Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	chief_a	england_n	lord_n	9,908	5	4.2763	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96725	The law of laws: or, The excellency of the civil lavv, above all humane lavvs whatsoever. Shewing of how great use and necessity the civil law is to this nation. / By Ro: Wiseman, Dr of the civil law.	Wiseman, Robert, Sir, 1613-1684.	1657 (1657)	Wing W3113; Thomason E889_3	165,799	209

the Roman Law and now they are as it were united together albeit there lies no tie of command upon us in Spain to enforce a submission to it CHAP. V. The general admittance and use of the Civil Law in forreign parts is acknowledg'd by our selves here in England I Shall not travail any further to cite any more forreign testimony to prove that this Law is generally received and practised by other Nations and the rather because Dr Duck in his book has by variety of proof so sufficiently made it good already But yet it is worth the setting down what some of our own Countrey-men have in their writings acknowledg'd to the very same purpose and those especially amongst the rest whose interest and high valuation which they pass upon the Laws of their own Countrey will not permit them to ascribe more to the Civil Law then the just truth will bear And it is most observable what King James himself the learnedest of all modern Princes said here in a Speech made to no less solemn assembly then his Lords and Commons of Parliament u 21. Martii 1609. which we have extant amongst his printed works As a King saith he I have least cause of any man to dislike the Common-Law for no Law can be more favourable and advantagious for a King and extendeth further his Prerogative then it doth And for a King of England to despise the the Common-Law it is to neglect his own Crown Yet saith he I do greatly esteem the Civil Law the profession thereof serving more for general learning and being most necessary for matters of Treaty with all forreign Nations And I think that if it should be taken away it would make an entry to Barbarisme in this Kingdome and would blemish the honour of England for it is in a manner lex Gentium and maintaineth entercourse with all forreign Nations But I onely allow it to have course here according to those limits of jurisdiction which the Common-Law it self doth allow it And therefore though it be not fit for the general government of the people here it doth not follow it should be extinct no more then because the Latin tongue is not the mother or radicall Language of any Nation in the World at this time that therefore the English tongue should onely now be learned in this Kingdome which were to bring in barbarisme And in another speech in Star-chamber x 20 Iun. 1616. printed also God forbid saith he the Law of Nations intending thereby chiefly the Civil Law should be barred in this Kingdome and that for two causes one because it is a Law to satisfie strangers which will not hold themselves so well satisfied with other municipal Laws another to satisfie our own subjects in matters of Piracy Marriage Wills and things of like nature And again when he was so mightily pressing to have had an union of England and Scotland under the same policy of Laws as they had but one and the same King in a speech made upon that subject y Ult. Mart. 1607. extant in his printed works he told his two Houses of Parliament that in point of conjunction of Nations the Civil Law ought to bear a great sway it being the Law of Nations These are the expressions of a King the interest of whose Crown and Scepter and the prerogatives thereunto belonging did depend upon the favour of another Law and yet he positively and in down-right termes in the face of all his people avows the Civil Law to be the Law of Nations and that all transactions of Treaty and of Trade with forreign Nations were dispatched by the rule and reason thereof and that the authority thereof was so great in the esteem of strangers that they would rest satisfied therewith when no municipal Law could satisfie them But in that he avers also that when the people of England shall exterminate that Law which must needs be when the practice thereof is quite taken away or thrust into a poor narrow compass their honour will be obscured and they will be in danger to be over-run with barbarisme it was never so well worth the observing as at this present time And it clearly shews that wise and learned King did perfectly understand the true use of the Civil Law for as the language thereof must needs be a means to maintain learning which does civilize soften the minds of men so there is no sort of learning with the which the matter of it does not correspond and participate but above all it does afford more and better rules for civil living and orderly conversation amongst men and for righteous dealing each with other then any other study or learning whatsoever But this practise and usage of the Civil Law in forreign parts is yet better confirmed by the authority of those who studying and professing the Law of England have been alwayes jealous of the rising and growth of the Civil Law in this Nation For though they have desired to keep it low here for what reason I need not mention yet some of them have freely enough owned how much it is in use and practise in other Countreys Sir Francis Bacon in his Epistle Dedicatory to the Queen set before his Maximes of Law after he had told the Queen that Justinian the Emperour did gloriously and yet aptly call the Body of the Roman Laws proprium sanctissimum templum justitiae consecratum a true and a most sacred temple consecrated unto justice he sayes that it is a work of great excellency indeed as may well appear in that France Italy and Spain who have long since shaken off the yoke of the Roman Empire do yet nevertheless continue to use the policy of that Law My Lord Ellesmere Chancellour of England as Sir Francis Bacon was in his speech of the Postnati does expresly deliver that the Civil Law is taken to be the most universal and general Law in the World Sir John Fortescue himselfe Lord chief Justice of England and afterwards Lord Chancellour in King Henry the sixth's dayes in his book wherein he does so highly magnifie and commend the Laws England above the Civil Law yet he could say z De Laud. legum Angliae ca. 9. That Civiles supra humanas cunctas leges alias fama per orbem extollit gloriosa The Civil Laws throughout the whole World are advanced in glory and renown above all other mans Laws Fulbeck also another of the same profession and of great learning does agree with the former in these words a In his parallel part 1. Epistle to the Reader The Roman Laws saith he in the times of Arcadius Theodosius and Justinian recovered their strength and shining to all the Common-wealths of Europe as the Sun to all the climates of the Earth have for their worthiness and necessary use and employment received entertainment countenance and great reward of Emperours Kings and Princes Likewise Mr Selden a Graduate in the Common-Law but a

