BY our Magna Charta, (upon which we much value our selves) cap. 29th. it is ordein'd that Justice or Right should not be sold, or denied, or delayd by the King to any Man. But if by the subtle contriveance of the Officers and Clerks in Couts of Equity the proceedings are extended to an Ex­travagant & unnecessary length, & thereby the charge of prosecuting or defending Mens Rights is [...]vagantly increased, and the determination of Causes is unnecessarily and unreasonably delay'd, I take [...]o be a selling of Justice and Right at too deer a rate, and it is manifest to all that have had any expe­ [...]e of Chauncery Suites, that the charge and delay in proceedings there are grown to be such, that [...] Causes of great wrong and oppression the Remedy is worse than the disease, and most Men of small [...] indifferent Estates that come thither for Releif often meet with ruin by the very charge of the pro­ [...]dings, therefore for preventing the like for the future, the following Orders and Rules are proposed [...] fit to be Establish'd in Chauncery and other Courts of Equity, whereby both the expence and delay [...]ll be considerably lessen'd, and yet Officers and Clerks sufficiently rewarded for their labour.

First, That there shall be no Copy or Abstract of any Bill sent with or annext to the Dedimus, or [...]ommission to take an Answer, Plea or Demurrer.

For such a Coppy or Abstract is needless, the Defendant being oblig'd to take a Coppy of the Bill to know what is thereby charg'd against him, and to be advised by Counsel what to do before he takes a Dedimus, therefore it is superfluous and needless to have another Coppy or Abstract of the same Bill annext to the Dedimus.

2dly. That all matters alledg'd in a Bill, and not directly and fully Answered, by the first or second [...]swer, shall be taken for confess'd, and admitted by the Defendant to be true as in the Bill alledged.

For hitherto every Defendant that hath a mind to delay the Plaintiff is admitted to put in four insufficient Answers before what is not Answered thereby is to be taken for truth, and the Pro­ceedings in such a Case is very tedious and chargeable, for upon the first insufficient Answer there must be Exceptions drawn and filed, and then a Motion to refer those Exceptions to a Master, and an Order drawn up and pass'd upon that Motion, and after that a Summons, or two, or three, or more to attend the Master, and perhaps three or four attendances before him with Counsel and Solicitors on both sides before he'll make his Report, and after that if the Report be that the An­swer is insufficient the Defendant may put exceptions to that Report, and those exceptions must be argued in Court, and if overrul'd, then there must be a Subpoena, or a Rule given for a better Answer, and process of contempt till the second Answer, and when that is come in and proves in­sufficient there must be another Motion for a Reference to a Master upon that Answer, and the [...]e Dance over again as on the first Answer, and so, if the third Answer prove insufficient, and he like if the fourth prove insufficient, and when that is found insufficient the Defendant is to be [...]mmitted to the Prison of the Fleet if he can be catch't and examin'd on Interogatories, and then what is not Answer'd by any of those four Answers, nor by the examination on the Interogatories, shall be taken for truth, all which proceeding after the first or second Answer is needless, for with good heed taken all matters aleadg'd in a Bill may be Answered to by the first Answer, or at least by the second as well as by ever so many more.

3dly. That a Commission or Commissions for Examining such Witnesses as live in England or W [...] both for Plaintiff and Defendant, shall be taken out and Executed in the next Lent or Autum Vacat [...] after Issue join'd: and return'd before the end of the Terme next following, and that no Commission fo [...] Examining such Witnesses be afterwards graunted in that Cause upon any pretence whatsoever, and th [...] there be no Commission for Examining Witnesses into Scotland, Ireland, or other parts beyond the Sea [...] till the Names of such Witnesses are left with the Clerk of the other side, with the parties Affidavit praying such Commission, that he beleives them to be material Witnesses, with his Reasons for such his beleif.

For the practice hath been, and I beleive is so yet, that a Defendant that affects dalay often lyes still while the Plaintiff Examines his Witnesses, and after the Plaintiff hath done Examining then comes the Defendant and prayes a Comission, as a thing of Right, to Examine his VVitnesses in doing of which he spins out the time as long as he can, whenas both sides with ordinary dili­gence may Examine all such VVitnesses as live in England or Wales in a Lent or Autumn Vacation and for that Commissions to Examine VVitnesses are often sent beyond Sea meerly for delay which ought to be prevented as much as may be, nothing but such an Affidavit as above mentioned can prevent it.

4thly. That no Man be oblig'd to take Coppies of any Interrogatories with the Coppyes of the Depo­sitions unless he will.

For the Interrogatories are for the most part needless after the VVitnesses are Examined, and both Plaintiff and Defendant keep Coppies of their own Interrogatories, and to force them to take and pay for Coppyes of what they have by them, is very unreasonable, and Coppies of Depositions come sometimes to three, or four, or ten Pounds of a side.

5thly That there be 15 lines written in every Sheet, in all Coppies of Bills, Answers, Pleas, Demur­rers, Interrogatories and Depositions, and of Records and other proceedings in Chauncery and other Courts of Equity, and as many words in every Line as will make 18 Syllables at the least.

