of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To Our right Trusty and well beloved Counsellor Sir Edward Hide Knight Chancellour of England Greeting Whereas We by our Council for certain great and urgent Causes concerning Vs the good Estate and Common-wealth of this our Realm and of the Church of England and for the good Order and Continuance of the same have appointed and ordain'd a Parliament to be holden at our City of Westminster the eighth day of May next ensuing In which Case divers and sundry Writs are to be directed forth under our Great Seal of England as well for the Nobility of this our Realm as also for the Election of Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the several Counties Cities and Burrough Towns of the same to be present at the said Parliament at the Day and Place aforesaid Wherefore We Will and Command you forthwith upon receipt hereof and by Warrant of the same to cause such and so many Writs to be made and sealed under our great Seal for accomplishment of the same as in like Cases have been heretofore used and accustomed And this Bill signed with our Hand shall be as well to you as to every Clerk or Clerks as shall make or pass the same a sufficient Warrant in that behalf Given at Our Palace at White-hall this Eighteenth Day of February in the Twelfth Year of Our Reign and in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty and One. Observations and Proceedings on this Warrant THe King of England by his undoubted Prerogative hath and his Predecessors ever had in himself the Power of Summoning as also to appoint the times of beginning continuing discontinuing or dissolving of Parliaments This Summoning for I shall speak of the rest in order or Uniting the chiefest Parts of his Kingdom into a Parliament or Representation of the Kingdom in a less Body than it self is performed by the King's Warrant in his Name and by his Authority only as Supreme not only of his Kingdom but of its Representation and from this Warrant all Writs of Summons for a Parliament are deriv'd The Warrant is in English Sign'd by the King 's own Hand and Seal'd with his Privy Seal or Signet but the Writs are always in Latin or anciently some few in French and are Seal'd with the King 's Great Seal in his Name with a Teste of his Approbation though not manually Sign'd or Seal'd by him The Warrant is General viz. for summoning the Nobility as also for Elections of Knights Citizens and Burgesses but the Writs deriv'd from those Warrants are to particular persons of particular degrees as will be shewn The Form of this Warrant is ancient and hath had little or no variation except in the leaving out of Abbots and Priors ever since the 36 of Henry the 8th and except in leaving out Prelates and Bishops in this very Warrant whereby the Bishops had no particular Writs before the sitting of this Parliament but within three Months after for which Omission Reasons will be given in the 7th Chapter Before this Warrant was issued the King and so former Kings did advise with their Privy Council which is manifested by the Words of the Warrant viz. Whereas We by our Council yet if these words had been omitted at any time and not inserted in the Warrant the Warrant was held good and sufficient for due Summons However for publick satisfaction the words of every Writ are always Quia de advizamento assensu Concilij nostri and this Council is call'd the King's Privy or Private Council of which I shall speak more and is the King 's constant or standing Council as well in time of Parliament as when there is none sitting so as before this Magnum Concilium or Parliament is summon'd this Privy Council consults and deliberates concerning the Motives and Reasons for calling it and after such deliberations and results doth advise the King to send out a Warrant And therefore I conceive it useful to set down the Names of such as were of the King 's Privy Council when the calling of this Parliament was advis'd and resolv'd upon At the Court of White-hall Feb. 1660 1. The KING Present His Royal Highness the Duke of York His Highness Prince Rupert William Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Juxon Edward Earl of Clarendon Lord Chancellor of England Hide Thomas Earl of Southampton Lord Treasurer of England Wriothesley John Lord Roberts Lord Privy-Seal Baron of Truro John Duke of Latherdale Maitland Earl of Guilford James Duke of Ormond Lord Steward of the King's House Butler George Duke of Albemarle Monk Henry Marquess of Dorchester Pierpoint Montague Earl of Lindsey Lord great Camberlain Bertie Edward Earl of Manchester the King's Chamberlain Montague Aldjernoone Earl of Northumberland Piercy Robert Earl of Leicester Sydny Charles Earl of Berkshire Howard Thomas Earl of Cleveland Wentworth George Earl of Norwich Goring Henry Earl of St. Albans Jermin Edward Earl of Sandwich Montague Arthur Earl of Anglesey Annesly Charles Earl of Carlile Howard William Viscount Say and Seal Fiennes Francis Lord Seymour Baron of Troubridge Frederick Lord Cornwallis Baron of Ai. Anthony Lord Ashley Cooper Charles Berkley Knight and Baronet Sir George Carteret Knight Vice-Chamberlain Sir Edw. Nicholas Knights Secretaries of State Sir Will. Morrice Knights Secretaries of State After the Warrant is sign'd and seal'd by the King it is sent from the Signet-Office to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper and Directions are given to the Heralds to make Proclamation at the Court-gate and Capital City of London of the King's Resolutions of which I shall speak more in the Chapter of Proclamations The Lord Chancellor c. upon the receipt of this Warrant doth issue out his Warrant also to the Master of the Rolls as the chief Clerk of the Pettibag-Office in this Form YOu are hereby requir'd forthwith to prepare for the great Seal of England the several Writs of Summons for the Lords Temporal As also for the Judges and others to appear at the Parliament to be holden the 8th of May next together with the several Writs of Election of the several Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the several Counties Cities Towns and Burroughs within the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales and Town of Berwick upon Tweed as also of the several Barons of the Cinque-Ports to serve in the said Parliament in such Method and Form and directed to such persons as are and have been usual in such Cases all which said Writs are to bear date this present eighteenth of February 1661. and for the so doing this shall be your Warrant Dated c. Upon receipt of the Lord Chancellor's Warrant the Clerks of the Pettibag by the assistance of the former Precedents of Writs and anciently by help of the Masters of Chancery and by advice with the Heralds as to Titles and true Names of Persons do fix a Schedule or digest or Forms of Writs to be issued
Person to adjust their Parliamentary expences Westminster being anciently the Kings Court and still within its Verge and his Lordships Jurisdiction 4. His place is appointed by the Act of Precedency in this order not but that he was Summon'd to Parliaments before that Act as may be seen in several Clause-Rolls of Rich. the 2d c. but after the said Act viz. 36. H. 8. Charles Duke of Suffolk was Summon'd and his Writs directed Magno Magistro Hospitij sui but after that as in this very Parliament 1661. the Writ to the Duke of Ormond was Jacobo D'no Brecon being his English Title by which he sits in Parliament Vid. Cap. 2. Senescallo Hospitij Magnus Magister Senescallus being still the same Officer though varying in Title SECT XV. Of the Lord Chamberlain of the Kings Houshold THat High-Chamberlain before mentioned is called Magnus Camerarius Obs I. but this hath not that Epethite of Magnus and yet his authority is very great within the Verge of the Kings Court so that though there is some Subordination yet in many great Regalios he hath an intire command and even in some things which concern the conveniency of a Parliament and its places of Addresses to the King that the furniture of the Rooms may be sutable to the Majesty and Grandure of such as are imployed there 2. He hath been anciently summon'd to sit there as may be seen in the Clause-Rolls of the 25. and 27. and 28. of Edw. the 3d. in the Summons of Sir Bartholomew Bergehurst Camerario Hospitij he being also Guarden of the Cinqueports and in 1. H. 4. to Sir Tho. Erpingham Baneret Camerario Hospitij he being also Guarden of the Cinqueports and so the 10. H. 6. to Radulpho Cromwel Chevalier or Baron Camerario Hospitij I might instance many others but I shall skip as the Records do to the Act of Precedency 31. H. 8. where he is call'd the Kings Chamberlain and in the Pawns of