That which is objected is not true for Tonnage and Poundage have been taken by the Kings Prerogative without Act of Parliament Secondly If it had been true it is no Argument against the Kings Prerogative in this point for what is Tonnage but a certain sum of money payable for every Tun of VVine imported did not King Edw. 3 by force of his Charter Mercatoria without Act of Parliament take two shillings for every Tun of VVine imported by Strangers did not the same King set a new Imposition of Gauge viz. upon every Tun of VVine brought into London as is before expressed and are not the severall Impositions of VVines taken by His Majesty in England and Ireland a kind of Tonnage being nothing else but extraordinary rates imposed upon ever Tun of VVine and levied and taken by the Kings Prerogative Again was not the three pence upon the pound imposed by King Edw. 1. by his Charta Mercatoria a kind of Poundage and well nigh as great an Imposition as twelve of the pound granted at this day by Act of Parliament if we consider the Standard of Monies in the time of King Edw. 1. when a peny sterling did contain as much or more pure Silver as the three pence sterling doth contain at this day but admit that no Tonnage or Poundage had ever been taken but by grant in Parliament yet it is no Argument but that the King might impose the like or the same by his Prerogative for three particular reasons The first because these Subsidies were granted for maintainance of the Navy Royall the charges whereof were grown so great in the time of King Edw. 4. as appeareth by the Act of Tonnage and Poundage granted in the 12 year of that Kings Reign that it sufficed not nor in time to come was like to suffice or defray the charge of the Crown in keeping the Sea these are the words of that Act if then in the time of King Edw. 4. the Subsidy of Tonnage being three shillings upon a Tun of VVine brought in by Denizens and six shillings upon a tun brought in by Strangers and the Subsidy of Poundage or of twelve pence of the pound upon other Cōmodities was not then sufficient to bear the charge of the Royall Navy which was not comparable by many degrees in strength and beauty and multitude of Ships to the Kings Navie at this day Doth it stand with reason that the Crown should be stinted or limited ever after to take no more than those poor Subsidies granted at that time that the King should wait for a Parliament and pray an ayde of the Commons for a competent means to maintain the Walls of the Kingdom when by the Common Law of the Realm he may grant Letters Patents for Murage to maintain the Walls of a Corporate Town If any unexpected necessity should arise for repairing of the Navy Royall and making a Navall War should the King expect a Parliament for a greater Subsidy to bee granted by the Commons before he should rigge and make ready his Ships perhaps a Kingdom might be lost in the mean time as if a Pilot sitting at the Helm and seeing a sudden gust of wind would over-set the Ship or perceiving her to be running on a Rock should forbear to turn the Helm or cause the Sail to be stricken untill he had consulted with the Mariners or Passengers and demanded their consent or counsell in the businesse the Pilot himself with his Mariners and Passengers might be cast away before they were agreed what course to take Secondly these Subsidies of Tonnage and Poundage were first granted by Act of Parliament in the time of the Civill VVars between the two great Houses of Lancaster and York when the severall Kings were loath to make use of their Prerogatives but were glad to please their people and loath to impose any charge upon them but by common consent in those troublesome times Thirdly Kings and Princes oftentimes of their own noble nature and sometimes in policy do accept that of their Subjects as a gift which they might exact take as a duty and therefore our most potent and politique Kings have ordained and accepted many things in Parliament which they might have done in their private Chambers by their own prerogative without any other Ceremony who ever made doubt of the Kings Prerogative in establishing the Standard of monies and yet how many Acts of Parliament do we find touching Monies in the times of King E. 1. and King Edw. 2 the Kings Prerotative in making establishing Marshall Law was never yet in question yet are there Acts of Parliament touching Musters departures of Souldiers without their Captains Licences or the like The King only doth give Honours and places of precedency yet King Hen. 8. made an Act of Parliament whereby he rancked the great Offices of the Crown in their severall places as well in Council as in Parliament No man ever doubted but the King being the Fountain of Justice may erect Courts of Justice by his Prerogative yet we find the Court of Augmentations and the Court of VVards erected by Act of Parliament Lastly in the time of Edw. 2. we find an Act of Declaration of the principall Prerogatives of the Crown of England were most undoubted and clear yet His Majesty was pleased in his first Parliament to accept of an Act of Recognition CHAP. XXXII The Conclusion BY these reasons and demonstrations which are before expressed it is evident that the King of England by vertue of an ancient Prerogative inherent to the Crown and Scepter may justly and lawfully set Impositions upon Merchandizes and may limit and rate the quantity and proportion thereof by his own wisdom and discretion without Act of Parliament and this Prerogative is warranted and approved by the generall Law of Nations and the Law Merchant which is a principall branch of the Law of Nations by the Imperial Law the Ecclesiasticall Law and by the rule of the Common Law of England and by the practice of the most prudent Kings and Queens of England since the Conquest and that this Prerogative is grounded upon many excellent reasons and that the severall Objections made against this Prerogative are but shadows and colours of reason and clearly removed and washed away by the severall Answers thereunto CHAP. XXXIII A comparison of the Impositions set and taken in England by the Kings Prerogative with the Exceptions and Gabells in Forein States and Kingdoms whereby it will appear that the subjects of the Crown of England do not bear so heavy a burthen by many degrees as the Subjects of other Nations do bear in this kind ALbeit indeed the King of England being no Emperor and having all Imperiall Rights within his own Kingdoms hath and ever had as absolute a Prerogative Imponere vectigalia or to lay Impositions as the Emperor of Rome or Germany or any other King Prince or State in the world now have or ever had yet let
touching the repeal of Charta Mercatoria by King Edw. 2 and the remit all of divers Impositions by King Edw. 3 upon sundry Petitions of the Commons in Parliament and the punishment of divers Persons in Parliament for procuring Impositions to be set up 106 CHAP. XXVII The Answer to the third Objection 110 CHAP. XXVIII The fourth Objection that the Prerogative is bound or taken away by divers Acts of Parliament 129 CHAP. XXIX The Answer to the fourth Objection 131 CHAP. XXX The fifth Objection that Tonnage and Poundage were never taken but when the same was granted by Parliament 140 CHAP. XXXI The Answer to the fifth Objection 141 CHAP. XXXII The Conclusion 146 CHAP. XXXIII A Comparison of the Impositions set and taken in England by the Kings Prerogative with the Exceptions and Gabells in Forein States and Kingdoms whereby it will appear that the Subjects of the Crown of England do not bear so heavy a burthen by many degrees as the Subjects of other Nations do bear in this kind 147 AN ARGUMENT UP ON The Question of Imposition digested and divided into sundrie Chapters by one of His Majesties learned Counsel in IRELAND CHAP. I. The Exposition and meaning of certain words which do shew the true state of the Question THe Question it self is no more than this Whether the Impositions which the King â—f England hath laid and levied upon Merchandize by vertue of his Prerogative onely without Act of Parliament be lawful or warranted by the Law of England By the word Imposition we mean only such rates or sums of money as the King by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England or Ireland hath set upon Merchandizes imported and exported and commanded the same to be paid and levied to His Majesties use over and above the Customes and Subsidies formerly due and payable for the same Merchandizes By the word Merchandizes we mean only such goods or Merchandizes as are transported over the Seas from