Page:The Statutes of the Realm Vol 1 (1101-1377).pdf/67

Rh At the present Day, on Account of the increased Length and Number of the Public Acts passed in Parliament, they cannot all be conveniently entered on one Roll. At the Head therefore of a Roll, which is indorsed, “Prima Pars Rotulorum Parliamentorum de Anno Regni Regis Georgii Tertii,” [specifying the Year of the King’s Reign, &c.] is written the following Introduction.

“In Parliamento inchoato et tento, apud [Place and Date] communi omnium Dominorum tam Spiritualium quam Temporalium et Communitatis consensu, ac Regiæ Majestatis assensu, sancita inactitata ordinata et stabilita fuerunt sequentia hæc Statuta: Videlicet. On this Roll, and on subsequent Rolls of the same Parliament, indorsed “Secunda Pars” “Tertia Pars” &c. “Rotulorum Parliamentorum de Anno” &c. as on the First Roll, all the Public Acts of the Session are in like Manner entered: And at the Bottom of the last Roll, or Part, in the Hand-writing of the Clerk of the Parliaments is the following Certificate. “Concordat cum Originali. Cle Parliamento.”

This Certificate refers to the Original Bills which, having received the Royal Assent in Parliament, became Acts, and are preserved in the Parliament Office at Westminster.

The Acts of the Parliament 49 Geo. . occupy Fifty-five Rolls.

3. With respect to the of Statutes and Private Acts.—Private Acts of which Evidence has been required, have been from Time to Time specially certified into Chancery by the Clerk of the Parliaments, in Answer to a Writ issued for that Purpose; in which Cases the Writ, with the Return thereto by the Clerk of the Parliaments, containing the Tenor of the Act, has always been exemplified under the Great Seal. There appears only one Instance of any Act so certified before 25 Hen. . viz. one of 6 Hen. . and the Act thus certified is contained in the general Inrollment of its proper Year, as are also several of the Acts certified on subsequent Occasions, as late as 35 Eliz. The Acts thus certified are kept in the Certiorari Bundles, separate from the regular Inrollments of the respective Years.

The Practice of certifying Private Acts into Chancery has not of late Years been uniformly observed, Copies being obtained from the Original Act in the Parliament Office: The Inconvenience attending this Irregularity has been partly remedied by the Introduction of a Clause at the end of some of the Local and Personal Acts, that the Act shall be printed by the King’s Printer, and that a Copy thereof so printed shall be Evidence; but many Local and Personal Acts are passed without this Clause.

The of transmitting and certifying Statutes into Chancery, in, will appear clearly from the following Particulars, abridged from the Journals of the House of Lords in that Kingdom, in the Year 1758, vol. iv. pa. 109, 113 & 117.

On the 3d of February 1758, It was “Ordered, That a Committee be appointed to inspect into the State of the Parliament Office, and inquire in what Manner the Rolls of Parliament are now kept, and how disposed of.” On the 20th of the same Month, the Lords Committees made a Report accordingly: In this Report they stated, that previous to the Year 1715 the Original Acts, and the Transcripts of them from Parliament into Chancery, were lodged at the Rolls Office; and that subsequent to that Period the Acts and Transcripts were lodged in the Parliament Office: and they expressed their Opinion, that all Original Acts ought to be kept in the Parliament Office; and that Transcripts, duly certified by the Clerk of the Parliament, and returned on Writs of Certiorari, ought to be lodged in the Rolls Office; by which means, in case of Accident, the Loss of the Records of one Office might be supplied by those in the other.

Annexed to this Report of the Lords was an Appendix, containing a Report of Mr. Lodge, Deputy Clerk and Keeper of the Rolls in Ireland, on the Contents of those Rolls. In this Report the following Particulars are stated:

“The Parliament Rolls remaining of Record in the Rolls Office of His Majesty’s High Court of Chancery in Ireland, begin with the Fifth Year of King Henry. which Roll hath this Title: ‘Ac in Parliamento Di Regis te apud Dubli coram Jacobo le Botiller Comi de Ormon Justi ipsius Di Regis Terræ suæ Hiberniæ, Die Veneris pro post festum S Cuthberti Ei et Confessoris anno Regni Regis Henrici sexti quinto.’ And is thus indorsed upon the last Skin: ‘Me q xviij. Die Septemb Anno. . Henrici Sexti sexto, Venerabilis in Pater Rius Archieus Dubli, Cancella ipsius Di Regis Hie, recepit apud Trym istum tenorem Actus Parti unde in isto tenore sial fit mentio, ex deliberatione Tho Bro Cle dicti Parti, decreto consideratione et auctoritate ejusdem Parti, sedum formam decreti considerationis & auctoritatis supradicto.’

“The Roll of the Eighteenth Henry. is subscribed ‘Tho Bro Cicus Parliamen.’

“The Roll of the Twenty-ninth of Henry. is thus indorsed—‘Memo quod Hugo Wogan Cicus Parliamenti Di Regis Hibernie deliberavit Rotulum quorundam Ordinationum Statuto et Actuum Magni Concilii infra specifica conti, xxi° Die Martii anno regni Regis He Sexti vicesimo nono, Johanni Chevi Clerico ac Custodi Rotulo Cancella Di Regis Hiberniæ.’

“The Roll of the Thirty-third of Henry. is indorsed—‘Memoran q vicesimo die Junii anno regni Regis Henrici Sexti tricesimo tertio, Hugo Wogan Clericus Parliamen deliberavit hunc Rotulum Joi Chevi Cico ac Custodi Rotulorum Cancella dicti Di Regis Terræ suæ Hiberniæ.’