standing army, which slowly increased in size ever after. The army was
primarily mercenary, as it had been in medieval times, with officers
buying their commissions. Colonels were the proprietors of their
regiments and captains were the proprietors of their companies. The
soldiers were ill mannered, swearing and cursing and stealing,
sometimes from peoples' homes, and intimidating people with their
swords. The bayonet was invented to attach onto a gun, which were
muzzle-loading with a match lock. So pikemen with their long spears
became obsolete. Hand grenades and small explosive bombs came into use
about 1670.
Explosives were also used in mines. Mines for coal became
deeper as coal replaced the use of increasingly expensive wood charcoal
for brewing and for brick, glass, and china manufacture. Flooding of
coal, tin and copper mines became a problem. In 1698, Thomas Savery
invented the Miner's Friend, a practical atmospheric steam engine
without a piston.
There was resort to many devices to fund wars. The land tax was
still the primary tax. The customs and excise taxes were often extended
to more goods and wares. Sometimes there were duties imposed on
marriages, births, and deaths. Also, hawkers, peddlers, and other
trading persons going from town to town to other men's houses on foot
or on horse carrying wares had to buy a license. There were also loans
from privileged companies such as the Bank of England, East India Co.,
and the South Sea Co. Commissioners were appointed to take and state
the account of all money in the public revenue. This discouraged the
prevalent corruption of government officials and thereby the people
were encouraged to pay their taxes.
The Goldsmiths loaned money to the king and to private persons
and to the Exchequer. Receipts from Goldsmiths for storage in strong
boxes had become a de facto paper currency. But when the Goldsmiths had
no more money to lend, the Bank of England was founded in 1694 under
whig auspices to provide money for war. It was the first institution to
issue notes in excess of its total deposits. However, it was not
allowed to lend money to the Crown without the consent of Parliament.
It was incorporated as the first English joint-stock bank and had about
1,300 shareholders. These original subscribers were individuals from
London from many walks of life, including well-to-do tradesmen and
about 12% of whom were women: wives, widows, or spinsters. Not many
corporations were original subscribers. Holders of at least 500 pounds
could vote, of 2000 pounds could be directors, and of 4000 pounds could
be Governor. The Bank issued notes payable to bearer and discounted
bills, but these were not legal tender. It lent at 8% to the Crown and
occasionally to corporations. Money was also borrowed by offering
annuities on single lives. This was the first time the government
borrowed directly from the public on a long- term basis.
In 1695 there was inflation due to over issue by the Bank
because of inexperience, pressure from government, and the Bank's greed
for business. After a dividend of 5% in 1695, the next year there was
no dividend and so the bank stock price fell. In 1696, five pound and
ten pound short term bonds were sold to the public. Also in that year
was the first run on the bank. This occurred two days after clipped
money lost currency; people wanted the new recoined money, but the Mint
had not supplied the Bank with sufficient supplies. Interest instead of
cash was given for notes. Cash was short for months. The Bank's credit
was much shaken. It was then given a monopoly so that its notes would
not have competition. Thereafter, its dividends were good - about 12%
per year. Because of its monopoly, its dividends were about 3% above
the current going rate of interest. About this time, Exchequer Bills,
with interest, were started by the Exchequer and circulated by the Bank
of England. They were frequently endorsed many times by successive
holders.
The Bank simply took over from the goldsmiths its main everyday
business of deposit, with a running cash note [cashier's note, specie
note, cash note], which was payable on demand and normally did not bear
interest; and a drawn note [precursor to the check, but not on special
paper]. The Bank gradually convinced many of its clients to use its
"check" [cheque] paper when drawing. The check paper was unique to the
Bank and embellished with distinctive scroll work to serve as an
obstacle to fraud. Over time the running cash note tended to be for
round sums of at least twenty pounds and multiples of five pounds. The
Bank of England had a monopoly on issuing notes in the London area.
Country banks arose and issued bearer notes payable on demand and
interest-bearing notes in their areas. The Bank of England gave to its
depositors the service of paying annually to a designee without further
order.
A decision of the common law courts held that bills of exchange
(written orders to pay a given a sum on a given date) were transferable
to other people by successive endorsements. So long distance payments
no longer had to be made in coin, with all the dangers of highway
robbery.
The financial revolution of the 1690s meant that the merchant
elite could invest in government bonds or company bonds at 5-6%, or
London leases at 10%, as opposed to income from landed estates, which
was under 3%. Shareholders were no longer personally liable for company
losses. Interest on loans was no longer considered sinful as long as it
was not oppressive. The greater ability to borrow spurred the growth of
capitalism.
All brokers and stock jobbers in London and Westminster of bank
stock, bank bills, shares and interests in joint stock must be licensed
by the mayor, which shall necessitate their taking an oath to exercise
their office without fraud or collusion to the best of his skill and
knowledge as of 1697. This is to avoid the collusion of fixing values
to their own advantage.
Compilations of tables of mortality originated the science of
life-statistics. This made life insurance possible. But it was
administered by ad hoc offices rather than companies and was not
reliable in making payments.
William Petty made a statistical study of economics and
determined that the basic values of an economy derive not from its
store of treasure, but from its capacity for production. Trade was
studied empirically by statistics by new offices such as the Inspector
General of Imports and Exports.
Charles instituted a hearth tax of 2s. per year in 1662, with
constables and officers authorized to verify the number of hearths and
stoves in houses. It was repealed in 1688 because it could not be
enforced except by exposing every man's house to be entered and
searched at pleasure by persons unknown to the people, which was
oppressive and a badge of slavery.
By bribes, Charles built up a body of support in Parliament
which could be relied upon for a majority. They came to be called
"tories" by their opponents. "Tory" had been a term of abuse for Irish
Catholic bandits. The tory and whig groups were known by their
disagreement over the authoritarianism of the Crown. The tories were
sympathetic to the doctrine of divine right and favored a doctrinally
high church. The tories represented landed property and the established
church, and usually wore blue in contrast to the purple of royalty.
Many royalists became tories. The whigs refused to accept the
sacrosanct character of the monarchy. The whigs opined that government
depended upon consent of the people and that the people had a right of
resistance. They subordinated the Crown to Parliament. The whigs
represented the dissenters and the mercantile classes, and often wore
red. Many former Puritans became whigs. "Whig" had been a term of abuse
for Scots Presbyterian rebels and horse thieves.
The gout and venereal disease were common among political
leaders. A primitive condom just introduced to the aristocracy from
France helped deter syphilis, but was uncomfortable and unreliable.