one Realm or Dominion unto another to be sold or exchanged for reasonable gain or profit for upon the ingate or outgate of Commodities so crossing the Seas only Customes Subsidies and Impositions for Merchandizes are paid and taken and not for any Commodities carried too and fro by Sea and Land within one and the same Realm and Dominion By the Law of England we understand not only our customary Common Law and our Statutes of England which are Native and peculiar to our Nation only but such other Laws also as be common to other Nations as well as us have been received and used time out of mind by the Kings and people of England in divers cases and by such ancient usage are become the Lawes of England in such cases namely the generall Law of Nations and the Law-Merchant which is a branch of the Law the Imperial or Civil Law the Common or Ecclesiastical Law every of which Laws so far forth as the same have been received and used in England time out of mind may properly be said to be the Laws of England CHAP. II. Of the general Law of Nations or Jus Gentium and the force thereof in all Kingdoms that traffique and commerce is a principal subject of that Law and that it giveth power unto all Kings to take Customes and Impositions upon Merchandizes and that the Crown of England hath many Prerogatives annexed to it by the Law of Nations of which our Common Law taketh notice and doth admit and approve the same JUs Gentium or the generall Law of Nations is of equal force in all Kingdoms for all Kingdoms had their beginning by the Law of Nations therefore it standeth with good reason that the Law of Nations should be of force and of like force in all Kingdoms and for this cause in the Realms subject to the Crown of England the Law of Nations also is in force in such cases especially wherein the King himself or his Subjects have correspondence or commerce with other Nations who are not bound in those cases by the Municipall Laws of England Omnes populi saith Justinian qui legibus moribus reguntur partim suo proprio partim coÌ„muni omnium hominum jure utuntur nam quod quisque populus ipse sibi Ius constituit id ipsius proprium Civitatis est vocaturque jus Civile quod vero naturalis ratio inter omnes homines constituit id apud omnes homines plerumque custoditur vocaturque Jus gentium quasi quo jure omnes gentes utuntur and in the same place it is said Ius Gentium omni hominum generi coÌ„mune est exhoc Iure Gentium omnes pene contractus introducti sunt ut emptio venditio locatio conductio societas depositum mutuum c. And with this agreeth our Doctor and Student lib. 1. cap. 2. where it is said that Trade and Traffique is by the Law of Nations so that Commerce Trade Traffique for Merchandize between the people of several Nations and Kingdoms is a principal subject of the Law of Nations and therefore to that question that hath been made in England Whether the ancient Customes payable for Merchandizes did first grow due by our customary Common Law or Statute Law of England Why may I not answer that neither the Customary Law nor the Statute Law of England but the generall Law of Nations did first give these duties unto the Crown of England For as the Law of Nations was before Kings for Kings were made by the Law of Nations Ex jure Gentium Reges originem traxerunt saith Baldus So Kings were no sooner made by the Law of Nations but presently the same Law cum creatus fuerit Rex ei omnia regalia conceduntur competit omnibus Regibus jus imponendi quantum habet Begalia saith Baldus Vectigalia introduct a sunt à jure c. which is the Law of Nature or Nations Ideo non otiosased favoralia saith another Doctor did annex this Prerogative to their several Crowns Vectigalorigine ipsa jus Caesarum Regum partimoniale est saith another Inhaeret Sceptro saith another and therefore when our ancient British Kings took up Customes for Merchandizes transported into France as Strabo writeth Britanni vectigalia tollebant gravia earum rerum quas brevi trajectu in Galliam importabant Shall we presume they did it by Act of Parliament no for doubtlesse they did it by vertue of this Prerogative given unto them by the Law of Nations for Kings upon their first institution did greater things than this by their Prerogative without the consent of the people Vetusissima coronae jura ex singulari Regum decreto primitus orta saith a learned Doctor and at first saith Iustinian Arbitria Regum prolegibus fuere and so saith Halicarnassus lib. 3. Cicero offic. lib. 2. And truly as Customes and Impositions taken upon importations of Merchandizes being most properly called Vectigalia à mercibm evectis
power to shut and open the fame at his pleasure Again all the Ports of the Kingdome are the Kings not onely the Cinque-Ports which have a special Warden appointed by the King but the rest of the Ports are also his and many of them bear a mark of the Kings Inheritance in their Additions as Linn Regis Waymouth Melcombe Regis Pool Regis for the King is Custos totius Angliae Regni as the four Seas are the Walls of the Kingdom so the Havens and Creeks are the Gates and Posterns of it They are Ostia they are Ianua Regni and we find two Ports in Italy called by those names the one at the mouth of Tiber the other corruptly called Genoa but the true name thereof is Ianua And as the Havens are Ianua Regni the King himself is Ianus and hath power to open and shut them at his pleasure Omnia sunt nostra clausa patentque manu Saith Ianus in the Poet And again Modo namque patulchus idem modo sacrifico Clusius ore vocor The King of England hath ever had this Prerogative incident to his Crown to shut and open the Ports when it pleased him as appeareth by many Records especially by the Parliament Rolls in the time of King Edw. 3. wherein are found many Petitions that the Sea might be open which during that Kings time was often shut by virtue of his Prerogative only and never fully opened again but when the King layd an Imposition upon Merchandizes And this Prerogative of Custody of the Ports and of shutting and opening the same is reserved unto the Crown upon an excellent reason For Trade and Comerce is not fit to be holden with all persons neither are all things fit to be imported or exported For such persons as are enemies to the Crown come to discover Arcana Regni such persons as come to corrupt Religion or the manners of the people such persons as under colour of Merchandizes come to set up Monopolies or a dry Exchange to drain or draw away our commodities or money out of the Kingdom are not fit to enter in at the Gates of the Kingdome And again such commodities as the Kingdom cannot spare as Corn in time of dearth and such as may advantage our Enemies and hurt us in time of Warre as Horses Armor Gunpowder c. are not fit to be exported out of the Realm And Poysons Heretical books and other things which are apparently hurtfull to the people are not to be imported and therefore the Prerogative of opening and shutting the Ports is accompanied with another absolute power of stoping and imbarring of Trade Comerce sometimes generally sometimes between us and particular Nations and sometimes for particular Merchandizes only whereof there are many presidents and examples both in Records and Histories of our Nation 2 Edw. 1. Rot. Parliament m. 18. in Archivis Turris 2 Edw. 3. Rot. fin m. 17 ibid. 10 Edw. 3. Chaunc m. 3. in dorso ibid. 17 Hen. 6. Sccio Angliae Matthew Paris Hist. Magna P. 568. 10 Hen. 7 Stow. And this Prerogative of imbarring Trade doth result out of the undoubted Prerogative which the King hath to make Peace and War with Forein Nations for open War is no sooner denounced but all Trade of Merchandize is stopt and imbarred between the Nations which are ingaged in the Warre durante bello inter Reges Christianos merces quascunque exportare vetamur ne Regni arcana serutentur saith a Doctor of the Imperiall Law whereupon wee make this Argument That since the King hath absolute power of shut the Ports and stop Trade it standeth with as good reason that he shold have the like power to lay reasonable Impositions upon Merchandizes for opening of the Ports and for giving of freedome of Trade again he that may doe the more may doe the lesse Non debet ei cui id quod majus est id quod minus est non licere saith the Rule of the Law hee that may prohibit Merchants not to Trade or passe may dispence with that prohibition and give them leave to go and Traffique sub modo Again the King of England is Dominus Maris which floweth about the Island as divers ancient Books and Records do testifie as Fitz Avowry 192. 