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CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH.
OF PARENT AND CHILD.
THE next, and the moft univerfal relation in nature, is immediately derived from the preceding, being that between parent and child.
CHILDREN are of two forts ; legitimate, and fpurious, or baftards : each of which we fhall confider in their order ; and firft of legitimate children.
I. ALEGITIMATE child is he that is born in lawful wedlock, or within a competent time afterwards. “Pater eft quem nuptiae demonftrant,” is the rule of the civil law a ; and this holds with the civilians, whether the nuptials happen before, or after, the birth of the child. With us in England the rule is narrowed, for the nuptials muft be precedent to the birth ; of which more will be faid when we come to confider the cafe of baftardy. At prefent let us enquire into, 1. The legal duties of parents to their legitimate children. 2. Their power over them. 3. The duties of fuch children to their parents.
1. AND, firft, the duties of parents to legitimate children : which principally confift in three particulars ; their maintenance, their protection, and their education.
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a Ff. 2. 4. 5.
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THE
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THE duty of parents to provide for the maintenance of their children is a principle of natural law ; an obligation, fays Puffendorf b, laid on them not only by nature herfelf, but by their own proper act, in bringing them into the world : for they would be in the higheft manner injurious to their iffue, if they only gave the children life, that they might afterwards fee them perifh. By begetting them therefore they have entered into a voluntary obligation, to endeavour, as far as in them lies, that the life which they have beftowed fhall be fupported and preferved. And thus the children will have a perfect right of receiving maintenance from their parents. And the prefident Montefquieu c has a very juft obfervation upon this head : that the eftablifhment of marriage in all civilized ftates is built on this natural obligation of the father to provide for his children ; for that afcertains and makes known the perfon who is bound to fulfil this obligation : whereas, in promifcuous and illicit conjunctions, the father is unknown ; and the mother finds a thoufand obftacles in her way ; --- fhame, remorfe, the conftraint of her fex, and the rigor of laws ; --- that ftifle her inclinations to perform this duty : and befides, the generally wants ability.
THE municipal laws of all well-regulated ftates have taken care to enforce this duty : though providence has done it more effectually than any laws, by implanting in the breaft of every parent that natural sopyn, or infuperable degree of affection, which not even the deformity of perfon or mind, not even the wickednefs, ingratitude, and rebellion of children, can totally fupprefs or extinguifh.
THE civil law d obliges the parent to provide maintenance for his child ; and, if he refufes, “ judex de ea re cognofcet.” Nay, it carries this matter fo far, that it will not fuffer a parent at his death totally to difinherit his child, without expreffly giving his
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b L. of N. l. 4. c. 11.
c Sp. l. l. 23. c. 2.
d Ff. 25. 3. 5.
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Ggg 2
reafon
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reafon for fo doing ; and there are fourteen fuch reafons reckoned up e, which may juftify fuch difinherifon. If the parent alleged no reafon, or a bad, or falfe one, the child might fet the will afide, tanquam teftamentum inofficiofum, a teftament contrary to the natural duty of the parent. And it is remarkable under what colour the children were to move for relief in fuch a cafe : by fuggefting that the parent had loft the ufe of his reafon, when he made the inofficious teftament. And this, as Puffendorf obferves f, was not to bring into difpute the teftator's power of difinheriting his own offspring ; but to examine the motives upon which he did it : and, if they were found defective in reafon, then to fet them afide. But perhaps this is going rather too far : every man has, or ought to have, by the laws of fociety, a power over his own property : and, as Grotius very well diftinguifhes g, natural right obliges to give a neceffary maintenance to children ; but what is more than that, they have no other right to, than as it is given them by the favour of their parents, or the pofitive conftitutions of the municipal law.
LET us next fee what provifion our own laws have made for this natural duty. It is a principle of law h, that there is an obligation on every man to provide for thofe defcended from his loins : and the manner, in which this obligation fhall be performed, is thus pointed out i. The father, and mother, grandfather, and grandmother of poor impotent perfons fhall maintain them at their own charges, if of fufficient ability, according as the quarter feffions fhall direct : and k if a parent runs away, and leaves his children, the churchwardens and overfeers of the parifh fhall feife his rents, goods, and chattels, and difpofe of them towards their relief. By the interpretations which the courts of law have made upon thefe ftatutes, if a mother or grandmother marries again, and was before fuch fecond marriage of fufficient ability to keep the child, the hufband fhall be charged to main-
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e Nov. 115.
f l. 4. c. 11. §. 7.
g De j. b. & p. l. 2. c. 7. n. 3.
h Raym. 500.
i Stat. 43 Eliz. c. 2.
k Stat. 5 Geo. I. c. 8.
