no new Laws bind the People of England but such as are by common consent agreed on in that great Council By the second He has a share in the Executive part of the Law no Causes being Tryed nor any man Adjudged to lose Life Member or Estate but upon the Verdict of his Peers or Equals his Neighbours and of his own Condition these two Grand Pillars of English Liberty are the Fundamental Vital Priviledges whereby we have been and are preserv'd more free and happy than any other People in the World and we trust shall ever continue so For whoever shall design to Impair Pervert or Undermine either of these do strike at the very Conisttution of our Government and ought to be Prosecuted and Punished with the utmost Zeal and Rigour To cut down the Banks and let in the Sea or to Poyson all the Springs and Rivers in the Kingdom could not be a greater Mischief for this would only affect the present Age but the other will Ruine and Enslave all our Posterity But besides these General Paramount Priviledges which the English are Estated in by the Original Constitution of their Government there are others more particularly declared and expressed in diverse Acts of Parliament of which several of the most remarkable and usefull are here presented at large to the Reader with some Notes thereupon for his better understanding of the same MAGNA CHARTA or the Great Charter made in the ninth Year of King Henry the Third and confirmed by King Edward the First in the eight and twentieth Year of his Reign EDward By the Grace of God King of England Lord of Ireland and Duke of Guyan To all Arch-Bishops Bishops c. We have seen the great Charter of the Lord Henry sometimes King of England our Father of the Liberties of England in these Words HEnry By the Grace of God King of England Lord of Ireland Duke of Normandy and Guyan and Earl of Anjou To all Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons Sheriffs Provosts Officers and to all Baysliffs and other our Faithful Subjects which shall see this present Charter Greeting Know you that We unto the Honour of Almighty God and for the Salvation of the Souls of our Progenitors and Successors Kings of England to the Advancement of Holy Church and Amendment of our Realm of our meer and free Will have Given and Granted to all Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons and to all Free-men of this our Realm these Liberties following to be kept in our Kingdom of England for ever CHAP. I. A Confirmation of Liberties FIrst We have granted to God and by this our present Charter have confirm'd for Us our Heirs for ever That the Church of England shall be free and shall have all her whole Rights and Liberties Inviolable 2 We have granted also and given to all the Free-men of our Realm for Us and our Heirs for ever these Liberties under-written to have and to hold to them and their Heirs for ever CHAP. II. The Relief of the Kings Tenant of full Age. IF any of our Earls or Barons or any other which Hold of Us in Chief by Knights Service dye and at the time of his Death his Heir be of full Age and oweth to us Relief he shall have his Inheritance by the old Relief that is to say the Heir or Heirs of an Earl for a whole Earldom by one hundred pound the Heir or Heirs of a Baron for an whole Barony by one hundred marks the Heir or Heirs of a Knight for one whole Knights Fee one hundred shillings at the most And he that hath less shall give less according to the old Custom of the Fees CHAP. III. The Wardship of an Heir within Age The Heir a Knight BUt if the Heir of any such be within Age his Lord shall not have the Ward of him nor of his Land before that he hath taken of him Homage 2. And after that such an Heir hath been in Ward when he is come to full Age that is to say to the Age of one and twenty Years he shall have his Inheritance without Relief and without time so that if such an Heir being within Age be made Knight yet nevertheless his Land shall remain in the keeping of his Lord unto the Term aforesaid CHAP. IV. No wast shall be made by a Guardian in Wards Lands THE Keeper of the Land of such an Heir being within Age shall not take of the Lands of the Heir but reasonable Issues reasonable Customs and Reasonable Services and that without destruction and waste of his Men and his Goods 2. And if we commit the Custody of any such Land to the Sheriff or to any other which is answerable unto us for the Issues of the same Land and he make destruction or waste of those things that he hath in Custody we will take of him amends and recompence therefore 3. And the Land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that Fee which shall answer unto Us for the Issues of the same Land or unto him whom we will Assign 4. And if we give or sell to any man the Custody of any such Land and he therein do make destruction or waste he shall lose the same Custody And it shall be Assigned to two lawful and discreet men of that Fee which also in like manner shall be answerable to Us as afore is said CHAP. V. Guardians shall maintain the Inheritance of their Wards And of Bishopricks THe Keeper so long as he hath the Custody of the Land of such an Heir shall keep up the Houses Parks Warrens Ponds Mills and other things pertaining to the same Land with the Issues of the said Land And he shall deliver to the Heir when he cometh to his full Age all his Land stored with Ploughs and all other things at the least as he receiv'd it All these things shall be observed in the Custody of Arch-Bishopricks Bishopricks Abbeys Priories Churches and Dignities vacant which appertain to Us Except this that such Custody shall not be sold CHAP. VI. Heirs shall be Married without Disparagement HEirs shall be Married without Disparagement CHAP. VII A Widow shall have her Marriage Inheritance and Quarentine The Kings Widow A Widow after the Death of her Husband Incontinent and without any difficulty shall have her Marriage and her Inheritance 2. And shall give nothing for her Dower her Marriage or her Inheritance which her Husband and She held the day of the Death of her Husband 3. And She shall tarry in the chief House of her Husband by forty days after the Death of her Husband within which days her Dower shall be Assigned her if it were not Assigned her before or that the House be a Castle 4. And if she depart from the Castle then a competent House shall be forthwith provided for her in the which She may honestly dwell until her Dower be to her Assigned as it is aforesaid And She shall have in the
five Year of our Reign Sententia lata super Chartas The Sentence of the Clergy against the Breakers of the Articles above written IN the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Amen Whereas our Sovereign Lord the King to the Honour of God and of Holy Church and for the common profit of the Realm hath granted for him and his Heirs for ever these Articles above written Robert Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all England admonished all his Province once twice and thrice Because that shortness will not suffer so much Delay as to give knowledge to all the People of England of these presents in Writing We therefore enjoyn all Persons of what Estate soever they be that they and every of them as much as in them is shall uphold and maintain these Articles granted by our Sov L. the K. in all points And all those that in any point do Resist or break or in any manner hereafter procure Counsel or any ways assent to resist or break those Ordinances or go about it by word or deed openly or privily by any manner of Pretence or Colour We the foresaid Arch-bishop by our Authority in this Writing expressed do Excommunicate and accurse and from the Body of our Lord Jesu Christ and from all the Company of Heaven and from all the Sacraments of Holy Church do Sequester and exclude NOTES It may be observed that this Curse is left out of our late Printed Statute-Book though inserted at large in that Printed in three Volumns in Queen Elizabeth's days Anno. 1557. There is likewise another like dreadful but more full and express Curse Solemnly pronounced before in the time of King Henry 3d. which being also omitted in our Modern Statute-Book I shall add here for the Readers satisfaction The Sentence or Curse given by the Bishops against the Breakers of the Great Charter IN the Year of our Lord One thousand two hundred and fifty three the Third day of May in the great Hall of the King at Westminster in the Presence and by the assent of the Lord Henry by the Grace of God King of England and the Lord Richard Earl of Cornwal his Brother Roger Bigot Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk Marshal of England Humphry Earl of Hereford Henry Earl of Oxford John Earl Warren and other Estates of the Realm of England William Boniface by the Mercy of God Arch-bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England F. of London H. of Ely S. of Worcester E. of Lincoln W. of Norwich G. of Hereford W. of Salisbury W. of Durham R. of Exeter M. of Carlile W. of Bath E. of Rochester T. of Saint Davids Bishops apparelled in Pontificials with Tapers burning against the Breakers of the Churches Liberties and of the Liberties or other Customs of the Realm of England and namely of those which are contained in the Charter of the Common Liberties of England and Charter of the Forrest have denounced the Sentence of Excommunication in this Form By the Authority of Almighty God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and of the Glorious Mother of God and perpetual Virgin Mary of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and of all Apostles and of all Martyrs of Blessed Edward King of England and of all the Saints of Heaven We Excommunicate Accurse and from the Benefits of our Holy Mother the Church we Sequester All those that hereafter willingly and maliciously deprive or spoil the Church of her Right And all those that by any Craft or Wiliness do Violate Break Diminish or Change the Churches Liberties and free Customs contained in the Charters of the Common Liberties and of the Forr est granted by our Lord the King to Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates of England and likewise to the Earls Barons Knights and other Freeholders of the Realm And all that secretly or openly by Deed Word or Council do make Statutes or observe them being made and that bring in Customs or keep them when they be brought in against the said Liberties or any of them the Writers the Law-makers Councellors and the Executioners of them and all those that shall presume to judge against them All and every which Persons before mentioned that wittingly shall commit any of the Premises let them well know that they incurr the foresaid Sentence ipso facto i. e. upon the Deed done And those that Commit ought ignorantly and be admonished except they reform themselves within 15 dayes after the time of the admonition and make full satisfaction for that they have done at the will of the Ordinary shall be from that time forth wrapped in the said Sentence and with the same Sentence we burden all those that presume to disturb the Peace of our Soveraign Lord the King and of the Realm To the perpetual Memory of which thing we the foresaid Prelates have put our Seals to these presents So Zealous were our Ancestors to preserve their Liberties from encroachments that they employed all the strength of humane Policy and Religious Obligations to secure them intire and inviolate And since this Act is still in as much force as the Act against Conventicles I cannot fadome the Reason why our Prelates should not as well hold themselves obliged twice a Year to accurse the Infringers thereof as to Prosecute Protestant Dissenters However we may note that by this Statute Chap. 2. it is expresly provided that if any Judgments be given from that time forwards against any of the points of Magna Charta they shall be annull'd and holden for nought therefore Quaere whether the conviction of Protestant Dissenters by a Justice and spoiling them of their goods without any Trial and Conviction by a Jury which is expresly against the 29 Chapter of Magna Charta ought not to be taken notice of and redress'd and the original Promoters thereof to be Curs'd by my Lords the Bishops as aforesaid A Statute made Anno 34 Edw. 1. commonly called de Tallageo non Concedendo CHAP. I. The King or his Heirs shall have no Tallage or Aid without consent of Parliament NO Tallage or Aid shall be taken or Levied by Us or our Heirs in our Realm without the good Will and Assent of Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls Barons Knights Burgesses and other Freemen of the Land CHAP. II. Nothing shall be purveyed to the Kings Vse without the Owners consent NO Officer of ours or of our Heirs shall take Corn Leather Cattel or any other Goods of any manner of Person without the good Will and Assent of the Party to whom the Goods belonged CHAP. III. Nothing shall be taken of Sacks of Wooll by Colour of Maletot NOthing from henceforth shall be taken of Sacks of Wooll by colour or occasion of Maletot CHAP. IV. All Laws Liberties and Customs confirmed WE Will and Grant for Us and our Heirs That all Clerks and Lay-men of our Land shall have their Laws Liberties and free Customs as largely and wholly as they have used to have the same at any time
no Man of what Estate or Condition soever he be shall be put out of his Lands or Tenements nor taken nor Imprisoned nor Dis-inherited without being brought in to Answer by due Process of Law 5. And by another Statute made in the two and fortieth year of the Reign of the said King Edward the Third it is Enacted That no Man be put to Answer without Presentment before Justices or matter of Record or by due Process and Writ Original according to the Old Law of the Land and if any thing be done to the contrary it shall be void in Law and holden for Errour 6. And by another Statute in the six and thirtieth year of the Reign of the same King Edward the Third it is amongst other things Enacted That all Pleas which shall be pleaded in any Courts before any of the King's Justices or in his other places or before any of his other Ministers or in the Courts and places of any other Lords within the Realm shall be Entred and Enrolled in Latine 7. And whereas by the Statute made in the third year of King Henry the Seventh Power is given to the Chancellor the Lord Treasurer of England for the time being and the Keeper of the Kings Privy Seal or two of them calling unto them a Bishop and a Temporal Lord of the King 's Most Honourable Council and the Two Chief Justices of the King's Bench and Common Pleas for the time being or other two Justices in their Absence to proceed as in that Act is expressed for the punishment of some particular Offences therein mentioned 8. And by the Statute made in the one and twentyeth year of King Henry the Eighth the President of the Council is Associated to joyn with the Lord Chancellour and other Judges in the said Statute of the Third of Henry the Seventh mentioned 9. But the said Judges have not kept themselves to the points limited by the said Statute but have undertaken to punish where no Law doth warrant and to make Decrees for things having no such Authority and to Inflict heavier punishments than by any Law is warranted 2. And forasmuch as all matters Examinable or Determinable before the said Judges or in the Court commonly called the Star-Chamber many have their proper Remedy and Address their due punishment and correction by the Common Law of the Land and in the ordinary course of Justice elsewhere 2. And forasmuch as the Reasons and Motives inducing the Erection and Continuance of that Court do now cease 3. And the Proceedings Censures and Decrees of that Court have by Experience been found to be an Intollerable Burthen to the Subject and the means to Introduce an Arbitrary Power and Government 4. And forasmuch as the Council-Table hath of late times assumed unto it self a Power to Intermeddle in Civil and matters only of private Interest between Party and Party have adventured to determin of the Estates and Liberties of the Subjects contrary to the Law of the Land and the Rights and Priviledges of the Subject by which great and manifold mischiefs and inconveniences have arisen and happened and much Incertainty by means of such proceedings hath been conceived concerning mens Rights and Estates for settling whereof and preventing the like in time to come 3. Be it Ordained and Enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament That the said Court commonly called the Star-Chamber and all Jurisdiction Power