6 Rich. 2. protection 46. Rot. Scotiae m. 16. in Arch. Turris And he is Lord of the Sea not only quoad protectionem jurisdictionem sed quoad proprietatem and this is our Neptunes trident for God gave unto man as well the Dominion of the Sea as of the Earth where it is said Gen. 1. replete terram subjicite eam dominamini piscibus maris c. and in Psal. 8. Omnia Subjecit pedibus ejus Pisces maris quicquid perambulat Semitas maris And therefore Baldus affirmeth de jure Gentium distincta esse dominia in mare sicut in terra arida and again mare attribuitur terrae Circunstanti Hence it is though there be but one Ocean in respect wherof the whole Earth is quasi insula saith Strabo yet is there Mare Gallicum Sardicum Creticum AEgypticum oceanus Britanicus Germanicus c. which particular names do note a propriety in the Princes and States who are Lords of the Land adjoyning Hence it is that our Common Law doth give unto ourKing all the land which is gained from the Sea which Stampford in the Book of the Kings Prerogative doth affirm to belong to the King de jure Gentium quia Mare seu particula Maris est de Territorio illius Civitatis vel Regni cui magis appropinquat saith one learned Doctor Mare se extendit cum aquae flnt mensurabiles saith another hence it is that all navigable Rivers as the River of Thames and the River of Lee and divers others are called in our Books the Kings Streams 19. Ass p.6 Dyer 117 a because cause such Rivers are arms of the Sea so far as the Sea doth flow in them 22. Ass. p. 93. and lastly hence it is that by the Common Law the King may prohibit all Subjects whatsoever to passe over the Seas without his licence and to that end in 22 Edw. 4. the King commanded the Warden of the Cinque Ports and the Bailifs of all other Ports of the Kingdom that they should not suffer any Man Ship or Boat to passe beyond the Seas quousque Rex illud mandaverit and the like Commandments were given 4 Edw. 3. 21 Edw. 3. 16 Rich. 2. 17 Hen. 6. If therefore the king hath such an absolute Interest in the Ports and in the Sea and in all Navigable Rivers wherein the Kings Ports are situated for the main part why should he not have the like absolute power to limit and prescribe unto Merchants what duties they shall pay and upon what terms and conditions they shall passe to and fro upon the Seas and
the rules of those Laws so far forth as the same doth concern Merchants Merchandizes as well as by the rules of our Customary or Common Law of England especially be cause the rules of those other Laws are well known to the other Nations with whom we have commerce and to whō and from whom all Merchandizes are transported wheras the rules of our own Municipall Laws are only known within our Islands and if this Question may be decided either by the Laws of Nations or by the Law Merchant which is but a member thereof or by the Roman Civil Law we find this point clearly and absolutely determined and over-ruled by the rules of those Lawes viz. That all absolute Kings and Princes may set Impositions upon Merchandizes by their Prerogatives and thereupon we may conclude that since one Monarch hath as much power as another as Fortescue in his Book de Laudibus legum Angliae affirmeth the K. of England as well as any other King as the Emperour himself cum ipse omnes libertates habet in regno suo quas imperator vindicat in imperio As King William Rufus told the Arch-Bishop Anselm may by vertue of his Royal Prerogative annexed to his Crown and inherent to his Scepter lay Impositions upon Merchandizes exported or imported into any of his Kingdoms or Doninions CHAP. VII Of the Kings Prerogatives in general and that the same do consist in certain speciall points or cases reserved to the absolute power of the Crown when the Positive Law was first established and that the Canon Law of England doth acknowledge and submit it self to these Prerogatives BY the Law of Nature all things were cōmon and all persons equal there was neither Meum nor Tuum there was neither King nor Subject then came in the Law of Nations which did limit the Law of Nature and brought in property which brought in community of things which brought in Kings and Rulers which took away equality of persons for property caused Contracts Trade and Traffique which could not be ministred without a King or Magistrate so as the first and principal cause of making Kings was to maintain property and Contracts and Traffique and Commerce amongst men Hereupon by the same Law of Nations Tributes and Cust̄omes became due to the King or Prince to maintain him in his place of Government quasi Ministerii sui stipendia saith the School-man Deo Minister est tibi in bonum ideo tributa potestas saith Saint Paul and all these things namely Property and Contract and Kings and Customes were before any positive Law was made then came the positive Law and limited the Law of Nations whereas by the Law of Nations the King had an absolute and unlimited power in all matters whatsoever By the positive Law the King himself was pleased to limit and stint his absolute power and to tye himself to the ordinary rules of the Law in common and ordinary cases worthily and princely according to the Roman Emperour Dignissimum Principe Rex se allegatum legibus consiteri retaining and reserving notwithstanding in many points that absolute unlimited power which was given unto him by the Law of Nations and in these cases or points the Kings Prerogatives do consist so as the Kings Prerogatives were not granted unto him by the people but reserved by himself to himself when the positive Law was first established and the King doth exercise a double power viz. an absolute power or Merum Imperium when he doth use Prerogatives onely which is not bound by the positive Law and an ordinary power of Jurisdiction which doth co-operate with the Law whereby he doth minister Justice to the people according to the prescript rule of the positive Law as for example the King doth not condemn all Malefactors but by the rule of the positive Law but when the Malefactor is condemned by the Law he giveth him a pardon by his absolute Prerogative Again the King doth punish the breach of the Peace within the Land by the ordinary course of the Cōmon Law but he doth make War and Peace with Forreign Nations Quod pertinet ad liberum jus gladii as a Doctor speaketh by that absolute and unlimited power which the Law of Nations hath given unto him Again the King doth establish the Standard of Money by vertue of his Prerogative only for the Common Law doth give no rule touching the matter or form or value thereof but when those Monies are dispersed into the hands of the Subjects the same do become subject in respect of the property thereof to the ordinary rules of the Common Law Again the right of Free-hold and all Inheritance and all Contracts reall and personall arising within the Land are left to be decided by the positive Law of the Land but the Government and ordering of Traffique Trade and Commerce both within the Land and without doth rest in the Crown as a principall Prerogative wherein the King is like to Primum mobile which carrieth about all the inferiour Spheres in his superiour Course and yet doth suffer all the Planets underneath him to finish all their divers and particular courses or rather he doth imitate the Divine Majesty which in the Government of the world doth suffer things for the most part to passe according to the order and course of Nature yet many times doth shew his extraordinary power in working of miracles above Nature And truly as the King doth suffer the customary Law of England to have her course on the one side so doth the same Law yeeld submit and give way to the Kings Prerogative over the other and therefore in the 1 Hen. 7. fol. 23. there is a rule That every Custome is void in Law quae exaltat in praerogativum Regis which is an argument that the Kings Prerogative is more ancient than the customary Law of the Realm besides the power of the Kings Prerogative above the Common Law doth appear in this That whereas all privileges do flow and are derived from the Kings Prerogative and every privilege in one point or other privat communem legem yet the Common Law doth admit and allow of privileges granted by vertue of the King Prerogative CHAP. VIII Of the Kings Prerogative in the ordering and governing of all Trade and Traffique in Corporations Markets and Fairs within the Land and the Common Law doth acknowledge this Prerogative and submit it self there unto FIrst it is manifest that all Corporations of Cities and Boroughes within the Land were chiefly instituted for Trade and Commerce and not by the rule of Common Law no such Corporation can be made but by the Kings Charter for though there have been some Corporations which have been time out of mind yet the Law presumes that the same at first had their beginnings by the Grant of the King besides we find in divers ancient Charters made unto those Corporations a power granted unto the King to take de