the 36. H. 8. the Writ was Carolo Duci Suff. Magno Magistro Hospitij sui Praesidenti Consilii sui and in the same Pawn which may be observable the Office of great Chamberlain of England was supplied by Edward Earl of Hereford of a lesser Degree than a Duke in the 6. and 7. Edw. 6. the Writ was Tho. D'no Darcy Chevaleer Camerario Hospitij sui and in the 43. Eliz. to Tho. Cary Lord Hunsden Camerario Hospitij and continues in the same Office he was Summon'd again primo Jacobi and in the 15. Car. 1. Philip Earl of Penbrook was Summon'd Camerario Hospiti sui and to this Parliament first Edward Earl of Manchester Camerario Hospitij then Henry Earl of St. Albans Camerario Hospitij and after him Hen. Earl of Arlington Camerario Hospitij who continued his place and precedency in this Parliament to the Dissolution of it 3. Edward Earl of Manchester Lord Chamberlain of the Kings Houshold was Summon'd so by Writ 18. Feb. 1661. Vid. Cap. 2. SECT XVI Of the Principal Secretary of State HE brings up the Honourable Rere to all the 12. Officers of State both in this Act of Precedency and in the Pawns and therefore I may the more justifiably defer my Discourse of him till I come to his Writ of Summons and past the method of the Pawn as I have done the method us'd in the Act of Precedency and so conclude these Sections with some few Observations Observations WHen the Act of 31. H. 8. was made Obs I. the State Officers though now but 9 in use were then 12. a Number as I shall shew agreeable to the 12 Judges 12 Masters of Chancery 12 Constituting a Jury and much more of the efficacy of that number cited by the Learned Institutor and Petrus Bongus de Sacris Numeris and this number is thus used by us as t is thought in veneration either to the 12 Tribes of the Jews or 12 Tables Sacred among the Old Romans or to to the 12 Apostles of the Christian Religion or 12 Signs in the Zodiack reverenct in Astrology 2. That if the Writs to any of these Officers be to any of the Lords Spiritual or such Officers as have usually consisted of the Clergy as the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper the Lord Treasurer Lord Privy Seal then the Writs were like the Assistants Writs to the Judges of which I shall speak in order but if any of these Offices be executed by any of the Temporal Lords then the Writ is the same as to that noble Person to whom the Office is anext or if any be Summon'd meerly virtute Officij without annexation to the Degree of some Lord Spiritual or Temporal Lord then the Writ is only as an Assistant Writ and they sit in the Lords House but as Assistants without Vote c. as will be shewn 3. Sir Edward Nicholas Knight was summon'd by Writ dat 18. Feb. 1661. Vid. Cap. 2. and now I proceed to the fixt Nobility call'd Lords Temporal CHAP. V. SECT I. Of the Degrees of Nobles Obs I Have given a short Character of the Grand Officers and Ministers of State and now according to the Act of Precedency I shall speak of the fixt Nobility as they are consider'd in Distinct Degrees and these are not mention'd distinctly in the Kings Warrant for Summoning a Parliament but referr'd therein to the Lord Chancellor to distinguish them by their Writs 1. As for the Nobility in general most Authors derive the word Nobiles or Nobles in the Plural from Noscibiles viz. Viri Nobiles or Persons indu'd with great knowledge than other men and so conceive it may admit of another Etymology viz. Nobilis quasi Non-bilis i. e. men of such debonair and complacent tempers and so much Masters of their passions that they are not in respect of their better Education subject to choler wrath or fierceness for so the word Bilis is Englisht but of even and serene tempers which dispositions are fittest for Affairs relating to Government but to pass these niceties the Question is amongst some 2. How far the Degrees of Nobility do extend which is partly resolv'd by Sir Tho. Smith in his Republica who saith there be two sorts of Nobles viz. Majores and Minores and this was according to the Old Romans the Majores he calls the fixt Hereditary Nobles diversifide into 6 Degrees viz. Princes of the Bloud of whom I have spoken in Cap. the 4th Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons not of the Bloud and descend no lower and these are capacitated by such Creations and Writs to sit in the Lords House The Minores he begins at Knights for he wrote before Baronets were known Esquires and Gentlemen and descended no lower and out of these the Knights Citizens and Burgesses for Parliaments are Elected and Compos'd and thereby capacitated to sit therein as the Representatives of the Commons of England but of these Nobiles Minores I shall speak more in the second part of this Treatise
assisting Interests to those three Estates The rest is divided into twenty Chapters with several Sections and Observations in them as followes CHAP. I. SECT I. The form of the Kings Warrant for Summoning this Parliament SECT II. Observations on the Names and Progresses of the Names of our English Kings more Especially and Prophetically of the Names of Carolus or Charles as also of variations of the words in the Titles of several Kings of England fixt in this Warrant SECT III. Observations and proceedings on this Warrant shewing the Kings Prerogative in Summoning Parliaments Of the difference between Warrants and Writs in signing and Sealing in Generals and particulars The variation of the form of Warrants Advised by the Kings Privy Council How that Council differs from the Great Council of Parliament The Warrant is first issued to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper The Lord Chancellors Warrant to the Clerks of the Pettybag Of the first Digest of Writs kept there called the Parliament Pawn How these Pawns were Anciently us'd CHAP. II. A Transcript of the Pawn for this Parliament began the Eight of May 1661. Divided into twelve Paragraphs whereof the five first concern only the House of Lords the seven other the House of Commons Observations on this Pawn The reasons of placing figures on the Margent of the Pawn The Reason of the different Dates of Writs in the Pawn Why some of the Writs are abbreviated in the Pawn Of General Writs viz. Original and Judicial and of Parlimentary Writs viz. Brevia Clausa Patentia Exemplars and Consimilars The difference of the Lords Writs and Commons Writs The agreement of Writs in the Pawn Derivative Writs not in the Pawn are Equivalent to those in the Pawn Of Exemplar and Consimilar Writs viz. both in the Lords and Commons Houses The method propos'd for treating of these Writs CHAP. III. Of the Act of Precedencies divided into observations That the Act of Precedency is concern'd in the Lords House only The nature of the Act The Title of the High Court of Parliament used in that Act The Siting and calling over the Lords different from the method in the Act Why some Titles are named in the 4th Paragraph of the Act omitted in the 8th Of the Woolsacks in the Lords House Of the four degrees of State Officers which are placed by this Act. How the Pawn and Acts do disagree therein Of such as sit in the Lords House yet not mentioned in the Act but in the Pawn Of former Proceedings in the House of Lords omitted in this Act. CHAP. IV. Of the Degrees concern'd in the Act of Precedency SECT I. Of the Kings Privy Councellors Of the word Council apply'd to individual Persons and to an Assembly Of the Kings Privy Council Of several other of the Kings Councils Of the Kings Great Council or Parliament Of the Number and Quality of the Persons constituting the Privy Council Of the Antiquity of Councils Of the Nature and condition of Councellors in our Councils Elected for merit Of lesser Councils and Parliaments in this Kingdom Of the Privy Council and Parliament how sometimes mixt SECT II. Of the Princes of the Blood Of the seven degrees of the Blood Royal whose places are appointed by the Act of Precedency That any of the seven are Prior to all other degrees of Nobility That in their absence the Arch-Bishop hath precedence SECT III. Of the Kings Vicegerent Declaring the Kings Supremacy in the Church of England The great power granted to the Vicegerent in Church affairs None made since the 31 of H. the 8th but supply'd by Bishops SECT IV. Of Bishops The Antiquity of Bishops The meaning of the Word Of their Jurisdictions Of the Convocation Houses where they sit as Bishops and in Parliament upon a Baronial account How plac'd Call'd Lords Spiritual Anciently they did manage the Chief Offices of the Kingdom Of their Priviledge in the Lords House SECT V. Of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper Referred to Chap. the 8th SECT VI. Of the Lord Treasurer Referred to Chap. the 