Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	court_n	great_a	king_n	5,532	5	3.9831	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52850	Discourses concerning government, in a way of dialogue wherein, by observations drawn from other kingdoms and states, the excellency of the English government is demonstrated, the causes of the decay thereof are considered, and proper remedies for cure proposed / by Henry Nevill ...; Plato redivivus. 1698	Neville, Henry, 1620-1694.	1698 (1698)	Wing N503A; ESTC R39070	112,421	300

which made him very well digest the name of being a Servant Eng. Gent. This is the very Case but yet Service in both these Cases is no Inheritance and when there comes a Peaceable King in France who will let his Neighbours be quiet or one that is covetous these fine Gentlemen will lose their Employments and their King this Prop and the rather because these Gentlemen do not depend as was said before in any kind upon the great Lords whose standing Interest is at Court and so cannot in a change be by them carried over to advance the Court-designs against their own good and that of their Country And thus much is sufficient to be said concerning France As for Spain I believe there is no Country excepting Sweden in Christendom where the Property has remained so intirely the same it was at the beginning and the reason is the great and strict care that is taken to hinder the Lands from passing out of the old owners hands for except it be by Marriages no man can acquire another man's Estate nor can any Grandee or Titulado or any other Hidalgo there alienate or ingage his Paternal or Maternal Estate otherwise than for his Life nor can alter Tenures or extinguish Services or dismember Mannors for to this the Princes consent must be had which he never gives till the matter be debated in the Consejo de Camera which is no Junta or secret Consejo de Guerras but one wherein the great men of the Kingdom intervene and wherein the great matters concerning the preservation of the Government are transacted not relating to Foreign Provinces or Governments but to the kingdom of Castile and Leon of which I only speak now It is true there have been one or two exceptions against this severe Rule since the great calamities of Spain and two great Lordships have been sold the Marquisate del Monastero to an Assent ista Genoese and another to Sebastian Cortiza a Portuguese of the same Profession but both these have bought the intire Lordships without curtailing or altering the condition in which these two great Estates were before and notwithstanding this hath caused so much repining amongst the natural Godos as the Castilians call themselves still for glory that I believe this will never be drawn into an Example hereafter Now the Property remaining the same the Government doth so too and the King 's Domestick Government over his natural Spaniards is very gentle whatever it be in his Conquer'd Provinces and the Kings there have very great advantages of keeping their great men by whom they Govern in good temper by reason of the great Governments they have to bestow upon them both in Europe and the Indies which changing every three years go in an Age through all the Grandees which are not very numerous Besides Castile having been in the time of King Roderigo over-run and Conquered by the Moors who Governed there Despotically some hundreds of years before it could be recovered again by the old Inhabitants who fled to the Mountains When they were at length driven out the Count of Castile found a Tax set upon all Commodities whatsoever by the Moors in their Reign called Alcaval which was an easie matter to get continued when their old Government was restored by the Cortes or States and so it has continued ever since as the Excise has done here which being imposed by them who drove and kept out the King does now since his happy Restauration remain a Revenue of the Crown This Alcaval or Excise is a very great Revenue and so prevented for some time the necessities of the Crown and made the Prince have the less need of asking Relief of his People the ordinary cause of disgust so that the Cortes or Assembly of the States has had little to do of late though they are duly assembled every year but seldom contradict what is desired by the Prince for there are no greater Idolaters of their Monarch in the World than the Castilians are nor who drink deeper of the Cup of Loyalty so that in short the Government in Spain is as ours was in Queen Elizabeths time or in the first year after his now Majesties Return when the Parliament for a time Complimented the Prince who had by that means both his own Power and the Peoples which days I hope to see again upon a better and more lasting Foundation But before I leave Spain I must say a word of the Kingdom of Arragon which has not at all times had so quiet a state of their Monarchy as Castile hath enjoyed for after many Combustions which happened there concerning their Fueros and Privilegios which are their Fundamental Laws the King one day coming to his Seat in Parliament and making his demands as was usual they told him that they had a Request to make to him first and he withdrawing thereupon for he had no right of sitting there to hear their Debates they fell into discourse how to make their Government subsist against the encroachments of the Prince upon them and went very high in their Debates whch could not chuse but come to the king's ear who walked in a gallery in the same Palace to expect the issue and being in great Passion was seen to draw out his Dagger very often and thrust it again into the sheath and heard to say Sangre ha de costar which coming to the knowledg of the Estates they left off the Debate and sent some of their number to him to know what blood it should cost and whether he meant to murder any body He drew out his Dagger again and pointing it to his breast he said Sangre de Reys leaving them in doubt whether he meant that his Subjects would kill him or that he would do it himself However that Parliament ended very peaceably and a famous settlement was there and then made by which a great person was to be chosen every Parliament who should be as it were an Umpire between the King and his people for the execution of the Laws and the preservation of their Government their Fueros and Privilegios which are their Courts of Justice and their Charters This Officer was called El Justicia d' Arragon and his duty was to call together the whole Power of the Kingdom whenever any of the aforesaid Rights were by open force violated or invaded and to admonish the King whenever he heard of any clandestine Councils among them to that effect It was likewise made Treason for any person of what quality soever to refuse to repair upon due summons to any place where this Justicia should erect his Standard or to withdraw himself without leave much more to betray him or to revolt from him Besides in this Cortes or Parliament the old Oath which at the first Foundation of their State was ordered to be taken by the King at his admittance was again revived and which is in these words Nos que valemos tanto camo nos y podemos

