160  MATTHEW  PABIS.  [a.D.  1246.
or  to  others,  there  being  no  express  mention  made  of  the
person  or  the  cause,  present  we  certainly  were  not,  but  were
absent  on  good  groimds,  to  prove  which  our  lawful  agents
were  not  admitted ;  nor  were  we  absent  out  of  contumacy,  in-
asmuch as  besides  that  there  was  no  summons  to  any  one,
as  has  been  before  stated,  the  citation  did  not  specify  any
fixed  time,  as  the  course  of  law  demands ;  and  the  form  of
citation  sent  to  princes  and  prelates*  shows  clearly  in  what
our  contumacy  consists.  Besides  this,  we  were  fidly  excul-
pated by  the  message  of  Master  Thaddeus  de  Seasa,  our  well-
beloved  subject  and  faithful  judge  of  our  high  court,  whose
authority  is  by  no  means  weakened  by  the  proceedings
against  us  being,  not  of  a  civil,  but  a  criminal  character,  in
which  latter  a  proctor  cannot  act,  since  the  tenor  of  the
summons  which  cites  us  or  our  proctor  would  plainly  prove
the  contrary ;  namely,  that  we  ought  to  have  been  proceeded
against,  not  in  a  criminal  way,  but  only  as  in  a  civil  cause,
limited  by  all  the  particulars  aforesaid,  without  prejudice  to
our  just  right.    And  supposing  we  were  openly  contumacious,

•  it  is  no  legal  punishment  for  contmnacy,  for  the  person  in-
formed against,  or  accused  of  contumacy,  to  be  condemned  by

•  a  definitive  sentence  before  duly  undergoing  a  trial,  without
his  cause  being  inquired  into  by  public  or  private  judgment.