9th SECT VII Of the Lord President of the Kings Council Of it's Antiquity Discontinuance and Supply Of other Lords Presidents SECT VIII Of the Lord Privy Seal It 's Antiquity and several Titles How granted Considered as Master of Requests Of his Seals and other Seals Of his Clerks concern'd in the Summons of Parliaments Of his Antiquity in Sitting in the Lords House Formerly supply'd by Ecclesiasticks now by Temporal Lords These three last mention'd Great Officers are thus Plac'd whether they be Nobles or not SECT IX Of the Lord Great Chamberlain Rais'd by Merit Had lands given to hold in Grand Sergiantry consisting of great Immunities The Antiquity of the Title Confer'd on some Noble Person whereby he sat in Parliament Made Hereditary his Employments in Accommadations for Parliaments SECT X. Of the High Constable His Antiquity since the 12 of Hen. 8. granted but pro hac vice at Coronations c. Their Power formidable to former Kings Devolv'd into Lord Marshal Of other Constables of lesser Qualities but still of gaeat use Of such of the Higher sort as were formerly Summoned to Parliaments SECT XI Of the Earl Marshal Of his Power and Jurisdiction Of the Original of the Title Of the Courts and Offices under him especially the Court of Chivalry and Heraulds A description of them Of their Employments relating to Parliaments Of the Earl Marshals Summons to Parliaments and how it became Hereditary SECT XII Of the Lord Admiral of England How the Title sprung Of his Power and Jurisdiction guided by the Civil Laws not repugnant to the Common Always plac'd in the hands of some of the Chief of the Nobility Had antiently their Sumons to Parliaments and so continue SECT XIII Of the Lord Steward Of the Orthography of the Name and Antiquity of the Office Of several Offices under that Title and particularly of the Title of this Office and of his Antient and Present Summons to Parliaments and of his Vses there SECT XIV Of the Lord Chamberlain of the Kings House Of his Authority and usefulness before in Parliaments Of Antient Presidents of Summoning him to Parliaments SECT XV. Of the Principal Secretary of State When the Act of Precedency was made he was the 12th Officer of State a Number of Esteeme the difference of his Writ when his Summons are single without annexing some Noble Degree to it CHAP. V. SECT I. Of the Decrees of Nobles From whence the word Nobility is derived Divided into Majores and Minores The Majores into 5 degrees the Minores into three the Majores makes the Lords House the Minores the Commons House SECT II. Of Dukes Duke from the Latin word Duco Dux Antiently Earls were Prior to Dukes in England How Dukes got the Priority Of the several Titles attributed to Dukes Duke and Earl promiscuously us'd And of the name Grace apply'd to Dukes in England Dukes were in England before they were formally Created The time
Indentur ' in t ' ipsum Vic' illos c. Nolumus autem quod idem Vic' c. Et Electionem illam in pleno Com' praedict ' sic factam distincte aperte sub sigillo Com' praedict ' sigillis eorum qui electioni illi interfuerint nobis in Cancellar ' nostram Angliae ad dictos diem locum certificetis indilate remitten ' nobis c. ut supra REX Camerario suo Com' Palatini sui Cestriae vel ejus locum tenenti ib'm salutem Quia c. usque tractatum Vobis mandamus firmiter injungend'quod per seperalia brevia nostra sub sigillo nostro Com' praedict ' debite conficiend'detis in mandatis tam Vic' nostro ejusdem Com' Cestr ' quam Vic' nostris Civitat ' Cestr ' quod facta proclamatione in prox ' Com' suis post receptionem eorundem brevium nostrorum tenend'de die loco praed'dictus Vic' dc'i Com' Cestr ' duos Milites gladio cinctos magis idoneos discretos Com' praed' praed'Vic ' dc'ae Civit ' Cestr ' duos Cives dc'ae Civit ' de discretioribus c. Et nomina eorundem Milit ' sic eligend'in quibusdam Indentur ' in t ' ipsum Vic' Civitat ' illos qui hujusmo'i Electioni interfuerint Ac nomina praed'Civium sic eligend'in quibusdam Indentur ' in t ' ipsos Vic' Civitat ' illos qui c. Nolumus autem quod idem Vic' dc'i Com' Cestr ' nec praed'Vic ' Civitat ' praed'nec aliquis c. Et Electiones illas in plenis Com' Civitat ' praed'sic fact ' distincte aperte sub sigillo Com' Palatini praed' sigillis eorum qui Electionibus illis interfuerint nobis in Cancellariam nostram Angliae ad dictos diem locum certifices indilate remitten ' nobis alteras partes seperal'Indentur ' praed'presentibus consut ' unacum hoc brevi T. ut supra REX Vic' Carnarvon salutem Quia c. usque tractatum Tibi praecipimus firmiter injungend'quod facta proclamatione in prox ' Com' tuo post receptionem hujus brevis nostri tenend'de die loco praedictis unum Militem Gladio cinctum magis idoneum discretum Com' praedict ' de quolibet Burgo vocat ' le shire Town ejusdem Com' unum Burgensem de discretioribus c. ut supra in Com' Cornub ' mutatis mutandis T. ut supra Consimilia Brevia diriguntur Vicecomitibus seperal'Com ' sequen ' sub dat' praed'videlt ' Radnor Brecon Carmarthen Mountgomery Cardigan Glamorgan Pembroke Flint Merioneth Denbigh Anglesey de uno Milite tantum eligend ' SECT II. Observations on this Pawn Obs I THis is the full Transcript of the Pawn or Record of the Writs which were issued for the Summoning this Parliament and that my Method in managing of them may be the clearer understood I shall set down some Observations pursuant to it In the Original of this Pawn or Record there are no Figures placed in the Margents of the respective Paragraphs of it but I have thought fit in respect of the several occasions referring to it to add the Figures of I. II. III. IV. V. being Paragraphs particularly relating to the House of Lords and then the Figures of VI. VII VIII IX X. XI XII being Paragraphs particularly relating to the House of Commons for of all these I shall speak distinctly in this and the Second Part of this Treatise All the Exemplar Writs are dated the 18th of Feb. 13 Car. 2. but there being several Creations of Lords or at least their Patents not perfect after the 18th all the subsequent Writs for such Lords were dated the 29th of April following and that is the reason of the different Dates of Writs in the Pawn but all were before the Parliament sat The first Exemplars in this Pawn for the Lords House do begin with the words CAROLUS Secundus Dei Gratia Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Rex Fidei Defensor And so the first Exemplar in the House of Commons Fig. 6. begins in the like words yet all the other Exemplars in the Pawn do begin only with the word Rex omitting the other words which must be understood that the single word Rex c. is so entred only for brevity not that the Form of the other Examplar or Consimilar Writs are so concise either in the preamble or body of the Writs for the same reason In respect I do make use of the words Exemplar Writs and Consimilar Writs it is fit I should speak of the Nature of Writs in general The Common and Civil Law calls a WrÃt in Latin Breve quia brevibus paucis verbis intentionem Legis exponit And of these in the Common Law some are call'd Original and others Judicial the Original if I do not miscount them from the Register of Writs are 727 in Number and these are us'd in the respective Courts in Westminster before any appearance had or other Process issued in all matters both real and personal and are always in the King's Name attested by the Chief Justice of the Court from whence they issue the other call'd Judicial Writs if I miscount not the number of them from the same Register are 371 which are sent out by order of those Courts where the original Writ is recorded and the Case depending and these latter do also issue in the King's Name and attested by the chief Justice of the respective Courts from whence they proceed and seal'd with green Wax with the Seals of the respective Courts But the Parliament Writs of which I am to treat are of another nature and quality issued only by the King 's immediate Command and Warrant and seal'd with the great Seal of England and these have two appellations viz. Brevia Clausa or operta and Brevia Patentia or Aperta The Brevia Clausa are Writs of Summons clos'd up in yellow Wax and so seal'd with the great Seal of England and then as will be more fully shewn after I have discours'd distinctly of the Writs sent with Labells to every individual Prince of the Blood Lords Spiritual Lords Temporal and Assistants and to every Sheriff of the Kingdom for Elections of Knights Citizens and Burgesses for the Commons House and so do concern both House of Lords and House of Commons as also the Convocation Houses dirivatively from the Arch-Bishops and Bishops Writs of which last I shall speak more distinctly in this Treatise concerning the Convocation House But the Brevia Patentia do chiefly concern the House of Lords viz. by Patents of Creations as also some Officers as will be shewn and all these are call'd Patentia or Letters Patents because they are not inclos'd but open with the Impression of the great Seal of England at large hanging to them yet all the Created Patentees have their distinct Writs of Summons but not the Official Patentees viz. Clerk of the Crown Clerk of the Parliament Clerk to the House
