THE History and Reasons OF THE Dependency of IRELAND UPON THE Imperial Crown OF THE Kingdom of ENGLAND Rectifying Mr. Molineux's State of the Case of Ireland's being bound by Acts of Parliament in England Actum erat de foecundissimâ gente Si libera fuisset Plin. Panegyr LONDON Printed for Dan. Brown at the Black Swan and Bible without Temple-Bar and Ri. Smith at the Angel without Lincolns-Inn Gate near the Fields 1698. To the Honourable the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled YOur House and they to whose Rights You succeed having for several Ages been the Principal Support of the English Monarchy the Enemies to so excellent a Constitution have thought it could never be more effectually undermined than by the drawing your Rights into Question and thus have many made 〈◊〉 their deceitful Courts to Princes 'T is not for me to determine whether Malice or Sycophantry have induced some to deny your being in any manner invested with that Authority which they officiously ascribe to the Kings of this Realm and their Council of Lords or rather Privy Council to the derogating from the Lords in Parliament no less than from You. I conceive it allowable for me to joyn the Men of this assurance with Dr. Brady and other Advocates for Despotick Power who have contended that your first Presence or Representation in the National Council began by Rebellion in the 49. of H. 3. which being taken as proved they conclude that Kings may as well set you aside as a Subject may any obligation extorted by threats and duress And whoever has made any attempt towards the removing that Corner Stone for Tyranny has been sure to incur the imputation of promoting Anarchy as if your venerable Body did not in the least interpose between those two Extremes The fairest colour which the Men of Foreign Notions and Allegiance have for their premises is from King John's Charter which as they imagine has declared or establish'd the Tenents of the Crown in Chief to be the only legal Members of the Common Council of the Kingdom the far different sense of which Charter I may well say 't was my fortune to find and evince upon my first enquiry into the Nature of our Government since the force of truth has obliged even Dr. Brady to yield it up to me after all the hard Words which he had given me on that occasion Nor has he offered the least Shadow of Evidence against my List from Domesday Book shewing that notwithstanding the supposed Conquest of this Land by W. 1. they who had not forfe ted their Estates enjoyed them upon or under Titles Priour to his Entrance without relation to any Grant or Confirmation from him Permit me to say that the Researches in which this Controversy engaged me have in some measure enabled me to assert your Authority in the highest Instances of the exercise of Power aud to make out by Deduction and numerous Presidents what you have as 't were by Intuition that Ireland as 't is annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Kingdom is subjected to that Authority which is and must be absolute and yet can never be gaievous because of your share in it Tho the bold denial of this has already receiv'd your just censure of being of dangerous Consequence to the Crown and People of England Yet if I may use the Allusion I might observe that 't is not held improper to make Comments upon the Sacred Text to explain it to Vulgar Understandings Which I should hope may plead in my Excuse if not Justification while I am proving that as you have rightfully concurred with the Lords in giving Ireland a King by filling the Vacant Throne and that Glorious Preserver of your Liberties has with the Advice and Consent of the States of this his Realm made Laws with a declared intention of binding Ireland these Acts of Sovereignty are not only agreeable to the Laws of Nature and of Nations but warranted by the Ancient Constitution of this Monarchy The foundation of which while I have been labouring to clear from that Rubbish which would render it unstable it has happened with me as with those who having exhausted themselves in working a rich Mine are forced to leave the bright Oar to them that come after And thus 't is likely to be with those Collections which I have by me concerning the Fundamental Constitution of this Government by which I had flattered my self that I must have contributed towards the Peace and Happiness of my Country in shewing the admirable Harmony that there is between the constituent parts of this Empire how strong and beautiful they are in their due order How conspicuous that Degree of the Baronage or Nobility of Engl. which you 're present has been in all the Ages of this Monarchy in maintaining its Glory what Persuasive Reasons both Prince and People have to be satisfied with their several and yet common Interests and how little they are to be thought Friends to either who prompt them as the Learned Grotius has it In partem non suam involare Whither I have been any way serviceable to the Publick or can yet serve it according to my Zeal is submitted to the Collective Wisdom of the Nation The Judgment is with you who if you should not think this or any of my former labourous Effects of Idleness as the Poet calls the Writing of Books worthy of your Protection or Notice I doubt not will extend your Pardon to Endeavours consecrated to your use By Your Most Faithful and Affectionate Humble Servant W. Atwood The History and Reasons of the