and Authority belonging unto or Exercised in the same Court or by any the Judges Officers or Ministers thereof be from the first day of August in the Year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred forty and one clearly and absolutely dissolved taken away and determined 2. And that from the said first day of August neither the Lord Chancellour or Keeper of the Great Seal of England the Lord Treasurer of England the Keeper of the Kings privy Seal or President of the Council nor any Bishop Temporal Lord privy Councellour or Judge or Justice whatsoever shall have any power or Authority to hear examine or determine any matter or thing whatsoever in the said Court commonly called the Star-Chamber or to make pronounce or deliver any Judgment Sentence Order or Decree or to do any Judicial or Ministerial Act in the said Court 3. And that all and every Act and Acts of Parliament and all and every Article clause and Sentence in them and every of them by which any Jurisdiction Power or Authority is given Limited or appointed unto the said Court commonly called the Star-Chamber or unto all or any the Judges Officers or Ministers thereof or for any Proceedings to be had or made in the said Court or for any matter or thing to be drawn into question Examined or determined there shall for so much as concerneth the said Court of Star-Chamber and the power and Authority thereby Given unto it be from the said first day of August Repealed and Absolutely Revoked and made void 4. And be it likewise Enacted That the like Jurisdiction now used and Exercised in the Court before the President and Council in the Marches of Wales 2. and also in the Court before the President and Council Established in the Northern parts 3. and also in the Court commonly called the Court of the Dutchy of Lancaster held before the Chancellour and Council of that Court 4. And also in the Court of Exchequer of the County Palatine of Chester held before the Chamberlain and Council of that Court 5. The like Jurisdiction being Exercised there shall from the said first day of August one thousand six hundred forty and one be also Repealed and Absolutely Revoked and made void any Law prescription Custom or Usage or the said statute made in the third year of King Henry the Seventh or the statute made the one and twentieth of Henry the Eighth or any Act or Acts of Parliament heretofore had or made to the Contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding 6. And that from henceforth no Court Council or place of Judicature shall be Erected Ordained constituted or appointed within this Realm of England or Dominion of Wales which shall have use or Exercise the same or the like Jurisdiction as is or hath been used practised or Exercised in the said Court of Star-Chamber 5. Be it likewise declared and Enacted by Authority of this present Parliament That neither His Majesty nor his Privy Council have or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power or Authority by English Bill Petition Articles Libel or any other Arbitrary way whatsoever to Examine or draw into question determine or dispose of the Lands Tenements Hereditaments goods or Chattels of any of the Subjects of this Kingdom but that the same ought to be tryed and determined in the ordinary Courts of Justice and by the ordinary course of the Law 6. And be it further provided and Enacted That If any Lord Chancellor or Keeper of the Great Seal of England Lord Treasurer Keeper of the Kings Privy Seal President
quam nolumus esse Arguendam By our Prerogative which we will not have disputed Yet such Protections have been argued by the Judges according to their Oath and Duty and adjuged to be void As Mich. 11 H. 7. Rot. 124. a Protection granted to Holmes a Vintrier of London his Factors Servants and Deputies c. Resolved to be against Law Pasch 7. H. 8. Rot. 66. such a Protection disallowed and the Sheriff amerced for not executing the Writ Mich. 13. and 14 Eiiz. in Hitchcocks Case and many other of latter time And there is a notable Record of Ancient time in 22 E. 1. John de Mershals Case Non pertinct ad vicecomitem de protectione Regis Judicare imo ad Curiam Justice or Right We shall not sell deny or delay Justice and Right neither the End which is Justice nor the Mean whereby we may attain to the End and that is the Law Right is taken here for Law in the same sence that Justice often is so called 1. Because it is the Right Line whereby Justice distributive is Guided and Directed and therefore all the Commissioners of Oier and Terminer of Gaol-delivery of the Peace c. have this Clause Facturi quod ad Justititiam pertinet secundum Legem Consuetudinem Angliae that is to do Justice and Right according to the Rule of the Law and Custom of England and that which is called Common Right in 2 E. 3. is called Common-Law in 14 E. 3. c. and in this sence it is taken where it is said Ita quod stat Rectus in Curia id est Legi in Curia 2. The Law is called Rectum because it discovereth that which is Tort Crooked or Wrong for as Right signifieth Law so Tort Crooked or Wrong signifieth Injuries and Injuria est contra Jus Injury is against Right Recta Linea est index sui obliqui a right line is both declaratory of it self and the oblique Hereby the Crooked Cord of that which is called Discretion appeareth to be unlawful unless you take it as it ought to be discretio est discernere per Legem quid sit Justum discretion is to discern by the Law what is Just 3. It is called Right because it is the best Birth-right the Subject hath for thereby his Goods Lands Wife and Children his Body Life Honour and Estimation are protected from Injury and Wrong Major Haereditas venit unicunque nostrum a Jure Legibus quam a Parentibus A greater Inheritance descends to us from the Laws than from our Progenitors Thus far the very words of that Oracle of our Law the Sage and Learned Coke which so fully and excellently explain this incomparable Law that it will be superfluous to add any thing further thereunto A Confirmation of the Charters of the Liberties of England and of the Forrest made in the 35th Year of Edw. the First EDward by the Grace of God King of England Lord of Ireland and Duke of Guyan to all those these present Letters shall hear or see Greeting Know ye that we to the Honour of God and of Holy Church and to the profit of our Realm have granted for us and our Heirs that the Charter of Liberties and the Charter of the Forrest which were made by Common Assent of all the Realm in the time of King Henry our Father shall be kept in every point without Breach And we will that the same Charter shall be sent under our Seal as well to our Justices of the Forrest as to others and to all Sheriffs of Shires and to all our other Officers and to all our Cities throughout the Realm together with our Writs in the which it shall be contained that they cause the aforesaid Charters to be published and to declare to the People that we have Confirmed them in all points And that our Justicers Sheriffs Majors and other Ministers which under us have the Laws of our Land to guide shall allow the same Charters pleaded before them in Jugdment in all their points that is to wit the Great Charter as the Common Law and the Charter of the Forrest for the Wealth of our Realm Chap. 2. And we will that if any Judgment be given from henceforth contrary to the points of the Charters aforesaid by the Justicers or by any other our Ministers that hold plea before them against the points of the Charters it shall be undone and holden for nought Cap. 3. And we will that the same Charters shall be sent under our Seal to Cathedral Churches throughout our Realm there to Remain and shall be read before the People two times by the Year Cap. 4. And that all Archbishops and Bishops shall pronounce the Sentence of Excommunication against all those that by Word Deed or Council do contrary to the foresaid Charters or that in any point break or undo them And that the said Curses be twice a Year ddenounced and published by the Prelates aforesaid And if the same Prelates or any of them be Remiss in the Denunciation of the said Sentences the Archbishop of Canterbury and York for the time being shall compel and distrain them to the Execution of their Duties in Form aforesaid Cap. 5. And for so much as divers People of our Realm are in fear that the Aids and Tasks which they have given to us beforetime towards our Wars and other Business of their own Grant or good Will however they were made might turn to a bondage to them and their Heirs because they might be at another time found in the Rolls and likewise for the prizes taken throughout the Realm by our Ministers We have granted for us and our Heirs that we shall not draw no such Aids Tasks nor Prises into a Custom for any that hath been done heretofore be it by Roll or any other Precedent that may be founden Cap. 6. Moerover we have granted for us and our Heirs as well to Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors and other folk of Holy Church as also to Earls Barons and to all the Commonalty of the Land that for no business from henceforth we shall take such manner of Aids Tasks or Prises but by the common assent of the Realm and for the common profit thereof saving the Ancient Aids and Prises due and accustomed Cap. 7. And for so much as the more part of the Commonalty of the Realm find themselves sore grieved with the Maletot of Woolls that is to wit a Toll of Forty Shillings for every sack of Wooll and have made Petition to us for to Release the same We at their Request have clearly Released it and have granted for us and our Heirs that we shall not take such things without their common consent and good will saving to Us and Our Heirs the Custom of Woolls Skins and Leather granted before by the Commonalty aforesaid In Witness of which things we have caused our Letters to be Patent Witness Edward our Son at London the 10th of October and the Twenty
whereupon he demanded Judgment whether the Plaintiffe ought to maintain that Appeal he had brought To which the Plaintiffe demurred in Law And in this Case three points were adjudged by Sir Christopher Wray Sir Thomas Gawdy and the whole Court First That the matter of the Bar had been a good Bar of the Appeal by the Common Law as well as if the Clergy had been Allowed For that the Defendant upon his Confession of the Indictment had prayed his Clergy which the Court ought to have granted and the deferring of the Court to be advised ought not to prejudice the Party Desendant albeit the Appeal was Commenced before the Allowance of it The second point adjudged was that this Case was out of the Statute of 3 Hen. 7. For that the words of that Act are If it fortune that the same Felons and Murderers and Accessaries so Arraigned or any of them to be Acquitted or the Principal of the said Felony or any of them to be Attainted the Wife or next Heir of him so slain c. may have their Appeal of the same Death and Murder against the Person so Acquitted or against the said Principals so Attainted if they be alive and that THE BENEFIT OF HIS CLERGY THEREOF before be not had And in this the Defendant Holcroft was neither Acquitted nor Attainted but Convicted by Confession and the Benefit of the Clergy only prayed as is aforesaid so as the Statute being penal concerning the Life of Man and made in Restraint of the Common Law was not to be taken by Equity but is Casus Omissus a Case Omitted and left to the Common Law As to the Third is was objected that every Plea ought to have an apt Conclusion and that the Conclusion in this Case ought to have been Et petit judicium si praediit Thomas Holcroft Iterum de eadem morte de qua semel Convictus fuit Respondere compelli debeat And he does ask judgment if the above mentione Thomas Holcroft shall be obliged to answer againe for the same death he was once Convicted of But it was adjudged that either of both Conclusions was sufficient in Law And therefore that exception was disallowed by the Rule of the Court. Note the ancient Law was that when a Man had judgment to be hanged in an Appeal of Death that the Wife and all the Blood of the Party slain should draw the Defendant to Execution and Gascoigne said Issint fuit in diebus nostris so it was done in our Days And thus much occasionally about Appeals which we the rather inserted because the practice thereof through I know not whose negligence has been almost lost or forgot till some few Years ago a Woman in Southwark revived it against one that killed her Husband and got a pardon for it but she Prosecuted him on Appeal had judgment against him and he was Executed since which time the same Course has been frequently talkt of and brought but for the most part to the shame I think of those Women or Children who make such Compositions for their Husbands or Fathers Blood they have been by some secret Bargains or Compensations husht up and seldom effectually followed Two other Statutes of King Edw. 3. Anno 4. Edw. 3. cap. 14. A Parliament shall be holden once every year ITem It is accorded that a Parliament shall be holden every year once and more often if need be Anno 36. Edw. 3. cap. 10. A Parliament shall be holden once in the year ITem for maintenance of the said Articles and Statutes and Redress of dibers MISCHIEFS and GRIEVANCES which daily happen a Parliament shall be holden every year as another time was ordained by Statute The Comment BEfore the Conquest as the Victory of Duke William of Normandy over Harold the Usurper is commonly though very improperly called Parliaments were to be held twice every year as appears by the Laws of King Edgar cap. 5. and the Testimony of the Mirrour of Justices cap. 1. sect 3. For the Estates of the Realm King Alfred caused the Committees some English Translations of that ancient Book read Earls but the word seems rather to signifie Commissioners Trustees or Representatives to meet and ordained for a PERPETUAL USAGE that twice in the year or ostner if need were in time of Peace they should Assemble at London to speak their Minds for the guiding of the People of God how they should keep themselves from Offences live in quiet and have right done them by certain Vsages and sound Judgments King Edward the first says Cook 4. Instit fol. 97. kept a Parliament once every two years for the most part And now in this King Edward the Thirds time one of the wisest and most glorious of all our Kings It was thought fit to Enact by these two several Statutes That a Parliament should be held once at least every year which two Statutes are to this day in full Force For they are not Repealed but rather Confirmed by the Statute made in the 16th of our present Soveraign King Charles the Second Cap. 1. Intituled An Act for the Assembling and holding of Parliaments once in three years at the least The words of which are as follow Because by the ancient Laws and Statutes of this Realm made in the Reign of King Edward the third Parliaments are to be held very often your Majesties Humble and Loyal Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled most Humbly do beseech your most Excellent Majesty that it may be declared and Enacted 2 And be it declared and Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that hereafter the sitting and holding of Parliaments shall not be intermitted or discontinued above Three Years at the most but that within three years from and after the Determination of this present Parliament so from time to time within three years after the Determination of and other Parliament or Parliaments or if there be occasion more or oftner Your Majesty your Heirs and Successors do Issue out your Writs for calling Assembling and holding of another Parliament to the end there may be a frequent calling Assembling and holding of Parliaments once in three years at the least Agreeable to these good and wholsome Laws are those gracious Expressions and Promises in His Majesties Proclamation touching the Causes and Reasons of Dissolving the two last Parliaments Dated April 8. 1681. Irregularities in Parliament shall NEVER make us out of love with Parliaments which we look upon as the best Method for healing the distempers of the Kingdom and the only means to preserve the Monarchy in that due Credit and Respect which it ought to have both at home and abroad And for this Cause we are resolved by the blessing of God to have frequent Parliaments And both in and out of Parliament to use OUR UTMOST ENDEAVOURS TO EXTIRPATE POPERY and to Redress all the Grievances of our good Subjects and in all things to Govern according to the
