L A W. 381 
Wmchefter. 10. He fettled and reformed many abufes 
incident to tenures, and removed fome reftraints on the 
alienation of landed property, by the ftatute of quia emp¬ 
ties. it. He instituted a fpeedier way for the recovery 
of debts, by granting execution, not only upon goods 
and chattels, but alfo upon lands, by writ of elegit ; which 
was of fignal benefit to a trading people ; and, upon the 
fame commercial ideas, he alfo allowed the charging of 
lands in a ftatute-merchant to pay debts contracted in 
trade, contrary to all feodal principles. 12. He effectu¬ 
ally provided for the recovery of advowfons, as temporal 
rights, in which before the law was extremely deficient. 
13. He alfo effectually doled the great gulph in which all 
the landed property" of the kingdom was in danger of 
being fwallowed, by bis reiterated ftatutes of mortmain ; 
molt admirably adapted to meet the frauds that had been 
then devifed, though afterwards contrived to be evaded 
by the invention of ufes. 14.. He eltablilhed a new limi¬ 
tation of property, by the creation of ellates tail; con¬ 
cerning the good policy of which,- modern times have 
however entertained a very different opinion. 15. He re¬ 
duced all Wales to the fubjcCtion, not only of the crown, 
but in great mealure of the laws, of England, (which 
was thoroughly completed in the reign of Henry VIII.) 
and feems to have entertained a delign of doing the like 
by Scotland, fo as to have formed an entire and complete 
union of the illand of Great Britain. 
This catalogue might be continued much farther ; but 
upon the whole, we may obferve, that every fcheme and 
model of the adminiftration of common jultice between 
party and party, was entirely fettled by this king; and 
has continued nearly the fame in all fucceeding ages to 
this day; abating fome few alterations, which the humour 
or necellity of lubfequent times has occafioned. The 
forms of writs by which aCtions are commenced, were 
perfefted in his reign, and eflablilhed as models for pof- 
terity. The pleadings confequent upon the writs were 
then fhort, nervous, and perfpicuous; not intricate, ver- 
bofe, and formal. The legal treatifes written in his time, 
as by Britton, Fleta, Hengham, and the reft, are for the 
nioft part law at this day, or at leaft were fo till the alte¬ 
ration of tenures took place. And to conclude, it is from 
this period, from the exaCt obfervation of Magna Charta, 
rather than from its making or renewal in the days of his 
grandfather and father, that the liberty of Englifhmen be¬ 
gan again to rear its head ; though the weight of the mi¬ 
litary tenures hung heavy upon it for many ages after. 
A better proof of the excellence of his conftitutions 
cannot be given than that from his time to that of Henry 
VIII. there happened very few, and thofe not very confi- 
derable, alterations in the legal forms of proceedings. As 
to matter of fubjlance, the old Gothic powers of electing 
the principal fubordinate magiftrates, the Iheriffs, and 
conlervators of the peace, were taken from the people in 
the reigns of Edward II. and Edward III. and jullices of 
the peace were eftablifned inttead of the latter. In the 
reign alfo of Edward III. the parliament is fuppofed tnoft 
probably to have afi'uiried its prefent form, by a repara¬ 
tion of the commons from the lords. The ftatute for de¬ 
fining and afcertaining treafons was one of the firft pro¬ 
ductions of this new-modelled affembly ; and the trafilia¬ 
tion of the law-proceedings from French into Latin ano¬ 
ther. Much alfo was done, under the aufpices of this 
magnanimous prince, for eftablifhing our domeltic manu¬ 
factures; by prohibiting the exportation of Englifh wool, 
and the importation or wear of foreign cloth or furs ; and 
by encouraging clothworkers from other countries to fet¬ 
tle here. Nor was the legillature inattentive to many 
other branches of commerce, or indeed to commerce in 
general; for, in particular, it enlarged the credit of the 
merchant by introducing the ftatute-ftaple, whereby he 
might the more readily pledge his lands for the fecurity 
of his mercantile debts. And, as perfonal property now 
grew by the extenfion of trade to be much more con fide r- 
able than formerly,, care was taken, in cafe of inteftacies, 
Vol. XII. No. 837. 
