Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	great_a	lord_n	time_n	2,451	5	3.4525	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25869	The arraignment and plea of Edw. Fitz-Harris, Esq. with all the arguments in law, and proceedings of the Court of Kings-Bench thereupon, in Easter term, 1681.	Fitzharris, Edward, 1648?-1681, defendant.; England and Wales. Court of King's Bench.	1681 (1681)	Wing A3746; ESTC R6663	92,241	70

he would stand by it And we are not to consult your leasure but your Clients Cause he hath pitch'd upon you for his Counsel We have given him three days time to Plead as he will stand by it Saturday Munday and Tuesday and he is to come with his Plea upon Wednesday We have appointed for Conveniency sake that you should give a Copy of the Plea to Morrow Morning to Mr. Attorney But we do not tye you so peremptorily to that Copy that you may not vary in Words from that Form Give him but the substance of the Plea and we will not tye you to the particular Formal Words Peradventure Mr. Fitz-Harris could not have expected three days time in course of Law upon such a Crime to put in such a Plea when he tells us He will plead specially to the Jurisdiction of the Court But we have done it in this Case to shew that all the fairness that can possibly be used shall be used On the other side we must not spend all our time so as to let the Term slip for his neglect of waiting upon you Therefore if he will delay to send to advise with you he must suffer for it Suppose he did not come to you till to Morrow what can we help it Mrs. Fitz-Harris There is no Solicitor my Lord to go to the Counsel L. C. J. Well we must not spin out the Term to please him He must take more care I beleive he would by Delatorys be glad to put it off all the Term. If Mr. Attorney gives Consent for more time well and good Mrs. Fitz-Harris I hope your Lordship will give leave for a Solicitor without your Lordships leave none will dare to venture And I had the Rule so very late Cler. of the Crown They had it at 3 of the Clock in the Afternoon assoon as it could be drawn up Mrs. Fitz-Harris That Copy was brought to the Licut of the Tower and he sent it away immediately Cler. of the Crown Another Copy they had from me that Evening Mrs. Fitz-Harris I never saw my Husband in the Tower till Yesterday in the Afternoon and I am an Ignorant Person and know not what to do in it without a Sollicitor Assoon as I could get Copies of the Rule writ out I carryed them to these Gentlemen Mr. Pollexfen My Lord I think it will be very hard upon us that are of Counsel to be so straightned in point of Time for my part the Rule was left under my Door the last Night and I had it not till this Morning It will be a mighty hard matter for us to get the Plea ready without a sight of the Indictment Things must be averr'd to be the same which we cannot unless we see what is there alleadged This man hath been kept close Prisoner and nobody suffered to come at him to instruct him and we have not so much as Copies of any thing that we must make use of We have no concernment my Lord in this matter but what is assigned us by the Court and we do not know by any Papers if there be any how we should put it into Form and that is it my Lord which may lye heavy upon us If this man's business should miscarry for want of putting it into due Form the blame will be upon us who are assigned his Counsel Therefore if your Lordship please under these Considerations to give us Time and Leave to see the Indictment we are to Plead to we may be the better inabled to do our Duty Sir Fran. Winnington Really my Lord I ought to deal clearly with the Court without a Copy of the Indictment I know not how we shall be able to Plead as we should do Mr. Williams My Lord I do really move not in favour of Fitz-Harris but for my own Reputation I cannot put my hand to a Plea of this Consequence without time to consider very well of it and unless in truth I can see the Indictment and compare the Plea with it to put it into Form fit for the judgment of the Court. And if these things cannot be granted I desire to be excused L. C. J. Why Gentlemen See what you ask Where do you find any President of a man Indicted for High-Treason that would Plead to the Jurisdiction of the Court that had more time given him than is in this Case Sir Fran. Winnington We do not know what his Plea will be my Lord till we have seen it and considered it L. C. J. Your Clyent told us all and we know all of us very well That it is to the Jurisdiction of the Court and can be no otherwise Mr. Justice Jones Any thing else you may give in Evidence upon Not Guilty And it would be considered on your Tryal Sr. Fran. Winnington My Lord it may happen to be not so properly pleadable to the Jurisdiction of the Court We know not what it will be till we have seen the things necessary to draw it into Form It is true consequentially it is the Concern of our Clyent but the ground of our Motion at this time is for our selves I did apprehend by the Rule his Special Plea was to be admitted if he tendered one let it be what it will We must consider many things in a Case of this Nature And at last whether it will be to the Jurisdiction or what 't is we can't tell as yet And till we have seen the Nature of the thing and what is necessary to prepare it for the Court I cannot venture to give it its proper Term. But our time is so short if your Lordship will afford us no longer that we know not how to be ready for it Your Lordship does speak of Mr. Attorney's being attended with the Substance of the Plea not tying us to the Form in the Copy delivered to him Mr. Attorney was here upon Saturday when this matter was first started and he knew the Substance then We know not what it is more than by Report It is a Plea that so rarely happens that we must be cautious in what Form we put it T is as your Lordship hath been pleased to say an horrible Treason that in the Indictment is specifyed We must not speak nor do not mitigate the hainousness of the Crime nor do we speak it because it is Term-time and may hinder our other business We shall all of us I am sure not at all consider our own time or loss in the matter but it being of so great weight we desire reasonable time to do our duties we name no time nor dare do it we submit that to the Court But My Lord under favour for the Copy of the Indictment we do conceive 't is necessary that we should see a Copy of it and when the Court is pleased to admit the party to give in a Special Plea to the matter he is accused of and assign him Counsel to Plead it I take it to be very rational and consonant to

