know from the Prosecutor to what they must answer and have agreed and acquainted each other with the tales they will tell and have resolved to be careful that all their answers to cross Interrogatories may be conformable to their first stories And if these relate only to words spoken at several times in private to distinct Witnesses in such a case Evidence if given in open Court may seem to be very strong against the person accused though there be nothing of truth in it But if such Witnesses were privately and separately examined by the Grand Inquest as the Law requires and were to answer only such questions as they thought fit and in such order as was best in their judgments and most natural to find out the Truth of the Accusation so that the Witnesses could not guess what they should be asked first or last nor one conjecture what the other had said which they are certain of when they know beforehand what the Prosecutor will ask in Court of every of them and what they have resolved to answer if the Inquest should put them out of their Road and then compare all their several answers together they might possibly discern marks enough of falshood to shew that their Testimonies ought not to be depended upon where life is in question By what is now said the reasonableness of this Institution of Secrecy may be discerned in respect to the discovery of Truth and the protection of the Innocent from malicious Combinations and Perjuries Yet the same Secrecy of the Kings Council is no less necessary to reserve the guilty for punishment when the Evidence against any party accused is not manifest and full it may be kept without prejudice under Secrecy until further Enquiry and if sufficient proof can afterwards be made of the Offence an Indictment may be found by a Grand Inquest and the party brought to answer it But when the Examinations are in open Court or the Kings Councils any other way divulged and the Evidence is weak and less than the Law requires 't is not probable that it will be more or stronger and should an Indictment be found and the party tried by a Petit Jury whilst the Evidence is not full they must and ought to acquit him and then the further prosecution for the same Offence is for ever barred though his guilt should afterward be manifest and confessed by himself From hence may certainly be concluded that Secrecy in the Examinations and Enquiries of Gr. Juries is in all respects for the Interest and advantage of the King If he be concerned to have secret Treasons Felonies and all other enormities brought to light and that none of the Offenders should escape Justice if the gain of their Forfeitures be thought his interest which God forbid then the first notices of all dangerous crimes and wicked confederacies ought to be secretly and prudently pursued and searcht into by the Grand Inquest The accusers and Witnesses ought not to publish in a Court before a multitude what they pretend to know in such cases until the discretion of so many honest men of the neighbourhood hath first determined whether their testimony will amount to so good and full Evidence that it may be made publick with safety to the King and People in order to Justice Else they are obliged by Oath to lock up in their own breasts all the circumstances and presumptions of crimes until they or such as shall succeed in the same trust shall have discovered as they believe Evidence enough to convict the accused and then and not before they are to accuse the party upon Record by finding the Bills as it 's usually called But when Bills are offered without fatisfactory Evidence and they neither know nor can learn any more they ought for the King's sake to indorse Ignoramus upon them least his Honour and Justice be stained by causing or permitting such prosecution of his People in his own name and at his suit as shall appear upon their Trial and Acquittal to have been frivolous or else malicious designs upon their Lives and Fortunes If it should be said that whatsoever reasons there are for this Oath of Secrecy yet it cannot deprive the King of the benefit of having the Evidence made publick if he desires it and that the Grand Jury do not break their Oaths when the King or the Prosecutor for him will have it so 'T is not hard to shew that such Notions have no foundation in Law or Reason and seem to come from men who have not well studied the first principles of the English Government or of true Religion Whosoever hath learnt that the Kings of England were ordained for the good Government of the Kingdom in the Execution of the Laws must needs know that the King cannot lawfully seek any other benefit in judicial proceedings than that common Right and Justice be done to the People according to their Laws and Customs Their Safety and Prosperity are to be the objects of His continual Care and Study that being highest concern The greatness and Honour of a Prince consists in the Virtue Multitude Wealth and Prowess of his People and his greatest Glory is by the excellence of his Government so to have encouraged Virtue and Piety that few or no Criminals are to be found in his Dominions Those who have made this their principal aim have in some places so well succeeded as to introduce such a Discipline and rectitude of manners as rendred every man a Law unto himself As it is reported in the History of Peru Gar. de la Veg. Hist de los Incas that though the Laws were so severe as to make very small Crimes capital yet it often fell out that not one man was put to Death in a year within the whole compass of that vast Empire The King 's only benefits in finding out and punishing Offenders by Courts of Justice are the preservation and Support of the Government the protection of the Innocent revenging their wrongs and preventing further mischiefs by the terrors of exemplary punishments The King is the head of Justice in the esteem of our Laws and the whole Kingdom is to expect right to be done them in his several Courts instituted by Law for that purpose Therefore Writs issue out in his name in all cases where relief is sought by the Subjects and the wrongs done to the Lives or Limbs of the People are said to be done against the Peace of the King his Crown and Dignity reckoning it a dishonour to him and his Government that Subjects should not whilst they live within the Law enjoy Peace and Security It ought to be taken for a scandal upon the King when he is represented in a Court of Justice as if he were partially concerned or rather inclined to desire that a party accused should be found guilty than that he should be declared innocent if he be so in Truth Doubtless the King ought to wish in all Enquiries
THE SECURITY OF English-Mens Lives OR THE TRUST POWER and DUTY OF THE Grand Iurys OF ENGLAND Explained according to the Fundamentals of the English Government and the Declarations of the same made in Parliament by many Statutes Published for the Prevention of Popish Designs against the Lives of many Protestant Lords and Commoners who stand firm to the Religion and ancient Government of England LONDON Printed for T. Mitchel 1681. THE Principal Ends of all Civil Government and of Humane Society were the Security of Mens Lives Liberties and Properties mutual Assistance and Help each unto other and Provision for their common Benefit and Advantage and wherethe Fundamental Laws and Constitution of any Government have been wisely adapted unto those Ends such Countries ane Kingdoms have increased in Virtue Prowess Wealth and Happiness whil'st others through the want of such excellent Constitutions or neglect of preserving them have been a Prey to the Pride Lust and Cruelty of the most Potent and the People have had no Assurance of Estates Liberties or Lives but from their Grace and Pleasure They have been many times forced to welterin each others Blood in their Masters quarrel for Dominion and at best they 〈◊〉 â—erved like Beasts of Burden and 〈…〉 ntinual base subserviency to their 〈…〉 ers Vices have lost all sense of 〈◊〉 Religion Virtue and Manhood Our Ancestors have been famous in â—â—eir Generations for Wisdom Piety 〈…〉 d courage in forming and preserving â— Body of Laws to secure themselves and their Posterities from Slavery and Oppression and to maintain their Native Freedoms to be subject only to the Laws made by their own Consent in their general Assemblies and to be put in Execution chiefly by themselves their Officers and Assistants to be guarded and defended from all Violence and Force by their own Arms