free and lawful Men ‡ of the Body of your County, each of whom having || ten Pounds a Year

the Writ, yet by ancient Custom the Sheriff must return 24; fo that, in this Cafe, Usage and ancient Custom maketh Law.

*Free, &c. The Tenure by Villainage came in with the Saxons; confequently, before then, there could be no fuch Diftincton as between Free and Bondmen: but afterwards, during the Continuance of that Tenure, Villains, being fubject to the Wills of their Lords, were not to be put on Juries. So careful was the Law in choofing a free Jury, not fubject to the Influence of any Perfon! But fince the abolishing that Tenure by Stat. 12 Car. 2. other Conftructions are improperly made of this Word free, as to be free from Prejudice, Envy, &c.

+ Lawful, &c. That is Men fubject to the Laws of the Land; and therefore not Aliens, nor Outlaws, &'c.

Of the Body, &c. This was ordered fo lately as the 45 Anna; before which Time, the Jury ufed to be awarded from the Vine or Neighbourhood, as Town, Parish, or Hundred, &c. and the Reason was, because Qui Vicinus facti Vicini præfumitur fcire. And then the Writ run, Homines de Vicineto de W. in Com' tuo.-But as a Jury was often wanting for Want of Hundredors, duly qualified, it was ordered by this Statute that the Jury fhould be awarded out of the Body of the County.

|| Ten Pounds, &c. that from their Worth they might be able to bear their Expence, and Lofs of Time in their Attendance on the Trial; and not, that Honefty and Jus tice were not to be found among the poorer Sort of People. By the Statute of Westminster 2. c. 38. it was to be 20. only. By 21 Ed. 1. 40s. By 35 H. 8. the Form of the Writ is defcribed to be,-Præcipimus, &c. quod Vemire facias, &c. quorum qualibet habeat 40 Solid', &c. ad minus per quos Rei Veritas, &c. By 27 El. 41, and by 45 W. & M. 10l. and 67. in Wales, as it remains at this Time. But quære, if zos. the 13 E. 1. was not more worth than 10%. now?

at the least in Lands, Tenements, or Rents, by whom the Truth of the Matter may be the better known, and who are in no wife of Kin either to A. B. the Plaintiff, or C. D. the Defendant, to make a certain Jury of the County between the Parties aforesaid, of a Plea of Trespass on the Cafe, because as well the faid C. D. as the aforefaid A. between whom the Difference is, || have put themselves upon that Jury; and have you there the Names of the furors, and this Writ. Witness William Lord Mansfield, at Westminster, the 23d Day of January in the of our Reign.

Year Lee.

The Wenire in the Common Pleas.

GEORGE, &c. To the Sheriff of Ferkshire, greeting. We command you, that you caufe to come before our Justices at Westminster, in eight Days of the Purification of the Bleed Mary, twelve free, &c. who are in no wife of Kin either to A. B. the Plaintiff,

No wife of Kin, &c. an excellent Care in the Law, both in refpect to the Jury and Parties; for the being of Kin would be apt to render their Judgment fufpicious of Partiality.

+ To make a certain Jury, &c. ad Recognizandum. The Words in the Award of the Writ are here rendered to make a certain Jury, because the Jury was some Time called Recognitores, as Recognitores Affiza in Affize. Have put, &c. i. e. have fubmitted themfelves, and the Matter in Difpute, to their Judgment and Opinion.

or

or C. D. late of W. in your County, Yeoman, the Defendant, to make, &c. Witness Sir Charles Pratt, Knt. at Westminster, the 23d Day of January in the Year of our

Reign.

Jones.

The Venire in this Court is the very fame as in the King's Bench except in the Return, and the adding the Defendant's Addition to his Name.

The Diftringas in the King's Bench.

GEORGE, &c. to the Sheriff of B. Greeting. We command you, that you diftrain the Bodies of the feveral Perfons named in the * Pannel bereunto annexed, † Jurors fummoned in Our Court before Us, between A. B. Plaintiff, and

Named in the Pannel, &c. Till lately the Writ run, Præcipimus tibi quod diftringas A. B. de, c. C. D. deE. F. de &c. naming the whole 24 with their Additions, as they were named in the Pannel returned on the Venire; for the Return to the Venire was Inftructions to the Attorney to make out the Diftringas by: but now, as the like Pannel is returned in both Writs, the Sheriff will return the Diftringas without the Venire, fo as he is paid for the Returns of both; by which the Venire is become almost useless, and is feldom made out at all in the King's Bench.

+ Jurors fummoned, &c. as fuppofed by the Venire; for by Stat. Westminster 2. None fhall be put on Juries but such as were before fummoned. 'Tis well known the Jurors are fummoned of course, by the Sheriff, without either Writ, unlefs 'tis a Special Jury..

L3

C. D.

*by

C. D. Defendant, by all their Lands and Chattels in your Bailiwick, fo that neither they nor any of them do intermeddle therewith, until you shall bave other Command from Us in that Behalf, and that you answer Us for the Iflues of the fame, fo that you have their Bodies before us at Westminster, † on

next after fifteen Days from the Day of Eatter, § or before our Juices affigned to hold the Affizes in your County, if they shall first come on Monday the fifth Day of March at R in your County, according to the Form of the Statute in that Cafe made and provided, to make a certain Jury between the faid Parties, of a Plea of Trespass on the Cafe, and to bear their Judgments of many Defaults; || and bave you there the Names of the Jurors and this Writ. Witness, &c.

* By all their Lands, &c. It would be a fevere Distress on the Jurors, if this Writ was to be executed literally. The Habeas Corpora has no fuch Claufe.

+ On, &c. The Writ fhould bear Tefte on the Return Day of the Venire, and be made returnable on fome Day af, ter the Trial; if tried at Nifi prius, 'tis usually the firft Re

turn of the next Term.

$ Or before, &c. This Nifi prius Claufe is the most material Part of this Writ, and before the 42 of Ed. 3, it used to be inferted in the Venire; for, until then, the Diftringas and Habeas Corpora never iffued but of Neceility.

|| And have you there the Names, &c. This is omitted in the Habeas Corpora, and with good Reason ; for their Names having been before returned into Court by the Venire, as this Writ itself declares, Jurors fummoned, &c. therefore this Part feems quite fuperfluous.

If

If for Middlefex, you fay,

Or before our trusty and well-beloved W. L. M. affigned to bold Pleas in Our Court before Us,

the

if he fall come on

at Westminster in the

If for London,

At Guildhall of the City of London aforefaid.

The Habeas Corpora in the Common Pleas.

GEORGE, &c. To the Sheriff of B. Greeting. We command you, that you have before our Justices at Westminster, in fifteen Days from - the Day of Eafter, or before our Justices af figned to hold the Affizes in your County, according to the Form of the Statute in that Cafe made and provided, if on Monday the fifth Day of March, at R. in your faid County, they fhall first come, the Bodies of the feveral Perfons named in the Pannel to this Writ annexed, being the Jurors fummoned in Our Court, before our Justices at Westminster, between A. B. Plaintiff, and C. D. late of W. in your County, Yeoman, Defendant, of a Plea of Tref pass on the Cafe, to make that Jury; and have you there this Writ. Witness, &c.

If for Middlefex, you fay,

Or before Our faithful and well-beloved Sir C. Pratt, Knight, Our Chief Justice of our Court