[1587/7/50]¹

Against keeping of horses at hay and oats in summer

Item, it is statute and ordained by our sovereign lord, with advice of the estates of this parliament, that no person whatsoever within this realm keep, hold or maintain any horses at hay and oats after 1 June yearly in time coming, except earls, lords and barons who, and each one of them, may spend £2,000 of yearly rent at the least; and from 1 June yearly it is permitted to each earl and lord, each one of them, to hold and maintain at the hay and oats two horses at the most, and each baron one horse only, with certification to the contraveners of the said act that it shall be lawful to the sheriff of each sheriffdom and their deputes to escheat and intromit with their horses wherever the same may be apprehended; likewise our sovereign lord and three estates, by this act, gives them full power to that effect, the one half of the said escheated horses to pertain to the king and the other half to the sheriffs.