kept in their own hands and used at their own charge under their Princes Conduct entrusting nevertheless an ample Power to their Kings and other Magistrates that they may may do all the Good and enjoy all the Happiness that the largest Soul of man can honestly wish and carefully providing such means of correcting and punishing their Ministers and Councillors if they transgressed the Laws that they might not dare to abuse or oppress the People or design against their Freedom or Welfare This Body of Laws our Ancestors always esteemed the best Inheritance they could leave to their Posterities well knowing that these were the sacred Fence of their Lives Liberties and Estates and an unquestionable Title whereby they might call what they had their own or say they were their own Men The inestimable value of this Inheritance moved our Progenitors with great resolution bravely from Age to Age to defend it and it now falls to our Lot to preserve it against the Dark Contrivances of a Popish Faction who would by Frauds Sham-Plots and Infamous Perjuries deprive us of our Birth-rights and turn the points of our Swords our Laws into our own Bowels they have impudently scandalized our Parliaments with Designs to overturn the Monarchy because they would have excluded a Popish Successor and provided for the Security of the Religion and Lives of all Protestants They have caused Lords and Commoners to be for a long time kept in Prisons and suborned Witnesses to swear matters of Treason against them endeavouring thereby not only to cut off some who had eminently appeared in Parliament for our antient Laws but through them to blast the Repute of Parliaments themselves and to lessen the Peoples Confidence in those great Bulwarks of their Religion and Government The present purpose is to shew how well our Worthy fore-Fathers have provided in our Law for the safety of our Lives not only against all attempts of open Violence by the severe punishment of Robbers Murtherers and the like but the secret poysonous Arrows that flie in the dark to destroy the Innocent by false Accusation and Perjuries Our Law-makers foresaw both their dangers from the Malice and Passion that might cause some of private condition to accuse others falsly in the Courts of Justice and the great hazards of Worthy and Eminent Mens Lives from the Malice Emulation and Ill Designs of corrupt Ministers of State or otherwise potent who might commit the most odious of Murders in the form and course of Justice either by corrupting of Judges as dependant upon them for their Honour and great Revenue or by Bribing and Hiring men of depraved Principles and desperate Fortunes to swear falsly against them doubtless they had heard the Scriptures and observed that the great men of the Jews sought out many to swear Treason and Blasphemy against Jesus Chrâ—â—â— They had heard of Ahab's Courtiers and Judges who in the Course aâ—â— Form of Justice by false Witnesses 〈…〉 thered Naboth because he would nosubmit his Properly to an Arbiâ—rary Power Neither were they ignoraâ—â— of the Antient Roman Historâ—es 〈◊〉 the pestilent false Accusers that abounâ—ed in the Reign of some of those Emperours under whom the greatest of crimes was to be virtuous Therefore as became good Legislators they made as prudent Provision as perhaps any Country in the World enjoys for equal and impartial Administration of Justice in all the concerns of the Peoples Lives that every man whether Lord or Commoner might be in safety whilst they lived in due Obedience to the Laws For this purpose it is made a Fundamental in our Government that unless it be by Parliament See Ld Cookes Instit 3d part p. 40. no mans Life shall be touched for any crime whatsoever save by the Judgment of at least 24 men that is 12 or more See Mag. Chart. Cooke 's 2 part of Instit p. 50 51. to find the Bill of Indictment whether he be Peer of the Realm or Commoner and 12 Peers or above if a Lord if not 12 Commoners to give the Judgment upon the general Issue of not guilty joyned of these 24 the first 12 are called the Grand Inquest or the Grand Jury for the extent of their power and in regard that their number must be more than 12 sometimes 23 or 25 never were less than 13 Twelve whereof at least must agree to every Indictment or else 't is no legal Verdict If 11 of 21 or of 13 should agree to find a Bill of Indictment it were no Verdict The other Twelve in Commoners Cases are called the Petit-Jury and their number is ever Twelve but the Jury for a Peer of the Realm may be more in number though of like Authority The Office and Power of these Juries is Judicial they only are the Judges from whose Sentence the Indicted are to expect Life or Death upon their Integrity and Understanding the Lives of all that are brought into Judgment do ultimately depend from their Verdict there lies no Appeal by finding Guilty or not Guilty they do complicately Resolve both Law and Fact As it hath been the Law so it hath allways been the Custom and Practice of
part fol. 33. the same be also void and holden for none for ever See also the Statute of Westm 2d cap. 38. and Articâ—â— super Cortas ch 9. So careful have our Parliaments been that the Power of Grand Inquests might be placed in the hands of good and worthy men that if one man of a Grand Inquest though they be Twenty Three or more should not be Liber Legalis Homo or such as the Law requires and duly returned without denomination to the Sheriff all the Indictments found by such a Grand Jury and the proceedings upon them are void and null So it was adjudged in Scarlet 's case I know too well that the Wisdom and Care of our Ancestors in this Institution of Grand Juries hath not been of late considered as it ought nor the Laws concerning them duly observed nor have the Gentlemen and other men of Estates in the several Counties discerned how insensibly their legal Power and Jurisdiction in their Grand and Petit Juries is decayed and much of the means to preserve their own Lives and Interests taken out of their hands 'T is a wonder that they were not more awakened with the attempt of the late Ed. Ch. Justice K. who would have usurped a Lordly Dictatorian power over the Grand Jury of Somersetshire and commanded them to sind a Bill of Indictment for murther for which they saw no Evidence and upon their refusal he not only threatned the Jury but assumed to himself an Arbitrary Power to sine them Here was a bold Battery made upon the ancient Fence of our Reputations and Lives If that Justice's Will had passed for Law all the Gentlemen of the Grand Juries must have been the basest Vassals to the Judges and have been penally obliged Jurare in Verba Magistri to have sworn to the Directions or Dictates of the Judges But thanks be to God the late long Parliament though filled with Pensioners could not bear such a bold Invasion of the English Liberty but upon the Complaint of one Sir Hugh Windham Foreman of the said Jury and a Member of that Parliament the Commons brought the then Chief Justcie to their Bar to acknowledge his fault whereupon the Prosecution ceased The Trust and Power of Grand Juries is and ought to be accounted amongst the greatest and of most concern next to the Legislative The justice of the whole Kingdom in criminal Cases almost wholly depending upon their Ability and Integrity in the due Execution of their Office Besides the Concernments of all Commoners the Honour Reputation Estates and Lives of all the Nobility of England are so far submitted to their Censure that they may bring them into question for Treason or Felony at their Discretion Their Verdict must be entred upon Record against the greatest Lords and process must legally go out against them thereupon to imprison them if they can be taken or to outlaw them as the Statutes direct and if any Peer of the Realm though innocent should justly fear a Conspiracy against his Life and think fit to withdraw the direction of the Statutes in proceeding to the Outlawry being rightly pursued he could never reverse the Outlawry as the Law now stands save by Pardon or Act of Parliament Hence it appears that in case a Grand Jury should be drawn to Indict a Noble Peer unjustly either by means of their own weakness or partiality or a blind submission to the Direction or Opinion of Judges One such failure of a Jury may occasion the Ruine of any of the best or greatest Families in England I mention this extent of the Grand Juries Power over all the Nobility only to shew their joint Interest and Concern with