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tain
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tain it l : for this being a debt of hers, when fingle, fhall like others extend to charge the hufband. But at her death, the relation being diffolved, the hufband is under no farther obligation.
No perfon is bound to provide a maintenance for his iffue, unlefs where the children are impotent and unable to work, either through infancy, difeafe, or accident ; and then is only obliged to find them with neceffaries, the penalty on refufal being no more than 20 s. a month. For the policy of our laws, which are ever watchful to promote induftry, did not mean to compel a father to maintain his idle and lazy children in eafe and indolence : but thought it unjuft to oblige the parent, againft his will, to provide them with fuperfluities, and other indulgences of fortune ; imagining they might truft to the impulfe of nature, if the children were deferving of fuch favours. Yet, as nothing is fo apt to ftifle the calls of nature as religious bigotry, it is enacted m, that if any popifh parent fhall refufe to allow his proteftant child a fitting maintenance, with a view to compel him to change his religion, the lord chancellor fhall by order of court conftrain him to do what is juft and reafonable. But this did not extend to perfons of another religion, of no lefs bitternefs and bigotry than the popifh : and therefore in the very next year we find an inftance of a Jew of immenfe riches, whofe only daughter having embraced chriftianity, he turned her out of doors ; and on her application for relief, it was held fhe was intitled to nonen. But this gave occafion o to another ftatutep, which ordains, that if jewifh parents refufe to allow their proteftant children a fitting maintenance, fuitable to the fortune of the parent, the lord chancellor on complaint may make fuch order therein as he fhall fee proper.
OUR law has made no provifion to prevent the difinheriting of children by will ; leaving every man's property in his own
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l Styles. 283. 2 Bufter. 346.
m Stat. 11 & 12 W. III. c. 4.
n Lord Raym. 699.
o Com. Journ. 18 Feb. 12 Mar. 1701.
p 1 Ann. ft. 1. c 30.
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difpofal,
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difpofal, upon a principle of liberty in this, as well as every other, action : though perhaps it had not been amifs, if the parent had been bound to leave them at the leaft a neceffary fubfiftence. By the cuftom of London indeed, (which was formerly univerfal throughout the kingdom) the children of freemen are entitled to one third of their father's effects, to be equally divided among them ; of which he cannot deprive them. And, among perfons of any rank or fortune, a competence is generally provided for younger children, and the bulk of the eftate fettled upon the eldeft, by the marriage-articles. Heirs alfo, and children, are favourites of our courts of juftice, and cannot be difinherited by any dubious or ambiguous words ; there being required the utmoft certainty of the teftator's intentions to take away the right of an heir q.
FROM the duty of maintenance we may eafily pafs to that of protection ; which is alfo a natural duty, but rather permitted than enjoined by any municipal laws : nature, in this refpect, working fo ftrongly as to need rather a check than a fpur. A parent may, by our laws, maintain and uphold his children in their lawfuits, without being guilty of the legal crime of maintaining quarrelsr. A parent may alfo juftify an affault and battery in defence of the perfons of his children s : nay, where a man's fon was beaten by another boy, and the father went near a mile to find him, and there revenged his fon's quarrel by beating the other boy, of which beating the afterwards, died ; it was not held to be murder, but manflaughter merely t. Such indulgence does the law fhew to the frailty of human nature, and the workings of parental affection.
THE laft duty of parents to their children is that of giving them an education fuitable to their ftation in life : a duty pointed out by reafon, and of far the greateft importance of any. For, as Puffendorf very well obferves u, it is not eafy to imagine or
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q 1 Lev. 130.
r 2 Inft. 564.
s 1 Hawk. P. C. 131.
t Cro. Jac. 296. 1 Hawk. P. C. 83.
u L. of N. b. 6. c. 2. §. 12.
