Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Act 1531
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
(23 Hen. 8) C A P. IX.
'WHere great Number of the King's Subjects, as well Men, Wives, Servants, as other the King'sSubjects, dwelling in divers Dioceses of this Realm ofEngland , and of Wales , heretofore have been at many Times called by Citations, and other Processes compulsary, to appear in the Arches Audience, and other high Courts of the Archbishops of this Realm, far from, and out of the Diocese where such Men, Wives, Servants, and other the King's Subjects been inhabitant and dwelling, (2) and many Times to answer to surmised and seigned Causes, and Suits of Defamation, withholding of Tithes, and such other like Causes and Matters, which have been sued more for Malice, and for Vexation, than for any just Cause of Suit.
II. And where Certificate hath been made by the Summoner, Apparator, or any such light literate Person, that the Party against whom any such Citation hath been awarded, hath been cited or summoned, and thereupon the same Party, so certified to be cited or summoned, hath not appeared according to theCertificate, the same Party therefore hath been excommunicated, or at the least suspended from all Divine Service; (2) and thereupon, before that he or she could be absolved, hath been compelled, not only to pay the Fees of the Court whereunto he or she was so called by Citation, or other Process, amounting to the Sum of ii. s. or xx. d. at the least; but also to pay to the Summoner, Apparator, or other light literate Person, by whom he or she was so certified to be summoned, for every Mile being distant from the Place where he or she then dwelled, unto the same Court whereunto he or she was so cited or summonedto appear, ii. d. to the great Charge and Impoverishment of the King's Subjects, and to the great Occasion of Misbehaviour and misliving of Wives, Women, and Servants, and to the great Impairment and Diminution of their good Names and Honesties:' (3) Be it therefore enacted by the King our Sovereign Lord, with the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, in this present Parliamentassembled, and by Authority of the same, That no Manner Person shall be from henceforth cited or summoned, or otherwise called to appear by himself, or herself, or by any Procurator, before any Ordinary, Archdeacon, Commissary, Official, or...
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