Under Charles II, the Treasury as a supreme financial body
separated from the Exchequer as a depository of revenue. A gold guinea
coin was issued. From 1690, government policy was controlled by
specific appropriations. Money bills had to originate in the Commons,
and could not be amended by the House of Lords.
Boards became independent of the king's Privy Council and
answerable to the secretary of state.
In the 1680s, Charles compelled some of the livery companies in
London to give up their charters to him and he called in many
corporation charters of boroughs whenever some light excuse could be
found to justify it. This was done by the use of the writ of quo
warranto [by what authority] before a court. In London he had the tory
mayor revive an ancient custom of selecting a sheriff by drinking to
him at the annual feast. Two tory sheriffs were installed into office.
All these actions gave the king a voice in selection of the officers of
London and boroughs, since Royal commissioners would then determine who
the officers would be. This was to assure London's representation in
Parliament by Crown loyalists as London had been whig. It also allowed
influenced selection of sympathetic jurors.
Criminal seditious libel was brought into the common law courts
in 1664, when Benjamin Keach was tried for writing a book containing
contradictions of the doctrine of the established church. He wrote
against infant baptism and asserted that laymen might preach the
gospel. The justice intimidated the jury to find him guilty. He was
sentenced to be fined, to spend two hours in the pillory in two
successive weeks, and his book to be burned before his face. He was to
be imprisoned until he found sureties for his good behavior and
renunciation of his doctrine and for his future appearance in court.
Juries were loath to find anyone guilty of seditious libel.
James II succeeded Charles II to the throne and fostered Roman
Catholicism by appointments and by attempting to suspend laws
unfavorable to Catholics. He commanded all bishops to read in the
churches his Declaration of Indulgence exempting both Catholic and
Protestant dissenters from all penal statutes based on religion. Seven
bishops refused to obey and jointly petitioned him, stating that his
action was illegal according to Parliament. He prosecuted them for
seditious libel in the petition. The jury found them not guilty. James
discharged the two justices of the five who had rejected the seditious
libel doctrine which had been created by the Star Chamber Court. This
roused the whigs and tories in turn to discharge him by joining in
inviting Protestants William of Orange and Mary to take the throne in
his place. James was effectively chased out of England by William's
advancing army in the Glorious Revolution of 1688-9, which took away
the powers of final authority from the king, but without transferring
them to any other body. A "Bill of Rights" stated that
1. -The king may not suspend laws or dispense with them without
consent of Parliament.
2. -The establishment of a Court of Commissioners and like bodies for
ecclesiastical causes is illegal.
3. -The king may not levy money or extend an authorized levy without
consent of Parliament.
4. -Subjects have a right to petition the king without prosecution.
5. -The king may not raise or keep a standing army within the country
in time of peace without the consent of Parliament.
6. -Protestants may have arms for their defense as allowed by law.
7. -The elections of members of Parliament should be free.
8. -The freedom of speech or debates or proceedings in Parliament
should not be impeached or questioned in any court or place outside of
Parliament.
9. -Excessive bail should not be required, nor excessive fines imposed,
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted (so no more men were
whipped to death).
10. Jury selection should not be tampered with, and jurors who try men
for high treason should be freeholders.
11. All grants and promises of fines and forfeiture of particular
persons, before conviction, are illegal and void.
12. Parliament should be held frequently for redress of grievances and
for the amending, strengthening, and preserving of the laws.
13. All Protestants may freely exercise their religion and the king
will maintain the Protestant religion and the law and liberty of the
realm.
The right of the peoples' representatives to select and depose
the king and to change the order of succession was established. There
was no divine right or hereditary right to the Crown. An English
monarch was created by an act of Parliament. The king still called and
dissolved Parliaments, except that Parliament continued for six months
after the death of a king. From 1689, Parliament sat every year.
Freedom of speech for members of Parliament was established by a
resolution overturning a King's Bench felony conviction of Sir John
Elliot.
By the act of settlement of 1701, no officer or pensioner of
the king could be a member of Parliament. All resolutions by the Privy
Council had to be signed by the members consenting to them. No one born
outside the realm could be a member of the Privy Council or of
Parliament, or could have any civil or military office or place of
trust, or any grants of land or tenements from the king. Justices
served during good behavior instead of at the pleasure of the king.
After the Glorious Revolution, Tories tended to accept of the
Whig principles of limited constitutional monarchy instead of rule by
divine right.
Under William and Mary, the ministers were first chosen by them
but could be impeached by the Commons and then removed by the
Parliament. The Commons removed anyone who disagreed with them as soon
as he made a mistake. But the king could pardon anyone convicted by
Parliamentary bill of attainder. This was inconsistent, so no one was
allowed to plead pardon by the king in an impeachment by the Commons.
Thus Parliament gained control of who would be ministers.
The Glorious Revolution favored the capitalists and the
commercial magnates even though it had been started by the landed
families, with whom they now intermarried. There were companies in the
fishing, silk, baize [a coarse wool], sugar, rope, paper, iron,
hardware, cutlery, gunpowder, saw milling, and pottery trades. These
industries for manufacturing were organized on capitalist lines rather
than being subject to guilds. That is, production was controlled by men
with money and the means of manufacture. The largest pottery workshops
employed about six men. One man shaped the pots, another made the
handles and put them on, while the others did the decoration, the
glazing, and the firing. New companies could be formed without royal or
Parliamentary consent. Regulated companies declined. There were no more
commercial monopolies. The Merchant Adventurers lost their last
monopoly privileges and their entrance fees were abolished. Their
method of limiting the volume of their exports of English cloth to
Germany to keep up prices was obsolete. Now they tried to capture the
market by selling cheap. There were more joint-stock companies and on a
larger scale. They also no longer restricted output to keep prices
high, but geared to export many inexpensive goods.
Drinking of gin, which had first been made by a Flemish
physician, became popular under King William, who was Dutch. The year
of his accession, the gin monopoly ended.
From the mid-1500s to 1700, coal production increased fourteen
times. Sir Ambrose Crowley, an iron maker with coal works, established
disability and medical benefits and pensions for his workers.
The capitalist organization of the mining, glass manufacture,
salt, soap, wire and other monopolized industries was made possible
only by government support. Salt and glass manufacture expanded. Glass
drinking vessels were in common use. Mirrors of blown plate glass were
manufactured in England. In 1670, Vauxhall glass works were opened with
workmen brought from Venice to blow their fine glass and make mirrors.
