REGENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND,
IN COUNCIL.
We, The Commissioners constituted and appointed by His Majesty’s Royal Commission, bearing Date the Twenty-third Day of May 1806, in the Forty-sixth Year of His Majesty’s Reign, for carrying into Execution the Measures recommended in the Report made by the Select Committee of the House of Commons, in the Year 1800, with respect to the State of the Public Records of the Kingdom, and the Necessity of providing for the better Arrangement, Preservation, and more convenient Use of the same, and the printing of certain of the more antient and valuable amongst them, Do most humbly beg leave to certify to Your Royal Highness;
That, in the Execution of our Commission We have, among the other Matters referred to Us, proceeded to carry into Effect so much of the Measures recommended by His Majesty’s Faithful Commons, as related to the preparing and printing A Complete and Authentic Collection of The Statutes of the Realm;
And, Having, by virtue of the said Commission, nominated and appointed several learned Persons, of Ability, Care, and Diligence, upon whose Fidelity we could sufficiently rely, to be our Sub-Commissioners, and under our Direction and Controul to be assisting to Us in the Premises; and having also, upon the Reports of the said Sub-Commissioners, made to Us from Time to Time, fully considered as well of the Mode of preparing and completing the said Collection, as of the several Matters to be included therein, We have directed the said Sub-Commissioners to methodize and arrange all such Materials, as appeared to Us to be necessary for completing and duly setting forth the said Collection, and to distribute them under the following Heads:— First, An Introduction; containing An Account of all former printed Collections, Translations, and Abridgements of the Statutes, and of the Plans heretofore proposed for an Authentic Publication, or for the Revision, of the Statutes; together with An Account of The Charters prefixed to this Collection; The Matters inserted therein, and their Arrangement; The Nature of the several Records, and other Sources from whence the said Collection has been made, and the Mode adopted in making and printing the same; The Original Language of the Charters and Statutes, and the Translation annexed to this Collection of the Statutes; and also An Account of the Collections of the Statutes of Scotland and Ireland heretofore published by Royal or Parliamentary Authority; with the Methods successively adopted for promulgating the Statutes before and since the Union of Great Britain and Ireland:—Secondly, The Text of The Charters of the Liberties of England, granted by King Henry I, King Stephen, and King Henry II; and also the Great Charters and Charters of the Forest, granted by King John and King Henry III., and The Charters of Confirmation granted by King Edward I.—Thirdly, A Chronological Table of the Statutes, and Instruments illustrative thereof, contained in this Collection; distinguishing all Matters inserted therein, which had not been inserted in any former Printed Collection of Statutes, and specifying the several Sources from which every Statute and Instrument is respectively derived; and the Language in which such Statute or Instrument is written:—Fourthly, The Text of The Statutes, and relative Instruments, with Notes of various Readings where necessary:—Fifthly, The common Translation of all Matters printed and translated in former Collections of the Statutes, with occasional Notes of Emendation; and also A Translation of Matters not translated or inserted in such former Collections:—Lastly, An Alphabetical Index of Matters.
In Prosecuting this Work, the Learning, Skill, and Diligence of Our Sub-Commissioners have been long and laboriously employed: And We now beg leave to lay before Your Royal Highness this, the First Volume of their Labours: Humbly assuring Your Royal Highness, that it has been our earnest Desire and Endeavour that all the several Charters, Statutes, and other Instruments contained in this Collection, should be taken from the most Authentic Records and Manuscripts now known to be extant; and presuming to hope that this has been accomplished with the Fidelity and Accuracy so peculiarly required in a Work designated by His Majesty’s Faithful Commons, as highly expedient to be undertaken for the Honour of the Nation, and for the Benefit of all His Majesty’s Subjects.
