# The Statutes of the Realm/Volume 1/Introduction/Chapter 1/Section 1

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Sect. I.
Former printed Collections, Translations, and Abridgements of the Statutes.
An Historical Enumeration and Description of antecedent Publications of the Statutes, will best contribute to a right Understanding of the Necessity, and Origin of the present Undertaking; and of the Principles upon which it has been planned and executed.
All the Publications in Print of General Collections, Translations, and Abridgements of the Statutes, and of the Acts of particular Sessions, which have been hitherto discovered, are specified in Two Catalogues subjoined to this Introduction.
The Statute Rolls previous to the beginning of the Reign of Henry VII. being sometimes in Latin and sometimes in French, and from that Time uniformly in English, the Printed Editions, according to their several Periods, contain the Statutes, either 1st. In the Languages in which they were respectively passed, proclaimed, or printed; during various Periods from the Time of Hen. III. to the End of the Reign of Ric. III. without any Translation: Or 2$^{dly}$, Translated for the whole or some Part of those Periods; and during subsequent Periods, in English: Or 3$^{dly}$, In Latin and in French respectively to the End of Edward IV. or Ric. III. inclusive, with or without a Translation; and in English from the beginning of Ric. III, or of Hen. VII.
The earliest of the Printed Editions or Collections above referred to, is an Alphabetical Abridgement of Statutes, as well previous as subsequent to Edw. III. in Latin and French, the latest Statute in which is 33 Hen. VI. A. D. 1455. This is supposed to have been published before 1481.
Another very early Edition, but supposed to be later than the preceding, and to have been printed about 1482, is a Collection of the Statutes, not abridged, from 1 Edw. III. to 22 Edw. IV. in Latin and French: This and the preceding Article are attributed to the joint labours of the Printers Lettou and Machlinia.
The Statutes passed in the only Parliament holden by Richard III. were printed, in French, by Caxton or Machlinia, or both, soon after they were passed, this being the first Instance of a Sessional Publication. The like Course was observed in the Reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. from which Time the Statutes appear to have been regularly printed and published at the End of each Session.
The Collection printed by Pynson, probably about the Year 1497, 13 Hen. VII. but certainly before 1504, 19 Hen. VII, contains the Statutes from 1 Edw. III. to 1 Richard III. inclusive, in Latin and in French respectively; and those from 1 to 12 Hen. VII. in English.
The small Edition of the Antiqua Statuta first printed by Pynson in 1508, and afterwards frequently reprinted, contains Magna Carta, Carta de Foresta, the Statutes of Merton, Marlbridge, Westminster 1. and 2., and other Statutes previous to 1 Edward III. in Latin and French respectively. These are the earliest Printed Copies now known of those Statutes.
The Abridgement of the Statutes in English, to 11 Hen. VIII. translated and printed by John Rastall, is preceded by a Preface on the Propriety of the Laws being published in English. This appears to be the first English Abridgement of the Statutes: and it helps to ascertain the Period when the Statutes were first “endited and written” in English; as the Preface ascribes that Measure to Henry VII. Subsequent English Abridgements were published at various Times by Rastall and other Printers.
Various Editions of the Alphabetical Abridgement of the Statutes, above mentioned as published before 1481, were from time to time printed; enlarged by the Abridgement of subsequent Statutes: Of these the Edition by Owen, including the Statutes of 7 Hen. VIII. was printed in 1521. An Appendix, containing the Abridgement of the Acts of the next ensuing Session, 15 Hen. VIII, was printed in 1528, when a Title was added. These Collections form an Exception to the general Description of the Editions of the Statutes; for not only the Statutes previous to and in the Reign of Ric. III. are abridged in Latin or French, but the Abridgement of the Statutes of Hen. VII. and Hen. VIII. is in French, although they were originally passed and printed in English.
In 1531 Berthelet printed an Edition of the Antiqua Statuta, similar to the Editions by Pynson, with some Additions. In 1532 Berthelet also printed a Collection of Statutes previous to 1 Edw. III. not included in the the Antiqua Statuta. This Collection he entitled “Secunda Pars Veterum Statutorum,” and it is always so distinguished: It was frequently reprinted. The Statutes contained in it are in French and Latin respectively.
