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view without fee: and no person to be licensed above thirty days in any one year. § 12.

Provided, that if any offender shall after such offence take the oaths and subscribe the declaration in the chancery in manner aforesaid; he shall from thenceforth be freed and discharged from all seizures, penalties and losses which he might otherwise sustain by reason of being a popish recusant convict by virtue of this act, and from all disabilities and incapacities incurred thereby ; so as such freedom and discharge extend not to restore any such person to any office or place filled up, nor to any other office till after a year from taking the said oaths and making the said declaration; nor to make void the said forfeiture of 500l. § 13.

[But by the 31 G. 3. c. 32. § 20. This penalty of the 30 C. 2. c. 1. is repealed as to peers, or members of the house of peers of Great Britain or Ireland, professing the Roman catholic religion, who shall take and subscribe the oath prescribed by that act.]

XXXIII. Shall not come within ten miles of London.

1. By the 3 J. c. 5. All popish recusants who shall come, dwell, or remain within the city of London or within ten miles thereof, who shall be indicted or convicted of recusancy, or who shall not repair unto some usual church, or chapel, and there hear divine service, but shall forbear the same by the space of three months, shall within ten days after such indictment or conviction depart from the said city and ten miles compass of the same, and also shall deliver up their names to the lord mayor if such recusant be within the city or the liberties thereof; and if the said recusant shall dwell or remain in any other county within ten miles of the said city, then he shall within the said ten days deliver up his name to the next justice of the peace within such county, on pain of forfeiting to the king 1007.; half of which shall be to the king, and half to him that will sue in any of the king's courts of record. § 4.

2. And by the 1 W. c. 9. For the better discovering and removing all papists and reputed papists out of London and Westminster and ten miles of the same; the lord mayor, and every justice of the peace of London, Westminster, and Southwark, and of the counties of Middlesex, Surrey, Kent (and Essex, 1 W. c. 17.) shall cause to be arrested and brought before him every person, not being a merchant foreigner, as is reputed to be a papist, and tender to him the declaration of the 30 C. 2. st. 2. c. 1. and if he refuse to make and subscribe the same, and shall after such refusal continue within the said distance, he shall forfeit and suffer as a popish recusant convict. § 2.

And every justice of the peace shall certify every such subscription before him taken, and also the names of all persons re

fusing upon tender to make or subscribe as aforesaid, under his hand and seal, into the court of king's bench the next term, or else at the next quarter sessions of the county or place where such taking, subscribing, or refusal shall happen: And if the said person, so refusing and certified, shall not within the next term or sessions after such refusal appear in the court of king's bench or sessions where such certificate shall be returned, and in open court make and subscribe the same, and indorse or enter his so doing upon the certificate so returned; he shall be from the time [171] of such his neglect or refusal taken and adjudged a popish recusant convict, and as such to forfeit and be proceeded against. § 3. But this act not to extend to any foreigner being a menial servant to any ambassador or public agent. § 4.

[But by 31 G. 3. c. 32. § 19. The act of 1 W. c. 9. shall not extend to any person professing the Roman catholic religion who shall take and subscribe the oath of allegiance, abjuration, and declaration therein before appointed to be taken and subscribed; for which see Daths, 20. B. and infra XLVI.]

XXXIV. Shall not remove above five miles from their habitation.

1. By the 35 El. c. 2. Every person above the age of sixteen, and having any certain place of abode, who being a popish recu sant shall be convicted for not repairing to church, (vid. supra XV.) and being within this realm at the time he shall be convicted, shall within forty days next after such conviction (if not restrained by imprisonment, or by the king's command, or by order of six or more of the privy council, or by sickness, and in case of such restraint, then within twenty days after the removal of such restraint) repair to his place of usual dwelling and abode, and shall not at any time after remove above five miles from thence; on pain of forfeiting his goods, and also of forfeiting to the king all his lands, rents, and annuities during life. § 3.

And every such offender which hath copyhold or customary lands, shall forfeit the same during his life to the lord of the manor, if such lord be not a popish recusant convict; and if he be, then such forfeiture shall be to the king. § 5.

And all such persons as are to repair to their place of dwelling and abode, and not to remove above five miles from thence as is aforesaid, shall within twenty days next after coming to such place notify their coming thither, and present themselves and deliver their true names in writing, to the minister or curate of the rish and to a constable of the town; and thereupon the said minister or curate shall enter the same in a book to be kept in every parish for that purpose. § 6.

pa

And the said minister or curate and the said constable shall

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certify the same in writing to the next general or quarter sessions, to be entered by the clerk of the peace in the rolls of the sessions. § 7.

And if any such person, being a popish recusant (not being a feme covert, and not having lands of the clear yearly value of twenty marks, or goods above the value of 401.) shall not within the time before limited repair to his place of usual dwelling and abode, and thereupon notify his coming as aforesaid, or at any time after his repairing to any such place, shall pass or remove above five miles from thence; and shall not within three months next after he shall be apprehended for offending as aforesaid, conform himself in coming to church, and in making such public confession and submission as is hereinafter directed, being thereunto required by the bishop of the diocese, or a justice of the peace, or by the minister or curate of the parish; in every such case, every such offender, being thereunto warned or required by two justices of the peace or the coroner, shall upon his corporal oath before two justices of the peace or a coroner, abjure the realm for ever; and thereupon shall depart out of this realm at such haven and port, and within such time, as shall be assigned and appointed by the said justices or coroner, unless he be letted or stayed by such lawful and reasonable means or causes, as by the common laws of this realm are permitted and allowed in cases of abjuration for felony; and in such cases of lett or stay, then within such reasonable and convenient time after, as the common law requireth, in case of abjuration for felony. §8.