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allow,
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allow, that a parent has conferred any confiderable benefit upon his child, by bringing him into the world ; if he afterwards entirely neglects his culture and education, and fuffers him to grow up like a mere beaft, to lead a life ufelefs to others, and fhameful to himfelf. Yet the municipal laws of moft countries feem to be defective in this point, by not conftraining the parent to beftow a proper education upon his children. Perhaps they thought it punifhment enough to leave the parent, who neglects the inftruction of his family, to labour under thofe grifs and inconveniences, which his family, fo uninftructed, will be fure to bring upon him. Our laws, though their defects in this particular cannot be denied, have in one inftance made a wife provifion for breeding up the rifing generation ; fince the poor and laborious part of the community, when paft the age of nurture, are taken out of the hands of their parents, by the ftatutes for apprenticing poor children w ; and are placed out by the public in fuch a manner, as may render their abilities, in their feveral ftations, of the greateft advantage to the commonwealth. The rich indeed are left at their own option, whether they will breed up their children to be ornaments or difgraces to their family. Yet in one cafe, that of religion, they are under peculiar reftrictions : for x it is provided, that if any perfon fends any child under his government beyond the feas, either to prevent it's good education in England, or in order to enter into or refide in any popifh college, or to be inftructed, perfuaded, or ftrengthened in the popifh religion ; in fuch cafe, befides the difabilities incurred by the child fo fent, the parent or perfon fending fhall forfeit 100 l. which y fhall go to the fole ufe and benefit of him that fhall difcover the offence. And z if any parent, or other, fhall fend or convey any perfon beyond fea, to enter into, or be refident in, or trained up in, any priory, abbey, nunnery, popifh univerfity, college, or fchool, or houfe of jefuits, or priefts, or in any private pofifh family, in order to be inftructed, perfuaded, or confirmed in the popifh religion ; or fhall contribute any thing towards their maintenance
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w See page 414.
x Stat. 1 Jac. I. c. 4. & 3 Jac. I. c. 5.
y Stat. 11 & 12 W. III. c. 4.
z Stat. 3 Car. I. c. 2.
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when
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when abroad by any pretext whatever, the perfon both fending and fent fhall be difabled to fue in law or equity, or to be executor or adminiftrator to any perfon, or to enjoy any legacy or deed of gift, or to bear any office in the realm, and fhall forfeit all his goods and chattels, and likewife all his real eftate for life.
2. THE power of parents over their children is derived from the former confideration, their duty ; this authority being given them, partly to enable the parent more effectually to perform his duty, and partly as a recompence for his care and trouble in the faithful difcharge of it. And upon this fcore the municipal laws of fome nations have given a much larger authority to the parents, than others. The antient Roman laws gave the father a power of life and death over his children ; upon this principle, that he who gave had alfo the power of taking away a. But the rigor of thefe laws was foftened by fubfequent conftitutions ; fo that b we find a father banifhed by the emperor Hadrian for killing his fon, though he had committed a very heinous crime, upon this maxim, that “ patria poteftas in pietate debet, non in atrocitate, confiftere.” But ftill they maintained to the laft a very large and abfolute authority : for a fon could not acquire any property of his own during the life of his father ; but all his acquifitions belonged to the father, or at leaft the profits of them for his life c.
THE power of a parent by our Englifh laws is much more moderate ; but ftill fufficient to keep the child in order and obedience. He may lawfully correct his child, being under age, in a reafonable manner d ; for this is for the benefit of his education. The confent or concurrence of the parent to the marriage of his child under age, was alfo directed by our antient law to be obtained : but now it is abfolutely neceffary ; for without it the contract is void e. And this alfo is another means, which the law has put into the parent's hands, in order the better to difcharge
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a Ff. 28. 2. 11. Cod. 8. 47. 10.
b Ff. 48. 9. 5.
c Inft. 2. 9. 1.
d 1 Hawk. P. C. 130.
e Stat. 26 Geo. II. c. 33.
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his
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his duty ; firft, of protecting his children from the fnares of artful and defigning perfons ; and, next, of fettling them properly in life, by preventing the ill confequences of too early and precipitate marriages. A father has no other power over his fons eftate, than as his truftee or guardian ; for, though he may receive the profits during the child's minority, yet he muft account for them when he comes of age. He may indeed have the benefit of his children's labour while they live with him, and are maintained by him : but this is no more than he is entitled to from his apprentices or fervants. The legal power of a father (for a mother, as fuch, is entitled to no power, but only to reverence and refpect) the power of a father, I fay, over the perfons of his children ceafes at the age of twenty one : for they are then enfranchifed by arriving at years of diferetion, or that point which the law has eftablifhed (as fome muft neceffarily be eftablifhed) when the empire of the father, or other guardian, gives place to the empire of reafon. Yet, till that age arrives, this empire of the father continues even after his death ; for he may by his will appoint a guardian to his children. He may alfo delegate part of his parental authority. during his life, to the rutor or fchoolmafter of his child ; who is then in loco parentis, and has fuch a portion of the power of the parent committed to his charge, viz. that of reftraint and correction, as may be neceffary to anfwer the purpofes for which he is employed.