Some plate glass by casting was imported. Plate glass was a large and
strong glass piece, which was formed by the liquid glass being poured
on a table. This glass was not distorted, so mirrors could be made
perfectly reflective. Then plate glass for coaches, mirrors, and
windows became manufactured in England; this new industry was organized
on capitalist lines.
The domestic or "putting out" system came into use. In this
system, the worker usually owned his own machinery and the capitalist
owned the material, which he put out to the worker at home. The
merchant manufacturer bought raw wool and had it carded, spun, woven,
fulled, and dressed at his own expense. Some farmers became spinners in
the winter when outside work was impossible. The manufacture of nails
was also done by this system. Accordingly, the guilds and municipal
corporations in towns ceased to control the recruiting, conditions of
work, and pay of industries. Only a quarter of 200 towns had any
organized guilds at all. The growing town of Birmingham was not a
chartered borough, so never was encumbered with guild regulations.
Overall, the guild and apprentice regulations were effectively enforced
only in agriculture work. Artisans became known as tradesmen. Work was
usually irregular, some seasonal. In bad years, when a worker had to
borrow money, he used work tools, such as his loom, as security. In
this way, one's work tools often became the property of a merchant.
Some merchant clothiers also owned a fulling mill and a shop where the
cloth was sold. The capitalists first became owners of the materials,
then of the implements, and then of the work places. But production was
still confined to the known wants of its habitual market. Men used to
working at home were generally not inclined to go to work in a factory.
So there was an assortment of unskilled factory labor, such as country
people driven from their villages by the growth of large estates,
disbanded soldiers, and paupers. They had to be taught, trained, and
above all disciplined.
Smiths used trip hammers powered by watermills which turned
axles with cams on them. They made iron gates, fences, balconies, and
staircases with hammer, anvil, and chisel. Cast iron was made by
running liquefied metal into molds. This was harder but more brittle
than the tough but malleable wrought iron. Tinkers went from house to
house to repair metal items such as pots and pans.
The East India Company had about half the trade of the nation.
Its shares were frequently bought and sold. It responded to anger over
its semi-monopoly status by granting liberty to all English subjects
below the age of forty to live in its Indian settlements and to trade
practically everywhere. Bombay, India became subject to the East India
Company. Charters gave the East India Company the right to coin money,
to exercise jurisdiction over English subjects, to levy taxes, to build
and command fortresses, to command English and Indian troops, to make
peace and war, and to enter into alliances with Indian rulers. The
Company always paid high dividends and the market price of its shares
generally rose. 100 pound stock was worth 130 pounds in 1669, 245
pounds in 1677, 280 pounds in 1681, 360 and even up to 500 pounds in
1683, and then fell to 190 pounds in 1692. In 1693 a new charter for
the Company included loss of monopoly status by resolution of the
Commons. With this resolution, Parliament assumed the right of
regulating commerce, now no longer the king's province. Thereafter the
Commons regulated trade with India and determined who could participate
in trade there. Political issues developed, which initiated corruption
at elections by entertainment and bribes to candidates, which were
later proscribed. The trade opened up to many more traders and
investors. Ordinary investors came to include women and Quakers. The
Stock Exchange was incorporated about 1694.
Exports included grain, silk, metal wares, foodstuffs, lead,
and tin. Cloth and manufactures were exported to America. Dyeing and
dressing of cloth became the norm and undressed cloth exports fell
sharply. Imports included linen; flax; hemp; timber; iron; raw, thrown,
and woven silk; wine; brandy; fruit; coffee; chocolate, served as a
drink or used in cooking; cauliflower; and oil. From America came
molasses, sugar, tobacco, and dyes. Sugar was in great demand for tea,
coffee, and chocolate. The East India Company imported calico, silk,
pepper, spices, China tea, potions, and saltpeter. Tonnage of English
shipping doubled by 1688 Exports and imports increased 50% by 1700.
When there was a surplus of grain, it was exported. About 1696,
the king set up a board of trade of eight paid members and great
officers of state, who nominally belonged to it, and a staff. This was
to achieve a favorable balance of trade. For instance, it imposed
tariffs to protect internal markets and put restraints on imports of
goods producible in the country, e.g. live cattle, dairy products, and
woolen goods. It also restricted the export of raw wool. England led
the way in protectionist measures.
Parliament required an oath of allegiance to the new sovereigns
William and Mary from all those in public functions, including the
clergy. By extending this rule to the clergy, Parliament asserted a
supremacy of Parliament over the church. It also asserted a supremacy
over the king by requiring all monarchs to take a coronation oath
promising to govern according to the statutes, laws, and customs of
Parliament, to make judgments with law and justice in mercy, and to
maintain the Protestant religion established by law.
England competed with other nations for land in the New World.
Carolina, named for Charles II, was colonized for commerce in 1663. The
Episcopal Church, an analogue of the Church of England, was established
there by law. The whole coast became English after war with the
Netherlands gave New York, named for Charles II's brother the Duke of
York, and New Jersey to England in 1667. Presbyterians and Baptists
fled from religious tests and persecutions in England to colonize New
Jersey. For free passage to the English colonies, people became
indentured servants, agreeing to serve the master of the ship or his
assigns with a certain kind of labor for a term of a few years
according to a written contract made before departure. Also, various
statutes made transportation to any part of America available to any
person who would pay for his transportation, for a term of years,
usually seven, as a new possible penalty for offenses. In 1636, Harvard
College was founded in New England to advance literature, arts, and
sciences, as well as to train ministers. Some American colonists sent
their sons to be educated at the Inns of Court in London.
In 1682, Quaker William Penn, son of an Admiral, founded the
colony of Pennsylvania for Quakers in a "Holy Experiment" in political
and religious freedom. The king had granted proprietary rights to this
land to him to discharge a Crown debt to his father. When Penn refused
to take off his hat before King Charles and asked why Charles took off
his own, Charles, unruffled, replied that "It's the custom of this
place that only one man should remain uncovered at a time". The
Pennsylvania Charter of 1701 went beyond Magna Carta and England's law
in guaranteeing right to counsel and giving a right to defendants to
summon witnesses in all criminal cases. It gave Penn absolute authority
and he established liberty of conscience, i.e.freedom of religion, and
freedom from arbitrary arrest. In 1751, some Quakers founded a small
hospital in Pennsylvania as an asylum for the insane, where they would
be treated humanely.
