Preface

PREFACE TO THIS VOLUME.

The Fifth Volume of The Statutes of the Realm contains the Statutes from the Commencement of the Reign of King Charles I. A. D. 1625, to the End of the Thirtysecond Year of the Reign of King Charles II. A. D. 1680.

In conformity with the Plan laid down in the Introduction to the First Volume, and pursued in the subsequent Volumes, certain Acts which are not to be found on the Inrollment in Chancery have been printed from the Original Bills or Acts preserved in the Parliament Office; and in every Instance where an Act is not printed from the Inrollment in Chancery, a Note is annexed, stating that it has been printed from the Original Act, and the Number of the Act in the Bundle of Acts at the Parliament Office is referred to in the Margin.

It is obvious, that in such Cases the Numbers of the Chapters could not be preserved uniformly with the Numbers of the Chapters in the common printed Editions, but it has been thought right to preserve the usual Arrangement of Chapters in conformity with those Editions whenever it could be done. In the 18 & 19 Car. II. p. 601. and in the 19 & 20 Car. II. p. 624. and p. 630. that Arrangement will be found to be broken; the Reason for which is stated in a Note at the Bottom of those Pages respectively.

As the important Uses for which this Collection of the Statutes has been prepared must depend wholly upon the Accuracy with which each particular Statute has been compared with the Record, of which it professes to be a Copy; a short Statement of the Means employed for this Purpose, in this and the subsequent Volumes, will shew what Degree of Confidence may be placed in their Authenticity.

The MS. Copy of the Acts contained in each Volume is, in the first Place, collated with the Inrollment in Chancery, or, if the Act be not inrolled there, with the Original Act in the Parliament Office, by competent Persons employed for that Purpose, and is then delivered to the undersigned Sub-Commissioners by whom this and the subsequent Volumes are prepared for the Press; the same Copy, with the Addition of the Marginal Notes, framed by him, is then delivered to the King's Printer, and the Sheets, as worked off, are sent, together with a due Proportion of the Copy, from the King's Printer's Office, to the Collator, to be examined by him, and the Revises are then collated by him at the Parliament Office with the Original Act, and the Variations, if any, noted and returned to the Sub-Commissioner: The Sub-Commissioners thereupon finally collates the same with the Record, and the Sheets, upon such final Collation, are printed off. Where any manifest Error or Deficiency appears to exist both in the Inrollment and in the Original Act, Recourse has been had to the King's Printer's Copy, and the Variation stated in a Note, in each respective Case, at the Bottom of the Page.

The Chronological Table to this Volume is framed upon the Principle adopted in the preceding Volumes; but the Titles of the Acts on the Inrollment in Chancery and in the Parliament Office agreeing, except in very few Instances, it has not been deemed necessary to repeat them; they are stated, therefore, in one Column in the Words in which they appear on the Inrollment in Chancery, and the Variations are referred to in a Note as they occur.

In the Index to this Volume, the several Matters contained in the Statutes comprized in it are classed under General Heads, and the substance of the Enactment of each Statute, and of each Section, if the Statute contain Two or more Sections, is succinctly stated, proceeding under each Head chronologically; and in order to show the present State of the Law on each respective Head where any Alteration of the Law has taken place, References are inserted to the amending or repealing Act immediately after the Statement of the particular Statute or Section containing the original Enactment.

Two Engravings, one of the Petition of Right, 3 Charles I., and the other of the Act for a perpetual Anniversary Thanksgiving on the Nine-and-twentieth Day of May, 12 Charles II. are inserted respectively at Pages 23 and 237 of this Volume.

London,
March 1819.

JOHN RAITHBY,
Sub-Commissioner.