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xxxviii
INTRODUCTION. Ch. III. Sect. II.

6. The Close, Patent, Fine, and Charter Rolls, among a Variety of Grants, Recognisances, and other Miscellaneous Matters, concerning the State of the Realm and the Rights of the Crown, recorded in them, include Entries of Statutes, and some Instruments having direct Reference to Statutes wherein such Statutes are recited at length. These Rolls are kept at the Tower, from the Beginning of the Reign of King John to 22 Edw. IV, and from the Reign of Edw. V. to the present Time at the Chapel of the Rolls.

7. Books of Record, containing Entries of Statutes and Parliamentary Proceedings.—Of this Sort is, The Red Book of the Exchequer at Westminster, some of the early Part of which was compiled by Alexander de Swereford, first a Clerk and afterwards a Baron of the Exchequer,[1] in the Reign of Henry III. It seems afterwards to have been considered and used as an authorized Repository by the Court itself; and contains Entries and Inrollments of many Charters and antient Acts of Parliament, as well as other Instruments relating to the King and the Rights of the Crown, from the Time of William the Conqueror to the End of Edw. III.: The Originals of several of these Acts and Instruments are preserved in the Tower of London, and in the Chapter House at Westminster, with References to Inrollments in this Book,[2] or to the Circumstance of the Act being sent into the Exchequer.[3] The Red Book of the Exchequer at Dublin is considered as of the same Authority: It contains Entries of Magna Carta 1 Hen. III. especially granted to the People of Ireland; of the Statute of Westminster the First, 3 Edw. I, (which is not to be found on the Great Roll of Statutes in the Tower of London, being prior in Date to the present Commencement of that Roll,) and also of the Statutes of Gloucester, 6 Edw. I, de Viris Religiosis 7 Edw. I, and Westminster the Second, 13 Edw. I, agreeing in general with the Text of those Statutes on the Statute Roll in the Tower. There is reason to conclude that these Statutes were entered in the Red Book at Dublin, from an Exemplification sent over from England in the 13th Year of Edw. I, as is noticed in a Memorandum on the Close Roll of that Year.[4] A Register Book marked A., preserved at the Chapter House at Westminster, as in the Custody of the Treasurer and Chamberlains of the Exchequer,[5] contains Entries or Inrollments made in the Time of Edward I. Among these are the Statute of Gloucester, 6 Edw. I, and the Statute of Westminster the Second, 13 Edw. I. The Originals of the several Statutes and Instruments, it is stated in the Register, were deposited in certain Chests in the Chapter House; but these Originals have not been discovered.

8. Books and Manuscripts not of Record, containing Entries or Copies of Statutes, are very numerous. In the Court of Exchequer at Westminster are Three Books, marked IX. X. XI. Book X. contains many of the earlier Statutes previous to Edw. III: Books IX. XI. contain the Statutes from 1 Edw. III. to 7 Hen. VIII.

In the Town Clerk’s Office, at the Guildhall of the City of London, are several Manuscript Volumes; in which, among other Matters chiefly relating to the Laws and Customs of the City of London, are Entries of many of the antient Statutes previous to Edward III. The greatest Number, and the earliest Copies are in two Volumes, distinguished by the Appellations, Liber Horn, and Liber Custumarum. It appears from internal Evidence that Liber Horn was compiled about the Year 1311, and Liber Custumarum not long after the Year 1320: Liber Horn is rendered valuable by having been in many Instances corrected, in a later Hand Writing, from Exemplifications of Statutes sent under Seal to the Sheriffs of London. In two other Manuscripts, one called Liber de Antiquis Legibus, and the other Transcriptum Libri Albi, copied from a Volume originally compiled in the Mayoralty of Richard Whityngton A. D. 1419, 7 Hen. V, are occasional Entries of a few antient Statutes. In other Volumes marked G. H. and I. are Entries of some of the Statutes of Edw. III. Richard II. Henry IV. and Henry V; many of them appearing to have been made from Exemplifications sent to the Sheriffs of London for Proclamation.

Of Manuscript Collections of Statutes, preserved in Public Repositories, the greatest Number collected together in any one Place, is to be found in the British Museum. They are distinguished as being of the Cottonian or Harleian Collection; from the Royal Library; Donation Manuscripts; and Lansdowne Manuscripts. The Cottonian Manuscripts Claudius D. II. and Vespasian B. VII. were resorted to by Hawkins and Cay, for Copies of Statutes previous to Edw. III.; and Nero C. I. for Statutes of Henry VI. and Edw. IV. not found at the Tower.

In the Bodleian Library at Oxford, are Rawlinson’s, Hatton’s, and Laud’s Manuscripts. Among the latter is a Roll of Statutes, No. 1036, consisting of Eleven small Membranes of Parchment united together; not much more than Four Inches wide; but each being Two Feet or more in length. This Roll appears to have been written in the Time of Edw. I: It contains no Statute later than the Articuli super Cartas, 28 Edw. I.

At Cambridge several Manuscript Collections of Statutes are preserved in the Library of the University, and in Trinity College Library. In Corpus Christi or Bene’t College Library are the Manuscripts bequeathed to the College by Archbishop Parker.

  1. ↑ Madox’s History and Antiquities of the Exchequer, I. 179, 624; and see also the Dissertatio Epistolaris prefixed to the Dialogus de Scaccario, II. 334, 5, 6, &c.
  2. ↑ See the Statute of Sheriffs, 9 Edw. II. Rot. Stat. m. 32, printed in page 174, 175 of the Statutes in this Volume; at the end of which is the following Memorandum: “Et fait a remembrer q̃ meisme lestatut fu seal souz le gant seal & maunde as Tresorer & Barons del Eschekier - - de fermement garder en tuz ses pointz.” In the Red Book fo. 276 b. the Writ is entered with the Tenor of the Statute, ‘sub pede sigilli,’ as transmitted to the Exchequer according to the Memorandum on the Tower Roll.
  3. ↑ See the Red Book, fo. 318, 319, where two Grants from William de la Pole to Edw. III. are entered; the Originals of these Grants are in the Chapter House, and are there indorsed as inrolled in this Book, with Reference to the above Pages therein.
  4. ↑
    		De Statutis liberatis.
    		Memod qd̵ die Ven͛is in festo Exaltac͠ois Sc̃e Crucis anno &c. xiij° apud Wynton̄ liƀata fu͛nt Rog͛o Bretun Cl̵ico ven͛aƀ pr̃is W. Wat͛ford Ep̃i tūc justic̃ Hiƀn̄ quedam Statuta ꝑ Regem & consiliū suū edita & ꝓvisa, videl̵t Statuta Westm̄ statim post coronac͠oem ℞ edita, & Statuta Glouc̃, & Statuta ꝓ m͛catoribʒ fc̃a ac Statuta Westmon̄ in ꝑleamento Reg̃ Pascħ anno p͛dc̃o ꝓvisa & fc̃a, in Hiƀn̄ deferenda & ibidē ꝓclamanda & obs͛vanda.— Rot. Claus. 13 Ed. I. m. 5. d.
    See also Sir Richard Bolton’s Edition of the Statutes of Ireland, Edit. 1621, Note to Stat. 10 Henry VII. c. 22: where he mentions that he had seen certain antient Statutes, particularly the Statutes Westm. 1, Gloucester, and Westm. 2, exemplified under the Great Seal, and remaining in the Treasury of the City of Waterford. On a diligent Search made for that Purpose at Waterford in 1806, by Two Sub-Commissioners on the Records, no such Exemplification could be found there.
  5. ↑ See Rymer’s Fœdera ii. 172, 210, 336, 380, &c.
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