because the same were gravia vectigalia in those dayes we may easily beleeve that Custome to have been greater than the demi mark for a Sack of Wooll Again the Statute of Magna Charta which was as ancient as King Iohn speaketh of ancient Customs payable for Merchandizes and the Book of 29 Edw. 3. maketh mention of ancient Customes granted to King Iohn in the Town of Southampton which doubtlesse were other Customes than that of the demi mark c. for that in the Record of the Tower 3 Edw. 1. Rot. sin 24. Rot. Patent of the same year m. 9. the demi mark which was first established by the Kings Letters Patents is called Nova Custuma and this was a diminution of the ancient Custome saith the Book of 30 H. 8. Dyer 43. Again when the same King Edw. 1. had by his Writ onely without Act of Parliament established the Custome of the demi mark c. in Ireland in all the Customers Accounts which are found in the Pipe-Rolls in the time of Edw. 1. Edw. 2. Edw. 3. in that Realm it is also called Nova Custuma which importeth as much as a new Imposition for Imposition is a new name and hath been of use but of late years whereas every new charge laid upon Merchandizes in ancient times was called Nova Custuma as the Lord chief Baron Fleming observed in his Argument in Bates Case of Currans in the Exchequor of England but because this Custome of a demi mark was a reducement made by King Edw. 1. of the great and ancient Custome to that proportion which was then thought reasonable as after upon sundry Petitions of the Commons was allowed by the succeeding Princes it obtained in tract of time the name of the great and ancient Custome this Custome of demi mark was not granted to the King by Parliament but reduced to that rate by the King by the prayer of the CoÌ„mons as is expressed in the Record of 3 Edw. 1. fin memb. 24. for albeit the Charter for confirmation of Magna Charta made in 25 Edw. 1. doth recite That the demi mark was granted by the Cominaltie yet is there no Act of P. printed or recorded wherein that grant of the Cominaltie doth appear neither can it stand with the rule of reason that the demi mark being a diminution of the ancient Custome should proceed from the grant of the Cominalty to the King for the King would never have accepted of such a grant as did diminish his Revenue neither had it been thank-worthy or acceptable and therefore the King having a Negative voice would never have given his assent to such a grant in Parliament but it is to be presumed that this diminution of the ancient Custome was made in Parliament and not by Parliament and that by prayer of the Commons as the Record of 3 Edw. 1. Rot. fin memb. 24. testifieth the King was then well pleased for that time to draw down the ancient Custome to that rate and the people did willingly yeeld and consent to the payment thereof and this I take to be the true interpretation of the Charter or Statute made in 25 Edw. 1. And therefore because we find no Act of Parliament whereby the people did originally grant the great and ancient Customes to the King and because we find it was uncertain and subject to diminution and alteration we may conclude that it was but an imposition laid by the King from time to time by vertue of his Prerogative without any grant from the Cominalty of the Realm who can make no grant but by Act of Parliament in truth it were absurd to affâ—rme that the great and ancient Custome imposed upon Native commodities of the Kingdom was first granted by Act of Parliament since it cannot be imagined that ever those commodities did passe out of the Kingdom without Custome being equal in time with the first Scepter and since the Scepter was established many hundred years before the people were called to be in Parliament besides the very name of Custome doth note and argue that it began before any Act of Parliament was made for that it signifieth a duty payable or accustomable to be paid time out of mind which in presumption of Law is before any Record wherefore the rules in the Lord Dyers Book are good Law viz. The King hath an Estate of Inheritance in the Custome payable for Merchandizes as being a Prerogative annexed to his Crown And again 30 Hen 8. 43. Custome is an Inheritance in the King by the Common Law and not given by any Statute CHAP. XI Of the ancient duties called Prizes taken out of Forreign goods imported except Wines and the petty-Customes of three pence of the pound were accepted by King Edw. 1. in lieu of Prizes FOr the Forreign commodities which are brought into England our Kings in ancient times did not take any Rates or Customes or Sums of Money but took such part of the severall commodities in specie as they thought fit for their proper use paying for that they took a price as themselves did likewise think fit and reasonable which was called the Kings price this Prerogative is proved by the rule of the Imperiall Law Rex nonrecognoscens superiorem potest è India in propria causa and also by the rule which is given 31 Edw. 3. 60. where the Bishop of Norwich having forfeited to the King thirty Talents of Beasants of Gold because the quantity and value thereof was uncertain it was adjudged that the Kings House should set down of what quantity and value every Talent should be and that the same should be paid accordingly and by the same Prerogative whensoever any Subject is to pay a Fine or Ransome unto the King for a contempt The King himself doth limit and set the Fine or Ransome at his own will or pleasure The Forreign commodities thus taken by the King in Spain at his own price were called Prizes but because these prizes were many times grievances to the Merchants and brought little or nothing to the Kings Coffers That prudent Prince Edw. 1. by that famous Charter called Charta Mercatoria made in the 31 year of his reign did remit unto all Merchant Strangers their prizes and did grant quod de caetero super mercimonia Merchandizas vel bona ipsorum per ipsum Regem vel Ministros suos nullos nulla appretiatio vel estimatio apponeretur quod nulla prisa vel arrestatio ratione prisae inde fieret c. and the Charter doth further recite That for the remission of these prizes the Merchants Strangers did grant unto the King three pence upon the pound now called the petty-custome out of all Forreign Merchandizes imported except Wines and for our Native commodities exported they would pay for every Sack of Wooll four pence and for every three hundred Wooll-fells six shillings and four pence and for every last of Leather a demi mark
Blood who would not suffer him to use his Prerogative Secondly that during the Wars of Lancaster and York there was no fit time to make use of that Prerogative while both parties did strive to win the favour of the people Thirdly that King Hen. 7. had much ado to settle himself in the quiet possession of the Kingdome after those troubles Fourthly that King H. 8. had such a mass of Treasure left him by his Father and did so inrich himself by dissolution of Abbyes as he had no need to make use of this Prerogative Fiftly that K. E. 6. was also a Minor and that his chiefest Council did more contend to advance their own houses than the Kings profit CHAP. XVIII That Queen Mary did use her Frerogative in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes QUeen Mary in whose time the Town of Callis was lost and consequently the benefit of the Staple at Callis was lost did by her absolute power as appeareth by the Report of the Lord Dyer 1 Eliz. Dyer 165. raise an Imposition upon Clothes viz. six shillings and eight pence upon every Cloth over and above all Customes and Subsidies True it is that the Merchants petition'd to be disburthened of this Imposition which was referred to the consideration of the Justices and others whereupon they had many assemblies and conference as that Book reporteth And albeit the Resolution of the Judges in that behalf be not found in that book it is to be presumed That they adjudged the Imposition to be just and lawfull because it was continued and answered during all the Reign of Queen Mary This Queen Mary likewise by her Preroonely layd and Imposition of four Marks upon every Tun of French Wines over and above the Prizage and Buttlerage which during her