Dependency of Ireland upon the Imperial Crown of the Kingdom of England c. AS there 's no need of staying for Publick Authority or Encouragement to oppose an open Invasion upon the Rights of my Country I cannot but think it my duty to make a stand till better help come in with Arms taken up on a sudden and that the rather since by a shew of Precedents and popular Positions some lovers of English Liberties are drawn in to join with the Invaders nor do I wonder to find Sufferers under Arbitrary Reigns easy to be misled by a seeming Advocate for mankind who undertakes the Cause of the whole Race of Adam And yet to any man who will be at the least pains to think of Consequences 't will be manifest that the Liberty which the Gentleman whom I oppose contends for as the inherent Right of all mankind would be a total exemption from all Laws and Government except such as Adam had a right to in the state of Nature and for want of knowing who has the title of Descent from him would turn all Nations to such Commonwealths wherein every Paterfamiliâs is an independent Soveraign If men were to be considered in such a state I will agree with him That on whatsoever ground any one Nation can challenge Liberty to themselves
so far back to shew how it first became a Kingdom I think I have made it evident that he has fail'd in his first Undertaking 2. 'T will be as evident that he is no less injurious to the Right of the English Nation than unhappy in the comparison where he maintains that England may be said much more properly to be conquer'd by W. 1. than Ireland by H. 2. tho in this he has the Authority of Sir John Davis I will agree that the word Conquest was in the times both of W. 1. and H. 2. of a very innocent signification for which he rightly cites Sir Henry Spelman and might have observed a much greater and antienter Authority in a Record of the time of King John referr'd to by Mr. Petyt wherein a younger Brother in a Suit between him and his elder Brother about Title to Land pleads that his Father had it de Conquestu suo and gave it him according to the distinction in Glanvil who wrote in the time of H. 2. between Questus the same with Conquestus and Haereditas 'T is certain the word Conquestus did not in that age imply any thing of that Power which a Prince or State might acquire by Force or Terror of Arms over another Prince or State and therefore I shall make no use of his Admission that H. 2. took Conquestor Hiberniae into his stile contrary to the Authority of Mr. Selden cited in his Margin and to which I cannot but subscribe In truth tho H. 2. was stiled Lord of Ireland I am very well assured none can be found where he is stiled Conquestor Yet Girald an Author of that time calls him Triumphator Hiberniae which is tantamount to Conqueror But since Conquestor when first used signified no more than one who came to a Right which he claimed not by hereditary Descent according to which W. 1. acknowledged that he was made or created King of the English by hereditary Right that is as has elsewhere been shewn and may be more at large was duly let in to the Inheritance of the Crown however the word Conquestor has been in following ages applied both to W. 1. and to H. 2. Let 's consider a little 1. Whether the English Nation ever submitted to W. 1. as a Conqueror in a sense of larger signification than 't was antiently used 2. Whether the Irish Nation submitted to H. 2. or to any other of our Kings more absolutely than the English did to W. 1. 1. Mr. Molineux agrees that E. 3. was the first that us'd the Aera of post Conquestum which indeed was no more than to distinguish the Edwards after the time of W. 1. from the three Edwards which reign'd in England before that time but no body that I know of has yet pretended that W. 1. ever assumed the stile of Conqueror and I dare say no one Author of that time printed or in Manuscript ascribes it to him I must own in some of his Charters he says he gain'd the Kingdom by the Sword having subdued Harold and his Accomplices but besides that Puffendorf's Assertion is undeniable that after a Prince is overcome in a just War till the Subjects consent the State of War continues and there is no Obligation nor Faith and so no Dominion W. 1. did not come to civilize and subdue the People to Laws but to turn out 1 st An Usurper upon the Right of the People upon whom he had imposed himself without any true Election notwithstanding what several antient Authors have affirmed And 2 dly An Usurper upon the Right which W. 1. had by a full and a formal Election he having been elected Successor in the life time of the Confessor which I may hereafter shew with all the Circumstances but shall at present refer only to three Authorities out of many William of Poictiers an Author who lived in the very time informs us that the Confessor sent an Embassy into Normandy suorum assensu by the assent of his People to assure him of the Succession And Ordericus Vitalis has these words Edwardus nimirum propinquo suo W. D. N. primo per Rodbertum Cant. summum Pontisicem postea per eundem Heraldum integram Anglici regni mandaverat concessionem ipsumque concedentibus Anglis fecerat totius juris sui haeredem Edward sent an Embassy to William Duke of Normandy first by Robert Archbishop of Canterbury afterwards by Harold himself acquainting him with the entire Grant of the Kingdom of England and had made him Heir of all his Right with the