People and when either the Militia which is given him for the execution and support of the Law shall be imploy'd by him to subvert it as in the case of Ship-Money it was or the Treasure shall be mis-apply'd and made the Revenue of Courtiers and Sycophants as in the time of Edward the Second or worthless or wicked People shall be put into the greatest places as in the reign of Richard the Second In this case though the Prince here cannot be questionable for it as the Kings were in Sparta and your Doges I believe would be yet it is a great violation of the trust reposed in him by the Government and a making that Power which is given him by Law unlawful in the Execution And the frequent examples of Justice inflicted in Parliament upon the King's Ministers for abusing the Royal Power shews plainly that such authority is not left in his hands to use as he pleases Nay there have befallen sad troubles and dangers to some of these Princes themselves who have abused their Power to the prejudice of the Subjects which although they are no way justifiable yet may serve for an Instruction to Princes and an example not to hearken to ruinous Councils for men when they are enraged do not always consider Justice of Religion passion being as natural to man as reason and vertue which was the Opinion of divine Machiavil To answer you then I say That though we do allow such Powers in the King yet since they are given him for edification and not destruction and cannot be abused without great danger to his Ministers and even to himself we may hope that they can never be abused but in a broken Government And if ours be so as we shall see anon the fault of the ill execution of our Laws is not to be imputed either to the Prince or his Ministers excepting that the latter may be as we said before justly punishable for not advising the Prince to consent to them ending the frame of which we shall talk more hereafter but in the mean time I will come to the Kings other Prerogatives as having all Royal Mines the being serv'd first before other Creditors where mony is due to him and to have a speedier and easier way than his Subjects to recover his debts and his Rents c. But to say all in one word when there arises any doubt whether any thing be the king's Prerogative or no this is the way of deciding it viz. To consider whether it be for the good and protection of the people that the King have such a Power For the definition of Prerogative is a considerable part of the Common Law by which Power is put into the Prince for the preservation of his People And if it be not for the good of his Subjects it is not Prerogative not Law for our Prince has no Authority of his own but what was first intrusted in him by the Government of which he is Head nor is it to be imagined that they would give him more Power than what was necessary to Govern them For example the power of pardoning Criminals condemned is of such use to the Lives and Estates of the People that without it many would be exposed to die unjustly As lately a poor Gentleman who by means of the Harangue of a Strepitous Lawyer was found guilty of Murder for a Man he never kil'd or if he had the fact had been but Man-slaughter and he had been inevitably murdered himself if his Majesty had not been graciously pleased to extend his Royal Mercy to him As he did likewise vouchsafe to do to a Gentleman convicted for speaking words he never utter'd or if he had spoken them they were but foolishly not malitiously spoken On the other side if a Controversie should arise as it did in the beginning of the last Parliament between the House of Commons and the Prerogative-Lawyers about the choice of their Speaker these latter having interested his Majesty in the Contest and made him by consequence disoblige in limine a very Loyal and a very Worthy Parliament and for what for a Question which if you will decide it the right way will be none for setting aside the Presidents and the History when the Crown first pretended to any share in the Choice of a Speaker which Argument was very well handled by some of the Learned Patriots then I would have leave to ask what man can shew and what reason can be alledged why the protection and welfare of the People should require that a Prerogative should be in the Prince to chuse the Mouth of the House of Commons when there is no particular person in his whole Dominion that would not think it against his interest if the Government had given the King Power to nominate his Bayliff his Attorney or his Referree in any Arbitration Certainly there can be no advantage either to the Soveraign or his Subjects that the person whose Office it is to put their deliberations into fitting words and express all their requests to his Majesty should not be entirely in their own Election and appointment which there is the more reason for too because the Speakers for many years past have received Instructions from the Court and have broken the Priviledges of the House by revealing their Debates Adjourning them without a Vote and committed many other Misdemeanours by which they have begotten an ill understanding between the King and his House of Commons to the infinite prejudice both of his Majesties Affairs and his People Since I have given this rule to Judge Prerogative by I shall say no more of it for as to what concerns the King's Office in the Intervals of Parliament it is wholly Ministerial and is barely to put in Execution the Common Law and the Statutes made by the Soveraign Power that is by Himself and the Parliament without varying one tittle or suspending abrogating or neglecting the Execution of any Act whatsoever and to this he is Solemnly Sworn at his Coronation And all his Power in this behalf is in him by Common Law which is Reason it self written as well in the hearts of rational Men as in the Lawyers Books Noble Ven. Sir I have heard much talk of the Kings Negative Voice in Parliaments which in my Opinion is as much as a Power to frustrate when he pleases all the endeavours and labours of his People and to prevent any good that might accrue to the Kingdom by having the right to meet in Parliament for certainly if we in Venice had placed any such Prerogative in our Duke or in any of our Magistracies we could not call our selves a free People Eng. Gent. Sir I can answer you as I did before that if our Kings have such a Power it ought to be used according to the true and genuine intent of the Government that is for the Preservation and Interest of the people and not for the disappointing the Counsels of a Parliament towards reforming