3. THE duties of children to their parents arife from a principle of natural juftice and retribution. For to thofe, who gave us exiftence, we naturally owe fubjection and obedience during our minotrity, and honour and reverence ever after ; they, who protected the weaknefs of our infancy, are entitled to our protection in the infirmity of their age ; they who by fuftenance and education have enabled their offspring to profper, ought in return to be fupported by that offspring, in café they ftand in need of affiftance. Upon this principle proceed all the duties of children to their parents, which are enjoined by profitive laws. And the
Hhh
Athenian
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Athenian laws f carried this principle into practice with a fcrupulous kind of nicety : obliging all children to provide for their father, when fallen into poverty ; with an exception to fpurious children, to thofe whofe chaftity had been proftituted by confent of the father, and to thofe whom he had not put in any way of gaining a livelihood. The legiflature, fays baron Montefquieu g, confidered, that in the firft cafe the father, being uncertain, had rendered the natural obligation precarious ; that, in the fecond cafe, he had fullied the life he had given, and done his children the greateft of injuries, in depriving them of their reputation ; and that, in the third cafe, he had rendered their life (fo far as in him lay) an infupportable burthen, by furnifhing them with no means of fubfiftence.
OUR laws agree with thofe of Athens with regard to the firft only of thefe particulars, the cafe of fpurious iffue. In the other cafes the law does not hold the tie of nature to be diffolved by any mifbehaviour of the parent ; and therefore a child is equally juftifiable in defending the perfon, or maintaining the caufe or fuit, of a bad parent, as a good one ; and is equally compellable h, if of fufficient ability, to maintain and provide for a wicked and unnatural progenitor, as for one who has fhewn the greateft tendernefs and parental piety.
II. WE are next to confider the cafe of illegitimate children, or baftards ; with regard to whom let us inquire, 1. Who are baftards. 2. The legal duties of the parents towards a baftard child. 3. The rights and incapacities attending fuch baftard children.
1. WHO are baftards. A baftard, by our Englifh laws, is one that is not only begotten, but born, out of lawful matrimony. The civil and canon laws do not allow a child to remain a baftard, if the parents afterwards intermarry i : and herein they differ moft
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f Potter's Antiq. b. 4. c. 15.
g Sp. L. l. 26. c. 5.
h Stat. 43 Eliz. c. 2.
i Inft. 1. 10. 13. Decretal. l. 4. t. 17. c. 1.
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materially
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materially from our law ; which, though not fo ftrict as to require that the child fhall be begotten, yet makes it an indifpenfable condition that it fhall be born, after lawful wedlock. And the reafon of our Englifh law is furely much fuperior to that of the Roman, if we confider the principal end and defign of eftablifhing the contract of marriage, taken in a civil light ; abftractedly from any religious view, which has nothing to do with the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the children. The main end and defign of marriage therefore being to afcertain and fix upon fome certain perfon, to whom the care, the protection, the maintenance, and the education of the children fhould belong ; this end is undoubtedly better anfwered by legitimating all iffue born after wedlock, than by legitimating all iffue of the fame parties, even born before wedlock, fo as wedlock afterwards enfues : 1. Becaufe of the very great uncertainty there will generally be, in the proof that the iffue was really begotten by the fame man ; whereas, by confining the proof to the birth, and not to the begetting, our law has rendered it perfectly certain, what child is legitimate, and who is to take care of the child. 2. Becaufe by the Roman laws a child may be continued a baftard, or made legitimate, at the option of the father and mother, by a marriage ex poft facto ; thereby opening a door to many frauds and partialities, which by our law are prevented. 3. Becaufe by thofe laws a man may remain a baftard till forty years of age, and then become legitimate, by the fubfequent marriage of his parents ; whereby the main end of marriage, the protection of infants, is totally fruftrated. 4. Becaufe this rule of the Roman laws admits of no limitations as to the time, or number, of baftards fo to be legitimated ; but a dozen of them may, twenty years after their birth, by the fubfequent marriage of their parents, be admitted to all the privileges of legitimate children. This is plainly a great difcouragement to the matrimonial ftate ; to which one main inducement is ufually not only the defire of having children, but alfo the defire of procreating lawful heirs. Whereas our conftitutions guard againft this indecency, and at the fame time give fufficient allowance to the frailties of human nature. For, if a child be begotten while the
Hhh 2
parents
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parents are fingle, and they will endeavour to make an early reparation for the offence, by marrying within a few months after, our law is fo indulgent as not to baftardize the child, if it be born, though not begotten, in lawful wedlock : for this is an incident that can happen but once ; fince all future children will be begotten, as well as born, within the rules of honour and civil fociety. Upon reafons like thefe we may fuppofe the peers to have acted at the parliament of Merton, when they refufed to enact that children born before marriage fhould be efteemed legitimate k.
