The opinion of the judges upon the clause in the Act of 22 & 23 Car. II. Regis cap. 9. for giving no more costs than damages, delivered at Serjeants-Inn in Chancery-lane, London, in Trinity term. Anno 23. Ejusdem regis 1688 Approx. 5 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2009-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A53384 Wing O352A ESTC R218230 99829841 99829841 34286 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A53384) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 34286) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1921:1) The opinion of the judges upon the clause in the Act of 22 & 23 Car. II. Regis cap. 9. for giving no more costs than damages, delivered at Serjeants-Inn in Chancery-lane, London, in Trinity term. Anno 23. Ejusdem regis Hale, Matthew, Sir, 1609-1676. 1 sheet ([1] p.) printed for William Canning, at his shop adjoyning to the Temple Cloysters, London : 1688. Signed and dated at end: Trinity term MDCLXXI. Matthew Hale [and 11 others] March 31. 1688. This may be printed. R. Wright. Reproduction of the originals in the British Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. 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Law reform -- Great Britain -- Early works to 1800. 2008-03 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2008-05 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2008-06 John Pas Sampled and proofread 2008-06 John Pas Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion The Opinion of the JVDGES upon the Clause in the Act of 22 & 23 Car. II. Regis cap. 9. for giving no more Costs than Damages , delivered at Serjeants-Inn in Chancery-lane , London , in Trinity Term. Anno 23. Ejusdem Regis . The Clause in the Act. AND for Prevention of trivial and vexatious Suits in Law , whereby many good Subjects of this Realm have been and are daily undone contrary to the intention of an Act made in the 43 year of Queen Eliz. for avoiding of infinite numbers of small and trivial Suits commenced in the Courts at Westminster . Be it farther Enacted for making the said Law Effectual , that from and after the first of May aforesaid , In all Actions of Trespass , Assault and Battery and other personal Actions wherein the Iudge at the Trial of the cause shall not find and certifie under his hand upon the back of the Record , That an Assault and Battery was sufficiently proved by the Plaintiff against the Defendant , or that the Freehold or Title of the Land mentioned in the Plaintiffs Declaration was chiefly in question , The Plaintiff in such Action , in case the Iury shall find the Damages to be under the value of forty shillings , shall not recover or obtain more Costs of Suit than the Damages so found shall amount unto . And if any more Costs in any such Action shall be Awarded , The Iudgement shall be void , and the Defendant is hereby acquitted of and from the same , and may have his Action against the Plaintiff for such vexatious Suits , and recover his Damages and Costs of such his Suit in any of the said Courts of Record . The JVDGES Opinion . I. That Actions of Debt , are not within this Clause . II. That no Action upon the Case sur Assumpsit , Account , or other personal Actions ( other than for Assault and Battery or voluntary Trespass , where the Title comes not , nor cannot come in Question ) is within this Clause . III. That the Judge is bound to Certifie on Actions of Assault and Battery where the Jury shall find Damages to Ten Shillings or less , That the Battery is sufficiently proved , otherwise the Plaintiff is to have no more Costs than Damages . IV. That if the Defendant pleads son Assault Demesne , and the Jury find it ad Dampnum Querentis , The Certificate must be , that the Jury find by the Defendants plea , That the Battery is admitted and sufficiently proved . V. That if an Assault be proved , and no Battery , There needs no Certificate . VI. That in case of a Certificate , where it is requisite , it must be Indorsed on the pannel or Nomina Jur ' with the Judges hand to it immediately after the Trial , and the Certificate is to be , That the Battery is fully proved . VII . That the Clause extends onely , where Damages are onely to be recovered , and not in Debt , because Debt is not within the words : ( although the Debt be under Forty Shillings , it is all one , it needs no Certificate . ) VIII . That in all Actions for a Common , a Way , a Nusance , Lights , Water-courses , &c. The Judges may Certifie , because the Freehold may come in Question , although it be not mentioned in the Declaration . IX . That the Clause extends not to Judgements by default , or Writs of Inquiry of Damages . Trinity Term. MDCLXXI . Matthew Hale . Tho. Twysden . Ri. Raynsford . Will. Moreton . Io. Vaughan . Tho. Tyrrill . Io. Archer . Will. Wylde . Edw. Turner . Hugh Wyndham . Chr. Turner . T. Littleton . March 31. 1688. This may be Printed . R. WRIGHT . LONDON , Printed for William Canning , at his Shop adjoyning to the Temple Cloysters . 1688.