Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
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A36228
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The antiquity and power of parliaments in England written by Mr. Justice Doddridge and several other learned antiquaries.
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Doddridge, John, Sir, 1555-1628.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing D1791; ESTC R13105
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30,734
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146
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obeyed not those general designes Before the Romans arrived in this Island Causibulan who before Communi Consilio Chieftain of the Britaines forces Summa enim imperii Bellique Administrandi Communi Consilio permissa est Causibulano The Ancient Laws of the Britaines which to the honor of our common Laws have their use to this day were composed in their common Counsels the multitude at that time as possessed of nothing had neither voice nor place Usury Tribute and greatness having made them servile to their betters And thus stood the State till by conquest it was made a Province So before our Britaines learned the Laws of their Victours they held their common Counsels Tacitus seemeth to ascribe much to the prosperous proceedings of the Romans against the Britaines quod non in Communi Consuluerunt After the entry of the Romans who with their people brought their Laws their Counsels were Comitia as Parliaments compounded of the three degrees Senatores Equestres Plebei and termed either Curiata Centuriata or Tributa so called for that the people were divided per Curias in which Assembly Populus Suffragia tenebat distinguished by Seats summoned by the Lictour held in the City had power to consult of Peace and War and to dispose of lesser publique Offices Romulus was founder hereof and called it lex Curiata and Centuriata for the nobler people were divided per Centurias for this the Counsel fore-sent by Edict Quis Dies Comitiis Centuriatis futurus est summoned per Corniciem Assembled in Campo Martio because all in Armes In this were disposed the greater Magistracies and affairs of that Hostilius was the institutor Tully gloried in that he was called lege Centuriata Tributa For in this the people Assembled by their Tribunes much ageeing with that of Curiata And the leges peculiares were general Jussu populi regnante Magistratu but not in force as Laws until their Promulgation for which cause the Country-Tribunes repaired to certain Faires where Proclamation was made of their new Laws and holding it aequum ut quisquam non obligaretur ad id quod sine culpa sua ignorat But these freedoms of the people expited and vanished as the Empire grew obsolete And when the State declined we as other enfranchised Countries began to give Laws unto our selves Therefore the Britains told Augustine Se non posse absque suorum Consensu licentia priscis abdicare moribus And thus it stood in Britaine until the coming in of the Saxons Now that substance and forme of Parliamentary Assemblies went all along the Saxon age held during the Incursion of the Danes and was continued by the Conquerour in part and when the Assembly of the three Estates formed the Parliament as now we keep it it shall by clear proof and presidents appear The story of the Saxons and their Laws do shew that they were of the same minde transplanted hither as Tacitus saith the Germanes were Nec Regibus infinita potestas de Minoribus Rebus principes consultant de majoribus omnes Rex Edwinus saith Beda lib. 2. cap. 13. quod antequam fidem susciperit dixit secum amicis principibus Consiliariis suis collaturum In a Charter of king Etheldred it appeareth Hist Esiensis Lib. 2. quod ad synodale Consilium apud Cirenchester universi Optimates simul convenerunt Affricum Majestatem rerum affectantem de hac patria profugum expulerunt Bertulphius held a Councel at Knisbury pro Regni Negotiis Congregat ' to the which the west-Saxon King and people sent their Legat. Ingulphus hath many places of clear proof but I will move but one In festo nativitatis beatae Mariae cum universi Magnates Regni per Regium edictum summoniti tam Archiepiscopi Episcopi Abbates Clerici quam totius Regni Proceres Optimates London convenerunt ad tractandum de negotiis publicis totius Regni consummatis omnibus Rex Eldredus coram Universis Domino Turketillo Abbati Monachisque suis Accersitis dedit Monasterium de Crowland c. Here you may see the sampler of our Parliament But to come nearer when King Jua establish'd his Lawes he saith I Jua King of the