Consent of the English Which shews in what sense Ingulph who was Secretary to W. 1. is to be understood when he says Eum sibi succedere in regnum voce stabili sancivit That the Confessor with a stable Voice ordained or appointed him to succeed him in his Kingdom 'T is not to be questioned but Ingulph who was an Anglo-saxon and well knew that a King could not dispose of the English Crown without the consent of the States of the Realm would be understood by this that the Confessor's voice or nomination had a Parliamentary Sanction when one of the Norman writers looks upon Harold as a mad-man for not staying to see what a publick Election should determine That W. 1. came only to turn out an Usurper is not all but having done this with a great force the People of England would not receive him for King upon his Victory till they had treated and agreed with him in a Convention at Berkhamstead where as Authors concur foedus pepigit he struck a League with them and was not only obliged to maintain the English Laws in virtue of a mutual Contract but part of the Contract with the Prelats and the Nobility of the Kingdom was That he should be crown'd as the manner of the English Government requires From those Authors who give the heads of his Oath administred by Aldred Archbishop of York 't is plain that he was crown'd according to the standing Ritual in use from the Coronation of King Ethelred and continued to the Reign of H. 1. without any material alteration And Authors as well as the Ritual shew that the people were solemnly ask'd whether they would have him to reign over them to which they exprest their consent in such terms as implied a Grant But the Coronation Oath being only in general terms that King was obliged once at least if not oftner to swear expresly that they should enjoy the Benefit of the Confessor's Laws that Digest of so much of the common Law of England as was in his time thought necessary to be reduced to writing to which some additions were made by that King in Parliament for the benefit of the English That there was nothing like this in the submission of the people of Ireland to H. 2. has appeard above and that he acted according to the import
Council it must have been provided will more fully appear afterwards I may here explain it by an Instance in that Reign All must agree that the Provisions of Oxford in the 43 d of H. 3. and referr'd to in the Records of the next year were made in as true a Parliament as any in that Reign before the 49 th 't is call'd a Parliament by good Authors and the word is used in the Records of the next year in relation to a meeting on the Borders of Wales The Ordinances and Provisions made at Oxford were drawn up by 12 chosen by the King and 12 by the Commons concerning which the Record has these words Anno ab incarnat domini 1259. Regni autem H. Regis fil Regis J. 43. in quindena St. Mic. conven ips domino Rege magnatibus suis de communi consilio consensu dictor Regis magnatum factae sunt provisiones per ipsos Regem Magnates In the year from the incarnation of our Lord 1259. but of the Reign of K. Henry Son of K. John the 43d the said King and his great Men being assembled in the Quinzism of St. Michael Provisions were made by the Common Council and consent of the said King and great men And yet some of the Entries in the same Roll mentioning Provisions then made are per magnates nostros qui sunt de consilio nostro By our great Men of our Council Others Per magnates de Consilio meo By the great Men of our Council As if 't was by the sole Authority of the King and such noble Men as were of his Privy or Private Council wheâ— those Provisions were certainly made in full Parliament and this was the Council from whence Ireland then receiv'd its Laws However from a Charter in the first of that King's Reign Mr. M. would infer that the English there had their independent Parliaments then established or confirmed tho he afterwards admits that during that King's Reign they might have been bound by Laws made here for want of a regular legislature establish'd amongst them The Charter or rather Writ with which a Charter was sent runs thus Rex Archiepisc Episc Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus Militibus omnibus fidelibus suis per Hiberniam constitutis salutem fidelitatemvestram in Domino commendantes quam Domino Patri nostro semper exhibuistis nobis estis diebus nostris exhibituri volumus quòd in signum fideliâ—aâ—is vestraetam praeclarae tam insignis libertatibus Regno nostro Angliae à patre nostro nobis concessis de gratiâ nostrâ dono in Regno Hiberniae gaudeatis quas distinctè in scriptum reductas de'communi consilio omnium fidel nostrorum vobis mittimus signatas Sigillis Domini nostri G. Apostolicae sedis Legati fidelis nostri Comitis Mareschalli Rector is nostri regni nostri quia sigillum nondum habuimus easdem processu temporis de Majori consilio proprio Sigillo signatur Teste apud Glost 6. Feb. The King to the Archbishops Bishops Earls Barons Kts. and all our faithful Subjects constituted throughout Ireland Health Commending your fidelity in the Lord which you always shewed to your Lord our Father and are about to shew to 〈◊〉 in our days we will that in sign of your fidelity â—o remarkable so eminent you enjoy in our Kingdom of Ireland the Libâ—rties granted to our Kingdom of England by our Father us which distinctly reduced into Writing we send you by the Common Counsel of all our faithful People Sealed with the Seals of the Lord G. Legate of the Apostolick See of our faithful Subject W. Earl Marshal Regent of us and our Kingdom because we have not yet a Seal intending in process of time by consent of a greater Counsel to seal them with our own Seal Teste at Gloster 6. Feb. How specious soever this may seem 't will neither prove Ireland to have been a Kingdom so early nor to have had a grant of the English Liberties in the same manner as the English enjoyed them that is so as to have no Law imposed upon them without their express and immediate consent to that very Law For 1. 