David's mighty men Captain of his Guard and others frequently found to be Attendants or Resident in the Houses or Palaces of Kings thorough the Current of Holy Writ And the Requisites belonging unto those which Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon required in the captive Children whom he intended to breed up in his Court that they should be well favoured skilful in all wisdom and cunning in knowledge and understanding and such as had ability in them to stand in the Kings Palace may give us to understand how much Kings and Princes were concerned in the Honour or dishonour done unto their Servants and how greatly they were esteemed in former ages and that the Jews were not in an Errour when they and some of their Rabbins did ascribe so much Honour to the Servants and Service of the King or Soveraign as they conceived it to be de honore Regum ut tales ministri qui Aulae semel initiati sunt aliis vilioribus officiis extraneis postea nunquam contaminentur ut nemo utitur servis Ancillis vel ministris ejus nisi alius Rex ejus successor for the Kings Honour that those that had once served him should never be imployed in meaner business or afterwards serve any other then his Successor which may be the reason that their names were so punctually entered into the Register of the Kings Servants as Nehemiah could long after the many Captivities Tosses and Troubles of that Nation by the Divine Judgement and Indignation find in an old Register the Names and Genealogies of Solomon's Servants That mighty King Ahasuerus did but exercise his just Power of giving Honours and Rewards to his Servants when he advanced Haman and set his Seat above all the Princes which were with him and Commanded all His Servants which were in the Gate to Bow and do him Reverence And Haman being afterwards demanded by the King what should be done to the man whom the King delighteth to Honour little thinking that Mordecai whom he hated and was one of the meaner sort of the Kings Servants or any other then himself should be the better for it readily and without any doubt or scruple answered and said for the man whom the King delighteth to Honour Let the Royal Apparel be brought which the King useth to wear and the horse that the King rideth upon and the Crown Royal which is set upon his head And let the Apparel and Horse be delivered to the hand of one of the Kings most Noble Princes that they may Array the man withal whom the King delighteth to Honour and bring him on Horseback through the Street of the City and Proclaim before him Thus shall be done to the man whom the King delighteth to Honour with which the City of Shushan were so well contented as it is said that they rejoyced and were glad The next unto the King was Carshena Shethar Admatha Tarshish Meres Marsena and Memucan the seven Princes of Persia and Media being his seven Counsellors which saw the Kings face and which sate the first of his Kingdom Those that served Kings and Princes were allowed Ornaments and Apparel which the Common and Ordinary sort of People could neither claim nor merit and therefore that greatest Lord of the Earth and Master of Humility made an honourable mention of them when he concluded that they who were molliter vestiti and did wear soft Cloathing were in Kings Houses and the Emperour Theodosius above 300 and 30 years after our Saviour Chirst had left the earth and in an Edict or Proclamation forbidding the use of Silk Raiments to all people of what kind or profession whatsoever excepts himself and his Servants and saith solo Principi ejusque Domui dedicatur that the wearing of such apparel belonged only unto the Prince and those which attends him in his House By the Lex Julia a Law made by Julius Caesar tenetur tanquam reus laesae Majestatis qui Legatos Oratores Comitesque eorum all of them being but the several degrees of the Servants of Majesty pulsaverit which in the Language of those Laws and times and some after-ages signified an Arrest or Compulsion as well as an Assault or beating vel Injuria affecerit he should be guilty of high Treason which should Arrest Beat or wrong any Embassadors or Agents or any of the Soveraigns Attendants or Assistants The divers great and Honorable Offices and Imployments in the Houses of the Western and Eastern Emperors as the Comites sacri Palatii Comites sacrorum largitionum Magister Officiorum cum multis aliis c. Earls of the Sacred Palace Earls or great Officers of the Privy Purse Lord Steward of the Houshold Lord Chamberlain c. May perswade us to more then an opinion of the necessary Respects and Honours due unto them in the Exercise of their Offices and Places about their Soveraign The Guards of the Royal Palace of the Emperours of the West and East Privilegium retinebant had a Priviledge not to be Cited or Convened before any but their own Captains and Commanders The Fabricences or such as furnished the Magazines with armour nulli oneri Civitatis erant obnoxii were freed from publike Offices The Comes Domesticorum Equitum Peditum Earl or Commander of the Horse and Foot-Guard was the Protector Domesticorum Defender of the houshold Servants defunctorum quoque Parentum Domesticorum filii locum subibant etsi ob teneram aetatem armis apti non erant nihilominus Protectorum matriculis inscripti quaternas Annonas id est victum quatuor hominum accipiebant and the Sons of those Domestick Guards were to enjoy their places after their Fathers decease And if they were so young as not to be fit for it were notwithstanding to be entered into the Protectors Books or Registers and to have a proportion of diet or allowance fit for to feed them Claudius Augustus Caesar punished a Tribune of the people then though not so much as formerly a mighty Officer Darling and Favourite of them for beating of one of his Servants The Primicerius or Chief of the Emperours Bed-chamber and all other of the Bed-chamber were Exempted from the Tax of finding Horse or Souldiers or of giving Bail in any Action or Suite before the Magister Officiorum or Principal Officer in the Court so styled not unlike saith the Learned Cujacius to the Prevost de l' Hostell in France Et qui absunt Reipublicae causâ vacationem habent such as are Imployed about the Publike are to be Priviledged To the Praefecto Praetorii Orientis who was as it were the Captain of the Emperours Guard there were saith Pancirollus in His Court or Tribunal one hundred Advocates allowed qui Clarissimi spectabilis titulo gaudebant who enjoyed the Title of Noble and Illustrious and had great Immunities as from Publike works c. The Emperours Gratian Valentinian and Theodosius about the year of Christ
the Lord Percy now Earl of Northumberland Mr. Jermyn now Earl of S. Albans and Mr. Henry Piercy in the Privy Gallery or Lodgings with blew Ribbons tyed or hanging about the upper part of their Legs or Boots he was so displeased therewith as he would not be pacified until he had called for a pair of Scissers and had with his own hands cut or clipped them off And well might it be observed in England when the Vltima Thule and our less Civilized Neighbours of Scotland Infected with the Careless and over-bold behaviour of some of their late Presbyterian Clergy towards Royal Majesty are not without those dutyful respects of being bare and uncovered in the Presence Chamber or Chief Rooms of their Kings Palaces although they be absent and out of the Kingdom and when any Acts of Parliament are agreed upon the Kings high Commissioner Presiding in Parliament in his absence bringeth the Acts of Parliament to the Kings Chair of Estate upon which and a Velvet Cushion the Royal Scepter being laid the Lord Commissioner kneeling before it and touching it with the Scepter gives a Sanction and Authority unto those or any other Acts of Parliament in that Submiss and dutyful manner touched therewith and makes them to be of as great Validity as if they had been Ratified by the Royal Signature And with more or a greater Reason might Kings and Free-Princes claim a Veneration to their Palaces or Houses when Bishops Antiently had their Episcopia or Houses so Respected as a Synod or Council thought fit to Order it a too much or more then ordinary respect when they Decreed Suggerendum est ex Divino mandato intimandum Regiae Majestati ut Episcopium quod domus Episcopi appellatur Venerabiliter reverenter introeat c. It is to be declared and intimated to the Kings Majesty that he enter the Episcopium which is the House of the Bishop Reverently And not very long ago in the Raign of that Vertuous King Charles the first an Action of Battery being brought by Sir Francis Wortley Knight and Baronet against Sir Thomas Savile Knight afterwards Lord Savile and Earl of Sussex for assaulting and wounding him at Westminster Hall door one or both of them being then Parliament men the Jury gave a Verdict for Sir Francis Wortley with three thousand pounds Damages the Offence being aggravated to that height in regard that it was done so near or in the Face of the Court of Common Pleas the Judges then sitting which could have no greater or better reason for heigthning that offence then that it was done in that Ancient Palace of our Kings and the Place where the King Administred Justice to His People by His Judges who Represented His Authority in that their limitted Jurisdiction And but lately when sitting the Parliament in the moneth of December 1666 the Lord Saint John of Basing Eldest Son of the Marquess of Winchester being a Member of the House of Commons in Parliament had in Westminster Hall no Court of Justice then and there sitting pulled Sir Andrew Henly Knight by the Nose whereby he according to the opinion of Sir Edward Coke had forfeited his Lands Goods and Chattels although his reason offered for it that the offence was so punishable because it might tend ad impedimentum Justiciae to the hinderance of Justice was not alone sufficient for that it may more truly be understood