As of 1627, a parent sending a child out of the country to go to a
Catholic school were to forfeit 100 pounds, one half to the
informer and one half to the king.
The Petition of Right herebefore described was passed as a statute
in 1627.
- Judicial Procedure -
The Star Chamber decided cases as diverse as a case of
subordination of witnesses, cases of counterfeiters of farthing
tokens, and cases of apothecaries compounding ill medicines. It
tried to keep down the prices of foodstuffs for the benefit of the
poor; it repressed extortion and false accusations, and disbarred
an attorney for sharp practices; it punished defamation, fraud,
riots, forgery of wills; it forbade duels. A special virtue of its
position was that it could handle without fear matters in which
men of social or local influence might intimidate or overawe
juries or even country justices. It punished a lord who caused
records to be forged, unlawfully entered lands, and seized tithes.
It disciplined a nobleman for drawing a sword on a lord hunting
hare.
In one of its cases, Sir Edward Bullock, a knight wanting to
enclose a common of a thousand acres threatened his neighbor
Blackhall when he would not sell his lands and rights. The knight
hired a man to break down the hedges and open a gate that had been
staked up, so that his neighbor's cattle would stray. He sued his
neighbor three times for trespass, lost his cases, and threatened
revenge on all the witnesses who testified against him.
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