of Commons c. These Patent Writs have no other appellation than Literal or Letters Patents as I said But the Parliamentary close Writs are divided into two Titles viz. Exemplars and Consimilars and though the word Exemplar is not us'd in the Pawns yet the word Consimile is constantly us'd there which doth imply an Exemplar The Exemplars are Writs set down at large in the Pawns and the Consimilars are Writs not inserted in the Pawns and yet are to have a consimilitude with their Exemplars the Exemplar being so made upon some extraordinary reason as will be shewn hereafter As for those Writs which concern the House of Lords of which I only treat in this first Part as they are more in number than any of the other Houses not including derivative Writs Precepts or Citations so they are of a more nice nature in respect as I said they are personal for a distinct Writ is to be provided for every individual Lord sitting in the Lords House but not so in the House of Commons or lower Convocation as will be shewn and though the main body of the Writs in those concerning the Lords House do differ but little from the Writs of former Kings or from those of the House of Commons yet the Titles do very much vary in every Parliament partly by the new Creation of Barons partly in their Ascension from Barons to higher degrees and partly by splitting of Titles upon extinction of Families and for other causes they are in few years subject to variation in Titles wherein every Lord is exact in having his due and therefore some of the Heralds as I said according to the several districts of the Kingdom under their managements are or ought to be consulted with that the Clerks may commit no mistakes either in their Titles of Grace and Favour or in their Titles of Rights and Concessions before the Writs be sealed and the not effectual doing this which ought to be done might occasion some mistakes and differences between the Exemplar and Consimilary Writs in point of Titles as will be shewn The other parts of the Writs as well in Exemplars as Consimilars which concern not the Titles of the Peers are the same both in the declaratory and mandatory parts except some few words of which I shall take notice in my proceedings and herein I shall not trouble my self with shewing what reasons were given in some Writs for summoning a Parliament or what in others or the reason of those Reasons and why in some there were no Reasons given only a short Mandamus All Writs at large recited in this and all former Pawns are the Exemplars of all other Writs of Summons for a Parliament which are not in the respective Pawns whereby these in this Pawn with the addition of the Bishops Exemplar Writs which are entred in all former Pawns did and do now make 12 Exemplars but the Writs which are not recited in this and former Pawns which I term Consimilars at the calling this Parliament were in all 262. Some of the 12 are Exemplars and other Writs have a consimilitude to them yet have no positive Consimilars appointed them whereof there are but three viz. One to the Lord Chancellor in the Lords House and to the two Palatines in the Commons All Writs of Summons to the House of Lords both Exemplars and Consimilars are Personal and Local but all Writs of Summons for the House of Commons are only Local These 12 Exemplars are in this following method stated with their Consimilars viz. those 5 for the Lords House are   Exemplar  Consimilar I. To the Duke of York 1  1 II. To the Archbishop of Canterbury 1  25 III. To the Lord Chancellor 1  0 IV. To the Earl of South-hampton L. Treasurer 1 In this Parliament 3 Dukes 4 Marque 55 Earls 8 Visc 68 Barons 138 V. To the Chief Justice of the Kings Bench 1  15 So there was in the Lords House 5 Exemplar Writs and 179 Consimilars in all 184. The remaining Exemplar Writs relating to the House of Commons are 7. of which I shall speak more in the next part of this Treatise viz. VI. To Cornwall 1  4 VII To Cambridge 1  1 VIII To London 1  18 IX To Dover 1 Cinqports 7 X. To Lancaster 1  0 XI To Chester 1  0 XII To Carmarthen 1 Wales 11 So there is for the Commons House 7 Exemplars and 73 Consimilars in all 80 Writs in both Houses 264 So many Exemplar and Consimilar Writs were issued to Constitute this Parliament An. 1661. in the Lords House to Countreys Shires and Comitated Cities and Towns in the Commons House whereof some years after its Sitting one Exemplar and one Consimilar was issued for the Bishoprick of Durham all the rest of the Writs for Cities Towns and Burroughs not Comitated of which I shall give an account do lose their names of Consimilars when the Exemplar Writs do come to the respective Sheriffs for then they pass from the respective Sheriffs under the titles of Precepts or Derivative-Writs as shall be more fully discourst of in the second part where I treat of the House of Commons Now I shall proceed to the Act of Precedencies and give a short description of such as are to be Summon'd for the Lords-House only because I speak more amply of their Individual-Writs whereby they are Summon'd CHAP. III. Of Precedencies HAving shewn the Kings Warrant and the Lord Chancellors and the Record made up in the Pettibag call'd the Parliament Pawn and given a touch of the nature of Writs in general and in particular of Parliamentary Writs of Summons consisting of Writs Exemplar and Consimilar as also an hint of Precepts or Derivative-Writs from those Exemplars which are to be more fully treated of in the 2d part I shall proceed to the Act of 31 of Hen. the 8th concerning Precedencies in the Lords House occasion'd from the defect or long disusage of Pawns or other State reasons for there being no Pawns extant but as I said from the 21 of Hen. the 8th to this time the other being by Endorsment c. on the Records in the Tower or Rolls Chappel Our King Hen. the 8th did make this Act of Precedencies which hath its chief Reference to the time when a Parliament is Sitting and so not proper to be inserted in this place seeing my design in this first part is to treat of matters previous to a Parliament before I speak of matters Sedente Parliamento yet it may be allow'd in respect I make no other present use of it than to inlighten the Readers with the Characters of such Persons and Degrees as are to have Writs of Summons to sit there according to that Act and therefore I shall first shew a Transcript of that Act then some Observations upon it and then give some short discourses of the Noble Degrees therein mention'd in order to their Writs which shall distinctly follow The
Privy Seal the Great Chamberlain the Constable the Marshal the Lord Admiral the Grand Master or Lord Steward the Kings Chamberlain and the Kings chief Secretary shall sit and be placed in such order and fashion as is before rehearsed and not in any other place by Authority of this Act. SECT I. Observations Obs 1. THis Act is observable being Enacted as it were by the King 's single Authority yet by the Preamble it seems to be only an Order or Ordinance at most and this upon Record in that House for it doth not concern the Commons 2. The Lords House is here call'd the High Court of Parliament i. e. the highest Court of Judicature in Parliament and so it is an Act by authority of the same including the Kings 3. It is also Parag. 2. call'd the Parliament Chamber and Parag. 8. the said House not the House of Lords or House of Peers as it is now call'd 4. Though this Act doth contain the Rules for Places as the several degrees do sit in their distinct degrees yet it doth not contain the intermixt Precedencies of the several Degrees both in calling over the House and at other Solemnities as will be more exactly shewn in the local part 5. In the 8th Paragraph the Lord great Chamberlain Constable Marshal Admiral Steward and King's Chamberlain are omitted because it is presum'd that those Titles were never given to any under the degree of a noble Baron 6. Here the Seat for the State-Officers being not Barons is call'd a Sack but in all Records where those Seats are mention'd they are call'd Wool-Sacks being stuff'd with Wool to mind them of the Staple Commodity of the Kingdom 7. The use which I make of this Act is to shew the several Titles of the Degrees of such as are mention'd therein 2dly the ordering of those Degrees and 3dly how this Act doth agree or disagree with the Pawns before and subsequent to it First The Degrees mention'd therein are four viz. first Princes of the Blood 2dly Lords Spiritual 3dly Ministers and Officers of State 4thly Lords Temporal 1st The Princes of the Blood are said therein Parag. 