to be propter venerationem loci for the Reverence and Respect due to the Kings House or Palace was so affrighted with the Penalty and consequence of that Offence as he procured the House of Commons who could not tell how to believe the unhappy heretofore unadvised and never to be proved Doctrine of the pretended Soveraignty of that House to go with their Speaker unto the King at Whitehall and intercede for his Pardon And shortly after at a Conference in the Painted Chamber betwixt the Lords and Commons in Parliament some hot words happening betwixt the Marquess of Dorchester and the Duke of Buckingham who upon the lye given him by the Marquess of Dorchester had pulled him by the Nose or plucked off his Peruque they were both Committed Prisoners to the Tower of London and within two days after upon their submission to the House of Peers Released but the Duke of Buckingham coming after to the Kings Court at Whitehall before he had asked leave of Him or His Pardon the King did forbid him the Court alleadging that howsoever the House of Peers in Parliament had pardoned him for the Offence Committed against them yet he had not forgiven him the Offence which he had Committed against him And in support of those Observations and honors so justly due unto the Place of His Royal Residences the Lord Chamberlain did lately cause a Constable to be Imprisoned for an Ignorant and Indiscreet pursuit of a French Lacquaie who had slain an Irish Foot-boy into Whitehal and as far as the Royal Lodgings of the Queen where he took him and shortly after deservedly Imprisoned one Mr. White a Merchant for bringing two of the Kings Marshals-men into the Privy-galleries and neer the Council-chamber-door the King sitting in Council bade them Arrest an Agent or Envoy of the Duke of Curlands and he would Indempnifie them Who were notwithstanding severely punished Which just and fitting observations due unto the Mansions of Kings and Princes Cromwel that Leader and Conductor of the Rable and Scumme of a Rebellious part of the people and grand contemner of all Authority but what himself had usurped and of all Ancient Orders Rites Customs and Usages did not think to be unbecoming that Eagles nest into which He and His devouring Harpyes had crept and the House wherein the Kings Honour lately dwelt when he Committed Sir Richard Ingoldsby then one of his Colonels but afterwards a Penitent and Loyal Subject of His Majesty that now is Prisoner to the Tower of London for striking one in the Stone-gallery at Whitehall And so unquestionable was a more then Common or Ordinary Honour and Respect to be given to the Houses and Courts of our Kings as some of our Ancient Nobility have by that honour which our Kings did Originally confer upon their Persons in the Grant of Earldoms and Honours gained by an Usage of Time and Custom some more then Common Priviledges to their Chief Houses Castles and Lands anciently belonging to their Earldoms So as their Lands belonging to their Earldoms have been exempted from the Contribution of the Wages of Knights of the Shire elected to be Parliament men and their Houses from any Search by any Constable or Ordinary Officer and in all or many of the Records or Memorials of the Kingdom have been frequently called or termed Honours as the Honours of Oxford Arundel Lincoln Leicester c. for the Lands belonging to those Earldoms and there is to this day a Custome at Arundel Castle that none but the Earl thereof the Soveraign and Heir apparent exempted
with the Duty and Respects never to be denied to Superiority in order more especially to Government being as well to be allowed unto our Kings and Princes and consistent with right Reason as it was in the more ancient times of the Empire or Rome when the Magister Officiorum or Steward of the Emperors House or Palace cui totius Palatii cura pertinuit to whom the whole care of their Houshold did appertain apud quem tam in Civilibus quà m Criminalibus causis respondere tenentur and before whom all the Servants of the Houshold were obliged to answer as well in Causes Civil as Criminal could do no less then incite and advise them so watchfully to guard the necessary and allowed Priveledges of their Servants warranted by the dictates of right Reason and our own Laws as well as the Laws and Customs of many of our neighbour Nations And therefore by an Act of Parliament in the second year of the Reign of King Richard the second confirmed by another in the twelfth it was ordained That those that raised horrible and false lies against the Prelates Dukes Earls Barons great Nobility and great Men of the Realm as also of the Chancellor Treasurer Clerks of the Privy Seal Stewards of the Kings House being the more special and eminent part of his Domestick Servants and those that did attend him and in ancient and more respectful Times and Ages to the Servants and Honour of Princes did wear no less a Title than Proceres Palatii Lords or Men of great eminency in the Palaces of Kings and Emperors Justices of the one Bench or the other and other great Officers of the Realm whereby debates and discords might arise betwixt the said Lords or the Lords and Commons should be taken and imprisoned until they had found him that first moved it and if they could not should be punished by the advice of the Kings Council And in the ninth year of his Reign John de Leicester one of the Clerks of the Chancery being sued in the Court of Common Pleas by the name of John de Sleford of the County of Leicester for a Debt of 24 l. 16 s. and after his Writ of Priviledge out of the Chancery which commanded the Justices of the said Court of Common Pleas to surcease any further proceeding in that Action being constrained to bring his Writ of Error to reverse a Judgment thereupon notwithstanding had against him the King pro eo quòd principale placitum loquelae praedictae ad cognitionem Cancellarii nostri nullius alterius juxta consuetudinem Cancellariae merè pertinet ex consequenti ejus accessarium ad eundem Cancellarium pertinere debet volentes Jurisdictionem Privilegium Consuetudinem hujusmodi à tam longo tempore obtenta approbata Illaesa firmiter observare in regard that the principal Plea or Suit aforesaid belonged only to the cognisance of his Chancellor and none other according to the custom of the Chancery and that by consequence the cognisance of the Accessary or any thing concerning the said principal Plea or Suit belonged to the Chancellors determination and was willing to preserve the said Jurisdiction Custom and Priviledge for so long a time continued and approved commanded the Record and Process aforesaid with all which thereunto appertained to be sent and certified into the Chancery that he might do thereupon as to Justice appertaineth In the 35 year of the Reign of King Henry the sixth the Abbot of Westminster having an Action depending in the Court of Common Pleas against one of the Yeomen of the Kings Buttery and an Essoin being cast and allowed that he was in the Kings Service the King at the day appointed and given by the Essoin sent his Writ of Privy Seal to the Justices of that Court to signifie that the Defendant was in his Service before the day given by the Essoin and at the same day and every time sithence By a Statute made in the third year of the Reign of King Henry the seventh it was declared to be Felony for making Confederacies though not brought to effect or not so far as to an overt act our Laws declaring that affectus non punitur thoughts and intentions only are not to be punished to imagine the death of the King or of any Lord of this Realm or any other person sworn to the Kings Council Steward Treasurer or Comptroller of the Kings House by any of the Kings Houshold Servants and ordained That such Offences should be inquired by 12 sad men of the Cheque Roll of the Kings Houshold and determined before the Steward Treasurer and Comptroller or any two of them Which may evidence the intention of that King and his greater Council the Parliament to submit as little as might be such Offences of his Menial Servants unto the Judgment and Determinations of his Court of Kings Bench which otherwise was the most proper Court and means for the Trial thereof In the Reign of King Henry the eighth George Ferrers Gentleman his Servant and a Member of the House of Commons in Parliament being arrested and taken in Execution and Sir Thomas Moyle Knight then Speaker of the House of Commons and the Knights and Burgesses in Parliament assembled sending the Serjeant at Arms attending upon them to the Compter in Breadstreet in London where the said George Ferrers was detained a Prisoner to demand him the Officers of the City and others assaulted and grievously misused him of which a Complaint being made to the King he called before him all the Judges of the Kingdom declared unto them That he being Head of the Parliament and attending in his own Person upon the business thereof ought in reason to have Priviledge for him and all his Servants attending there upon him so as if Mr. Ferrers had been no Burgess or Member of Parliament but only his Servant that in respect thereof he was to have a Priviledge as well as any other To which all the Judges declaring their assent by Sir Edward Mountague Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Kings Bench the Grandfather of the now Earl of Manchester Lord Chamberlain of the Kings Houshold an Order was made to fine the Sheriffs of London punish the Riotors and deliver Mr. Ferrers out of Prison but in compassion of the Creditor an Order was made that he should not lose his Money for which he had taken him in Execution And so great a regard was in that Kings Reign had of the Gentlemen of his Privy Chamber as that great and imperious Favorite Cardinal Wolsey Archbishop of York being at Cawood Castle in Yorkshire arrested by the Kings command by the Earl of Northumberland attended by Mr. Welch one of the Gentlemen of the Kings Privy Chamber of High Treason and being unwilling to obey the Earls Authority unless he would shew the Kings Commission for it which the Earl refused to do the Contest at the last