West-Saxons have called all my Fatherhood Aldermen and my wisest Commons with the godly men of my Kingdom to consult of great and weighty Matters Here is represented in King Jua the Kings Royal person The Fatherhood in those ancient dayes were those whom we call Bishops and therefore were termed Reverend Fathers By Aldermen the Nobility is meant so honorable was the word Alderman of old times that onely Noble Men were called Aldermen By the Wisest Commons is signified the Knights and Burgesses and so is the Kings Writ at this day De discretioribus majus sufficientibus By godly Men is meant the Convocation-house for that it onely eonsisteth of Religious men To consult of great and weighty Matters so is the Kings Writ at this day Pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos Statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae Concernentibus The like was in King Alphreds dayes where the King sancta Episcopi sapientes laici Statuerunt leges Calling the Statute-books libri synodales All their Lawes going by way of Suffrage general according to the Right of our Parliament Wherefore King Offa having gathered Consilia sapientum and viewing the best Lawes of Jua Alured and Etheldred would not publish them until such time as the Text saith ostendenda haec omnibus sapientibus nostris dixerunt omnes placet Custodire ea But howsoever the government was by sundry Kings and they continually attent to warre The Saxon time held hardly one Forme of this great Assembly or Councel yet in Canutus his dayes he having Conquered all and reduced that Heptarchie into a Monarchie so that he could say Sub Uno Rege sub Unae lege Universum Angliae Regnum regeretur It is plain that he held a Parliament though not then so stiled yet truly so to be accompted and since that it hath all parts of our Parliament we might rightly call it so In the Preamble to his Lawes thus he saith Convocato Itaque Communi procerum comitatu Episcoporum Abbatum ceterorum Nobilium Nec non ceterae Nobilitatis sapientiaeque totius Angliae concilio satagebat communia decreta ut in quantum humana ratio Voluit stabiliret After this Pious King Edward the Confessor in a Charter made to Westminster Abbey sealed and signed the same at a Parliament for thus he saith Hanc Igitur Chartam Donationis libertatis in Dedicatione predictae Ecclesiae recitare jussi Coram Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus omnibus Optimatibus Angliae omnique populo audiente vidente But now to come to the Normans time after the Conquest The two first Kings the Conquerour and his son William Rufus reigned with their swords in their hands absolutely of themselves not
Parliament then if the Parliament be dissolved the party is at large and the other without remedy If the King upon such Petition do appoint Commissioners for the determining of the Errors and upon the Scire facias the parties do appear 22 E. 3.3 if the Parliament be dissolved before the cause determined the Commissioners after the Parliament is ended cannot proceed to the determination of the matter or do any thing therein but they must expect a new Session of Parliament If judgment be given in Parliament and that also happen to be erronious there is no Court that can redress this Error but the Parliament it self for as much as it is the highest Court of the land and there is no higher Court in which he may have remedy 7 H. 6.29 a. As touching the Courts whose judgments are to be rereversed in Parliament First it is to be noted That all erronious judgments given in the Kings Bench touching matter and substance of Law or matter in fact were by the course of the common Law to be reversed in Parliament 7 H. 6.28 because it was before the King himself and therefore it was ordained by several Statutes made to avoid delay of suits 36 E. 3. cap. 10. 50 E. 3. 1 R. 2. 2 R. 2. that once every year a Parliament should be holden But now by a Statute made in the twenty seveth year of Queen Elizabeth it is ordained in the eighth Chapter that all erronious judgments in matters in Law shall be considered and reversed by the Iustices of the Common Place 27 Eliz cap. 8. and the Barons of the Exchequer or by six of them but if the error in the Kings Bench be in matter of Process or proceeding 7 H. 6.28 2 R. 3.22 27 H. 8.16 3 Eliz. Dyer 19 b. p. 93 the same might alwayes have been reversed in the said Court of the Kings Bench although if judgment be there given upon a plea which is before discontinued the same cannot be reversed but by Parliament In all cases in the Chancery wherein the Lord Chancellor is to adjudge according to the common Law 16 E. 3. fitz tit brief 651. Com. 393. 