the Commons of England in this ancient Institution The Grand Juries are trusted to be the principal means of preserving the Peace of the whole Kingdom by the terrour of executing the penal Laws against Offenders by their Wisdom Diligence and Faithfulness in making due Inquiries after all Breaches of the Peace and bringing every one to answer for his crime at the peril of his Life Limb and Estate that every man who lives within the Law may sleep securely in his own House 'T is committed to their Charge and Trust to take care of bringing Capital Offenders to pay their Lives to Justice and lesser Criminals to other punishments according to their several demerits The Courts or Judges or Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer and of Gaol Delivery are to receive only from the Grand Inquest all Capital matters whatsoever to be put in Issue tried and judged before them by the Petit Juries The whole Stream of Justice in such cases either runs freely or is stopped and disturbed as the Grand Inquests do their Duties either faithfully and prudently or neglect or omit them And as one part of their Duty is to Indict Offenders so another part is to protect the Innocent in their Reputations Lives and Interests from false Accusers and malicious Conspirators They are to search out the Truth of such Informations as come before them and to reject the Indictment if it be not sufficiently proved and farther if they have reasonable suspicion of Malice or wicked Designs against any mans Life or Estate by such as offer a Bill of Indictment the Laws of God and of the Kingdom bind them to use all possible means to discover the Villany and if it appear to them whereof they are the legal Judges to be a Conspiracy or malicious Combination against the Accused they are bound by the highest Obligations upon Men and Christians not only to reject such a Bill of Indictment but to Indict forth with all the Conspirators with their Abettors and Associates Doubtless there hath been Pride and Covetousness Malice and desire of Revenge in all Ages from whence have sprung false Accusations and Conspiracies but no Age before us ever hatched such Villanies as our Popish Faction have contrived against our Religion Lives and Liberties No History assords an Example of such Forgeries Perjuries Subornations and Combinations of infamous Wretches as have been lately discovered amongst them to defame Loyal Innocent Protestants and to shed their guiltless Blood in the Form and Course of Justice and to make the Kings most faithful Subjects appear to be the vilest Traitors unto him In this our miserable State Grand Juries are our only Security in as much as our Lives cannot be drawn into jeoperdy by all the malicious crasts of the Devil unless such a number of our honest Country Men shall be satisfied in the truth of the Accusations For prevention of such Plotters of wickedness as now abound was that Statute made in the 42 of E. 3.3 See the Stat. 42 E. 3.3 in these words To eschew the mischiefs and damage done to divers of the Commons by False Accusers which oftentimes have made the Accusations more for Revenge and singular Benefit than for the profit of the King or of his People which accused persons some have been taken and
humane Institution are in Scripture called the Judgments of God who is the God of truth Yet further if any benefit to the King could be imagined by making the Evidence to the Grand Jury publick it could not come in competition with the Law expressed in their Oath which by constant uninterrupted usage for so many Ages hath obtained the force of Law Bracton and Britton in their several Generations bear Witness that it was then practised and greater proof of it need not be sought than the Disputes that appears by the Law-Books to have been amongst the ancient Lawyers whether it was Treason or Felony for a Grand Jury to discover either who was indicted or what Evidence was given them The Trust of the Grand Juries was thought so sacred in those Ages and their secrecy of so great concern to the Kingdom that whosoever should break their Oath therein was by all thought worthy to die only some would have had them suffer as Traitors others as Felons Co. Instit 3d part p. 107. Rulls Indic 771. And at this day it is held to be a high Misprision punishable by Fine and Impoverishment The Law then having appointed the Evidence to be given to Grand Juries in secret the King cannot desire to have it made publick He can do no wrong saith the old Maxime that is he can do nothing against the Law nor is any thing to be judged for his benefit that is not warranted by Law His Will Commands and desires are therein no otherwise to be known He cannot change the legal Method or manner of enquiring by Juries nor vary in any particular case from the customary and general forms of judicial proceedings he can neither abridge nor enlarge the power of Juries no more than he can lessen the legal Power of the Sheriffs or Judges or by special Directions order the one how they shall execute Writs and the other how they shall give Judgments though these made by himself 'T is criminal no doubt for any to say that the King desires a Court of Justice or a Jury to vary from the direction of the Law and they ought not to be believed therein If Letters Writs or other Commands should come to the Judges for that purpose they are bound by their Oaths not to regard them but to hold them for null the Statutes of 2 E. 3.8 and 20 E. 3.1 are express That if any Writs or Commandments come to the Justices in disturbance of the Law or the Execution of the same or of right to the parties they shall proceed as if no such Letters Writs or Commands were come to them And the Substance of these and other Statutes is inserted into the Oath taken by every Judge and if they be under the most solemn and sacred Tye in the Execution of Justice to hold for nothing or none the Commands of the King under the great Seal surely the Word or Desire of an Attorney General in the like case ought to be less than nothing Besides they are strangely mistaken who think the King can have an Interest different from or contrary unto that of the Kingdom in the prosecution of Accused Persons His Concernments are involved in those of his People and he can have none distinct from them He is the Head of the Body Politick and the Legal course of doing Justice is like the orderly Circulation of the Blood in the Natural Bodies by which both Head and Body are equally preserved and both perish by the interruption of it The King is obliged to the utmost of his Power to maintain the Law and Justice in its due course by his Coronation Oath and the Trust thereby reposed in him In former Ages he was conjured not to take the Crown unless he resolved punctually to observe it Brom. p. 1159 Mat. Paris p. 153. Hoved. p. 374. Baker p. 68. Bromton others speaking of the Coronation of Richard the First deliver it thus That having first taken the Oath Deinde indutus Mantello ductus est ad Altare conjuratus ab Archiepiscopo prohibitus ex parte Dei ne hunc Honorem sibi assumat nisi in mente habeat tenere Sacramenta Vota quae superius fecit Et Ipse respondit se per Dei auxilium omnia supradicta observaturum bona fide Deinde cepit Coronam de Altari tradidit eam Archiepiscopo qui posuit eam super caput Regis sic Coronatus Rex ductus est ad sedem suam Afterward cloathed with the Royal Robe he is led to the Altar and conjured by the Archbishop and forbid in the Name of God not to assume that Honour unless he intended to keep the Oaths and Vows he had before made and he answered by God's help he would saithfully observe all the Premises And then he took the Crown from off the Altar and delivered it to the Archbishop who put it upon the King's head and the King thus Crowned is led unto his Seat The violation of which Trust cannot but be as well a wound unto their Consciences as bring great prejudice upon their Persons and Affairs The Common Law that exacts this doth so far provide for Princes That having their minds free from cares of preserving themselves they may rest assured that no Acts Words or Designs that may bring them into danger can be concealed from the many hundreds of men who by the Law are appointed in all parts of the Kingdom watchfully to take care of the King and are so far concerned in his safety that they can hope no longer to enjoy their own Lives and Fortunes in peace than they can preserve him and the good Order which according to the Laws he is to uphold It is the Joynt Interest of King and People that the Antient Rules of doing Justice be held sacred and inviolable and they are equally concerned in causing strict Inquiries to be made into all Evidences given against suspected or accused Persons that the Truth may be discovered and such as dare to disturb the Publick Peace by breaking the Laws may be brought to punishment And the whole course of Judicial Proceedings in Criminal Causes shews that the People is therein equally concerned with the King whose Name is used This is the ground of that distinction which Sir Ed. Coke makes between the Proceedings in Pleas of the Crown and Actions for wrongs done to the King himself Co. 3d. Inst pag. 136. In Pleas of the Crown or other common offences nusances c. principally concerning others or the Publick there the King by Law must be apprised by Indictment Presentment or other matter of Record but the King may have an Action for such wrong as is done to himself and whereof none other can have an Action but the King without being apprised by Indictment Presentment or other matter of Record as a Quare impedit Quare incumbravit a Writ of Attaint of Debt Detinue of Ward Escheat Scire fac pur repealer patent
