16. The sons of rustics may not be ordained without the consent of the lord on whose land they are known to have been born.
ASSIZE OF CLARENDON, 1166.
Source.—MS. in Bodleian Library.
1. In the first place the aforesaid King Henry, by the counsel of all his barons, for the preservation of peace and the observing of justice, has decreed that an inquest shall be made throughout the separate counties, and throughout the separate hundreds, through twelve of the more lawful men of the hundred, and through four of the more lawful men of each township, upon oath that they will speak the truth: whether in their hundred or in their township there be any man who, since the lord King has been King, has been charged or published as being a robber or murderer or thief: or any one who is a harbourer of murderers or robbers or thieves. And the Justices shall make this inquest by themselves, and the Sheriffs by themselves.
2. And he who shall be found through the oath of the aforesaid persons to have been charged or published as being a robber or murderer or thief, or a receiver of them, since the lord King had been King, shall be taken and shall go to the ordeal of water, and shall swear that he was not a robber or murderer or thief or receiver of them since the lord King has been King, to the extent of five shillings as far as he knows.
3. And if the lord of him who has been taken, or his steward or his vassals, shall, as his sureties, demand him back within three days after he has been taken, he himself, and his chattels, shall be remanded under surety until he shall have done his law.
9. And let there be no one within his castle or without his castle, nor even in the honour of Wallingford, who shall forbid the sheriffs to enter into his court or his land to take the view of frank-pledge; and let all be under pledges; and let them be sent before the sheriffs under free pledge.
10. And in the cities or burghs, let no one have men or receive them in his home or his land or his soc, whom he will not take in hand to present before the Justice if they be required: or let them be in frank-pledge.
12. And if any one shall be taken who shall be possessed of robbed or stolen goods, if he be notorious and have evil testimony from the public, and have no warrant, he shall not have law. And if he be not notorious, on account of the goods in his possession, he shall go to the water.[1]
14. The lord King wishes also that those who shall be tried and shall be absolved by the law if they be of very bad testimony and are publicly and disgracefully defamed by the testimony of many and public men, shall forswear the lands of the King, so that within eight days they shall cross the sea unless the wind detains them; and with the first wind which they shall have afterwards, they shall cross the sea; and they shall not return any more to England, unless by the mercy of the lord King: and there, and if they return, they shall be outlawed; and if they return they shall be taken as outlaws.