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SHOWER.
OLDIS V. DONMILLE [1695]

there, a Motion was made in Parliament upon this Matter, and a new Judgment was added to the Reversal, that the Plaintiff should recover, &c.

The Case of Dr. Bentley Master of Trinity College in Cambridge, and the Bishop of Ely Visitor there, adjudged in Parliament G. 2. is to be consulted upon this Doctrine. There was a great Number of Articles libelled against the Doctor; their Lordships awarded Prohibition to stand as to some, and Consultation as to others of them. [Ely (Bishop of) v. Bentley, 1732, 2 Bro. P.C. 220.]



[58] Dr. William Oldis,—Plaintiff, v. Charles Donmille,—Defendant [1695].

[Noted as Oldys v. Domville in 15 Lds. Jo. 701.]

Error from the Exchequer Chamber. Declaration in Prohibition. Court of Honour.—Writ of Error to Reverse a Judgment in the Court of Exchequer, affirmed upon a Writ of Error before the Lord Chancellor, &c. The Case upon the Record was thus; Donmille declares in the Exchequer in placito transgr. & contempt, &c. for a Prosecution contra regiam prohibit', and sets forth Magna Charta, that nullus liber homo, &c. that the Plaintiff is a Freeman of this Kingdom, and ought to enjoy the free Customs thereof, &c. that the Defendant not being ignorant of the Premisses, but designing to vex and aggrieve the Plaintiff, did in Curia militari Henrici Ducis Norfolk' coram ipso Henrico Com' Mareschal' Exhibit certain Articles against the Plaintiff, &c. that Sir Henry St. George Clarencieux King at Arms, was, and is, King at Arms for the Southern, Eastern and Western Parts of the Kingdom, viz. from the River of Trent versus Austrum, and that the Conusance, Correction, and Disposition of Arms and Coats of Arms, and ordering of Funeral Pomps time out of mind did belong to him within that Province; and that the Plaintiff having Notice thereof, did, without any Licence in that Behalf had and obtained, Paint, and cause to be Painted, Arms and Escutcheons, and caused them to be fixed to Herses that he provided, and lent Velvet Palls for Funerals; that he painted divers Arms for one Berkstead, who had no Right to their Use at the Funeral, and did lend a Pall for that Funeral, and paint Arms for Elizabeth Godfrey, and marshalled the Funeral, and the like for Sprignall: And that he had publickly hanging out at his Balcony Escutcheons painted, and Coaches and Herses, and other Publick Processions of Funerals, to entice People to come to his House and Shop for Arms, &c. That the Defendant compelled the Plaintiff to appear and answer the Premisses, &c.

Defendant's Pleas. Court before whom held. Its Jurisdiction as to Arms and Funerals, &c.—The Defendant in propria persona sua venit & dicit, That the Court of the Constable and Marshal of England is an ancient Court, Time out of Mind, and accustomed to be held before the Constable of England and the Earl Marshal of England for the Time being, or before the Constable only when the Office of Earl Marshal is Vacant; or before the Earl Marshal only when the Office of Constable is Vacant; which Court hath Time out of Mind had Conusance of all Pleas and Causes concerning Arms, Escutcheons, Genealogies, and Funerals within this Realm, and that no other Person hath ever intermeddled in those Pleas or Affairs, nor had or claimed Jurisdiction thereof; and that the Suit complained of by the Plaintiff was prosecuted in the said ancient Court of and for Causes concerning Arms, Escutcheons, and Funerals: That by the 13 Rich. 2. 'twas enacted, that if any Person should complain of any Plea begun before the Constable and Marshal, which might be tried by the Common Law, he should have a Privy [59] Seal without Difficulty to be directed to the Constable and Marshal to supersede that Plea, till discussed by the King's Counsel, if it belongs to that Court or to the Common Law, prout per Statut' ill' apparet, and that the said Court Time out of Mind hath been tant' honoris & celsitudinis, that it was never prohibited from holding any Pleas in the same Court aliter vel alio modo quam juxta formam Statut' præd'; Et hoc parat' est verificare. Unde non intendit quod Curia hic placitum præd' ulterius cognoscere velit aut debeat, &c.

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