c. Unto which every man must answer But no man can be brought to answer for Publick Crimes at the King's Suit otherwise than by Indictment of a Grand Jury The whole Course of doing Justice upon Crimina's from the beginning of the process unto the Execution of the Sentence is and ever was esteemed to be the Kingdoms concernment as is evidenced by the frequent Complaints made in Parliament that Capital Offenders were pardon'd to the Peoples damage and wrong In the 13 Rich. 2. it is said that the King hearing the grievous Complaints of his Commons in Parliament of the outragious mischiefs which happened unto the Realm for that Treasons Murders and Rapes of Women be commonly done and committed and the more because Charters of pardon had been easily granted in such cases And thereupon it was enacted that no pardon for such crimes should be granted unless the same were particularly specified therein and that if a pardon were otherwise granted for the death of a man the Judges should notwithstanding enquire by a Grand Jury of the Neighbourhood concerning the death of every such person and if he were found to have been wilfully murdered such Charter of Pardon to be disallowed and provisions were made by imposing grievous Fines upon every person according to his Degree and Quality or Imprisonment who should presume to sue to the King for any pardons of the aforesaid crimes and that such persons might be known to the whole Kingdom their names were to be upon several Records The like had been done in many Statutes made by several Parliaments as in the 6 Ed. 1.9 the 2 Ed. 3.2 the 10 Ed. 3.2 and the 14 Ed. 3.15 wherein it was acknowledged by the King in Parliament That the Oath of the Crown had not been kept by reason of the Grant of Pardons contrary to the aforesaid Statutes and enacted that any such Charter of Pardon from thenceforth granted against the Oath of his Crown and the said Statutes the same should be holden for none In the 27 Edw. 3.2 It is further provided for preventing the Peoples damage by such pardons That from thenceforth in every Charter of Pardon of Felony which shall be granted at any mans suggestion the said suggestion and the name of him that maketh the suggestion shall be comprised in the same Charter and if after the same suggestion be found untrue the Charter shall be disallowed and holden for none And the Justices before whom such Charter shall be alledged shall enquire of the same suggestion and that as well of Charters granted before this time as of Charters which shall be granted in time to come and if they find them untrue then they shall disallow the Charter so alledged and shall moreover do as the Law demandeth Thus have Parliaments from time to time declared that the Offences against â—he Crown are against the publick welâ—are and that Kings are obliged by â—heir Oath and Office to cause Justice to â—e done upon Traitors and Felons â—or the Kingdoms sake according to â—he ancient common Law declared by Magna Charta in these â—ords Nulli negabimus 9 Hen. 3.29 nulli vendemus nulli difâ—remus Justitiam We will sell to no â—an we will not deny or defer to any â—an either Justice or Right And as the publick is concerned that the due and legal Methods be observed in the Prosecution of Offenders so likewise doth the security of every single man in the Nation depend upon it No man can assure himself he shall not be accused of the highest crimes Let a mans Innocence and prudence be what it will yet his most inoffensive Words and Actions are liable to be misconstrued and he may by Subornation and Conspiracy have things laid to his charge of which he is no ways guilty Who can speak or carry himself with that circumspection as not to have his harmless Words or Actions wrested to another sence than he intended Who can be secure from having a Paper pur into his Pockets or laid in his house of which he shall know nothing till his Accusation History affords many Examples of the detestable practices in this kind of wicked Court Parasites among which one may suffice for Instance out of Polibius an approved Author Polib lib. 5. Hermes a powerful Favourite under Antiochus the younger but a man noted to be a favourer of Liars was made use of against the innocent and brave Epigenes He had long watcht to kill him for that he found him a man of great Eloquence and Valour having also favour and Authority with the King He had unjustly but unsuccessfully accused him of Treason by false glosses put upon his faithful advice given to the King in open Council â—his not prevailing he by artifice got him put out of his Command and to retire from Court which done he laid 〈◊〉 Plot against him with the help and Counsel of one of his Complices Alexâ—s and writing Letters as if they had been sent from Molon who was then in open Rebellion against his Prince â—or fear amongst other Reasons of the Cruelty and Treachery of Hermes and corrupted one of Alexis's Servants with â—reat Promises who went to Epigenes â—o thrust the Letters secretly amongst â—is other Writings which when he had â—one Alexis came suddenly to Epigenes â—emanding of him if he had received any Letter from Molon and when he said he had none the other said he was confident he should find some wherefore entring the House to search he found the Letters and taking this occasion slew him lest if the Fact had been duly examined the Conspiracy had been discovered These things happening thus the King thought that he was justly slain in this manner the worthy Epigenes ended his days But this great mans designs did not rest here for within a while heightened with success he so arrogantly abused His Masters Authority as he grew dangerous to the King himself as well as to those about him insomuch as Antiochus was sorced for that he hated and feared Hermes to take away his Life by Stratagem thereby to secure himself By these and a thousand other ways the most unblemisht Innocence may be brought into the greatest dangers Since then every man is thus easily subject to question and what is one mans case this day may be another man 's to morrow it is undoubtedly every mans concern to see as far as in him lies in every case that the accused Person may have the benefit of all such provisions as the Law hath made for the defence of Innocence and Reputation Now to this end there is nothing so necessary as the secret and separate examination of Witnesses for though perhaps as hath been already observed it may be no very difficult thing for several persons who are permitted to discourse with each other freely and to hear or be told what each of their fellows had been asked and answered to agree in one story especially if the Jury may not ask what
