70 I N C L O S U R E S. 5. 



" and manors were feized into the king's 

 " hands. And lb for want of reparation the 

 *' caftles and manors fell to ruin and in decay. 

 *' And when the king and his council faw that, 

 " they thought it was better to extend them, 

 " and make the moft profit that they could of 

 *' them, than let them fall to the ground and 

 *' come to no man's help znd profit ; therefore, 

 '•' king Edward I. ordained this ftatute to be 

 *' made the fourth year of his reign, wherein 

 " is contained many and divers chapters and 

 *' articles, the which at that time were but 

 ** inftruftions how and what they fhould do 

 «•' that were Commiffioners or Surveyors in 

 " the fame." 



Inftrudtions framed by Parliament and ex- 

 plained by an able Judge afford evidence of 

 the higheft authority. 



A claufe of the ftatute rcfpedling ccm.mon 

 paflures runs thus : " It is --o be enquired of 

 " foreign pafliures that be common ho v many 

 *' and what fort of cattle the lord mjay have 

 " in the fame, and what the paflurc of a beaft 

 " is worth by the year." 



It is this claufe which Fitzherbcrt fays is 

 *' a dark letter to be underftood without a bet- 

 ter 