L: Clarendon's Order. For, though by the establisht Rules of the Court of Chauncery, there ought to be 15 Lines at the least in every Sheet of Coppies; written fairly, orderly and unwastfully, and though the Clerks do for the most part write 15 Lines in a Sheet, they write their Letters and VVords so straglingly, disorderly and wastfully, and so far asunder, that there is seldome above 5 or 6 words in a Line, or 13 words in a Line, so that by that Irregular way of writing Coppies of late us'd there is almost double of what ought to be Exacted from the Subject in that particular, and therefore the words and syllables in each line, as well as the lines in each Sheet, ought to be ascertained. But now to Justifie that wastful way of writing but 5 or 6 words in a Line, they say they are oblig'd to it by a Clause in the Act of Parliament. 5. and 6. Will. & Mariae cap 15, which Enacts, that all Re­cords, VVrits, Pleadings, and other Proceedings in Courts of Law and Equity, and all Deeds, Instruements, and other VVritings by that Act charg'd with the duty shall be Ingrosed and writen in such manner as they have been usually accustomed to be written or were written at the time of making the Act, and because at that time they usueally wrote but 5 or 6 words in a Line, they think they ought never to write any more, but I Conceive that the Statute intended no such thing, and that there ought to be no such Construction put upon any Act of Parliament as might Establish iniquity by a Law if it will bear any other Construction, and it may very well be under stood that the intent of the makers of that Clause intended it should extend only to Originall Re­cords, VVrits, Pleadings and other VVritings, and not to Coppies of them, because Coppies are not mention'd, and morecover if Coppies had been mentioned, or can be intended to be within the meaning of the Act, I think it ought to be intended to mean and extend to such manner of VVriting of Coppyes as was usually and Lawful, and not usual and Extorting, as all loose dis­orderly and wastfull writing of Coppyes was then

6thly. That all Causes shall be heard in order and in course as they shall be at first order'd and set down for hearing, and that no Cause be prefer'd or post-poned in the paper of Causes by any Register or other without special order of the Court, on pain that such Register or other that shall so doe, shall be displac'd for ever.

For great inconvenincies, charge and trouble do happen to Suiters by the Registers Removing Causes backwards and forwards in the paper of Causes at their pleasure, as if this Day at the Rising of the Court a Man's Cause stands in the Paper the 3d or 4th. from the Cause last heard, so that he remov'd a dozen or twenty Causes off by the Register without any order of Court for so doing, & by such means the Cause may not come to be heard in a VVeek or a Month after, and in such Cases the Counsel expect refreshing Fees, and for all that, it's ten to one if they have not forgot their instructions by that time the Cause comes to be heard, and so a good Cause may be lost, and the party and his Family ruin'd and undone.

7thly. That at the making or pronouncing every speciall Order that is not a meer order [...] the Register shall write down in a Book for that purpose the very words of the Court, and immediately read the same in Court with an audible voice before any other matter be proceeded upon, that if there be any mistake it may be then rectified, & that in drawing the Order he incert the very words pronounc'd by the Court and no other in the ordering part, upon pain of being displac'd for ever.

For the charge and trouble hath oftentimes been very great by reason of the Registers willful or or negligent mistake, the partie grieved in such Cases, being forc'd again to have recourse to the Court to have the Order setled, which, by this means, may be prevented.

8thly. That there shall be no Recital of any Allegation of Counsel, or of the Bill or Answer, or other inducements in any Order whatsoever, either Interlocutory or Decretall.

For those Recitals are not material in any Order, only to make it so much the longer which it doth oftentimes to a very great Degree, and makes the charge of an Order for the most part four or five, or ten times more then otherwise it would be.

9thly. That after an Order is made, on hearing Counsel on both sides, such Order shall not be moved against or discharged, nor any Order made contrary thereto, unless for new matter arising after such Or­der made, or upon an Appeal.

For some Spirits are so Restless, and others so purseproud, that when an Order is made that is not to their liking though ever so Reasonable, they well be moveing again and again against it, and so one Order begets another, 'ad infinitum, which as I have heard occasion'd a Merry Fellow once to move for a gelt Order, meaning an Order that would get no more Orders.

10thly. That every one that obtains a Decree or Dismission of a Bill, or an Order for allowing or over­ruling any Plea or Demurrer shall have his full cost with lawful Interest for all Money or other due de­tein'd for the time of the deteiner.

For it hath been usual in Chauncery (though not at Common Law) that where the party hath a probable Cause of Suite, as they call it, and a Decree be made against him, he shall pay no cost to the other side, which I conceive unreasonable, though in ever so doubtful a Case, for by that means one Man shall make experiments at another Mans Charge, but it is fitter that he that the Court shall adjudge to be in the wrong shall in all Suits suffer, rather then he that is in the right, and by the Statute 15 H. 6. cap. 4. which Enacts, that no Subpoena should be graunted untill securety be given to satisfie the party greived, his damages and expences, if the matter be not made good that is contein'd in the Bill, though the Chauncery regard not that Statute, it was intended, that in Case of false suggestions, Costs should be pay'd to the party greived thereby, and the greiveance is the same to be forced into Chauncury upon a matter that will not hold water as upon a false suggestion. Also, if a Man be forced to come into Chauncery for a just demand, there is as much good Conscience for his having his necessary Costs & Charges as is for his having the thing demanded, yet oftentimes in Chancery, after one hath been forc'd to spend as much as the thing sued for amounts to, and hath got a Decree for it, yet the Court hath deny'd him his Cost of Suite, so that he had as good never have Sued as to have recovered. And if a Man recovers a due in Chan­sery, I think he ought in good Conscience to have lawful Interest for the time of the deteiner of the due, for he, from whom the due is detein'd, cannot borrow Mony to supply his occasions pending the Suite without paying Interest for it.