FROM what has been faid it appears, that all children born before matrimony are baftards by our laws ; and fo it is of all children born fo long after the death of the hufband, that, by the ufual courfe of geftation, they could not be begotten by him. But, this being a matter of fome uncertainty, the law is not exact as to a few days l. And this gives occafion to a proceeding at common law, where a widow is fufpected to feign herfelf with child, in order to produce a fuppofititious heir to the eftate : an attempt which the rigor of the Gothic conftitutions efteemed equivalent to the moft atrocious theft, and therefore punifhed with death m. In this cafe with us the heir prefumptive may have a writ de ventre infpiciendo, to examine whether fhe be with child, or not n ; which is entirely conformable to the practice of the civil law o : and, if the widow be upon due examination found not pregnant, any iffue fhe may afterwards produce, though within nine months, will be baftard. But if a man dies, and his widow foon after marries again, and a child is born within fuch a time, as that by the courfe of nature it might have been the child of either hufband ; in this cafe he is faid to be more than ordinarily legitimate ; for he may, when he arrives to years of difcretion,
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k Rogaverunt axxes epifcopi mangates, ut confentirent quod nati ante matrimonium effent legitimi, ficut illi qui nati funt poft matrimonium, quia ecclefia tales babet pro legitimis. Et omnes comites et barones una voce refponderunt, quod nolunt legs Angliae mutare, quae bucufque ufitatae funt et approbatae. Stat. 20 Hen. III. c. 9. See the introduction to the great charter, edit. Oxon. 1759. fub anno 1253.
l Cro. Jac. 541.
m Stiernhook de jure Gothor. l. 3. c. 5.
n Co. Litt. 8.
o Ff. 25. tit. 4. per tot.
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choofe
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choofe which of the fathers he pleafes p. To prevent this, among other inconveniences, the civil law ordained that no widow fhould marry infra annum luctus q ; a rule which obtained fo early as the reign of Auguftus r, if not of Romulus : and the fame conftitution was probably handed down to our early anceftors from the Romans, during their ftay in this ifland ; for we find it eftablifhed under the Saxon and Danifh governments s.
As baftards may be born before the coverture, or marriage ftate, is begun, or after it is determined, fo alfo children born during wedlock may in fome circumftances be baftards. As if the hufband be out of the kingdom of England (or, as the law fomewhat loofely phrafes it, extra quatuor maria) for above nine months, fo that no accefs to his wife can be prefumed, her iffue during that period fhall be baftard t. But, generally, during the coverture accefs of the hufband fhall be prefumed, unlefs the contrary can be fhewn u ; which is fuch a negative as can only be proved by fhewing him to be elfewhere : for the general rule is, praefumitur pro legitimatione w. In a divorce a menfa et thoro, if the wife breeds children, they are baftards ; for the law will prefume the hufband and wife conformable to the fentence of feparation, unlefs accefs be proved : but, in a voluntary feparation by agreement, the law will fuppofe accefs, unlefs the negative be fhewn x. So alfo if there is an apparent impoffibility of procreation on the part of the hufband, as if he be only eight years old, or the like, there the iffue of the wife fhall be baftard y. Likewife, in cafe of divorce in the fpiritual court a vinculo matrimonii, all the iffue born during the coverture are baftards z ; becaufe fuch divorce is always upon fome caufe, that rendered the marriage unlawful and null from the beginning.
