Note 772 — MAGNA CARTA. (continued 4)

6 Edward I. c. 9. Appeals were extremely frequent towards the close of the Plantagenet period, especially in the days of “the Lords Appellant.” The proceedings which followed on appeal sometimes took place before the Court of the Constable and Marshal and sometimes before Parliament. In neither case were they popular. One of the charges brought against Richard II. by the Parliament which deposed him, was that “in violation of Magna Carta” (that is, probably, of chapter 39) persons maliciously accused of treasonable words were tried before the constable and marshal, and although they might be “old and weak, maimed or infirm,” yet compelled to fight against appellants “young, strong, and hearty.” See Rot. Parl., III. 420, cited Neilson, Trial by Combat, 193. On the other hand, the Statute 1 Henry IV. c. 14 provided that no appeals should in future be held before Parliament, but only before the Court of the Constable and Marshal.