Neither in the Antiqua Statuta by Pynson, nor in the Secunda Pars Veterum Statutorum, were the Contents arranged with any Chronological Accuracy: In the Antiqua Statuta the Two Charters, and the Statutes of Merton, and Marlbridge, and Westminster 1 and 2, are placed first, and the other Matters follow in a very confused Manner. No better Order is preserved in the Secunda Pars. These Two Parts of the Vetera Statuta were frequently reprinted together. Tottell’s Antiq. Stat. & ada Pars. 1556, &c. Catal. A. No. 35, 36, 41.The Edition of them by Tottell in 1556 is the most known: This varies from Pynson’s and Berthelet’s, in some Readings of the Text of the Statutes; and it is enlarged by the Addition of “certain Statutes with other needful Things taken out of Old Copies examined by the Rolls,” printed at the End of the First Part. Editions by Tottell in 1576, and 1587, and later Editions by various Printers, insert only a partial Selection of Antient Statutes, with further various Readings, and add some modern Statutes. On a Comparison, made for the Purpose of ascertaining the Fact, there is reason to conclude that the Copy used by Lord Coke in his Second Institute was that of 1587.
The earliest Printed Translation, not abridged, of the Charters, and of several Statutes previous to 1 Edw. III. appears to have been made by Ferrers, a Member of Parliament, from the Editions of the Vetera Statuta and Secunda Pars before noticed; It was first printed in 1534, and contains the greatest Part, but not all, of the Matters included in those Editions, but does not arrange them in Chronological Order. In 1540 and 1542, other Editions of this Translation were published, with some Amendments and Additions.
In 1543, The Statutes in English, from the time of Henry III. to 19 Hen. VII. inclusive, chronologically arranged, were printed by Berthelet, in one Volume, Folio. It has not been satisfactorily ascertained that any complete chronological Series of the Statutes from Magna Carta to 1 Edw. III., either in their Original Language, or in English, or that any Translation of the Statutes from 1 Edw. III. to 1 Hen. VII. had been published previous to this Edition by Berthelet; though some Books refer to Editions by Berthelet as of 1529 and 1540. It appears probable that the Translation in this Edition by Berthelet was made from the small Editions of the Vetera Statuta and Secunda Pars, and from Pynson’s Edition of the Nova Statuta 1 Edw. III. to 1 Ric. III. inclusive. This Edition contains some Translations, particularly of the Dictum de Kenilworth, not included in either of the Editions of Ferrers’s Translations: With respect to the others previous to 1 Edw. III. it agrees in general with the Second Edition of Ferrers’s Translation; and Cay, in the Preface to his Edition of the Statutes, conjectures that the Whole of the Translation in this Edition was made by Ferrers. No Translation of the Statuta Walliæ 12 Edw. I. is given either by Ferrers or in any subsequent Edition: Several other Statutes also have been always printed without Translations.
Myddylton and Berthelet, Engliſh, 1541–8. 1 Edw. III. to 34 Hen. VIII. Catalogue, A. No. 33.“The Great Boke of Statutes” commences with 1 Edw. III. and ends with 34 Hen. VIII. It is entirely in English. It appears to have been published at different Times, in separate Parts; and it seems not unlikely that the earliest Part may have been published previous to the English Edition printed by Berthelet in 1543, from which it differs in some Particulars: Of such Difference one Instance is the Insertion of Cap. 7. of 2 Ric. II. Stat. 1. respecting Pope Urban, which is omitted in Berthelet 1543 and subsequent Editions; from whence it seems probable that this Part was published before the severe Prohibitions, by the Acts of Hen. VIII, against acknowledging the Papal Power.
