The resolutions of the judges upon the several statutes of bankrupts as also, the like resolutions upon 13 Eliz. and 27 Eliz. touching fraudulent conveyances / by T.B., Esq.

Nicholas Fuller's Case.

In the great Case of Nicholas Fuller of Grays-Inn, these Points were Resolved by all the Justices and Barons of the Exchequer.

1. Resolved, That no Consultation can be granted out of Term, because it is a final award of the Court; and can neither be granted in Term nor out of Term by all the Judges, except in Court; the name of the Writ signifying the same.

2. Resolved, That the Construction of the Statute 1 Eliz. cap. 1. and of the Letters Patents of High-Com∣mission, in Ecclesiastical Causes, founded upon the said Act, belongs to the Judges of the Common Law: And therefore the Consultation which was granted with this restraint, Quatenus non agat de authoritate et validitate Literarum Patentium pro causis Ecclesiasticis, vobis vel ali∣quibus vestrum direct. aut de expesitione et interpretatione Statuti de anno primo nuper Reginae, &c. As if the King hath a Benefice donative, by Letters Patents; this shall not be visitable, nor deprivable by any Ecclesiastical Authority, but by the Chancellor of the King, or Com∣missioners under the Great Seal.

3. Resolved, When there is any Question concerning what Power or Jurisdiction belongs to Ecclesiastical Judges in any such Case, the determination of this be∣longs to the Judges of the Common Law, in what cases they have Cognizance, and in what not; And accor∣ding to this Resolution, Bracton, lib. 5. tract. de except. cap. 15. fol. 412. Vide also Entries, fol. 445. There was a Question, whether Court-Christian should have Cogni∣zance of a Lamp, and a Prohibition was granted, Quod non procedant in Curia Christianitatis, quousque in Curiae ••ostra discussum fuerit utram cognitio placiti illius ad Curiam nostram, vel ad forum Ecclesiasticum pertineat. And all

this appears in our Books, that the Judges of the Com∣mon Law shall determ••ne in what Cases the Ecclesi∣astical Judges have Power to punish any pro Laesioae fidei, 2 H. 4. fol. 10. 11 H. 4. 88. 22 Ed. 4. 20. or of the bounds of Parishes, 5 Ed. 3 8 8 Ed. 3. 69. 70. 18 Ed. 3. 58. 12 Ed. 4. 9 H. 7. 1. 10 H. 7. 9. And there∣fore in this Case of Fuller, one other Restraint was ad∣ded in the Consultation, Et quatenus non agat de aliqui∣bus scandalis, contemptibus s••u aliis rebus quae ad communen legem, aut Statuta Regni nostri Angliae suat pu••ienda et determinanda.

4. Resolved, That if a Councellor at Law, in his Argument, shall scandal the King, or his Government, Temporal or Ecclesiastical, this is a misdemeanor, and and contempt to the Court; for which he shall be in∣dicted, fined, and imprisoned, but not in Court Christian; but if he publish any Heresy, Schisme, or erroneous Opinion in Religion, he may for this be punished by the Ecclesiastical Judges; for the Rule is, Quod non est juri consonum, quod quis pro aliis quae in Curiis nostris act a sunt, quorum cognitio ad nos pertinet, trahatur in placitum in Curia Christianitatis. See the Book of Entries, fol. 448. And for this cause a Consultation was granted, Quoad Schis∣mata, Hereses, &c. Vide M••ch. 18 H. 8. Rot. 78. in Banco Regis. The Case was, a Leet was ••eld Jovis post Festum Sancti Mich. Arch. 17 H. 8. of the Prior of the House of St. John de Bethelehem de Shrine of this Mannor of Levi∣sham in Com. Surrey before John Beare, Steward there; a Grand Jury was charged to inquire for the King of all Offences inquirable within the said Leet, where one Phillip Aldwin, who was a resident within the said Leet, appeared, Idem{que}, Phillippus sciens quandam Margaretam ux∣orem Johannis Aldwin apud East-Greenwich infra jurisdicti∣onem Letae proed. pluries per antea corpus suum in adulterio viciose exercuissse, &c. eisdem sic juratis de dicta, &c. infor∣mationem veraciter dedit. Upon which the said Margaret drew the said Phillip into the Archbishop of Canterbury

his Court, and there libelled against him for defama∣tion of Adultery; and that the Phillip said in hisce Angl. verbis, [Margaret Allen is a Whore and a Bawde, and it is not yet three weeks agone since a man might take a Priest betwixt her Legs,] which words were parcel of the words by which he informed the Jury at the Leet: And upon this he had a Prohibition; and by this Record it appears, and by the Statute, 10 Ed. 3. c. 11. that In∣dictors of Lay-People, or Clerks, in Turneys, and after delivering them before Justices, shall not be sued for Defamation in Court-Christian, but that the Plaintiff grieved shall have a Prohibition, Vide Pasch. 6 Eliz. In the Lord Dyers Reports (which Case is not Printed); John Halles in the Case of Marriage between the Earl of Hereford, and the Lady Katharine Gray, declared his Opinion against the Sentence given by Commissioners of the Queen in a Cause Ecclesiasticall, under the Great Seal, [That the said Sentence was unjust and wicked, and that he thought the Delegates had done against their Conscience;] and what offence this was, was referred to divers Judges to consider, by whom it was Resolved, That this Offence was a contemp•• as well against the Queen as to the Judges, and punishable by the Common-Law, by Fine and Imprisonment.

5. Resolved, When any Libell in Ecclesiastical Court, contains many Articles; if any of them do not belong to Court-Christian, a Prohibition may be generally granted, and upon motion, Consultation may be made as to things which belong to Spiritual Juris∣diction: And for these Reasons, it was Resolved by all, That the Prohibition in the case at Bar was well gran∣ted, which in truth was granted by Fenner and Crooke, Justices, in the Vacation.

Note these general Rules concerning Prohibitions, Quaesparsim inveniantur in libris nostris.

Non debet dici tendere in praejudicinm Ecclesiasticae liber∣tatis quod rege et repub. necessarium videtur, Artic. Cleri. c. 8.

(2.) Non est juri consonum, quod quis, super iis quorum cogni∣tio ad nos pertinet, in Curia Christianitatis trahetur in placi∣tum, Entries 444. 447.

(3.) Episcopus teneat placitum in Curia Christianita∣tis de iis quae mere sunt Spiritualia: Circumsp••cte agatis, &c.

(4.) Prohibeatur de caetero Hospitalariis et Templariis, ne de caetero trahunt aliquem in plac••tum coram conservatoribus privilegiorum de aliquare cujus cognitio ad Forum spectat Regium. West. 2. cap. 43.

(5.) Non concedantur citationes priusquam exprimatur super quare fieri debet citatio. Ibidem.

6. Resolved, That this special Consultation being on∣ly of Heresy, Schisme, and erroneous Opinions, &c. that if they convict Fuller, and if he recant the same, &c. that he shall never be punished by Ecclesiastical Law: After the Consultation granted, the Commissioners pro∣ceeded, and convicted Fuller of Schisme and erroneous Opinions, and imprisoned and fined him 200 l. And after in the same Term Fuller moved the Court of Kings Bench, to have a Habeas Corpus, et ei conceditur; upon which Writ the Goaler did return the cause of his deten∣tion.