11thly. That there shall be no re-hearings after one Kallender Month after the first hearing, nor with­out paying to the other party or his Clerk or Solicitor Tenn Pounds six days before the Day of rehear­ing towards seeing Counsel and defraying other incident Charges.

For when a Decree is made, it is to be presumed a just Decree till the contrary appear, & therefore it is but reasonable the Rehearing should be at the Charge of them that desire it, and that the time for Re-hearing be limmitted to prevent a long affected delay, Re-hearings being often desir'd, when nothing but delay can be expected thereby.

12thly. That upon Bills of Review, the Depositions taken, and the Deeds prov'd and confess'd in the Originial Cause may be made use of to make out the Justice or Injustice of the Decree to be review'd.

For it is Reasonable it should be so, for without that an unjust Decree cannot be made appear to be so, and so was the practice heretofore, if we beleive Roll's Abridgement, 1st. part, page 382. Nu. 4. but of late, if a Decree be made without any proof to warrant it, or contrary to the proofs, there is no help by Bill of Review according to the late practice, for it is said, it is not to be presumed that the Chauncery would make a Decree contrary to the proofs in the Cause, but it may happen that through the Knavery or negligence of a Solicitor or Counsel, a material Deed or deposition may be omitted at the hearing of a Cause, and the Decree may be Inroll'd before the Clyent finds it out, and if it be not to be made use of on the Bill of Review, the party may be without Remedy, for upon an Appeal to the Lords, nothing hath been of late admitted to be made use of there that was not made use of at the hearing, when the Decree Appeald from was made, so that if the Deeds and depositions in a Cause be not to be the measure of Equity on a Bill of Review, a Corrupt Solicitor or Counsel hath a great opportunity irrecoverably to betray his Clients Cause, which I hope none will say ought to be allow'd.

13thly. That all Counsel in Chauncery and other Courts of Equity shall be heard to make their Moti­ons in Order and course as they are at the Barr, and that all of them (the Kings Councel excepted) shall take their places according to their Degree and Seniority.

For it is the right of the Profession to have it so, and at the Common Pleas Barr the Serjants at Law do take their Places and are heard their motions according to their Seniority, and so do the Counsel in the Courts of Great Sessions in Wales, but the manner in Chauncery hath been hitherto for the Court to call to and cull out the Counsel as the Court likes their Faces, which begets an [Page 4]opinion in the People, that one Counsel may obtein that for his Client which another can't, w [...] ought not to be.

It is objected by some, That the King cannot prescribe Rules for the Chauncery without an Act of Parliament. But in Answer to that, it is to be noted that in the Lord Hobarts Reports pag. 36. it is affirm'd, that all Kingdoms in their Constitution are furnisht with the power of Justice both accor­ding to the Rule of Law, and according to Equity, both which being in the King as Sovereign were after setled in the several Courts. But that part of Equity being opposite to regular Law, and in a manner an Arbitrary disposition, is still Administred by the King himself and his Chaun­cellor in his name from the beginning, as a special trust committed to the King, and not by him to be committed to any other, and though out of discretion they entertain some formes, yet they may justly leave them in special Cases, and that this power of Judging according to E­quity was lodged in the King by Act of Parliament before the Conquest & confirm'd to him since, appears by Lamberts Book de Priscis Anglorum legibus, pa. 62, 63. Archeion 58. 1st R. 2. Rot. Parl. Nu. 87. not in Print, which, who list may look into.

The Writ of Subpoena, which is the groundwork & foundation of proceeding in Equity, was invented by John of Waltham Master of the Rolls in the beginning of R. 2. as appears Rot. Parl. 3 H. 5. Nu. 49. and it was us'd and continued since without any Act of Parliament for it, and the Lord Chauncellor Bacon and the Lord Chauncellor Clarendon, &c. made Orders and Rules for the Court of Chauncery without any Act of Parliament, and if a Chauncellor can make Orders and Rules at his own pleasure, why should not the King that makes the Chauncellor make him observe such Rules as he thinks just and reasonable to prevent oppression and extortion.

In the Rolls Chappel among the Rolls of the 14. of K. J. 1. part 6. N. 25. is the Enrollment of an Order made by the King himself for the Court of Chauncery to give Releif in Equity after a Judg­ment at Law, which the Judges of the Common Law Courts then opposed, and that Order hath been observed hitherto, and if the King can make an Order as to the Jurisdiction of the Chauncery, why not for amendment of the proceedings to prevent delay and Extortion? and if he can make one Order, why not a hundred if there be occasion.