| Chap. 4. |
Justices of the Peace.
much to the like effect that not it is; in which year also M. Marrow
taketh
it that Justices of Peace were first made, they having then first power
given
them to hear and determine Felonies and Trespasses against the Peace,
as
appeareth by the Statute of 18 E. 3.c.2. |
13 |
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§. 2. |
The form of the Oath is at this day as followeth.
YE shall swear, that as Justice of the Peace in the
County of Camb.
in all Articles in the Kings Commission to you directed, you shall do
legal right to the Poor and to the Rich, after your cunning, wit and
power, and after the Laws and Customs of the Realm, and Statutes thereof
made: And ye shall not be of Councel of any quarrel hanging before
you: And that ye hold your Sessions after the form of the Statutes
thereof
made: And the Issues, Fines, and Amercements that shall happen to
be
made, and all Forfeitures which shall fall before you, ye shall cause to
be
entred without any concealment (or imbezilling,) and truly send them to
the Kings Exchequer; ye shall not let for gift, or other cause, but well
and
truly you shall do your Office of Justice of the Peace to be done,
but of the King, and Fees accustomed, and costs limited by the Statute:
And ye shall not direct, nor cause to be directed, any Warrant (by you
to be made) to the parties, but yet shall direct them to the Bailiffs of
the
said County, or other the Kings Officers (or Ministers,) or other indifferent
persons, to do execution thereof. So help you God, &c. |
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§. 3.
Part of
the Oath. |
The parts of this Oath are shortly Six
1. That they shall do equal Right to Rich and
Poor, and according to
the Laws and Statutes of the Realm. |
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2. That they shall not be of Counsel with
any person in any matter
depending before them. |
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3. That they shall keep their Sessions according
to the Statutes, which
(as it seemeth by the Prescript of the Statute 2 H. 5. cap.
4.) ought to be
in the first Week after the Feast of S. Michael, after the Epiphany,
after the
clause or Feast of Easter, and after the Translation of S. Thomas
the Martyr,
being the third day of July, And accordingly the Quarter Sessions
of the Peace ought so still to be holden throughout the Realm. See
Lam.
579, 580. And yet by the Statute of 14 H. 6.c.4.
the Justices of Peace
of Middlesex are to keep their Sessions but twice in the year. |
2 H. 5.4.
P. Just. 5. |
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4. That all Issues, Fines, Amercements,
and Forefeitures which happen
before them, be by them truly entred, and sent into the Exchequer. |
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5. That they take nothing for doing of their
Office, but of the King,
and the accustomed Fees appointed by the Statutes. |
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6. That they shall not direct any their Warrants
to the parties, but to the
Bailiffs of the County, or to other of the Kings Officers, as to the Sheriff,
High Constable, Petty Constable, &c. or other indifferent persons. |
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§. 4.
Sessions. |
Now farther concerning the times of the Quarter-Sessions,
it seemeth to
be the intent or meaning of the afore-recited Stat. 2. H. 5.c.4.
that the
weeks wherein the aforesaid Feasts of S. Michael, the Epiphany,
and S. Thomas
fall, must be first ended before the Sessions can begin. So that
if any
of these three Feast days shall fall upon the Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,
or
Wednesday, then shall the Sessions (in our County of Cambridge)
be upon
Thursday seven-night after; but if any of those Feast shall fall
upon Thursday,
Friday, or Saturday, then shall our Sessions be upon the next
Thursday
after; and for our Easter Sessions, upon the Thursday
seven-night after
Easter-day. |
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The other Oath, concerning the Kings Supremacy,
us by force of the
Statute made primo Eliz. c. 1. The form of which Oath followeth. |
P. Crown.
4.
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C
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