no Vagabonds Masterless men Boyes or Idle persons be suffered to harbour in her Court Wherfore the Servants attending therein should not now be so much in the ill opinion causeless contempt of the Mechanick and vulgar part of the people for those which are ex meliore luto better born and more civilly educated cannot certainly so lose their way to a gratefull acknowledgement of their Princes daily protection and needed favours as to villifie or slight his Servants by imitating the sordid examples of a less understanding part of the people or want their due respects if it shall be rightly considered that our Ancestors and a long succession of former ages were not so niggard or sparing of their well-deserved respects When our Kings and Princes and the wiser part of their people supposed to be in Parliament did attribute so much unto them and so very much trust and confide in them as they did from time to time put no small power into their hands and leave no small concernments of themselves and the Kingdom to their prudence fidelity and discretion When the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England who administreth the Oathes usually taken by the Lord Privy Seal Lord Treasurer of England Lords of the Kings most Honourable Privy Councel Chancellor of the Exchequer Master of the Rolls Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster Justices of the Courts of Kings Bench and Common Pleas Barons of the Exchequer Kings Attorney and Sollicitor General Serjeants at Law Masters of Requests and Chancery upon and before their admission into their several Places and Offices nominates and appoints the Custos Rotulorum and Justices of the Peace in every County of England Wales some few Franchises and Liberties excepted and by his largely extended Jurisdiction committed unto his trust doth by the Writs remedial of his Soveraign guide and superintend the Cisterns and Streams of our Laws those living waters which do chear and refresh our Vallies and make them to be as a watered Garden And with the two Lord Chief Justices Master of the Rolls the other Reverend Judges and the Masters of Chancery appointed to distribute the Kings Justice according to the laws and reasonable customs of the Kingdome have their Robes and Salaries allowed and are as Justice Croke acknowledged in his argument against the Ship-money as the Kings Councel at Law the chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas being as is mentioned in a Manuscrip of Henry Earl of Arundel copyed out of a book of George Earl of Shrowsbury Lord Steward of the houshold unto King Henry the seventh and King Henry the eighth communicated unto me by my worthy friend Mr. Ralph Jackson one of his Majesties Servants in ordinary a great Member of the Kings house for whose favour counsel and assistance in the Law to be shewed to the houshold matters and servants he taketh an yearly Fee by the Bâ—tler of England of two Tuns of Wine at two Terms of the year which is allowed in the Court of houshold When the Justices of Peace in every City and County are or should be the under Wheels in that excellently curiously framed Watch of the English Government as the late blessed Martyr King Charles the first when he so sadly forwarned the pulling of it in pieces by a mistaken Parliament and the Rebellious consequences of it not unfitly called it are at their quarter Sessions under his pay and allowance when the Assize of the bread to be sold in England was in the fourth year of the Reign of King John being thirteen years before his granting of Magna Charta ordained by the King by his Edict or Proclamation to be strictly observed under the pain of standing upon the Pillory and the rates set and an Assise approved by the Baker of Jeoffry Fitz-Peter chief Justice of England the nas one of the Kings more especial Servants as to matters of justice resident and attendant in the Kings House or Palace and by the Baker of R. of Thurnam that Constitution and Assise being not at all contradicted by his Magna Charta or that of his Sons King Henry the 3 d. Which Assise of bread contained in a writing of the Marshalsea of the Kings house being by the consent of the whole Realm exemplified by the Letters Patents of King Henry the 3 d. in the 51 th year of his Raign was confirmed and said to be proved by the Kings Baker By an Act of Parliament made in the 9 th year of the Reign of that King if the King be out of the Realm the chief Justices one of which if not both were then residing and attending in the Kings Court were once in the year through every County with the Knights of the Shires to take Assises of Novel Disseisin and Mortdancester in which if there be any difficulty it was to be referred unto his Justices of the Bench there to be ended By an Act of Parliament made in the 6th year of the Reign of K. Edward the first Wine sold against the Assise was to be by the Mayor and Bayliffs of London presented before the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer who then resided in the Court or Palace of the King The Statute of Westminster the 2. made in the 13th year of the said Kings Reign mentioneth That the Kings Marshal is to appoint the Marshal of the Kings Bench and Exchequer the Criers and Virgers of that and the Court of Common Pleas which at this day is done by and under the Authority of the Earl Marshal of England who by his Certificate made by his Roll of a personal service in a Voyage Royal performed by those that held Lands or Offices in Capite and by Knight Service he discharged an Assessement of Esonage by Parliament superintendeth the cognisance and bearing of Armes of the Nobility and Gentry and the duty of the Heralds and Officers attending thereupon And with the Lord Great Chamberlain before the unhappy change of the Tenures in Capite and by Knight Service into Free and Common Socage introduce and bring unto the King such as were to do Homage unto him for their Baronies or Lands By an Act of Parliament made in the 14th year of the Reign of King Edward the third and by the Kings Authority the Sheriffs of every County in England and Wales who are for the most part under the King the only Executioners of Justice in the Kingdom are three out of six for every County presented by the Judges of every Circuit the morrow after the Feast of All-Souls in every year to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England Lord Privy Seal Lord Treasurer Lord Steward the later of which at the beginning and opening of Parliaments is by his Office to administer the Oathes of Allegiance and Supremacy to every Member of the House of Commons in Parliament the Master of the Horse Lord
Chamberlain Treasurer and Comptroller of the Kings most Honourable Houshold Chancellor of the Exchequer with other of the Kings Privy Councel who together with the Justices of both Benches and Barons of the Exchequer do out of the six for every County make choice of three who are in a written Bill by the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England shortly after presented to the King who appointeth as he pleaseth one of every three presented unto him as aforesaid for every County to be Sheriff by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal for the year next following And by Authority of the King and his Laws the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England appointeth the Judges in every year their several Circuits maketh and dischargeth all Justices of the Peace And such Petitions as could not be dispatched before the end of Parliaments were frequently adjourned to be heard and determined by the Chancellor and presenteth to all Parsonages or Spiritual Benefices in the Kings right or gift which are under the value of 20 l. per annum according to the antient valuation All the Records in the Courts of Chancery Kings Bench and Common Pleas Justices of Assise and Goal delivery are to be safely kept by the Treasurer and Chamberlains of the Exchequer which the Commons of England in Parliament in the 46th year of the Reign of King Edward the third did in their Petition to the King call the Peoples perpetual evidence and our Kings of England have therefore in several of their Reigns sent their Writs and Mandates to the Chief Justices of both the Benches to cause their Records for some times therein limited to be brought into his Treasury and entrusted with the Treasurer and Chamberlains thereof in whose custody the Standard for all the Weights and Measures of England is likewise kept By an Act of Parliament made in the 14th year of the Reign of King Edward the third Sheriffs abiding above one year in their Offices may be removed and new ones put in their place by the Chancellor Treasurer and Chief Baron of the Exchequer taking unto them the Chief Justices of the one Beneh or the other if they be present Escheators who were and should be of very great trust and concernment in the Kingdom betwixt the King and his people were to be chosen by the Chancellor Treasurer and Chief Baron of the Exchequer taking into them the Chief Justices of the one Bench or the other if they be present but are since only made by the Lord Treasurer By a Statute made in the 14th year of the Reign of King Edward the 3d. the Lord Privy Seal and other great Lords of the Kings Councel are appointed to redress in Parliament delayes and errours in Judgement in other Courts By an Act of Parliament made in the 20th year of the Reign of the aforesaid King the Chancellor and Treasurer were authorized to hear complaints and ordain remedies concerning gifts and rewards unjustly taken by Sheriffs Bayliffs of Franchises and their Vnder Ministers and also concerning mainteiners and embracers of Juries taking unto them the Justices and other Sage persons