53*1
HISTORY OR ENGINEERING.
Book I.
so repaired at the common charges, that there shall he assigned to every man his peculiarportion of the hank by certain places and hounds, to he sustained at his own proper cost,according to the quantity of his tenement, and number of acres subject to that danger, sothat it may he known where, and by what places, anil to what portion every man is soobliged to make defence. And if any shall be negligent in paying their portions of thesaid contributions at the day appointed by the jurats for that purpose, or in his portion forrepair of the banks, that he be distrained by his goods and chattels wheresoever they shouldbe found, within liberties or without, till he have contributed bis share, and paid his chargeof tlie said banks with double costs, which double to be reserved for the common benefit ofthe like repair in these parts.
“ And that these distresses shall he made by the collectors of the said costs, together withthe bailiffs of the liberties or lords of the fee, and being so made, to he kept for the spaceof three days at the most, if they upon whom they shall be made be stubborn or negligentfor so long time, and then forthwith sold, in respect of the perilous rage of the sea imminent.And if as well the collectors as tenants shall be found negligent in performing the premises,that then every lord of the fee within the compass of the fee shall cause the said banks andwater-gangs to be repaired at his own proper charge, and the costs that he shall be attherein, together with the double thereof, he shall cause to be levied upon the goods andchattels of those that are negligent for his own use.
“ And that no shrieve of Kent for the time being, or his bailiff or officer, shall take anydistress touching the hanks and water-gangs in any marshes, nor thenceforth meddle at allneither with the distresses taken by the lords of the fee, bailiff of liberties, or collectors ofthe costs or contributions to the said hanks and water-gangs, nor distrain them by writ ofreplevin, nor deliver them by surety or pledge any manner of way.
“ And it was also ordained and concluded, that if the jurats so chosen for the custody ofthe hanks and water-gangs, whether they shall be of the marsh of Uumenale, or of othermaritime lands do refuse to come at the summons of their bailiffs, for the necessary repairof the said banks and water-gangs they shall, for that their negligence, be punished by theirbailiffs, as in this marsh of Rumenale they had been heretofore accustomed.
“ And that the collectors also of the costs bestowed in repair and support of the banksand water-gangs, after the said repairs are perfected, shall forthwith make their accountbefore the jurats and bailiff of that county, as well within the marsh of Rumenale aswithout, of all monies assessed and levied for the before specified repairs ; as also for thedouble, whensoever it may fortune to be levied ; and if they shall not do so, then to be dis-trained by the bailiffs of the country or place, to make account thereupon, saving always tothe chief lords of the fees their right which they have, and hitherto had wont to have,touching the defence of their lands according to their feoffments, and of levying the doubleaccording to ancient custom used, as it is contained in the ordinance of the said Henry deliathe."
These ordinances were held in such high esteem, that they were constantly confirmed andissued by the crown wherever it was necessary : in the thirty-fifth year of Edward III. ,some further penal statutes were annexed, and in the sixth year of Henry VI . several com-missioners of sewers were appointed and empowered in various parts of the kingdom, “ tomake and ordain necessary and convenable statutes and ordinances, for the salvation andconservation of the sea banks and marshes, and the parts adjoining, according to the lawsand customs of Romney marsh.”
In the succeeding reigns the same statutes were continued, with some minor alterationsand additions, and no material change took place until that act was passed in the twenty-thirdyear of Henry VIII. , in which it is provided, “that commissioners of sewers shall beenrooted in all parts within this realm from time to time, where and when need shall require,to he formed of such substantial and indifferent persons as shall be named by the lord chan-cellor and the two chief-justices for the time being; any six commissioners, of whom threemust be a quorum, may act as the king's justices, to survey the walls, ditches, hanks, gutters,sewers, gates, calcics, bridges, streams, and other defences, lying within the limits assigned,and also all fishgarths, milldams, locks, ebbing wears, keeps, floodgates, and other likeannoyances, and the same cause to be made, corrected, repaired, amended, put down, orreformed, as case shall require, after their wisdoms and discretions, as well according to thestatutes and ordinances already made, as by the authority of the present ordinances, afterascertaining by a jury the persons equitably liable to the charge of such works, and theproportions in which they ought to be assessed.”
The commissioners are empowered to appoint keepers, bailiffs, surveyors, collectors, ex-penditors, and other ministers and officers, who shall account to them, and also to impressworkmen, take materials, waggons, carts, See., to make statutes and ordinances for the safe-guard, conservation, redress, correction and reformation of the premises, after the lawsand customs of Romney Marsh in the county of Kent, or otherwise. This statute wasmade perpetual by the third and fourth of Edward VI. , and is the existing statute ofsewers.