wn[t], that the king's first claim to them was by
grant of parliament 3 Edw. I. though the record thereof is not now
extant. And indeed this is in express words confessed by statute 25
Edw. I. c. 7. wherein the king promises to take no customs from
merchants, without the common assent of the realm, "saving to us and
our heirs, the customs on wools, skins, and leather, formerly granted
to us by the commonalty aforesaid." These were formerly called the
hereditary customs of the crown; and were due on the exportation only
of the said three commodities, and of none other: which were stiled
the _staple_ commodities of the kingdom, because they were obliged to
be brought to those ports where the king's staple was established, in
order to be there first rated, and then exported[u]. They were
denominated in the barbarous Latin of our antient records,
_custuma_[w]; not _consuetudines_, which is the language of our law
whenever it means merely usages. The duties on wool, sheep-skins, or
woolfells, and leather, exported, were called _custuma antiqua sive
magna_; and were payable by every merchant, as well native as
stranger; with this difference, that merchant-strangers paid an
additional toll, _viz._ half as much again as was paid by natives. The
_custuma parva et nova_ were an impost of 3_d._ in the pound, due from
merchant-strangers only, for all commodities as well imported as
exported; which was usually called the alien's duty, and was first
granted in 31 Edw. I[x]. But these antient hereditary customs,
especially those on wool and woolfells, came to be of little account
when the nation became sensible of the advantages of a home
manufacture, and prohibited the exportation of wool by statute 11 Edw.
III. c. 1.

[Footnote r: Dyer. 165.]

[Footnote s: Dyer. 43. _pl._ 24.]

[Footnote t: 2 Inst. 58, 59.]

[Footnote u: Dav. 9.]

[Footnote w: This appellation seems to be derived from the French word
_coustum_, or _coutum_, which signifies toll or tribute, and owes it's
own etymology to the word _coust_, which signifies price, charge, or,
as we have adopted it in English, _cost_.]

[Footnote x: 4 Inst. 29.]

THERE is also another antient hereditary duty belonging to the crown,
called the _prisage_ or _butlerage_ of wines. Prisage was a right of
_taking_ two tons of wine from every ship importing into England
twenty tons or more; which by Edward I was exchanged into a duty of
2_s._ for every ton imported by merchant-strange