Wreck Act 1275

by Parliament of England

STATUTUM WEST' PRIMUM. The Statute of WESTMINSTER, the First, Made at Westminster 25 die Aprilis, Anno 3 EDWARDI I. and Anno Dom. 1275.

Wreck Act 1275

1275 (3 Edw. 1) C A P. IV.

THESE be the Acts of King EDWARD, Son to King HENRY, made at Westminster at his first Parliament general after his Coronation, on the Monday of Easter Utas, the third Year of his Reign, by his Council, and the Assent of Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Earls, Barons, and all the Commonalty of the Realm being thither summoned, because our Lord the King had great Zeal and Desire to redress the State of the Realm in such Things as required Amendment, for the common Profit of holy Church, and of the Realm: And because the State of^[1] the holy Church had been evil kept, and the Prelates and religious Persons of the Land grieved many ways, and the People otherwise intreated than they ought to be, and the Peace less kept, and the Laws less used, and the Offenders less punished than they ought to be, by reason where of the People of the Land feared the less to offend; the King hath ordained and established these Acts underwritten, which he intendeth to be necessary and profitable unto the whole Realm."

What shall be adjudged Wreck of the Sea, and what not.

5 Co. 106. 5 Ed. 3. 3. Bro. Wreck, 1.

Enforced by 17 Ed. 2. stat. 1. c. 11.

See 4 Ed. 1. stat. 2. de Officio Coronatoris.

Altered by 12 Ann. stat. 2. c. 18. for preserving Ships and Goods stranded, &c.

Concerning Wrecks of the Sea, it is agreed, that where a Man, a Dog, or a Cat escape quick out of the Ship, that such Ship nor Barge, nor any Thing within them, shall be adjudged Wreck:

(2) but the Goods shall be saved and kept by View of the Sheriff, Coroner, or the King's Bailiff, and delivered^[2] into the Hands of such as are of the Town where the Goods were found;

(3) so that if any sue for those Goods, and after prove that they were his,^[3] or perished in his Keeping, within a Year and a Day, they shall be restored to him without Delay; and if not, they shall remain to the King, and be seised by the Sheriffs, Coroners, and Bailiffs, and shall be delivered to them of the Town, which shall answer before the Justices of the Wreck belonging to the King.

(4) And where Wreck belongeth to another than to the King, he shall have it in like manner.

(5) And he that otherwise doth, and thereof be attainted, shall be awarded to Prison, and make Fine at the King's Will, and shall yield Damages also.

(6) And if a Bailiff do it, and it be disallowed by the Lord, and the Lord will not pretend any Title thereunto, the Bailiff shall answer, if he have whereof; and if he have not whereof, the Lord shall deliver his Bailiff's Body to the King.'

Note : this act is listed in the Chronological Table of Statutes as the Wreck Act, 1275

1. For because the State of the holy Church, read because the State of his Kingdom and of the holy Church, &c.
2. Read in.
3. For that they were his, or perished, &c. read that they were his or his Lord's or perished, &c.