And I acknowledge that I have
feloniously killed Roger le Swan in the town of Strete in the
hundred of Strete in the rape [a division of a county] of Lewes
and that I am a felon of the lord King of England. And because I
have committed many ill deeds and thefts in his land, I abjure the
land of the Lord Edward King of England, and [I acknowledge] that
I ought to hasten to the port of Hastings, which thou hast given
me, and that I ought not to depart from the way, and if I do so I
am willing to be taken as a thief and felon of the lord King, and
that at Hastings I will diligently seek passage, and that I will
not wait there save for the flood and one ebb if I can have
passage; and if I cannot have passage within that period, I will
go up to the knees into the sea every day, endeavoring to cross;
and unless I can do so within forty days, I will return at once to
the church, as a thief and a felon of the lord King, so help me
God."
Property damage by a tenant of a London building was assessed in a
1374 case: "John Parker, butcher, was summoned to answer Clement
Spray in a plea of trespass, wherein the latter complained that
the said John, who had hired a tavern at the corner of St. Martin-
le-Grand from him for fifteen months, had committed waste and
damage therein, although by the custom of the city no tenant for a
term of years was entitled to destroy any portion of the buildings
or fixtures let to him.
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