Magna Carta sought to substitute a general rule of law for the provisions of these private charters purchased by individuals at ruinous expenditure. It contained no startling innovations, but only repeated at greater length the promises made (and never kept) by Henry I. in the relative part of clause 4 of his coronation charter. No widow was to be constrained to marry again against her will. This liberty must not be used, however, to the prejudice of the Crown’s lawful rights. Although the widow need not marry as a second husband the man chosen by the king without her consent, neither could she marry without the king’s consent the man of her own choice. Magna Carta specially provided that she must find security to this effect, an annoying, but not unfair, stipulation. The Crown, in later days, compelled the widow, when having her dower assigned to her in Chancery, to swear not to marry without licence; and if she broke her oath, she had to pay a fine, which was finally fixed at one year’s value of her dower.[436] ----- Footnote 436: See Coke, _Second Institute_, 18. ----- CHAPTER NINE. Nec nos nec ballivi nostri seisiemus terram aliquam nec redditum pro debito aliquo, quamdiu catalla debitoris sufficiunt ad debitum reddendum; nec plegii ipsius debitoris distringantur quamdiu ipse capitalis debitor sufficit ad solucionem debiti; et si capitalis debitor defecerit in solucione debiti, non habens unde solvat, plegii respondeant de debito; et, si voluerint, habeant terras et redditus debitoris, donec sit eis satisfactum de debito quod ante pro eo solverint, nisi capitalis debitor monstraverit se esse quietum inde versus eosdem plegios. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall seize any land or rent for any debt, so long as the chattels of the debtor are sufficient to repay the debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be distrained so long as the principal debtor is able to satisfy the debt; and if the principal debtor shall fail to pay the debt, having nothing wherewith to pay it, then the sureties shall answer for the debt; and let them have the lands and rents of the debtor, if they desire them, until they are indemnified for the debt which they have paid for him, unless the principal debtor can show proof that he is discharged thereof as against the said sureties. The Charter now passes to another group of grievances. Chapters 9 to 11 treat of the kindred topics of debts, usury, and the Jews, and should be read in connection with each other, and with chapter 26, which regulates the procedure for attaching the personal estate of deceased Crown tenants who were also Crown debtors. The present chapter, although quite general in its terms, had special reference to cases where the Crown was the creditor; while the two following chapters treated more particularly of debts contracted to Jews or other money lenders.