W. Raſtall’s Collection, 1557, 1579, &c. Hen. III. to 4 & 5 P. & Mar. Catal. A. No. 37, 42.William Rastall (or Rastell) who in 1557 published his first Edition of a Collection of all the Statutes which were before that Year imprinted, was a Serjeant at Law; and was made a Judge in 1558. In this Collection the Statutes are distributed under apt Titles in Alphabetical Order, the Preambles for the most part being omitted, and a brief Mention only made of such Statutes as were expired or repealed, or of a private or local Nature. It gives all the Statutes to the End of Richard III. in Latin or in French, as they were at first published; and all the subsequent Statutes in English. The same Collection, having the Statutes prior to Henry VII. translated into English, instead of being inserted in their Original Language, was printed about 1579, and reprinted very frequently afterwards, until 1621. In these successive Editions, the New Statutes were from Time to Time abridged, and inserted under their proper Titles. The Translation contained in this Collection appears to have been executed with superior Care and Industry; where it borrows from foregoing Versions, it, occasionally, amends what was faulty: Translations are inserted in it of some Matters not before translated; of others, Translations entirely new and more faithful are given; and the whole was sedulously revised from Time to Time; the later Editions, particularly those of 1591 and 1603, correcting Errors which had escaped Notice in the earlier Editions. Rastall died in 1565, and it is not known by whom these English Editions of the Collection bearing his Name, were prepared, or edited.
The Edition of the Statutes in English, by Barker, in Two Volumes Folio, frequently bound up in one, ending with 29 Eliz, the Title to which affords the earliest Instance of the Term “Statutes at Large,” agrees in general, as to the Statutes previous to 1 Hen. VII, with the English Edition by Berthelet in 1543.
After the Edition of Rastall’s Collection in English in 1579, it does not appear that any of the Statutes from 1 Edw. III. to 1 Hen. VII. were printed in Latin or French, until some of them were so printed in the Edition by Hawkins in 1735.
The English Edition 1618, which in the Title Page is said to contain all the Acts at any Time extant in Print until 16 Jac. I., published by the King’s Printers, Norton and Bill, in Two Volumes large Folio, is usually called “Rastall’s Statutes:” although the Editor of the Collections before noticed, had been long deceased. The latest Acts inserted in this Edition are of 7 Jac. I. being the last Session preceding the Publication. The Translation of the Statutes previous to Hen. VII. does not follow the improved Translation adopted in the Editions of Rastall’s Collection in English; It agrees with the Translations of Berthelet 1543, and Barker 1587; except that it is not so correctly printed.
In the same Year 1618, A Collection, in English, of sundry Statutes frequent in use, ending with 7 Jac. I. was published by Pulton. Several Statutes, not included in the Edition called Rastall’s 1618, are for the first Time translated in this Edition, and are so noted to be in the Preface; the most important of these are, Ordinatio pro Statu Hibernie, as of 17 Edw. I. but being, in fact, of 17 Edw. II.;—Ordinatio Forestæ, 34 Edw. I.;—De Asportatis Religiosorum, 35 Edw. I.;—De Terris Templariorum, 17 Edw. II. Several subsequent Editions of this Collection were printed after the Death of Pulton: Those of 1635 and 1640 are remarkable for giving the progressive Answers to the Petition of Right, 3 Car. I.See Appendix B. Note 1. and the King’s Speech on pronouncing the Assent, “Soit droit fait come il est desire͏́:” which are not contained in any other general Collections; though they were printed by Authority in the Sessional Publication of the Statutes of that Year.
As this English Edition by Pulton has been much copied by subsequent Editors of the Statutes, it deserves particular Notice.
The original Edition published in 1618, contained many Corrections of the then existing Translation, by rendering it more conformable to the Records in the Tower; and further Corrections were from Time to Time made in the subsequent Editions: But several Errors and Inconsistencies were suffered to remain in consequence of the Translation following the old Printed Copies of the Latin and French Text, which frequently differ from those Records. Some of the Corrections made in the various Editions of the English Collection called Rastall’s, were indeed adopted; but several Matters translated in Rastall’s English Collection, are not included in Pulton’s, particularly several of the Statutes of Uncertain Date, usually classed together after the Reign of Edw. II. A Change of Phraseology also is occasionally made in Pulton, not always to the Improvement of the Translation. Titles are put at the Heads of the several Chapters, which are in fact intended as Abridgements of their Contents, and which were not given in former Editions to the Chapters of any Statute previous to Edw. IV: though in the Chronological Table of Statutes subjoined to Rastall’s Collection, Titles of a similar Kind occur from the Beginning of the Reign of Edward III. Several Parts or Chapters of the Statutes subsequent to 1 E. III. are omitted, and only noticed by the Titles or Abridgements.
