Page:Ruffhead - The Statutes at Large, 1763.djvu/171

Voucher.WHEREAS the Tenant impleaded in a Plea of Land ⟨or Tenement⟩^[1] heretofore had vouched to Warranty, and thereupon the Demandant would aver, that neither he that is vouched, nor any of his Ancestors (since the Time that the Ancestor of the Demandant was seised) was in Possession of the said Lands, neither in Demean nor in Service, Vouched.(2) if the Party vouched were present, and would warrantise the Land freely unto the Tenant, such Averment of the Demandant hath not been used to be admitted, unless the Party vouched had been absent, and that by Reason of a certain Statute of the King's lately made amongst other Statutes of West. 1.^[2]

In Plea of Land the Tenant voucheth one present, and the Demandant couterpleadeth the Voucher.II. Wherefore our Lord the King, considering the Fraud, Deceit, and Malice, and also his own Damage, and Disherison of his Crown, that in the said Case hath many Times happened in this Court, and daily doth, whereas some holding of the King in chief by a whole Barony, in a Plea hanging before the Justices of the Bench, upon their Demand do vouch particularly, base Persons unknown and Strangers (which they will bring forth) and of whom neither they nor their Ancestors had ever any Thing in the Lands that they warranted, nor in any other Lands or Tenements within this Realm, neither in Demean nor in Service, as hath been testified by divers of the King's faithful Subjects; (2) so that by such Cautel, Fraud, and Malice, the same Tenants, holding by an entire Barony, do defraud the King of the Amerciament that they should incur, if the Demandant should recover against them.

III. And likewise when such base Persons have warranted, that is to wit, every one for his Portion that he ought to warrant, he may defend himself by the Body of his Servant procured and hired by them that hold Baronies, and so upon one Writ and one Demand there were two or three Wagers of Battail, the which was a hard and perilous Example for poor Men in Time coming, that shall be Demandant's against great and rich Men, which will defend themselves by the Malice aforesaid; Averment.(2) and the Demandant cannot have his Averment against such Warrantors, when they be vouched in Form aforesaid, because they be present, and will warrantise freely: ^[3](3) By his Common Council hath ordained, and from henceforth, that is to say, from the Feast of St. Hilary, the Twentieth Year of his Reign, he hath commanded to be observed, that when the Tenant doth vouch any to Warranty, and the Demandant will aver in Form before rehearsed, his Averment shall be admitted, whether the Party vouched be absent or present, without any Respect had unto his Absence or Presence.