to their clerk in writing; and that they, in a fixed place, shall cause that case to be read before them, so that they may ordain and consider among themselves how, in that case, they shall best and most justly proceed; according as they themselves are willing to answer before God for the person of the king, and for their own persons, and also for the persons of those whose persons they represent. And they shall draw up in writing their replies and views; so that when all their responses, plans and views, on this side and on that, have been heard, it may be jDroceeded according to the better and more healthful plan, and according as, at length, the majority of the parliament shall agree. And if, through discord between them and the king and some magnates—or, perhaps, between the magnates them selves—the jDeace of the kingdom is endangered, or the people or the country troubled; so that it seems to the king and his council to be expedient that that matter shall be treated of and emended through the attention of all the peers of his kingdom; or if, through war, the king or the kingdom are in trouble; or if a difficult case come up before the chancellor of England; or a difficult judgment be about to be rendered before the justices, and so on: and if perchance, in such delibera-