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134

CIVIL HISTORY, 1154-1399.

[1304.

danger from storms at sea, out of the materials, rigging, ornaments, and other goods of the said barons and sailors, he has thought proper to order and declare that the ship so laden with merchandise or wine, together with the entire equipment, the ring worn on the finger of the ship's master, the victuals of the seamen, the utensils which they are wont to use at their meals, their money, their belts, the silver cup, if the master of the ship have one, from which he drinks, shall be free from tax on account of the said ejections of the sea; and that the freightage of wines and other goods rescued in the ship shall be preserved to the sailors; that the master of the ship shall lose his frieghtage on casks or goods so thrown into the sea; and that all other goods in the ship, belonging whether to the sailors or to the merchant as wines, merchandise, money in gross, beds, and other goods, except the aforesaid utensils and equipment of the ship, provisions, cooking utensils of the seamen, money, belt, silver cup, and ring, and the freightage of goods saved, shall thereupon be estimated in aid of the restitution of the value of the wines and other goods thrown overboard because of the storm."[1]

A very important document of the reign of Edward I., which still exists in the original Norman French, and which has been cited with respect by Prynne and Coke,[2] as well as by Selden, is given, in translation, in 'Mare Clausum.'[3] The exact nature of the document is not apparent, for, though it purports to be a petition to certain auditors or commissioners appointed to decide between England and France, there is no record of such a petition having been presented, nor is the instrument itself dated, signed or sealed. It is probably the draught of an instrument which may or may not have been executed; and internal evidence indicates that it was drawn up in or soon after the summer of 1304 and before the death of Edward. Petition or not, it is certainly a document of the early fourteenth century, and, its contents being what they are, it is, therefore, of very exceptional interest as illustrating the antiquity of the claim of the kings of England to the dominion of the neighbouring seas. It is too long to print here entire; but the following are the passages which are particularly significant:—

"... Whereas the Kings of England, by right of the said kingdom from time to time, whereof there is no memorial to the contrary, have been in peaceable possession of the sovereign lordship of the sea of England, and of the isles within the same, with power of making and establishing laws, statutes, and prohibitions of arms, and of ships otherwise furnished than merchantmen used to be, and of taking surety and affording safeguard in all cases where need shall require, and of ordering all other things necessary for the maintaining of peace, right, and equity among all manner of people as well of other dominions as their own, passing through the said seas, and the sovereign guard thereof, and also of taking all manner of cognisance in causes, and of doing right and justice to high and low.... And whereas A. de B., deputed admiral of the said sea by the King of England, and all other admirals appointed by the said King of England and his ancestors heretofore Kings of England, have been in peace-
  1. ↑ 'Fœdera,' i. 654.
  2. ↑ Coke, Fourth Institute, 143.
  3. ↑ 'Mare Clausum,' ii. 28.
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