Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	england_n	lord_n	say_a	2,736	5	7.0886	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36083	A discourse concerning excommunication, as executed by officials, and concerning the common law writts, de excommunicato capiendo and de cautione admittenda, for the punishment of persons excommunicated and their deliverance from the punishment vvherin is examined whether the execution of the former as executed by many, be not a profanation of a great ordinance of God, whether by the second the subjects is many cases be not unwarrantably oppressed : as also by the difficult granting of the other, which is a common law writt, and the right of every subject to be obtained without difficulty : discoursed in a letter to an honourable friend / by one who is a friend to English liberty.	One who is a friend to English liberty.	1680 (1680)	Wing D1579; ESTC R6708	18,986	26

if he be kept there on no other account Our forefathers ordained that both these Writts might be had with sicut alias pluries and not resting here ordered an Attachment against the Sheriff in case he refused to yield obedience to the VVritt which Attachment is in the Register thus The King to His Coroners in the County of K. Greeting If W. of W. Clerk c. Causeth you c. Then put c. W. the High Sheriff of our County aforesaid to give security that he shall be before us such a day to shew Cause why whereas we lately commanded the body of the aforesaid William to be Imprisoned according to the custom of England upon the Bishop of Ely his denunciation of him as Excommunicate and contemning the Authority of the Church until he should satisfie the Holy Church c. and we hearing that although the aforesaid W. often offered the Bishop fitting Caution c. yet he hath refused to accept it by reason of which we often commanded him our High Sheriff aforesaid in person to go to the said Bishop c. and that he should command the said A. to be delivered or signifie the cause to us why he disobeyed our commands c. or to appear before us c. and there to have our VVritt directed unto him yet the High Sheriff aforesaid despising our Command to do the premises or at least give us a reason why he would not or could not Execute the same or appear before us the day aforesaid and regarded not to make return of our VVritt as we hear to the manifest contempt both of us and our Commands aforesaid and the no small dammage and oppression of the said W. And we command you that you taking a fitting caution of the said W. for his obeying the Commands of the Church according to Law and deliver him from the Prison aforesaid if he be there detained upon that and no other account This Sir is the known Law of England in the case of persons so imprisoned nor is it possible any English Liberty should be more fortified But Sir My Lord Chancellor Hide to whom we are beholden for more of this nature then this by what Authority I cannot tell turned this VVritt of Common Justice to be granted readily and of course into a Writt of Discretion making an Order That it should not be granted but upon a Petition first offered for as to him or the Successive Lord Chancellors or Lord Keepers which Petition he took a liberty to grant or not to grant as he pleased VVe were beholden to him that he did not put the like restraint upon all other VVritts of Common Justice for he might have done it by the like Authority Hence this Writt is not gained but with great charge and difficulty I mean the first VVritt to the Bishop With what Justice this is done Sir I leave to you to determine When it is granted some Bishops have taken themselves to be at liberty whether to Obey it or no. Some have utterly refused it with the expression of great anger and threatning Persons that they should seek to come out of Prison that way that is by an established Common Law Writt Yet all that these men have to say against the Non-conformists is their not obeying the Law and what Law can be plainer then this or more strong and just When the Bishop hath thus refused which hath been often I beseech you Sir inquire what success they have had who have moved for the Second Writt to the High Sheriff It hath been often moved for I beseech you Sir inquire what the reason is that all His Majesties Subjects cannot obtain these Writts of Common Justice from Cursitors Why the VVritt de Excom capiendo flies about so freely and the VVritt de Cautione admittendâ is got so difficultly when the latter is as good Law and as much the demanders right as the former and the latter is for the Liberty of the Subjects person which all the Law of England highly favours and the former is for the restraint of it If Sir till a Statute can be obtained to procure good mens Liberty from an old Popish VVritt the Law must have its course on that hand I pray let it have its course on the other hand also and let us not have the Liberty of our persons at the mercy of every Register that wants Money Sir I would not be mistaken I very well know that in such Chancellours Court in the Court of the Arches and Delegates c. many great and weighty causes of great and momentous natures are heard and they at present have no engine no method of Law but by way of Excomunication prescribed to force the appearance of persons to answer charges or to force an obedience to their decrees I have nothing to doe to direct my Soveraign or a Parliament by what Courts or Judges such or such causes shall be tryed be they by whom his Majesty and his Parliament please nor is it reasonable that they should be without a Coercive power both for appearance at their commands and obedience to their Decrees Your Honourable Assembly knows how to reach them out a sword fit for their use though they take not this which God hath laid up as Sacred in his Sanctuary In our Common-Law there is Judgment by default in our little Courts there are Amerciaments In the High Court of Chauncery there is an Attachment and then a Writ of Rebellion May it please you Sir to put any of these swords into their hands But oh forbear this edged toole which wounds both soul and body and is not to be used but by them to whom and against them whom and in the manner wherein our Common Lord hath said smite and what you bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven I beg your pardon for so long a letter I should truly judge it tedious were it not upon an unusual subject and where the matter led me to it and did I not know your great zeal for the Glory of God the Subjects just Liberty and your compassion for many persons and families already undone and every day undoing if your Honourable Assembly cometh not seasonably in to their rescue Humbly committing them Sir together with your Honourable Assembly to the God of all Order and Government and the fountain of all wisdom I take my leave and rest Sir c. FINIS

