| 1 Jac. I. c. 27, 7 Jac. I. c. 11, 21 Jac. I. c. 28, | most of the fines for the infraction of the game laws. |
| 1 Jac. I. c. 9. | Fines of alehouse keepers for allowing people to sit tippling in their alehouses or for selling for a penny less than one quart of best beer or two quarts of small. |
| 4 Jac. I. c. 5. 21 Jac. I. c. 7. | Fine of 5s. for drunkenness or 3s. 4d. for sitting drinking in an alehouse in one's own parish. |
| 3 Jac. I. c. 4. | Fine of one shilling for absence from church. |
| 21 Jac. I. c. 18. | Fines for breaking certain regulations for making cloth. |
| 21 Jac. I. c. 20. | Fine for profane swearing, one shilling. |
| 1 Car. I. c. 1. | Fine for meeting for games outside one's own parish on Sunday or in one's own parish for unlawful games. |
| 3 Car. I. c. 2. | Fine of 20s. for carriers driving on Sunday. Fine of 6s. 8d. for butchers killing meat on Sunday. |
[309] Lysons' Cheshire, p. 523 seq.
[310] Michael Dalton, "The Countrey Justice," ed. 1635, p. 100.
[311] Ibid., p. 93. Dalton is here quoting almost exactly the words of the statutes 39 Eliz. c. 3, 43 Eliz. c. 2.
[312] Resolutions of the judges, No. 10, Lambarde's Eirenarcha (1599) after p. 206. Dalton, p. 99. It is interesting to notice that a case concerning the present law on this point has been recently before the Courts. The Guardians of the poor in Merthyr Tydfil established labour yards and relief works for the purpose of affording outdoor relief to able-bodied persons during a strike. An action was brought by, and on behalf of, the ratepayers of the district against the Guardians asking for a declaration that the establishment of relief works for the purpose of providing outdoor relief for able-bodied persons during a strike was a breach of the Guardians' statutory rights and duties, and also asking for an injunction to restrain the defendants from paying for these relief works out of the common fund when there was plenty of work to be had if the men would agree to accept the wages offered.
It was held by Lord Justice Romer that in any case of urgent necessity an able-bodied man or his family ought to have such relief from the Guardians as might be immediately required, even if the necessity had arisen from the man wilfully refusing to work. But when the urgent pressure was relieved, the Guardians ought to require the man to work, and if he were able to get work and still refused they ought to prosecute him under the Vagrancy Acts. It was also decided that though the Court had jurisdiction in an action at the instance of the ratepayers to restrain Guardians from applying the poor rates for unauthorised purposes, still such an action should not be instituted for the purpose of asking the Court whether the Guardians had been right or wrong in granting relief in particular cases. The proper course for the ratepayers to take when objecting to expenditure was to go before the auditors appointed by the Local Government Board or to appeal to the Local Government Board itself. In the present case no instance of relief given except for urgent necessity had been proved and no instances of improper relief had been brought before the Court. The action therefore was dismissed. Attorney-General and others v. Merthyr Tydfil Guardians, March 27th, 1899. Weekly Notes, April 1st, p. 38.
[313] 5 Eliz. c. 4. Anyone who was unmarried or under thirty even if he had a skilled trade could be compelled to serve in that trade or all artificers could be obliged to help in harvest.
[314] "A true copy of the charge given to the overseers of every towne the 19th of December 1623," Tanner MSS., 73 II. § 390. The document seems to relate to some particular division of a county which is not mentioned.
[315] Dom. State Papers, Chas. I. Vol. 189, No. 66. See Chapter IX.
[316] Thus the overseers of "Idlestrey" (Elstree) report, "We have none that live out of service ydlely or otherwise." See also "Questions touching Labourers," Appendix XII. A. Cases of the enforcement of regulations of this kind occur early in Elizabeth's reign at Norwich. Thus in 1571 a certain Agnes Smith "is to be putt to service," "Meke's wife and Garodes wife ar to be with the select weomen" and a certain Suzan Brown if not hired for the whole year is "to goo to service," the "Maiores Booke for the poore." Norwich MSS.