Page:Prerogatives of the Crown.djvu/303

 Ch.XII.Pt.1. Sec.V.] Extents. " 283 proceedings of other creditors, till the Crown debt be satis- fied («). This was effected by a writ of protection, and an- tiently this prerogative was carried so far that the executor of the King's debtor could not take out probate pr intermeddle without the King's permission (Z>). Great inconvenience, says Lord Coke {c arose out of these protections ; for to delay other men of their suits the King's debts were the more slowly paid: and therefore by the 25 Edw. 3. st. 5. c. 15. " Foras- much as our Lord the King hath made, before this time, pro- tections to divers people which were bounden to him in some manner of debt ; that they should not be impleaded of the debts which they owed to other till they had made satisfaction to our Lord the King of that which to him was due by them by reason of his prerogative ; and so during such protections no man hath dared to implead such debtors : it is accorded and assented, that notwithstanding such protections, the par- ties which have action against their debtors shall be answered in the King's Court by their debtors, and if judgment be there- upon given for the plaintiff or demandant, the execution of the same judgment shall be put in suspence {d till satisfaction be made to the King of his debt. And if the creditors will un- dertake for the King's debt, they shall be thereunto received, and moreover shall have execution against their debtors of the debt due to them; and also shall recover against them as much as they shall pay to the King for them." So that since this statute the Crown can only delay the execution^ not the suit of its subjects : and the statute only applies where a writ of pro- tection is actually granted [e). Protections are now obsolete though the power of the Crown to grant them remains en- tire {f). Consequently in the King v. Cotton (g), the King sent his writ out of Chancery to the justices of C. B. com- manding them to surcease execution in a suit between subject and subject, the defendant being his debtor till the debt should be satisfied; and this was considered so much a matter of course, that the plaintiff asked no more of the Court than that the cause should be kept on foot in Court by continuance on (a) F. N. B. 28, B. Co. Lit. 131, b. Fitz. Abr. Execution, pi. 38, cited in Godb. 290. 2 Rol. R. 294. Rex v. Cotton, Parker, 123. . (A) 16 East, 261, 281. {e) Cro.Car. 389. (c) Co. IJt. 131, b. (/) Co. Lit. 131, b. and note 206. Id) 'niiswa8daaein41 Edw. 3. Sec (g) Parker, 123. the