4. to be first the King's Son 2dly the King's Brother 3dly the King's Uncle 4thly the King's Nephew 5thly the King's Brother's Son 6thly the King's Sister's Son as in Paragraph the 1st and 4th 2dly The Lords Spiritual are said therein to be the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and York the Bishop of London Duresm and Winchester and all the Bishops of both Provinces according to their Ancientries Paragraph 2 3. 3dly The Ministers and Officers of State Ecclesiastical and Civil are in the 2d and 4th Paragraphs said to be the Vice-Gerent and eleven more therein mention'd of which I shall speak distinctly Paragraphs 2 4 5 6 8 9 10. 4thly The Lords Temporal are said to be those five Degrees mention'd in the seventh Paragraph viz. Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons of which I shall also speak more fully and lower than to these Degrees the Act doth not extend 5thly This Act doth agree with the Method of the Pawns in the placing of the Princes of the Blood as also of the Bishops but the Pawns do differ from the Act concerning the Ministers and Officers of State for they meddle with them no otherwise than they are annext to some Spiritual or Temporal Degrees but if they are under the Degree of those Degrees they have then only particular Writs of Assistance as shall be shewn 6. The Act doth not take notice of the several Assistants of the Long Robe viz. the Lords Chief Justices c. But the Pawn makes a Record of them also and of their Writs and of their Precedencies in relation to each other of whom I shall speak more particularly in the Thirteenth Chapter 7. This Act was made upon the dissolution of the Abbots and Priors and that there might be no more room for them in the House of Lords whereas the two preceeding Pawns remaining still in the Pettibag viz. of the 22 and 31 Hen. 8. did place them next the Bishops now their Abbies Monasteries and Priories being dissolved they in this Act were excluded as in all future Pawns only Queen Mary did venture to summon the Abbot of Westminster and the Prior of St. John's of Jerusalem but that being turn'd into a Deanry and this dissolved they were as useless as all the others the Ecclesiastical and Civil Estate of this Kingdom being thereby restor'd to its Primitive Constitution as will be shewn CHAP. IV. A Discription of the Degrees concern'd in this Act of Precedency HAving spoken of the Pawns or Digest of Writs of Summons in general as also of the Act of Precedency this having respect only to the House of Lords and other great Councils those both to the House of Lords and House of Commons this only to the Dignity of the Nobles those not only to the Dignity and Degrees of Nobles but also of the form and order of the Writs constantly enabling the Nobles to make a noble use of their distinct Degrees that to the Places and Precedencies of such persons whenever they meet in Parliament as by the King's favour may be summon'd those to the persons actually summon'd wherein these Pawns much ancienter than the Act were doubtless a good Guide to the framing of this Act I think it convenient before I proceed to particularize their Writs for the Titles must be fix'd before the Writs can be perfected to take a view of the order of such Degrees as are mention'd in the Pawns but better methodiz'd in the Act viz. 1st of the King's Counsellors comprehending all the following degrees and others 2dly of the Princes of the Blood consisting of seven Degrees 3dly of the grand Officers and Ministers of Church and State consisting also of seven Degrees some of them being of a mixt nature viz. Spiritual Ecclesiastical and Civil and 4thly of the Temporal and Hereditary Nobility consisting of five intire Degrees and this I shall do by a distinct account of them for the clearer understanding of the Writs and Persons concern'd in them And this I do to entertain the Readers time whilst the Clerk and others are busied in Drawing Writing and Ingrossing the Writs and carrying them to be Seal'd and then disposing them to the several persons and places to whom and where they are to be deliver'd which will admit of as much or more time than may be spent in reading these following Discourses intended for the reviving of the memory of some and improving the knowledge of others concerning the Persons to be imploy'd in the House of Lords as also concerning the Writs for the House of Commons and herein in this First Part as to the House of Lords I shall be guided by the ancient Method of the King's Warrant the Pawns and the Act of Precedency And first of the King's Counsellors SECT II. Of the Kings Privy-Counsellor AS to the Original of this Officer and of the reason
of its different Orthography Obs I. sometimes beginning the second Syllable with C. or S. and of its affinitry to the old Roman Comites Consiliarij I shall refer them to my annotations and here only shew how that by the words in the Kings Warrant by the Pawns and by the said Act of 31. Hen. 8. all which I have recited at large we may clearly see that the word Council doth consist of the Persons of the best Quality and Abilities to give Counsel and Advice to the King And when such a number as the King thinks fit to select for that purpose do meet in a Body Conjunctively 2. This Council is called the Kings Council and also the Persons therein are called the Kings Council yet more properly Counsellors and to confirm this the Kings Warrant saith To Our Right Trusty and well beloved Counsellor Sir Edward Hyde Knight Chancellor of England here 't is Personal then follows Whereas We by Our Council this intimates a Body of Persons or Counsellors Congregated 3. The Writs in the Pawns sometimes do add to the Person to whom the Writ is sent Conciliario suo and sometimes not but these following words are constantly in every Writ Quia de advizamento assensu Concilij nostri which is more large than what is in the Kings Warrant by inserting the words Advice and Consent of Our Council 4. The said Act saith in the Preamble Forasmuch as in all great Councils and Congregations of men which explains Councils and then that there may be no displeasure or let of the Council in respect of Precedency therefore for the better reputation of his Counsellors and other Subjects doth Enact c. And in the 3d. Paragraph the President of the Kings Council is there also named by which we understand the Kings Privy-Council of which he is President to be a Council distinct from other Councils where there are Presidents 2ly And from Parliaments where there are Speakers instead of Presidents anciently called the Great Council and so it is still though the name is alter'd to Parliament and 3ly From other Assemblies and Conferences of Councils which are the words in the last Paragraph of that Act. 5. And therefore this Council here meant in this Warrant Pawn and Act is that which we now call the Kings Privy Council T is true the King hath several other Councils as that of Wales and in the North and others both here and in Foraign Plantations but this Privy-Council is the Supream standing Council out of which sometimes the King thinks fit to select some few for the more safe secret and easie dispatch of Affairs 6. Which by the Jews were called Cabala but by us properly Comitties However this Privy Council is the standing Council of the Kingdom giving Forms and Being to all other Councils especially what concerns the Beginning Continuing and Ending of any Parliament and yet this Council or Parliament is a greater Council than that and of greater Authority when it is in being and therefore anciently as I said call'd Magnum Publicum Concilium and this Privatum Concilium 7. This Great and publick Council consists of the King Lords Spiritual Lords Temporal viz. of such to whom the King sends Writs of Summons and of Commons viz. of such as the People think fit to Elect by vertue of the Kings Writs But this Privatum or Privy Council are of such only as the King Elects out of the Degrees next mentioned or out of other Degrees as he shall best judge of their Abilities for it Yet very often Parliaments have persuaded Kings to make Alterations in Privy Councils both as to Persons and Number 8. The number of the Persons of this Privy Council are in a manner indefinite because it depends upon the Kings pleasure But