Proprietary colonies, in which an individual or syndicate held
under the crown a sort of feudal overlordship, were founded in America:
namely, Virginia, Maryland, Carolina, New York and New Jersey in 1663,
and Pennsylvania and Delaware in 1682. New Hampshire was made a royal
province in 1680 to cut off the expansion of Massachusetts, which had
been avoiding the trade laws. These colonies were distinguished from
the corporate colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and
Rhode Island, which made their own arrangements for internal government
without a royal executive. Charles persuaded the Chancery Court to
declare the charter of Massachusetts void; it was given a new charter
in 1691 which made it a royal province. New York was made a royal
province in 1691. Maryland's proprietor gave way to a royal governor in
1692. Soon all colonies except Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania
were royal provinces, with governors nominated by the Crown. This
bringing of union to the colonies was done for maintenance of order, to
coordinate defense, and to enforce trade laws.
In 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company was incorporated to engage in
fur trade with Indian trappers in the Hudson Bay and to find a
northwest passage to China.
In 1701 the founding of the "Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts" by the Church of England created many
missionaries in the colonies, where they called their churches
"Episcopalian".
Increase Mather and his son Cotton Mather were Puritan
ministers in colonial Boston. Increase was for a time the President of
Harvard College and participated in obtaining the new charter of
colonial Massachusetts of 1691. He and his son tried to maintain the
principles of the Puritan founders of Massachusetts, which included the
theories of diabolical possession and witchcraft. But the thought of
Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Baptists became influential also. In 1692
in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts, some hysterical girls
showing strange spasms and sounds charged they had been bewitched by
certain other residents. Victims were deceived, flogged, or tortured
into forced confessions and then excommunicated from the church. They
were then hanged and their property confiscated. One man endured being
pressed to death for refusal to plead so that his property would be
inherited by his family rather than confiscated due to being convicted.
Eventually, some prominent citizens including judges were accused. Then
the more thoughtful people began to doubt the whole phenomenon and
admitted error. The excommunications were revoked. Cotton Mather came
to accept Newton's science and advocated inoculation. He encouraged
Puritanism into a simpler piety and charity. This influenced American
Protestantism toward a generalized concern with good works, morality,
and social leadership.
The Law
Treason to the king is to compass, imagine, or intend death or
any bodily harm tending to death, or maiming or wounding, or
imprisonment, or restraint as well as trying to depose him or levy war
against him. Also included is printing, writing, preaching, or
malicious speaking. Traitors shall suffer death and forfeiture as in
high treason.
The fine for having, buying, or selling clipped coins is 500
pounds, one-half going to the informer, and one-half going to the king.
The offender shall also be branded in the right cheek with the letter
"R". He shall be imprisoned until he pays the 500 pounds. No hammered
coins are lawful. Anyone except a smith in the king's mint making tools
or presses or other machines that can make counterfeit coins or having
such which were stolen from the mint shall be guilty of high treason.
Any malicious and willful burning or destroying of stacks of
hay, grain, or barns, or killing any horses, sheep, or cattle at
nighttime shall be felony and punished by transportation to the
American colonies for seven years.
Any person apprehending a thief or robber on the highway will
be rewarded 40 pounds from the local sheriff, to discourage the many
robberies and murders which have made travel dangerous. Also, executors
of persons murdered while trying to apprehend a robber shall have the
reward.
Anyone killing, hurting, or taking away deer from any forest or
park or other ground without consent of the owner or custodian shall
pay a 20 pound fine. This was later increased to 20 pounds for hunting
deer and 30 pounds for wounding or killing deer, with the pillory for
one hour on market day and gaol for a year without bail for those who
couldn't pay.
Any person privately and feloniously stealing any goods,
including horses, by day or night, in any shop, warehouse, coach
stable, or stable, whether there is a break-in or not, and whether or
not the owner is present, or anyone assisting or hiring such person may
not have benefit of clergy. Any person who apprehends and prosecutes
such person is excused from having to serve in parish and ward offices.
An offender being out of prison who informs against two other offenders
who are convicted is to be pardoned. Any person convicted of theft or
larceny and having benefit of clergy is to be burnt in the cheek
nearest the nose instead of on the hand.
When a bill of exchange drawn to at least five pounds is not
paid on demand at the time it is made payable, the person who accepted
it may make a protest in writing before a notary public, which shall be
served on the maker of such bill, who must pay it and all interest and
charges from the date of the protest. But if a bill of exchange is lost
or miscarried, another shall be given in its place.
No one may take more than 6 pounds in interest for a 100 pound
loan.
Persons seeking election to Parliament may not give or promise
money, meat, drink, entertainment, present or gift to any elector.
Because the gaols were full of people in debt due to the late
unhappy times such as the London fire, all prisoners for debt were
released upon taking an oath that they had no property over ten pounds
nor had disposed or conveyed property to defraud creditors. Creditors
not wanting them released had to contribute to their maintenance in
gaol.
Any sale of land or lease or estate of freehold or copyhold
shall be in writing and signed. An interest in land given orally shall
have only the force of estates at will. All contracts for sale of goods
or merchandise for the price of at least 10 pounds shall be in writing
and signed by the parties or shall be accompanied by part payment or
partial acceptance of the goods. This is to deter fraud. This statute
caused many small freeholders, including yeomen, who paid rent by
custom to be dispossessed.
Mortgagees can hold the land of any mortgagor who borrows money
upon security of the land or obtains another mortgage without prior
notice to the initial mortgagee. The mortgagor has six months to pay
off the mortgage and all interest and charges or vacate the land and
lose his equity therein. But a widow's dower will not be affected if
she did not join with her husband in the mortgage.
If rent is not paid in a reasonable time, the renter's goods
and grain may not only be distrained, but sold.
One coparcener [one person of two or more persons who inherit
as co-owners of land] of a joint tenancy [land held that descends to
the heir of a co-owner who dies] or tenancy in common [land held that
accrues to the surviving co-owner if one dies] may have a court
partition the property without the presence of other coparceners,
because such coparceners are often difficult to find. This is to avoid
wasting of land lying uncultivated and unmanured.
After the intestate death of a father of any sons or daughters
without wives or children of their own in the life time of their
mothers, the mother and every brother and sister shall share equally
except the customs of London and York shall not be affected.
Administrators have to make an inventory. They have to account on
request by an interested person. They must be bonded by two sureties.
Executors and administrators of estates of deceased persons
must pay the debts of the deceased person rather than waste or convert
the goods and chattels to their own use. Creditors may recover their
debts from heirs or devisees of the will of a debtor.
Men gone beyond the sea who could not be accounted for were
deemed dead after seven years, so their life estates could be
terminated.
Whereas lawful games are not to be used as constant callings
for a livelihood, and young people are deceived and debauched and their
money taken, anyone "winning" money by deceitful or fraudulent gambling
shall forfeit three times his "winnings".
