Chat. VIII.
533
“ Anil that if all the partners should happen to be negligent in the premises, then thatthe common baililf before mentioned should make good the whole defence, at his ownproper costs, and afterwards distrain all those partners in double the charges so by him ex-pended in the said defence, by view of the twenty-four jurats as aforesaid ; saving to thechief lords in the said marsh the right which they have against their tenants touchingthis defence according to their feoffments.
“ And that all lands in the said marsh be kept and maintained against the violence of thesea, and the floods of the fresh waters, with banks and sewers, by the oath and con-sideration of twenty-four jurats at the least, for their preservation, as anciently had beenaccustomed.”
Such were the first laws formed for the guidance of the commissioners of sewers, and welearn that soon after their publication, Henry III. was informed that his haven at Rumenaleor Romney was likely to be destroyed, unless the river of Newendene, whereupon the saidhaven was founded, was again turned into its original channel, from whence it had beendiverted by the overflowings of the sea. Various obstructions in the old course of thatriver were removed, a new channel was opened, and a sluice built at the town of Apeltre,“to allow the salt water to enter into the said river, by the inundation of the sea from theparts of Winchelsea, and that it might join the fresh water of the river in its ancient course,and thus in its descent be made to scour out the haven.” Another sluice was also madeat - Sneregate, and a third in the port itself, where the water passed off into the sea to pre-vent the tide from entering the river ; the whole of these works were performed underNicholas de Ilandloo and twenty-four jurats, named by the sheriff of the county ofKent.
Edward I. , in the sixteenth year of his reign, finding that the sea banks and water-gangs on the coast needed reparation, issued a commission to John de Lovetot and Henryde Apuldrefeld, to inquire by whose default this damage had occurred, and, together withthe bailiffs and others, to distrain upon all those whose negligence had been the cause.
These commissioners confirmed the ordinances of Henry de Bathe, and assigned theelection of the king’s bailiff to the lords of the marsh in future.
In the eighteenth year of the same reign, some controversies and differences again arisingrelative to those upon whom the expenses of repairing and maintaining the sea-walls shouldfall, another commission was appointed, in which were named John de Lovet, Robert deSeptuaus, Thomas de Gudinton, and Henry de Appletrefeld.
Some few years afterwards, Henry de Appletrefeld and Bertram de Tancrey weredesired to make a general survey of the whole coast of Kent, examine its banks and ditches,which by reason of the roughness of the sea were in many places broken, and after makingtheir report, they extended the ordinances of Henry de Bathe by common assent to everyhundred and township throughout Kent, as well as the coast bordering the Thames andother waters, wherever there were marsh lands subject to inundation.
The ordinances now so generally promulgated were, “ That through all other maritimeplaces in the said county liable to the danger of the sea, the river of llianies, or any otherwater, wherein the marsh law had not formerly been established and used, and that diversperils, through defect of banks and water-gangs, had there happened: lest therefore for thefuture the like or worse might accrue.
“ That in every hundred and town, as well by the sea coast as bordering on the Thames and other waters, in which the marsh lands are subject to inundation, there be chosen andsworn twelve or six lawful men, according to the largeness of the hundreds or towns, andwho have lands in danger of the sea, the Thames , and other waters; which men to beassigned keepers of the banks and water-gangs in the hundreds and towns aforesaid, whoupon their oath shall keep safe the said banks and water-gangs; and when, and as often asneed requireth, repair them, as also shall, in respect of the raging of the sea, raise the saidbanks higher by 4 feet at the least than formerly they were, and make them of thicknessanswerable to that height.
“ For the reparation of which banks and water-gangs, when need shall so require, the chargeto be raised in manner following, viz., that all and singular persons having lands liable tothe danger, whether situate near or afar off, forasmuch as they have preservation by thosebanks and water-gangs, they shall contribute for the quantity of their lands and tenements,either by number of acres or carucates, according to the proportion of what they hold, sothat no tenant of these lands or tenements be lie rich or poor, or of what order, state,dignity, or condition soever, either within liberties or without, any favour shall be showedin this matter.
“ That in every place for the levying of the said costs and charges, and faithfully layingit out upon the said banks and water-gangs, two lawful persons out of the said sworn menbe assigned, who, together with the bailiff of the liberties or lords of the fee, shall makedistresses for the same.
“ And when the before specified banks shall be, according to the ordinances of the jurat,
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