great or highly in favour at Court but sooner or later they hit him and it proved his Ruine Take a few examples King Edw. the second dotes upon Pierce Gaveston a French Gentleman he wastes the Kings Treasures has undeserv'd Honours conserred on him affronts the antient Nobility The Parliament in the beinning of the Kings Reign Complains of him he is banisht into Ireland The King afterwards calls him home and marries him to the Earl of Glocesters Sister the Lords complain again so effectually that the King not only consents to his second Banishment but that if ever he returned or were found in the Kingdom he should be hâ—ld and proceeded against as an Enemy to the State Yet back he comes and is received once more by the King as an Angel who carries him with him into the North and hearing the Lords were in Arms to bring the said Gaveston to Justice plants him for safety in Scarborough Castle which being taken his Head was Chopt off In King Richard the Seconds time most of the Judges of England to gratifie certain corrupt and pernicious Favourites about the King being sent for to Nottingham were by Perswasions and Menaces prevailed with to give false and Illegal Resolutions to certain questions proposed to them declaring certain matters to be Treason which in truth were not so For which in the next Parliament they were called to Account and Attainted and Sir Robert Tresilian Lord Chief Justice of England was drawn from the Tower through London to Tyburn and there Hanged As likewise was Blake one of the Kings Council and Vske the Under-Sheriff of Middlesex who was to pack a Jury to serve the present Turn against certain Innocent Lords and others whom they intended to have had taken off and five more of the Judges were Banisht and their Lands and Goods forfeited And the Archibishop of York the Duke of Ireland and the Earl of Suffolk three of the Kings Evil Councellors were forced to fly and died miserable Fugitives in Forreign Parts In the beginning of King H. the 8ths Reign Sir Richard Empson Knight Edmond Dudley one of the Barons of the Exchequer having by colour of an Act of Parliament to try People for several Offences without Juries committed great oppressions were proceeded against in Parliament and lost their Heads In the 19 Year of the Reign of King James at a Parliament holden at Westminister there were shewn saith Bakers Chron. Fo. 418. two great Examples of Justice which for future Terrour are not unfit to be here related one upon Sir Giles Mompesson a Gentleman otherwise of Good parts but for practising sundry abuses in erecting and seting up new Inns and Ale-houses and exasting great Summes of Money of people by pretence of Letters Patents granted to him for that purpose was sentenced to be degraded from his Knighthood and disabled to Bear any Office in the Common-Wealth though he avoided the Execution by Flying the Land But upon Sir Francis Mitchel a Justice of Peace of Middlesex and one of the Chief Agents the sentence of Degradation was Executed and he made to ride with his face to the Horse tail through the City of London The other Example was of Sir Francis Bacon Viscount St. Albans Lord Chancellour of England who for Bribery was put from his place and Committed to the Tower In King Charles the firsts time most of the Judges that had given their opinions contrary to Law in the Case of Ship-Money were call'd to Account and forced to Fly for the same And in the 19th year of our present Sovereign the Earl of Clarendon Lord Chancellour of England being questioned in Parliament and retiring thereupon beyond the Seas was by a special Act Banished and Disabled In a word it was well and wisely said of that excellent Statesman Sir William Cecil Lord Burleigh and High Treasurer of England That he knew not what an Act of Parliament might not doe which Apothegm was approved by King James and alleadged as I remember in one of his published Speeches And as the Jurisdiction of this Court is so transcendent so the Rules and Methods of Proceedings there are different from those of other Courts For saith Cook 4. Instit fo 15. As every Court of Justice hath Laws and Customs for its Direction some by the Common Law some by the Civil and Canon Law some by Peculiar Laws and customes c. So the High Court of Parliament suis propriis Legibus Consuetudinibus Subsistit Subsists by it's own Peculiar Laws and Customs It is Lex Consuetudo Parliamenti the Law and Custom of Parliament that all weighty matters in any Parliament moved concerning the Peers or Commons in Parliament assembled ought to be determined adjudged and discussed by the Course of the Parliament and not by the Civil Law not yet by the Common Laws of this Realm used in more Inseriour Courts Which was so declared to be Secundum Legem Consuetudinem Parliaments according to the Law and Custom of Parliament concerning the Peers of the Realm by the King and all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the like pari ratione for the same reason is for the Commons for any thing moved or done in the House of Commons and the rather for that by another Law and Custom of Parliament the King cannot take notice of any thing said or done in the House of Commons but by the Report of the House of Commons and every Member of the Parliament hath a Judicial place and can be no Witnâ—â—â— And this is the Reason that Judges ought not to give any opinion of a Matter of Parliament because it is not to be decided by the Common Laws but Secundum Legem Consuetudinem Parliamenti according to the law and Custom of Parliament And so the Judges in diverse Parliaments have confessed And some hold that every offence Committed in any Court panishible by that Court must be punished proceeding Criminally in the same Court or in some higher and not any Inferiour Court and the Court of Parliament hath no higher Thus Cook Great complaints have been made about a late House of Commons sending for some Persons into Custody by their Serjeant at Arms but certainly they did no more therein then what their Predecessiors have often done every Court must be supposed Armed with a power to desend it self from Affronts and Insolencies In all Ages when the House has appointed particular Committees hath it not been usual to order that they shall be impower'd to send for Papers Persons and Records But to bring Men to a sober Consideration of their Duty and Danger I shall give a few Instances besides those before mentioned of what the House of Commons hath done in former Ages 1. Anno 20. Jacobi Doctor Harris Minister of Bletchingly in Surry for misbehaving himself by Preaching and otherwise about Election of Members of Parliament upon complaint was called to the Bar of the House of Commons and there as a Delinquent on his Knees
order to which we must consider for what ends they serve and they are principally Two The first is the preservation of our Religion from Popery the other is to preserve inviolable our Liberty and Property according to the known Laws of the Land without any giving way unto or Introduction of that Absolute and Arbitrary Rule practiced in Forreign Countreys which we are neither to imitate or regard Therefore 1. Take Care to Choose such as are well known to be men of good Consciences fearing God throughly Principled in the Protestant Religion and of high Resolution to maintain it with their Lives and Fortunes And amongst these rather cast your Favour upon themof large Principles I mean in matter of meer opinion such as will not sacrifice their Neighbours Property and Civil Rights to the frowardness of their own Party in Religion Narrow Souls that will own none but those that bear their own Image and superscription will sooner raise Persecution at home than secure us from Popery and Invasion from abroad The great Interest of England at this day is to Tolerate the Tollerable to bear with the weak to encourage the Conscientious and to restrain none but such as would restrain all besides themselves 2. As we ought as near as we can possibly judge to Elect good Protestants towards God and just towards men yet since in this Corrupt Age wherein we Live men are not so spiritual as they ought to be it is not amiss to seek for those whose spiritual Interest is seconded by a Temporal one For though men talk high and keep a great Noise with Conscience and love to their Country yet when you understand Mankind aright not as it should be but as it is and I fear ever will be then you will find that private Interest is the string in the Bears Nose it is that Governs the Beast And therefore the surest Champions for our Religion Caeteris Paribus against the Papacy are our Abby Landed-men for notwithstanding the Registred Dispensation to King Henry the Eighth from the Pope for the seizing of those Monasteries and Lands yet of late they pretend that the Pope had not Power to Alien them from the Church so that the present Possessors can never trust or rely upon that or any new promises or Actual Grants thereof especially from him whose everlasting and declared Maxime it is Never to keep Faith with Hereticks Undoubtedly to make easy his ascent into the Saddle he will proffer many Assurances and Grants but if these Abby-Landed men be not the most silly of all others they will never believe him For when he is once firmly setled then will he with his Canon-Law Distinctions like Fire under Quicksilver Evaporate away all his Promises and violently Resume the Lands glorying of his own Bounty if he require not the mean profits ever since they have been sacriligiously with-held from Holy Church 3. Endeavour to Chuse men of Wisdom and Courage who will not be Hectored out of their Duties by the Frowns and Scowles of men Never had you more need to pitch upon the old English Spirit that durst be faithfull and just against all Temptations What a degenerate Race have we known that could never yet Resist Smile or Frown but tamely sunk below their own Convictions and knew the Evil they did yet durst not but Commit it 4. Make it your business to Chuse such as are resolved to stand by and maintain the power and priviledges of Parliament for they are the Heart-strings of the Common-Wealth together with the power and just Rights of the King according to the Laws of the Kingdom so as the one may not Entrench upon the other And such as with a becoming true English Courage will Prosecute all Traitors whether already Impeached or to be Impeached And to secure us from Popery hereafter and to get removed all Corrupt and Arbitrary Ministers of State and wicked Judges and stiflers of the discovery of the Popish Plot and Suborners and vile Pamphleteers that endeavour so industriously to Clear the Papists and expose the Protestant Religion and poison the People Lastly Take particular notice of those who are men of Industry and Improvement for such as are Ingenious and laborious to propagate the growth and advantage of their Country will be very tender of yeilding to any thing that may weaken or Impoverish it If you Conduct yourselves thus prudently honestly and gallantly in your Choice without putting the Gentlemen whom you chuse to serve you to charges the consequence will be that as you will be sure to have a good Parliament when ever His Majesty shall please to call one and such as will be zealous for the safety of the Protestant Religion and prosperity of the Nation if they shall continue to sit and Act so on the other side If they should be Dissolv'd and never so many new Parliaments be called yet you run no hazard for the same Candidates will still be ready to serve you And so we shall conclude our discourse of Parliaments when I shall first have observ'd that antiently all Freemen of England though not Free-holders had a right to chuse their Representatives till the same was altered and limited by the following Statute for the reasons therein mention'd The Statute Anno 8. Hen. 6. Cap. 7. What sort of men shall be Chusers and who shall be Chosen Knights of the Parliament ITem whereas the Elections of Knights of Shires to come to the Parliaments of our Lord the King in many Counties of the Realm of England have now of late been made by very great Outragious and Excessive numbers of People dwelling within the same Counties of the Realm of England of the which most part was of people of small Substance and of no value whereof every one of them pretended a voice Equivalent as to such Elections to be made with the most worthy Knights and Esquires dwelling within the same Counties whereby Man Slaughter Riots Batteries and Divisions among the Gentlemen and other People of the same Counties shall very likely rise and be unless convenient and due Remedy be provided in this behalf 2 our Lord the King considering the premises hath provided ordained and stablished by Authority of this present Parliament that the Knights of the Shires to be chosen within the said Realm of England to come to the Parliament of our Lord the King hereafter to be holden shall be chosen in every County of the Realm of England by People dwelling and resident in the same Counties whereof every one of them shall have Landor Tenement to the value of forty Shillings by the year at the least above all Charges 3 and that they which shall be so chosen shall be dwelling and resident within the same Counties 4 and such as have the greatest number of them that may expend forty shillings by the year and above as afore is said shall be returned by the Sheriffs of every County Knights for Parliament by Indentures sealed
betwixt the said Sheriffs and the said Chusers so to be made 5 and every Sheriff of the Realm of England shall have power by the said authority to examine upon the Evangelists every such Chuser how much he may expend by the year 6 and if any Sheriff returned Knights to come to the Parliament contrary to the said Ordinance the Justices of Assizes in their Sessions of Assizes shall have power by the authority aforesaid thereof to enquire 7 and if by inquest the same be found before the Justices and the Sheriff thereof be duly attainted that then the said Sheriff shall incur the pain of an hundred pounds to be paid to our Lord the King and also that he have Imprisonment by a year without being let to mainprise or bail 8 and that the Knights for the Parliament returned contrary to the said Ordinance shall lose their wages Provided always that he which cannot expend forty Shillings by year as afore is said shall in no wise be Chuser of the Knights for the Parliament 2 and that in every Writ that shall hereafter go forth to the Sheriffs to chuse knights for the Parliament mention be made of the said Ordinances Note Though this Statute make the penalty on a Sheriff but 100 l. for a false Return yet the House may further punish him by Imprisonment c. at their pleasure by the Law and Custom of Parliaments We shall now proceed to certain excellent Laws of a latter Date made for the explanation and conservation of our Liberties and in the first place present you with that excellent Petition of Right granted by King Charles the first Anno Regni Caroli Regis Tertio The PETITION exhibited to His Majesty by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled concerning diverse Rights and Liberties of the Subjects To the Kings most excellent Majesty HUmbly shew unto our Soveraign Lord the King the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled That whereas it is declared and enacted by a Statute made in the time of the Reign of King Edward the first commonly called Statutum de Tallagio non Concedendo that no Tallage or Aid shall be laid or Levyed by the King or his Heirs in this Realm without the good Will and Assent of the Arch-bishops Bishops Earles Barons Knights Burgesses and other the Freemen of the Commonalty of this Realm 2 and by authority of Parliament holden in the five and twentieth year of the Reign of King Edward the third it is declared and Enacted that from thenceforth no person should be Compelled to make any Loans to the King against his Will because such Loans were against Reason and the Franchise of the Land 3 And by other Laws of the Realm it is provided that none should be Charged by any Charges or Imposition called a Benevolence nor by such like Charge 4 By which the Statute before mentioned and othe the good Laws and Statutes of this Realm your Subjects have Inherited this Freedom that they should not be Compelled to Contribute to any Tax Tallage Aid or other like Charge not set by Common Consent in Parliament 2. Yet nevertheless of late divers Commissions directed to sundry Commissioners in several Counties with Instructions have Issued by means whereof