From 1618 to 1735 the great Body of the Statutes continued to be published entirely in English; but the small Collections of the Statutes previous to I Edw. III. in French and Latin, were frequently reprinted till after 1618, and these were succeeded by the Collection in Lord Coke’s Second Institute. The Editions bearing the Name of Pulton, were continued from time to time from 1618 to 1670; the last by Manby, who had previously edited the Statutes passed in the Time of Car. I. and Car. II.
During the Usurpation partial Collections of Acts for different Series of Years were published, from 1646 to 1654; and an Authentic Collection by Scobell the Clerk of the Parliament, from 1640 to 1656. After the Restoration, Editions of the Statutes Car. I. and Car. II. were published by the King’s Printers and others.
In 1676 Keble’s Edition of the Statutes at large, ending with 27 Car. II. was published by the King’s Printers, “carefully examined by the Rolls of Parliament.” This Edition is in many Instances more correct, as to the Statutes subsequent to Hen. VII., than the Editions by Barker or Pulton, or that called Rastall’s 1618: It was from Time to Time reprinted, and continued by additional Volumes. The Translation of the Statutes previous to Henry VII, contained in all the Editions called Keble’s, was copied from the latest Edition of Pulton.
Cay’s Edition of the Statutes, published in 1758, in Six Volumes Folio, ending with 30 Geo. II. is very much upon the Plan of Hawkins’s Edition, with the following Additions: In cases where the Statutes are printed from the Statute Rolls in the Tower, the Numbers of the respective Membranes of the Rolls are quoted; and in other Cases the several Manuscript Authorities from which they are printed are distinctly cited. The Latin and French Text respectively of several Statutes prior to Edw. III. and the French Text of the Statutes 23 Hen. VI.; 12, 14, 17, and 22 Edw. IV, which had been omitted by Hawkins, are given from Manuscripts. Several Instruments, not included in the previous Editions by Hawkins, Pulton, and others, are inserted from the early Printed Copies, and some Matters not contained in any former Edition of the Statutes, are printed from the Parliament Rolls. The Translation of the Statutes previous to Hen. VII. is the same as Keble’s and Pulton’s: In his Preface, Cay attributes the whole of that Translation to George Ferrers, in the Time of Hen. VIII. and speaks thus of it: “It is not a good one, and the Mistakes in it are very numerous and considerable: It has often been desired that a new Translation should be made, but as this has been used for some Ages, not only by the Public in general, but even by the Parliament, and many Statutes are recited in subsequent Acts in the Words of this Translation, it seems to be too much authenticated for an Editor to presume to reject it.”
The Editions by Hawkins and Cay were for some time continued by several Volumes containing the Statutes of subsequent Years.
In 1762 was printed the First Volume of an Edition of the Statutes at Large, which was completed in 1765, by Ruffhead, in Nine Volumes Quarto, ending with the Statutes of 4 Geo. III. In this Edition is included all that was comprehended in Cay’s. Several Matters, however, which by Cay were inserted in the Body of his Work, were printed by Ruffhead, in an Appendix subjoined to the Ninth Volume; and in this Appendix are also introduced some Acts of Henry VII. and of subsequent Reigns, taken from former Printed Copies, and also from the Parliament Rolls, and the Inrollments of Acts in Chancery. This Edition was reprinted in 1769, &c. and has been regularly continued from time to time by Volumes containing the Statutes of subsequent Years.
