[1]where the Robbery shall be done, with the Franchises being within the Precinct of the fame Hundred, [2]shall be answerable for the Robberies done. A Robbery done in the Division of the Shires.(4) [3]And if the Robbery be done in the Division of two Hundreds, both the Hundreds and the Franchises within them shall be answerable. And after that the Felony or Robbery is done, The Country shall have but 40 Days.the [4]Country shall have no longer Space than forty Days, within which forty Days it shall behove them to agree for the Robbery or Offence, or else that they will answer for the Bodies of the Offenders.
Amended by
27 El. c. 13.
St. 8 Geo. 2. c. 16. giving Directions for Pursuit of Hue and Cry. And
22 G. 2. c. 24. which amends the former.
- ↑ 7 Co. 6.; 2 Inst. 569.
- ↑ By 27 El. c. 13 s. 2. the Hundred where fresh Suit is not made shall answer half the Damages.
- ↑ 1 Sid. 11.
- ↑ 28 Ed. 3. c. 11.; Cro. Jac. 106, 187, 350, 496.; Cro. Car. 37.
CAP. III.
This Act shall be respited until Easter next.
AND forasmuch as the King will not that his People should be suddenly impoverished by reason of this Penalty, that seemeth very hard to many; the King granteth, That they shall not incur immediately, but it shall be respited until Easter next following, within which Time the King may see how the Country will order themselves, and whether such Felonies and Robberies do cease. (2) After which Term let them all be assured, that the foresaid Penalty shall run generally, that is to say, every Country, that is to wit, the People in the Country, shall be answerable for Felonies and Robberies done among them.
CAP. IV.
At what Times the Gates of great Towns shall be shut, and when the Night Watch shall begin and end.
At what Time great Towns shall be opened and shut.AND
[1]for the more Surety of the Country, the King
hath commanded, that in great Towns, being walled, the Gates shall be closed from the Sun-setting until the Sun-rising; (2) and that no Man do lodge in Suburbs, nor in any Place out of the Town, from Nine of the Clock until Day, without his Host will answer for him. (3) And the Bailiffs of Towns every Week, or at the least every Fifteenth Day, shall make Inquiry of all Persons being lodged in the Suburbs, or in foreign Places of the Towns. (4) And if they do find any that have lodged or received any Strangers or suspicious Person, against the Peace, the Bailiffs shall do Right therein. (5) And the King
commandeth, That from henceforth
all Towns be kept[2] as it
hath been used in Times passed,
At what Time the Nightwatch shall begin and end.that
[3]is to wit, from the Day of the Ascension unto the Day of St.
Michael, in every City Six Men shall keep at every Gate, in every Borough Twelve Men, every Town Six or Four, according to the Number of the Inhabitants of the Town, and shall watch the Town continually all Night, from the Sun-setting unto the Sun-rising. (6) And if any Stranger do pass by them, he shall be arrested until Morning; and if no Suspicion be found, he shall go quit; (7) and if they find Cause of Suspicion, they shall forthwith deliver him to the Sheriff, and the Sheriff may receive him without Damage, and shall keep him safely, until he be acquitted in due Manner.
How they shall be used who disobey Arrest.(8) And if they will not obey the Arrest, they shall levy Hue and Cry upon them, and such as keep the
Town[4] shall follow with Hue and Cry with all the Town,
Enforced and amended by
5 Ed. 3. c. 14.
- ↑ 7 Co. 7.
- ↑ Watches be kept.
- ↑ Cro. El. 204.; Savil. 83.
- ↑ Read Watch.