anciently it consisted only of 12. since that they have increased and varied and in the beginning of this Parliament they were 29. but before the end of it above 40. The number of the Great Council or Parliament is partly indefinite in the Lords House and partly circumscrib'd and so in the Commons House as will be shewn for these anciently had not above 2. or 300. but this Parliament had in both Houses above 700. as will be shewn 9. This very name of Council and Counsellors as they are or ought to be is much more ancient than the Consuls of Rome which had their name a Consulendo for their abilities in giving Counsel and possibly borrow'd from the name of Neptune the God of the Sea who was call'd also Consiliorum Deus so as probably of their two yearly Consuls one was chosen for the Affairs of the Sea as Admiral the other for the Affairs of the Land as General however it is observable that the Title of Consul or Counsellor did continue 1046. years in that Empire deducting three years interposition of the Decemviri or 10 Governors and 4 years of Tribunes or 3 Governors and 12 years of Tribunes consisting of 4 Governors and 30 years by Tribunes consisting of six Governors and 5 years under an Anarchy and 2 years wherein Tribunes had a Consulary power and then the Government again slid into Consuls so as deducting these 56 years they continued intire under that Consulary Tutelage 990 years and as that way of Government was useful to Rome whilst it was a Common-wealth so we see when Julius Caesar took on him the Roman Empire and turn'd it to a Monarchy he did not discard the Consulary way of managing Affairs nor did his Successors so as they continued full 540. years after Julius Caesar in prosecution of that Monarchical Empire till the Papal Interests had supplanted the Western Empire and made General Councils tending rather to the dis-uniting of Princes than for uniting Religion as was pretended and instead of Consuls erected a Consistory and Conclave the last being only new names for a Council 10. This is certain that Councils or Counsellors or Consuls are of that nature that no Government can subsist without them though by different Appellations and I read of few or none in all the Roman Stories who had the Title of Consul conferr'd on him but those who either by their Wisdom had given such good Counsel as prov'd prosperous to the Empire or had done such eminent Services that from such Heroick actions the Emperors and Senators derived Arguments of their Abilities to Counsel as having actually done and from that experience might Counsel what was fit to be done and thereupon formerly call'd Consul and now Counsel or Counsellor and fit to sit both in Privy Council or publick Parliament 11. This Honour was still founded in merit by the estimation of Judgment Experience or Resolution for what they had Advised Counsell'd or Successfully acted and therefore they were seldom made Viri Consulares till they were 43. years of age and for such as had been thus Serviceable to the Empire if a Consulship were not void yet they had always some Offices or
Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. one who is in Doctrinam mores sacros gregis Inspector and when Bishops grew numerous it was thought fit to place one to look after them and he had the addition of Archos i. e. principalis and so call'd Archi-Episcopus or Arch-Bishop having a certain number of Bishops and their Diocesses reduced to his Province or Care so that the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with his own Diocess hath twenty two Diocesses or Bishopricks of the twenty six within his Province and the Arch-Bishop of York hath with his own four which makes in all twenty six besides the Bishop of Man who hath no Writ of Summons Anciently these Arch-Bishops and Bishops with Abbots Priors Deans Arch-Deacons and Proctors making the two Convocation-houses were summoned to appear two days before the Temporal Lords but since Henry the Eighth's time when Abbots and Priors were excluded the Bishops are summon'd to meet the same day that the Parliament begins but as Convocation-houses they are not summon'd to meet at Parliament till two or three days after the Lords Spiritual and Temporal are met and sitting in Parliament and those two Convocation-houses are seldom Adjourn'd Prorogu'd or Dissolv'd in three or four days and sometimes longer after the two Houses of Lords and Commons are Adjourn'd Prorogu'd or Dissolv'd These Arch-Bishops and Bishops considering them upon a Baronial account distinct from the Convocations are entred in all Clause Rolls and Pawns next the Blood Royal except when there was a casual interposition as this last of Vice-gerent and their places distinctly set down as in this Act viz. the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury then the Arch-Bishop of York and the other according to Seniority or Antientry as the word of the Act is till the Bishops of London Durham and Winchester were as by this Act fix'd in their Precedencies to the other twenty one and yet there is another method of Precedencies us'd in the Lords House and in all Solemnities by way of counterchanging of Precedencies between the Lords Spiritual and Temporal as will be shewn These twenty six injoy their Offices of Bishops upon a Spiritual and Ecclesiastical account and therefore are call'd Lords Spiritual their Ecclesiastical serving in ordine ad piritualia These for many Ages did manage the Offices of Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal also of Treasurer President Privy-Seal and Secretary of which I shall speak more but since Henry the Eighth's time these five Offices have been distinctly manag'd by Laicks of the chiefest quality and merit and the Bishops in a manner circumscrib'd to the Jurisdiction of their respective Diocesses which are of a kind of mixt nature consisting of Spiritualities and Temporalities In the Lords House they have almost equal Prividledges with the Lords Temporal except in matters of Blood when in respect of their Canons they commonly withdraw themselves appointing Proxies and entring Protestation but these Priviledges are not Hereditary like the Temporal Lords but meerly Successive and their Writs are somewhat of a different Nature from those to the Lords Temporal in point of extent concerning the Convocation-houses which do make a kind of a Parliament annext to a Parliament of which I shall speak more at large But how the Bishops were Summon'd may be read in the seventh Chapter SECT VI. Of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper Obs THis great Officer being not only recited in this Act but having a peculiar Writ of Assistance in this and other Pawns which the next Ten Officers following have not in respect of their Offices I shall discourse more fully of him so soon as I have given a short view of the Ten remaining to be spoken of Edward Hyde Baron Hyde and Lord Chancellor was Summon'd by Writ Feb. 18. 1661. See Chap. II. SECT VII Of the Lord Treasurer of England Obs THis Officer being joyn'd also in this Pawn to the Earl of Southampton then Lord Treasurer and in former Pawns to other Degrees and being intended to be discours'd of in the fourth Exemplar and in the fifth Section of the Barons of the Exchequer I shall defer its inlargement to those Chapters Thomas Earl of Southampton Lord Treasurer of England was Summon'd by Writ Feb. 18. 1661. See Chap. II. SECT VIII Of the Lord President of the King's Council Obs I THis Officer from the time of King John was call'd Principalis and Capitalis Consiliarius and so continu'd till Queen Elizabeth's time and after not us'd till once in King Charles the firsts time and ever since to the end of this Parliament the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper hath supply'd the duty of that Place though not the Title the difference of granting them was that one was always by Patent and the other only by delivery of the Great Seal 2. There are also other Lord Presidents which sit in the Lords House viz. the President of Wales and President of the North but being not mention'd in this Act and the latter not sitting in this Parliament I refer them to my Annotations as also other Presidents of lower Degrees as of Colleges c. SECT IX Of the Lord Privy-Seal Obs IN Edward the Third's time and long after this Office was call'd Keeper of the Privy or Private Seal distinguishing him from the other call'd the Keeper of the Great Seal afterward he was call'd Clerk of the Privy-Seal Clerk being then a Title of Eminency and Gardien del Privy-Seal and in 34 H. 8. Lord Privy-Seal 2. He hath his Office by Patent but the Keeper of the Great Seal as I said only by delivery of that Seal and 