such as to them seemeth meet By an Act of Parliament made in the 31th year of the Reign of that King the Lord Chancellor and Treasurer shall examine erronious Judgements given in the Exchequer Chamber And the Chancellor and Treasurer taking to them Justices and other of the Kings Councel as to them seemeth shall take order and make Ordinances touching the buying and selling of Fish By several Acts of Parliament made in the 37th and 38th year of his Reign Suggestions made by any to the King shall be sent with the party making them unto the Chancellor there to be heard and determined and the Prosecutor was to be punished if he prove them not And that upon untrue suggestions the Chancellor should award damages according to his discretion By an Act of Parliament made in the 11th year of the Reign of King Richard the second the keeping of Assises in good Towns are at the request of the Commons in Parliament referred to the Chancellor with the advice of the Judges By an Act of Parliament made in the 13th year of his Reign in every pardon for Felony Murder or Treason the Chamberlain or Vnder Chamberlain was to endorse upon the Bill the Name of him which sued for the same By an Act of Parliament made in the 20th year of his Reign no man shall go or ride armed except the Kings Officers or Ministers in doing their Office By an Act of Parliament made in the first and second year of the Reign of K. Henry the 4th no Lord is to give any Sign or Livery to any Knight Esquire or Yeoman but the King may give his honourable Livery to his menial Knights and Esquires and also to his Knights and Esquires of his Retinue who are not to use it in their Counties but in the Kings presence The Constable and Marshall of England for the time being and their Retinue of Knights and Esquires may wear the Livery of the King upon the Borders and Marches of the Realm in time of War the Knights and Esquires of every Duke Earl Baron or Baneret may wear their Liveries in going from the Kings House and returning unto it and that the King may give his honourable Livery to the Lords Temporal whom pleaseth him And that the Prince and his menials may use and give his honourable Livery to the Lords and his menial Gentlemen By an Act of Parliament made in the first year of the Reign of King Henry the 6th the Lords of the Councel may assign money to be coyned in as many places as they will A Letter of request may be granted by the Keeper of the Privy Seal to any of the Kings Subjects from whom Goods be taken by the King of Denmark or any of his Subjects By an Act of Parliament made in the tenth year of his Reign the Mayor of London shall take his Oath before the Treasurer of England and Barons of the Kings Exchequer wherein he shall be charged and sworn to observe all the Statutes touching Weights and Measures By an Act of Parliament made in the eleventh year of his Reign Fees Wages and Rewards due to the Kings Officers were not to be comprized within the Statute of Resumption made in the 28 th year of the Reign of the King By an Act of Parliament made in the third year of the Reign of King Henry the 7th for punishments of Maintenance Embracery Perjuries Riots and unlawfull demeanors of Sheriffs and unlawfull Assemblies it was ordained That the Chancellor and Treasurer of England for the time being Keeper of the Kings Privy Seal or two of them calling unto them a Bishop and a Temporal Lord of the Kings most Honourable Councel and the two Chief Justices of the Kings
their Servants were accustomed to be retained by the King to serve in his Wars as others by the testimonial of the Governors of the Marches Captains of Garrisons Admirals and others did purcbase Protections with a clause of Volumus or Quia profecturus because he was going in the Kings service after a Plea was commenced against them whereby to delay the said Plea and after do not go into the said service ordained That no Protection with a clause Quia profecturus be allowed after the Suit commenced before the date of the Protection if it be not in a Voyage that the King himself goeth or other Voyages Royal or in his Messages for the business of the Realm But saith that Act of Parliament it is not the intention of this Statute but that the Protection with the clause Quia moraturus because the party protected abideth in the Kings service be allowed in all cases as it was before that time And if any tarry in the Country without going to the service for which he was retained over a convenient time after that he hath any Protection or return from the same service if the Chancellor be thereof duly informed he shall repeal such Protection as it hath been used before that time In the 9th year of the Reign of King Henry the 5th Protections were granted to them that were in the Kings service in Normandy and France or which should pass with him into France By an Act of Parliament made in the 14th and 15th years of the Reign of King Edward the 4th it was ordained that the like Protections as were granted by an Act of Parliament made in the 9th year of the Reign of King Henry the 5th cap. 3. to such as were then in the Kings service in Normandy or France or would pass with that warlike King Henry the 5th into France should be observed and avail for all such as should pass over with him By a Statute made in the 6th year of the Reign of King Henry the 6th there was a rehearsal and confirmation made of the aforesaid Statute in the 9th year of King Henry the 5th touching Protections granted to those who were in Wars in Normandy or France which extended it further then the preciser time of their present service And by an Act of Parliament made in the 8th year of the Reign of that King there was only to be excepted in all the Protections of such as should go with the King into France Writs of Assise of Novel Disseisin King Henry the 7th in the 4th year of his Reign did by an Act of Parliament grant Protections unto all which then were or after should be in the Kings service in Britany together with certain Immunities granted to the Feoffees Executors and Heirs of them which should dye in the service which was more than a personal protection And by another Act of Parliament made in the 7th year of his Reign did ordain That every person that should be in the Kings wages beyond the Sea or on the Sea should have a Protection By an Act of Parliament made in the 11th year of the Reign of the said King Henry the 7th mentioning in the Preamble That it is not reasonable but against all Laws reason and good conscience that the Kings Subjects going with their Soveraign Lord in Wars attending upon him in his person or being in other places by his commandment within or without his Land as some of his menial Servants may possibly whilst he is absent from his Palace either in the Kingdom or without any thing should lose or forfeit for doing their true duty and service of Allegiance it was enacted That no manner of person or persons whatsoever he or they be that attend upon the King and Soveraign Lord of this Land for the time being in his person and do him true and faithfull Allegiance in the same which certainly his Houshold and menial Servants are understood to do or be in other places by his commandment in his Wars within this Land or without be convict or attainted of High Treason nor of other offences for that cause by Act of Parliament or otherwise by any Process of Law whereby to lose or forfeit life lands possessions or rents goods chattels or any other things but be for that deed utterly discharged of any vexation trouble or loss and any Act or Process of Law contrary thereunto to be void And King Henry the 8th did likewise by an Act of Parliament enact That they which were or should be in the Kings Wars beyond the Seas or upon the Sea should have a Protection of Quia profecturus or moraturus cum clausula volumus as aforesaid Such or the like Protections being held to be so necessary in the former ages when the people of England not enjoying under the Papal Tyranny so great an happiness and liberties as they have done since the Reformation were so little of kin to the murmuring Israelites as they troubled not the ears of their Kings or their Courts of Justice with complaints against Protections when there was no deceit in the obtaining of them or abuse in the use of them when in the third year of the Reign of King John a Protection was granted by him unto one Peter Barton the son of Peter Barton then living or residing in Poictou parcel of his French Dominions for his Goods and Estate as well as for his person as his Father had the day that he died and commanded all his Bayliffs and Officers in that Country to protect and defend thâ—m sicut servientem suum quousque sibi servierit as his Servant for so long time as he should serve him Robert de Ver qui de licentia Regis peregre profecturus est in terram Hierusalem habuit liter as patentes de prâ—tectione sine clausula duraturas per trienninm had the Kings Protection for three years without any clause or exception and Gerard de Rodes travelling to the same place had a Protection with a clause quod quietus esset de secta Comitatuum Hundredorum de omnibus placitis quaerelis exceptis placitis de Dote unde nihil habet assisa Novae Disseisinae Vltimae praesentationis Ecclesiarum duraturas quamdiu idem Gerardus fuerit in peregrinatione praedicta that he should not be molested with any Suits in the County Courts and Hundreds and with any other Pleas and Actions except Actions or Pleas of Dower Assises of Novel Disseisin and the last presentation unto Churches to remain in force as long as the said Gerard should continue in his travels or Pilgrimage as aforesaid and a Protection granted by King Edward the first in the first year of his Reign to Robert de Plessetis sine clausula without any clause or condition to endure untill Easter then next following and the like unto Hugh de Weston who had the Kings license to travel to Rome to endure untill Michaelmass
