THE OFFICE OF ALIENATIONS. 373 



and ingrossed in parchment ; which, having the same value 

 indorsed on the backside thereof, is brought, together with 

 the said paper that doth warrant it, into this office; and 

 there first the doctor, conferring together the paper and 

 writ, indorseth his name upon that writ, close underneath 

 the value thereof; then forasmuch as the valuation thereof 

 is already made, that writ is delivered to the receiver, who 

 taketh the sum of money that is due, after the rate of that 

 yearly value, and indorseth the payment thereof upon the 

 same writ accordingly : this done, the same writ is brought 

 to the second clerk, who entereth it into a several book, 

 kept only for final writs of covenant, together with the 

 yearly value, and the rate of the money paid, with the 

 name of the party that made the affidavit, and of the jus 

 tice that took it : and at the foot of that writ maketh a 

 secret mark of his said entry : lastly, that writ is delivered 

 to the deputies, who seeing that all the premises be orderly 

 performed, do also indorse their own names upon the same 

 writ for testimony of the money received. Thus passeth it 

 from this office to the custos brevium, from him to the 

 queen s silver, then to the chirographer to be ingrossed, and 

 so to be proclaimed in the court. But if no affidavit be 

 already made touching the value, then is the writ of cove 

 nant brought first to the deputies ready drawn and in- 

 grossed; and then is the value made either by composition 

 had with them without any oath, or else by oath taken be 

 fore the doctor ; if by composition, then one of the deputies 

 setteth down the yearly value, so agreed upon, at the foot 

 of the backside of the writ ; which value the doctor causeth 

 one of the clerks to write on the top of the backside of the 

 writ, as the cursitor did in the former, and after that the 

 doctor indorseth his own name underneath it, and so pass 

 eth it through the hands of the receiver, of the clerk that 

 maketh the entry, and of the deputies, as the former writ 

 did. But if the valuation be made by oath taken before 

 the doctor, then causeth he the clerk to indorse that value 

 accordingly, and then also subscribeth he his name as be 

 fore ; and so the writ taketh the same course through the 

 office that the others had. 



And this is the order for writs of covenant that be fma- Proceeding 

 ble : the like whereof was at the first observed, in the pass- n writs of 

 ing of writs of entry of lands holden in chief; saving that 

 they be entered into another book, especially appointed for 

 them, and for licenses and pardons of alienations ; and the 

 like is now severally done with the writs of entry of lands 