't is very probable that this Office was in imitation of that which was us'd by the Romans the Officer whereof was call'd Comes privatorum and as Cassiodore calls him the Governour of the King 's private Affairs 3. Whilst the Court of Requests was in use he was also call'd the Master of it being Master or Superiour to the Four Masters of Requests who were to receive peruse and present all Petitions to the King or to the Parliament in time of Parliament and direct the Petitioners in the right way of proceeding in their business and for want of this direction many men are ruin'd by crafty and unskilful directors and the Parliament troubled with needless applications for I conceive this Court was plac'd as will be shewn between the House of Lords and House of Commons for the Masters to sit there in time of Parliament as Tryers of Petitions to either House and were to judge whether the matter was proper for either House or any other Court which doubtless did take off a great expence of time from both Houses and from intangling them in matters which were properly relievable in other places 4. There are three forts of Seals which are chiefly us'd for publick Affairs two of them pass under the names of Privy or Private the other the Great or Broad-Seal yet for a clearer distinction one of the two is call'd the Privy
Marshal and Duke Thomas dying at Padua about the end of this Parliament Henry the Brother succeeded in the Dukedom and sat as Duke of Norfolk and Henry the Eldest Son of the said Duke Henry being then intituled Earl of Arundel did sit as Earl of Arundel and Lord Mowbray so as that Title of Earl Marshal is in Duke Henry and the Title of Mowbray in the Earl of Arundel and that Title of Earl Marshal only inpossibility to come again into Mowbray And this may be added that during Duke Thomas his Life James Earl of Suffolk by Deputation did execute that Office for reasons which I leave to other Writers SECT XIII Of the Lord Admiral of England Obs I THE Kings of England do constantly make Admirals of Squadrons of Ships but the Admiral which I am here to speak of is the highest of all intituled the Lord Admiral of England and may be well call'd Admirals from their seeing and knowing the mirabilia or Wonders of the Deep The Greeks call'd this Officer Thalassiarcha from Thalassa the Sea and Archos the Chief at Sea and from thence the Romans according to the Latin Idiom call'd him Thalassiarchus and of later days Admirallus which is no Latin word and in English Admiral 2. To him is committed the Government of the King of England's Navy and Power to decide all causes Maritim as well Civil as Criminal and of all things done on or beyond the Seas in any part of the World and many other Jurisdictions on the Coasts and in Ports Havens and Rivers and of such Wrecks and Prizes as are call'd by the Lawyers Lagon Jetson and Flotson that is Goods lying in the Sea floting on the Sea or cast by the Sea on the shore admitting some few exceptions and Royalties granted to other Lords of Mannors And these and all other Cases dependant on this Jurisdiction are determin'd in his Courts of Admiralty by such Rules of the Civil Law as do not invade the Common Laws of England 3. And of these Civil Laws which concern Sea assairs there are two most eminent Guiders to Civilians viz. Those made at Rhodes in the Mediterranean by the Grecians and augmented by the Romans call'd Lex Rhodia or the Rhodian Law The other made at Oleron an Island anciently belonging to England but lying on the borders of France by out King Richard the First both of which are still in great veneration 4. So as well for the Laws by which he governs the Maritim concerns as for his great Jurisdiction being as vast as the Ocean he may be said to have alterum Imperium extra intra Imperium and therefore this Honour and Care is intrusted to the hands of some one of the Blood Royal or some one or more joyntly of the most eminent of the Nobility 5. And in respect of this Power there is a constant Converse and Commerce with all parts of the World especially where the Civil Laws are practis'd and therefore it hath been the prudence of our former Kings even to this day to allot him a place in the Lords House as to the Marshal of England for both of their concerns are chiefly manag'd as I have shewn by the Civil Laws so as the Lord Marshal and Lord Admiral may be look'd on as the two Supporters to the learned Professors of those Laws as the other Lords are to the Professors of the Common Laws and possibly the greatest number of the Masters of Chancery of whom I shall speak in order who sit in the Lords House were originally contrived to be Doctors of the Civil Laws upon this ground That if there were at any time just occasion in that House to make use of any points in that Profession they might give their advices or opinions therein 6. This Dignity as I said was ever conferr'd upon some of the chief Nobility by vertue whereof they had their Writs of Summons and their Place in the Lords House and this long before the Act of Precedency for we find the Earl of Arundel in 13 Edw. 3. and the Earl of Northumberland in 7 R. 2. the Earl of Devon and Marquess of Dorset in the same Kings time and so the Earls of Salisbury Shrewsbury Worcester and Wiltshire and others of the like Degrees recited in the Clause Rolls needless to renumerate being Admirals were summon'd and in our extant Pawns in 36 H. 8. Johanni Dudley Vicecomiti Lisle Magno Admirallo and in 1 E. 6. Tho. Dom. Seymer Magno Admirallo and in 7 Edw. 6. Edv. Fenys Domino Clinton Magno Admirallo and in 1 2 3 4 Mariae Phil. Mar. Gulielmo Howard de Effingham Magno Admirallo and in 4 5 Phil. Mar. Edw. Fenys again and Charles Earl of Nottingham in Queen Elizabeth's time and George Duke of Buckingham in King James's time and King Charles the First 's time were still summon'd to Parliament with the Title of Admiral added to their hereditary Titles in their Writs and to this Parliament Jacobo Duci Ebor. Magno Admirallo c. And all these had their places in the Lords House according to the Act of Precedency as those before the Act was made This Office was conferr'd on the Duke of York for this Parliament Vid. Cap. 2. SECT XIV Of the Lord Steward of the King's House AS for the Orthography and Etymology and Antiquity of this Title Steward Obs I. I shall refer them to my Annotations However as it is sometimes writ with a T and sometimes a D it is under four Considerations the first as it represents a Royal Name and Family and therefore for distinction this is writ Stewart with a T and hath the superintendence chief interest and influence in all Parliaments since that Name was of that use in England 2. The other three are Titles official and written Steward with a D and as a further distinction from the first in Latin they are call'd Seneschalli and this the chief of the three is call'd Seneschallus Angliae or Lord High Steward of England of whom I shall give a full account in the Chapter of the Trials per Pares and shew how this great Officer is imploy'd either in or out of Parliaments 3. The last and least Degree of the 3 is call'd also Senescallus such as are the Stewards of Corporate Towns or Mannors which are not concern'd in the Summons or of use in Parliaments otherwise than as considerable Assistants in Elections of Members to serve in Parliaments But the Lord Steward of whom I now speak was call'd in H. the 8th time Magnus Magister Hospitij Regis or the Great Master of the Kings Houshold and ever since Magnus Senescallus Hospitij Regis or the Lord high Steward of the Kings House and he hath not only an eminent Employment Trust and Authority in ordering the Kings Houshold but an Authority above all Officers of that House except the Chappel Chamber and Stables but in all Parliaments is obliged to attend the Kings
