Part 32 of A Statute of the Fortieth Year of King Edward III., enacted in a parliament held in Kilkenny, A.D. 1367, before Lionel Duke of Clarence, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

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A Statute of the Fortieth Year of King Edward III., enacted in a parliament held in Kilkenny, A.D. 1367, before Lionel Duke of Clarence, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. (Author: [unknown])

article 31

XXXI. Also, whereas the summonses of the Exchequer of our Lord the King, of Ireland, come to divers sheriffs and seneschals of franchise, to levy the debts of our Lord the King off divers persons in their bailiwicks; the which sheriffs and seneschals, together with the serjeants of counties and franchises do accordingly Ievy divers sums of the said debts off divers persons of counties and franchises, and do not discharge them in their accounts at the Exchequer, but excuse themselves by the serjeants of fee and their deputies, whereby the payment of the debts of our Lord the King is so retarded and delayed, and the people

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greatly injured, in this respect, that they are not discharged of the money that they have paid; it is agreed and assented, that when the sheriffs and seneschals of Louth, Meath, Trim, Dublin, Kildare, Catherlogh, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, and Tipperary, shall come to render up their accounts before the

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treasurer and barons, of the issues of their bailiwicks, that the serjeants of the fee that shall be present, and the deputies of those that shall be out of the land, shall be distrained to come into the Exchequer, and there remain with the said sheriffs and seneschals, until the said sheriffs and seneschals shall have fully accounted; and if it shall so be, that the said sheriffs and seneschals can charge the said serjeants or their deputies, that they have received the King's money of any one, and have not made payment to the said sheriffs or seneschals, and they thereupon shall be attainted, their bodies shall remain in custody of the marshal, until satisfaction be made to our Lord the King, for his money, in discharge of the debtors of our Lord the King, or of the said sheriffs or seneschals, if they have wherewithal, and if not, that they shall remain in prison until they be delivered by the council, and nevertheless the sheriff and seneschals shall be charged therewith in their accounts as before. And that all debts levied by the serjeants be paid to the sheriffs by indenture made between them; so that when the said serjeants shall come on the account of the sheriff in the Exchequer, they may show their indenture, and prove from whom they have received the King's money, and from whom not. And whereas the counties of Connaught

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Kerry, Cork, and Limerick, are so far from the court, that the serjeants of the said counties cannot conveniently come to the said Exchequer, to be present on the accounts of the sheriffs and seneschals of the said counties, as other serjeants

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do, it is agreed and assented that when one of the barons, or a clerk assigned by the treasurer and baron, shall come by the commission of the Exchequer to the parts aforesaid, in order to examine the truth, and to deny the debt of our Lord the King, the serjeants of the said counties or their deputies shall then remain with the said baron or clerk, as long as the said sheriffs and seneschals shall remain, and if it shall happen that they shall have received any part thereof from any person, without making payment to the said sheriffs or seneschals, in the manner aforesaid, that then they shall be arrested, and suffer the punishment aforesaid.