your people have been in divers places Assembled and required to lend certain Sums of Money unto your Mejesty and many of them upon their refusal so to do have had an Oath administred unto them not warrantable by the Laws or Statutes of this Realm and have been Constrained to become bound to make Appearance and Attendance before your Privy Council and in other places and others of them have been therefore Imprisoned Confined and sundry other ways molested and disquieted 2 and divers other Charges have been laid and levyed upon your people in several Counties by Lord Lieutenants and Deputy Lieutenants Commissioners for Musters Justices of Peace and others by Command or direction from your Majesty to your Privy Council against the Law and free Customs of this Realm 3. And where also by the Statute called the great Charter of the Liberties of England it is declared and Enacted that no Freeman may be taken or imprisoned or be disseised of his Freehold or Liberties or of his free Customs or be outlawed or Exiled or in any manner destroyed but by the lawfull Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land 4. And in the eight and twentieth year of the Reign of King Edward the third it was declared and Enacted by Authority of Parliament that no man of what Estate or Condition that he be should be put out of his Land or Tenements nor taken nor Imprisoned nor disherited nor put to death without being brought to answer by due process of Law 5. Nevertheless against the tenor of the said Statutes and other the good Laws and Statutes of your Realm to that end provided diverse of your Subjects of late have been Imprisoned without any cause shewed 2 and when for their deliverance they were brought before Justices by your Majesties Writs of Habeas Corpus there to undergo and receive as the Court should order and their keepers commanded to certify the causes of their detainour no cause was certifyed but that they were detained by your Majesties special command signified by the Lords of your privy Council and yet were returned back to several prisons without being charged with any thing to which they might make answer according to the Law 6. Whereas of late great Companies of Souldiers and Mariners have been dispersed into diverse Counties of the Realm and the Inhabitants against their wills have been compelled to receive them into their Houses and there to suffer them to sojourn against the Laws and Customes of this Realm and to the great grievance and vexation of the People 7. And whereas also by authority of Parliament and in the five and twentieth year of the reign of King Edward the third it is declared and enacted that no man shall be forejudged of life and limb against the form of the great Charter and Law of the Land 2 and by the said great Charter and other the Laws and Statutes of this Your Realm no man ought to be Judged to death but by the Laws established in this your Realm either by the Customes of the Realm or by Acts of Parliament 3 And whereas no offendor of what kind soever is exempted from the proceedings to be used and punishments to be Inflicted by the Laws and Statutes of this your Realm nevertheless of late diverse Commissions under Your Majesties great Seal have Issued forth by which certain persons have been Assigned and appointed Commisioners with power and authority to proceed within the Land according to the Justice of Martial Law against such Souldiers and Mariners or other dissolute persons joining with them as should commit any Murder Robbery Felony Mutiny or other Outrage or Misdemeanour whatsoever and by such summary Course
accord voluntarily and freely give 5 Nor take nor receive any other or greater Sum or Sums for each nights Lodging or other Expences than what is reasonable and fitting in such cases or shall be so adjudged by the next Justice of the Peace or at the next Quarter-Sessions 6. And shall not cause or procure the said person or persons to pay for any other Wine Beer Ale Victuals Tobacco or other things than what the said person or persons shall voluntarily freely and particularly call for And that every Under-Sheriff Gaoler Keeper of Prison or Gaol and every person or persons whatsoever to whose Custody any person or persons shall be delivered or commited by virtue of any Writ of Process or any pretence whatsoever shall permit and suffer the said person or persons at his and their will and pleasure to send for and have any Beer Ale Victuals and other necessary Food where and from whence they please and also to have and use such Bedding Linnen and other things as the said person or persons shall think fit without any purloyning detaining or paying for the same or any part thereof nor shall demand take or receive of the said person or persons any other or greater Fee or Fees whatsoever for his her or their Commitment Release or Discharge or for his her or their Chamber-Rent than what is allowable by Law untill the same shall be settled by three Justices of the Peace whereof one to be of the Quorum of each particular County City and Town Corporate in their several Precincts and for the City of London and Counties of Middlesex and Surrey the two Lord Chief Justices of the Kings's-Bench and Common-Pleas and the Lord Chief Baron or any two of them and the Justices of the Peace of the same in their several Jurisdictions And likewise that the said Lord Chief Justice Lord Chief Baron and Justices of the Peace in their several Jurisdictions and all Commissioners for Charitable Uses do their best Endeavours and Diligence to Examine and finde out the several Legacies Gifts and Bequests bestowed and given for the Benefit and Advantage of the Poor Prisoners for Debt in the several Gaols and Prisons in this Kingdom and to send for any Deeds Wills Writings and Books of Accompts whatsoever and any person or persons concerned therein and to Examine them upon Oath to make true discovery thereof which they have full Power and Authority hereby to do and the same so found out and ascertained to order and settle in some manner and way that the Prisoners hereafter may not be defrauded but Receive the full benefit thereof according to the true intent of the Donors And that these Accounts of the several Legacies Gifts and Bequests given and bestowed upon the several Prisoners for Debt within this Kingdom and the several Rates of Fees and the future Government of Prisons be signed and confirmed by the Lord Chief Justices and Lord Chief Baron or any two of them for the time being and the Justices of the Peace in London Middlesex and Surrey and by the Judges for the several Circuits and Justices of the Peace for the time being in their several Precincts and fairly written and hung up in a Table in every Gaol and Prison before the first day of November 1671. and likewise be Registred by each and every Clerk of the Peace within his or their particular Jurisdiction And after such Establishment no other or greater Fee or Fees than shall be so Established shall be Demanded or Received And whereas it is become the common practice of Gaolers and Keepers of Newgate the Gate-house at Westminster and sundry other Gaols and Prisons to Lodge together in one Room or Chamber and Bed Prisoners for Debt and Felons whereby many times honest Gentlemen Trades-men and others Prisoners for Debt are disturbed and hindered in the night-time from their natural Rest by reason of their Fetters and Irons and otherwise much offended and troubled by their lewd and prophane Language and Discourses with most horrid Cursing and Swearing much accustomed to such persons 2. Be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that it shall not be lawful hereafter for any Sheriff Gaoler or Keeper of any Gaol or Prison to put keep or Lodge Prisoners for Debt and Felons together in one Room or Chamber but that they shall be put kept and Lodged separate and apart one from another in distinct Rooms 3. Upon pain that he she or they which shall offend against this Act or the true Intent and meaning thereof or any part thereof shall forfeit and lose his or her Office Place or Imployment and shall forfeit treble damages to the party grieved to be Recovered by vertue of this Act any Law Statute Usage or Custom to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And to the End that English-men may more entirely enjoy their due Freedoms the prudence of our Legislators have thought fit from time to time to Remove Encroachments thereupon though under pretence of Jurisdictions and Courts of Justice and to prohibit any Exorbitant Arbitrary Power for the future but that all things may be left to the calm and equal proceedings of Law and that most excellent Method of Trial by Juries one of the principal Bulwarks of England's Liberties For an Instance hereof take the Act following An Act for Regulating of the Privy Council and for taking away the Court commonly called the Star-Chamber VVHereas by the Great Charter many times confirmed in Parliament it is Enacted That no Freeman shall be taken or Imprisoned or Disseized of his Freehold or Liberties or Free Customs or be Outlawed or Exiled or otherwise destroyed and that the King will not pass upon him or condemn him but by lawful Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land 2. And by another Statute made in the fifth year of the Reign of King Edward it is Enacted That no man shall be Attached by any Accusation nor fore-judged of Life or Limb nor his Lands Tenements Goods nor Chattels seized into the King's Hands against the Form of the Great Charter and the Law of the Land 3. And by another Statute made in the five and twentieth year of the Reign of the same King Edward the third it is Accorded Assented and Established That none shall be taken by Petition or Suggestion made to the King or to his Council unless it be by Indictment or Presentment of good and lawful people of the same Neighbourhood where such Deeds be done in due manner or by Process made by Writ Original at the Common Law and that none be put out of his Franchise or Freehold unless he be duly brought in to Answer and fore-judged of the same by the course of the Law And if any thing be done against the same it shall be Redressad and holden for none 4. And by another Statute made in the eight and twentieth year of the Reign of the same King Edward the Third it is amongst other things Enacted That
mean-time her reasonable Estovers of the Common 5. And for her Dower shall be Assigned unto her the third part of all the Lands of her Husband which were his during Coverture except She were endowed of less at the Church door 6. No Widow shall be distrained to Marry her self Nevertheless She shall find surety that She shall not Marry without our License and Assent if She hold of Us nor without the Assent of the Lord if She hold of another CHAP. VIII How Sureties shall be charged to the King WE or our Bailiffs shall not seize any Land or Rent for any Debt as long as the present Goods and Chattels of the Debtor do suffice to pay the Debt and the Debtor himself be ready to satisfie therefore 2. Neither shall the Pledges of the Debtor be distrained as long as the principal Debtor is sufficient for the payment of the Debt 3. And if the principal Debtor fail in the payment of the Debt having nothing wherewith to Pay or will not pay where he is able the pledges shall answer for the Debt 4. And if they will they shall have the Lands and Rents of the Debtor untill they be satisfied of that which they before payed for him except that the Debtor can shew himself to be acquitted against the said Sureties CHAP. IX The Liberties of London and other Cities and Towns Confirmed THe City of London shall have all the old Liberties and Customs which it hath been used to have Moreover we Will and Grant that all other Cities and Borroughs Towns and the Barons of the five Ports and all other Ports shall have all their Liberties and free Customs CHAP. X. None shall distrain for more Service than is due NO man shall be distrained to do more Service for a Knights Fee nor for any Freeholder than therefore is due CHAP. XI Common-Pleas shall not follow the Kings Court. COmmon-Pleas shall not follow our Court but shall be holden in some place certain CHAP. XII Where and before whom Assizes shall be taken Adjournment for Difficulty ASsizes of Novel Dissâ—isin and of Mortdancester shall not be taken but in the Shires and after this manner If we be out of this Realm our Chief Justicers shall send our Justicers through every County once in the Year Which with the Knights of the Shire shall take the said Assizes in those Counties 2. And those things that at the coming of our foresaid Justicers being sent to take those Assizes in the Counties cannot be determined shall be ended by them in some other place in their Circuit 3. And those things which for difficulty of some Articles cannot be determined by them shall be referred to our Justicers of the Bench and there shall be ended CHAP. XIII Assizes of Darrein Presentment ASsizes of Darrein Presentment shall be always taken before our Justicers of the Bench and there shall be determined CHAP. XIV How men of all sorts shall be amerced and by whom A Free-man shall not be amerced for a small fault but after the manner of the fault And for a great fault after the greatness thereof saving to him his contenement 2. And a Merchant likewise saving to him his Merchandize 3. And any others Villain than ours shall be likewise amerced saving his Wainage if he fall into our mercy 4. And none of the said amerciaments shall be Assessed but by the Oath of honest and lawful men of the Vicinage 5. Earls and Barons shall not be amerced but by their Peers and after the manner of their offence 6. No man of the Church shall be 〈…〉 after the quantity of his Spiritual Benefice but after his Lay-tenement and after the quantity of his offence CHAP. XV. Making of Bridges and Banks NO Town nor Freeman shall be distrained to make Bridges nor Banks but such as of old time and of right have been accustomed to make them in the time of King Henry our Grandfather CHAP. XVI Defending of Banks NO Banks shall be defended from henceforth but such as were in defence in the time of King Henry our Grandfather by the same places and the same bounds as they were wont to be in his time CHAP. XVII Holding Pleas of the Crown NO Sheriff Constable Escheator Coroner nor any other our Bayliffs shall hold Pleas of our Crown CHAP. XVIII The Kings Debtor dying the King shall be first paid IF any that holdeth of Us Lay-fee do dye and our Sheriff or Bayliff do shew our Letters Patents of our Summons for Debt which the Dead man did owe to us It shall be lawful to our Sheriff or Bayliff to Attach and Inroll all the Goods and Chattels of the Dead being found in the said Fee to the value of the same Debt by the sight and testimony of lawful men So that nothing thereof be taken away until we be clearly paid off the Debt 2. And the residue shall remain to the Executors to perform the Testament of the Dead 3. And if nothing be owing to Us all the Chattels shall goe to the use of the Dead saying to his Wise and Children the Reasonable parts CHAP. XIX Purveyance for a Castle NO Constable nor his Bayliff shall take Corn or other Chattels of any man if the man be not of the Town where the Castle is but he shall forthwith pay for the same unless that the Will of the Seller was to respite the payment 2. And if he be of the same Town the price shall be paid unto him within forty days CHAP. XX. Doing of Castle Ward NO Constable shall distrain any Knight for to give money for keeping of his Castle if he himself will do it in his proper person or cause it to be done by another sufficient man if he may not do it himself for a reasonable cause 2. And if we do lead or send him in an Arms he shall be free from Castle-ward for the time that he shall be with Us in Fee in our Host for the which he hath done Service in our Wars CHAP. XXI Taking of Horses Carts and Woods NO Sheriff nor Bayliff of ours nor any other shall take the Horses or Carts of any man to make Carriage except he pay the old price limited that is to say for Carriage with two Horse 10 d. a day for three Horse 14 d. a day 2. No demesne Cart of any spiritual Person or Knight or any Lord shall be taken by our Bayliffs 3. Nor we nor our Bailiffs nor any other shall take any mans Wood for our Castles or other our Necessaries to be done but by the License of him whose the Wood is CHAP. XXII How long Felons Lands shall be holden by the King WE will not hold the Lands of them that be be Convict of Felony but one Year and one day and then those Lands shall be delivered to the Lords of the Fee CHAP. XXIII In what place Wears shall be put down ALL Wears from henceforth shall be utterly put down by Thames and Medway and through all