The making or selling of fireworks is forbidden or else forfeit
5 pounds. Firing or throwing such from one's house onto or across the
street is a common nuisance with a penalty of 20s. This is to avoid the
loss of life and of eyes.
No more than 20 people may petition the king nor more than 10
people may assemble to present a petition to the king, because more has
been tumultuous and disorderly.
Anyone may without fee set up a hemp business including
breaking, hatchelling [separating the coarse part and broken pieces of
the stalk from the fine, fibrous parts by drawing the material through
long iron teeth set in a board], and dressing it; or a flax business,
including making and whitening thread, spinning, weaving, making,
whitening, or bleaching hemp or flax cloth; making twine or nets for
fishing or treating cordage for tapestry or hangings, because the daily
importation of such has in effect taken the work from the poor and
unemployed of England.
No sheep, wool, woolfells, shearlings, yarn, fuller's earth, or
fulling clay may be exported as has secretly been done, so that the
poor of the realm may have work.
Fishermen may sell their fish to others than Fishmongers at
Billingsgate fish market because the Fishmongers have forestalled the
market and set their own prices. The buyers of such fish may resell
them in any other London market by retail, except than only Fishmongers
may sell in shops or houses.
No tanned or untanned skin or hide of any ox, steer, bull, cow,
or calf may be exported because the price of leather has risen
excessively and leather workers can't get enough raw material to carry
on their trade and because poor people cannot afford leather items they
need.
The newly incorporated Company of Silk Throwers (drew the silk
off the cocoon) employs many of the poor, but others practice the
trade, so an apprenticeship of seven years is required to practice the
trade in the realm. Winders or doublers who purloin or embezzle and
sell silk from the thrower who employs him and the buyer of such silk
shall make such recompense as ordered by a Justice of the Peace or be
whipped or set in the stocks for the first offense.
The regulation of the Silk Throwers company restricting the
number of spindles to be worked at one time is voided because it has
taken livelihoods away and caused foreign thrown silk [silk twisted
from cocoons into thread] to be imported.
Buttons on garments must be made of silk, mohair, gimp, and
thread and by needle to keep employed the many throwers, twisters,
spinners, winders, and dyers preparing the materials for these buttons.
No button may be made of cloth or wood.
When a bill of exchange drawn to at least five pounds is not
paid on demand at the time it is made payable, the person who accepted
it may make a protest in writing before a notary public, which shall be
served on the maker of such bill, who must pay it and all interest and
charges from the date of the protest. But if a bill of exchange is lost
or miscarried, another shall be given in its place.
No one may take more than 6 pounds in interest for a 100 pound
loan.
Persons seeking election to Parliament may not give or promise
money, meat, drink, entertainment, present or gift to any elector.
Because the gaols were full of people in debt due to the late
unhappy times such as the London fire, all prisoners for debt were
released upon taking an oath that they had no property over ten pounds
nor had disposed or conveyed property to defraud creditors. Creditors
not wanting them released had to contribute to their maintenance in
gaol.
Retailers of wine may not add to imported wines cider, honey,
sugar, molasses, lime, raisin juice, or herbs.
Butter sold must be of one sort and not contain bad butter
mixed in with good butter. Butter pots must bear the name or mark of
their potter.
Salt may be sold only by weight, to avoid deceit by retailers
and wrong to buyers.
No tobacco maybe grown in England because the colonies would be
discouraged from growing it and the king would not receive customs from
it.
No goods are to be imported to or exported from America, Asia,
or Africa except in English ships, with masters and 3/4 of the mariners
Englishmen. No manufacture of Europe may be imported into any colony or
territory except shipped from England in English ships manned by
Englishmen. As of 1672, if bond is not given for colonial exports of
sugar, ginger, tobacco, cotton, indigo, cacao nuts, or fustic [tree
that yields a yellow dye] and other dye- woods going to England, a duty
must be paid. As of 1696, no colonial goods are to be imported or
exported or carried from one colony to another, except in ships owned
and built in England, Ireland, or the colonies with the masters and
three fourths of the mariners from such places. These navigation acts
were strictly enforced.
Only persons with lands and tenements or estate worth over 100
pounds per year or having a lease of at least 99 years worth 150 pounds
per year and owners and keepers of forests or parks may have any guns,
bows, greyhounds, hunting dogs such as setting dogs, snares, or other
hunting equipment. These persons may kill hare, pheasants, partridges,
and other game. Gamekeepers authorized by Justices of the Peace may
search houses and outhouses and seize unlawful hunting equipment. If
hunting equipment or game is found in a house without good account to
the Justices of the Peace, they shall impose a fine of 5s. to 20s.,
one-half going to the informer and one-half going to the poor of the
parish.
Army officers or soldiers who desert or mutiny shall suffer
death or such other punishment as decided by a court martial of senior
officers rather than the usual form of law, which is too slow.
Seamen not showing up on board after notice shall serve six
months without pay, but shall not suffer as deserters. Seamen do not
have to perform service in the Army.
Pirates may be punished by death and loss of all lands and
chattels. Any person aiding, advising, or concealing pirates may be
likewise punished. Officers and seamen killed or wounded in the defense
of a ship or who seize or destroy pirates may be paid by the owners an
amount up to 2 pounds per 100 pounds of freight as determined by a
group of disinterested merchants and the judge. The amount due to a man
killed will be paid to his widow and children. This is to be done when
the ship arrives in port. Any person who informs of any combinations or
confederacies planning to run away with or to destroy a ship shall be
rewarded by the commander or master of such 10 pounds for a ship 100
tons or under, and 15 pounds for a ship over 100 tons. The trial may be
in England or the American colonies, whose authorities may issue
warrants for arrest of alleged pirates. Deserters from ships, because
they often become pirates, shall forfeit all wages. Masters forcing any
man fit to travel to stay on shore or willfully leaves him behind shall
suffer three months in prison without bail.
Persons may mine for ores on their own land, but must turn it
over to the king who will give compensation for it, including gold,
silver, copper (16 pounds per tun), lead (9 pounds per tun), tin (40s.
per tun), and iron (40s. per tun).
By statutes of 1660 and 1662, when goods have been carried off
ships without customs being paid, the Chief Magistrate of the place
where the offense was committed or the adjoining place, or the Lord
Treasurer, or a Baron of the Exchequer may, upon oath, issue out a
warrant to any person to enter, with the assistance of a sheriff,
constable or other public official, any house, shop, cellar, warehouse,
or room in the day time where the contraband goods are "suspected to be
concealed", and in case of resistance, to break open doors, chests,
trunks, or other packages and to seize such goods, provided that if the
information whereupon any house is searched proves to be false, the
injured party shall recover his full damages and costs against the
informer by action of trespass. This was extended to the colonies in
1696.