neque regnum salvum incolume neque regia vis dignitas elucescere possit there being certain properties or qualities requisite to a Superiority without which neither a Kingdome can be in any safety nor the Kingly Honour and Dignity can manifest or shew it self And if Judges and Magistrates have a kind of participation thereof imparted unto them by their Soveraign majore ratione regum eos constituentium hisque fascibus â—tque Majestate decorantium Regia Majestas nuncupabitur with greater reason Kings who adorned them with those Ensigns or resemblances as it were of Regality and bestowed it upon them are not to want or be without it the Majesty of Kings being so much appointed and approved by God himself as he made Corah Dathan and Abiram and their Children and favorers the dire examples of his wrath and punishment but for murmuring against Moses and Aaron and saying they took too much upon them and so imprinted a reverence and esteem of Kings in the hearts and minds of mankind as Joab King Davids general of his Army having fought against Raab of the Children of Ammon would not when he was ready to do it until he had invited David to come and have the Honor of taking it least that City should be afterwards called by the name of Joab that took it And Nebucadrezzar King of Babilon during the Captivity of Jehoiakim King of Judah could attribute so much to the Rights of Majesty in Kings as he spake kindly unto him and set his Throne above the Thrones of the Kings who were with him in Babilon Wherein certainly the sad hearted people of Israel in Captivity with him did take it to be their Duty as well as their Interest to rejoyce in that parcell of Humanity and Honor which was done unto him when as long before the Palatia or Curiae Palaces of their Kings were so highly Honored by them as the 122 Psalm of the Kingly Prophet David exhorted that people to Pray that Peace might be within the Walls and Prosperity within her Palaces The Glory and Honor of Solomon was accompted to be no less than the Interest Delight and Joy of the people of Israel when after his Feast upon the Dedication of the Temple and his Sacrifice of the Peace offerings they Blessed the King and went unto their Tents joyfull and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Loâ—d had done for David his Servant and for Israel his people The Romans so experimented the Honor of their Emperors living or dead to be the great Interest of their people as they that fled to their Statues were protected from their Pursuers whether it were in Civil matters or criminal The Germans their Successors in that Empire took it ill in the Reign of their Charles the fifth Emperour who was likewise King of Spaine that the Spanish Grandees or other of that Nobility did give so much Honor as they usually did to their Princes and Emperors cases of Treason only excepted And it was beleived to be so much an Interest of our English true hearted Ancestors to be as carefull as they were Jealous of the Honor of their Kings As when Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury would in the Reign of King William Rufus peevishly hold on his resolution of disparaging of it in going to Rome to the Pope for his Pall and confirmation the great men and almost all the Nobility of the Kingdom and the other Bishops Assembled in Parliament at Rockingham Castle concerning that obstinacy of Anselme the Bishops and and many of the Nobility declared unto that Archbishop then present that the whole Kingdom did complain of him that he sought to take away the Honor of the King his Crown and Dignity and delivered their opinions that Quicunque Regiae dignitatis consuetudines tollit coronam simul regnum tollit unum quippe sine alio decenter haberi non posse whosoever took away any thing from the Kings Regality and Dignity took away at the same time both his Crown and Kingdom for the one could not Honorably subsist without the other King Edward the 3d by the advice of the Lords and Commons in Parliament in the 13th year of his Reign did Ordain that in case the Keepers of the Priviledges of the Hospitlers should incroach upon the Kings Jurisdictions and offend the Kings Dignity they should beware from thenceforth that they usurpe not any Jurisdiction in prejudice of the King and his Crown and if they did their Superiors should be charged for their fact as much as if they had been convict upon their proper Act. In a Parliament holden in the two and fortieth year of the aforesaid Kings Reign it was declared by the Lords and Commons therein Assembled that they could not assent to any thing which tended to the disherâ—son of the King and his Crown to which they were sworn The Lords and Commons in Parliament in the 14th year of the Reign of King Richard the second did pray the King that the prerogative of him and his Crown may be kept and that all things done or attempted to the conâ—rary might be redressed and that he might be as free as any of his Progenitors ever were and in the 15th year of his Reign did in Parliament again require that he would as lawfully as any of his Progenitors enjoy his Prerogative Richard Earl of Arundell in the 17 year of the Reign of the aforesaid unfortunate Prince did complain that John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster who was then moulding the Sesign which his Son afterwards accomplished by usurpation of the Throne did go Arm in Arm with the King and that it beseemed not the Dukes men to wear the same Color of Livery that the Kings did By an Act of Parliament made in the third year of the Reign of King Henry the 7th the Officers or Tenants of the King were not to be retained by Liveries with others And divers of the great Nobility did in the Reign of King Henry the Eight make it one of their Articles of high Treason and great misdemeanors against Cardinal VVolsey the great ingrosser of that Kings favor and manager of his Authority for that he being suspected to have the French Pox had stood and talked so near the King as to breath in his face The extent and verge of whose Royal house or Palace at VVhitehall and the Liberties and Priviledges thereof were so little desired to be lessened or diminished as the Parliament did in the 28th year of his Reign Ordain that the Park of St. James and the street leading from Charing-cross to the Sanctuary-gate at Westminster and all the Houses Buildings Lands and Tenements on both sides of the same street or way from the said Crosse unto Westminster-hall scituate lying and being betwixt the water of the Thames on the East part and the said Park-wall on the VVest part and so forth thorough all
Regis admittebantur and by an Ordinance made by the said King the cognisance of all personal actions commenced by any of the Kings Servants did appertain to the said Master of the houshold who claimed likewise the Trial of all Criminal matters committed in the Kings House Philip King of France called the Long in the year 1317. which was about the 10 th year of the Raign of our King Edward the second did command that Taxes or Assessments taken from three of his servants should be restored unto them which was consented unto by his Parliament and by a decree in Parliament the next year after it was ordained that Omnes Domestici Regis administri pronunciantur immunes ab omni commeatuum vectigalibus quos ad necessitatem usum suum apportari curant all the Kings houshold servants should not pay any Taxes for the provisions which they bought or provided for their necessary uses or occasions In a Decree of that Parliament made in the Raign of their King Charles the 5 th called Charls the wise in the cause of Silvester Cornelius the Kings Almoner in the year 1367. which was about the 41 th year of the Raign of our King Edward the 3. it was adjudged that Domestici officiarii immunitate gauderent a vectigalibus the Kings houshold servants should be freed from Taxes By an Edict made by K. Charles the 6. of France ratified by Parliament in the year 1408. which was about the 5. year of the Raign of our K. Henry the 5 th It was ordained Vt qui ministri Regis viginti Annos aut amplius ministraverint vacantes a ministerio stipendia tamen habeant that those which had served the King 20 years or more should though they left their service have their wages continued Immunitas ab indictionibus subsidiariis omnibus attributa domesticis Regum officiis de praediorum suorum fructibus cum approbatione Parliamenti a privilege freedom was granted by the aforesaid King Charls the 6. from all subsidies to be charg'd upon any of the Kings houshold Servants by allowance of Parliament in the year 1411. which was in or about the 8 th year of our King Henry the 5 th By a Letter of Lewis the 11 th who raigned in France in the time of our King Edward the 4 th sent to the Parliament and Registred therein that King required ut primo loco suorum officialium causas judicet nisi contendentium sit ipsius aut Reginae domesticus in quo casu se moveri jubet ut exponat de eo voluntatem suam that in the first place they should hear and determine the causes of their own Officers unless one of the parties should be the King or Queens servant in ordinary and in such a Case commands that he be first moved and his pleasure thereupon declared Francis the first King of France in Anno 1525. which was about the 16 th year of our King Henry the 8 th sent his Declaration to that Parliament wherein he ordained that his Mothers houshold servants should enjoy the like privileges as his Officers and servants did and another Declaration to that Parliament in the year 154â— quod officiales domesticos commensales suos ab omnibus tributis Indictionibus pensitationibus etiamque Canone in quinquaginta peditum millia praestando Immunes erunt that all his Domestick Officers Houshold servants should not be charged with any Taxes or Tributes or with Assessments towards the payment of 50000 foot men and