The Edition of the Statutes in English, by Barker, in Two Volumes Folio, frequently bound up in one, ending with 29 Eliz, the Title to which affords the earliest Instance of the Term “Statutes at Large,” agrees in general, as to the Statutes previous to 1 Hen. VII, with the English Edition by Berthelet in 1543.
After the Edition of Rastall’s Collection in English in 1579, it does not appear that any of the Statutes from 1 Edw. III. to 1 Hen. VII. were printed in Latin or French, until some of them were so printed in the Edition by Hawkins in 1735.
The English Edition 1618, which in the Title Page is said to contain all the Acts at any Time extant in Print until 16 Jac. I., published by the King’s Printers, Norton and Bill, in Two Volumes large Folio, is usually called “Rastall’s Statutes:” although the Editor of the Collections before noticed, had been long deceased. The latest Acts inserted in this Edition are of 7 Jac. I. being the last Session preceding the Publication. The Translation of the Statutes previous to Hen. VII. does not follow the improved Translation adopted in the Editions of Rastall’s Collection in English; It agrees with the Translations of Berthelet 1543, and Barker 1587; except that it is not so correctly printed.
In the same Year 1618, A Collection, in English, of sundry Statutes frequent in use, ending with 7 Jac. I. was published by Pulton. Several Statutes, not included in the Edition called Rastall’s 1618, are for the first Time translated in this Edition, and are so noted to be in the Preface; the most important of these are, Ordinatio pro Statu Hibernie, as of 17 Edw. I. but being, in fact, of 17 Edw. II.;—Ordinatio Forestæ, 34 Edw. I.;—De Asportatis Religiosorum, 35 Edw. I.;—De Terris Templariorum, 17 Edw. II. Several subsequent Editions of this Collection were printed after the Death of Pulton: Those of 1635 and 1640 are remarkable for giving the progressive Answers to the Petition of Right, 3 Car. I.See Appendix B. Note 1. and the King’s Speech on pronouncing the Assent, “Soit droit fait come il est desire͏́:” which are not contained in any other general Collections; though they were printed by Authority in the Sessional Publication of the Statutes of that Year.
As this English Edition by Pulton has been much copied by subsequent Editors of the Statutes, it deserves particular Notice.[1]
The original Edition published in 1618, contained many Corrections of the then existing Translation, by rendering it more conformable to the Records in the Tower; and further Corrections were from Time to Time made in the subsequent Editions: But several Errors and Inconsistencies were suffered to remain in consequence of the Translation following the old Printed Copies of the Latin and French Text, which frequently differ from those Records.[2] Some of the Corrections made in the various Editions of the English Collection called Rastall’s, were indeed adopted; but several Matters translated in Rastall’s English Collection, are not included in Pulton’s, particularly several of the Statutes of Uncertain Date, usually classed together after the Reign of Edw. II. A Change of Phraseology also is occasionally made in Pulton, not always to the Improvement of the Translation. Titles are put at the Heads of the several Chapters, which are in fact intended as Abridgements of their Contents, and which were not given in former Editions to the Chapters of any Statute previous to Edw. IV: though in the Chronological Table of Statutes subjoined to Rastall’s Collection, Titles of a similar Kind occur from the Beginning of the Reign of Edward III. Several Parts or Chapters of the Statutes subsequent to 1 E. III. are omitted, and only noticed by the Titles or Abridgements.
From 1618 to 1735 the great Body of the Statutes continued to be published entirely in English; but the small Collections of the Statutes previous to I Edw. III. in French and Latin, were frequently reprinted till after 1618, and these were succeeded by the Collection in Lord Coke’s Second Institute. The Editions bearing the Name of Pulton, were continued from time to time from 1618 to 1670; the last by Manby, who had previously edited the Statutes passed in the Time of Car. I. and Car. II.
During the Usurpation partial Collections of Acts for different Series of Years were published, from 1646 to 1654; and an Authentic Collection by Scobell the Clerk of the Parliament, from 1640 to 1656. After the Restoration, Editions of the Statutes Car. I. and Car. II. were published by the King’s Printers and others.
In 1676 Keble’s Edition of the Statutes at large, ending with 27 Car. II. was published by the King’s Printers, “carefully examined by the Rolls of Parliament.” This Edition is in many Instances more correct, as to the Statutes subsequent to Hen. VII., than the Editions by Barker or Pulton, or that called Rastall’s 1618: It was from Time to Time reprinted, and continued by additional Volumes. The Translation of the Statutes previous to Henry VII, contained in all the Editions called Keble’s, was copied from the latest Edition of Pulton.
- ↑ See further as to this Edition by Pulton, and its Defects as a General Collection, Sect. II. pa. xxviij.
- ↑ See 4 Inst. 51. as to Errors in the printed Editions of the Statutes extant at that Time, in consequence of their differing from the Records; and see the Volume usually called Cotton’s Abridgement of the Records in the Tower; but which in Fact is an Abridgement of the Rolls of Parliament from 5 E. II. to 1 Ric. III., made by Bowyer, Keeper of the Records: In these, many Variations between the Statute, as printed, and the Parliament Roll, are stated; but without adverting to the Circumstance how far the printed Statutes agreed with the Statute Roll. See also Prynne’s Preface to Cotton’s Abridgement, fo. 3, 4.