18 E. 3.25 17 Ass p. 24. 42 Ass p. 22. 27 H. 8.16 b. as in the repeal of Patents actions against priviledged persons Audita Querela upon Statutes c. There if erronious judgments be given the same is to be reversed in the Kings Bench 14 Eliz. Dyer 315. P. 100. although some opinions in other Books have been to the contrary 37 H. 6.14 a. but in matter of conscience their decrees are reversible by themselves Thus have I briefly touched upon several things which upon some other occasion I shall inlarge Touching such matters as are proper for the Parliament you shall see in an Excellent Book lately printed being an exact Abridgement of the Records in the Tower of London from the Reign of King Edward the second unto King Richard the third of all the Parliaments holden in each Kings Reign and the several Acts in every Parliament Collected by the learned payns of Sir Robert Cotton and revised and published by the unwearied labors of VVilliam Prynne of Lincolns-Inne Esquire a Book worthy of the Study of all the learned Gentlemen of this Nation I conclude with my humble prayer that the all-wise God would grant to this Nation a setled Government and a quiet State that our English Parliaments may recover and enjoy their ancient honour and lustre John Doddridge From my Chamber in the middle Temple the third of Dec. 1657. The several Opinions of sundry Antiquaries touching the Antiquity Power Order State Manner Persons and proceedings of the high Court of Parliament in England THere is no king in the world nor any subjects of any king that have a greater and more binding and yet a more free Council then this in our Parliament in England whose general Acts since all men must take knowledge of it may be profitable to every man to understand the Dignity Order and Antiquity thereof Soveraignty the highest degree of Honour is imported in the very Summons For the king himself jure Regio as a Flower of the Crown hath the absolute power of calling and dissolving it Order it self stands represented when the Court is sitting such is the Majestie of the Prince the Gravity of the persons their State in proceeding But this being often seen and so best known and the other unknown to many that sit and often see the order of this Court therefore we will treat principally of the Antiquity Nature Power and Jurisdiction of this high Court of Parliament And first of the Appellation the word Parliament Some derive it from Peers à potiore parte quasi parium Conventum or as others say quasi parium lament ' others more probably from the French word parler or that of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to treat and confer freely The French Histories say that this Name in this sense began at the Assembly of the Peers of France anno Dom. 1200. but it appeareth to be more ancient with us then of that time for Ingulphus who died 1009. saith In publico nostro Parliamento c. taking it there for a Meeting or Chapter of the Abbot Ingelo King of Polonia in the Polish State calleth the Assembly Generale Parliamentum This may raise a doubt of the former etymologie of it from the French word parler But no doubt the word was brought into the Realm by the French Monks and after applied by the Statists in the time of H. 1. to the General Council of the Kingdom But the like Assemblies as Parliaments are being much more ancient then the Parliament underwent these names of old times The Britains called them Kyfrithin because Laws were therein made by the English Saxons in their English Graduisis a Council sometimes Wittena Mota a Meeting of wise men Sometimes of the Greek word Synodos The Latine Authors of that Age call it Consilium Magnatum Curiae altissima praesentia Regis Prelatorum Procerumque Collectorum as appeareth by the Charter of Withlasias anno 833. and of King Edgar anno 966. And now to step a Nomine ad Rem before the time of Soveraignty Natures law directed men to the love of Society and care to preserve it and gained free consent even of lawless men to admit of certain Customs as Laws from hence framing matter of Form for a Commonwealth But new springing mischiefs standing remediless by the elder Customs caused for remedy thereof the calling of yearly Councils the original no doubt of our after-Parliaments And it shall appear that our Kingdome from as grounded Authority as any other Nation can prove of old the practise of these great Assemblies then called Counsels now Parliaments Those Sages the Druides most proper to this Isle had yearly Conventions of their noblest and best people in a middle consecrated Plot of this Kingdome punishing with proscription from their Sacrifices whoso