Pickering’s Edition of the Statutes at Large, in Twenty-three Volumes Octavo, ending with the Statutes 1 Geo. III. was printed at Cambridge, and published at various Times between 1762 and 1766. A Twenty-fourth Volume containing the Preface and Index was published in 1769. This Edition contains the same Matters, and for the most part, in the same Order, as Cay’s Edition; with the Addition of the Statutes afterwards passed, and also of some Instruments and Translations from former Printed Copies, and other Sources, which “though deemed antiquated” were added “on account of their Public or Constitutional Importance.” In an Appendix subjoined to the Twenty-third Volume, some of the Matters are inserted which are contained in Ruffhead’s Appendix. This Edition also has been regularly continued by subsequent Volumes published from time to time.
It should be observed, that the Matters for the first time introduced by Hawkins, Cay, Ruffhead, and Pickering respectively, are few in Number; and that some of them are clearly not entitled to the Character of Statutes. It is evident also that Ruffhead and Pickering took, each, Advantage of the Circumstance of their Editions being in the course of Publication during the same Period; and that, in the Insertion of new Matters, they by turns borrowed from each other.
Neither Hawkins, Cay, Ruffhead, nor Pickering take any Notice of the French Text of the Statutes of Richard III. which have been stated by some Writers to have been originally in English; whereas the Editions of the Nova Statuta by Pynson, Rastall’s Collection, and the Sessional Publication of the Statutes of Richard III, prove that the Statutes of that Reign were originally published in French: although, in and after the Reign of Henry VI, many Bills, in the Form of Acts, are entered on the Parliament Roll in English.
Many palpable Errors and Omissions have been allowed to remain without Notice in all the Translations. Corrections, comparatively very few in Number, were silently made in the Progress of the Editions called Pulton’s and Keble’s. Those made from Time to Time in Rastall’s English Collection, were numerous and important, but they have not been fully adopted in any Editions of the Statutes at large. The Suggestions of Corrections by Notes in the Margin of Cay’s Edition are very rare, comparatively with the numerous Errors actually existing; but the Number of these Suggestions was somewhat increased in the Edition by Ruffhead, though not to any considerable Extent. The like Observations apply to Pickering’s Edition; respecting which, however, it is material to notice, that of many of the obsolete, expired, or repealed Statutes or Parts of Statutes, a Translation only is given by Pickering, from the Edition by Pulton and that called Rastall’s 1618, with some Amendments; while the Latin or French Text, or an Abridgement in English, is given in the Editions by Hawkins, Cay, and Rufhead.
Upon the whole it is ascertained, That no complete Collection has ever been printed containing all the Matters, which at different Times, and by different Editors, have been published as Statutes. The earliest Editions of entire Statutes were printed at the latter End of the Fifteenth Century, and began with the Statutes of Edward III. in their Original Language: The Statutes of Henry III. Edw. I. and Edw. II. were not printed entire until the beginning of the Sixteenth Century, and then in small Collections by themselves in their Original Language: and none of these Printed Copies quote any Record or Manuscript as an Authority for the Text which they exhibit. Later Editions of the Statutes, which combine the Period previous to Edward III. with that of Edward III. and subsequent Kings, omit the Original Text of the Statutes previous to Henry VII.; giving Translations only of those Statutes, and the subsequent Statutes in English: And the most modern Editions which, in some Instances, insert the Original Text of the Statutes previous to Richard III. from the Statute Roll and ancient Manuscripts, omit the Translation of many Parts of them; and in other Instances give a Translation without the Text, and also omit many Acts in the Period subsequent to Hen. VII. Further it is to be observed, that the several Printed Editions differ materially from each other in the Text of the Statutes previous to Hen. VIII. The Copy of the Statute of Gloucester, 6 Edw. I. in the Editions printed by Tottell in 1556 and 1587, and by Lord Coke in his Second Institute, varies most materially not only from that in the earlier Printed Editions by Pynson in 1508 and 1514, and by Berthelet in 1531, but also from that in the Edition by Marshe in 1556, the same Year in which the First Edition by Tottell was printed. The Copy of this Statute printed by Hawkins from the Statute Roll