life time was payd without contradiction CHAP. XIX That Queen Elizabeth alsoused her Prerogative in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes QUeen Elizabeth also by virtue of the same Prerogative did not only continue the Impositions layd by Queen Mary upon Cloths and French Wines but did raise other Impositions of sundry sorts of Merchandizes by the same absolute power namely upon every Tun of sweet Wines upon every Tun of Rhenish Wines upon every Kental of Allom which during the time of the prudent Princess were payd and received without question Besides the same Queen upon complaint made unto her in the twelfth year of her Reign That the State of Venice did impose one Ducket upon every hundred of Currans exported out of their Dominions by the Merchants of England did by her Letters Patents grant unto the English Merchants who traded into the Levant That they only and their Assigns might bring Currans into England The English Merchants having this privilege did take five shillings and six pence upon every hundred waight of Currans brought into England by Strangers which was duly payd although it was taken by the Merchants by virtue of their privilege only of sortiori yet it ought to have been payd if it had been payable to the Queen her self as the Lord Chief Baron Fleming did observe in his Argument of Bates's case of Currans in the Court of Exchequer in England CHAP. XX That our Soveraign Lord King James hath by virtue of the same Prerogative without Act of Parliament layd several Impositions upon Merchandizes HIS Majesty likewise when he came to be King of England finding his Crown to be seized of this Prerogative and finding withall the necessary charge of the Crown exceedingly to increase did for the supportation thereof not onely continue the Impositions layd by Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth but also layd new Impositions upon sundry sorts of Merchandizes over and above all Customes and Subsidies formerly due and payable for the same And these are the Impositions now the principal of these is twelve pence upon the pound or a second poundage set upon Merchandizes as well exported as imported by Letters Patents 28. Iuly in the sixth year of his Majesties Reign but how is it set and imposed surely with such moderation and limitations and such receptations full of grace and favour as no Monarch or State in the world did ever impart to their Subjects the like in the like case for besides other gracious clauses contained in the same Letters Patents All commodities serving either for food or sustenance of the Kings people or seting the poor on work or for munition or defence of the Realm or for maintainance of Navigation or which especially tends to the enriching of a Kingdome are excepted and discharged by this Imposition As for the special Impositions which his Majesty hath set upon certain forrein commodities as Currans Logwood Tobacco c. As touching the first of these the Imposition hath been adjudged lawful in the Court of Exchequer of England And for the other commodities they are of such nature as no man ever made question but that the Impositions set upon them were lawful Besides these Impositions layd in England his Majesty by his Prerogative onely since the beginning of his Reign received the Impost of Wines in Ireland and hath likewise to make equality of Trade in that Realm layd an Imposition of twelve pence on the pound of all other Merchandizes imported and exported out of the Ports of Dublin Waterford Drogheda and Galway the Citizens of which Cities and Townes are exempted and discharged of Poundage granted by Act of Parliament there which Imposition was never impugned in Ireland but hath since the setting thereof been levied and payd without contradiction And that wee see how long the Crown of England hath been seised of this Prerogative in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes and how the same hath been put in practice by the most prudent Princes since the Conquest CHAP. XXI The general reasons whereupon this Prerogative is grounded ALthough it be a matter of difficulty and doth savour withall of curiosity and presumption to search a reason for every Prerogative that is incident to the Crown for Sacrilegii est disputare de Principis facto saith the Imperial Law and Scrutator Majestal is opprimitur à gloria saith the Wise man Yet the reasons whereupon this Prerogative is grounded are so many and manifest as it were not amiss to collect the principal of them rather for the confirmation than the satisfaction of such as have moved this question touching the lawfulness of Impositions layd by his Majesty upon Merchandizes First the King is the Fountain of all Justice and therefore the first reason drawn from the Kings charge in doing Justice and procuring Justice to be done to Merchants not onely distributive Justice wherein consisteth Praemium and Paena but cōmutative Justice is also derived from the King Now his Majesty doth exercise commutative Justice chiefly in the ordering and government of Trade and Comerce wherein hee is to doe Justice or to procure Justice to be done to his Subjects who do make contracts real and personal within the Land But to his Merchants that
trade and traffique with Forrein Nations and to Strangers that trade traffick with us for the Administration of coÌ„mutative Justice within the Land the King receiveth sundry profits which grew first by way of Imposition A man cannot recover a Debt in the Kings Court but first he payeth the King a Fine for his first Process Land cannot be conveighed by a Common Recovery but a Fine for the Original must be payd to the King Neither can Land be passed from one to another by Fine in the Kings Court but the Kings Silver must be payd pro licentia concordandi Adde hereunto the profit of the Seals in all the Kings Courts for all manner of Writs And yet the King in Charta magna did promise Nulli negabimus nulli vendemus Iustitiam vel rectum but the Kings taking of these and the like Duties is no breach of the great Charter for that the same was imposed by the King long before the Charter was made and taken ut Ministerii sui stipendia as the Schoolman speaketh and withall to recompence the charge of the Crown in maintaining the Court of Justice See Bodin lib. 6. de Repub. cap. 2. where hee speaketh of the like profit made upon the Process in France And shews that the antient Romans did the like And the Emperour Caligula took the fortieth penny of that which was demanded in every several Civil Action If then such profits be taken for the King in his Courts of Justice within the Land towards the charge which he sustaineth in the maintainance of these Courts and the Offices thereof which duties were at first limitted and imposed by the King himself without any Act of Parliament for who ever heard of an Act of Parliament whereby the same were granted Is there not as good reason why the charge of the King in doing Justice and procuring Justice to be done unto Merchants whose residence and comerce is for the most part out of the Land should be recompenced out of Merchandizes imported and exported not according to the will of the Merchant and pleasure of the people out proportionable according to the Kings charge which being best known to himself it is most meet that the recompence should be limitted by himself Touching the charge of the King in doing and appointing Justice to be done to Merchants Are not all Leagues Truces and Treaties of State with Forein Princes wherein the publique Trade and Comerce of Merchants are ever included concluded and made at the Kings charge Did not the Kings Council of State and high Court of Chancery give more speedy hearing to the causes of Merchants than to the causes of other Subjects Doth not the King maintain a Court of Admiralty for deciding of Marine causes which doe for the most part concern Merchants Doth he not bear the charge of several Leâ—ger Ambassadors in Italy in Spain in France in the Low Countries in Turkie whose principal Negotiation doth consist in procuring Justice to be done to our Merchants And if our Merchants doe suffer wrong in any Forein Country by reason of any defective neglect in doing Justice there doth not the King by his Prerogative grant them Letters of Mart or Reprisal that they may right themselves which is a Species justi Belli as the Civilians call it And if the injury done to the Merchants bee multiplyed and continued with a high hand Is it not the Kings Office to denounce and prosecute War against such a people as doth refuse to doe Justice unto his