Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	great_a	king_n	lord_n	8,214	5	3.8032	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33726	Legal and other reasons (with all humility) presented to His most Excellent Majesty, King Charles II. and to both his Honorable Houses of Parliament, why the subjects of England, should not be imprisoned for debt or damages, or any thing thereunto relating	Cole, William, 1615 or 16-1698.	1675 (1675)	Wing C5034; ESTC R214940	11,718	16

LEGAL and other REASONS With all Humility Presented to His Most Excellent Majesty King Charles II. AND TO Both His Honorable Houses OF PARLIAMENT WHY THE SUBJECTS of ENGLAND Should not be Imprisoned FOR Debt or Damages Or any thing thereunto relating LONDON Printed in the year MDCLXXV Legal and other Reasons with all humility presented to His Most Excellent Majesty King Charles the Second and to both His Honorable Houses of Parliament why the Subjects of England should not be Imprisoned for Debt or Damages or any thing thereunto relating IT is evidently and undeniably plain that by the Ancient Common Law of the Land the Bodies of any of the people of England could not at the Sute of any Subject be Arrested Imprisonned or any of them Outlawed for Debt or Damages or any thing thereunto relating as clearly appears not only by our Antient Laws but by the Authority of these two great Sages of the Law the Lord Chief Justice Coke in his Third Report fol. 11 12. and the Lord Dyer An. 23 Eliz. 305. b. the which also by Magna Charta Chap. 29. that great Expositor of our Antient Laws was in affirmation of the Antient Common Law with great and 〈◊〉 circumspection provided against and not only not as much as thought on before the Conq●est but was abhorred in the least to be practised from that time and the time of the birth of that explanatory Law which was in the Ninth year of the Reign of King Henry the Third until many Ages after there being variety of great weighty and pregnant Reasons for the preservation of that greatest Liberty and Priviledge of the Subject the freedome of their Persons from Imprisonment and as well those Antient Laws before the Conquest as the Laws until the making of the great Charter and threescore years after were in that particular with all studious and sedulous care inviolably observed as an eminent and signal Badge of the immunitie and heroick freedome of the English Nation who were then deservedly called libera gens and lived so and in so great an happy Splendor to the envious admiration of the rest of the Christian World and to the eternal honor of our Ancestors without being subject to any such Imprisonment not only all the time of William the Conquerors Reign which was above Twenty years but one hundred fourscore and forteen years after his death and until the Statute of Westminster the second Chapter the 11. made in the Thirteenth year of King Edward the First invented a Capias and a new Process of Outlawry which from that time was full so many years the Statute of the two and fiftieth of Henry the Third Chap. 23. although the first that ever made any English Mans person subject to such Arrest● yet it being only against Baylifs of particular Lords I lay no great stress on but that breach and inroad being once made into and upon the Common Law by the Statute of Westminster the Second gave encouragement to the unhappy production of another Statute made in the twenty fifth year of the Reign of King Edward the Third Chap. 17. by which it was Enacted that such Process should be made in Debt and detinue of Chattels and by process of Exigent as was then used in in Writs of Accompt which were two such keen Laws that they not only Invaded but cut in sunder the choycest Liberty of the Subject by submitting the persons of the then free people of England to the cruelty of Imprisonment for Debt and Damages but the same wise King Edward the Third of whom the Lord Chief Justice Coke in the second part of his Institutes fol. 29 gives this Character That King Henry the Second Edward the First and Edward the Third were all of them Princes of great Fortitude Wisdome and Justice that governed by their Laws but that in the Reign of King Edward the Third the Laws did principally flourish who saith he was a Noble Wise and Wa 〈…〉 Prince This prudent Prince I say looking deliberately into the Wounds those Statutes had given to the honor and happiness of the Kingdom and to that ancient and most venerable part of the Common Law which preserved his Subjects persons from Imprisonment and the very many Kings Reigns and Ages without any the least interruption which that glorious and famous Liberty had prosperously continued and as it were repenting of the making of the said bitter Statute of the twenty fifth year of his own Raign and he and his Parliament finding the mischievous inconveniences and dishonor that it had put upon the people and resolving to file those Shakles from off the Subjects feet and to reinvest them into the Liberty and freedome of their persons from imprisonment according to the common Law of the Land by that gracious healing Statute made in the two and fortieth year of the Reign of the same King Edward