enacted by the authority aforesaid, that in case it shall happen the king's majesty and the said excellent prince his yet only son Prince Edward and heir apparent, to decease without heir of either of their bodies lawfully begotten (as God defend) so that there be no such heir male or female of any of their two bodies, to have and inherit the said imperial crown and other his dominions, according and in such manner and form as in the aforesaid act and now in this is declared, that then the said imperial crown and all other the premises shall be to the Lady Mary, the king's Highness' daughter, and to the heirs of the body of the same Lady Mary lawfully begotten, with such conditions as by His Highness shall be limited by his letters patents under his great seal, or by His Majesty's last will in writing signed with his gracious hand; and for default of such issue the said imperial crown and other the premises shall be to the Lady Elizabeth, the king's second daughter, and to the heirs of the body of the said Lady Elizabeth lawfully begotten, with such conditions as by His Highness shall be limited by his letters patents under his great seal, or by His Majesty's last will in writing signed with his gracious hand; anything in the said act made in the said twenty-eighth year of our said sovereign lord to the contrary of this act notwithstanding.

IV. Provided alway, that if the said Lady Mary do not keep and perform such conditions as shall be limited and appointed to her said estate in the said imperial crown and other the premises as is aforesaid, and the said Lady Elizabeth being then dead without any heir of her body lawfully begotten, that then and from thenceforth for lack of heirs of the several bodies of the king's majesty and the said lord prince lawfully begotten, the said imperial crown and other the premises shall be, come and remain to such person and persons and of such estate and estates as the king's highness by his letters patents sealed under his great seal, or by his last will in writing signed with His Majesty's hand shall limit and appoint.

V. Provided always and be it enacted by authority aforesaid, that in case the king's majesty do not declare and limit by his letters patents or by his last will in form as is aforesaid any condition to the estates and interests afore limited to the said Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth, nor to the estate or interest of any of them, that then every such of the said Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth, to whose estate or interest no condition shall be limited by

the king's majesty in form aforesaid, shall have and enjoy such interest, estate and remainder in the said imperial crown and other the premises as is before limited by this act, without any manner of condition; anything in this present act to the contrary thereof notwithstanding.

VI. And forasmuch as it standeth in the only pleasure and will of Almighty God, whether the king's majesty shall have any heirs begotten and procreated between His Highness and his said most entirely beloved wife Queen Katherine, or by any other his lawful wife, or whether the said Prince Edward shall have issue of his body lawfully begotten, or whether the Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth or any of them shall have any issue of any of their several bodies lawfully begotten, and if such heirs should fail (which God defend) and no provision made in the king's life who should rule and govern this realm for lack of such heirs as in this present act is afore mentioned, that then this realm after the king's transitory life and for lack of such heirs, should be destitute of a lawful governor to order, rule and govern the same; be it therefore enacted by the authority of this present parliament, that the king's Highness shall have full power and authority to give, dispose, appoint, assign, declare and limit, by his gracious letters patents under his great seal, or else by His Highness' last will made in writing and signed with his most gracious hand, at his only pleasure from time to time hereafter, the imperial crown of this realm and all other the premises, to be, remain, succeed and come, after his decease and for lack of lawful heirs of either of the bodies of the king's Highness and Prince Edward begotten, and also for lack of lawful heirs of the bodies of the said Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth to be procreated and begotten as is afore limited in this act, to such person or persons in remainder or reversion as shall please His Highness, and according to such estate and after such manner and form, fashion, order or condition as shall be expressed, declared, named and limited in His Highness' letters patents, or by his last will in writing signed with his most gracious hand as is afore said; anything contained in this present act or in the said former act to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.

158. Act concerning Treasons committed out of the Realm

FOR

(1544. 35 Henry VIII. c. 2. 3 S. R. 958.)

ORASMUCH as some doubts and questions have been moved, that certain kinds of treasons, misprisions and concealments of treasons, done, perpetrated or committed out of the king's majesty's realm of England and other His Grace's dominions, cannot nor may by the common laws of this realm be inquired of, heard and determined within this his said realm of England; for a plain remedy, order and declaration therein to be had and made, be it enacted by authority of this present parliament, that all manner of offences being already made or declared, or hereafter to be made or declared by any the laws and statutes of this realm, to be treasons, misprisions of treasons or concealments of treasons, and done, perpetrated or committed or hereafter to be done, perpetrated or committed by any person or persons out of this realm of England, shall be from henceforth inquired of, heard and determined before the king's justices of his bench for pleas to be held before himself, by good and lawful men of the same shire where the said bench shall sit and be kept, or else before such commissioners and in such shire of the realm as shall be assigned by the king's majesty's commission, and by good and lawful men of the same shire; in like manner and form to all intents and purposes as if such treasons, misprisions of treasons or concealments of treasons had been done, perpetrated and committed within the same shire where they shall be so inquired of, heard and determined as is aforesaid.

