in 1480, the
College enacted or adopted a special statute headed, _De libris Collegii_,
which may be thus translated:

In the name of God, Amen. As books are the most precious
treasure of scholars, concerning which there ought to be
the most diligent care and forethought, lest, as
heretofore, they fall to decay or be lost, it is hereby
appointed, settled, and ordained, by the Master and
Fellows of the House or College of S. Peter in
Cambridge, that no book which has been chained in the
library there shall be taken away from, or removed out
of, the library, except by special assent and consent of
the Master and all the resident Fellows of the aforesaid
College--it being understood that by resident Fellows a
majority of the whole Society is meant.

Provided always that no book which has been given to the
library on condition of being kept perpetually chained
therein shall, by virtue of this statute, be on any
pretence removed from it, except only when it needs
repair.

Provided also that every book in the library which is to
be selected and distributed shall have a certain value
set upon it by the Master and the two Deans, and that
indentures shall be drawn up recording the same.

Once in every two years, in the Michaelmas Term, a fresh
selection and distribution shall be held of every book
which is not chained in the Library--the precise day to
be fixed by the Master and the Senior Dean.

No book so selected and distributed shall pass the night
out of College, except by permission of the Master and
the President and the other Dean who is not President;
provided always that the said book be not kept out of
the College for six months in succession.

If it should happen that a given book be not brought in
and produced on the aforesaid day of fresh selection and
distribution, then the person who is responsible for it
shall pay to the Master, or in his absence to the Senior
Dean, the full value of the said absent book, under pain
of being put out of commons until it be restored.

Every Fellow who is not present on the aforesaid day
shall appoint a deputy, who shall be prepared to bring
in any books which may have been lent to him, on the day
when a fresh distribution is to take place, under pain
of being put out of commons[267].

The statutes given i