Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/356

326 found for that resolution of the Long Parliament (1645) forbidding the appearance of the military at an election, 'as a high infringement of the liberties of the subject, and an open defiance of the laws and constitutions of this kingdom;' a resolution subsequently established by act of parliament. (8th George II.) The Scottish convention and a treaty of peace were confirmed at the present meeting, the preliminary of a commercial intercourse with Flanders settled, the first annual payment made of Queen Philippa's dowry, and power given to the bishops of Worcester and Chester to demand and ask for, in the king's name, the right and possession of the kingdom of France. Amongst other business also now transacted was the custody of the great seal, which was transferred from the keeping of Master Henry de Clyf and William de Herlaston, to Henry de Burghersh, bishop of Lincoln. This transfer was publicly made by the king himself, in the presence of several of the nobility, immediately after the celebration of mass, in a certain chapel of the priory of St. Andrew, and the same document states that the keeper used it in sealing briefs the next day. It appears from a subsequent document, printed in the Fœdera, that the custody of the great seal was again changed by the king taking it himself on Sunday the 15th of January following (1329), in a certain chamber where Queen Isabella was lodged, in the same priory, and he retained it till Thursday, when he restored it to the bishop in the presence of his lords, in the garden of the prior of Newenham, near Bedford. In this parliament was enacted the. It commenced by confirming the Great Charter and the Charter of the Forest. By subsequent clauses the pardon of felons was placed on a better system, and the administration of justice carried on under less restraint, since all persons were forbidden to present themselves armed before the royal ministers. Sundry provisions were made relative to the delivery of writs to the sheriffs; legal officers were appointed to enquire into robberies, manslaughter, theft, oppressions, conspiracies and grievances, as well by the servants of the crown as by others; justice was not to be delayed at the bidding of the great or little seal; the county cess was put on an improved footing, and all staples were to cease. In the various provisions of this admirable statute of Northampton, there is the highest regard evinced for individual liberty; the