ſtraining it where it was too lax and luxuriant, hath occaſioned another ſubordinate diviſion of remedial acts of parliament into enlarging and reſtraining ſtatutes. To inſtance again in the caſe of treaſon. Clipping the current coin of the kingdom was an offence not ſufficiently guarded againſt by the common law: therefore it was thought expedient by ſtatute 5 Eliz. c. 11. to make it high treaſon, which it was not at the common law: ſo that this was an enlarging ſtatute. At common law alſo ſpiritual corporations might leaſe out their eſtates for any term of years, till prevented by the ſtatute 13 Eliz. before-mentioned: this was therefore a reſtraining ſtatute.
Secondly, the rules to be obſerved with regard to the conſtruction of ſtatutes are principally theſe which follow.
1. There are three points to be conſidered in the conſtruction of all remedial ſtatutes; the old law, the miſchief, and the remedy: that is, how the common law ſtood at the making of the act; what the miſchief was, for which the common law did not provide; and what remedy the parliament hath provided to cure this miſchief. And it is the buſineſs of the judges ſo to conſtrue the act, as to ſuppreſs the miſchief and advance the remedy[1]. Let us inſtance again in the ſame reſtraining ſtatute of the 13 Eliz. By the common law eccleſiaſtical corporations might let as long leaſes as they thought proper: the miſchief was, that they let long and unreaſonable leaſes, to the impoverishment of their ſucceſſors: the remedy applied by the ſtatute was by making void all leaſes by eccleſiaſtical bodies for longer terms than three lives or twenty one years. Now in the conſtruction of this ſtatute it is held, that leaſes, though for a longer term, if made by a biſhop, are not void during the biſhop’s life; or, if made by a dean and chapter, they are not void during the life of the dean: for the act was made for the benefit and protection of the ſucceſſor[2]. The miſchief is therefore ſufficiently ſuppreſſed by vacating them after the death of the grantors; but the leaſes, du-