Liberties and of other contained in our Charter of liberties of our Forest the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons Knights Freeholders and other our Subjects have given unto us the fifteenth part of all their movables 5. And we have granted unto them on the other part that neither we nor our Heirs shall procure or do any thing whereby the Liberties in this Charter contained shall be Infringed or Broken 6. And if any thing be procured by any Person contrary to the premisses it shall be had of no force nor effect These being Witnesses Lord B. Arch-bishop of Canterbury E. Bishop of London c. We Ratifying and approving these Gifts and Grants aforesaid confirm and make strong all the same for Us and our Heirs perpetually And by the Tenour of these presents do renew the same Willing and granting for Us and our Heirs that this Charter and all and singular his Articles for ever shall be stedfastly Firmly and Inviolably observed And if any Article in the same Charter contained yet hitherto peradventure hath not been kept We will and by Authority Royal Command from henceforth firmly they be observed In Witness whereof we have caused these our Letters Patents to be made T. Edward our Son at Westminster the twenty eighth day of March in the twenty eighth year of our Reign Notes on Magna Charta THis Excellent Law holds the first place in our Statute Books for though there were no doubt many Acts of Parliament long before this yet they are not now Extant 't is called Magna Charta or the Great Charter not in Respect of its Bulk but in Regard of the great Importance and weight of the matters therein contained it is also styled Charta Libertatum Regni the Charter of the Liberties of the Kingdom and upon great reason saith Cook in his Proem is it so called from the effect Quia liberos facit because it makes and preserves the people free Though it run in the stile of the King as a Charter yet as my Lord Cook well observes on the 38 Chapter it appears to have passed in Parliament for there was then a Fifteenth granted to the King by the Bishops Earls Barons Free-tenants and people which could not be but in Parliament nor was it unusual in those times to have Acts of Parliament in a Form of a Charter as you may read in the Princes case Co. Rep. L. 8. Likewise though it be said here that the King hath given and granted these Liberties yet they must not be understood as meer Emanations of Royal Favour or new Bounties granted which the people could not justly challenge or had not a Right unto before For the Lord Cook at divers places asserts and all Lawyers know that this Charter is for the most part only Declaratory of the principal grounds of the Fundamental Laws and Liberties of England no new freedom is hereby granted but a Restitution of such as lawfully they had before and to free them of what had been usurped and encroached upon them by any power whatsoever and therefore you may see this Charter often mentions Sua Jura their Rights and Liberatâ—s suas their Liberties which shews they had them before and that the same now were Confirmed As to the occasion of this Charter it must be noted that our Ancestors the Saxons had with a most equal poize and temperament very wisely contriv'd their Government and made excellent provisions for their Liberties and to preserve the People from oppression and when William the Norman made himself Master of the Land though he be commonly called the Conquerour yet in truth he was not so and I have known several Judges that would Reprehend any Gentleman at the Bar that casually gave him that Title For though he killed Harold the Usurper and Routed his Army yet he pretended a right to the Kingdom and was admitted by Compact and did take an Oath to observe the Laws and Customs But the truth is he did not perform that Oath so as he ought to have done and his Successors William Rufus King Stephen Henry the First and Richard likewise made frequent Encroachments upon the Liberties of their People but especially King John made use of so many Illegal Devices to drain them of Money that wearied with intollerable oppressions they resolved to oblige the King to grant them their Liberties and to promise the same should be observed which King John did in Running-mead between Stains and Windsor by two Charters one called Charta Libertatum The Charter of Liberties the Form of which you may read in Math. Paris Fol. 246. and is in effect the same with this here recited the other the Charter of the Forrest Copies of which he sent into every County and commanded the Sheriffs c. to see them fulfilled But by ill Council he quickly after began to violate them as much as ever whereupon Disturbances and great miseries arose both to himself and the Realm The Son and Successor of this King John was Henry the Third who in the 19th Year of his Reign Renewed and Confirmed the said Charters but within two Years after Cancelled them by the pernicious advice of his Favourites and particularly Hubert de Burgh whom he had made Lord Chief Justice one that in former times had been a great Lover of his Countrey and a well deserving Patriot as well as learned in the Laws but now to make this a step to his Ambition which ever Rideth without Reins perswaded and humored the King that he might avoid the Charters of his Father King John by Duresse and his own Great Charter and Charta de Foresta also for that he was within Age when he granted the same whereupon the King in the eleventh Year of his Reign being then of full Age got one of the great Charters and of the Forrest into his Hands and by the Council principally of this Hubert his Chief Justice at a Council holden at Oxford unjustly Cancelled both the said Charters notwithstanding the said Hubert de Burgh was the primier Witness of all the Temporal Lords to both the said Charters whereupon he became in high Favour with the King insomuch that he was soon after viz. the 10th of December in the 13th Year of that King Created to the highest Dignity that in those times a Subject had to be an Earl viz. of Kent But soon after for Flatterers and Humorists have no sure Foundation he fell into the Kings heavy Indignation and after many fearful and miserable Troubles he was justly and according to Law Sentenced by his Peers in an open Parliament and justly Degraded of that Dignity which he unjustly had obtained by his Council for Cancelling of Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta In the 9th Chap. of this great Charter all the Ancient Liberties and Customs of London are Confirmed and preserved which is likewise done by divers other Statutes as 14 Edw. 3. Cap. 2. c. The 29 Chapt. NO FREE-MAN SHALL BE TAKEN
when they had them best 2. And if any Statutes have been made by Us and our Ancestors or any Customs brought in contrary to them or any manner of Article contained in this present Charter We Will and grant that such manner of Statutes and Customs shall be void and frustrate for evermore CHAP. V. Pardon granted to certain Offenders MOreover we have pardoned Humphrey Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex Constable of England Roger Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk Marshal of England and other Earls Barons Knights Esquires and namely John de Ferrariis with all other being of their Fellowship Consederacy and Bond and also of other that hold 20 l. Land in our Realm whether they hold of us in Chief or of others that were appointed at a day certain to pass over with us into Flanders the Rancour and Evil will born against us and all other Offences if any they have committed against us unto the making of this present Charter CHAP. VI. The Curse of the Church shall be Pronounced against the Breakers of this Charter ANd for the more assurance of this thing we will and grant that all Archbishops and Bishops for ever shall read this present Charter in Cathedral Churches twice in the Year and upon the Reading thereof in every of their Parish-Churches shall openly Denounce accursed all those that willingly do procure to be done any thing contrary to the tenour force and effect of this present Charter in any point and article In witness of which thing we have set our Seal to this present Charter together with the Seals of the Archbishops Bishops which voluntarily have sworn that as much as in them is they shall observe the tenour of this present Charter in all Causes and Articles and shall extend their faithful Aid to the keeping thereof c. The Comment THe word Tallage is derived from the French word Tailler to share or cut out a part and is Metaphorically used for any Charge when the King or any other does cut out or take away any part or share out of a Mans Estate and being a general word it includes all Subsidies Taxes Tenths Aids Impositions or other Charges whatsoever The word Maletot signifies an Evil that is an unjust Toll Custom Imposition or Sum of Money The occasion of making this Statute was this King Edward being injured by the French King resolves to make War against him and in order thereunto requires of Humphrey le Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex and Constable of England and of Roger Bigot Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk and Marshal of England and of all the Earls Barons Knights Esquires and Freeholders of 20 l. Land whether they held of him in Capite to contribute towards such his expedition that is to go in Person or find sufficient Men in their places in his Army which the Constable and Marshal and many of the Knights and Esquires and especially this John Ferrers taking part with them and all the Freemen stoutly denyed unless it were so ordained and determined by common consent in Parliament according to Law And it seems the contest grew so hot that Baker's Chronicle Folio 99. relates a strange Dialogue that pass'd between them viz. That when the Earl Marshal told the King That if his Majesty pleased to go in Person he would then go with him and march before him in the Van-Guard as by right of Inheritance he ought to do but otherwise he would not stir the King told him plainly he should go with any other though he went not in Person I am not so bound saith the Earl neither will I take that Journey without you The King swore By God Sir Earl you shall either go or Hang And I swear by the same Oath said the Earl I will neither go nor Hang. And so the King was forc'd to dispatch his expedition without them And yet saith my Lord Coke altho the King had conceived a deep displeasure against the Constable Marshal and others of the Nobility Gentry and Commons of the Realm for denying that which he so much desired yet for that they stood in defence of their Laws Liberties and free Customes the said King Edward the First who as Sir William Herle Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas who lived in his time and served him said in the time of King Edward the 3d. was the wisest King that ever was did after his return from beyond the Seas not only consent to this Statute whereby all such Tallages and Impositions are forbidden for the future but also passes a Pardon to the said Nobles c. of all Rancour Ill-will and Transgressions If any they have committed which last words were added lest by acceptance of a Pardon of Transgression they should implicitely confess that they had Transgressed so careful were the Lords and Commons in former times to preserve the Ancient Laws Liberties and free Customs of their Country But note these words Si quas fecerint If any they have committed are left out in all the Printed Books of Statutes but they are in this Statute recited by Coke in his second Book of Institutes Fo. 535. and specially noted which he would never have done if it had not been so in the Rolls And since 't is probable them may be many more like Omissions Mistakes or Falsifications crept into the Prints and for that the Râ—â—â—â—d not the printed Satute-Book varying from the Records is the Law It were to be wished that all the Rolls of Acts of Parliament were carefully by some Persons of Learning and Integrity view'd and Compared with the Prints and notice taken of all such Varâ—â—tions and of Errors committed in the Translations and of any Statutes of a publick Import if in force that were never printed and the same to be made publick Anno 25 Edw. 3. CAP. II. A Declaration what Offences shall be adjudged Treason WHereas diverse opinions have been before this time in what Case Treason shall be said and in what not 2. The King at the Request of the Lords and of the Commons hath made a declaration in the manner as hereafter followeth that is to say When a Man doth Compass or Imagine the Death of our Lord the King or of our Lady his Queen or of their eldest Son and Heir 3. Or if a man do violate the Kings Companion or the Kings Eldest Daughter unmarried or the Wife of the Kings Eldest Son and Heir 4. Or if a Man do Levy War against our Lord the King in his Realm or be Adherent to the Kings Enemies in his Realm giving them Aid and Comfort in the Realm or elsewhere and thereof be provably Attainted of open Deed by the People of their Condition 5. And if a Man Counterfeit the Kings Great or Privy-Seal or his Money 6. And if a Man bring false Money into this Realm Counterfeit to the Money of England as the Money called Lushburgh or other like to the said Money of England knowing the Money to be false to Merchandise
or make payment in deceit of our said Lord the King and of his People 7. And if a Man Slay the Chancellor Treasurer or the Kings Justice of the one Bench or the other Justices in Eyre or Justices of Assize and all other Justices Assigned to Hear and Determine being in their Places doing their Offices 8. And it is to be understood that in the Cases above rehearsed that ought to be judged Treason which extends to our Lord the King and of his Royal Majesty 9. And of such Treason the Forfeiture of the Escheats pertaineth to our Lord as well of the Lands and Tenement holden of other as of himself 10. And moreover there is another manner of Treason that is to say when a Servant slayeth his Master or a Wife her Husband or when a Man Secular or Religious slayeth his Prelate to whom he oweth Faith and Obedience 11. And of such Treason the Escheats cught to pertain to every Lord of his own Fee 12. And because that many other like Cases of Treason may happen in time to come which a man cannot think nor declare at this present time it is Accorded That if any other Case supposed Treason which is not above specified doth happen before any Justices the Justices shall tarry without any going to Judgment of the Treason till the Cause be shewed and declared before the King and his Parliament whether it ought to be judged Treason or other Felony 13. And if percase any Man of this Realm Ride Armed covertly or secret with Men of Arms against any other to Slay him or Rob him or Take him or Retain him till he hath made Fine or Ransome for to have his deliverance it is not the mind of the King nor his Council that in such Case it shall be judged Treason but shall be judged Felony or Trespass according to the Laws of the Land of old time used and according as the Case requireth 14. And if in such Case or other like before this time any Justices have judged Treason and for this cause the Lands and Tenements have come into the Kings hands as forfeit the chief Lords of the Fee shall have the Escheats of the Tenements holden of them whether that the same Tenements be in the Kings hands or in others by Gift or in other manner 15. Saving always to our Lord the King the Year and the Waste and the sorfeitures of Chattels which pertain to him in the Cases above named 16. And that the Writs of Scire Facias be granted in such Case against the Land-Tenants without other Original and without allowing any Protection in the said Suit 17. And that of the Lands which be in the Kings hands Writs be granted to the Sheriffs of the Counties where the Lands be to deliver them out of the Kings hands without delay The Comment TReason is derived from Trabir which signifies Treacherously to betray when it concerns the Government and the Publick 't is called High Treason but against particular Persons as a Wife killing her Husband a Servant his Master c. it is Petty Treason High Treason in the Civil Law is called Crimen Laesae Majestatis a Crime wronging Majesty but in our Common-Law-Latine Alta proditio and in