AALT images for the Wiseman case:
a, b,[appearance of petitioner]
Memorandum that on Thursday immediately after the third week of Holy Trinity in this same term before the lord king at Westminster comes Ralph Wiseman knight in his own proper person and to the court of the said lord king now gives it to be understood that,
[common law jurisdiction over trespasses]
whereas all and singular businesses and pleas and the cognizance of pleas of each and all trespasses, assaults, beatings, woundings, mistreatments, threats, injuries, oppressions, and misbehaviors done or perpetrated against the peace of the lord king now or touching or concerning in any way the breaking or disturbance of the peace of the same lord king arising or appertaining to whomsoever looks to and pertains specially to the said lord king now and to his crown and dignity and ought and always up to this time have been accustomed and had to be tried, determined, examined, remedied and discussed by the laws of the land of this realm of England not in any way by the ecclesiastical laws or censures,
[custom for free men against compulsion by imprisonment concerning wrongs not shown or to make obligatory bonds]
and whereas also by the law of the land of this realm of England each free man, the liege and subject of the said lord king now, called or lead into right or into question of right for any offences by him done or perpetrated or supposed to have been done or perpetrated (not touching the lose of life or members) ought not and in times past has not been accustomed to be drawn or compelled by duress of imprisonment or by any order, censure, or decree, without due proof of such offence having first been made or had, to pay any sum of money for and in respect of any offence being thus unproven, growing thereof or touching either by reason or in other way or to make any obligatory writing for the payment of any such sum of money or against his will,
[petitioner is a free man]
and whereas the same Ralph now is and from the time of his birth until now was a free man and a faithful liege and subject of the said lord king now and of the lady Elizabeth late queen of England
[petitioner and Anna are married]
and whereas the same Ralph and a certain Anne his wife now are and for eleven years and more already elapsed have been joined in legitimate matrimony and for that whole time as husband and wife (as is proper for them) cohabited and lived together,
[Anna’s malicious and predatory suit before High Commission]
the abovesaid Anna nonetheless, not ignorant of the matters set out above but rather scheming and intending to subtract herself from the companionship (consorcio) of the same Ralf without any reasonable cause and to abide and live elsewhere than with the same Ralph and by that reason to burden that Ralph with a certain sum of money to be paid to the same Anna for her alimony each week during the time when she abides and lives away from her abovesaid husband and to disinherit the said lord king and his crown and dignity and to draw into other examination the cognizance of the plea which looks and pertains specially to that lord king now and to his crown and dignity as well as wrongfully and unduly to injure, oppress, and fatigue the same Ralph against the due form of law of this realm of England, maliciously procured to be exhibited, ministered and objected certain articles against the same Ralph in the court Christian before the commissioners of the said lord king constituted and ordained legitimately for ecclesiastical causes and matters by the regal authority of the said lord king of and for certain trespasses, injuries, oppressions, mistreatments and misbehaviors supposed to have been done and perpetrated on the abovesaid Anna by the same Ralph against the peace of the said lord king
[Ralph’s good conduct as husband]
(whereas in truth the same Ralph had done or committed no trespass, injury, oppression, or mistreatment or misbehavior at all on the aforementioned Anna during the marriage celebrated between them and whereas in truth the abovesaid trespasses, injuries, oppressions, mistreatments and misbehaviors supposed to have been done and perpetrated on the abovesaid Anna by the same Ralph (if there were any) ought to have been remedied and determined by the laws of the land of this realm of England)
[Anna’s abandonment of Ralph her husband]
and afterwards distanced, withdrew, and absented herself from the companionship (consortio) of the same Ralph by that intention to subtract and absent herself from the companionship of the same Ralph without reasonable cause and against the due conjugal office and to abide and live elsewhere away from the same Ralph her husband as well as to burden the same Ralph with a certain sum of money (to be paid) to the same Anna for her alimony during the time when she abided and lived and would abide and live away from her husband
[High Commission refusal to consider Anna’s abandonment negatively]
and, although the abovesaid Anna subtracted and absented herself from the companionship of the same Ralph without reasonable cause and could well cohabit and live with the same Ralph during the lives of the same Ralph and Anna according to the form and effect of the bonds of matrimony had and solemnized between them, and although also the same Ralph pleaded and alleged all and singular the matters set out above alleged by him above in his exoneration of and in the premises in the abovesaid court Christian before the aforementioned commissioners and often offered to prove those things by inevitable testimony and truth, the same commissioners nonetheless completely refused to admit or receive that plea, allegation and proof,
[High Commission's attempt to condemn Ralph to pay alimony]
and the same commissioners powerfully tried and schemed continually to condemn by the definitive sentence of the said court Christian of and in the premises without any other proof had or made of the abovesaid articles or of any of them and to pay three pounds to the aforementioned Anne for her expenses of alimony each week during the time at which she abided and lived away from the same Ralph and henceforth would abide and live and until that Ralph proposed and proved matter sufficient in law to exonerate that Ralph from the things and matters specified and contained in the abovesaid articles as well as to make and seal a certain obligatory writing of 300 pounds to the said lord king now with the condition to be made for the payment of the abovesaid three pounds each week in the abovesaid form and in default thereof to be attached and to be arrested and to compel (him) to be brought before the aforementioned commissioners to answer thereof, in contempt of the of the said lord king now and the grave damage, prejudice, impoverishment, and manifest oppression of the same Ralph and against the law of the land of this realm of England,
[petition and grant of remedy of writ of prohibition]
and this the same Ralph is ready to verify, wherefore the same Ralph, humbly imploring the aid and munificence of the court of the said lord king now here, seeks a remedy and writ of the said lord king of prohibition to be directed to the aforementioned commissioners to prohibit them lest they hold further before them a plea touching the premises in any way. And it is granted to him.
[security that Ralph will prosecute if writ of consultation sought]
And thereon comes Thomas Wiseman of Rivenhall in Essex knight and Giles Darkyn of Rivenhall in Essex yeoman in their proper persons and mainperned for the aforementioned Ralph Wiseman knight, and the same Ralph Wyseman knight mainperned for himself that if it happens that the abovesaid Anne approach hereafter the court of the lord king and petition for the lord king’s writ of consultation or otherwise prosecute to the justices there of and on the premises that then that Ralph Wiseman knight would prosecute the abovesaid matter or suggestion with effect until the plea thereof is terminated in any legitimate way, to wit, each of the mainpernors abovesaid under a penalty of ten pounds and the abovesaid Ralph Wiseman knight under a penalty of twenty pounds, which certain sum of ten pounds the abovesaid mainpernors and the abovesaid twenty pounds the abovesaid Ralph Wiseman knight acknowledge and each of them acknowledges for himself to be made from the lands and chattels of them and of each of them and to be delivered to the use of the said lord king if it happens that the same Ralf Wiseman knight not prosecute the abovesaid premises in the abovesaid form etc.