_L._ The first statute that declareth what is high-treason, is the statute of the 25 _Edw. III_, in these words: “Whereas divers opinions have been before this time, in what case treason shall be said, and in what not; the King, at the request of the Lords and of the Commons, hath made declaration in the manner as hereafter follows: that is to say, when a man doth compass or imagine the death of our Lord the King, of our Lady the Queen, or of their eldest son and heir; or if a man doth violate the King’s companion, or the King’s eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of the King’s eldest son and heir; or if a man do levy war against our Lord the King in his realm, or be adherent to the King’s enemies in his realm, giving to them aid and comfort in the realm or elsewhere; and thereof be provably attainted by open deed by people of their condition: and if a man counterfeit the King’s Great or Privy Seal, or his money: and if a man bring false money into this realm counterfeit to the money of England, as the money called Lushburgh, or other like to the said money of England, knowing the money to be false, to merchandize, and make payment in deceit of our said Lord the King, and of his people: and if a man slay the Chancellor, Treasurer, or the King’s Justices of one Bench or the other, Justices in Eyre, or Justices of Assizes, and all other justices assigned to hear and determine, being in their places and doing their offices. And is to be understood in the cases above rehearsed, that that ought to be adjudged treason, which extends to our royal Lord the King, and his royal Majesty; and of such treason the forfeiture of the escheats pertains to our Lord the King, as well the lands and tenements holden of others, as himself. And moreover there is another manner of treason; that is to say, when a servant slayeth his master, or a wife her husband; or when a man, secular or religious, slayeth his prelate, to whom he oweth faith and obedience; and of such treason the escheats ought to pertain to every Lord of his own fee. And because many other like cases of treason may happen in time to come, which a man cannot think nor declare at this present time, it is accorded, that if any case supposed treason, which is not above specified, doth happen before any justices, the justices shall tarry without giving any judgment of the treason, till the cause be showed and declared before the King and his Parliament, whether it ought to be adjudged treason or other felony.”