omissions from the grant of King John,-excepting the clauses relating to Intestacy and the making of Judges,— and then states that the Prelates and Barons had agreed to respite the other particulars for farther deliberation. This respite, says Sir William Blackstone, may be considered as a kind of engagement on the part of the young King, that these Articles should be reviewed, and a new Charter granted, whenever public tranquillity should be restored.

The termination of the Second Great Charter of Henry III. chapter xlvii, pages 129, 130, provides for the destruction of those unlawful, or Adulterine, Castles, which had been erected during the Baronial Wars. It was anciently unlawful to erect a Castle, without license from the King, vide page 203; since there were several high powers and officers connected with them, derived from the King, of which some particulars have been given on pages 205, 211; and they were restrained also from the dangers which would arise if every person might erect a fortress at his own pleasure. In times of civil commotions, however, when depredation or defence were almost the only sources of action, bulwarks appear to have been erected in England without license, and to have been supported without sovereign, or constitutional authority; and at the Treaty of Wallingford, in 1146, after the domestic wars between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda, one of the Articles was, that "the Adulterine Castles which have been constructed in the King's time by any person whomsoever, shall be destroyed.” It can scarcely be doubted but that the oppressions of Castellans and their officers, would make the dismantling of these unlawful forts a very important clause in the first Charter of Liberties after the Civil Wars were ended; and accordingly in the following Writ for the publication of that Charter, this part of it is particularly mentioned :

"The King to the Sheriff of York, Greeting. We send to you the Charters of Liberties, granted to all of our Kingdom, as well of the Forests as of others, commanding you concerning them that you cause them publicly to be read in your full County-Court of Barons, Knights, and all the free-tenants of the same County, who shall swear to us faithfully for the same. And you shall diligently attend to every particular throughout the whole of those Charters, and cause it to be performed and observed: and chiefly that which is inserted

near the end of the Great Charter, concerning Adulterine Castles, which have been erected or re-edified since the beginning of the war, to be on all occasions destroyed and laid aside as it is contained in the same Charter; because that provision was made and inserted in the Charter, by the advice of the Lord Legate and our faithful subjects, for the great benefit of us and tranquillity of our Kingdom. Witness, the Earl at Sturminster, on the 22nd day of February. (The like Letters were sent to every Sheriff of England.)"

This order was probably carried into full effect, since there is no farther provision concerning it in the Third Charter of Henry III., which contains the standard text printed in the Statutes. The variations in the concluding division of Chapter xxxvii of this instrument are an acknowledgement of a Fifteenth, paid by the whole kingdom for re-granting the Great and Forest Charters, a new engagement for the King and his Peers, to protect and observe them, and the number of witnesses names, concluding the whole: vide pages 142-144. This Fifteenth has already been noticed on page 38 of the preceding Essay, and at the period when it was granted, it was an uncertain sum rated upon the value of every person's possessions given by Parliament, as in this instance also, were the Charters themselves. In 1332, however, the 6th of Edward III, on Membrane 26 of the Second Patent Roll for that year, is an entry of the "Tallages made of the Cities, Boroughs, and Lordships, throughout England," which were recorded in the Exchequer as fixing this levy at a fifteenth part of the value of every town, being a certain rate, though even that can be assessed by Parliament only. When the Fifteenth has been thus granted, the inhabitants of a town divide the payment of it for themselves; and if two towns be joined together and disproportionately rated, a Writ may be sued from the Exchequer for equalising the subsidy.

The number of Witnesses with which this Instrument concludes, is expressive of the King's Council by which it was granted; whence Erasmus supposes that Sovereigns first adopted the plural style, to give their Councillors part of the merit of their actions. In the commencement of the reign of Richard II. the expression of "by these Witnesses," was altered for that of "in testimony of which thing we have caused these Letters to be made Patent,"-or

open,-"Witness myself;" but even anciently those instruments which retained the former words were called Charters, whilst the others were denominated Letters Patents.

The Inspeximus Charter of Edward I. has a concluding clause, providing that if any of the engagements contained in it should not hitherto have been kept, they shall still be considered as inviolable. As the whole instrument, however, was only a rehearsal of the Charter for Confirmation, it is secured by the King's Letters Patent, and is witnessed only by Prince Edward: vide page 158.

Such, then, is a brief and imperfect commentary on the series of the Great Charters of Liberties, intended only to convey a general idea of their nature and powers, to those whom Law-books are either repulsive or not familiar. Enough of illustration, however, has been given to shew the great extent of the subject, and the ancient value of the Charters; and the works whence this has been derived, will supply the enquiring reader with more elaborate judicial discourses, and more ample historical information.

Holy Church, and the reformation of our kingdom, have granted, and by this present Charter have confirmed for us and our heirs for ever, by the counsel of our venerable father the Lord Gualo, T. T. Cardinal-Priest of St. Martin, and Legate of the Apostolical See, the Lord Walter, Archbishop of York, William, Bishop of London, and other Bishops of England, and of William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, Governor of us and of our kingdom, and of others our faithful Earls and Barons of England, the underwritten liberties to hold in our kingdom of England for ever.

(I.) Inprimis, All the Forests made by our grandfather King Henry, shall be viewed by good and lawful men, and if he turned any other than his own proper woods into Forests, to the damage of him whose wood it was, it shall forthwith be disforested. And if he afforested his own proper woods, they shall remain so, saving the common of pasturage, and of other things in the same Forest, to those who were formerly accustomed to have them. (II.) Men who dwell without the Forest, from henceforth shall not come before our Justiciaries of the Forest, by a common summons, unless they are impleaded there, or are pledges for any others who were attached for something concerning the Forest. (III.) Also all woods which were afforested by King Richard our uncle, or by King John our father, until our own first Coronation, shall forthwith be disforested, unless they shall