and destroy the Innocent This is to turn a legal King into a Nimrod a Hunter of Men This is not to act the part of a Father or a Shepherd who is ready to lay down his Life for his Sheep but such as the Psalmist complains of who eat up the People as if they eat Bread Jezebel did perhaps applaud her own Wit and think she had done a great Service to the King by finding out men of Belial Judges and Witnesses to bring Naboth to be stoned but that unregarded Blood was a Canker or the Plague of Leprosie in his Throne and Family which could not be cured but by its overthrow and extinction But if the Attorney General cannot serve the King by abusing Juries and subverting the Innocent he can as little gain an advantage to himself by falsifying his Oath by the true meaning whereof he is to prosecute Justice impartially and the Eternal Divine Law would annul any Oath or Promise that he should have taken to the contrary even though his Office had obliged him unto it The like Obligation lies upon Jurors not to suffer themselves to be deluded or persuaded that the Judges Kings Council or any others can dispense with that Oath or any part of it which they have taken before God unto the whole Nation nor to think that they can swerve from the Rules set by the Law without a damnable breach of it The power of relating or dissolving Conscientious Obligations acknowledged in the Pope makes a great part of the Roman Superstition and that grand Impostor could never corrupt Kingdoms and Nations to their destruction and the Establishment of his Tyranny until he had brought them to believe he could dispense with Oaths taken by Kings unto their Subjects and by Subjects to their Kings nor impose so extravagant an Errour upon either until he had persuaded them he was in the place of God It is hard to say how the Judges or Kings Council can have the same Power unless it be upon the same Title but we may be sure they may as well dispense with the whole Oath as any part of it and can have no pretence unto either unless they have the Keys of Heaven and Hell in their keeping It is in vain to say the King as any other man may remit the Oath taken unto and for himself He is not a party for himself but in the behalf of his People and cannot dispose of their Concernments without their Consent which is given only in Parliament The Kings Council ought to remember they are in criminal Cases of Council unto every man in the Kingdom It is no ways referred unto the Direction of the Judges or unto them whether that secrecy enjoined by Law be profitable unto the King or Kingdom They must take the Law as it is and render Obedience unto it until it be altered by the Power that made it To this end the Judges by Acts of Parliament viz. 18 Ed. 3. cap. 8. and 20 Ed. 3. Cap. 1. are sworn to serve the People Ye shall serve our Lord the King and his People in the Office of Justice c Ye shall deny to no man common Right by the Kings Letters nor no other mans nor for no other cause and in default thereof in any point they are to forfeit their Bodies Lands and Goods This proves them to be the Peoples Servants as well as the Kings Further by the express words of the Commissions of Oyer and Terminer they are required to assist every man that suffers injury and make diligent inquisition after all manner of falshoods deceits offences and wrongs done to any man and thereupon to do Justice according to the Law so that in the whole proceedings in order unto Tryal and in the Tryals themselves the Thing principally intended which several persons are severally in their capacities obliged to pursue is the discovery of Truth The witnesses are to depose the Truth the whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth Thereupon the Council for the King are to prosecute The Grand Jury to present and the Petit Jury to try These are several Offices but all to the same End T is not the Prisoner but the Crime that is to be pursued This primarily the Offender but by consequence and therefore such Courses must be taken as may discover that and not such as may ensnare him When the Offence is found the impartial Letter of the Law gives the Doom and the Judges have no share in it but the pronouncing of it Till then the Judges are only to preside and take Care that every man else who is employed in this necessary Affair do his duty according to Law So that upon result of the whole transaction impartial Justice may be done Either to the Acquittal or condemnation of the Prisoner Hereby it is manifest why the Judges are obliged by Oath To Serve the People as well as the King And by Commission To Serve every One that Suffers Injuries As they are to See that Right be done to the King His Injur'd Subjects in discovering of the Delinquent So they are to be of Council with the Prisoner whom the Law supposeth may be ignorant as well as innocent and therefore has provided that the Court shall be of Council for him and as well inform him of what Legal advantages the Law allows him as to resolve any point of Law when he shall propose it to them And it seems to be upon the presumption of this steady impartiality in the Judges thus obliged by all that is held Sacred before God and man to be unbyassed that the Prisoner hath no Council for if the Court faithfully perform their duty the Accused can have no wrong or hardship and therefore needs no Adviser Now suppose a man perfectly innocent and in some measure knowing in the Law should be accused of Treason or Felony If the Judges shall deny unto the Grand Jury the Liberty of examining any witnesses except in open Court where nothing shall be offered that may help to clear the Prisoner but every Thing aggravated that gives colour for the Accusation such Persons only produced as the Kings Council or the prosecutors shall think fit to call of whose Credit also the Jury must not inquire but shall be controll'd and brow-beaten in asking Questions of such unknown witnesses for their own Satisfaction if they have any Tendency to discover the Infamy of these witnesses or the Falshood of their Testimony How can Innocence secure any Man from being arraigned And if the Oath of the Judges should be as much forgotten in the further Proceedings upon the Trâ—al where in Cases of Treason the Prisoner shall have all the Kings Council commonly not the most unlearned prepared with studied speeches and arguments to make him black and odious and to Strein all his words and to alledge them for Instances of his guilt If then all his private Papers and Notes to help his memory in his Plea and defence shall
The Indictments against them mentioned in Anderson's Reports Pa. 156. 157. are worth reading whereby they are charged with Treason for Subverting the Laws and Customs of the Land in their proceedings without Grand Juries and procuring the murmuring hatred of the People against the King to the great danger of him the Kingdom Nothing could satisfy the Kingdom tho the King was dead whom they had flattered and served but such Justice done upon them and many of their Instruments and Officers as may for ever make the Ears of Judges to tingle And it is not to be forgotten that the Judges in Queen Eliz. time in the Case of R. Cavendish in Anderson's Reports P. 152 and 155. were as they told the Queen and her Councellors by the punishment of former Judges especially of Empson and Dudley deterred from obeying her illegal Commands The Queen had sent several Letters under her Signet Great Men pressed them to obey her Patent under the Great Seal and the Reasons of their disobedience being required They answered That the Queen her self and the Judges also had taken an Oath to keep the Laws And if they should obey her Commands the Laws would not warrant them and they should therein break their Oath to the Offence of God and their Country and the Common-wealth wherein they were born And say they if we had no fear of God yet the Examples and punishments of others before us who did offend the Laws do remember and recal us from the like Offences Whosoever being in the like places may design or be put upon the like practices will do well to consider these Examples and not to think that he who obliquely Endeavors to render Grand Jurys useless is less Criminal than he that would absolutely abolish them That which doth not act according to its Institution is as if it were not in being And whoever doth without prejudice consider this matter will see that it is not less pernicious to deny Juries the use of those Methods of discovering Truth which the Law hath appointed and so by degrees turn them into a meer matter of form than openly and avowedly to destroy them Surely such a gradual Method of destroying our Native Right is the most dangerous in its consequence The safety which our Fore-fathers for many hundreds of years enjoyed under this part of the Law especially and have transmitted to us is so apparent to the meanest Capacity that whoever shall go about to take it away or give it up is like to meet with the fate of Ishmael to have every mans hand against him because his is against every Man Artifices of this Kind will