a like Declaration in the year following de simili immunitate officiis Reginae domesticis commensalibus attributa of the like privileges to the Officers and Houshold servants of the Queen seconded by a Declaration of Henry the second King of France Registred in Parliament in the year 1548. which was about the second year of our King Edward the 6 th of the Privileges of the Kings Domestick and Houshold servants and the like to the Domesticks and servants of Elianor the Widow Queen In which Kingdom also notwithstanding an ordinance made at Moulins about the year of our Lord 1566. which was about the 8 th year of the Raign of our Queen Elizabeth the Masters of Requests are not to be arrested or imprisoned for debt until four months expired after legal notice In the year 1626. the King of France sending the Marshal de Bassompierre his extraordinary Embassador into England to reconcile some differences betwixt our late Royal Martyr King Charles the first and his Royal Consort the Queen concerning the discharge and sending away most of her servants of the French Nation attending upon her contrary as was pretended to the Marriage Contract for some insolences and misdemeanors not to be tolerated and that great Embassador bringing in his Retinue Father Sancy a Popish Priest whom our King had no respect for in regard of some ill offices supposed to be done betwixt him and his Royal Consort the Queen was no sooner come to Gravesend but he had an express Order from our King to send back the Father Sancy who was in his ill opinion and could not be endured to which the Embassador returning an Answer that he was one of his Domesticks and humbly intreating his Majesty not to intermeddle therein said that the example alleged of Mr. Walter Mountague who being in the Retinue of our Embassador Sir Dudley Carleton in France was upon the command of the French King in like manner dismissed was not to be any rule or reason in his case and that howsoever our English Ambassador Carleton permitted it he would rather lose his life than suffer such an affront to be done unto him whereupon the Lord Conway principal Secretary of State after his coming to the Court bringing him a message from the King that he would not give him audience although he had promised it unless he would first send Father Sancy back into France the Embassador replyed that it would be in vain that his Majesty should desire any such thing of him parce que absolument il ne le feroit ponit que si il ne vouloit plus donner audience il retourneroit vers son roy for that he was absolutely resolved not to do it and if he might not have his Audience he would return home without it and notwithstanding that he was extremely pressed by some of our Ministers of State who alleaged that the Kings honor reputation was engaged therein continued his Refusal for that the Father Sancy came along with him by order of his King and the Queen Mother whereupon the Embassador having certified his King of France of the proceedings therein did not long after by a Letter under his own hand receive his approbation for what he had done In the Empire of Germany the Domestique servants of the Emperor are not bereaved of the Privileges of servantâ— attending upon the person as well as the publick cares of their Soveraigns when the
waiting or attendance ANd submit themselves and those their innovated formerly unheard of cavils and pretences to the power of truth and a conviction of those their great mistakings if they shall but examine the necessity as well as the reason of it for to a Soveraign Prince whose cares are to reach as far as his Monarchy there cannot be in respect of the multitude and various sorts of his daily and ever importuning affairs in the behalf of himself and the Weal-publick a few or small number to be imployed therein if there were neither Honour nor Majesty to be heeded or supported both which by an universal consent Law Custom and usage of Nations approved and subscribed unto by a general consent of the intellect and rational faculties of Mankind should be not only the desire and joy of the people which are to be ruled and governed by them but is a ready means help and stay unto their welfare peace and happiness of which the examples are as many as the ages past and the people and Kingdoms of it When Abraham although sometimes stiled a Prince but was no Soveraign Prince but a Sojourner in the Plain of Mamre had 318. Servants to go to Battel with him against his five Neighbour Kings who had taken and spoiled his Brother Lot David had together with the Princes and Rulers of the Tribes great numbers of Officers and Men of War Officers of his Houshold and Servants therein and over his Estate besides the twelve Captains which as his Guards did in every month of the year by turns and courses attend him and the safety of his person with four and twenty thousand fighting men Solomon his Son had twelve great Officers in their severally appointed Provinces to provide Victuals for the King and his Houshold by courses each man for his month and made the Children of Israel to be his men of War and his Servants and his Princes and his Captains and Rulers of his Chariots and his Horsemen had a thousand and four hundred Chariots and twelve thousand Horsemen which declared the number of his Servants not to be small petit or inconsiderable and were so well ordered as the Queen of Sheba with a great train coming from far to see his Glory and his Court when she did behold the meat of his Table the standing of his Servants as the Margin notes it the attendance of his Ministers and their Apparel and his Cup-bearers suffered under a Deliquium and failing of her spirit when he had such a state and magnificence to accompany his Regal power and so great a number of Servants to furnish out the glory and honour of his house and person Ahasuerus had seven Chamberlains as Solomon had more then one Cup-bearer and Esther had seven Maidens allowed to her The Western and Eastern divided Empires of Romes vastly extended Conquests glorying in their magnificence had to adorn the honour and state of their Emperors in their Houses and Palaces busied with multitudes of Civil affairs their Scholaes and Offices daily and hourly conversant in the attendance of their Persons Houshold or Civil imployments in every one of which although Alexander Severus the Emperor did lessen and contract them and ordained ut essent tâ—t homines in singulis Officiis quot necessitas postularet that there might be in every Office or imployment so many Servants as necessity required there wree of one and the same sort several ranks and orders amounting to as great a number as the Imperial port state and imployments might require and could not be small when they kept as we say open houses to â—eed or refresh those great numbers which came either to honour or petition their Princes had so many several Governours Procurators and Servants and so many several Houses and Palaces in their many Kingdoms and Provinces and sometimes made and set out so many Epulae and publick Feasts and many thousand Tables of them at one time to entertain comfort or please the people and to any that shall read the elaborate and learned Comment of Cuiacius upon the 10th 11th and 12th Codes or Books of Justinian Pancirollus notitia utriusque Imperii and the laborious and learned Book of Jacobus Gutherius of the various Offices and kinds of Services as well private as publick in the Houses and Palaces of the antient Emperors will not appear to be much if at all supernumerary Charlemaigne the Great King of France and Emperor of Rome as Hinckmarus Archbishop of Remes writeth who in the latter end of his Reign lived and was bred up in his Court had his several Servants and took a more then ordinary care pro honestate Palatii Regaâ—i Ornamento for the honour of his House or Palace and his Royal Ornaments singulis quibusque quotidianis necessitatibus occurrentibus every one in their station performing their several Offices and the Constitution of his house so laudable as multitudo congrua sine quâ— rationabiliter honeste esse non possit such a competent number or multitude was necessary in regard that otherwise the business of the Houshold or Palace could not be rationally or honourably done and care was to be taken ut semper esset ornatum Palatium Consiliariis condignis nunquam destitutum esset that the honour of the Kings house might be preserved and never want the advice and help of worthy Assistants and where he speaks of the number of Huntsmen and Falconers and their constant attendance within or without the Court saith Sensus in his omnibus talis erat ut nunquam Palatio tales vel tanti deessent ministri that the meaning was that there should never want such or the like Servants And imparts to us a further reason of such a number of Servants attending the Courts of Princes in those heroick times ut ex quacunque parte totius regni quicunque desolatus orbatus alieno aere oppressus injusta calumnia cujusque suffocatus seu caetera his similia maxime tamen de Viduis Orphanis unuscujusque secundum suam indigentiam vel qualitatem Dominorum vero misericordiam pietatem semper ad manum haberet per quem singuli ad pias aures Principis perferre potuissent that from all parts of the Kingdom whoever was distressed afflicted endebted or unjustly accused or the like especially Widdows and Orphans might according to their several necessities and qualities have some at hand to procure the mercy and piety of their Lords or Masters whereby every ones Petition or Complaint might come unto the gracious ears of the Prince King Aelfred or Alured who reigned here in the year of Christ 856. had in his Court a great and Princely attendance of Bishops Earls and Nobility Knights and Esquires and three Troops of Souldiers for the Guards of his Palace as if he had an intention somewhat to imitate David the King of Israel and Juda tanquam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