in the Tower, varies as well from those printed by Tottell and Lord Coke, as from those by Pynson, Berıhelet, and Marshe. This Instance is mentioned, as the Statute of Gloucester is the earliest now existing on any Statute Roll. Many other Instances occur, even in Cases where the Necessity of Correctness was most peculiarly requisite: Such are the Ancient Statutes relating to the Assize of Bread, the Composition of Weights and Measures, and the Measuring of Land: In all these the Calculations in the several Printed Copies vary from each other, and are all incorrect, some in one Particular, some in another. It may be noted, moreover, that many verbal Variations occur between the several Editions which appear essentially to agree with each other. Thus the Copies in Tottell 1556, 1587, and the Second Institute, though generally accordant, are not precisely so: and the same Observation applies to the Editions by Pynson, Berthelet, and Marshe. These verbal Variations may be said to be innumerable, and though for the most Part minute, they are occasionally important. After the Commencement of the Reign of Edward III. a greater Degree of Correctness and Uniformity prevail; but so late as the Reign of Henry VII. some Instances of material Variation continue to be met with. The Acts of Richard III. were printed in French, first by Caxton, and afterwards in Pynson’s Edition of the Statutes from the Commencement of the Reign of Edw. III: In the Editions by Berthelet, Barker, and others, these Acts of Ric. III. were printed in English, agreeing in Substance with the French Text: But in the Editions by Pulton, and subsequent Editors, there are essential Variances in the Translation, not only from the Sense of the French Text, but also from the former English Editions: And even of the Statutes of Henry VII., though always printed in English, the Copies in the Editions by Pulton, and subsequent Editors, differ in several Instances from those in the earlier Printed Collections.
It is moreover ascertained, That no one complete printed Translation of all the Statutes previous to Hen. VII. exists: Some which are omitted from Berthelet 1543, and the other early Editions, including that called Rastall’s 1618, are inserted in Pulton 1618, and in Editions since published: On the contrary, several Parts of the Statutes from 1 Edw. III. to 1 Hen. VII., Translations of which are inserted in Berthelet, Rastall, and other Editions, are omitted, and merely Abridgements thereof given, in Pulton and subsequent Editions. All the Statutes therefore which have been hitherto translated can be found only by uniting Pulton 1618 and Rastall 1618, together with Rastall’s English Collection, and the English Editions by Berthelet, Middleton, and Barker. Many Errors and Inconsistencies occur in all the Translations, resulting either from Misinterpretation, or from improper Omissions or Insertions; and there are many antient Statutes of which no Translation has ever yet been printed.
* ↑ Herbert’s Ames 417: Brady’s History of England, vol. i. pa. 658.
* ↑ “I have put every Statute in the tonge that it was first written in. For those that were first written in latin or in frenche dare I not presume to translate into English for fear of misseinterpretacion. For many wordes and termes be there in divers Statutes, both in latin and in frenche, which be very hard to translate aptly into English.”—Epistle or Preface prefixed to W. Rastall’s Collection; Edit. 1557. In the Edition of 1579 and the subsequent Editions, this Sentence is omitted from the Preface.
* ↑ See further as to this Edition by Pulton, and its Defects as a General Collection, Sect. II. pa. xxviij.
* ↑ See 4 Inst. 51. as to Errors in the printed Editions of the Statutes extant at that Time, in consequence of their differing from the Records; and see the Volume usually called Cotton’s Abridgement of the Records in the Tower; but which in Fact is an Abridgement of the Rolls of Parliament from 5 E. II. to 1 Ric. III., made by Bowyer, Keeper of the Records: In these, many Variations between the Statute, as printed, and the Parliament Roll, are stated; but without adverting to the Circumstance how far the printed Statutes agreed with the Statute Roll. See also Prynne’s Preface to Cotton’s Abridgement, fo. 3, 4.
* ↑ See Note on the Ordinance 46 Edw. III. relative to Lawyers and Sheriffs being returned to Parliament, printed in page 294 of the Statutes in this Volume.
* ↑ See Reeves’s History of the English Law, cap. 26: and Christian’s Edition of Blackstone’s Commentaries, Lib. 1. cap. 2. in the Notes.
* ↑ There is reason to believe, from the Appearance of the Great Roll of Statutes in the Tower, that the Membranes which contained the Statutes preceding the Statute of Gloucester have been detached from those which now exist.