The Statutes of the Realm/Volume 1/Introduction/Chapter 3/Section 3

by the Record Commission

Layout 3

Sect. III.

Of the Mode used in searching for, transcribing, collating, noting, and printing the Text of the Statutes.

Immediately after the Commissioners had given their Directions for proceeding upon the Work, according to the Plans submitted to and approved of by them, Searches were made in the Tower of London and other principal Repositories in the Metropolis, which, by the Returns made to the Committee of the House of Commons upon Public Records, appeared to contain Authentic Records or antient Copies of Statutes; and in 1806, as hath been before-mentioned, every other Place of the same Description in England and Ireland was visited by Two Sub-Commissioners. Upon these Occasions, the Statute, Parliament, Close, Patent, Fine, and Charter Rolls, and other Records and Manuscripts preserved in the several Repositories, were examined: Reports of the Contents of these Records or Manuscripts were from Time to Time laid before the Commissioners: Numerous and repeated Transcripts and Collations were made, not only of the Statutes heretofore printed, but also of very many Instruments considered as fit to be introduced at Length, or as affording Materials for Notes and various Readings: And the printed Editions from the earliest Period to the present Time were collected together, examined, and compared with each other. From the whole of these Materials Lists were prepared of the Matters to be admitted, referring to the several Records, Manuscripts, and Books, in which they were respectively preserved or published. All the Transcripts and Collations made of these Matters were compared with each other, and with the printed Copies. The Transcript which, on full Examination, appeared to be made from the most authentic Source was used as the Copy of the Text to be printed: All the other Transcripts and Collations of the same Instrument, as also the printed Editions, were then compared and collated with this Copy; and the requisite Various Readings noted accordingly.

The Various Readings are suggested, in the following Manner; First, By substituting one Reading for another: In this Case the Word or Sentence in the Text, of which an Alteration is suggested, is included between two Crotchets, with a Figure of Reference to the Note; and in the Note is inserted the Word or Sentence proposed to be substituted, with a Quotation of the Record or Manuscript or printed Copies in which it is found. Secondly, By inserting some Word or Sentence omitted: In this Case a Reference is included within a Parenthesis, and the Word or Sentence to be inserted is supplied in the Note. Thirdly, By noting the Omission, in other Copies, of a Word or Sentence inserted in the Text: In this Case the Word or Sentence in the Text is included between Crotchets with a Reference, and in the Note the Copies which omit such Word or Sentence are particularized.

The Entries on the Statute Rolls and Records of Chancery are very seldom broken into separate Paragraphs; though other Manuscripts are more frequently so divided. In all Cases where there is any Division of Paragraphs in the Record or Manuscript, the like Division has been made in the Transcript. The Transcript has been also occasionally divided into separate Chapters or Paragraphs, in Conformity with the printed Editions of the Statutes, and for the Convenience of Reference, in Places where such Division did not occur in the Record or Manuscript: But this has been done only when a full Stop or other Mark in the Manuscript appeared to justify the complete Separation of the Sentences. The Points or Stops are conformable to those in the Record; and in printing the Text of the antient Statutes, the same Mode has been adopted as with respect to the Charters, of exhibiting the Contractions as near as may be to the likeness of the Original Characters. Where the Chapters or Clauses are numbered in the Record or Manuscript, such Number has been inserted in the Transcript. And the Numbers of the Chapters and Clauses in Cay's Edition, or the other Printed Editions from which the Translation is taken, are inserted at the Head of the Side Note or Abridgement affixed to the Translation.

In this State the Copy was sent to the Printer. The Proof Sheets supplied by him were in the First Instance compared with the Manuscript Transcripts. These Proofs being corrected, they were next compared with the Original Record, or Manuscript Authority from which such Transcripts were made. In Cases of Various Readings, the whole Article as printed, was also read and compared with the Record or Manuscripts from whence the Various Readings were suggested; and further Suggestions as to Notes of Various Readings and Amendments were adopted, as they continued to occur. The Sheets thus corrected, were again compared with the Record or Manuscript Authority, and the necessary Corrections marked thereon; which being made by the Printer, the Sheets were revised, and occasionally submitted to the Commissioners, under whose Directions many Amendments were made; and the Sheets were then finally printed off for the Work, as they now appear.

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