'T is not to be suppos'd but that if Ireland had been a Kingdom before this Charter H. 2. and other Kings of England would have stiled themselves Kings of Ireland rather than Lords because of the greater Dignity of Kingship unless Lord was chosen as implying more absolute Power which would argue that Ireland did not enjoy the English Laws with equal Freedom 2. This Writ mentions no Liberties granted to Ireland but what had been granted to England which besides the improbability that Ireland should 1 H. 3. have a Charter of the same form with that which did not pass in England till 8 Years after shews the spuriousness of the suppos'd Charter preserved in the red Book of the Exchequer at Dublin as dated the November before the Charter sent the 6th of February and however the constant method of sending Laws from hence to be applyed to the use of the Irish without any alteration may sufficiently detect that Charter which has the City of Dublin instead of London 3. The method of sending to Ireland the Laws made here besides what appears upon the face of the Record 6. Feb may satisfie any Body that 't was only a Writ which went along with a Charter or Charters of Laws passed in Parliament here 4. This Writ was before any confirmation of the English Liberties by H. 3. other than general at his Coronation and therefore bating such Confirmation the Charter of Liberties then sent into Ireland must have been King John's which if it be read according to the due distinction of Periods and that Translation which the course of Records both before and after enforces and which the prevalence of Truth has obliged Dr. Brady to yeild to the giving up his whole Controversie with Mr. Petyt and the Author of Jani Anglorum Facies Nova makes express Provision for the City of London all Cities Burroughs and Vills of the Kingdom of England to enjoy all their Liberties and Free-Customs and among the rest to be of or to be represented in the Common Council of the Kingdom But Ireland had no City of London to claim this Privilege nor could any City of Ireland be included any otherwise than as part of the Kingdom of England and therefore subject to the Laws which should be made here 2. This could not be as extensive to Ireland as 't was to England since it could not have extended beyond the English Pale there and such particular Districts as enjoy'd the English Laws of special Favour Therefore the Charter then sent by H. 3. could as to this Matter be no more than a Memorial of that Supreme Law according to which England with all the Dominions belonging to it was
him by Hereditary Succession not that he was held to be King by a meer Right of Descent but as the Ritual of the Coronation of H. 1. and the Writ for Proclaiming the Peace of E. 1. in England and Authors of the time shew the Election of the States of England placed him in the Inheritance of the Crown therefore the States of England declare to the Subjects of Ireland that they were bound to take the like Oath of Allegiance as the English had done and this is required of them by the States here under the Great Seal of England nor is there colour to believe that there was any Summons to Ireland for any from thence to come to that Conâ—ention nor indeed was there time for such Summons and return before that meeting notwithstanding Mr. M's assertion of this Reign in particular that the Laws made in England and binding them were always enacted by their proper Representatives meaning Representatives chosen in Ireland the reason for which he there brings from supposed instances in the Reign of E. 3. seeming not to rely upon his Quotation from the White Book of the Exchequer in Dublin but the Page before which 9 E. 1. mentions Statutes made by the King at Lincoln and others at York with the assent of the Prelates Earls Barons and Commonalty of his Kingdom of Ireland Which if it implyed the presence of the Commonalty of Ireland would be an Argument that all their Rights were concluded by the Tenants in chief who had Lands in Ireland but were Members of the English Parliament by reason of their Interest here but in truth this shews no more than that at the request of those of Ireland the Parliament of England had enacted those Laws and the Record in their white Book is only a Record of the transmission from hence and proves that suitably to the practice both before and after that time they in Ireland had no Parliaments for enacting Laws but were forc'd to Petition to have them enacted here and what was enacted upon their Petition was truly with their Assent But then the Question will be whether in the Laws made in that King's Reign with intention to bind Ireland their Consent is generally expressed or implyed any otherwise than from the nature of their former submission to be govern'd by the English Laws But if our Acts