signified by the Emblems or Figures of the Lyons guarding or supporting of Solomons Throne and astonishing Royalty Which most laudable custom was not only observed in the time of the Western and Eastern Emperors but of the Franks Goths Longobards and other Northern Nations who imitated them And from such honourable services and employments about Emperors Kings and Princes likewise were derived Count Palatines whom they found a kind of necessity to institute when they understood their other Subjects to be troubled that none but Romans had those honours and dignities conferred upon them and their Courts and Palaces appeared to be solitary and unfrequented and therefore opened the doors of honour to their Subjects of other Nations and Provinces as appears by the after usage of the Roman and Grecian Emperors and made and ordained Comites sacri Falatii Count Palatines which the Title of Count Palatine given by Charlemaine to Antholinus will further evidence and the Count Palatines of the Empire of Germany as Pasquier that learned Advocate of France hath remarked had their names from their Offices Superintendencies and Places which they antiently held au tour des Empereurs de Rome de la Suitte des Empereurs and in their service and attendance as Crmites Palatii were in Comitativa Principis in the Retinue of the Emperors which in the elder times were so reverenced and respected as it was not unfrequently in many Laws and good Authors stiled Sacra as meriting a veneration due unto Gods Vicegerents Et ipsa Principis Aula residentia and the Court and Palace of the Prince was saith Marquardus Freherus sometimes known by the name of Comitatus sacer comitatus a place of reverence more especially appropriate to honor and men deserving it and the French Kings Court is by the modern French at this day tearmed Comitatus and in the time of Charlemaine and his Son Hludowick Kings of France the Earls were tanquam Judices Judges in their several Earldomes or Provinces qui post Regem populum regere debent who next under the King as the Dukes did in their several Dukedoms were to govern the people necesse est ut tales instituantur qui sine periculo ejus qui â—os constituit quos sub se babent cum justitia aequitate gubernare officium adimplere procurent there being a necessity that such should be appointed who without danger of those who constituted or deputed them may have under them such as may govern them with Justice and Equity and do what belongeth to them And our Earls and English Nobility were of the like Character Esteem and Subserviency to our Kings and Princes when in the time of Bertulphus King of the Mercians who Reigned in England in the year of our Lord 851. such of them as had not as Sir Henry Spelman saith constant Offices or places in the Kings Court tenebantur ex more obsequii vinculo antiquissimo as also were the other Baronage in tribus maximis festivitatibuus Christi scilicet natalitiis Sancti Paschatis Pentecostes Regi Annuatim adesse cum ad curiam personam ipsius exornandum tum ad consulendum de negotiis regni statuendum que prout fuerat necessarium were by most antient custome and tye of obedience at three of the greatest Feasts in every year that is to say at Christmass Easter and Whitsontide to attend at the Kings Court as well for the honour of his Person and Court as to advise and councel him as there should be occasion in the weighty affairs of the Kingdom which saith that great light and restorer of our English Antiquities gave at the first an original and beginning to our great Councels afterwards and now called Parliaments and Johannes Saresburiensis stiled all the great Officers of the English Court Comites Palatini Earls or Lords of the Palace Royal at least such as being Earls were also honoured with the greater Court Dignities and had relation to the Dignities and Privileges of our English Nobility Such service and attendance of the Nobility upon the person and affairs of their Soveraign being not unusual in the dayes of Jehoiakim King of Judah when Michaiah the son of Gemariah found all the Princes sitting in the Kings house in the Scribes chamber and standing besides the King when the Roll of Baruch was read When the great King Ahasuerus made a Feast unto all his Princes and his servants the power of Persia and Media the Nobles and Princes of the Provinces being before him and he shewed the honour of his Excellent Majesty he advised concerning the misbehaviour of his Queen Vaschi with the wise men which knew the times for so was the Kings manner towards all that knew law and judgement and with the seven Princes of Persia and Media which saw the Kings face and sate the first in the Kingdome And those Officiary Dignities Honors and Privileges of the English Nobility were so consonant to the Law of Nations and the usage and customs of the Empire as in Anglia tam ante quam post Conquestore Wilhelmum Normannum Comites seu Graviones Justitiarii hisque cum ad privata quam publica judicia suis fuere in comitatibus and not only before but for sometimes after the Norman Invasion did under their Kings preside and govern the Justice of that County or Territory of which they were Earls and had allowed unto them the Tertium denarium Third penny or part of the fines and amerciaments and the customs and some other casual profits belonging to the Crown in their several Counties as our Selden a most universally learned and judious Lawyer hath in the Earldoms of Chester and Oxford observed and for some of the Ages succeeding the Norman atchievment have been Chief Justices of Englund as in the Reign of King Stephen Awbrey de Vere Earl of Guisnes Father of Awbrey de Vere the first Earl of Oxford Robert de Bellomont or Beaumont Earl of Leicester in the Reign of King Henry the 2d and Geoffrey Fitz-Peter Earl of Essex in the Reigns of King Richard the first and King John our Bracton acknowledging that our Earls and Nobility were upon occasions to attend upon the person of their Sovereign Prince calleth our Earls Comites a Comitando sive a Socieâ—ate from or by reason of their accompanying or attendance upon the person of the Prince saith dici possunt Consules Reges enim tales sibi associant ad consulendum and our Nation was not without its Local Count Palatines who had greater authorities and profits in their Counties and Jurisdictions than other Earls as those of Chester Lancaster Pembroke and the Palatineships belonging to the Bishopicks of Durham and Ely And Hoveden our old Annals and Selden that Monarch of Letters do tell us that King John die Coronationis suae accinxit Willielmuw Marescallum gladio Comitatus de Striguil
of our Kings and Princes CHAP XVIII That many of the People of England by the grace and favour of our Kings and Princes or a long permission usage or prescription do enjoy and make use of very many immunities exemptions and priviledges which have not had so great a cause or foundation as those which are now claimed by the Kings Servants ANd do and may more inconvenience such part of the People which have them not than the little trouble of asking leave or licence to sue or prosecute at Law any of the Kings Servants as the freedom of Copy-hold Estates not long ago three parts in four of all the Lands in England but now by the making and enfranchising of too many Freeholders reduced to less than a fourth part from extents or the incumbrances of Judgments Statutes or Recognizances Not to permit upon any one Creditors Judgment any more than the Moiety of Free-hold Lands to be extended that old part of our English mercy to Men impoverished or indebted which to this day and many hundred years before hath been constantly observed nor to seize or take in Execution unless for want of other Goods and Chattels the Beasts and Cattel of their Ploughs and Carts derived unto us from the law of Nature or Nations or the providence and compassion of Nebuzar-adan the chief Marshal or Captain of the Army of Nebuchadrezzar King of Babylon who when he had taken and destroyed Jerusalem and carried away captive to Babylon many of the people of Judah and Jerusalem left certain of the poor of the Land for Vinedressers and for Husbandmen and from the reason equity and moderation of the Civil Law Or when the Laws or reasonable Customs of England will not permit a Horse to be destrained when a Man or Woman is riding upon him an Ax in a Mans hand cutting of Wood the Materials in a Weavers Shop Garments or Cloth in a Taylors Shop Stock of Corn or Meal in a Mill or Market or Books of a Schollar the many and great Franchises Liberties Exemptions and Priviledges some whereof have been already mentioned of about six hundred Abbies and Priories the many Liberties and Franchises in every County and Shire of England and Wales which if no more than five in every County one with another would make a total of more than two hundred and fifty and if ten amount to the number of five hundred besides those of above six hundred Cities and Corporations which are not without great Priviledges Immunities Exemptions and Liberties which do occasion more trouble and loss of time by sueing out of Writs of Non omsttas propter aliquam libertatem to give power to the Sheriffs to Arrest within those Liberties than the attendance upon a a Lord Chamberlain or other great Officer of the Kings Houshold to obtain leave to Arrest any of the Kings Servants would bring upon them those many thousand Mannors to which are granted Court-Leets and Court-Barons with their many other Liberties and Franchises little Judicatories Sace and Soke authority and a Coercive power over their Tenants Free and Copy-hold and Free Warren granted to many of those Lords of Mannors whose Hunting and Hawking brings many times no small prejudice to their Neighbors or Tenants the Franchises Liberties and priviledges of the City of London given or permitted by our Kings that no Citizen shall