The penalty for cursing or swearing by a servant, day laborer,
soldier, or seaman is 1s. For others, it is 2s. The fine is doubled for
the second offense, and tripled for the third offense. If an adult
offender can't pay, he shall be put in the stocks for one hour. If a
child offender can't pay, he shall be whipped by the constable or by a
parent in the presence of the constable.
The equity courts are now conceding limited proprietary rights
to married women by enforcing premarital settlements or trust
arrangements that designate certain property as a wife's separate
estate and exempt it from control by the husband. Such protective
devices generally reflected a father's desire to shield his daughter
from poverty and benefited only the landed aristocracy in practice.
Also, husbands are not allowed to punish and beat their wives as
before. But the lower rank of men were slow to give this up. A wife
could have the security of the peace against her husband. He could
restrain her liberty only for gross misbehavior.
In 1685, the courts ruled that apprenticeships were necessary
only for servants hired by the year, thus exempting most wage laborers.
There were many variations in religious practices for statutes
to address. The Quakers and Baptists were opposed to any state church.
The Independents and Presbyterians accepted the idea of a state church.
The members of the established church and Roman Catholics adhered to
their version the state church as they had experienced it in the past.
Atheism had a bad reputation. In 1662, the Jews established the first
synagogue in London. The Privy Council recognized their religious
status as long as they were peaceful and obeyed the laws. They engaged
in pawn-broking as well as money-lending.
There were various statutes enacted over the course of time
regarding religion, as follows:
All ministers, school teachers, mayors and other town
officials, including magistrates, were required to take the oaths of
allegiance and supremacy [of the King over the church] or be removed
from office.
A great number of people refused to come to their parish church
or other public place where common prayer and sacraments were
administered and the word of God was preached according to the
established church. The morning and afternoon Sunday services with
sermons, sometimes by guest preachers, continued. So factions and
schisms developed. In response, the king changed the Book of Common
Prayer and its prayers were required by statute in 1662 to be read by
some priest or deacon in all the churches and places of public worship
wherever and whenever there was any preaching or lecturing. Attendance
at one's local parish church was never again required.
Attendance at the established Church of England was never again
required. Nor was preaching or lecturing constrained. Instead, a
statute was passed in 1677 that: Every person shall be pious and
exercise religion publicly and privately on Sunday. No work may be done
or goods sold or else forfeit 5s. or the goods respectively. No one may
travel or else forfeit 5-20s. In a further statute of 1688, because
some ease to scrupulous consciences in the exercise of religion may be
an effectual means to unite Protestant subjects in interest and
affection, Protestant nonconformists who took the oaths, or declaration
in the case of Quakers, and a declaration that they were not Catholic,
did not adore the Virgin Mary or any saint, and did not go to mass were
declared not liable for punishment in any ecclesiastical court by
reason of their nonconformity to the Church of England, except
Protestant dissenters meeting behind locked doors. But payment of
tithes and performance of parish duties were still obligatory.
Non-conformist preachers had to subscribe to the tenets of belief
listed in the first eighteen Articles of Religion, but were exempted
from the articles on expounding inconsistencies in scripture, the
traditions of the church, homilies, and consecration of bishops and
ministers of the Elizabethan statute and the statute on uniformity of
prayers and sacraments of Charles II.
As of 1665, no nonconformist minister, i.e. one who endeavored
any alteration of government either in church or state, was allowed to
live or visit within five miles of any corporate town or any place
where he had acted as minister or else forfeit 40 pounds. Persons not
frequenting the established church were not allowed to teach in any
public or private school or else forfeit 40 pounds.
By statute of 1670, anyone at least sixteen years old who is
present at any assembly, conventile [private meeting of religious
dissidents to pray and expound scripture], or meeting under pretence of
any exercise of religion in other manner than according to the
established Church of England at which there are at least five persons
present shall be fined 5s. for the first offense and 10s. for the
second offense. This does not include members of the same household
meeting in their home. Anyone who preaches or teaches at such a meeting
shall pay 20 pounds for the first offense, and 40 pounds for further
offenses. The householder who permits such a meeting shall pay 20
pounds. A justice or Justice of the Peace or chief magistrate may break
open doors and enter by force any house or other place where they have
been informed of any such meeting and take persons there into custody
for prosecution. This is to discourage the growing of dangerous
seditious persons under pretence of tender consciences.
Religious nonconformity continued especially among the humble
people. The penal statutes caused hundreds of these nonconformists to
be put in gaol. From time to time, the king would release them and
suspend these laws. Sometimes, Charles II allowed dissenters to meet in
private for worship if they got a license from him. Religious
gatherings grew in numbers, size, and geographical extent. Dissenters
were then allowed by statute to meet behind locked or barred doors. But
they had to pay tithes and could be prosecuted in the ecclesiastical
courts for not doing so. By statute, all congregations and assemblies
for religious worship had to register with the local bishop or
archbishop. Disturbers of religious worship were required to find two
sureties for the amount of 50 pounds.
Quakers were active in the countryside. They were about one
tenth of the population and did not believe in a state church. There
were some Quakers schools and some Quaker workhouses to give work to
the poor. For the reason that they met together in large numbers to the
great endangering of public peace and safety and to the terror of the
people, and because they had secret communications and separated
themselves from the rest of the people and from the usual places of
worship, a statute was passed in 1662, that any Quakers who assembled
to the number of five or more under the pretense of unauthorized
religious worship and any person maintaining that taking an oath before
a magistrate was unlawful and contrary to the word of God or refusing
to take a required oath was to forfeit 5 pounds for the first offense
or be imprisoned for 3 months if he couldn't pay. For the second
offense, the penalty was 10 pounds or imprisonment for 6 months with
hard labor. The third offense required abjuring the realm or being
transported to a plantation of the king beyond the seas. The policy of
Charles II was to allow Quakers to meet undisturbed, to keep their hats
on before magistrates, and to not come to the parish church. But this
policy was only partially adopted in the country. From 1689, by
statute, the Quakers were allowed to affirm or declare instead of
making the customary oath.