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p Co. Litt. 8.
q Cod. 5. 9. 2.
r But the year was then only ten months. Ovid. Faft. I. 27.
s Sit omnis vidua fine marito duodecim menfes. LL. Ethelr. A. D. 1008. LL. Canut. c. 71.
t Co. Litt. 244.
u Salk. 123. 3 P. W. 276. Stra. 925.
w 5 Rep. 98.
x Salk. 123.
y Co. Litt. 244.
z Ibid. 235.
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2. LET
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2. LET us next fee the duty of parents to their baftard children, by our law ; which is principally that of maintenance. For, though baftrads are not looked upon as children to any civil purpofes, yet the ties of nature, of which maintenance is one, are not fo eafily diffolved : and they hold indeed as to many other intentions ; as, particularly, that a man fhall not marry his baftard fifter or daughter a. The civil law therefore, when it denied maintenance to baftards begotten under certain atrocious circumftances b, was neither confonant to nature, nor reafon, however profligate and wicked the parents might juftly be efteemed.
THE method in which the Englifh law provides maintenance for them is as follows c. When a woman is delivered, or declares herfelf with child, of a baftard, and will by oath before a juftice of peace charge any perfon having got her with child, the juftice fhall caufe fuch perfon to be apprehended, and commit him till he gives fecurity, either to maintain the child, or appear at the next quarter feffions to difpute and try the fact. But if the woman dies, or is married before delivery, or mifcarries, or proves not to have been with child, the perfon fhall be difcharged : otherwife the feffions, or two juftices out of feffions, upon original application to them, may take order for the keeping of the baftard, by charging the mother, or the reputed father with the payment of money or other fuftentation for that purpofe. And if fuch putative father, or lewd mother, run away from the parifh, the overfees by direction of two juftices may feize their rents, goods, and chattels, in order to bring up the faid baftard child. Yet fuch is the humanity of our laws, that no woman can be compulfively queftioned concerning the father of her child, till one month after her delivery : which indulgence is however very frequently a hardfhip upon parifhes, by fuffering the parents to efcape.
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a Lord Raym. 68. Comb. 356.
b Nov. 89. c. 15.
c Stat. 18 Eliz. c. 3. 7 Jac. I. c. 4. 3. Car. I. c. 4. 13 & 14 Car. II. c. 12. 6. Geo. II. c. 31.
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3. I PROCEED
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BOOK I.
Ch. 16.
3. I PROCEED next to the rights and incapacities which appertain to a baftard. The rights are very few, being only fuch as he can acquire ; for he can inherit nothing, being looked upon as the fon of nobody, and fometimes called filius nullius, fometimes filius populi d. Yet he may gain a firname by reputation e, though he has none by inheritance. All other children have a fettlement in their father's parifh ; but a baftard in the parifh where born, for he hath no father f. However, in café of fraud, as if a woman be fent either by order of juftices, or comes to beg as a vagrant, to a parifh which fhe does not belong to, and drops her baftard there ; the baftard fhall, in the firft café, be fettled in the parifh from whence fhe was illegally removed g; or, in the latter café, in the mother's own parifh, if the mother be apprehended for her vagrancy h. The incapacity of a baftard confifts principally in this, that he cannot be heir to any one, neither can he have heirs, but of his own body ; for, being nullius filius, he is therefore of kin to nobody, and has no anceftor from whom any inheritable blood can be derived. A baftard was alfo, in ftrictnefs, incapable of holy orders ; and, though that were difpenfed with, yet he was utterly difqualified from holding any dignity in the church i : but this doctrine feems now obfolete ; and in all other refpects, there is no diftinction between a baftard and another man. And really any other diftinction but that of not inheriting, which civil policy renders neceffary, would, with regard to the innocent offspring of his parents crimes, be odious, unjuft, and cruel to the laft degree : and yet the civil law, fo boafted of for it's equitble decifions, made baftards in fome cafes incapable even of a gift from their parents k. A baftard may, laftly, be made legitimate, and capable of inheriting, by the tranfcendent power of an act of parliament, and not otherwife l: as was done in the café of John of Gant's baftard children, by a ftatute of Richard the fecond.
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d Fort. de. LL. c. 40.
e Co. Litt. 3.
f Salk. 427.
g Salk. 121.
h Stat. 17 Geo. II. c. 5.
i Fortefc. c. 40. 5. Rep. 58.
k Cod. 6. 57. 5.
l 4 .{FE}