the Third Chap. 1. those two Raizor metled cutting rigorous Laws were as to such Imprisonment as aforesaid by the opinion of many and by the general construction of Law and the true intendment hereof Repealed which declared that the Great Charter should be holden and kept in all points and if any Statute be made to the contrary that it should be holden for none which said last mentioned Statute was according to common construction intended fully to restore the brightness and luster of the ancient Common Law and to support and maintain the strength and vigor of that Standard of Law and Justice the Great Charter which not only asserts His Majesties just Rights and Prerogative Royal but defends and preserves the Freedom and just Liberties of the people which as the same Author in his Preface to his second Institute tells us hath been confirmed by two and thirty Acts of Parliament and not only so but by the Statute of the twenty fifth of Edward the First the same is to be taken as the Common Law But the seting up and creation of the great numbers of Offices and Officers and the herds of persons which those most severe Laws Westminster the Second and the Statute of the twenty fifth of Edward the Third had most advantageously preferred almost in every City Town and Village of the Kingdome had so fix'd fastned and rivited such Multitudes of persons many of them of very great and eminent quality and interest in places of great and tempting gain which had made so deep an impression upon the minds of that prevalent and powerful part of the Kingdome who had thereby plentifully enricht themselves that notwithstanding the said Statute of the two and foroftieth Edw. the Third so intentionally composed as aforesaid for the manumitting of the people of England as 〈◊〉 from the thraldome of a Prison as otherwise to preserve their Liberty they went on to Imprison the Bodies of the Subject which hath ever since been practised not only by vertue of those two Laws Westminster the Second and the twenty fifth of Edward the Third

but that of Acton Burnell and the Statute de mercatoribus touching Arrests upon Statutes Staple and Merchant and by other Laws built upon them which contrary to the antient Common Law as is very plain doth continue the invassilation of Imprisonment against and upon all the free born Subjects of England except the Lords and they themselves in some case as the Law by some is holden to be are not exempted neither for if a Nobleman be Outlawed as it is holden he may be arrested and Imprisoned and until the Outlawry be reverst is not only incapable to sit in the House of Peers but all his personal Estate is forfeited and his Lands in the same condition with any other Subject So that it is indisputably clear how great an Intrenchment the Imprisonment of Mens persons is upon the honor of the antient Common Law of which as the Lord Chief Justice Coke saith the Great Charter is but declaratory and as a late Writer from good authority tells us did not grant any thing de Novo but that thereby our antient Laws and Liberties were only repeated and confirmed and indeed all those our Ancestors maintai●ed not only with indefatigable prudential care and industry but with the vast expence of Blood and Treasure witness the more then twenty years intestine Bloody Civil War in the Reign of King Iohn and in the end the confirmation of those Laws and Liberties by the same King in the face of the Nobility and other the great Men of the Kingdome and of an infinite multitude of other the free people of England as saith Brittaine fol. 219. So that there wants nothing to make it fully demonstrable that by our Ancestors magnanimity and resolved courage in maintaining the antient Common Law they and their Posterity were not only establisht in their just Rights but were preserved from such Imprisonment for Debt or Damages or any thing thereunto relating two hundred and fourteen years after the Norman Conquest which now is inflicted upon many thousands of His Majesties Good Loyal and Faithful Subjects to the utter ruine of them their Families and Relations whilst those who have lined their Iron Consciences with nothing but their profit and their Chests throughout with the Wealth of the Kingdome which they have gotten by the late unhappy differences and troubles smile to see those who have sacrificed their Bloods nay themselves and theirs in and to His Majesties faithful Services 〈◊〉 up by many of them in disconsolate and loathsome Prisons and thereby made useless nothings to the World and themselves Whereas if we cast our eyes back into the Reigns of the Saxon Kings we shall find that those Martial Wise and Wary Princes King Ina King Echelston and after them all the Saxon Kings according to the ancient British Laws were so very tender of the Imprisonment of Mens persons that they did not punish their very Bond-Men with it And King Alfrede displaced and Imprisoned one of his Judges for daring so to do and when the Government devolved and came to the Normans William the Conqueror William Rufus and Henry the First took such exact care to preserve this liberty un-infringed that in their Reigns not any person was Imprisoned