Source.—Ancient Laws and Institutes, p. 213.

William by the grace of God King of the English, to R. Bainard and G. de Mandeville, and P. de Valoines, and to the rest of my trusty men of Essex and of Hertfordshire and of Middlesex, greeting. Know all of you and the rest of my trusty men who remain in England, that in a common council and by the advice of the archbishops and bishops, and abbots, and of all the chief men of my kingdom, I have decided that the episcopal laws, which up to my times in the kingdom of the English have not been right or according to the precepts of the holy canons, shall be amended. Wherefore I command, and by royal authority decree, that no bishop or archdeacon shall any longer hold in the hundred court pleas pertaining to the episcopal laws, nor shall they bring before the judgment of secular men any cause which pertains to the rule of souls; but whoever shall be summoned, according to the episcopal laws, in any cause or for any fault, shall come to the place which the bishop shall choose or name for this purpose, and shall there answer in his cause or for his fault, and shall do right to God and his bishop not according to the hundred court, but according to the canons and the episcopal laws. But if any one, puffed up by pride, shall scorn or refuse to come before the judgment seat of the bishop, he shall be summoned once and a second and a third time; and if he come not even then to make amends, he shall be excommunicated; and, if it be needful to give effect to this, the power and justice of the king or the sheriff shall be called in. And he who is summoned before the judgment seat of the bishop and refuses to come shall, for such summons, make amends by the episcopal law. This also I forbid and by my authority prohibit, that any sheriff, or provost, or minister of the king, or any layman intermeddle with the laws which pertain to the bishop, nor shall any layman summon another man to judgment apart from the jurisdiction of the bishop. But judgment shall be passed in no place except within the episcopal see, or in such place as the bishop shall fix upon for this purpose.