to appoint adminiftrators, particularly nominated by the 
law, to diltribufe that perfonal property among the credi¬ 
tors and kindred of the deceafed, which before had been 
ufually applied by the officers of the ordinary to ufes then 
denominated pious. The ftatutes alio of praemunire, for 
eftcClually deprefiing the civil power of the pope, were 
the work of this and the fubfequent reign. And the ef- 
tabliflrment of a laborious parochial clergy, by the endow¬ 
ment of vicarages out of the overgrown poffeffions of the 
monafteries, added luftre to the clofe of the 14-th century ; 
though the feeds of the general reformation, which were 
thereby firft iown in the kingdom, were almoft over¬ 
whelmed by the fpirit of perlecution introduced into the 
laws of the land by the inriuencecof the regular clergy. 
From this time to that of Henry VII. the civil wars 
and difputed titles to the crown gave no leifure for far¬ 
ther juridical improvement. And yet it is to thefe very 
difputes that we owe the happy lol’s of all the dominions 
of the crown on the continent of France, which turned, 
the minds of our fubfequent princes entirely to domeftic 
concerns. To thefe likevvil’e we owe the method of bar¬ 
ring entails by the fiCtion of common recoveries, invented 
originally by the clergy to evade the ftatutes of mortmain, 
but introduced under Edward IV. for the purpofe of un¬ 
fettering eftates, and making them more liable to forfei¬ 
ture ; while on the other hand the owners endeavoured to 
proteCl them by the univerfal eftabtifinnent of ufes, an¬ 
other of the clerical inventions. 
In the reign of king I-Ienry VII. his minifters (not to 
fay the king himfelf) were more induftrious in hunting 
out profecutions upon old and forgotten penal laws, in 
order to extort money from the fubjeCt, than in framing 
any new beneficial regulations. For the diftinguilhing 
character of this reign was that of amaifing treafure in 
the king’s coffers by every means that could be devifed ; 
and almoft every alteration in the laws, however falutary 
or otherwife in their future confequences, had this and 
this only for their great and immediate objeCt. To this 
end the court of itar-chamber was new modelled, and 
armed with powers the molt dangerous and unconfti- 
tutional over the perfons and properties of the lubjeCh 
Informations were allowed to be received in lieu of indict¬ 
ments at the afiifes and fefiions of the peace, in order to 
multiply fines and pecuniary penalties. The ftatute of 
fines for the landed property was craftily and covertly 
contrived to facilitate the deftruction of entails, and make 
the owners of real eftates more capable of forfeiting as- 
well as of aliening. The benefit of clergy, which fo of¬ 
ten intervened to flop attainders and fave the inheritance, 
was now allowed only once to lay-offenders, who only 
could have inheritances to lofe. A writ of capias was 
permitted in all actions on the cafe, and the defendant 
might in confequence be outlawed ; becaufe upon fuch 
outlawry his goods became the property of the crown. 
In fhort, there is hardly a ftatute in this reign, introduc- 
tive of a new law, or modifyingthe old, but what either 
direCtly or obliquely tended to the emolument of the Ex¬ 
chequer. 
IV. This-brings us to the fourth period of our legal 
hiftory, viz. the reformation of religion under Henry VIII. 
and his children, which opens an entirely new icene in 
ecclefjaftical matters, the ufurped power of the pope being 
now for ever routed and deltroyed, .all his connections 
with this ifland cut oft’, the crown reilored to its fitpre- 
macy over fprritual men and caufes, and the patronage of 
bifhoprics being once more i’ndifputably veiled in the 
king. And, had the fpiritual courts been at this time re¬ 
united to the civil, we (hould have feen the old Saxon 
conftitution with regard to ecclefiaftical polity completely 
reftored. 
With regard alfo to our civil polity, the ftatute of wills, 
and the ftatute of ufes, (both palled in the reign pf this 
prince,) made a great alteration as to property ; the former 
by allowing the devife of real eftates by will, which be¬ 
fore was in general forbidden ; the latter by endeavouring 
5 E t® 
