o 
F R A 
FRANCHIMO'NT, a town of Germany, in t!ie circle 
ot Weftphalia, and bidiopric of Liege, with a fmall coun¬ 
try, to which the title of marquis is annexed : thirteen 
miles fouth eaft of Liege. 
FRAN'CHISE, JJ, [French.] Exemption from any 
onerous duty. Privilege ; im.miinity ; right granted : 
His gracious edict the fame frantlnfe yields 
To all the wild increafe of woods and fields. Dryden. 
Difiridt ; extent of jurifdidticii.—There are other privi¬ 
leges granted unto nioft of the corporations, that tliey 
fliall not be travelled forth of their own franchifes. Spenfer's 
State of Ireland. 
To FRAN'CHISE, oj. a. To enfranchife; to make free; 
to keep free : 
I lofe no honour 
In feeking to augment it ; but ftill keep 
My hulom franchis'd, and allegiance clear. Shakefpeare, 
FRAN'CHISEMENT, /; ^franchije, Fr.] Freedom : 
To work Irena.'sfranckifement. 
And eke Grantorto’s worthy punilhmcnt. Spenfer. 
FR AN'CHISES,^. in law, are a fpecies of incorporeal 
hereditaments. Franchife and Liberty are ufed as fyiiony- 
mous terms ; &nd their definition is “ A royal privilege 
or branch of the king's prerogative, fubfifling in the hands 
of a fubjedt.” Finch, L. 164. Being therefore derived 
from the crown, they mufl arife from the king’s grant ; 
or in fome cafes may be held by prefcription, wliich pre- 
fuppofes a grant. The kinds of them are various and 
almoft infinite : they may be vetted either in natural per- 
fons or in bodies politic; in one man or many ; but the 
fame identical franchife that has before been granted to 
one, cannot be beflowed on anotlier, for that would pre¬ 
judice the former grant. 2 Rol. Ab. 191 : Keilnju. 196. 
I’he principality of Wales is a franchife. To be a 
county-palatine is alfo a franchife, vetted in a number of 
perfons. It is likevvife a franchife for a number of per- 
fonsto be incorporated, and fubtilt as a body-politic ; with 
a power to maintain perpetual fuccefiion, and do corpo¬ 
rate adts: and each individual member of fuch corpora¬ 
tion is alfo faid to have a franchife or freedom. Other 
franchifes are, to hold acourt-leet: to have a manor er 
lordfliip ; or at lead to liave a lordlhip paramount: to 
have waifs, wrecks, eftrays, treafure trove, royal-fifh, 
forfeitures, and deodands: to have a court of one’s own, 
or libei ty of holding pleas, and trying caufes : to have 
the conufance of pleas, which is a (till greater liberty, 
being an excluiive right, fo that no other court (hall try 
caufes arifing within that jurifdidtion : to have a baili- 
W'ick, or liberty exempt frotn the fheriff of the county, 
vvhereitt the grantee only and his officers are to execute 
all procefs : to have a fair or market, with the right of 
taking toll, either there or at any other public places, 
as at bridges, wharfs, or the like ; which tolis'rnuil liave 
a reafonable cattle of commencement, (as in confideration 
of repairs, &c.) elfe the franchbe is illegal and void : 
2 Injl. 220; or laftly to have a forefi, chafe, park, warren 
or filhery, endowed with privileges of royalty. F.N.B. 230. 
Ufage may uphold franchifes, which may be claimed 
by prefcription, without record either of creation, allow¬ 
ance, or confirmation; and wreck of the fea, waifs, (trays, 
fairs and markets, and the like, are gained by ufage, and 
may become due without any matter of record. But goods 
of felons and outlaws, and fuclt like, grow due by charter, 
and cannot be claimed by ulage. i lnjl. 281. gRep, 27. 
It hath been adjudged, that grants of franchifes, made 
before the time of memory, ought to have allowance, 
within the time of memory, in the.king’s bench, or be¬ 
fore tl'.e barons of the exchequer, or by fome confirma¬ 
tion on record ; and it is faid they are not records plead¬ 
able, if they have not the aid of fome matter of record 
within time of memory ; and fuch ancient grants, after 
fuch allowance, (hall'be conllrued as the law was when 
they were made, and not as it hath been fince altered : 
FRA 
but franchifes granted witb.in time of memory are plead¬ 
able without any allowance or confirmation ; and if they 
have been allowed or confirmed as aforefaid, the franchifes 
may be claimed by force thereof, without (hewing the 
charter. 9 7 ?e/>. 27, 28. 2/«y?. 281.494. - 
By magnaa:harta, c. i, and feveral ancient (latutes, the 
church (hall have all her liberties and franchifes invio¬ 
lable : and the lords fpiritual and temporal (hall enjoy 
their liberties, &c. and the king may not deprive them of 
any of them. 14 111 . ( 1 :. 2. c. i. 2 Hen. IV. c.i. 