tendring him a Caution for their future obedience to that command of the Ecclesiastical Court which they had disobeyed they should be discharged three legal Cautions were prescribed 1. By Pledge 2. By Bond 3. By Oath The Subject tendring any of these might be discharged by the old Law of England under the greatest Popish Tyrrany and Usurpation The Law further provided a Writ if the Bishop refused the Caution to command him to take it I will transcribe it as I find it in the Register of Writs immediatly following the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo as they say the God of Nature hath in some Countreys planted Antidotes in view of poysonous plants v. Reg. Bren. Orig. Judicialium Londini 1634. It hath this Rubrick Si Episcopus idoneam cautionem de parendo mandatis Ecclesiae ab hujusmodi excommunicato imprisonato admittere recusaverit volens ipsum per prisonam gravare Tunc mittat amicum ad Curiam fiat ei Breve sic That is If the Bishop having a mind to oppress the party shall refuse to accept a fit Caution then let him send any friend to the Court and let a Writ be made to him thus Whence I observe 1. That even in those times Officials were for keeping Persons in Prison contrary to all Law and Justice 2. That to remedy that Evil this Common Law Writt was invented 3. That it is of the same Authority and as much Law as the Writt de Excommunicato capiendo 4. That it is not a Writt of Discretion which may be g●anted or refused as Officers please and therefore to be obtained by Petitions or Motions but a Writt of Common Justice which ought not to be denied by Cursitors to any Friend of the Imprisoned Person coming to the Cursitor and demanding it 5. One thing I might further add that it is upon the point the only remedy provided in Law for persons thus imprisoned The party is not remediable by action or indictment upon Magna Charta because though he be not imprisoned by the Verdict of his Peers yet he is imprisoned per Legem terrae by the Custom of England nor by the Writt de Homine replegiando because that runs Vnless the party be imprisoned for something for which according to the custom of England he is not repleviable which is the case here nor by the Witt de Odio Atia for it is hard to make out that such a Person is imprisoned out of malice though he indeed be so Nor by any VVritt of Supersedeas Indeed by the VVritt of Habeas Corpus a person thus imprisoned may bring himself before the Judges at Westminster but they shall only judge whether he be justly Excommunicated from the Significavit which is before them If the significavit saith it is for contempt of the Court being legally cited to answer for such Crimes as are Cognoscible in that Court whether he were ever legally cited or no The Judges cannot relieve him the parties Remedy lies against the Official by Action of the case and if he tryeth that way if the Apparitor hath sworn in the Court that he did duly cite him whether he did or no No action will lye but against the Apparitor which is a lamentable remedy If indeed it be contained in the significavit that he hath been accused for Crimes which have been legally proved and he admonished and not obeyed but suffered himself to be Excommunicated and stood so forty dayes And the party can make it appear That the pretended Crimes were no Crimes or not cognoscible in that Court or that they were not legally proved by two VVitnesses or that they have been pardoned or that he offered the Bishop caution and he hath refused or that he did not stand Excommunicated 40 dayes or that the VVritt of Excommunicato capiendo was not legally taken out as is limited by the Stat. 5. Eliz. 23. Or that he hath appealed according to Law in these cases he may be relieved by Habeas Corpus or it may be a less chargeable way by Supersedeas of which yet I am not certain if the VVritt be Executed but the true legal relief of the Subject if the Bishop refuseth Caution I take to be by this VVrit de cautione admittenda Though it be advisable for every Excommunicated person as soon as his Excommunication is published to send one or two to the Bishop and to offer a Cautionary bond which by Law he ought to take if he refuseth it may be advisable for him as soon as he heareth the VVritt is out against him to move for a supersedeas upon that suggestion or a Prohibition if it will bear it if not without more adoe to yield himself a Prisoner and then bring this VVritt de Cautione admittenda you shall find the VVritt in the Register of Writt Printed in Lat. 1634. p. 66. in English thus The King to the Venerable c. On the behalf of A. whom upon your denunciation we have commanded by our High Sheriff to be Imprisoned as a person excommunicate and contemning the Keys of the Church until he shall give Satisfaction to Holy Church as well for his contempt as for the injury done unto it It hath been shewed us that although A. aforesaid hath often offered you a fitting Caution for his obeying the Legal Commands of the Church that so he might have the benefit of absolution yet you to our admiration have hitherto refused to accept such Caution And because we will not have the said A. detained in Prison against Justice VVe Command you to accept the aforesaid Caution and deliver A. from the Prison in which he is detained upon the aforesaid Account Otherwise we will do what is our part to perform Our wise Ancestors foresaw some Bishops might refuse Obedience to the Kings VVritt and in that case they provided that the Prisoner should have a second VVritt directed to the High Sheriff of the County The tenor of which in English is thus as it stands upon Record in the Register of VVritts in the place aforementioned The King to the High Sheriff of the County of L. Greeting On the part of A. whom we Commanded you to Imprison according to the custom of England as being Excommunicated and contemning the Authority of the Church until he should satisfie c. And it was shewed us that although the aforesaid A. often offered the Bishop a fitting Caution c. yet the said Bishop which we wonder at refused to accept the said Caution c. Because we will not that the said A. should longer be kept in Prison contrary to Justice we Command you to go in person to the Bishop aforesaid and in our Name admonish him and effectually declare Our Will unto him that taking the Caution of the aforesaid A. he command the aforesaid A. to be delivered from the prison aforesaid And if the said Bishop refuse in your presence to do it do you Command A. to be delivered from the Prison aforesaid