Sec. 329. Demise. "Q. Eliz. honour, Tell me what state, what dignity, what Canst thou demise to any child of mine?"1 The Queen here asks to know what conveyance or grant Richard can make to any of her children, which will materially assist them. A demise, at law, is a posthumous grant, either in fee, for life, or for years.2 Unless, upon his dissolution, her child would be benefited, there is apparently no reason for the union asked for. Sec. 330. Corrupted justice. "Buck. Vaughan and all that have miscarried By underhand corrupted foul injustice, Even for revenge mock my destruction." After having assisted Richard to rise to the kingdom by the crimes that made it possible for him to possess the crown, and after he had assisted him to corrupt the fountains of justice and trample under foot the rights of others, it is a just retribution that brings Buckingham to a realization of what it is to prosper by "underhand corrupted foul injustice." It is no longer the rights of That excellent grand tyrant of the earth, That reigns in galled eyes of weeping souls, Thy womb let loose, to chase us to our graves." "Duch. (Act IV, Scene IV.) The Duchess of York, tells Richard II, as he goes to war: Or I with grief and extreme age shall perish, 'King Richard III, Act IV, Scene IV. (Act IV, Scene IV.) Of course the Queen here, does not concede that Richard is the lawful king, but treats his reign as a usurpation of the right to the crown, hence he could not transmit such right, on his death. King Richard III, Act V, Scene I. 3 others that he sees denied them, but it is now his very own that is threatened; his own life is in the way of the tyrant who has concluded to murder him, rather than comply with his promise to give him the lands and movables of the earl of Hereford, for his assistance in the criminal elevation he had risen to. Buckingham cannot now seek justice, after denying it to others and must suffer loss of his own life by the same foul "corrupted injustice" he had dealt out to others. Sec. 331. Swords as laws.-Under Richard's reign."K. Rich. Conscience is but a word that cow ards use, Devis'd at first to keep the strong in awe; Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law." In keeping with the whole course of Richard's career, and the criminal instinct, which has as a basis, the disregard of law and others rights, the Poet here sums up the whole total of Richard's character. He had, from the first, known no law, but his own ambition and greed; the rights of others were to him, but as an obstacle to be overcome, when in the way of gratification of his own ambition; devoid of conscience, he used the strong arm. of the kingdom, to further his own self-interests and knew no law, but that of the sword. A fitting close, is this summing up of the character of this kingly outlaw, who decried the law and the rights of his fellows; ridiculed conscience, and in lieu thereof, advocated nought but "strong arms" and "swords" for "our law." 1 An act is said to be corruptly done, when it is done with the intent to give some advantage inconsistent with official duty or the lawful rights of others. Bouvier's Law Dictionary. Replying to the entreaties of the Cardinals to place her cause in the King's hands, Queen Katherine said: "Q. Kath. Heaven is above all yet; there sits a Judge, that no king can corrupt." (Henry VIII, Act II, Scene V.) 2 King Richard III, Act V, Scene III. CHAPTER XXV. "KING HENRY THE EIGHTH." Sec. 332. Privity. 333. 334. Wasting manors in military preparations. Buckingham's trial for treason. 335. "Come into Court." Upon this French going-out, took he upon him, Who should attend on him?" Privity, in the law, is the mutual or successive relation ship to the same rights of property. There is privity of 1King Henry VIII, Act I, Scene I. 2 Bouvier's Law Dictionary. contract, which is the relation existing between two contracting parties,' and the privity of estate, which is the relationship existing between those being interested in the same lands, as landlord and tenant.2 Buckingham uses the word in the popular, rather than the legal meaning, of consent or concurrence, meaning to say that the Cardinal, in this instance, had acted without the concurrence or consent of the King. Sec. 333. Wasting manors in military preparations.— "Buck. O, many Have broke their backs with laying manors on 'em A most poor issue."3 The subject of discussion here is the unprofitable result of the recent war with France and Abergavenny observes that he had kinsmen 66 three at least, that have By this so sicken'd their estates that never Buckingham replies, with a play on the legal term "manor," meaning that many of the English lords had assumed such military authority and preparations as to squander their estates, or waste their manors in the war with France. A manor, in English law, is a freehold estate, held by the lord of the manor, who is entitled by immemorial custom, to maintain a tenure between himself and the copyhold tenants, whereby a feudal relation is maintained 1 Viner, Abr.; Lawson, Contracts (2d ed.), 276, 305. 2 Tiedeman, R. P. (3d ed.), secs. 138, 157. The Friar, in describing the causes of the death of Juliet and Romeo, said: "All this I know, and to the marriage, Her nurse is privy." (Act V, Scene III.) 'King Henry VIII, Act I, Scene I. between them.1 But as sub-infeudation was abolished, in England, by the statute qui emptores, and no manor could arise by operation of law, since that date, it follows that all existing manors must trace their existence to a time preceding the enactment of this statute.3 Came to the bar; where, to his accusations, At which appear'd against him, his surveyor; Hopkins, that made this mischief. All these accused him strongly; which he fain not: And so his peers, upon this evidence, Much When he was brought again to the bar,-to hear This narration of the trial of the duke of Buckingham, for treason, is the same as the histories of the trial give 'Tiedeman, R. P. (3d ed). "This statute was passed during the reign of Edw. I. 'Tiedeman, R. P. supra. 4 King Henry VIII, Act II, Scene I. |