although for mortal crime it self unless he were first attainted upon the Verdict of twelve Men. And additional to all this many ages after the Conquest by the ancient Common Law the Writ de Odio Atia was given to a Man that was Imprisoned although for an hainous Crime for the death of a Man yet the Law in that golden age in favor and out of an high esteem it had of the Liberty of a Man and that his Body should not be detained in Prison until the Justices in Eyre should come he might sue out this Writ directed to the Sheriff and although the offence for which he was committed was not baylable by Law yet the ancient Common Law did so highly hate and abominate the long Imprisonments of Men that it gave him this Writ for his relief which appears by Bracton in his third Book fol. 121. and by Fleta in his first Book Chap. 14. And with whom also Glanvell agreeth in his forteenth Book Chap. 3. And the Myrror of Iustice a Book of great Antiquity and Estimation in the Law as well as the Books before cited Chap. 5. Sect. 1. complains of the Imprisonment of Mens Persons as an abuse although it had been for breaking of a Goal Now for that it is clear as the light how highly valuable and dearly precious the Liberties of Mens persons were by the Common Law of the Land it is in most humble and submissive manner proposed that as well for the general good of all His Majesties Subjects as for Prisoners the antient Common Law may be restored and that great Liberty of the Freedome of all the Subjects of England and Wales from Imprisonment for Debt or Damages may by the Grace and Favor of His Majesty and of both His Honorable Houses of Parliament be again retreived and brought back with Honor to the people of this Kingdome and that the ancient forms and ways for recovery of Debts may be as for several hundred of years it was by Original Writ distress infinite Fieri facias and Levari facias and as by the ancient Common Law it continued with great and happy peace and tranquillity for such great length of time as aforesaid And certainly great reason it is that it should be so all Debts and Damages being to be properly had out of the Estate of the Debtor and not his Person It is said by the Lord Chief Justice Coke in his third Report fol. 11 12. that the Common Law hath and had its foundation laid and built upon the true grounds of Reason and that being granted as of necessity it must then it will consequentially follow that it were an Act of as much Honor as Justice to restore to the people of England the possession of the Inheritance and birth rights which they all have in and to the ancient Common Laws of England and of which they have so long and unhappily been diseised who indeed have too long already groaned under the very miserable alteration thereof by such the Imprisonment of Men as aforesaid And indeed the very large vast and sufficiently known great Prudence truly wise Apprehensions and Princely compassion of His late Majesty of ever precious and glorious memory now in Heaven towards his Subjects were such that it is eminently known that had not the unhappy eruption of the late Civil War prevented it the bent of his full resolutions were to have intimated his recommends to the Parliament for the discharge of all Prisoners for Debt or Damages and the absolute taking away of all Arrests and Outlawries upon some reasonable compensation to be made for the emoluments that thereby came to his Crown which was then hoped would have gone under no great difficulty to have been done and is now with as

acquainted with their often repeated kindnesses in the light and shine of their prosperities and truly since thousands of known great and grievous Offenders by His Majesty and His happy Parliaments Mercy made a large and plentiful Meal on the Viands of His and their gracious compassion whose Carcases otherwise must by the known rule of Justice have fed the Fire and Birds of prey it goes under not only more than probable hopes but a becoming confidence That all His Majesties good Subjects that are now indurance in any Prison of England and Wales for Debt or Damages or any thing thereunto relating or at least all such as will so as aforesaid part with all their Estates both real and personal for the satisfaction of their Creditors and such as are so in Prison and have not Estates of the value of ten pounds may be participants of His Majesties and His Parliaments gracious and serene compassion according to the said Bill so drawn as aforesaid for that purpose or by such other Act Way or Means as may best sute and agree with their great Wisdomes which is by very great numbers of Prisoners for Debt now fastned 〈◊〉 to the several Prisons of England in diminution lessening and even degrading of the Antient Famous and Renowned Laws thereof with all Humility Duty and Obedience not only Recommended and Presented but at their feet most humbly submitted prostrated and laid down And with the same most Humble and Dutiful Obedience of a truly Loyal and Faithful Subject WILLIAM COLE A SVMMARY or COMPENDIVM OF The ACT before-mentioned FOR PRISONERS That will part with all their ESTATES both Real and Personal for the Satisfaction of their