Merchants For this cause the Romans began the first Punick War saith Appian Cicero in his Oration pro Lege Manlia affirmeth Populum Romanum saepe Mercatoribus Injuria suis tractata bella gessisse Briefly the plenty of Money being greater in this Age than ever was there by reason of so many Millions of Gold and Silver brought from the Indies into Europe and the price of all Merchandizes being withall greatly enhanced and the charges and expences of Princes exceedingly encreased is it meet or just that the King at this day should be stinted or bound to that old Demimark onely for Native commodities or the three pence of the pound for the Forein commodities which Edw. 1. was content to accept of four hundred years since or a single poundage onely which in the time of King Edw. 4. was not sufficient to maintain the necessary charges of keeping the Sea as the Acts of Parliament 12 Edw. 4. cap. 5. which granteth that Subsidy to the King reciteth all the Kings charge in supporting the Trade of Merchants being unlimited and infinite And shall the duties payable for Merchandizes be stinted and restrained to such a proportion only as the Subject shall bee pleased to grant unto him Assuredly if the King had not a Prerogative of his own absolute power without Act of Parliament to increase the duties payable for Merchandizes at this day a Merchants Counting-house would be richer than the Kings Exchequer and the Subject who may live privately and moderate his expences and yet raise the Fines of his Coppy-holds and Rents of his Demeans without controlement would be in better case than the King who by reason of the Majesty of his Estate cannot abridge his charges and yet should have no power of himself without leave of his Subjects to increase his Revenue Again the King is not only at charge in doing of Justice to his Merchants at home and in procuring Justice to bee done to them abroad but the doth withall maintain a Royall Navy of Ships the best the fairest the strongest in the world at this day to protect all Merchants from spoyl and Piracy on the sea In the maintainance of this Navy the King doth expend more Treasure than the whole Revenue of some of his Predecessors did amount to And he doth not onely secure Merchants by Sea but he gives them safe conduct by Land also as appeareth by the great Charter So as they may well give our King that title which Virgil gives to the King of Bees Ille operum custos And seeing Merchants are most likely resembled to those Industrious creatures because they bring the hony to the Kings Hives to wit to his Havens and Ports where they and their Merchandizes bee protected and reserved why should they not imitate the Bees in observing their King and in making him partaker of the fruit of their labours Neither is it a new thing or an invention of this Age to lay Impositions upon Merchants for their Wastage and Protection at Sea for Plinius tels us lib. 19 cap 4. Merces praetiosae ut ex India Arabia Ethiopia tuto in Europam à Mercatoribus conveherentur necessariò classem parandam esse adversas Piraticas incursiones inde maritimi exercitus habendi causa vectigal rubri maris institutum A third reason drawn from the Interest the King hath in the parts of the Kingdom and the custody thereof which giveth him
come in and out of his Streams and Ports with their Ships and Merchandizes Podagium in Mari debet solvi sicut in terra si sit impositum per dominum Maris saith Baldus and the rights belonging to the Lord of the Sea saith another Doctor are Ius navigandi jus piscandi jus imponendi vectigalia pro utroque Again the Kings of England have the like Prerogative in the government of Trade and Comerce belonging to this Kingdome as other Princes and States have within their Dominions he must of necessity have the like absolute power as they all have to lay Impositions upon Merchandizes imported and exported otherwise he cannot possible hold the ballance of Trade upright or perserve an equality of Traffique between his own Subjects and the Subjects of Forein Princes and consequently it will lye in the power of our Neighbours to drain and draw away all our wealth in a short time or else to overthrow all Trade and Comerce between us and them at their pleasure and we shall have no means to encounter or avoid the mischief for their Princes having sole power to impose will have the sole making and managing of the Market between their Subjects and us and consequently may set what price they please upon all Merchandizes enforcing us to sell our Commodities cheap and buy their Commodities dear onely by this advantage of laying Impositions And therefore the King of England must of necessity have the same absolute power to lay Impositions upon Merchādizes as other Princes have as well ut evitetur absurdum as to prevent the ruin of the Common-wealth by the equall ballancing of Trade Comerce between his Subjects and the Subjects of Forein Princes Upon this reason when the Duke of Venice in the time of Q. Eliz. as is before expressed had laid an Imposition of one Ducket upon a 100 li. weight of Currans carried out of his Dominions by any English Merchant the Queen by speciall Patent in the twelfth year of the Reign did enable the Merchants which did Trade into the Levant to levie five shillings and six pence upon every 100 livre. weight of Currans brought into England by any Merchant Stranger Upon the like reason when in the time of King Hen. 8. the Emperor and the French King had raised the valuation of their monies both so high as there grew not only an inequality of Trade between their Subjects and the Subjects of England but our monies standing at their former values were carried out of the Realm in great quantities The King in the 24 year of his Reign granted a Commission unto Cadinall Woolsey to enhance the values of English monies likewise by that means to set ballance of trade even again and to keep our monies within the Realm Upon the same reason of State when the King of Spain that now is in the year 1614. had laid an Imposition of thirty upon the hundred on all Merchandizes imported and exported by Strangers the French King Hen. 4. was quickly sensible of it and did forthwith impose the like in his Kingdom then it followed of necessity that other Nations should follow and imitate them whereby it came to passe that Comerce of Merchants generally throughout Christendome began to decay which being perceived by these two great Princes they agreed to take away those excessive Impositions upon severall Treaties between them and the Italians and after between them and the English and the Dutch Briefly we find examples in all ages that whensoever by reason of Warre or for any other cause any Forein Prince gave the least impediment to Merchants in their Trade our Princes gave the like entertainment to their Merchants again This is declared in Magna Charta cap. 30. where it is plainly expressed what entertainment the Merchants of all Nations should expect in England Habeant Salvum securum conductum saith the Charter Praeterquam in tempore guerrae si fuerint de terra contra nos guerrina then as our Merchants are used with them so shall their Merchants be used with us 46 Edw. 3. The Countesse of Flanders having arrested the goods of the English Merchants there the King in recompence of their losses granted unto them all the goods of the Flemings in England whereof there is a notable Record mentioned before 1 Edw. 3. pat m 19. in Arch. Turris There are many other examples of mutuall embarments of Trade between the Flemings us and also between us and the French men during our Wars with France which I omit I will recite onely one president in the 40 year of Queen Elizabeth at which times the Merchants of the Haunce Towns having by sinister information procured the Emperour to banish our English Merchants out of the Empire the Queen by her speciall Commission did authorize the Mayor and Sheriffs of London to repair to the Still-yard being the Hostell of the Haunces to seize that House into her Majesties hands and there to give warning to the Merchants of the Haunce Towns to forbear Traffique with any of her Subjects in England and to depart the Realm upon that very day which was assigned to our Merchants to depart out of the Empire Lastly for the ordering and government of Trade among our own Merchants in Forein Countries and at home our Kings by their Prerogatives have instituted divers Societies and Companies of Merchants as the Company of Merchant Adventures the Muscovia Company the Turkie Company the East India Company c. all which are created upholden and