Attempts have been made by many learned Persons to explain this Variety of Languages in the earlier Periods of our Legislation; and some have referred the Preference of the one Language or of the other to the Operation of particular Causes.[1] Nothing, however, is known with Certainty on this Subject; and at the present Day it is utterly impossible to account, in each Instance, for the Appearance of the Statute in French or in Latin. It seems on the whole to be highly probable that for a long Period of Time, Charters, Statutes, and other Public Instruments were drawn up indiscriminately in French or Latin, and generally translated from one of those Languages into the other[2], before the Promulgation of them, which in many Instances appears to have been made at the same Time in both Languages.[3]
It is Matter of Curiosity to observe, that the Use of the French Language in Statutes was preserved rather longer in Ireland than in England. The Statute Roll of the Irish Parliament 8 Henry VII. preserved at the Rolls Office in Dublin, is in French; on the Statute Roll of the two next Parliaments of Ireland, 16 and 23 Hen. VII. the Introductory Paragraphs stating the holding of the Parliament, &c. are in Latin; after which follows an Act or Chapter in French, confirming the Liberties of the Church and the Land: and all the other Acts of the Session are in English.
Sect. II.
Of the Translation in this Collection of the Statutes.
The Printed Translation of the Statutes previous to Hen. VII. used for the present Work, is that of Cay’s Edition 1751: But as many Statutes and Parts of Statutes are omitted from the English of that Edition, the Deficiencies have been supplied from the Edition by Hawkins 1735, the Folio Edition 1618, usually called Rastall’s; Pulton’s Edition of the same Year; Rastall’s Collection in English 1603; and, in some few Instances from earlier English Collections, and other Authorities.[4] Of Statutes and Instruments or Parts thereof, not heretofore translated, and of such only, a Translation has been now made, which is always distinguished by being printed in a smaller Type. In making this new Translation, the following Rules have been generally adhered to: To render the Original as literally as possible, consistently with the Purpose of conveying the Sense in English: and to translate the same Word the same Way, if the Sense be the same. Former Translators of the Statutes having very much conformed to the Genius of the English Language in their Versions, and not servilely fallen into Latin or French Expressions or Forms of Speech, an Endeavour has been made to adopt Language of a Cast corresponding with those Versions.
In the Bodleian Library, Rawlinson Manuscript, No. 230, is a very antient Translation of some of the Statutes of the Time of Hen. III. and Edw. I. There is reason to think, that this Translation is of a Time certainly not later than Edward III, and probably of an earlier Period: It does not contain any Statute later than 25 Edward I. In the British Museum, Harleian Manuscript No. 4999, is a Translation of the Statutes 1 Edw. III. to 18 Hen. VI, made apparently in the Time of Henry VI, or Edward IV.
For the purpose of correcting Errors in the Translation, the several Editions, as well of the Text as of the Translation, have been compared with each other; and much Use has also been made of the two Manuscript Translations just noticed, which are cited thus, the Rawlinson Manuscript as MS. Tr. 1. and the Harleian Manuscript as MS. Tr. 2: After the Commencement of the Reign of Henry VI., the Petitions or Bills entered in English on the Parliament Roll, from whence the Statute was drawn up in French or Latin, have been consulted.
Corrections of Errors in the Translation which arise from Misinterpretation or Omission, are suggested either from other Translations, or, where no other Translation supplies a probable Correction, by new Expressions. Errors or Inconsistencies which arise from the Insertion of Words or Sentences, not authorized by the Text as given in the present Work, are noticed, either by a Reference to Records or Manuscript Authorities, or to antient Printed Copies of the Latin or French Text as authorizing such Insertion, or by a proposed Omission of the Words so inserted, in consequence of their not being justified by any Authority. Trifling Variances between the Text and the Translation, manifestly not affecting the Sense, have not been considered worthy of Notice; particularly where all former Translations agree in the same Reading. But as it was difficult, not to say impossible, to lay down any certain Standard on this latter Head, a Consistency entirely perfect may not have been uniformly observed, and is not to be expected.
- ↑ See 2 Inst. 485, as to the Two Chapters of Stat. Westm. 2. which are in French, although the Body of the Statute is in Latin. Barrington in his Comments on the Statutum de Scaccario, remarks that when the Interests of the Clergy are particularly concerned, the Statute is in Latin: But on Examination, the correctness of this Remark may be doubted: See also N. Bacon’s Treatise on Government, Part I. Cap. 56. (pa. 101. 4to Edit. 1760.)
- ↑ See Luders’s Essay on the Use of the French Language, in our ancient Laws and Acts of State; Tract. VI. 1810; where it is suggested that many of the Latin Statutes were first made in French, and from thence translated into Latin.
- ↑ See the Entries of Stat. Glouc. 6 Edw. I. in Register A. preserved in the Chapter House Westminster, before mentioned in page xli.
- ↑ The Translation of the Customs of Kent, Statutes of uncertain date, page 223 of the Statutes in this Volume, is taken from Lambard’s Perambulation of Kent.