be compelled to Plead or be Sued or Prosecuted at Law out of the Walls of their City and their Prohibitions by Acts of Common Council which do prohibit Freemen upon great Penalties which have been severely inflicted to Sue one another out of the City when they may have their recovery in their own Courts and every Freeman bound thereunto by Oath at their admission to their Freedom their priviledge of Lestage to be Toll-free of all which they buy or sell in any Market or Fair of the Kingdom are not to be constrained to go to War out of the City or farther than from whence they may return at Night that none but such as are free of the City shall Work or Trade within it or the large extended Liberties within the circumference thereof That of the City of Norwich to have the like Liberties as London the Liberties of the City of Canterbury City of Winchester and Towns of Southampton and Derby not to be impleaded out of their Cities or Corporations That of the Hospitallers and Knight-Templers and many others saith Bracton not to be impleadid but before the King or his Chief Justice That of the University of Oxford That no Schollar Servant or Officer to any Colledge or Hall in the Vniversity or to the said Vniversity belonging shall be Arrested within the City or the Verge or Circumference thereof extending from the said University and Town of Oxford Ab orientali parte ejusdem Villae usque ad Hospitalem sancti Bartholomei juxta Oxon ab occidentali parte ejusdem Villae usque ad Villam de Botelye a parte Boreali ejusdem Villae usque ad pontem vocat Godstow Bridge ab australi parte ejusdem Ville usque ad quendam Boscâ—m vocat Bagley sic in circuitu per Loca praedicta quemlibet locum eorundem in perpetuum From the East part of the said Town unto the Hospital of St. Bartholomew near Oxford and from the West part of the said Town to the Village of Botely and from the North part of the said Town of Oxford to Godstow Bridge and from the South part of the said Town of Oxford to a certain Wood called Bagley and in the circumference of the said City and University extending unto all the Places aforesaid and every of the said Places for ever but by Process or Mandate of the Chancellor of the University of Oxford or if prosecuted or impleaded in the High Court of Chancery or in the Court of Kings-Bench where the Party prosecuting hath been a Sub-Marshal of the said Court and a Commissary of the Chancellor of that University hath been Indicted forbeating of him or in any of the other Courts of Justice at Westminster or any other Court of the Kingdom do by their Certificate under their half Seal as it is called that the Defendant is a Schollar or belonging to the Vniversity or some Hall or Colledge therein demand and obtain Cognizance of the Action which with other of that famous Universities Priviledges were in the thirteenth Year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth confirmed by Act of Parliament that of the University of Cambridge being not without those or the like franchises priviledges and immunities against which or many more of the like nature which might be here recited there ought not to be any murmure or repining as there never was or but seldom or very little by alledging any prejudice loss or inconveniences which some have sustained thereby or may happen to particular Men by any of those or the like Franchises Immunities or Priviledges which
are not to stand in the way or obstruct the Rights or those to whom they were indulged or granted CHAP. XIX That those many other Immunities and Priviledgeâ— have neither been abolished or so much as murmured at by those that have yielded an assent and obedience thereunto although they have at some times and upon some occasions received some loss damage or inconveniences thereby FOr the Law which hath allowed them to be good and warrantable could not but apprehend that a possibility of loss and prejudice would come to others by them and our Kings and Princes did by their Laws bear a greater respect and took a greater care of the whole than of the less or of any parts of the greater and had a greater regard to the general and more universal than particulars where the latter as less considerable were to give way to the former as of the greater concernment and tendency to the weal of the Publick when as the Sun and the Moon by their happy influences in doing good to the universality of Mankind do sometimes we know occasion much evil and damage unto many men in particular one mans gain is anothers loss the benefit comfort and joy of one hapneth to be the grief and disappointment of another and the aggrandizing of some the lessening of others Lex ad particularia se non resert sed ad generalia The Law doth not intend to provide for particulars but generals Legis ratio non fit raro accidentibus Laws are not usually made for things which do seldom happen Et citius tolerare volunt privatum damnum quam publicum malum Will sooner tolerate a private and particular damage than a publick evil or grievance for the Priviledges granted to the City of London to be Toll-free in all Markets Fairs and Places of the Kingdom which makes them able to under-sell all others and to be Masters as now they are of all the Commerce and Trade of the Nation Their custom That no Attaint shall be brought of a Jury impannelled in London to enforce a Gentleman or Foreigner not Free of the City Arrested to give Bail or Surety by Freemen or Citizens That every Citizen or Freeman may devise Lands or Tenements in Mortmain or that any Man to whom Money is owing may Arrest any Man for Money upon a Bond or Bill before the Money be due or payable or Attach Moneys in another Mans hand within the City of one which oweth Money to the Debtor The forbidding Foreigners and Men not Free of the City to Work or keep Shop within the City or Liberties thereof That if any Freeman sufficient and able shall be summoned by a Serjeant of the Sheriff of the City to appear at Guildhall to answer a Plaint and make Default he shall be Amerced the grand Distress presently awarded and his Doors fastned and Sealed untill he shall come to answer and if it be testified that he hath broken the Sequestration shall be Arrested by his Body or if otherwise he is like to escape away or is not sufficient a Writ of Capias shall be awarded to take his Body or a Writ to Arrest and take his Goods That in a Writ of Dower the Tenant shall be three times summoned That a Citizens Wife can have no Estate in Lands devised unto her further than during her life The ancient and just Priviledges of the Clergy not to be tried before a Secular Judge for any criminal Matter nor be compelled to abjure if having committed Felony he flie to a Church and albeit he hath had his Clergy for Felony may have it again and shall not be Burned in the Hand nor have his Tythes or Horse distrain'd as he traveleth in any Civil action or matter whilst he hath other Goods not to have his Goods and Chattels to be distrained in his Fee or Estate of the Church for purveyance when it was required and is to be free from bearing any temporul Office and their Bodies not to be arrested or imprisoned upon a Statute Mechant although an Act of Parliament doth without exception of any Persons severely enjoyn it That Priviledge allowed to Knights by the ancient Laws of England which saith our Selden was that their Equitatura or Horse and Armor were priviledged from Executions of Fieri or Levari facias although they were to Levy the Kings Debts which the Law did so geratly favor as it is to be preferred before all other Mens and if he should dishonourably absent himself from the Kings Service when his aid was required and that all that he had was subject to an Execution yet one Horse was to be left him Propter dignitatem militiae in regard of the honour of Knighthood and such other of his Horses as were for his ordinary use were to be spared The exemption of divers Abbeys and Monasteries from the Jurisdictions and Visitations of their Diocesan or Metropolitan Bishops The Priviledges and Jurisdictions granted by King Edward the third in the 27th Year of his Reign to York Lincoln Norwich Canterbury Westminster and divers other Staple Towns to be free from purveyance and Cart-taking giving them liberty to hold Pleas by the Law-Merchant and not by the common Law of the Land That they should not implead or be impleaded before the Justices of the said Places in plea of Deâ—â— Covenant or Trespass concerning the Staple And that the Houses shall be let for reasonable Rents to be imposed by the Mayor of the Staple The Modus decimandi abatement or manner of Tythes being at the first a temporary favour or kindness continued and crept into a Custom and thence into a Law and Priviledge which hath carried away or choked a great part of the Clergies Tythes and Maintenance The abundance of Rights and Priviledges of Common of vicinage or appendant or of some stinted or not limited sorts in the Ground and Soyl of the Propritors throughout the Kingdom of Common of Estovers in some of their Woods the throwing of many Meadows open to have Common in some Woods for their Cattel after seven years growth and to Common upon the first day of every August the Custom of the Town of Wycombe in the County of Buckingham that any under the age of thirteen years might give or devise Lands and that no Tythes should be paid for any Wood in the Wild of Kent Together with the many Freedoms Franchises and Priviledges to be quit ab omni secta Shirarum Hundredorum all Suit Scot and Lot c. and Service to Sheriffs Courts and Hundreds which with very many others not here recited do necessarily appear to be as prejudicial to some part of the People who in the Weal-publick or some of their Posterities afterwards partaking or enjoying of the like Priviledges do or may find themselves abundantly recompenced may be as prejudicial to some as they are beneficial to many who may at the