And every justice of the peace or coroner before whom such abjuration shall be made, shall cause the same presently to be entered of record before them, and certify the same to the next assizes. 69.

And if such offender shall refuse to make such abjuration, or after abjuration made shall not go to such haven and within such time as is before appointed, and from thence depart out of this realm, or after such departure shall return without the king's special license; he shall be guilty of felony without benefit of clergy. § 10.

Provided, that if any person so restrained shall be urged by process, or be bound without fraud or covin to make appearance in any of the king's courts; or shall be required by three or more of the privy council, or by four or more of any commissioners to [173] be in that behalf assigned by the king to make appearance before

such council or commissioners: in such case, he shall incur no forfeiture for travelling to make appearance accordingly, nor for his abode concerning the same, nor for convenient time for his return. § 13.

And if any such person so restrained shall be bound or ought to yield his body to the sheriff, upon proclamation in that behalf without fraud or covin to be made; in such case he shall not

incur any forfeiture for travelling for that purpose only, nor for convenient time for his return. § 14.

Provided also, that if any person that shall offend against this act, shall before he be thereof convicted, come to some parish church on some Sunday or other festival day, and there hear divine service, and at service time, before the sermon, or reading of the gospel, make public and open submission and declaration of his conformity; he shall be discharged. Which submission shall be as followeth: I A. B. do humbly confess and acknowledge, that I have grievously offended God in contemning her majesty's good and lawful government and authority, by absenting myself from church, and from hearing divine service, contrary to the godly laws and statutes of this realm: And I am heartily sorry for the same, and do acknowledge and testify in my conscience, that the bishop or see of Rome hath not nor ought to have any power or authority over her majesty, or within any her majesty's realms or dominions: And I do promise and protest, without any dissimulation, or any colour or means of any dispensation, that from henceforth I will from time to time obey and perform her majesty's laws and statutes, in repairing to the church, and hearing divine service, and do my uttermost endeavour to maintain and defend the same. § 15, 16.

And the minister or curate shall presently enter the same into a book to be kept in every parish for that purpose; and within ten days shall certify the same in writing to the bishop. § 17.

And if any person shall relapse after his submission, he shall have no benefit by such his submission. §. 18.

And married women shall also be bound by this act, except only in the case of abjuration. § 19.

Above five miles] It seems that the miles shall be computed according to the English manner, allowing 1760 yards to each mile; and that the same shall be reckoned not by straight lines, as a bird or arrow may fly, but according to the nearest and most usual way. 1 Haw. 25.

In cases of abjuration for felony] Anciently, if a man had
committed felony, and did fly to a sanctuary, that is, to a church
or church yard, before he was apprehended, he might not be taken
from thence to be tried for his crime; but on confession thereof
before the justices, or before the coroner, he was admitted to
abjure the realm: but afterwards this privilege of sanctuary, by
the 21 J. c. 28. was taken away. But the abjuration, where it is
by statute specially appointed, as in the present case, doth still
continue. (9)
Abjuration]
books, is thus:

The form whereof, according to the ancient
"This hear you, Sir Coroner, that I A. O. of

(9) See 4 Bla. Comm. 332.

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66

in the county of am a popish recusant, and in "contempt of the laws and statutes of England, I have and do "refuse to come to their church: I do therefore, according to "the intent and meaning of the statute made in the 35th year " of queen Elizabeth, abjure the realm of England. And I shall "haste me towards the port of P. which you have given and assigned to me, and that I shall not go out of the highway "leading thither, nor return back again; and if I do, I will that "I be taken as a felon of the king: And that at P. I will dili"gently seek for passage, and I will tarry there but one flood " and ebb, if I can have passage; and unless I can have it in "such space, I will go every day into the sea up to my knees, "assaying to pass over. So help me God and his doom." Stam. 116. Mir. b. 1. Offic. Cor. 49.

2. And by the 3 J. c. 5. § 7. The king, or three of the privy council in writing under their hands, may give license to every such recusant to go and travel out of the compass of five miles, for such time as in the said license shall be contained, for their travelling, attending, and returning, and without any other cause to be expressed within the said license: And if any person so confined, shall have necessary occasion or business to go and travel out of the compass of the said five miles, then upon licence in writing in that behalf to be gotten, under the hands and seals of four justices of the peace of the same county, division, or place, next adjoining to the place of abode of such recusant, with the privity and assent in writing of the bishop of the diocese, or of the lieutenant or a deputy lieutenant of the county residing within the said county or liberty, under their hands and seals (in which license shall be specified both the particular cause of the license [175] and the time how long the party shall be absent in travelling, attending, and returning): it shall be lawful for such person to go and travel about such his necessary business, for such time only as shall be comprised in the said license, the party so licensed first making oath before the said four justices or any of them, that he hath truly informed them of the cause of his journey, and that he shall not make any causeless stays. And every person so confined, who shall go above five miles from the place to which he is confined, not having such licence, and not having taken such oath, shall suffer as by the 35 El. c. 2.

E. 11. J. Peter Maxfield was indicted, that he being a convicted recusant, departed above five miles from his abode in Walstood in the county of Stafford, contrary to the statute. The defendant pleaded, that he informed Ralph Snead, Walter Bagnal, and two other justices of the peace of the county of Stafford (the said Walter being also a deputy lieutenant there), that he had urgent occasions to go to London, about business concerning his estate, and made oath before them that it was true; whereupon they by