pital shall be read before the brethren and sisters, which shall be accepted and received, before he be received.

60. Freemen decayed, and Seal of Hospital.

The mayor, with the assent of the jurats, where he findeth among his commons which he hath competently borne charge with them, for their time, in the welfare of the town, and they be now impoverished, and impotently decayed of their goods and chattels, and little goods have to live with, he may put the said man and woman into the hospital, to take their sustenance among the brethren and sisters of the hospital, without any paying for it unto the said hospital; so that the mayor and jurats have the keeping of the seal of the said hospital of the brethren and sisters. And the brethren and sisters shall nothing sell nor diminish, without the assent of the mayor and jurats.

61. Election of Brokers.

It is to be understood, that anon, after the election of mayor of Rye, the mayor and jurats shall elect brokers, and certain men, to keep the weights and measures; which men shall be sworn to do right, as well a stranger, as a freeman.

62. Bailiffs to Yarmouth.

When the bailiff is elect to be at Great Yarmouth, and hath taken the oath, what time he should ride toward the place, he shall have with him his letters patent, under the common seal of the town, to do, and to exercise, the ancient manners of the liberty of the said town, after the contents of the King's charter, upon the said premises granted unto the Barons of the said Cinque Ports.

63. Proceedings in Actions, and making special Acts for the Town.

In all manner of causes and articles, or in pleas personal, and in all of the which there is no special remembrance, or mention made in this book, the mayor, which is judge, with his brethren the jurats, shall have recourse to the laws of natural reason, upon the which, and

and of the which do proceed, and are found all the laws, and customs, according and concerning unto the laws of England, and to make special acts, and such as they shall think good for the wealth of the

town.

64. Election of Lord Warden.

When it shall fortune the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports to decease, or else to be changed, our sovereign Lord the King was wont to send his letters patent to admit another Warden, which Warden so admitted, when he thinketh most opportunity, was wont to send his letters to each of the five ports, and their members, wherein is either mayor or bailiff, that upon a certain day they shall be before him, at Shepway, so that his said letters be delivered unto the mayors and bailiffs forty days before the day of Shepway. If there be no mayor of any of the aforesaid towns of the Cinque Ports, or their members,

then the letters to be sent to the bailiffs.

And also, in the King's and Queen's name, forty days before their coronation.

65. Burgesses to the Coronation.

The barons of the Cinque Ports are to be summoned to the King and Queen's coronation, by certain forty days before the coronation, by writing; and of all the ports together there must be thirty-two barons, in one clothing, and they shall bear the cloth over the King and Queen, with four spears, covered with silver, and four little bells gilt, hanging above the cloth, which is called the pall, and shall come from the King's treasury; and at each of these four spears shall be attending four barons of the said Cinque Ports; and the said barons, on the said day, shall sit in the King's hall, at dinner, next to the King and Queen, on the right hand. Finis.

THE CUSTOMAL

OF THE

TOWN AND PORT OF WINCHELSEA.

1. Chusing of Mayor.

Every year, the Monday after Easter, all the inhabitants shall assemble, in a certain place, called the hundred, and there, by common consent, shall chuse a mayor. In case the mayor that is chosen be not present, to accept his charge, the mayor that was before shall not be discharged, untill the other be charged by his predecessor.

2. Punishment of the Mayor for not accepting the Office, and his Oath. If the mayor that is chose absent himself, and will not accept, and receive his charge, all the whole commons shall go, and shut in his chief tenement. But if the mayor that is chosen be present, and will his charge accept, he shall be charged, and swear thus.

I, A. B. shall bear faith to our sovereign Lord the King of England, and to the commonalty of Winchelsea; and the franchises and usages of the same rightfully shall maintain, and the common profit shall keep; and to rich and poor shall do right, as near as can be. So help me.

And in case the mayor die before the yearly election, the twelve sworn men here, in course, to the same shall do their turns, untill the time be in the year, for the assembly to chuse another mayor; then he so chose shall do his office, until the day of the election. And in this case, the mayor charged shall be one of the best of the twelve

Sworn men..

THE CUSTOMAL OF WINCHELSEA.

3. Appointing Jurats.

371

Also, the mayor shall chuse, the same day, twelve sworn men, the most wise within the town, the which shall swear to the King, and the commons; and shall chuse a common clerk, which shall swear to the commonalty, and shall bear faith to all the said commons, and truly their councils shall keep to his power.

Also, the same day, the mayor shall chuse a sergeant, the which shall do his charge in manner as follows. That he shall bear faith to the mayor, and the commonalty, and duly shall do execution, as appertaineth to his office, after the usage used in the town in times passed. So help me God, and All Saints.

4. Of receiving a Bailiff.

In the right of the bailiff, the King may remove at his will; and in case the bailiff die, or the King remove him from his office, then the King shall send his commission, with a writ of attendage, to the mayor and jurats, under the seal of the chancery; the which bailiff shall shew his commission to the mayor and jurats, and after that, shall be accepted, and charged by the mayor, and his charge shall be this.

By the allegiance you owe to the sovereign Lord the King, that you do due execution and right, without blemish of the franchise, after the usage used in old time in the town, as is aforesaid.

And after that, the bailiff shall chuse a sergeant, for which he shall answer, who shall be charged.

5. Of the Coroner, and his Office.

Item, in case a man be found dead within the franchise, by misadventure, or by deed of any man, by land or water, the mayor shall have sight of the body, as coroner, and the bailiff do come a countie; at which countie the mayor shall make an inquest of the death of the body present. Anon, the mayor, as coroner, shall charge the bailiff for to attach the indicted, and if he may be found, he shall be brought into the ward of the bailiff within the franchise; but if that the in

dicted may find, after his imprisonment, sufficient mainprise for to be at the law, the bailiff shall let go to the same, until a hundred be ordained by the mayor and bailiff, at which hundred the indicted shall come, and shall be arraigned of the felony, and there shall be proclamation made by the mayor and bailiff; and there if any will come to pursue in due form against the indicted of felony abovesaid, that he come; and if none do come for to pursue, then be it returned, till proclamation be made, in the same form, by two hundreds after; and if none do come at the third hundred, that will pursue the indicted, he shall go quit of his indictment. And be it for to wit, that no hundred shall be holden after the other less than fifteen days. And if any come to pursue against the indicted, by appeal, and the indicted be arraigned of the felony, and if he say nay in the felony, then be he charged by the mayor to have his acquittance, in manner as follows, that is to wit. Thirty-six men of his own province, of good fame in the liegance of England, that they be ready at the next hundred that to him shall be assigned; the which thirty-six men the appellor shall take their names written, into the hands of the bailiff, and the common clerk shall read their names, as shall do every appealed; and if any of the thirty-six men be in default, or answer not for him who is appealed of the felony, be he adjudged to death, to be hanged at the gallows.

6. Acquittance of a Felon.

It is ordained, in the usages of Winchelsea, that when a man ought to be acquitted by thirty-six men, that first the names of the thirty-six men shall be delivered to the bailiff, by the man who is appealed, in writing; and those thirty-six men ought to be called by their names; and if any of them, when called, be absent, and answer not, then the man that is appealed shall be put to death. And if they all appear, and answer by name, the which being called, then of the King's grace that shall be the best twelve of the said thirty-six men, grace of the mayor, and of the sworn men, twelve, so that the

and the