[520] For obvious reasons I have translated the present Chapter in a general manner.
[521] Vide Mirror c. 1. s. 12. and Bracton 147. a.
[522] Vide LL. Gul. Conq. c. 19. and 2. Inst. 180. 181.
[523] Visio autem virginis defloratæ per septem mulieres viduas vel maritatas fide dignas debet fieri, per quas, si necesse fuerit, de defloratione veritas recordetur. (Grand Custum. de Norm. c. 67. See also Britton c. 1. s. 30. &c.)
[524] See Britton c. 4. Bracton 119. b. and Fleta L. 1. c. 22.
[525] Of the king’s Charters, says Bracton, neither the Justices nor private Individuals can dispute, nor interpret them, if a doubt arise; but recourse must be had to the king himself; and if the Charters be defective, through rasure, or from a false seal being attached to them, it is better and safer to decide the matter in the king’s presence. (Bracton fo. 34. a.)
[526] Having already observed, that this part of the Sheriff’s Jurisdiction was taken away by Magna Carta, I shall conclude these [Notes] with extracting a passage from the Norman Code, from which we may collect most of the various branches of the Sheriff’s Jurisdiction and his duty, in the opinion of the Lawyers of Normandy. Officium autem Vicecomitis est placita tenere: vias antiquas et semitas et limites aperire: aquas vero transmotas ad cursum debitum reducere, et de malefactoribus et seditiosis mulieribus et arsionibus et deflorationibus virginum violentis et ceteris actibus criminosis diligenter et secretè inquirere. (Le Grand Custum. de Norm. c. 4.)
Transcriber's Note: Obvious printer errors, as well as inconsistencies in the format of legal citations, have been corrected without note. Archaic English spellings have been retained as they appear in the original.
In the front matter of the original, the pagination jumps from xix at the end of the [Introduction] to vii at the beginning of "[The Translator to the Reader]." The front matter page numbers have been made consecutive in this e-book.