ruine us more silently and so with less opposition and yet as certainly as the other more moved oppression This only is the difference that one way we should be slaves immediately and the other insensibly But with this further disadvantage too that our slavery should be the more unavoydable and the faster rivited upon us because it would be under colour of Law which Practice in Time would obtain Few men at first see the danger of little changes in Fundamentals and those who design them usually act with so much craft as besides the giving specious Reasons they take great Care that the true Reason shall not appear Every design therefore of changing the Constitution ought to be most warily observed and timely opposed Nor is it only the Interest of the People that such Fundamentals should be duly guarded for whose benefit they were at first so carefully layed and whom the Judges are sworn to serve but of the King too for whose sake those pretend to act who would subvert them Our Kings as well as Judges are sworn to maintain the Laws They have themselves in several Statutes required the Judges at their peril to administer Equal Justice to every Man notwithstanding any Letters or Commands c. even from themselves to the contrary And when any failure hath been the greatest and most powerful of them have ever been the readiest to give Redress It appears by the preface to the Statutes of 20th Ed. 3. that the Judicial proceedings had been perverted That Letters writs and Commands had been sent from the King and great Men to the Justices and that Persons belonging to the Court of the King the Queen the Prince of Wales had maintained abetted Quarrels c. Whereby the Laws had been violated and many wrongs done But the King was so far from justifying his own Letters or those illegal practices That the preamble of those Statutes saith they were made for the relief of the People in their sufferings by them That brave King in the height of his glory and vigor of his Age chose rather to confess his Error than to continue in it as is Evident by his own words Edward by the Grace of God c. Because by divers Complaints made unto us we have perceived that the Law of the Land which we by our Oath are bound to maintain is the less well kept and Execution of the same disturbed many times by maintenances and procurements as well in the Court as the Country We greatly moved of Conscience in this matter and for this Cause desiring as much for the pleasure of God and ease and quietness of our Subjects as to save our Conscience and for to save and keep our said Oath by the Assent c. Enact That Judges shall do Justice notwithstanding Writs Letters or Commands from himself c. and that none of the King's House or belonging to the King Queen or Prince of wales do maintain Quarrells c. King James in his Speech to the Judges in the Starchamber Anno. 1616. told them That He had after many years resolved to renew his Oath made at his Coronation concerning Justice and the promise therein contained for maintaining the Law of the Land And in the next Page save one says I was sworn to maintain the Law of the Land and therefore had been perjured if I had broken it God is my Judge I never intended it And His Majesty that now is hath made frequent Declarations and Protestations of his being far from all thoughts of designing an Arbitrary Government and that the Nation might be confident He would rule by Law Now if after all this any Officer of the Kings should pretend Instructions from his Master to demand so material an Alteration of proceedings in the highest Cases against Law as are above mentioned And the Court who are required to slight and reject the most solemn Commands under the Great Seal if contrary to Law should upon a Verbal Intimation allow of such a Demand and so break in upon this Bulwark of out Liberties which the Law has erected Might it not give too just an occasion to suspect that all the legal securities of our Lives and Properties are unable to protect us And may not such fears rob the King of his greatest Treasure and Strength the Peoples hearts when they
their going such ought to be their speed to make known the Treason Or if in any case they be otherwise openly flagitious though they be not legally infamous or if they are men of desperate Fortunes so that the temptation of want is manifestly strong upon them and the restraint of Conscience can be supposed to be little or none at all what ever they say is at least to be heard with extraordinary caution if not totally rejected In Scotland such a degree of Poverty S. G. Mackâ—zy Crim. Law lib. 26.3 that a Witness cannot swear himself to be worth Ten Pounds is sufficient to lay him aside wholly in these high Concernments of Criminal Cases And in some other Kingdoms to be a loose liver is an Objection of the same force against any produced for Witnesses And for the better discovery of the Truth of any fact in question the Credit of the Witnesses and the value of the Testimonies it is the Duty of the Grand Inquest to be well informed concerning the Parties indicted of their usual Residence their Estates and manner of living their Companions and Friends with whom they are accustomed to converse such knowledge being necessary to make a good judgment upon most accusations but most of all in suspitions or Indictments of secret Treasons or Treasonable Words where the accusers can be of no credit if it be altogether incredible that such things as they testifie should come to their knowledge Sometimes the quality of the accused person may set him at such a distance from the Witnesses that he cannot be supposed to have conversed with them familiarly if his Wisdom and Conduct has been always such that it is not credible he would trust men so inconsiderable or meer strangers to him and such as are wholly uncapable to assist in the Design which they pretend to discover Can the Grand Inquest believe such Testimony to be of any value Or can they avoid suspecting Malice Combination and Subornation in such a case or can they shew themselves to be just and conscientious in their Duty if they do not suspend their Verdict until further Enquiry and write Ignoramus upon the Bill It is undoubtedly Law which we find reported in Stiles Stiles Repor 11. That Though there be Witnesses who prove the Bill yet the Grand Inquest is not bound to find it if they see cause to the contrary Now to make their Enquiry more instrumental and advantageous to the Execution of Justice they are enjoined by their Oath to keep secret the King's Counsel their fellows and their own Perhaps 't is not sufficiently understood or considered what duty is enjoyned to every man of a Grand Inquest by this clause of their Oath being seldom if ever explained to them in the general charge of the Judges at Sessions or Assises But it is necessary that they should apprehend what Counsel of the King is trusted with them Certainly there is or ought to be much more of it communicated to them than is commonly thought and in things of the greatest consequence To them ought to be committed in the several Counties where any Prosecutions are begun the first Informations and suspitions of all Treasons Murders Felonies Conspiracies and other Crimes which may subvert the Government endanger or hurt the King or destroy the Lives or Estates of the innocent People or any way disquiet or disturb the common Peace Our Law intends the Councils of the King to be continually upon the protection and security of the People and prevention of all their mischiefs and dangers by wicked lawless and injurious men And in order thereunto to be advising how to right his wronged Subjects in general if the publick safety be hazarded by Treasons of any kind or their Relations snatcht from them by Murderers or any way destroyed by malicious Conspirators in form of Law or their Estates taken away by Robbery and Thieves or the Peace broken And for these ends to bring to exemplary Justice all offenders to deterr others from the like Wickedness And until these Counsels of the King come to the Grand Jury he can bring no such Criminals to judgment or to answer to the Accusations and Suggestions against them Hence it becomes unavoidably necessary to reveal to the Grand Juries all that hath been discovered to the King or any of his Ministers Judges or Justices concerning any Treasons or other Offences whereof any man is accused And where suspicion hath caused any to be imprisoned all the grounds of their suspitions ought to be opened