another Kingdom and it is by Law he is so Indicted indeed but he being kept close Prisoner and not knowing what time he should be brought to a Tryal he desires time to send for his Witnesses who are to be brought over to clear him of the Treason Could we in Justice deny it him or could there be a shorter time than next Term given him when his Witnesses are in another Kingdom and it would be a fortnight or three Weeks before possibly he could have his Witnesses here This I mention because you will needs make use of such a Case that is no more like yours than any thing that is the farthest different from it yet you will have the Case to measure with your Case Mr. Williams My Lord I know it is in the Discretion of the Court and as your Lordship did what was just for Plunket to you will to this Person I know you will do what is right to every Body We are Counsel assigned by your Lordship and we doubt not but your Lordship will be just to us and give us a reasonable time to argue it L. Ch. J. Look you by the way Mr. Williams I must tell you when we assigned Counsel to Mr. Fitz Harris we expected that Counsel should consider the Plea so as to be able to maintain it when they come to plead it here for that reason we gave him time to plead it so as he would stand by it What needed we else to have assigned him so much Counsel in such a Case as this is but that he should be ready and why you should now hope that we will give you a longer time for Argument in such a Case I see not Consider whether in Discretion you think longer time ought to be expected upon such a Plea as this is Sir Fra. Win. My Lord we will not take upon us to prescribe nor to mention any time in particular we leave that to the Discretion and Judgment of the Court but this I think we may pray according to the Duty we owe to our Client upon your Lordship's assigning us of Counsel We could not foresee till to day what the King's Counsel would do whether Mr. Attorney would take Issue upon us of null tiel Record or upon any of our Averments We could not foresee whether he would demur to us or not I know your Lordship will be as favourable to us as you can not having those Papers or sight of those Records that were necessary and would have expedited this Matter our time was all spent in forming of the Plea and we could not prepare particular Matter in Law to defend it We are as ready as can be expected and we have been as industrious to prevent any delay as any Persons could be in our Condition Therefore it may be we have had a general Consideration of the Plea but now we see where the doubts do lye upon it 'T is a Matter of Law pleaded to the Jurisdiction of the Court I do not indeed love to cite Precedents upon what is plain but withal I do not love to say things upon a sudden are plain without Consideration But this I will say as 't is now upon this Demurrer joyned it is a Case well worth our taking care of and yours too I must say it with your Lordships leave Therefore if in the Case of my Lord Hollis which was but upon an Information and that but for a Misdemeanour and tho it was a Plea directly to the Jurisdiction of the Court and certainly they came prepared for they were all at Liberty and had resort to all Papers and Books before the Plea pleaded which we could not have yet the Court was pleased to assign them time and give them a large time I hope we shall have some reasonable time I do not speak it that we should have so long time but I humbly beseech your Lordship that we may do our Duty to the Court and to our Client that we may have a little time It is true it is a great and a horrid Treason but it is as true here is the Life of a Man concerned in it we do not affect delay at all but hope you will not deny us what time is reasonable L. Ch. J. Look you I 'le tell you you might if you had pleased have entituled your selves better to have had time to speak to the Plea if you had pleaded over to the Treason then we could have given you time to have spoken to it and not delayed the King at all but you have thought fit not to plead over I must confess I did expect you would have pleaded over as you might have done and I thought you would Therefore having not done it it is in our Consideration whether we will give you time and what time we will give you Mr. Wallop It is under your Lordships Favour according to the usual course of modern Practice I have been an unprofitable Attendant here near forty years and for my part I did never yet see so swift a Proceeding as this is now it is as swift as Lightning It is a very extraordinary thing we might well conceive that nothing more should be expected from us than what is usual and that we should not be put out of the ordinary Proceedings antiently indeed as your Lordship did observe the other day they pleaded Ore tenus and then the Proceedings were very quick now indeed it is otherwise modern and what we may call antient Practice too hath made an Alteration from that Method And we humbly pray we may not proceed but according to the rate of modern Practice My Lord whereas they are pleased to call it a frivolous Plea I believe it is a Plea of the greatest Import that ever these Gentlemen came here about whatsoever they are pleased to say But your Lordship knows the Life of a Man is the greatest Favourite in Law and that to be a most antient and wise Rule de morte hominis nulla est cunctatio longa And since we could not reasonably expect to be thought to come provided in this Case we humbly pray that your Lordship will allot us such a reasonable time as your Lordship shall think fit L. Ch. J. Come let me propose this to you will you plead over Mr. Pollexfen My Lord I will give you an Answer to that we cannot do it When we were together we did consider whether if we should plead over it would not destroy the Plea and we were of Opinion that it would destroy the Plea we cannot plead over but we give up the Jurisdiction It is as indifferent and light to me as any Body to be forced to argue it now but as to the Matter of it I believe no Body can say they ever saw many Instances of the like Nature Therefore pray my Lord let us not go on so hastily with it for we could not foresee what since we know how it would be with us I did not think