As to strangers breaking prison to enlarge an offender,
they should, and may be fairly considered as accessaries after the fact. This
bill says nothing of the prisoner releasing himself by breach of jail, he
will have the benefit of the first section of the bill, which repeals the
judgment of life and death at the common law.
(* 40) Gif wiccan owwe wigleras nansworan, owwe morthwyrhtan
owwe fule afylede aebere horcwenan ahwhar on lande wurthan agytene,
thonne fyrsie man of earde and claensie tha theode, owwe on earde
forfare hi mid ealle, buton hi geswican and the deoper gebetan: if
witches, or weirds, man-swearers, murther-wroughters, or foul,
defiled, open whore-queens, anywhere in the land were gotten, then
force them off earth, and cleanse the nation, or in earth forth-fare
them withal, but on they beseech, and deeply better. Ll. Ed. et
Guthr. c. ii. "Sagae, mulieres barbara, factitantes sacrificia, aut
pestiferi, si cui mortem intulerint, neque id inficiari poterint,
capitis poena esto." Ll. AEthelst. c. 6. apud Lambard. Ll. Aelfr. 30.
Ll. Cnuti. c. 4. "Mesme cel jugement (d'etrears) eyent sorcers, et
sorceresses, &c. ut supra. Fleta ut et ubi supra." 3. Inst. 44. Trial
of witches before Hale in 1664. The statutes 33 H.
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