an Indictment for this offence the word Proditorie must be in Before the making this Act so many things were charged as High Treason That no Man knew how to behave himself Now by this Statute the particulars of that Grand Crime are reckoned up and all others excluded till declared by Parliament And the settling of this Affair was esteemed of such Importance to the Publick-Weal That the Parliament wherein this Act passed was called long after Benedictum Parliamentum the Blessed Parliament The substance of this Statute is branched out by my Lord Cook 3d. part of Instit. Fol. 3. into six Heads viz. The first concerning Death by compassing or imagining the death of the King Queen or Prince and declaring the same by some Overt Deed. By killing and murdering of the Chancellor Treasurer Justices of either Bench Justices in Eyre Justices of Assize Justices of Oier and Terminer In their Places doing their Offices The second is to Violate that is to Carnally know the Queen the Kings Eldest Daughter unmarried the Princes Wife The third is Levying War against the King The fourth is Adhering to the Kings Enemies within the Realm or without and declaring the same by some overt Act. The fifth is Counterfeiting of the Great the Privy Seal or the Kings Coin The sixth and last by bringing into this Realm Counterfeit Mony to the likeness of the Kings Coin Now as to the particular Exposition of the several parts of this Statute 1. When a man doth compass c. in the Original it is Quant Home which extends to both Sexes but one that is Non compos mentis or an Infant within the Age of discretion is not included but all Allens within the Realm of England being thereby under the Kings Protection and owing a Local Allegiance if they commit Treason may be punisht by this Act but otherwise it is of an Enemy 2. To compass and Imagine Is to contrive design or intend the death of the King but this must be declared by some Overt Act. But declaring by an open Act a design to Depose or Imprison the King is an Over Act to manifest the compassing his death For they that will depose their King will not stick to Murder him rather than fail of their end and as King Charles the First excellently observed and lamentably experienced There are commonly but few steps between the Prisons and the Graves of Princes 3. By the word King is intended 1. A King before his Coronation as soon as ever the Crown descends upon him for the Coronation is but a Ceremony 2. A King de Facto and not de Jure is a King within this Act and a Treason against him is punishable thô the Right Heir get the Crown 3. A Titular King as the Husband of the Queen is not a King within this Act but the Queen is for the word King here includes both Sexes 4. What is to be understood by the Kings Eldest Son and Heir within this Act I answer 1. A second Son after the death of the first Born is within the Act for he is then Eldest Secondly The Eldest Son of a Queen Regnant is as well within the Statute as of a King Thirdly The Collateral Heir Apparent or Presumptive is not within this Statute Roger Mortimer Earl of March was in Anno Dom. 1487. 11 Rich. 2. Proclaimed Heir Apparent Anno 39. Hen. 6. Richard Duke of York was likewise Proclaimed Heir Apparent and so was John de la Poolen Earl of Lincoln by Rich. 3. And Henry Marquess of Exeter by King Henry the 8. But none of these or the like are within the Purview of this Statute saith my Lord Coke 3 Instit fol. 9. 5. Note Whereas in the Printed Statute-Books it is there
the Chancellor without Warrant is no Treason Fixing a new Great Seal to another Patent is a great Misprision but no Treason being not a Counterfeiting within this Act But Aiders and Consenters are within this Act. The Counterfeiting of the Privy Signet or Sign Manual is no Treason within this Act but made by the Statute 1. Mar. c. 6. 10. Treason concerning Coin is either Counterfeiting the Kings Coin and this was Treason at Common Law and Judgment only as of Pettit Treason but Clipping c being made Treason by subsequent Statutes the Judgment is to be Drawn Hang'd and Quarter'd Money here extends only to the Proper Money of this Realm But now by the 1. M. c. 6. Forging or Counterfeiting Money made current by Proclamation is High Treason and by 14. Eliz. c. 3. Forging of Forreign Coin not current here is Misprision of Treason in the Forgers their Aiders and Abettors And not that the bare Forging of the Kings Coin without Uttering is Treason The second Offence concerning Money here declared to be Treason is If any person bring into this Realm Counterfeit Money Where note 1. It must be Counterfeit 2. Counterfeited to the similitude of English Money 3. It must be brought from a Forreign Realm and therefore not from Ireland 4. It must be brought knowingly 5. Brought and not barely uttered here But by the Statute De Moneta if false or clipt money be found in a persons hands and he be suspitious he may be Arrested till he can clear himself 6. He must merchandize therewith that is make payment thereof 11. As this Statute leaves all other doubtful matters to be declared Treason in Parliameâ—t but not to be punish'd as such till so declared So in succeeding Kings Reigns abundance of other matters were declared Treason which being found very grievous and dangerous by the Statute of 1 Mar. Cap. 1. it is Enacted That thenceforth no Act Deed or Offence being by Act of Parliament or Statute made Treason Petty Treason or Misprision of Treason by Words Writing Ciphering Deeds or otherwise however shall be taken had Deemed or Adjudged to be High-Treason Petty Treason or Misprision of Treason but only such as be declared and expressed to be Treason Petty Treason or Misprision of Treason by this Statute of the 25. Edw. 3. 12. The Offences made High Treason by Statutes since this first of Mary are as follow Refusing the Oath of Supremacy upon second Tender is Treason by 5. Eliz. Cap. 1. but no Corruption of Blood so likewise is Extolling the Power of the Bishop of Rome a Premunire and the bringing in of Bulls or putting them in Execution or Reconciling to the Church of Rome is Treason by the same Statute Bringing in Dei's is a Premunire 23. Eliz. C. 1. Also absolving Subjects from their Obedience or Reconciling them to the Obedience of Rome is Treason 27. Eliz. Cap. 2. So is it likewise for a Priest coming into England not submiting in two days The like for English men in Forreign Seminaries But Besides these Old Treasons since the happy Retâ—uration of His Majesty The zealous regards his Subjects in Parliament had for the safety of his Sacred Person and Government thought sit to prefer and make the Statute following Anno Regni Car. 2. Regis decimo tertio CAP. I. An Act for Safety and Preservation of His Majesties Person and Government against Treasonable and Soditious Practises and Attempts THe Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament deeply Weighing and Considering the Miseries and Calamities of well high twenty years before your Majesties Happy Return and withâ—l Reflecting on the Causes and Occasions of so great and diplorable Confusions do in all humility and thankfulness acknowledge your Majesties incomparable Grace and Goodness to your People in your Free and General Pardon Indempnity and Oblivion by which roar Majesty hath been pleased to deliver your Subjects not only from the Punishment but also from the Reproach of their former Miâ—carringes which unexempted Piety and Clemency of your Majestie hath Enflamed the Hearts of us your Subjects with an ardent desire to express all possible Zeal and Duty in the Care and Preservation of your Majesties Person in whose Honour and Happiness consists the good and welfare of your people and in preventing as much as may be all Treasonable and Sedititious Practises and Attempts for the time to come 2 And because the Growth and Increase of the late Troubles and Disorders did in a very great measure proceed from a multitude of Seditious Sermons Pamphlets and Speeches daily Preached Printed and Published with a Transcendent boldness defaming the Person and Government of your Majesty and your Royal Father wherein men were too much Encouraged and above all from a wilful mistake of the Supream and Lawful Authority whilst men were forward to cry up and maintain those Orders and Ordinances Oaths and Covenants to be Acts Legal and Warrantable which in themselves had not the least Colour of Law or Justice to support them from which kind of Distempers as the present Age is not wholly freed so Posterity may be apt to Relapse into them if a timely Remedy be not provided 3 We therefore the Lords and Commons in Parliament Assembled having duly considered the Premisses and Remembring that in the thirteenth year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth of ever blessed Memory a right good and profitable Law was made for Preservation of Her Majesties Person do most humbly beseech your most Excellent Majesty that it may be Enacted 4 And be it Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by Authority of the same That if any Person or Persons whatsoever after the four and twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred sixty and one during the Natural Life of our most Gracious Soveraign Lord the King whom God Almighty Preserve and Bless with a Long and Prosperous Reign shall within the Realm or without Compass Imagine Invent Devise or intend Death or Destruction or any Bodily Harm tending to the Death or Destruction Maim or Wounding Imprisonment or Restraint of the Person of the same our Soveraign Lord the King 5 Or to deprive or depose him from the Style Honour or Kingly Name of the Imperial Crown of this Realm or of any other His Majesties Dominions or Countries 6 To Levy War against His Majesty within this Realm or without 7 Or to move or stir any Forraigner and Strangers with force to Invade this Realm or any other His Majesties Dominions or Countries being under His Majesties Obeysance 8. And such Compassings Imaginations Inventions Devices or Intentions or any of them shall express utter or declare by any Printing Writing Preaching or malicious and advised Speaking being Lawfully Convicted thereof upon the Oaths of two Lawful and Credible Witnesses upon Tryal or otherwise Convicted or Attainted by due Course of Law then every
such person and persons so as aforesaid offending shall be deemed declared and Adjudged to be Traytors and shall suffer pains of Death and also lose and Forfeit as in Cases of High Treason 2. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if any person or persons at any time after the four and twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred sixty and one during his Majesties Life shall Malitiously and Advisedly publish or affirm the King to be an Heretick or Papist or that he endeavourr to introduce Popery 2. Or shall Malitiously and Advisedly by Printing Writing Preaching or other Speaking Express Publish Vtter or Declare any words sentences or other thing or things to Incite or stir up the people to Hatred or dislike of the Person of His Majesty or the Established Government 3 Then every such person and persons being thereof Legally Convicted shall be disabled to have or enjoy and is hereby disabled and made incapable of having holding enjoying or exercising any Place Office or Promotion Ecclesiastical Civil or Military or any other Imployment in Church and Stateother than that of his Peerage and shall likewise be liable to such further and other Punishments as by the Common Laws or Statutes of this Realm may be inflicted in such Cases 4 And to the end that no man hereafter may he misled into any Seditious or Vnquiet Demeanour out of an opinion that the Parliament B-gun and held at Westminster upon the third day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and forty is yet in being which is undoubtedly Dissolved and Determined and so is hereby declared and adjudged to be fully dissolved and determined 5 Or out of an opinion that there lies any Obligation upon him from any Oath Covenant or Engagement whatsoever to endeavour a Change of Government either in Church or State 6 Or out of an Opinion that both Houses of Parliament or either of them have a Legislative Power without the King 7 All which Assertions have been seditiously maintained in some Pamphlets lately Printed and are dayly promoted by the Active Enemies of our Peace and Happiness 3. Be it therefore further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if any person or persons at any time after the four and twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord. one thousand six hundred sixty and one shall Maliciously and Advisedly by Writing Printing Preaching or other Speaking Express Publish Vtter Declare or Affirm That the Parliament Begun at Westminster upon the third day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and forty is not yet Dissolved or is not Determined or that it ought to be in being or hath yet any Continuance or Existence 2 Or that there lies any Obligation on him or any other person from any Oath Covenant or Engagement whatsoever to endeavour a Change of Government either in Church or State 3 Or that both Houses of Parliament or either House of Parliament have or hath a Legislative Power without the King or any other words to the same Effect 4 That then every such person and persons so as aforesaid offending shall incurr the danger and penalty of a Premunire mentioned in a Statute made in the sixteenth year of the Reign of King Richard the Second 5 And it is hereby also declared That the Oath usually called the Solemn League and Covenant was in it self an Unlawful Oath and Imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the Fundamenaal Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom 6 And that all Orders and Ordinances or pretended Orders and Ordinances of both or either Houses of Parliament for imposing of Oaths Covenants or Engagements Levying of Taxes or Raising of Forees and Arms to which the Royal Assent either in Person or by Commission was not expresly had or given were in the first Creation and Making and still are and so shall be taken to be Null and Void to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever 7 Provided never theless That all and every person and persons Bodies Politick and Corporate who have been or shall at any time hereafter be questioned for any thing Acted or Done by Colour if any the Orders or Ordinances herein before mentioned and declared to be Null and Void and are Indempnified by an Act Intituled An Act of Free and General Pardon Indempnity and Oblivion made in the twelfth year of His Majesties Reign that now is or shall be Indemnified by any Act of Parliament shall and may make such use of the said Orders and Ordinances for their Indemnity according to the true intent and meaning of the said Act and no other as he or they might have done if this Act had not been made any thing in this Act contained notwithstanding 4. Provided always That no person be Prosecuted for any of the Offences in this Act mentioned other than such as are made and declared to be High Treason unless it be by order of the Kings Majesty his Heirs or Successors under his or their Sign Manual or by order of the Council Table of his Majest his Heirs of Successors directed unto the Attorney General for the time being or some other of the Council learned to His Majesty His Heirs or Successors for the time being 2 Nor shall any Person or persons by vertue of this present Act incur any the Penalties herein before mentioned unless he or they be Prosecuted within six months next after the offence Committed and Indicted thereupon within three months after such Prosecution any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding 5. Provided always and be it Enacted That no person or persons shall be Indicted Arraigned Condemned Convicted or Attainted for any of the Treasons or Offences aforesaid unless the same Offender or Offenders be thereof Accused by the Testimony and Disposition of two Lawful and Credible Witnesses upon Oath 2 Which Witnesses at the time of the said Offender or Offenders Arraignment shall be brought in person before him or them Face to Face and shall openly avow and maintain upon Oath what they have to say against him or them concerning the Treason or Offences contained in the said Indictment unless the party or parties Arraigned shall willingly without violence Confess the ame 6. Provided likewise and be it Enacted That this Act or any thing therein contained shall not extend to deprive either of the Houses of Parliament or any of their Members of their just Antint Freedom and Priviledge of Debating any matters or business which shall be propounded or debated in either of the said Houses or at any Conferences or Committees of both or either of the said Houses of Parliament or touching the Repeal or Alteration of any Old or preparing any New Laws or the Regressing of any Publick Grievance but that the said Members of either of the said Houses and the Assistants of the House of Peers and every of them shall have the same freedom of