By magna ckarla, c, 37, the franchifes and liberties of 
the city of London, and all other cities, &c. are con¬ 
firmed. By (far. 27 Hen. VIII. c. 24, all writs, procefies, 
. &c. in franchifes, are to be made in the king’s name; 
and (fewards, bailiffs, and otlier minifiers of liberties 
(liall attend the jultices of adize, and make due execution 
of procefs, &c. 
Some franchifes, as York, Brifiol, &c. have return of 
writs, to whom mandates are directed from the courts 
above, to execute writs and procefs : and a mayor or 
bailiff of a town, may have liberty to keep courts and 
hold pleas, in a certain place, according to the coiirfe of 
the com.mon-law; and povv-er to draw caufes out of the 
king’s courts, by an exclufive jurifdiflion : but the caufes 
here may be removed to the fuperior courts. Co. Lit. 114^ 
Sheriffs of counties, within which is any franchife, the 
lord whereof is intitled to a return of writs, (liall, on his 
requed, appoint one or more deputies, to refide at fome 
place near, there to receive all writs in the (heriff’s nani'*, 
and under his feal to iflTue warrant's for their due execu¬ 
tion ; and the lord chancellor is to fettle the charges to 
be paid any fuch deputy, drc. 13 Geo. II. c. 18. 
A franchife hath no relation to the county wherein it 
lies, as has been generally held ; for it is not necelTary to 
fet forth the county when any thing is (hewn to be done 
within a liberty or franchife. Trin. a^Car. B.R. If a 
franchife fails to adminifter juftice within the fame, the 
franchife (hall not be allowed ; but on any fuch failure, 
the court of king’s bench may compel the'owners of the 
franchife, See, to do jullice; for that court ought to fee 
judice equally didributed to all perfons. i Lill. Abr. 635- 
Wherever the Iciog is party to a fuit, as in all informa¬ 
tions and indictments, the procefs ought to be executed 
by the (heriif, and not by the bailiff of any franchife, whe¬ 
ther it have the claufe omittas, See. or not; for the 
king’s prerogative (hall be preferred to any franchife. 
2 Hanuk, P. C. A (heriff upon a Jion omittas, or on a capias 
utlagatum, or qnosninus, may enter and make arrefts in a 
franchife. i Lill. 635. An arred by the dteriff within a 
franchife on a common writ, is faid to be good, though 
the officer be fubjett to an aCtipji at the fuit of the lord 
of the franchife. 
Franchifes may be forfeited and feized where they are 
abufed, for mif-ufer, or non-uler; and when there are 
many points, a mif-u(er of any one will make a forfeiture 
of the whole on a quo zoarranto brought. Kitch. 65. For 
contempt of the king’s writ, in a county palatine, the 
liberties may be feized, and the offenders fined ; and the 
temporalities of a bifhop have been adjudged to be feized 
until he fatisfied the king for fuch a contempt, on infor¬ 
mation exhibited, &c. Crq. Car. 253. The bilhop of Dur- 
ham prete.nding he had fuch a franchife, that the king’s 
writ was trot to come there, and becaufe one brought it 
thither he imprifoned him ; this being proved upon an in¬ 
formation brought againft him, it was adjudged he (liould 
pay a fine to the king, and lofe his liberties. 2 Shop. Abr. 2^0^ 
Difturbance of franchifes happens, when a man has the 
franchife of holding a court-leet, of keeping a fair or mar¬ 
ket, of free warren, of taking toll, of feizing waifs or 
eltrays, or, in (liort, any other fpecies of franchife what- 
foever, and he is difturbed or incommoded in the lawful 
exercife thereof. As if another by diftrefs, menaces, or 
perfuafions, prevail upon the fuitors not to appear at my 
court; or obftruCt the pa'fage to my fair or market; or 
hunts in my free warren; or refufes to pay me tlie accuf- 
tomed 
