3. Exemplifications; and Transcripts by Writ.—Exemplifications are Copies sent out of Chancery under the King’s Seal; either to Sheriffs of Counties and Cities in England, or to the Chancellor or Chief Justice of Ireland, or to other Courts or Places, for the safe Custody and for the proclaiming or confirming of the Statute; or in other Cases for affording Authentic Evidence of the Statute. In the Tower of London, Copies of the Statutes 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 18 and 20 Hen.VI. (for some Years to the Number of two, three, six, or seven Copies) are preserved on separate Skins of Parchment, which appear to have been prepared as Exemplifications, for the Purpose of proclaiming the several Statutes; and these serve to supply the Deficiency of the Statute Roll during that Period. One similar Copy of the Statutes 13 Ric. II. is also preserved in the Tower.[1]
It is not irrelevant to remark, that an Exemplification differs from an Original Grant under the Great Seal, or an Original Act of Parliament, in this; that an Exemplification is a Copy, and can be made only from the Record.[2] At the present Day every Exemplification, being first made out in Form by the proper Officer, is examined with the Record by two Masters in Chancery, who not only subscribe a Certificate on the Exemplification, of their having examined it with the Record, but also sign a Certificate to that effect, addressed to the Lord Chancellor, on a Paper called the Docket, which is left with him before the Exemplification is allowed to pass the Great Seal.
Transcripts by Writ were Copies sent into Chancery in Answer to the King’s Writ or Mandate, calling for a Copy of the Statute from the Officer in whose Custody it was preserved. A Transcript of the Statutes of Wales 12 Edw. I. is preserved in the Tower of London, with the Writ annexed, by which that Transcript was required from the Exchequer at Westminster;[3] where it was entered of Record, according to the Usage which formerly prevailed of sometimes inrolling Statutes in Courts of Justice.[4] Transcripts and Exemplifications of Statutes have also been occasionally found in various other Repositories.[5]
- ↑ See also Rot. Pat. 2 Edw. III. P. 2. m. 15; the Articuli Cleri, 9 Edw. II, exemplified at the Request of the Clergy of Sarum. Rot. Pat. 2 Ric. II. P. 2. m. 20; Assisa Panis, &c. exemplified at the Request of the Bakers of Coventry. Rot. Claus. 5 Ric II. m. 13 d; the Recital and Confirmation in Parliament of the Statute of Wynton, 13 Ed. I. And further the Notes and Writs subjoined to the following Statutes, viz. Stat. Wynt. 13 Edw. I: Stat de Mercatoribus, 13 Edw. I: Stats. 22 Edw. I: 27 Edw. I: 34 Edw. I: 35 Edw. I: 3 Edw. II: 9 Edw. II: 12 Edw. II. As to Exemplifications for particular Purposes at the present Day, see that relating to the Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland, in Appendix E. to this Introduction.
- ↑ See 3 Inst. 173; and Stats. 3 & 4 Ed. VI. c. 4: 13 Eliz. c. 6.
- ↑ See Note and Writ at the End of Stat. Wallie 12 Edw. I.; See also Rot. Claus. 9 Edw. II. m. 11, the Correction of Chapter 12 of the Statute of Gloucester, 6 Edw. I. sent to the Justices of the Bench; and again Rot. Claus. 17 Edw. III. P. 1. m. 7.
- ↑ 4 Inst. 43: Rot. Claus. 12 E. II. m. 22 d.
- ↑ See Appendix C. subjoined to this Introduction.
