APPENDIX. F.
Observations on Original Acts and Instruments in the Parliament Office at Weſminſter, as compared with the Inrollments in Chancery, and the Journals of the House of Lords. Temp. Hen. VII. to Car. I.
THE Instruments in the Parliament Office commencing 12 Hen. VII. consist, in general, of Original Engrossments of Bills or Acts as they passed the respective Houses of Parliament and received the Royal Assent. These Instruments are all separate from each other; they are distinguished by Numbers, and tied up in Bundles, each of which ought to contain the respective Acts of the several Years, the Titles of which are entered in Calendars kept for that Purpose; but length of Time has produced some Irregularities and Deficiencies.
When the Bill originated in the Lords, Soit baille aux Communs is written on the Front, and sometimes also Missus a Dominis, signed by Cler. Parl. and then A cest Bill les Communs ont Assentus: If it originated in the Commons, then Soit baille aux Seigneurs, and afterwards, A cest Bill les Seigneurs ont assentus: Where any Provisoes or Clauses have been tacked to the Bill as Riders, these are noticed in the Assent of the Lords and Commons to the Bill in a general Manner, ouesq’ les Provisions annex; and sometimes also in the Royal Assent. The Royal Assent or Refusal is indorsed; and to those which receive the Royal Assent the Name of Henry R. is written by the King at the Top, and in some Instances both at Top and Bottom. Many Erasures and Interlineations appear on these Acts, with Memoranda annexed. In general there is nothing written on any of the Acts to ascertain in what Year or in what Parliament they passed; they are all tied up separately, as Instruments unconnected with each other, otherwise than as being all rolled up together in one Roll of Parchment indorsed with the Year of the King’s Reign, and buckled round with a Thong of Leather.—Many Instances occur of Acts missing, and mentioned in the Calendar so to be.
The Rolls containing the Inrollment of the Acts of each Year in Chancery, commence with 1 Ric. III. and are continued to the present Time; on these Rolls the Acts inrolled are entered in a regular Series, numbered progressively as they are entered on the Roll, without Regard to the Number of the original Act at the Parliament Office.
The Journals of the House of Lords do not commence till the First Year of Henry VIII; and the Journals of the Years 4, 5, 14 & 15, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, and 27 Hen. VIII, and 1 Mary, Session 1 and 2, are not preserved. In several Years the existing Journals contain an Index Statutorum or List of Acts passed in each Session.
HENRY VII.
Anno 12 Hen. VII. The Roll in Chancery begins with the Forms of opening the Parliament, Names of Receivers and Triers of Petitions, the Election and Presentation of the Speaker: None of these appear in the Parliament Office. The Instruments in the Parliament Office No 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7, answer to No 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, & 11, on the Roll in Chancery; being Chapters 1 to 7 of the Public Acts as usually printed. The Act for Fifteenths and Tenths, and the Act for Subsidy, which are numbered 12 and 13 on the Roll in Chancery, are tacked together in the Parliament Office, No 8, and between them is a Slip of Parchment, with the Proviso in Favour of the Colleges in the Two Universities, &c. which is at the End of the Subsidy Act, No. 13, on the Roll.—See the Printed Parliament Rolls, vol. vi. pa. 519. No. 13, and pa. 521.
Two Schedules with the Names of Commissioners for levying the Subsidy entered on the Roll, in Chancery, as having been annexed to the Subsidy Act, do not appear at the Parliament Office.
The Bundle in the Parliament Office of this Year, 12 Hen. VII., contains a Letter or Writ on Paper, of which the following is a Copy:
| H.R. [The King’s Signature.] |
By the King. |
Trusty and welbeloued We grete You well And for somouche as we haue commaunded our Right trusty Counseillor the Maister of our Rollys to deliver unto you certain Rolles for thentre of the contynue of a bil of Prouiso signed wh oure hand of and vpon an Office by us graunted unto our trusty s͛uant William Stafford Wee therfor Wol that when ye shall have duely entered the said bill of prouiso into the forsaid Rollys Ye Doo the same to be redeliuered again vnto oure said counseillor And these our l̵res shalbe Yor Warrant in that behalue Yeuen under oure signet at or palas of Westmr the furst day of Decembr̃ the xiiijth Yere of our Reigne.
Indorsed—To our trusty and welbeloved the Clerc of our ꝑliament.
The Proviso alluded to is annexed to the Letter on a Slip of Parchment, signed by the King, and indorsed—
iiij decēbr̃ ao xiiij H. 7. irrr ī Rot̃lo ao iij r̃. r̃. Henr̃ vij.
This Proviso is entered on the Roll in Chancery of 3 Hen. VII. at the End of the Roll, after the Signature “J. Morgan,” who was Clerk of the Parliament in 3 Hen. VII. and is signed R. Hatton, who was Clerk of the Parliament in 12 Hen. VII. and 19 Hen. VII. No Parliament was holden in 14 Hen. VII. None of the Statutes 3 Hen. VII. are in the Parliament Office. See the Printed Rolls of Parliament, vol. vi. p. 407, 408; See also a similar Instance, Printed Rolls, vol. v. p. 516. 4 Edw. IV. nu. 10.