II. Provided always that if any the peers of this realm shall happen to be indicted of any such treason or other offences aforesaid by authority of this act, that then after such indictment they shall have their trial by their peers in such like manner and form as hath heretofore been accustomed.

159.

Act for the Dissolution of Chantries

(1547. 1 Edward VI. c. 14. 4 S. R. 24. The whole act reprinted in G. and H. 328-357.)

THE king's most loving subjects, the Lords spiritual and tem

poral, and the Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, considering that a great part of superstition and errors in Christian religion has been brought into the minds and estimations of men, by reason of the ignorance of their very true and perfect salvation through the death of Jesus Christ, and by devising and phantasying vain opinions of purgatory and masses satisfactory to be done for them which be departed, the which doctrine and vain opinion by nothing more is maintained and upholden, than by the abuse of trentals, chantries, and other provisions made for the continuance of the said blindness and ignorance; and further considering and understanding, that the alteration, change, and amendment of the same, and converting to good and godly uses, as in erecting of grammar schools to the education of youth in virtue and godliness, the further augmenting of the universities, and better provision for the poor and needy, cannot, in this present Parliament, be provided and conveniently done, nor cannot nor ought to have any other manner person to be committed, than to the king's highness, whose majesty, with and by the advice of his highness's most prudent council, can and will most wisely and beneficially, both for the honour of God and the weal of this his majesty's realm, order, alter, convert, and dispose the same;

IX. And furthermore be it ordained and enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the king our sovereign lord shall, from the said feast of Easter next coming, have and enjoy to him, his heirs and successors for ever, all fraternities, brotherhoods, and guilds, being within the realm of England and Wales, and other the king's dominions; and all manors, lands, tenements, and other hereditaments belonging to them or any of them other than such corporations, guilds, fraternities, companies, and fellowships of mysteries or crafts, and the manors, lands, tenements, and other hereditaments pertaining to the said corporations, guilds, fraternities, companies, and fellowships of mysteries or crafts above mentioned and shall by virtue of this Act be judged and deemed in the actual and real possession of our said sovereign lord the

king, his heirs and successors, from the said feast of Easter next coming, for ever, without any inquisition or office thereof to be had or found.

XI. And also that the same commissioners, or two of them at the least, by virtue of this Act and of the commission to them directed, shall have full power and authority to assign, and shall appoint (in every such place where guild, fraternity, [or] the priest or incumbent of any chantry in esse, the first day of this present Parliament, by the foundation ordinance or the first institution thereof, should or ought to have kept a grammar school or a preacher, and so has done since the feast of St. Michael the Archangel last past) lands, tenements, and other hereditaments of every such chantry, guild, and fraternity to remain and continue in succession to a schoolmaster or preacher for ever, for and toward the keeping of a grammar school or preaching, and for such godly intents and purposes, and in such manner and form, as the same commissioners, or two of them at the least, shall assign or appoint.

And also to make and ordain a vicar to have perpetuity for ever in every parish church, the first day of this present Parliament, being a college, free chapel, or chantry, or appropriated, annexed, or united to any college, free chapel, or chantry, that shall come to the king's hands by virtue of this Act, and to endow every such vicar sufficiently, having respect to his cure and charge; the same endowment to be to every such vicar, and to his successors for ever, without any other licence or grant of the king, the bishop, or other officers of the diocese.

And also the said commissioners, or two of them at the least, shall have authority by force of this Act, to assign in every great town or parish, where they shall think necessary to have more priests than one, for the ministering of the sacraments within the same town or parish, lands and tenements belonging to any chantry, chapel, or stipendiary priests, being within the same town or parish the first day of this present Parliament, to be to such person and persons as the said commissioners, or two of them at the least, shall assign or appoint to continue in succession for ever, for and towards the sufficient finding and maintenance of one or more priests within the same town or parish, as by the said commissioners, or two of them, shall be thought necessary or convenient; and as well to make ordinances and rules concerning the service, use, and demeanour of every such priest and school