ruled by the Kings Charter only whereupon I may conclude that the Kings of England having the same power in governing and ballancing Trade as other Princes have may justly execute the same power as well by laying Impositions upon Merchandizes as by the other means which are before expressed CHAP. XXII Of the several objections that are made against the Kings Prerogative in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes and the several Answers thereunto THE first Objection touching the property which all free Subjects have in their goods First it is objected that under a Royal Monarchy where the Prince doth govern by a positive Law the Subjects have a property in their Goods and inheritance in their Lands Ad Reges potestas omnium pertinet ad singulos proprietas So as the King hath no such Prerogative say they whereby he may take away the Lands or Goods of a Subject without his consent unless it be in a case of Forfeiture And therefore though Samuel foretold the people when they desired a King Hoc erit Ius Regis tollere agros vestros vineas oliveta dare servis suis Yet Ahab though he were a wicked King did not claim that Prerogative when he coveted Naboths Vineyard neither did he enter into it untill Naboth by false witnesses was condemned and stoned to death for blasphemy and then he took it for a lawfull Escheat but when the King doth
it be truly said for the honor of the Crown of England That His Majesty that now is and all his Noble Progenitors have used and put in practice this Prerogative with more moderation and favor toward the people than any Forein State or Prince in the world have besides and that in three respects First the King of England doth make use of this Prerogative only in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes crossing the Seas upon such onely and not upon any other goods which are bought and sold within the Land neither doth he by his absolute power alone impose any Tax upon Lands or Capita hominum or Capita animalium or upon other things innumerable whereof there are strange presidents and examples both Ancient and Modern in other Countries Secondly the King doth not charge all Merchandizes crossing the Seas with this Imposition now in question for in the Letters Patent whereby the Imposition of twelve pence in the pound over and above the Subsidie of Poundage is laid and limited divers kinds of Commodities are excepted especially such as serve for food and subsistance of the Kings people for setting the poor on work for maintainance of Navigation and other things of like nature as before is declared Thirdly the Impositions which are laid by the Kings of England upon Merchandizes are not so high as the Impositions and Exactions set and taken by other Princes and States for the highest Imposition in Ireland is but twelve pence upon the pound or but a single Poundage which is but five in the hundred and is the lowest rate in Christendome at this day and in England there is added but twelve pence in the pound more which is but ten pound upon the hundred pound and yet divers sorts of Merchandizes as I said before are excepted and discharged of that Imposition of the second Imposition of twelve pence But on the other side let us see the practice of other Princes and States in laying Impositions and how far they have extended and strained their Prerogative in that point beyond and above the Impositions in England I will begin with the Romans when they had gained the Monarchy of the World so as all Kingly power did rest in their Emperor First Iulius Caesar laid the first Imposition upon Forein Merchandizes saith Suctonius peregrinarum mercium portaria primus instituit and that Imposition was Octava rerum pars which was more by a fifth part than our highest Imposition in England for it is two shillings and six pence upon the pound Next Augustus Caesar about the time of our Saviours Birth sent out an Edict whereby he did tax all the world and this Tax was Capitatio or an Imposition super capita hominum though the quantity thereof doth not appear but the poll-money which our Saviour did pay and wrought a miracle it seemeth to be an high Imsition for the peeces of money taken out of the Fishes mouth which is called didrachma or stater is said to bee worth two shillings and six pence sterling which being given for himself and Peter da illis pro me et te shews that fifteen pence sterling was given for a Poll which must needs amount to an infinite thing if it were collected over all the World then subject to the Roman Emperor Tiberius the Roman Emperor who succeeded Augustus took the hundred part of all things bought and sold within the Empire which perhaps was an Imposition of greater value and profit than the other Caligula the Emperor layd an Imposition upon all Sutes in Law and took the fourth part of the value of the value of the thing sued for and set a pain upon the Plaintiff if he compounded or were Non-suted without his Licence He likewise imposed a number of Sesterii upon every Marriage contracted or made within the whole Empire Vespasian in meaner and more homelier matters took by way of Imposition a part of every poor Labourers wages and part of every Beggers alms he set likewise an Imposition upon Vrine and pleased himself with this Apothegm Dulcis odor lucri ex re qualibet Severus the Emperor did impose upon the dishonest gains of the Stews and took part of the Prostitutes there as the Bishop of Rome doth at this day all the Emperors before Trajan took the twentieth part of all Legacies and Lands descended as things which came unlooked for and as a cleer gain and therfore the Heirs and Legatories might easily spare a part to the Emperor and Nicephorus one of the Emperors of the East did not onely take sumaria tributa Smoke-money out of every Chimney but he layd an Imposition upon every mans Estate that grew suddenly rich upon a presumption that hee had found a Treasury which did belong to the Emperor by Prerogative With a little more search I might find out other Impositions of severall kinds set by the ancient Emperors upon the heads of Beasts upon the tiles of Houses and the like I might adde hereunto the Impositions set by Lorrain upon every pane of Glasse in Windows but these may suffice how high they strained and how far they extended their Prerogatives in this point of Impositions Secondly the Roman Empire being over-come by the Gothes and Vandalls and other barbarous Nations and thereby broken into Kingdomes and Free States their passed divers ages before these Monarchies could be well setled and before peace bred plenty any plenty bred civility and before Trade Traffique Comerce and Intercourse could be established between these States and Kingdoms and therefore while these States and Kingdoms were yet but poor and while there was a generall scarcity of Gold and Silver in these parts of the World and so for want of money there was but little Trade and Traffique among the people either at home or broad Kings and Princes did not neither could they make that use of their Prerogative in laying Impositions as they had done in those latter times since all Arts and Sciences have been encreased all Commodities improved and the Riches of the East and West Indies have been transported into this Hemisphere But now let us see whether the Kings and Princes of other Countries round about us at this day make not a far more profitable use of their Prerogatives in laying Impositions upon their people than the King of England doth albeit his Kingly power be full as large as any of theirs In France the most richest and ancientest of the Neighbour Kingdoms the Impositions not onely upon Merchandizes crossing the Seas but also upon Lands Goods persons of men within the Realm are so many in number and in name so divers as it is a pain to name and collect them all and therefore it must needs be a more painfull thing for the people of that Kingdom to bear them all La tallie le tallon les aids les aquavalentes les equi pollentes les cruces or augmentations of divers kinds le hop benevolence la Cabelle