concerning the Principals and the Accessories as well before as after the fact all the circumstances and presumptions that may induce a belief of their Guilt and all notices whatsoever which may enable the Jury to make a more exact and effectual Enquiry and to present the whole Truth They themselves will not only be offenders against God by reason of their Oath but subject to legal punishments if they knowingly conceal any Criminals and leave them unpresented and none can be innocent who shall conceal from them any thing that may help and assist them in their Duty The first notices of Crimes or suspicions of the Criminals by whomsoever brought in and the intentions of searching them out and prosecuting them legally are called the King's Counsel because the principal care of executing Justice is entrusted to him and they are to be prosecuted at his Suit and in his name and such proceedings are called Pleas of the Crown From hence may be easily concluded that the Kings Counsel which by the Oath of the Grand Inquest is to be kept secret includeth all the persons offered to them to be indicted and all the matters brought in Evidence before them all circumstances whatsoever whereof they are informed which may any way conduce to the discovery of Offences all intimations given them of Abettors and Encouragers of Treasons Felonies or Perjuries and Conspiracies or of the Receivers Harbourers Nourishers and Concealers of such Criminals Likewise the Oath which enjoins the Counsel of their Fellows and their own to be kept implies that they shall not reveal any of their personal knowledge concerning Offences or Offenders nor their intentions to indict any man thereupon nor any of the Proposals and Advices amongst them of ways to enquire into the truth of any matter before them either about the Crimes themselves or the accusers and Witnesses or the party accused nor the debates thereupon amongst themselves nor the diversity of opinionins any case before them Certainly this Duty of secresie concerning the Kings Counsel was imposed upon the Grand Inquest with great reason in order to the publick good It was intended that they should have all the advantages which the several cases will afford to make effectual Enquiries after Criminals to offer them to Justice If packs of Thieves private Murderers secret Traitors or Conspirators and Suborners can get Intelligence of all that is known of their Villanies all the parties concerned may
questions they shall think it for the satisfaction of their own Consciences but that they shall be so far under the correction and censure of the â—udges as to have the questions which they put called by them trifles impertinent and unfit for the Witnesses â—o speak to yet if they be examined aâ—art with that due care of sifting out â—ll the Circumstances which the Law requires where every man of the Jury is at full liberty to enquire into any thing for his clearer information and that with what deliberation they think fit and all this be done with that secrecy which the law commands it will be almost impossible for a man to suffer under a false Accusation Nor has the Law been less careful for the Reputation of the Subjects of England than for their Lives and Estates and this seems to be one reason why in criminal Cases a man shall not be brought to an open legal Trial by a Petit Jury till the Grand Jury have first found the Bill The Law having entrusted the Grand Inquest in a special manner with their good names they are therefore not only to enquire whether the fact that is laid was done by the party accused but into the circumstances thereof too whether it were done traiterously feloniously or maliciously c. according to the manner charged which Circumstances are not barely matter of form but do constitute the very essence of the Crime and lastly into the Credit of the Witnesses and that of the party accused and unless they find both the Fact proved upon him and strong presumptions of such aggravating circumstances attending it as the Law requires in the specification of such Crime and likewise are satisfied in the credibility of the Witnesses they ought not to expose the Subject to an open Trial in the face of the County to a certain loss of his Reputation and hazard of his Life and Estate Moreover should this practice of publick Examination prevail and the Jurors Oath of Secrecy continue how partial and unequal a thing would it be to declare that to all the World which will blast a mans good name and religiously cenceal what they may know tending to his Justification To examine Witnesses perhaps suborned certainly prepared and have Evidence dressed up with all the advantages that Lawyers wits can give it of the foulest Crimes a man can be guilty of and this given before some thousands against him and yet for the same Court to swear those whom the Law makes Judges in the case not to reveal one word of those reasons which have satisfied their Consciences of his Innocence What is this but an Artifice of slandring men it may be of the most unspotted cnnversation and of abusing Authority not so much to find men guilty as to make them infamous After this Ignominy is fixed what Judgment can the Auditors and from them the World make but of high probability of guilt in the party accused and Perjury in the Jury This course if it should be continued must needs be of most dangerous consequence to all sorts of men it will both subject every one without relief to be defamed and fright the best and most consciencious men from serving on Grand Juries which is a most necessary part of their duty Now since there is in our Government as in every one that is well constituted there ought to be great liberty of Accusation that no man may be encouraged to do ill through hopes of impunity if by this means a Method be opened for the blasting the most innocent mans honour and deterring the most honest from being his Judges what remains but that every mans Reputation which is most dear unto such as are good is held precariously and it will be in the power of great men to pervert the Laws and take away whose Life and Estate they please or at least to fasten imputations of the most detested crimes upon any whom for secret reasons they have a mind to defame The consequences of which scandal as they are very mischievous to every man so in a Trading Country in a more especial manner to all who live by any vocation of that kind The greatest part of Trade is driven upon credit most men of any considerable Employment dealing for much more than they are truly worth and every mans credit depends as well upon his behaviour to the Government he lives under as upon his private honesty in his transactions between man and man so that the suspicion only of his being obnoxious to the Government is enough to set all his Creditors upon his back and put a Stop to all his Affairs perhaps to his utter ruine What expedition and violence will they all use to recover their debts when he shall be publickly charged with such crimes as forfeit Life and Estate Though there should not be one word of the Accusation true yet they knowing the charge and the seeming proofs in the Court and the consequences of it and not being acquainted with the truth as it appears to the Jury self interest will make his Creditors to draw in their effects which is no more than a new contrivance under colour of Law of undoing honest men If to prevent any of these mischiefs the Jury should discover their fellows and their own Counsel as the Court by publick Examination doth it would not only be a wilful breach of their Oath but a betraying of the trust which the Law has reposed in them for the security of the Subject For to subject the reasons of their Verdicts upon Bills to the censure of the Judges were to divest themselves of the Power which the Law has given them for most important considerations without account or control and to interest those in it whom the Law has not in this case trusted and so by degrees the course of Justice in one of the most material parts may be changed and a fundamental security of our Liberty and Property insensibly lost On the other hand if for fear of being unworthily reproached as Ignoramus Jury-Men obstinate fellows that obstruct Justice and disserve the King the Grand Jury shall suffer the Judges or the Kings Counsel to prevail with them to indorse Billa vera when their Consciences are not satified in the truth of the Accusation they act directly against their Oaths oppress the innocent whom they ought to protect as far as in them lies subject their Country themselves and posterity to Arbitrary powers pervert the administration of justice and overthrow the Government which is instituted for the obtaining of it and subsists by it This seems to be the greatest Treason that can be committed against the whole Kingdom and threatens ruine unto every man in private in it None can be safe against authorized Malice and notwithstanding the care of our Ancestors Rapine Murther and the worst of crimes may be advanced by the formality of Verdicts if Grand Juries be overawed or not suffered to enquire into the Truth to the