The Distinction between such Bills as were common and such as were particular, or in the more modern Phrase Public Acts and Private Acts, with respect to the Practice of inrolling them, was thus certified by Kirkby of the Rolls, 33 Hen. VI. “Sir, le cours del parlem̄t est tiel - - - - si ascun bill, soit ꝑticuler, ou aut͛ bill q̃ soit primerm̄t delivr̃ a les Comūs, et sil passe eux, ils usent endosser le bill en tiel forme; cest assavoir, ‘soit bail̴l̴ as seigniors;’ et si le Roy et les seigniors agreent a m̄ le bill, et ne voilloit alt͛ ne changer le bill, adonqꝫ ilz ne usent endosser le bill, mes est bail̴l̴ al Clerk del Parlement pour ẽe enrolle; et si ce soit un comē bill, il serra enrolle et enacte; mes si soit un ꝑticuler bill, il ne serra enrolle, mes sera file sur le filac̃ et est assez biē; mes si la ꝑty veut suir pur lētr̃ pour estre le mieux seur, il purroit estre enroulle.”—Year Book 33 Hen VI. 17: Fitzh. Abr. tit. Parliament pl. 1: Bro. Abr. tit. Parliament & Statutes pl. 4. See also Rot. Claus. 6 Hen. VI. nu. 11, for the Proceedings towards the Inrollment of a Particular Bill or Private Act.
In the 14th Year of James I. Lord Hobart speaking of a Private Act then under Consideration said, “That very Bill is filed with the rest of the Bills, and the King’s Assent unto it, and labelled with the rest, whereunto the Great Seal is set, as the Course is in Private Acts, which are not inrolled without special Suit, as General Acts are; for General Acts are always inrolled by the Clerk of the Parliament, and delivered over into Chancery, which Inrollment in the Chancery makes them the Original Record (as it was resolved in John Stubbs’s Case): But in Private Acts the very Body of the first Bill filed and sealed as aforesaid, and remaining with the Clerk of the Parliament, is the Original Record.” Hob. 109. The following Account, given also in the Reign of James I. by Bowyer and Elsyng, in the written Objections which they made to Pulton’s having Access to and printing the Original Records of Acts in the Tower (See Chap. I. Sect. II. pa. xxviii. of this Introduction,) appears to be more accurate with respect to private Acts than that of Lord Hobart; and agrees with that given by Kirkby in 33 Hen. VI. “At the End of every Session of Parliament, all the Public Acts are ingrossed into one great Roll by Bowyer, as Clerk of the Parliament; and the same Roll, being by him subscribed, he delivereth into the Chapel of the Rolls; which is thereupon there received, and placed among the Records of the Chancery, being the highest Record of the Kingdom, without any other Warrant than his Hand: Which Acts or Statutes so by him transcribed, do bind his Majesty’s Subjects of all Degrees for ever. If any Private Act be at any Time to be certified into the Chancery, a Writ of Certiorari is directed to Bowyer, who thereupon doth certify the same under his Hand; which accordingly is received, without any Allowance or Warrant of any other Person, and is thereby made a Record, and bindeth the Party whom it concerneth, and all others.” MS. Cott. Titus B. V. pa. 69. See further Hale H. C. L. ch. 1., 3 Keb. Rep. 587; Dewes’s Journals of Parliament, 1 Eliz. pa. 35; and the Instances in Appendix E, and F. subjoined to this Introduction.
All the Statutes passed in each Session are now classed in Three distinct Series: The first Series contains the Public-General Acts, such as in their Nature are Public and General, which are certified into Chancery, and printed by the King’s Printer for general Circulation: The Second Series contains Acts respecting particular Places and Persons: Of these the Road Acts, Canal Acts, and all others by which Felonies are created, Penalties inflicted, or Tolls imposed, have a Clause annexed to each “That the Act shall be deemed and taken to be a Public Act, and shall be judicially taken Notice of as such by all Judges, Justices and others, without being specially pleaded.” Other Local or Personal Acts which are not required to have this Public Clause annexed have each a Clause inserted, at the Suit of the Parties, “that the Act shall be printed by the King’s Printer, and that a Copy thereof, so printed, shall be admitted as Evidence thereof by all Judges, Justices, and others.” All the Acts of this Second Series are printed together in one Collection. The Third Series contains such Local and Personal Acts as are without either of the above Clauses, and are therefore not printed. See Reports of the Committee of the House of Commons on the Promulgation of the Statutes, in 1796 and 1801; and Resolutions of the House of Commons 7 May 1801; and 18, 22, and 24 March 1803.