principally to these causes following First our King of England hath alwayes gone before and beyond all other Kings in Christendome in many points of Magnificency and especially in this That they have alwayes had a more Rich and Royall Demean belonging to the Crown I mean more large and Royall Patrimony in Lands and Rents than ever any Christian King had before or now hath at this day for it is certain that the Revenues of other Princes and States do principally consist in such Gabells Impositions and Exactions as are before remembred and not in terr a firma not in such a Reall and Royall Patrimony as hath ever belonged to the Crown of England and therefoâ—â— other Kings being lesse able to â—â—â—ntain their Estates or more covetous in their own Nature have laid heavier Burthens upon their Subjects than ever the King of England hath layd or will do or hereafter hath need to do God be blessed for it the Kings of England have had the Princes Portion spoken of before in 45 of Ezekiel and therefore they had no need so to oppresse the people Again we may ascribe this difference to the bounty and noble nature of our Kings that they would never descend to those poor and sordid Exactions which other Princes States do take of their Subjects Sordidum putandum est aurum quod ex lachrimis oritur as a good Counseller told Vespasian Again we may ascribe it to the wisdom and policy of our Kings who would never follow the Counsell of Rehoboams younger Counsellers boni pastoris est oves tondere non diglubere as Tiberius the Emperor was wont to say Odi hortulanum saith Alexander qui ab radice olera excindit qui nimis emergit elicit sanguinem saith Solomon they well considered that the money levied by Taxes and Impositions is the blood of the people which is not to bee let out in any great quantity but to save the life as it were of the Common-wealth when she is sick indebted and in great danger Again it may be ascribed to their Piety and Religion which moved them to follow the counsell of the Divine Rule Deut. 17. where the King is warned not to multiply upon him much Gold and Silver for that indeed there doth seldome come good by great Treasure heapt up by a great Prince for it doth but nourish Pride and Ambition in him and stir him up many times to make an unjust Warre upon his Neighbours or if he leave it unto his Successers it makes them luxurious and vitious which draweth with it sometimes the ruin of the kingdome sed optimus certissimus thesaurus Principis est in loculis subditorum saith the learned Buterus in his Book against Machiavill let the King saith he have a care to maintain Religion and Justice and Peace in his Kingdom this will soon bring plenty with a continuall increase and make a rich and wealthy people then shall the King never want money to serve his just and necessary and honourable occasions for it is impossible the Soveraign should be poor when the Subjects are rich and untill occasions do arise the Coffers of his Subjects will be his best Exchequer they will be his Treasures they will be his Receivers his Tellers without fees or wages no bad Accomptant shall deceive him nor no Bankrupt Officer shall deceive him they will keep the Treasure of the Kingdom so frugally as no Importunate Courtier shall be able to withdraw the same from a Prince but that it shall still remain in store to supply the necessities of the Common wealth Lastly our Kings of England in their wisdoms well understood the natures and dispositions of their people and knowing them to be a free generous and noble Nation held them not fit to be beaten with Rehoboams Rod esteemed them too good to be whipt with Scorpions and therefore God be blessed we have not in England the Gabeller standing at every Towns end we have not a Publican in every Market we pay not a Gabell for every Bunch of Reddish or Branch of Rosemary sold in Cheap-side we have none of those Harpies which do swarm in other Countries we have no complaining in the streets as is said in the 144. Psalm and therefore I may well conclude with the conclusion of that Psalm Happy are the people that are in such a case blessed is the people that have the Lord for their God above in Heaven and King Iames for their King here upon Earth FINIS These Books following are printed for Henry Twyford and Partners and are to be sold at his Shop in Vine-Court Middle Temple THe Compleat Attorney or the Practick part of the Law A Learned Treatise of Wards and Liveries by Sir Iames Ley Knight The Life of the Apostle St. Paul Soliloquies Meditations and Prayers of St. Bonaventure The discontented Collonel by Sir Iohn Sucklin The European Mercury The humble Remonstranee of Sir Iohn Stawell Hebdomada Magna or the great Week of Christ's Passion Sir Robert Brooks Reading on the Statute of Limitations Kitchens Jurisdictions of Courts Leet Courts Baron c. Rich. Brownlow Esq Prothonotary to the Court of Common Pleas His Reports the first and second Part. Declarations and Pleadings English Judiciall Writs Plowdens Abridgment Abridgment of Lord Cook's Littleton Abridgement of Pulton's Statutes at large by Edmund Wingate Esq The Books of the drawing up of all manner of Judgments The Body of Law by Edmund Wingate Esq The Marrow of Law or the second part of the Faithfull Counsellor Office and duty of Executors in 8. Lay-mans Lawyer or the second part of the Practick part of the Law A Commentary on the Original Writs by William Hughes Esq Stevenson's Poems The Anabaptists Anatomised in a Dispute between Mr. Crag and Mr. Tombes Caesars Commentaries with Sir Clement Edmunds Observations The Compleat Clark and Scriveners guide being the exact Forms of all manner of Conveyances and Instruments now in use as they were Penned by Learned Counsel both Ancient and Modern The Counesse of Arundells Secrets in Physick and Chirurgery c. The History of the Troubles of Swethland and Poland Iustinian Dict. Stud. 1.lib.cap.2 Baldus Baldus Strabo Iustinian halicar. lib.3 Bracton stampford prà rogat Regis fol. 37.6 19 E. 4.6 37 E. 6.20 11 H. 4 Com. 316 7 E. 4.19.3 R. 3.2 Magna Charta cap.30 Vlpian 13 Edw. 4.9,10 Reg. fol.135 F. N.117 D. F. N.117 D. 2 E. 3 Regist. 259 a. Bodin Register 122 6. 46 Hen. 3 Rot. Pa. 3. E I.m. 19 in Archis turris London 3 Edw. 1 27 E. 3 Cap. 2 Cicero 13 E. 4.9 Lex Civilis Cicero offic. li 2 Bodin de repub. li.2.cap.8 Bodin Stephen King of Spain Pope Eluther II R. 2 Chopinns Rhodians The Canon Law Decret. cause 24 Quaest. 3 Canonists Poll-money St. Paul Fortescue 1H 7.fol.23 3 Edw. 1 pat m 21 F.N. 170 D. Register of Writs fol. 107 Custome and Toll Strabo 38 H. 8 Dyer 43. Edw. 1 Edw. 2. Edw. 3 Bates case de Currans in Sccio per Fleming chief Baron 3 Edw. 1. 3 Edw. 1 Rot. fin.memb.24 Statute 25 E. 1 Dyer 29. 30 H. 8.43 31 Fd 3.60 27 E. 3 Prizage and Butlerage 52 H. 3 31 Ed. 1 Gauger Alneger 14 Ed. 2 Customer Comtroller Searcher 25 E. 1 Ed. 2 11 E. 2 The Writ to his Collecttors of his Customs Collectors of his Customs Raimundus Lullius 1 Ed. 1 Rot. fin m. 30 in Archivis Turris Le Records 17 Ed 3. Rot. 308 in Sccio Angliae c 12 Ed. 3 Rot. Almaniae pars 1. numb. 3 31 Ed. 3 Rot. Parl. numb.24 13 Ed. 1 14 Ed. 3 Staple at Callis E. 3 R. 2 H. 4 H. 5 Dyer 165 12 Eliz. 12 Eliz. Letters Patents 28 Iuly 6. Iac. Bodin lib. 6 de repub. ca. 2 Caligula Appian Cicero 12 Ed. 4.cap.5 Virgil Plin. lib.19.cap.4 Tempore Edw. 3 2 Edw. 1 2 Edw. 3 10 Ed. 3 17 Hen. 4 Matthew Paris Histor. Magna p. 568. 10 Hen. 7 Stow Fitz Avowry 192.6 Rich. 2 protection 46 Rot. Scotiae nu 16 in Arch Turris Gen. 1 Baldus Strabo Stampford 19. Ass p.6 22. Ass p 93. 22 Ed. 4 4 Edw. 3 21 Ed. 3 16 Ri. 2 17 H. 6 Tempore Henry 8. The K. of Spain's Imposition in An. 1614. Magna Charta cap. 30 46 Ed. 3 I Edw. 3 Anno 40. Elizabeth Object 1 The Answer to the 1. Object Object 2 The Answer to the 2. Object Solomon Henry 7. Poeta Object 3 3 Edw. 2 5 Edw. 2. 13 Ed. 3 14 Ed. 3 12 Ed. 3 18 Ed. 3 22 Ed. 3 13 Ed. 3 Lord Latimer Richard Lions I. Peachy 50 Ed. 3. Rot. Parli numb. 33. 50 Ed. 3 Rot. Parl. num.191 in Arch. Turris Dyer 1 Eliz. fol.165 The Answer to Object 3 5 Edw. 2 Senatus Rome Solomon Iulius Caesar Augustus Caesar Edw. 1 Edw. 3 Nero Edw. 2 Rich. 2 Petitions are of divers kinds have divers Answers Mayletolt 3 Kings cap. 12 14 Ed. 3.cap.13 Anno 29 Ed. 3 6 Edw. 3 Rot. Parl. nu.4 13 Edw. 3 Rot. Parl. numb.5 18 Ed 3. Rot. Parl. nu.10.26 in Arch. Turris 28 Ed. 3. Rot. Parl. numb. 27. 38 Ed. 3. Rot. Parl. numb.26 6 Edw. 3 Rot. Parl. numb.4 Lionscase 50 Ed. 3 Rot. Parl. nu.17,18 Lord Latimers case Peachies Case 1 Eliz. Dyer fol.165 Object 4 The Answer to the forth Object Dyer 44. Statute of Northampton 2 Edw. 3 Object 5 The Answer to the 5. Object K. Ed. 4 Iulius Caesars Impositions Tiberius the Roman Emperor Caligula Vespasian The Imposition of France The Spanish Impositions Gutturis de gabellis Quaest. 174. The D. of Tuskanies Impositions The Impositions by the Pope Sixtus Quintus The Impositions of the Seigniory of Venice Baltholus Baidus The Impositions of the Low countries The Impositions of the Grand Seignior of Turkie The Impositions of Denmark Ezek. 45 Solomon Deut. 17 Buterus contra Machiavill Psa. 144