Page:Ruffhead - The Statutes at Large, 1763.djvu/49

A.D. 1225. 



HE keeper, so long as he hath the custody of the land of such an heir, shall keep up the houses, parks, warrens, ⟨Fish⟩ ponds, ⟨Pools,⟩ mills, and other things pertaining to the same land, with the issues of the said land; and he shall deliver to the Heir, when he cometh to his full age, all his stored with ploughs, and all other things, at the least as he received it. All these things shall be observed in the custodies of Archbishopricks, Bishopricks, Abbeys, Priories, Churches, and Dignities vacant, which appertain to us; except this, that such custody shall not be sold.



 Eirs shall be married without Disparagement.



 Widow, after the death of her husband, incontinent, and without any difficulty, shall have her marriage, and her inheritance,&ensp; and shall give nothing for her dower, her marriage, or her inheritance, which her husband and she held the day of the death of her husband,&ensp; and she shall tarry in the chief house of her husband by forty days after the death of her husband, within which days her dower shall be assigned her (if it were not assigned her before) or that the house be a castle;&ensp; and if she depart from the castle, then a competent house shall be forthwith provided for her, in the which she honestly dwell, until her dower be to her assigned, as it is aforesaid; and she shall have in the mean time her reasonable estovers of the common;&ensp; and for her dower shall be assigned unto her the third part of all the Lands of her husband, which were his during coverture, except she were endowed of less at the Church-door.&ensp; No widow shall be distrained to marry herself ⟨while she chooses to live single⟩ : nevertheless she shall find surety, that she shall not marry without our licence and assent (if she hold of us) nor without the assent of the Lord, if she hold of another.



 E or our Bailiffs shall not seise any land or rent for any debt, as long as the present Goods and Chattels of the debtor do suffice to pay the debt, and the debtor himself be ready to satisfy therefore.&ensp; Neither shall the pledges of the debtor be distrained, as long as the principal debtor is sufficient for the payment of the debt.&ensp; And if the principal debtor fail in payment of the debt, having nothing