CREDITORS THat it may be lawful for the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper for the time being upon Request to him by such Prisoner to be made to issue out Commissions to be directed to such Persons as shall be thought fit authorizing them or any three or more of them in their respective Counties to Summon and send for the Creditors of all such person and persons as now is or are in prison or at any time during this Session of Parliament shall be in Prison in any of the Prisons in England and Wales upon any Action or Actions upon Measne Process for Debt Accounts or Trespass which actions by a prosecution of Law may come to be Judgements for Debts or Damages or that have Judgements entered of Record against them or charged in Execution or imprisoned upon Attachments for Debts or upon Outlawries before or after Judgements for Debt or upon Statutes Recognizances Extents or upon any other Action or any other Process whatsoever issuing out of any Court of Law or Equity for the cause of Debt or Damages or Costs or for Money ordered or decreed in any Court of Equity at the suit of any person or persons whatsoever or upon or by reason of any Process issuing upon them any or either of them respectively as well those persons for whose Debt and Debts the said Prisoner and Prisoners is and are imprisoned as all other person and persons to whom such Prisoner and Prisoners is or stands indebted As also to send for such Prisoner or Prisoners by Summons to come before them which Summons the Prison-Keepers are to obey upon the penalty of 100 l. And at the same time to certify the Cause and Causes of such Prisoners imprisonment And the Commissioners after the examination of such Prisoner are to Remand him to Prison That if such Creditor be dead an Infant or of Non-sane memory then to summon the Executors Administrators or Guardian of such Creditor Requiring also such Prison-keeper to bring such Prisoner to such place as the Commissioners shall appoint where the said Commissioners shal Treat with such Creditors touching their Debts that so a proportionable distribution may be to them made of the said Prisoners Estate the Apparell of such Prisoner and also necessaries for his Trade excepted out of his personal Estate That if any of the Creditors shall refuse or neglect to come before the said Commissioners or some for them having had twenty days notice inclusive and Oath made thereof the said Commissioners to be impowered to finish such alottment such Creditors absence notwithstanding That the said Commissioners be impowered to examine the said Prisoner upon Oath for the discovery of his Estate and to send for such Books Evidences and Writings as they think fit and to examine Witnesses upon Oath to the end that they may make a true discovery of the Prisoners Estate which is so to be done within six Kalender months after their first sitting or sooner if it may be That the said Commissioners be authorized to apportion all such Estate amongst the Creditors proportionably by sale of the Estate or otherwise which sale or other disposition shall be good against the Prisoner's Heirs Executors c. and to be divided within three months after the end of the said six months or sooner if it can be done And that the said Commissioners be impowered to assign the Debts and Estate of such Prisoner to such Persons as they shall think fit for the use of the Creditors a twentieth part so to be sold to be allotted to the Prisoner for present maintainance and for some small foundation for future living That Mortgages shall be first payed by the Estate so Mortgaged That after the apportioning of such Prisoners Estate the Prisoner shall be discharged and that such part of the Prisoners Estate as shall be allotted to the Creditors shall be in full satisfaction of such Creditors Debt That such Creditors as shall not appear before the said Commissioners or some for them before such Divident be made having had such notice as aforesaid and Oath made thereof shall be utterly and for ever precluded from the recovering of his said Debt against the said Prisoner his Executors c. That a Writing under the Hands and Seals of the Commissioners expressing the discharge of such Prisoner shall be a full Discharge to him against his Creditors and another Writing signifying such Prisoners Discharge directed to the Prison-keeper shall be a sufficient Warrant for him to discharge such Prisoner which he is to do within two days without payment of any Fees but the Prisoners Chamber-rent is to be paid out of the Estate so to be sold or so much thereof as the Commissioners shall think fit That if any Action of Escape shall be brought against the Prison-keeper for the discharging of such Prisoner he may plead the general Issue and give this Act in Evidence and if the Plaintiff shall be Non-suted or a Verdict shall pass against him he is to pay the Defendant double Costs to be Taxed by the Court where the Action shall be brought That for the expediting the sale and other the disposition of such Prisoners Estate in order to the satisfaction of his Creditors without whose personal aid and assistance it will be of far the greater difficulty for