there were an Army Landed in this Island yet that we must begin there before we are fit to repulse them or defend our selves And the fear and sense of this People universally is that if we should have any War either for our own Concerns or for those of our Allies whilst Matters remain as they do at home it would certainly come to this pass that either being beaten we should subject this Kingdom to an Invasion at a time when we are in a very ill condition to repell it or else if we were Victorious that our Courtiers and Counsellors in fragrante or as the French cry d'emble would employ that Mettle and good Fortune to try some such Conclusions at home as we have been discoursing of And therefore if any War should be undertaken without Parliament you should see the People rejoyce as much at any disaster our Forces should receive as they did when the Scots seized the four Northern Counties in 1639. Or before that when we were beaten at the Isle of Rhee or when we had any Loss in the last War with Holland And this Joy is not so unnatural as it may seem to those who do not consider the Cause of it which is the breach of our old Government and the necessity our Governors are under to make some new experiments And the fear we are in that any Prosperity may make them able to try them either with Effect or at least with Impunity Which Consideration made a Court-Droll say lately to His Majesty who seemed to wonder why his subjects hated the French so much Sir it is because you love them and espouse their Interest And if you would discover this Truth clearly you may please to make War with the King of France and then you shall see that this People will not only love them take their parts and wish them Success but will exceedingly rejoyce when they are Victorious in sinking your Ships or defeating your Forces And this is sufficient to answer your Proposal for Alliances abroad and for a War with France Besides this to wind all up in a Word it is not to be imagined that so good and wise a Prince as we have at this time should ever be induced when he comes to understand perfectly his own Condition to let his own Interest granting his Power to be so which is very false contest with the Safety and Preservation of his People for which only it was given him or that he will be any way tenacious of such Prerogatives as now by a natural Revolution of Political Circumstances are so far from continuing useful to his Governing the People that they are the only Remora and Obstacle of all Government Settlement and Order For His Majesty must needs know that all Forms of regulating Mankind under Laws were ordained by God and Man for the Happiness and Security of the Governed and not for the Interest and Greatness of those who rule unless where there is Melior Natura in the Case So God Governs Man for his own Glory only and Men Reign over Beasts for their own Use and Service and where an Absolute Prince rules over his own Servants whom he feeds and pays as we have said or the Master of a great and numerous Family Governs his Houshold they are both bound by the Law of God and Nature and by their own Interest to do them Justice and not Insaevire or Tyranize over them more than the necessity of preserving their Empire and Authority requires Doct. But Sir considering the difficulty which will be found in the King and possibly in the Parliament too to come up to so great an alteration at the first and the danger that may happen by our remaining long in this unsetled Condition which does hourly expose us to innumerable hazards both at home and from abroad why may we not begin and lay the Foundation now by removing all His Majesty's present Council by Parliament which is no new thing but hath been often practised in many Kings Reigns Eng. Gent. First the Council that is the Privy Council which you mean is no part of our Government as we may have occasion to shew hereafter nor is the King obliged by any Fundamental Law or by any Act of Parliament to hearken to their Advice or so much as to ask it and if you should make one on purpose besides that it would not be so effectual as what we may propose it would be full as hard to go down either with King or Parliament But besides all this you would see some of these Counsellours so nominated by Parliament perhaps prove honest and then they would be forced to withdraw as some lately did because they found I suppose that till the Administration be alter'd it is impossible that their Councils can be imbraced or any thing be acted by them which may tend to the good of their Country those who have not so great a sence of Honour and Integrity will be presently corrupted by their own Interest whilst the Prince is left in possession of all those baits and means to answer such Mens ectpectations It being most certain that if you have a musty Vessel and by consequence dislike the Beer which comes out of it and draw it out causing the Barrel to be immediately fill'd with good and sound Liquor it is certain by experience that both your new Drink and all that ever you shall put into the Cask till it be taken in pieces and the Pipes shaved and new model'd will be full as musty and unsavoury as the first which you found fault with Noble Ven. Now Sir I think we are at an end of our Questions and I for my part am convinced that as the King cannot better himself any way by falling out with his people at this time so that his goodness and wisdom is such that he will rather chuse to imitate the most glorious and generous of his predecessors as Edward the First and Edward the Third than those who were of less worth and more unfortunate as Edward the Second and Richard the Second And therefore we are now ready to hear what you would think fit to ask of so excellent a Prince Eng. Gent. I never undertook to be so presumptuous there is a Parliament to sit speedily and certainly they are the fittest every way to search into such matters and to anticipate their wisdom would be unreasonable and might give them just offence But because all this tittle tattle may not go for nothing I shall presume to give you my thoughts how the Cure must be wrought without descending to particulars The Cause Immediate as we have said of our Disease is the inexecution of our Laws and it is most true that when that is alter'd for the better and that all our Laws are duly executed we are in health for as we can never have the entire benefit of them till our Government is upon a right Basis so whenever we enjoy this happiness to