340 ConstltItilonal History. [chap.
Ordinances
of I343∙
Statute of
ɪɜʒɪ-
The lords
spiritual
withhold
consent.
Parlia-
mentary
confirma-
tions.
Ilecognition
of the
л alidity of
the act.
Carlisle. After a search for the records of that parliament, an
ordinance was prepared and passed with the assent of the baron-
age and commons, which forbade the introduction and reception
into the realm and the execution of papal bulls, reservations
and other letters, and ordered the arrest of all persons contra-
vening the order1. This ordinance was not however enrolled
as a statute ; and, although in the next parliament a petition
of the commons for the perpetual affirmation of the act received
the assent of the king and baronage 2, three years later the law
was unexecuted ; the king had written to the pope, but no
remedy had been devised. The remonstrance was repeated with
no better result3. At last, in the parliament of 1351, the
enactment was elaborately amended and framed into a perpetual
statute4. By this act it was ordered that elections to elective
benefices and dignities should be free, and that patrons should
have their rights ; that if the pope should reserve an elective
promotion the king should have the collation, and if he should
usurp a presentation on advowson the king should present for
that turn : all persons procuring or accepting papal promotions
were to be arrested and on conviction fined and bound over to
satisfy the party whose rights had been infringed. The assent
of the lords spiritual was not formally given to this statute, and,
important as it is, it seems to have been from the first evaded.
In 1352 the purchasers of papal provisions were declared out-
laws ; in 1365, another act repeated the prohibitions and
penalties5; and in x390 the parliament of Richard II rehearsed
and confirmed the statute5. By this act forfeiture and banish-
ment were decreed against future transgressors. The two arch-
bishops entered a formal protest against it as tending to the
restriction of apostolic power and the subversion of ecclesiastical
liberty7. The parliaments however of Henry IV and Henry V
recognised the validity of the legislation, and Chichele, as we
1 Hot. Parl. ii. 144, 145. 2 lb. ii. 153, 154. 3 lb. ɪɪ. 172, 173.
4 Rot. Part. ii. 232, 233; st. 25 Edw. Ill, st. 4 ; Statutes, i. 316 sq.,
3≈3∙
s 31 Edw. Ill, stat. 2 ; Statutes, i. 385 ; Rot. Parl. ɪɪ. 284, 285.
6 13 Ric. II, st. 2. c. 2.
7 Rot. Parl. ɪɪɪ. 264.
XIX.]
Statute of Praemunire.
341
have seen, incurred the displeasure of Martin V because he
could not obtain a repeal1. How ill the statutes were kept we
have already noted.
393. The history of the statute of praemunire starts from History of
a somewhat different point, but runs parallel for the most part of Prae-
with the legislation on the subject of provisions. It was "ιumre∙
intended to prevent encroachments on and usurpations of juris-
diction, as the other was framed for the defence of patronage.
Theordinance of 1353, which was enrolled as a ‘ statute against Ordinance
annul Iers of judgments in the king’s courts,’ condemns to out-sɪɪɪng ɪɪɪ
lawry, forfeiture, and imprisonment, all persons who, having courts in
prosecuted in foreign courts suits cognisable by the law of 353'
England, should not appear in obedience to summons, and
answer for their contempt2. The name ‘praemunire,’ which
marks this form of legislation, is taken from the opening word
of the writ by which the sheriff is charged to summon the
delinquent3. It is somewhat curious that the court of Rome
is not mentioned in this first act of praemunire ; as the as-
sembly by which it was framed was not a proper parliament, it
may not have been referred to the lords spiritual ; their assent
is not mentioned. The act however of 1365, which ConfirmsLsgisiation
the statute of provisors, distinctly brings the suitors in the ° ɪɜʤ'
papal courts under the provisions of the ordinance of 1353, and
against this the prelates protested4. In spite of the similar statute of
. Praemunire
protest in 1393, the parliament passed a still more Importantofi393.
statute, in which the word praemunire is used to denote the
process by which the law is enforced. This act, which is one
of the strongest defensive measures taken during the middle
ages against Rome, was called for in consequence of the conduct
of the pope, who had forbidden the bishops to execute the
sentences of the royal courts in suits connected with patronage.
The political translations of the year 1388 were adroitly turned
into an argument : the pope had translated bishops against
their own will to foreign sees, and had endangered the freedom
1 Above, p. 309.
2 27 Edw. Ill, st. I ; Statutes, ɪ. 329.
s Ctibson, Codex, p. 80. * Rot. Parl. ii. 285.