Dominorum Henrici Johannis ac per terribiles fulminationes Excommunicationis sententiae in transgressores communium libertatum Angliae quae in chartis praedictis continentur corroboratas cum spes praeconcepta de libertatibus illis observandis fideliter ab omnibus putaretur stabilis indubitata Rex conciliis malorum Ministrorum praeventus seductus easdem infringendo contravenire non formidavit credens deceptive pro munere absolvi à transgressione quod esset manifestum regni exterminium Aliud etiam nos omnes angit intrinsecus quod Justiciarii subtiliter ex malitia sua ac per diversa argumenta avaritiae intolerabilis superbiae Regem contra fideles suos multipliciter provocaverunt incitaverunt sanoque salubri consilio Ligeorum Angliae contrarium reddideruut consilia sua vana impudenter praeponere affirmare non erubuerunt seu formidaverunt ac si plus babiles essent ad consulendam conservandam Rempublicam quam tota Universitas Regni in unum collecta Ita de illis possit vere dici viri qui turbaverunt terram concusserunt Regnum sub fuco gravitatis totum populum graviter oppresserunt praetextuque solummodo exponendi vereres Leges novas non dicam Leges sed malas consuetudines introduxerunt vomuerunt ita quod per ignorantiam nonnullorum ac per partialitatem aliorum qui vel per munera vel timorem aliquorum potentum innodati fuerunt nulla fuit stabilitas Legum nec alicui de populo Justitiam dignabantur exhibere opera eorum sunt opera nequitiae opus iniquitatis in manibus pedes eorum ad malum current festinant ac viam recti nescierunt Quid dicam non est judicium in gressibus suis agros violenter tulerunt rapuerunt domos oppresserunt virum domum ejus imo virum Haereditatem suam vae Judices qui sicut Lupi vespere non relinquebant ossa in mane Justus Judex adducit Consiliarios in stultum finem Judices in stuporem mox alta voce justum Judicium terrae recipietis His auditis omnium aures tinniebant totaque Communitas ingemuerunt Vide Mat. West Anno 1289. p. 376. li. 13. dicentes heu nobis heu ubi est Angliae toties empta toties concessa toties scripta toties jurata Libertas Alii de Criminalibus sese à visibus populi subtrahentes in locis secretis cum amicis tacite latitaverunt Anno vero 1290. 18. Ed. 1. deprehensis omnibus Angliae Justiciariis de repetundis praeter Jo. Metingham Eliam de Bleckingham quos honor is ergo nominatos volui judicio Parliamenti vindicatum est in alios atque alios carcere exilio fortunarumque omnium dispendio in singulos mulcta gravissima amissione officii Spelmans Glossary p. 1. co 1.416 alios protulerunt in medium unde merito fere omnes ab officiis depositi amoti unus à terra exulatus alii perpetuis prisonis incarcerati alii que gravibus pecuniarum solutionibus juste adjudicati fuerunt AFter that the King for the space of three Years and more had remained beyond Sea and returned out of Gascoign and France into England he was much vexed and disturbed by the continual clamour both of the Clergy and Laity desiring to be relieved against the Justices and other His Majesizes Ministers of several oppressions and injuries done unto them contrary to the good Laws and customs of the Realm whereupon King Edward by his Royal Letters to the several Sheriffs of England commanded that in all Counties Cities and Market Towns a Proclamation should be made that all who found themselves agrieved should repair to Westminster at the next Parliament and there shew their grievances where as well the great as the less should receive fit remedies and speedy Justice according as the King was obliged by the Bond of his Coronation Oath And now that great day was come that day of judging even the Justices and the other Ministers of the Kings Council which by no Collusion or Reward no Argument or Art of Pleading they could elude or avoid The Clergy therefore and the People being gathered together and seated in the great Palace of Westminster the Archbishop of Canterbury a man of eminent Piety and as it were a Pillar of the holy Church the Kingdom rising from his Seat and fetching a profound sigh spoke in this manner Let this Assembly know that we are called together concerning the great and weighty Affairs of the Kingdom too much alas of late disturbed and still out of Order unanimously faithfully and effectually with our Lord the King to treat and ordain Ye have all heard the grievous complaints of the most intollerable injuries and oppressions of the daily desolations committed both on Church and State by this corrupt Council of our Lord the King contrary to our great Charters so many and so often purchased and redeemed granted and confirmed to us by the several Oaths of our Lord the King that now is and of our Lords King Henry and John and corroborated by the dreadful thundrings of the sentence of Ecommunication against the Invaders of our common Liberties of England in our said Charters contained and when we had conceived firm and undoubted hopes that these our Liberties would have been faithfully preserved by all men the King circumvented and seduced by the councils of evil Ministers hath not been afraid to violate it by infringing them falsly believing that he could for Rewards be absolved from that offence which would be the manifest destruction of the Kingdom There is another thing also that grieves our Spirits that the Justices subtilly and maliciously by diverse Arguments of covetousness and intollerable Pride have the King against his faithful Subjects sundry ways incited and provok'd counselling him contrary to the good and wholsome Advice of all the Liegemen of England and have not blush'd nor been afraid impudently to assert and prefer their own foolish Councils as if they were more fit to consult and preserve the Commonweal than all the Estates of the Kingdom together assembled so that it may be truly said of them they are the men that troubled the Land and disturb'd the Nation under a false colour of gravity have the whole People grievously opprest and under pretence of expounding the antient Laws have introduced new I will not say Laws but evil Customs so that through the Ignorance of some partiality of others who for reward or fear of great Men have been engaged there was no certainty of Law and they scorned to administer justice to the people their deeds are deeds of wickedness the work of Iniquity is in their hand their feet make hast to evil the way of truth have they not known what shall I say there is no Judgment in their paths build their Houses in injustice and their Tabernacles in Unrighteousness Wee be to them that covet large possessions that break open Houses and destroy the Man and his Inheritance Woe be to such Judges who are like Wolves in the Evening and leave not a bone till the morning The Righteous Judge will bring such Counsellors to a foolish end and such Judges to confusion ye shall all presently with a loud cry receive the just sentence of the Land At the hearing of these things all Ears tingled and the whole Community lifted up their Voice and mourned saying Alas alas for us what is become of that English Liberty which we have so often purchased which by so many Concessions so many Statutes so many Oaths hath been confirmed to us Hereupon several of the Criminals withdrew into secret places being concealed by their friends some of them were brought forth into the midst of the People and deservedly turned out of their Offices one was banished the Land and others were grievously Fined or Condemned to perpetual Imprisonment This is confirmed by Spelman An. 1290. All the Justices of England saith he were An. 18. Ed. 1. apprehended for Corruption except John Mettingham and Elias Bleckingham whom I name for their honour and by Judgment of Parliament condemned some to Imprisonment others Banishment or Confiscation of their Estates and none escaped without grievous Fines and the loss of their Offices FINIS