Many Presbyterians became Unitarians, who rejected the trinity
of "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" and doubted the divinity of Jesus, but
accepted revelation. This statute was then passed in 1697: Any person
having been educated in or having at any time made profession of the
Christian religion who, by writing, printing, teaching, or advised
speaking, denies the Holy trinity, asserts that there is more than one
god, or that the Bible is not of divine authority, shall be disabled
for any ecclesiastical, civil, or military office. The penalty for a
second offense is being disabled from suing or pleading any action in
any court, being guardian of any child, or executor or administrator of
any estate, or receiving any legacy or deed of gift and imprisonment
for three years without bail or mainprize.
Catholicism was always disfavored. Catholic priests were
executed with little evidence. At times, Charles commuted the death
penalty for them to banishment. Sometimes there were effigies of the
pope burned in the streets. Such burnings were later banned. At times
Charles allowed Catholics to attend mass.
By statute of 1672, all civil and military officers and king's
officials must take the oaths of supremacy and allegiance and take the
sacrament of the established Church of England or be incapable of
office. They also had to make a declaration that they believed that
there is not any transubstantiation in the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper, or in the elements of bread and wine, when they were
consecrated. This is to prevent dangers from Papists. As of 1678, no
one may be a member of Parliament if he has refused to take the oaths
of allegiance and supremacy and the declaration that they were not
Catholic, did not adore the Virgin Mary or any saint, and did not go to
mass.
Papists were made to pay higher taxes. Every temporal and
spiritual person, corporation, and guild had to pay taxes to subsidize
the king in the amount of 2s.8d. for every pound's worth of personal
property and money. But Papists had to pay 5s.4d. for such. Persons and
corporations having land worth at least 20s. yearly, had to pay 4s. for
every pounds' worth. But Papists and aliens had to pay 8s. for such.
But Charles' successor, King James II was Catholic and gave
many offices to Catholics. This prompted a reaction against Papists and
more statutes restricting them. After James II was chased out of
England, a statute of 1688 required suspected Papists in London to make
a declaration that they were not Catholic, did not adore the Virgin
Mary or any saint, did not go to mass, or else stay ten miles outside
of London. Excluded were tradesmen and manual workers, who had only to
register. All Papists had to forfeit their arms and any horse worth
more than 5 pounds. Also, no King or Queen or spouse of such could be a
Papist, but had to make the same declaration as members of Parliament,
and join in the communion of the established Church of England. As of
1696, a person who was serjeant at law, counsellor at law, barrister,
advocate, attorney, solicitor, proctor, clerk, or notary had to take
the oath of supremacy and allegiance. As of 1698, Papists who kept a
school or tried to educate the young were threatened with perpetual
imprisonment. Also, Popish parents were prohibited from forcing their
children who were inclined towards Protestantism to become Catholic by
refusing them suitable maintenance. As of 1699, a reward of 100 pounds
was offered to any person who apprehended a Popish bishop, priest, or
Jesuit saying mass. Also, no Papist was allowed to buy land.
Judicial Procedure
After the Restoration, all legal decisions of the Commonwealth
and Protectorate were confirmed subject to a right of appeal.
The Star Chamber was not restored, and Parliament assumed its
control of the press. The King's Bench succeeded to most of the Star
Chamber's jurisdiction. No longer could the Privy Council influence
criminal cases and the general supervision of legal processes through
the Star Chamber.
The High Commission court was not restored, but church courts
were, but with depleted powers. They accepted subordination to the
common law courts. Because the church's administration was inefficient
and corrupt and its punishments inadequate, they gradually lost their
power to the common law justices and Justices of the Peace. They had
virtually no authority over laymen. They could still punish heresy, but
lost jurisdiction over the law of libel and slander, which then were
transformed by the civil courts, and over prostitution and scandalous
lewdness. Local ordinances for suppression of brothels, which were run
by madams, were founded on breach of the peace. In 1678, the death
sentence was taken away from the church courts. In 1697, church
sanctuary was abolished.
The county courts faded into insignificance, as the Justices of
the Peace took on more jurisdiction.
In 1668, new justices were issued patents with "at pleasure"
instead of "during good behavior" describing their tenure. Charles II
and James II frequently dismissed justices not favorably disposed to
the Crown. In 1697, they were to have fixed salaries instead of the
profits of justice. By statute of 1701, justices' commissions were to
be made with an established salary determined by Parliament and a
tenure to last during good behavior. They could be removed only by the
address of both Houses of Parliament. This gave them independence from
the king. Their tenure lasted for the life of the monarch.
As of 1679, no man could be held in prison but on a charge or
conviction of crime or for debt. Every prisoner on a criminal charge
could demand as a right from the Court of the King's Bench the issue of
a writ of habeas corpus which bound his gaoler to produce the prisoner
and the warrant on which he was imprisoned for review as to legality.
This forced trials to be speedy, which they had not hitherto been. Now
it was impossible for the Crown to detain a person for political
reasons in defiance of both Parliament and the courts, as Charles I had
done. The writ was suspended in times of war and domestic unrest: 1689,
1696, 1708.
In 1670, William Penn was arrested for sedition for delivering
a sermon in London, contrary to the statute that only the Church of
England could conduct meetings for worship. The jurors would not
convict him, so were gaoled and fined by the justices. The jurors filed
a writ of habeas corpus in the Court of Common Pleas, which held in
their favor. Thereafter the English jury had full independence to
decide verdicts. By court decision of 1679, jurors were held not to be
responsible to the justice for their verdict.
After 1688, hearsay was inadmissible as evidence, which Coke
had recommended. The old system of original writs was abandoned, and
the general concept or a wrong to person or property took its place.
A person who was sergeant at law, counselor at law, barrister,
advocate, attorney, solicitor, proctor [supervisor of students taking
an eexam], clerk, or notary in the courts had to take the required
oaths of allegiance and supremacy.
As of 1692, persons outlawed could appear by attorney as well
as in person to argue reversal of such outlawry, except in cases of
treason and felony.
As of 1696, persons accused of high treason where there might
be corruption of the blood or for misprison [concealing knowledge] of
such treason had to be taken before a grand jury for indictment within
three years of the offense. Those indicted or outlawed for such were
given a copy of the whole indictment, but not the names of witnesses,
at least five days before trial in order to prepare their defense. They
could have a copy of the panel of jurors at least two days before
trial. They could be represented in their defense by not more than two
counsel learned in the law and assigned by the court. Their counsel had
free access to them at all reasonable hours. They could make proof
through lawful witnesses under oath. In a trial of commoners for their
lives, a jury of twelve freeholders had to all agree on acquittal or
conviction. In a trial of a peer, the others peers in Parliament
determined the outcome by a majority vote.