ever certain and therefore the Civil Law sayes that Prator quoque jus reddere dicitur etiam cùm iniquè decernit d L. 11. dig de just jur and Res judicata pro veritate accipitur e L. 207. dig de rap jur a Judge is said to minister right even when he decrees unjust things and a Sentence is taken and stands for truth yet there is nothing either of Equity or Reason to make them so authoritative and powerful as that they should be drawn into example for the future and be made patterns to determine other though never so like cases by since the wayes and means of obtaining them may not be fair and their integrity and foundnesse be questionable Fourthly whereas similitude and likeness of cases is the onely reason to perswade the walking by the light of such Judgements as have been before pronounced upon facts that are supposed to have had the same circumstances Quintilian f Institut l. 5. c. 2. sayes very truly Vix ulla est causa per omnia alteri similis there is scarce any cause that suits or agrees with another in all circumstances and again g Lib. 7. iupraejat he sayes Tot seculis nulla repertae est causa quae est tota alteri similis In so many ages and in such a multitude of cases that have occur'd there has not been found one wholly like another for indeed the dissimilitude and difformity that is amongst our selves and the whole off-spring of man not in outward form visage lineaments or stature onely but even in our natures tempers inclinations and humours also makes all the matters we deal in and the actions that flow from us disagreeing too Also in the other productions of nature and the accidents that are commonly ascribed to Chance and Fortune there is such a strange and wonderful variety that nothing is acted produced or happens like another but that there is some circumstance or other that does diversifie it and make it differ When therfore cases are eitherwholly diverse differing though in never so small a circumstance their determinations cannot be the same h Re●per se ipse valde pernicioà est exemplis non legibus judicare cum ex levissima personarum vel locorum vel temporum varieta●e judicia mutentu● Bodin de rep l. 6. c 6. for diversity of Fact must needs beget a diversity of Law too and a very small Circumstance will change and alter the state of any business and require clean another Judgement than can be had from Cases that do not exactly parallel them in all things And this has made all Lawyers to agree that argumentum ductum a simili est multùm fragite infirmum nec procedit quando datur dissimilitudo etiam parva i Fverard Topi. loc à simili nu 12. An Argument drawn from a like case is very weak and impotent and falls to the ground when the least dissimilitude is found Fifthly since before former presidents can be made fitting rules to decide judge other cases by it is absolutely necessary that the cases should agree punctually in all such circumstances as were the prime efficient cause of such finall and definitive judgement how shall this Concordance be made evident and certain for it must either depend upon the memory and truth of a Reporter and the Judge together or else upon the safe keeping of all that was alledged and proved in the case in some Rgistry or Office and the exact search and perusal of all upon occasion neither of which is authentical and sure enough whereby to judge and condemne another man for either the report may be very easily mistaken or some leading circumstance may slip out of the Judges remembrance or some of the Records be lost or mislay'd so that a part of the Case whereupon the Judgement passed may be wanting and not rightly known Upon these and such like considerations is it that the Civil Law does so frequently express it self in disallowance of judging by president or example and directs Judges to reflect onely upon that which Truth and the Law will bear and not upon any thing that has been done by others Licet is qui provinciae praeest omnium Romae magistratuum vice officio fungi debeat non tamen spectandum est quid Romae factū est quam quid fieri debeat sayes Proculus k L. 11. Dig. de offi●● Praesid Though the provincial and inferiour Magistrate does exercise the same power and office that the Magistrates do in Rome yet he must not loook so much at what they doe in Rome though the chief and head City as what indeed and in right they ought to do Justinian also did by an express constitution made in his time command all the Judges to pursue strictly Truth Justice and the Lawes and not in judging to take their example from the most solemn sentences of the highest and most eminent Judges in the whole Empire no nor to follow such resolutions as himself should make to emergent doubts propounded unto him if he had otherwise decided them then they ought to be Non enim saith he si quid non bene dirimatur hoc in aliorum judicum vitium extendi oportet cùm non exemplis sed legibus judicandum sit l L. 13. Go. de sent inter l. omn. jud for if a case has been once determined amisse this should not spread to the corrupting of other Judges since we ought to Judge by the Lawes and not by example And therefore Gordian the Emperour makes it a strange and an unwonted thing in Rome that Judgements had between other parties should either profit or prejudice those who were neither present then in Court nor ever called Res inter alios judicatae saith he neque emolumentum aff●rre his qui judicio non interfuerunt neque praejudicium so●ent irrogare m L. 2. Co. Quibue res judic non noc Which holds not onely in civil matters but as to prejudice reaches to criminall also Juris manifestissimi sayes Dioclesian and Maximinian Emperours n L. 3. Co. Eod. in accusationibus his qui congressi in judicio non sunt officere non posse siquid forte prejudicii videatur oblatum There is nothing more manifest in Law then that in criminal prosecutions a condemnation had can do no manner of hurt or hinderance to him that was not accused I therefore say as to prejudice because when Life or Honour is in Jeopardy by a criminous impeachment the Law is so carefull to preserve the same that the acquittall of one offender is an acquittall of the other also the Law being more prone to absolve then to condemne and so Vlpian answered in the case of Adultery o L. 17. Parag. 6. dig ad l. Jul. de Adulter Expectabit mulier saith he sententiam de adultero latam Si absolutus fuerit mulier per eum vincet noc