House of Commons Journal Volume 6: 19 October 1649

Die Veneris, 19 Octobris, 1649.

Prayers.

Justice of Common Pleas.

RESOLVED, by the Parliament, That Edward, Atkins, Serjeant at Law, be one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas.

Resolved, by the Parliament, That the Lords Commissioners for the Great Seal of England do give Order for a Patent to be drawn for that Purpose: And that they be impowered to pass the same under the Great Seal of England; and to minister, unto the said Mr. Serjeant Atkins, the usual Oath to be taken by the Justices.

The Engagement.

Resolved, by the Parliament, That the Words of the Engagement; viz. "You shall be true and faithful to the Commonwealth of England, as the same is now established, without a King, or House of Lords;" be added into the first Part of the Oath, already appointed by Parliament to be administered to the Justices of the Upper Bench, Common Pleas, and Barons of the Publick Exchequer.

Serjeants Inn.

An Act touching Serjeants Inn in Fleet Street was this Day read the First time.

Ordered, by the Parliament, That the Contractors for the Sale of the Lands of the late Deans and Chapters be required to forbear to contract with any Person or Persons for Sale of the Capital Messuage, situate in or near Fleet Street, London, commonly called Serjeants Inn in Fleet Street, where divers of the Judges and Serjeants at Law have for a long time resided, and do still reside, until the Residue of the said Lands shall be contracted for, and sold.

Ordered, by the Parliament, That all such Persons as were heretofore Judges, and likewise all Serjeants at Law, Counsellors, Doctors of the Civil Law, Attorneys, Clerks, and Solicitors, in the respective Courts, who have been against the Parliament, and adhered to, or been aiding and assisting to the Enemy, be removed from their Chambers respectively, within either of the Serjeants Inns, or any of the Inns of Court or Chancery, and from the Doctors Commons; saving the Right of such Articles of War as have been confirmed by the Parliament.

Ordered, by the Parliament, That it be referred to the Lords Commissioners for the Great Seal, to give Order to the Judges of the several Courts, * * the Benchers of the several Inns of Court, the Principals of the Inns of Chancery, and to the Judges of the Admiralty respectively, that this Order be put in Execution accordingly; and to require an Account thereof from the respective Persons aforesaid.

Prizes.

Resolved, by the Parliament, That the Committee of the Navy have Power to satisfy the Mariners their Dues, for all such Prizes as have or shall be taken, according to the Engagement made to them by the State; and to consider whether all or any of the said Prizes are sit to be reserved for the Service of the State; and to issue out Money for buying in such of them accordingly, for that Use, as the Council of State shall advise and direct.

Convoys;

Resolved, by the Parliament, That it be referred to the Council of State, to appoint, for the future, certain Ships for Convoys for Merchants, for the Encouragement of Trade; and to take care, and give Order, That the Abuse of Convoy Money be taken off; and that the Convoys be without Charge to the Merchant.

Wolwich Labourers.

Colonel Thompson reports from the Committee of the Navy, a Letter from the Navy Office, of the Second of May 1649, That the Ropemakers, Hatchellers, Windersup, and Labourers, belonging to Wolwich Rope-yard, might have a small Augmentation made to their Wages, by the Day; viz. to each Spinner, Two-pence a Man a Day more than what they have at present; and the rest a Penny a Day apiece: And that, in Consideration thereof, they not only spin out their usual number of Nineteen Threads a Man, the whole Length of the Rope-yard, according to Custom, but likewise, in case each Man's Nineteen Threads weigh not Seventy-seven Pounds for a Day's Work, they, and each of them, shall spin, over and above the said Threads, so many more as shall arise unto, and make good, the said Seventy-seven Pounds Weight a Day, which was never done in that Yard heretofore; wherein the Commissioners conceive the State will save as much as the Increase of the Wages; viz. That a Spinner, that now hath but Eighteen-pence, should have Twenty-pence; a Hatcheller, that now hath Sixteen-pence, should have Seventeen-pence; a Winder-up, that now hath Fifteen-pence a Day, should have Sixteen-pence; a Labourer, that now hath Fourteen-pence a Day, should have Fifteen-pence: And that the same may be allowed to the said Labourers at Wolwich, and the rest at Chatham, who are in one and the same Condition: And that the said Committee do concur in Opinion with the said Commissioners of the Navy, for the Augmentation of the Wages of the Ropemakers at Wolwich, and of the rest of the Labourers of the other Yards belonging to the State, according to the said Letter.

Resolved, That this House doth concur with the Committee of the Navy, and the Commissioners of the Navy, That the several Augmentations of the Wages aforesaid be made, upon the Terms and Conditions aforesaid, for so long time as the said Ropemakers and Labourers shall perform their Work, according to the said undertaking and Condition aforesaid.

Weston's Fen Lands.

An Act for Benjamin Weston Esquire, touching Two thousand Acres of Land, Parcel of the Twelve thousand Acres of the Great Level of the Fens, mentioned in an Order of Parliament of the Twenty-ninth of May 1649, Parcel of the Ninety-five thousand Acres specified in an Act of this present Parliament, and settling the Residue of the said Twelve thousand Acres, upon Report of the Committee, according to the said Order, was this Day read the First and Second time; and, upon the Question . . . . .

Pockert's Petition.

The humble Petition of A Mane Pockert Esquire, was this Day read.

Vermuden's Petition.

The humble Petition of Sir Cornelius Vermuden, was this Day read.

Judge's Salary.

Ordered, That the Committee of the Revenue are hereby required and authorized forthwith to pay and satisfy to Mr. Serjeant Greene, who alone went the Kentish Circuit, the whole Salary allowed to the Judges of that Circuit, in as ample manner as was at any time heretofore allowed to the Judges who went the said Circuit.

Adjournment.

Ordered, That the House doth adjourn itself until Tuesday Morning next, at Eight of Clock.