shall be tryed for any Offence against this Act by his Peers but if Convicted shall be disabled to sit in Parliament during Life And thus much for what is Treason at this day By the Statute of 1 and 2 Phil. and Mar. cap 10. All Trials for Treason shall be only according to the Course of the Common Law And though the greater part of that Statute being Temporary be expired yet this Clause is still in Force The Judgment in all Cases of High Treason except for Counterfeiting Coin for a man is That he shall be drawn on an Hurdle or Sledge to the place of Execution and there be Hanged by the Neck to be cut down being yet alive his Privy Members cut off his Bowels ript up taken out and burnt before his face his Headsevered from his Body his Body divided into four Quarters which are to be disposed of as the King shall order But for Counterfeiting Coin only Drawn and Hanged And in both Cases for a Woman for Modesty sake it is only that she shall be Burnt The reasons or signification of this horrid Judgment on a man for Treason are thus by some rendred and Interpreted 1. He is drawn on a Sledg or Hurdle on the ground in the Dirt to shew that his Pride is brought down for Treason commonly springs from Ambition 2. On this Hurdle he is drawn backward to shew that his Actings have been contrary to Order unnatural and Preposterous 3. He is Hanged between Heaven and Earth as unworthy of either 4. He is cut down yet alive and his Privities cut off to shew that he was unfit to Propagate any Posterity 5. His Head is severed from his Body because his mischevious Brain contrived the Treason 6. His Body is divided to shew that all his Machinations and Devices are torn to pieces and brought to nought and into four parts that they may be scattered towards the four Quarters of the World Heading being part of the judgment in Treason the King commonly to persons of Quality Pardons all the rest of the Sentence and so they are only Beheaded But if a person be Attainted of Murder or any other Felony if he be Beheaded 't is no Execution of the Judgment because there the Judgment always is that he be Hanged till he be dead which cannot be altered So that had Count Conning smark lately been Convicted and Condemned for the Murder of Esquire Thynn all his Guinies or his Friends could not have preserved him from the Gallows unless they could have got an intire Pardon Any person being Indicted for Treason may Challenge that is except against or refuse Five and Thirty Jurors peremptorily that is for his pleasure or for reasons best known to himself and without assigning any Cause to the Court But if he Challenge more that is above three full Juries he Forseits his Goods and Judgment of Peinfort dure that is of being pressed to Death shall pass upon him as one that refuseth the Trial of the Law In Cases of Murder and Felony a man cannot Challenge peremptorily above the number of Twenty But with Cause he may except against more And this is by the Stat. of 22. H. 8. cap. 14. And certainly since the Law of England which is a Law of Mercy does in Favour of Life not only order a man to be Tryed by a Jury of his Country and Equals but also allows him to refuse and have Liberty of excepting against so many of those as shall be Impanelled for that purpose It cannot be supposed that the same Law ever intended that the Prisoner should be denyed a Copy of the Pannel of his Jury that so by the Information of his Friends or otherwise he may know their Qualities Circumstances and Inchnations for how else shall he know whom to Challenge peremptorily and whom to Challenge with Cause to allow a man such Liberty of Challenge and give him no opportunity of such Inquiry is but to mock the Prisoner to whom possibly the whole Jury by face and name may be utter Strangers and sure the wisdom of our Laws never thought every Prisoner so skilled in Metoposcopy that meerly by looking on a parcel of men he could tell which of them were indifferent and which biassed against him Another Statute of King Edward the third Anno 2. Edw. 3. cap. 2. In what Cases only Pardon of Felony shall be granted c. ITem Whereas Offendors have been greatly encouraged because the Charters of Pardon have been so easily granted in times past of Man-slaughters Roberies Felonies and other Trespasses against the Peace 2 It is ordained and Enacted that such Charters shall not be granted but only where the King may do it by his Oath that is to say where a man slayeth another in his own Defence or by Misfortune 3 And also they have been encouraged because that the Justices of the Goal-Delivery and of Oyer and Terminer have been procured by great men against the Form of the Statute made in the 27th year of the Reign of King Edward Grandfather to our Lord the King that now is wherein is Contained that Justices Assigned to take Assizes if they be Lay-Men shall make deliverance and if the one be a Clerk and the other a Lay-man that the Lay-Judge with another of the Countrey associate to him shall deliver the Goals 4 Wherefore it is Enacted that Justices shall not be made against the Form of the said Statute 5 And that the Assizes Attaints and Certifications be taken before the Justices commonly Assigned which should be good men and Lawful having knowledg of the Law and none other after the Form if another Statute made in the time of the said King Edward the first 6 And that the Oyers and Terminers shall not be granted but before the Justices of the one Bench or the other or the Justices Errants and that great hurt or horrible Trespasses and of the Kings special Grace after the Form of the Sâ—atute thereof ordained in time of the said Grandfather and none otherwise The Comment Touching this Statute and several others to the same purpose as 14. Edw. 3. cap. 14. and 10. Edw. 3. cap. 2. and 13. R. 2. cap. 1. and 16. R. cap. 6. c. We shall only give you the words of Cook in the third part of his Instit fo 236. What things the King may pardon and in what manner and what he cannot pardon falleth now to be treated of IN case of death of man Robberies and Felonies against the Peace divers Acts of Parliament have Restrained the power of granting Charters of pardons first that no such Charters shall be granted but in case where the King may do it by his Oath Secondly That no man shall obtain Charters out of Parliament Stat. 4. Edw 3. cap 13. And accordingly in a Parliament Roll it is said for the Peace of the Land it would much help if good Justices were appointed in every County if such as be let to mainprize do put
in good Sureties as Esquires or Gentlemen And that no pardon were granted but by Parliament Thirdly For that the King hath granted Pardons of Felonies upon false Suggestions it is provided that every Charter of Felony which shall be granted at the Suggestion of any the name of him that maketh the Suggestion shall be comprised in the Charter and if the Suggestion be found untrue the Charter shall be disallowed And the like provision is made by the Statute of 5. H. 4. Cap 2. for the Pardon of an Approver Fourthly It is provided that no Charter of Pardon for Murder Treason or Rape shall be allowed c. If they be not specified in the same Charter Statute 13. R 2. Before this Statute of 13. R 2. by the Pardon of all Felonies Treason was Pardoned and so was Murder c. At this day by the Pardon of all Felonies the death of man is not Pardoned These be excellent Laws for direction and for the Peace of the Realm But it hath been conceived which we will not question that the King may dispence with these Laws by a Non Obstante notwithstanding be it General or Special albeit we find not any such Clauses of non Obstante notwithstanding to dispense with any of these Statutes but of late times These Statutes are excellent Instructions for a Religious and Prudent King to follow for in these Cases Vt summae potestatis Regiae est posse quantum velit sic Magnitudinis est velle quantum possit As it is the highest Kingly power to be able to Act what he Wills so it is his Greatness and Nobleness to Will only what he lawfully can Hereof you may Read more in Justice Standford Lib. 2. Cap. 35. in diverse places of that Chapter of his grave Advice in that behalf Most certain it is that the Word of God has set down this undisputable General Rule Quia non profetur Cito Contra malos sententia filii hominum sine timore ullo perpetrant because Sentence against evil men is not speedily Executed therefore the hearts of the Children of men are set in them to do evil And thereupon the Rule of Law is grounded Spes Impunitatis Continuum Affectum tribuit delinquendi the hope of Impunity encourageth Offenders Et veniae facilitas Incentivum est Delinquendi and the facility of obtaining Pardon is an Incentive to Commit Offences This is to be Added that the Intention of the said Act of 13. R. 2. Was not that the King should grant a Pardon of Murder by express Name in the Charter but because the whole Parliament conceived that he would neuer Pardon Murder by special Name for the Causes aforesaid therefore that provision made which was as in other Cases I have observed grounded upon the Law of God Quicunque effuderit humanum sanguinem fundetur sanguis illius ad imaginem quippe Dei creatus est homo nec aliter Expiati potest nisi per ejus sanguinem qui alterius sanguinem effuderit whosoever shall shed mans blood by man also shall his blood be shed because man was Created after the Image of God neither can it be expiated otherwise then by his blood who spilt the blood of another And the words of every Pardon is after the Recital of the offence nos pietate moti c. we being moved with Piety c. But it can be no Piety to violate an express Law of God by letting Murder scape unpunisht Thus Coke whereby we see what opinion he had of such Pardons A brief digression concerning the Nature of APPEALS THis Discourse of Pardons puts us in mind of another kind of Legal Prosecution called an Appeal of which it may be very convenient to give the Reader some brief account You must know then for several Offences for which a man deserveth death and particularly for Murder there are two ways to bring him to Answer for the same one by Indictment which is at the Kings Suit and the other by Appeal which is at the Suit of a Party which is wronged or injured by the Murder as a Woman whose Husband or a Child or Brother whose Father or Brother is Killed Now upon an Indictment if the Offender be found Guilty because it s to be at the Suit of the King it has been said by some may be and too often a Pardon has been obtained tho even That too be against Law as appears by the Premisses But in an Appeal all agree the King can grant no Pardon Nay if a person be tryed by Indictment and Acquitted or Convicted and get a Pardon yet an Appeal may be brought and if he be thereupon Convicted notwithstanding such his former Acquital or Pardon he must be Hanged The word Appeal is derived from the French Verb Appeller to Call because he or she that brings it Calls the Defendant to Judgment but the meaning thereof is all one with An Accusation And is peculiarly in Legal signification applyed to Appeals of Three sorts First an Appeal brought by an Heir Male for some wrong done to his Ancestor whose Heir he is Secondly Of wrong done to an Husband and is by the Wife only if it be for the death of her Husband to be Prosecuted The third is of wrongs done to the Appellants themselvess as for Robbery Rape or Maim Coke 1. Instit Sect. 500. Note that this Appeal must be brought within a year and a day after the Murder is committed For afterwards it cannot be brought at all And antiently it was customary not to bring an Indictment for the King till after the year and the day waiting in the mean time for the Prosecution of the Party but this was found very inconvenient for the Party was frequently compounded with and at the years end the business was forgot and so Offenders escaped Justice And therefore the same was altered by the Statute 3. Hen. 7. Cap. 1. Whereby it is Enacted That the Coroner shall do his Office and the Offenders may be Arraigned at any time within the year at the Kings Suit but if Acquitted yet the party within the year and day should have liberty to bring an Appeal against such person either Acquitted or Attainted if the benefit of the Clergy be not before thereof had And in order thereunto that when any person happened to be Acquitted for the death of a man within the year the Justices before whom he is Acquitted shall not suffer him to go at large but either to remit him again to the Prison or else to let him to Bail after their discretion till that the day and the year be passed that so he may be forth coming to Answer an Appeal if it shall happen to be brought Thus that Statute as to the latter Clause whereof you see the Judges have power in Case of Acquittal to keep the Party in Prison still till the day and year be over Or else to admit him to Bail and tho this be left to their Discretion yet it must
not be such a Discretion as confounds all Discretion but they must weigh the Circumstances and go according to Law and Judgment and certainly the law intended such Bail if any be accepted should be bound Body for Body for otherwise it seems no security And therefore many wise men wondered the other day when Count Conning smark was Acquitted on the Indictment for the Barbarous Murder of Esquire Thynn that he was suffered to go so soon abroad for being a Stranger he was never like to come again into Enggland and being so rich what values he to discharge the Forfeitures of his Sureties Recognizances which likewise may be easily Compounded At most the Forfeieure is to the King and what is it that to the next Heir or Kinsman He is by this means Outed of his Legal Remedy to Revenge the Blood of his near and dear Relation Sed haec Obiter The form of an Appeal of Murder I C. Hic Instanter Appellat W. E. c. In English thus I here instantly Appeals W. F. of the death of his Brother H. C. For that whereas the aforesaid H. was in the Peace of God and the King at Tonbridge in the County of Rent the twenty eighth day of March in the thirty fourth year of the Reign of our Lord Charles the Second c. at seven a Clock in the Evening of the same Day cama the said W. F. as a Felon of our Lord the King in a premeditated Assault with Force and Arms c. And upon him the said H. C. then and there felonionsly an Assault did make and with a certain Sword of the price of twelve pence Which he then and there in his Right Hand did hold the aforesaid H. upon his Head did strike and one mortal wound of two Inches long in forepart of his Head even unto the Brain to the said H. did then and there Feloniously give of which said wound the said H for three days then next following did Languish and then viz. the such a day of such a month he there died or if the case be so Instantly died And so the said W. H. as a Felon of our Lord the King the aforesaid H. Feloniously did Kill and Murder against the Peace of our said Lord the King his Crown and Dignity And that this he did wickedly and as a Felon against the Peace of God and our Lord the King the aforesaid osters that the same be detained as the Court of our Lord the King shall think meet Diversity of Courts and Jurisdictions Written in the time of King Hen. 8. 1. Note That a women cannot now bring an Appeal for the death of any other Ancestors being baried there from by Magna Charta Cap. 34. whereas as you have heard it is provided that none shall be taken or Imprisoned upon the Appeal of any woman for the death of any Person but only of her Husband But she may at this day bring an Appeal of Robbery c. For wherein she is not by that Statute restrained Coke 2d Instit fol. 68. 