Jurors were required to have at least 20 pounds income from
freehold land or rents in fee, fee tail, or for life. This increase in
the quality of the jury enabled it to better discern the issues in
dispute.
Jury sympathy was determined by the sheriff who chose the jury.
So if a sheriff was popularly elected, as in London, he chose jurors
who favored individual and corporate liberty. If the king selected the
sheriff, he chose tories, who supported the Crown.
Issues of bastardy or lawfulness of marriage had to be tried by
a jury.
The civil suit of trespass on the case branched into assumpsit
[a promise], trover [to recover goods converted to the use of another],
deceit, negligence, and libel and slander. The latter supplements bad
words punished by the local courts and defamation punished by the
church courts. Trover becomes the normal mode of trying the title to
personal property and goods as the courts oblige the defendant to
answer the charge of conversion without permitting him to dispute the
loss and finding of the goods by the plaintiff.
This is an example of the initiation of a suit by a writ for trespass
on the case: "The King to the sheriff &c. as in Trespass to show:
wherefore (e.g.:___) he fixed piles across the water of Plim along
which, between the Humber and Gaunt, there is a common passage for
ships and boats, whereby a certain ship, with thirty quarters of malt
of him the said A, was sunk under water, and twenty quarters of the
malt of the price of one hundred shillings perished; and other wrongs
&c. as in trespass."
This is an example of a writ for trespass on the case in
assumpsit: "The King to the sheriff greeting &c. as in Trespass to
show: wherefore whereas he the Said X undertook well and competently to
cure the right eye of the Said A, which was accidentally injured, for a
certain sum of money beforehand received, he the same X so negligently
and carelessly applied his cure to the said eye, that the said A by the
fault of him the said X totally lost the sight of the said eye, to the
damage of him the said A of twenty pounds, as he saith, and have there
&c. wherefore whereas he the said X undertook to make and build three
carriages for conveying victuals of him the said A to parts beyond the
sea for a certain sum of money beforehand received, within a certain
term between them agreed; he the said X did not take care to make and
build the carriages aforesaid within the term aforesaid, by which he
the said A hath wholly lost divers his goods and chattels, to the value
of one hundred marks, which ought to have been conveyed in the
carriages aforesaid, for want thereof to the great damage of him the
said A as it is said: and have there &c."
This is an example of a writ for case on indebitatus assumpsit:
"The King to the sheriff &c. as in Trespass to show: for that, whereas
the said X heretofore, to wit (date and place) was indebted to the said
A in the sum of for divers goods wares and merchandises by the said A
before that time sold and delivered to the said X at his special
instance and request, and being so indebted, he the said X in
consideration thereof afterwards to wit (date and place aforesaid)
undertook and faithfully promised the said A to pay him the said sum of
money when he the said X should be thereto afterwards requested. Yet
the said X, not regarding his said promise and undertaking but
contriving and fraudulently intending craftily and subtly to deceive
and defraud the said A in this behalf, hath not yet paid the said sum
of money or any part thereof to the said A (although oftentimes
afterwards requested). But the said X to pay the same or any part
thereof hath hitherto wholly refused and still refuses, to the damage
of the said A of ------ pounds as it is said. And have you there &c."
This is an example of a writ for case for trover: "The King to
the sheriff greeting &c. as in Trespass to show: for that, whereas the
said A heretofore to wit [date and place] was lawfully possessed as of
his own property, of certain goods and chattels to wit, twenty tables
and twenty chairs of great value to wit of the value of ___ pounds of
lawful money of great Britain; and, being so possessed thereof he the
said A afterwards, to wit (date and place aforesaid) casually lost the
said goods and chattels out of his possession: and the same afterward,
to wit (date and place aforesaid) came into the possession of the said
X by finding; Yet the said X well knowing the said goods and chattels
to be the property of the said A and of right to belong and appertain
to him, but, contriving and fraudulently intending craftily and subtly
to deceive and defraud the said A in this behalf, hath not as yet
delivered the said goods and chattels, or any part thereof, to the said
A (although often requested so to do) but so to do hath hitherto wholly
refused and still refuses; and afterwards to wit (date and place
aforesaid) converted and disposed of the said goods and chattels to his
the said X's own use, to the damage of the said A of ____ pounds as it
is said; and have you there &c."
The rigid writs with specific forms of action for common law
cases started to fall into disuse. Later, trespass on the case
bifurcates into misdemeanor and the tort of trespass.
Persons in prison on suspicion of treason could not be released
on bail as of 1688.
If one of several defendants of a case was acquitted, all
defendants recovered their costs from the plaintiffs. A person found
guilty of malicious prosecution recovered his costs from his accuser.
Mercantile cases were decided in light of mercantile custom
rather than according to the strict rules of the common law.
Merchants and traders could settle their trade disputes by
arbitration, which decision could be enforced by court order.
The chief justice could empower persons by commission to take
affidavits from people in the country for court proceedings in
Westminster.
Judgments were docketed so they could easily be found e.g. by
heirs, executors, administrators, purchasers, and mortgagees.
Court judgments and fines could be challenged for error only
within twenty years.
Court decisions were still appealable to the House of Lords. In
1668, Skinner v. East India Company held that the House of Lords could
not exercise original jurisdiction in civil cases between commoners as
it had claimed, but retained its appellate jurisdiction. In 1675, the
House of Lords acquired the new judicial function of hearing appeals
from the Chancery Court by virtue of the case of Shirley vs. Fagg.
Any gaol keeper allowing a prisoner to escape in return for
money lost his office forever and had to forfeit 500 pounds.
The last burning of a woman as a penalty for an offense, which
had been only occasional, was in 1688.
The last bill of attainder, which condemned a person to death,
occurred in 1697.
The pillory was still in use.
Benefit of clergy was taken away from those who stole cloth or
woolen manufactures from their drying racks or who embezzled military
stores or ammunition worth at least 20s, or stole goods of over 5s.
value from a dwelling house with a person therein put in fear, a
dwelling house in daytime with a person therein, or by day or night a
shop or warehouse.
A statute of 1661 gave jurisdiction to naval courts-martial to
decide cases at sea, e.g. insubordination; failure to fight the enemy,
a pirate, or rebels; not assisting a friend, mutiny, drunkenness,
creating a disturbance to protest the quality of the food, quarreling,
sleeping on watch, sodomy, murder, robbery, theft, and misdemeanors.
Usually the penalty was to be determined by the courts-martial, but
sometimes death was decreed.
In the American colonies, judges were still appointed by the
royal governors and paid by the local legislatures. They still served
at the pleasure of the king.