of Parliament and Records concerning them are clear in any thing they certainly are in this that the Parliament of England then had and exercis'd an undoubted Right of binding Ireland without their immediate consent by any Representatives chosen there Mr. M. indeed tho' as I have before observ'd he admits that Ireland was bound by Acts of Parliament here till the end of the Reign of H. 3. for want of a regular legislature among themselves yet suitably to his usual inconsistencies upon the enquiry where and how the Statute Laws and Acts of Parliament made in England since the 9 th of H. 3. came to be of force in Ireland will have it that none of them made here without Representatives chosen in Ireland were binding there till receiv'd by a suppos'd Parliament 13 E. 2. yet it falls out unluckily that they have Statutes in Print 3 E. 2. which speak not a word of Confirming the Laws before that time made in England and yet no Man will question but Statute Laws of England made in the Reign of E. 1. were a Rule which the Judges in Ireland went by before the time of E. 2. And that all Judgments given in Ireland contrary to any Law transmitted thither under the Great Seal of England must upon Writs of Error have been set aside here as Erroneous But let 's see whether our Parliaments in the time of E. 1. had such a defference to the Irish Legislature or that the English in Ireland then made any such pretensions as Mr. M. advances If we Credit Judge Bolton our Statute Westm 1st which was 3 E. 1. was first confirm'd in Ireland 13 E. 2. and till then according to Mr. M.'s Inferences from their receiving or publishing Laws made here that Statute was of no force in Ireland being Introductory of a new Law in several particulars as among other things in Subjecting Franchises to be seized into the King's Hands for default of pursuing Felons and in Enacting not only the Imprisoning and Fining Malefactors in Parks and Vivaries but forcing them to Abjure the Realm if they could not find Sureties for their good Behaviour This Act does not Name Ireland but the King Ordain'd and Establish'd it by His Council and by the assent of the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons and all the Commonalty of the Realm thither Summoned for the mending the Estate of the Realm for the Common profit of the holy Church of the Realm and as Profitable and Convenient for the whole Realm However that Ireland as part of the Realm was bound by this Law and by other Laws made 11 12 and 13 E. 1. without any regard to Parliamentary Confirmations in Ireland and that for enforcing Obedience to those Laws 't was enough to send them thither by some proper Messenger under the Great Seal of England if not without appears by the Proceedings of the Parliament at Winchester holden the Oct. after the Parliament of Westim 2. Mem. quod c. Mem. that on Friday in the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the 13 th Year of the King at Winchester there were deliver'd to Roger Brâ—ton Clerk to the Venerable Father William Bishop of Waterford then Justice of Ireland certain Statutes made and provided by the King and His Council viz. The Statutes of Westminster made soon after the King's Coronation and the Statutes of Gloster and those made for Merchants and the Statute of Westm provided and made in the King's Parliament at Easter to be carried to Ireland and there to be Proclaimed and Observed It appears that among the Statutes delivered to the Chief Justices Clerk in order to their being published and observed in Ireland one was the Statute concerning Merchants 12. E. 1. for the enforcing and improving a Statute made at Acton Burnel 11. of that King that of Acton Burnel provides a remedy for Debts to Merchants to be had by calling the Debtor before the Mayor of London York or Bristol or before the Mayor and a Clerk to be appointed by the King which as it seems 't was intended that the King should have Power to appoint in other Cities or Towns within his Kingdom Accordingly the Statute 12. E. 1. says the King had commanded it to be firmly kept throughout his Realm and that Parliament 12. for declaring or explaining some of the Articles of the former Statute names the Mayor of London or the Chief Governour of that City or of other good Town This Statute expresly Ordains and Establishes that it be thenceforth held throughout the
King's Realm of England and of Ireland And it enacts the form of a Writ upon that Statute which was to be current in Ireland upon several accounts 1. By the Letter of that Law which was ordain'd for the Benefit of Merchants in Ireland as well as in England 2. If it had not been named the being transmitted to Ireland from a Parliament here was a sufficient ground for their observing it 3. Such observance was included in the terms of their Submission above one Hundred Years before 4. The Writ without any particular Provision became a legal and current Writ in Ireland by virtue of an Act of Parliament here 30 H. 3. which for the common Profit of the Land of Ireland and unity of the King's Lands provided that the Common Law Writs should have the same currency in Ireland that they have here Without enquiring what Records they have in Ireland of Statutes Staple from the 13 th of E. 1. when this Statute which settled them was sent thither 't is certain that from that time the English in Ireland were bound by it and so held to be in subsequent Statutes