2. The women that brings an Appeal for the death of her Husband must be his Wife not only de Facto but de Jure not only called and reputed or cohabiting with him but actually and legally Married to him and of such a Wife the Antient-Law-Books speaks de morte viri Inter Brachia sua Interfecti the Husband is killed within her Arms. that is whilst he was legally in her possession but that the Appellant and the person killed were not ever lawfully coupled in Matrimony is a good Plea in an Appeal 3. This Right of Appeal for the death of her Husband is annexed to her Widdow-hood as her Quarentine is and therefore if the Wife of the Dead Marry again her Appeal is gone even altho the second Husband should die within the year day after the Murder of the first For she must all the while before the Appeal be brought continue Faemini viri sui his Widdow upon whose death the Appeal is brought furthermore if she bring the Appeal during her Widdow-hood and take a Husband whilst it is depending the Appeal shall Abate that is be out of doors for ever Nay if on her Appeal she hath Judgment against the Defendant if afterwards she take an Husband before the Defendant be Hanged she can never have Execution of death against him 4. By the Statute of Glocest. made in the sixth year of King Edw. 1. Cap. 9. It is Enacted that if an Appeal set forth the Deed the year the day the hour the Reign of the King and the Town where the Deed was done and with what Weapon the Party was slain the Appeal shall stand in effect and shall not be abated for default of fresh Suit if the party shall Sue within the year and the day after the Deed done 5. As for the year and day here mentioned it is to be acconnted for the whole year according to the Calendar and not for twelve Months at twenty eight days to the Month. So likewise the day intended is a Natural day And this year and day must be accounted after the Felony and Murder Committed Now if a man be Mortally Wounded on the first day of May and thereof Languishes to the first day of June and then dies the Question here arises whether the year and the day allowed for bringing the Appeal is to be reckoned from the giving the Wound or the time of Death Some have held the former For that the Death ensuing hath Relation to it and that is the Cause of the Death and the Offender did nothing the day of the Death But the truth is the year and day shall be accounted only from the first of June the day of the Death for before that time no Felony was Committed and thus it hath often been resolved and Adjudged and the reason abovesaid grounded upon Relation which is a Fiction in Law holdeth not in this Case Coke 2. Ingit fol. 320. 6. If an Appeal of Murder be brought and depending the Suit and after the Year and Day is elapsed one become accessary to the Murder the Plaintiff shall have an Appeal against him after the Year and Day past after the Death but it must be brought within the Year and Day after this new Felony as accessary 7. If a Man be Indicted for Murder and Convicted only of Man-slaughter and have the Benefit of his Clergy it seems the Wife and Heir cannot afterwards bring their Appeal Touching which the Lord Cook 3 Instit Fo. 131. cites a Case in these words Thomas Burghe Brother and Heir of Henry Burghe brought an Appeal of Murder against Thomas Holcroft of the Death of the said Henry The Defendant pleaded that before the Coroner he was Indicted of Man-slaughter and before Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer he was upon that Indictment Arraigned and confessed the Indictment and prayed his Clergy and thereupon was Entred Curia advisare vult the Court will consider
Major of the Pallace who will be sure to mind the private interest of himself and Family more than that of the Prince or the Publick good Or like the Turkish Empire under a Weak Grand Seignior by the Prevailing Concubine of the Seraglio who is perhaps her self managed by no higher dictates than that of her chief Eunuch or She-Slave It is strange therefore to observe the Impotent Ambition of some Men and such as with Shame let us speak it boast themselves English-men too who provided they may trample upon and domineer over their Inferiors care not how much their Superiors do the like over them Their Souls like most insolent Mens being mean enough to submit thereunto or who can enough deplore and abhor the ignorance and stupidity of some lazy insignificant Gentlemen who care not how things go provided they may enjoy their Hawks Hounds and Bowling-Green Meetings whilst not only for Divinity but Politicks too they are Govern'd by their more Impertinent Chaplain or the Parson of their Parish Now nothing is more obvious than the designs of some idle Covetous Sycophant Clergy-men who like Ivy though it cannot grow without the support of the Oak and yet will destroy it at last do in private Parlours over the Glass whilst Healths go round as well as in their Pulpits over their Cushions set up Absolute Monarchy to be Jure Divino declaiming against the unreasonable stubornness of any Parliament that will not give away the Peoples Money and submit themselves to be Fleec'd as often as the prime Minister or Favourite think fit they cry up the Prince like an Angel so long as he will be their Executioner to Whip Imprison or hang all that will not truckle to their own Pride and Avarice or refuse to give up their Souls once again to be managed by an Implicite Faith whereby in the mean while these Huffish Sir Johns might not be troubled with those uneasy Tasks of Studying Preaching c. but may have nothing else to do but live at ease keep their Coach and Horses with a silly Curate to do all the Drudgery Whilst they themselves are making Addresses above by Flattering and Informing at some great Noblemans or Bishops Table and railing against the Whiggs and Fanaticks and speaking a good word for Popery by the By Or else if their parts reach so high by some Sycophant Pamphlet or Sermon against the Government Establisht by Law They teach that men have no property either in their Lives or Goods but only during the Princes pleasure c. If there be not such a parcel of Things as these that call themselves Divines then no Body is concerned in this Character but if there be they are the worst of men and ought not only to be exposed but severely punisht Therefore since at present we live under so happy a Government where being securely Landed our selves we behold the Shipwrack of our Neighbours and since notwithstanding the goodness of our Sovereign King Charles the Second whom God preserve who has declared that he desires nothing less than the Alteration or subversion of that Government which as well by his Coronation Oath as by his own Lenity and good nature he thinks himself obliged to observe yet there are some who for their own private ends endeavour their utmost to remove our antient Land-marks Introducing Popery and Slavery amongst us It is therefore the indispensable Interest and Duty of all true English-men to maintain these Priviledges conveyed from their Ancestors through so many Generations inviolable upon which all our Earthly and in a great measure our Spiritual Happiness safety and well-being depends Nor can any Man in his senses but acknowledge that the only right way to attain that end is to look well to the Means and that is by taking due care what Persons they Choose for their Representatives with whom they must trust their Estates Lives and Liberties Now this Government of a Prince by and with Parliaments whenever the Condition and Necessities of the State require them however according to it 's primitive Institution it was the best of all others yet as well in that as in Christianity it self there have been found out wayes of Corruption and that is when either they sit too long or too seldom or are too frequently dissolved too frequent Dissolutions being no less Dangerous to the Subject than too long Sessions Nevertheless it may be in the Electors power to avoid the Inconveniences of both and that is by making a good Choice Whereas if the Countrey People will sell all that they have for a little roast Beef aGlass of Sack a pot of Ale Choosing him that will give them most Drink to Day though they know him to be a Person who will sell both their Religion Liberties and Fortunes to Morrow then frequent Dissolutions will of necessity ruine us and utterly debauch this Excellent Constitution for the honest Countrey Gentleman designing no other private advantage but the true service of his King and Country hath no reason nor is he able once in half a Year to spend 4 or 500 Pound only to purchase a place full of Labour Charge trouble and Danger without any profit to himself only to serve those who put him to such an unkind Expence And when honest Loyal Gentlemen are thus discouraged if this Sottish humour amongst the Electors continue the Papist and their Faction or necessitous Persons of prostituted Consciences will carry their Votes for they can afford to buy them at large rates being resolved to repay themselves though with the ruine of the Nation This is no vain surmize or idle speculation but the very truth of the Case and the meanest Countrey Man that has Eyes in his Head and will use them can not but see it for did you ever know a Coachman or Groom buy his place unless he designed to rob his Masters Bin Therefore whoever you put to charge in your Elections blame him not if he makes Money again of what he bought and lays out his Vote in the House not for your Good and that of the publick but that way as will best please the Ministers of State that so he himself may get a good place or preferment or Title of Honour by the Bargain I say though he himself be a base Wretch for so doing yet You cannot blame him since you did not lend him your Trust but sold it him and what a Man hath purchased with his own Money he may lawfully sell again Therefore that Man who does wilfully give his Voice for a Knave or Fool does his endeavour to ruine both his Country and himself and his Posterity and to be as bad or worse than the Person he chooses and if the greater part of the House happen to be Wiser or Honester it is no thanks to him he did as much as he could to debauch it and therefore for his part if none else were concerned with him it were no matter if he were forthwith
follows I A. B. do declare that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and that I do abhor that Traiterous position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are commissioned by him and that I will conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England as it is now by Law established And I do declare That I do hold there lies no Obligation upon me nor any other person from the Oath commonly called the solemn League and Covenant to endeavour any change or alteration of Government either in Church or State and that the same was in it self an unlawful Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the known Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom But note that this last branch of this Declaration by a subsequent clause of the same Act was to continue but till the 25th day of March 1682. so that now the same is not to be required And thus much for this Five-Mile Act. We now proceed to the other Statute against Protestant Dissenters viz. Anno Vicessimo Secundo Caroli Secundi Regis Cap. 1. An Act to prevent and suppress Seditions Conventicles For providing further and more speedy Remedies against the growing and dangerous practices of Seditious Sectaries and other disloyal persons who under pretence of Tender Consciences have or may at their Meetings contrive Insurrections as late Experience hath shewn 2. Be it enacted by the King 's most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by Authority of the same That if any person of the Age of sixteen years or upwards being a Subject of this Realm at any time after the tenth day of May next shall be present at any Assembly Conventicle or Meeting under colour or pretence of any Exercise of Religion in other manner than according to the Liturgy and practice of the Church of England in any place within the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales or Town of Berwick upon Tweed at which Conventicle Meeting or Assembly there shall be five persons or more Assembled together over and besides those of the same houshold if it be in a house where there is a Family inhabiting or if it be in a house field or place where there is no Family inhabiting then where any five persons or more are so Assembled as aforesaid it shall and may be lawful to and for any one or more Justices of the Peace of the County Limit Division Corporation or Liberty wherein the Offence aforesaid shall be Committed or for the chief Magistrate of the place where the Offence aforesaid shall be committed and he and they are hereby Required and Enjoyned upon Proof to him or them Respectively made of such Offence either by Confession of the Party or Oath of two Witnesses 3. Which Oath the said Justice and Justices of the Peace and Chief Magistrate respectively are hereby Required and Impowered to Administer or by Notorious Evidence and Circumstance of the fact to make a Record of every such Offence under his or their Hands and Seals respectively which Record so made as aforesaid shall to all intents and purposes be in Law taken and adjudged to be a full and perfect Conviction of every such Offender for such offence and thereupon the said Justice Justices and Chief Magistrate respectively shall Impose on every such Offender so convict as aforesaid a Fine of five shillings for such first Offence which Record and Conviction shall be certified by the said Justice Justices or Chief Magistrate at the next Quarter-Sessions of the Peace for the County or place where the Offence was committed 2. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if such Offender so convicted as aforesaid shall at any time again commit the like Offence or Offences contrary to this Act and be thereof in manner aforesaid convicted then such Offender so convict of such like Offence or Offences shall for every such Offence incur the penalty of ten shillings 2. Which Fine and Fines for the first and every other Offence shall be Levied by Distress and Sale of the Offenders Goods and Chattels or in case of the poverty of such Offender upon the Goods and Chattels of any other person or persons who shall be then convicted in manner aforesaid of the like Offence at the same Conventicle at the discretion of the said Justice Justices or Chief Magistrate respectively so as the Sum to be Levied on any one person in case of the poverty of other Offenders amount not in the whole to above the Sum of ten pounds upon occasion of any one Meeting as aforesaid 3. And every Constable Headborough Tythingman Church-Wardens and Over-seers of the Poor respectively are hereby Authorized and Required to Levy the same accordingly having first received a Warrant under the Hands and Seals of the said Justice Justices or Chief Magistrate respectively so to do 4 The said Monies so to be Levied to be forthwith delivered to the same Justice Justices or Chief Magistrate and by him or them to be distributed the one third part thereof to the use of the King's Majesty His Heirs and Successors to be paid to the High Sheriff of the County for the time being in manner following that is to say the Justice or Justices of Peace shall pay the same into the Court of the respective Quarter-Sessions which said Court shall deliver the same to the Sheriff and make a Memorial on Record of the payment and delivery thereof which said Memorial shall be a sufficient and final discharge to the said Justice and Justices and a charge to the Sheriff which said discharge and charge shall be certified into the Exchequer together and not one without the other And no Justice shall or may be questioned or accountable for the same in the Exchequer or elsewhere than in Quarter-Sessions another third part thereof to and for the use of the Poor of the Parish where such Offence shall be committed and the other third part thereof to the Informer and Informers and to such Person and persons as the said Justice Justices or chief Magistrate respectively shall appoint having regard to their diligence and Industry in the discovery dispersing and punishing of the said Conventicles 3. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That every person who shall take upon him to preach or teach in any such Meeting Assembly or Conventicle and shall thereof be convicted as aforesaid shall forfeit for every such first Offence the sum of Twenty pound to be Levied in manner aforesaid upon his Goods and Chattles 2. And if the said Preacher or Teacher so convicted be a stranger and his Name and Habitation not known and is fled and cannot be found or in the Judgment of the Justice Justices or chief Magistrate before whom he shall be convicted shall be thought unable to pay the same the said