of this Realm confirming this Statute or supplying its defects But what pity 't is that neither Judge Bolton nor Mr. M. thought of an Act of Parliament in Ireland to confirm that Statute 12 E. 1. This was enacted in the Year 1284. which was above 350 Years before that fatal Aera of Innovations 1641 from whence it seems Calamities of all kinds are to be dated But I should think here is at least one positive Precedent before that time of an English Act of Parliament's binding the Kingdom of Ireland And to me it seems as plain that in the Judgment of the Parliament 13 E. 1. Ireland tho not named was bound by a Statute made here for which I shall refer him to the Interpretation then made of the extent of the Statutes of Gloster which had been enacted in the 6 th of that King's Reign Some would think those Statutes to have been no more than Ordinances made by the King and his Counsel only and that our Kings thus made Ordinances of that kind some may gather from Fleta who speaks of the King's Counsel in which not only erroneous Judgments were corrected but new Remedies provided yet Fleta speaks this of the King's Counsel in his Parliaments and thus tho' the Statute of Westm 2. seems to restrain the making that of Gloster to the King and his Council the Statute of Gloster it self shews that the Counsel was to be taken as acting in conjunction with the Prelates Earls and Barons and that under the word Barons the Commonalty were included as as lower Nobility or dignified by their Election to Parliament accordingly the Statute of Gloster says suitably to latter Writs of Summons the more discreet of the Kingd as well Great as Small were Summon'd So that the Statutes of Gloster were made as other Statutes 3 E. 1. by that King's Counsel and by assent of the Commonalty where the Lords were manifestly included under the word Counsel agreeably to the ancient form of Writs of error or other Writs returnable into Parliament before us and our Counsel in our Parliament or at our next Parliament after or at such a time there to do what the King shall think fit to ordain by advice of his Counsel For evidence that this did not exclude the Lords I may refer to the Roâ—â—s of Parliament of several Reigns and particularly to those of the 20 th and 21 st of E. 3. In the 20 th the Commons are desired to deliver such Petitions as were then ready to the Clerk of the Parliament which Petitions are said to be brought before the Great Men of the Counsel That they were but of the nature of a Committee to inform the King and Lords of the Bills or Petitions which came from the Commons appears by the Proceedings of the next Year when the Commons having made Petitions of an extraordinary nature the King answers He will advise with the Lords To return to the Statute of Gloster there the King by such advice as I have shewn made Laws for the amendment of his Realm and for the plenary exhibition of Right as the profit of the Regal Office requires and to remedy mischiefs dammages and disherisons suffer'd by the People of the Realm of England without the least mention of Ireland And yet we have the judgment of the Parliament in the 13 th of that King that Ireland was within the remedy of that Statute as part of the Realm of England as appears by this Preamble Where of late our Lord the King in the Quinzisme of St. John Baptist the Sixth of his Reign calling together the Prelates Earls Barons and his Counsel at Gloucester and considering that divers of this Realm were disherited by reason that in many cases where remedy should have been had there was none provided by him nor his Predeceâ—sors ordained certain Statutes right necessary and profitable for his People whereby the People of England and Ireland under his Government have obtained more speedy justice in their oppressions than they had before and certain Cases wherein the Law failed remain undetermined and some remained to be enacted that were for the reform of the oppressions of the People Our Lord the King in his Parliament after the Feast of Easter holden the 13 th of His Reign at Westminster caused many Oppressions of the People and defaults of the Laws for the supply of the defects of the said Statutes of Gloster to be rehearsed and made Statutes as will appear here following This rehearsal of the Grievances was for certain by the Petition of the Commons of this Realm and the Statutes there made as the Register of Writs has it were by the Common Counsel of the Kingdom And this Counsel not only declared Laws which were binding to Ireland but made new tho' Mr. Molineux will have it that from the time of Magna Chata to the 10 th of H. 7. no Laws were or are in force in Ireland unless allowed of by Parliament in that Kingdom except only such as are Declaratory of the Common Law of England and not Introductive of any new Law And whereas he is pleas'd to say As to such English Statutes as seem to comprehend Ireland and to bind it under the general words of all his Majesty's Dominions or Subjects whatever has been the opinion of private and particular Lawyers in this Point I am sure says he the Opinions of the Kings of England and their Privy Council have been otherwise I may say upon much better grounds if any King and His Privy Council did any thing to Warrant this Assertion the Judgment of E. 1. and His Council in Parliament was to the contrary and is of greater Authority And 't is to be remembred as I before shewed that