a Bishop of England or the Popes Vicar-General or that the See of Canterbury was void or that a Bishop was Chancellor and then the Exemplar Writ was directed to that Bishop and to neither of the Archbishops or if both Archbishopricks were void then to the Bishop of London Thirdly The Exemplar and Consimilar Writs to Bishops have been generally plac't in the Clause-Rolls and in all the Pawns extant before any Degrees except Princes of the Blood though their places in the Lords House are otherwise Fourthly Sometimes the Writ to the Archbishop was without any Epethit to his Christian name but the Epithet of the most constant Application was Venerabili Archiepiscopo and the like to Bishops but in Hen. the Eighths time it was alter'd Reverendissimo to Archbishops and Reverendo to Bishops Fifthly Also an other Title is usually in the Bishops Writs as in the Writs to the Lords Temporal viz. Praedilecto fideli Conciliario which is not in the ancient Writ but of late it is entred as an addition to such as are of the Kings Privy Council whereof the Bishop of Canterbury is for the most part one Sixthly In the 36. of Henry the Eighth the Writ is Primati Metropolitano which latter word was not extant till that Writ Seventhly In the latter Writs the words de advisamento assensu Concilii nostri are entred which are not in the old Waits and some other words which are in the Dukes Writ and not in the old Writs as may be observed in the Figures which I have placed in that Writ Eighthly And in the Mandamus instead of Firmiter injungentes to the Temporal Lords the Writs to the Bishops are Rogando Mandamus and instead of Fide ligeantia to the Temporal Lords it is In side dilectione to the Lords Spiritual so that to the word Praemonentes the Writs both to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal do agree as well in the Originals as Alterations except in those particulars before nam'd Ninthly From the word Praemonentes in the Writ there is a greater Latitude of power granted to the Lords Spiritual than to the Lords Temporal for the Lords Temporal are not impowred by their Writs to Summon the Laity who sit in the House of Commons as Representatives of the Commonalty but the Lords Spiritual are impowred by their Writs to Summon Deacons Archdeans and Proctors to attend the Parliament as Representatives of the Clergy who being met at places appointed distinct from the House of Lords or House of Commons those places where they meet have the Titles of Convocations the Bishops making the upper Convocation the Representatives of the Clergy the lower Suting to those two of the Laity one called sometimes the House of Lords or Peers or upper House the other sometimes the House of Commons or lower House The General Writs for this Parliament were dated as I have shewn the 18th of Febr. 1661. to meet the 8th of May 1661. but the Writs to the Bishops were not dated till the 29. of August following yet by these Writs they are appointed to meet die loco at the day and place viz. on the Eighth of May and at Westminster as in the General Writs so as the latter Writs seem to command an Impossibility but this is to be understood in a Parliament-sence viz. That the first day of the Meeting of a Parliament continues to the end of a Session or Prorogation and is accounted but as one day for an Adjournment is but the continuance of that day and a passing of Acts upon an Adjournment as in this case was not a determining the Session because they were passed by way of Proviso That it should not thereby discontinue the Parliament so that the Bishops being admitted before any Session of determining the Parliament or before any Prorogation of it it is to be esteem'd in a Parliament-sence as I said as one day And so it is in Law where a Sum is due the Eighth of May payable at Westminster and not paid till the 29. of August and then paid in London and then accepted by the Creditor it doth bar all breaches or punctilios in Law or Equity between the Creditor and Debtor Besides If a Parliament continues some Months without Adjournments or Prorogations in which time many Members of both Houses Dye so as there is a necessity to send out Writs for a Supply of Members if the Writs should not issue in a certain Form with respect to a certain day though past it would produce many inconveniencies attending the Discretion or Indiscretion of Clerks who are to form such Writs and therefore all Writs though after Prorogations though many years subsequent have still reference to the first day of the Parliament as will be further shewn for it hath been the Wisdom of Parliaments to admit of no variation in that point Next As to the place of Meeting the Bishops are Summon'd to meet Cum Praelatis Magnatibus proceribus at Westminster which the Bishops do as to their Co-Interest in the House of Lords but in relation to the inferior Clergy the Bishops do meet at Westminster and sometimes Adjourn to such places out of Westminster as the Archbishop or his Vicar appoints which before the Fire in 1666. was at the Convocation-House on the South-side of St. Pauls Church in London but since in Westminster-Abby The Bishops in all this Parliament sit in Henry the Sevenths Chappel as the upper Convocation the Deans c. in St. Benedicts Chappel on the North-side of the Abby as the lower Convocation so as they have distinct Houses or Places from the House of Lords and House of Commons as also distinct days of meeting but always after the Parliament first meets and so of sitting some days after any Adjournment or Prorogation or Dissolution which is appointed beyond the Lords or Commons as will be shewn in the Chapter of Convocations 11. Concerning the alteration of Priorem into Decanum I have given an account 12. Instead of favente deo the later Writs say favente divina clementia 13. In the old Writs the year of Christ is not added for it was more than 300 years after Christ before the Computation was us'd but in the later Writs it is not omitted 14. Till about the year 855. there was not above 16 Bishopricks and then they increas'd to 19 and 21 and in Hen. 8. time to 26 and so they have continued ever since but in all times there have been several Transplacings and Transmutations so as the names of the Bishopricks of Dorchester Dunwich Haglested Sydnacester and Leicester Landasfirm Selsy Sherborn Chester in Durham Crediton and St. Petrocks 10 in all are utterly lost and drown'd in the now remaining 26 Bishopricks 15. The Bishops being men well Educated in all Sciences Divine and humane were stil imployed by our Successive Kings as well in matters Temporal as Spiritual for I find that of 153 Chancellors and Keepers of the Great-Seal from William the
Conquerours time there have been 62 Archbishops and Bishops employ'd in these Offices and from the first Institution of Treasurer in William the 2d's time to Ed. the 4ths time there have been 42. Archbishops and Bishops Treasurers but from Ed. the 4th's to this time no Bishop hath been Treasurer except William Archbishop of Canterbury in Charles the 1sts time then Bishop of London they have been also Chief Justices c. But for other Offices in respect I find them not mention'd in any of their Writs of Summons to Parliaments as additional Titles I shall not make any further inquiries but indeed anciently most of the Judicial Offices in the Kingdom or State were under the Care and Management of the Clergy and therefore the Chancellor Treasurer Privy-Seal c. were called Clerici or Clerks as a distinction from the Laity And being men generally of the greatest Knowledge and Learning were thereupon chosen into Offices of the highest nature 16. That though for many Ages before the end of Hen. the 8th's Reign the Bishops were then of the Roman Religion yet whenever they had the least encouragement from the present Kings of England and sometimes without it they still oppos'd the Superintendency and Supremacy both of the Church and Court of Rome as to the Dominions of the respective Kings of England protesting that the same was a destruction of the Realm and Crown of England which hath always said they been Free and hath no earthly Sovereignty but onely God in all Regalities as may be seen in the Parliament Rolls of Rich. 2d Hen. the 6th and in other Kings Reigns and since Hen. the 8th the Bishops and Clergy under them have been almost the only Bulwark against the Storms and Incroachments of Rome upon us 17. It appears by a long concatenation of Records that they have had these various Titles of Honour viz. in the Latin Records Archiepiscopi Episcopi Praelati Pares and in such Records as are writ in French or English Archevesque Evesque Archbishops Bishops Prelates Peers Grantz Grandees or Great ones in distinction of the Lesser Peers or House of Commons of which I shall speak more also Seigniors singly and Signiors du Parlement also Lords and Lords Spiritual and Barons claiming onely a Vital Feudal Tenurial and not Nobilitated Peerage in distinction of the Lords Temporal whose Peerage is Personal Hereditary and Nobilitated 18. Though they absent themselves from the House of Lords upon Tryals of blood yet it was and is still in obedience to the morality of the Canon-Laws for though those Canon-Laws were practised in times of Popery yet the reasonableness and conscientiousness of that Law still continues and now we are free from the bondage of Popery the Protestant Bishops still think themselves obliged to it as the Papal Bishops were before like the 4th Commandment which still morally obligeth Us as formerly it did the Jews yet where they do absent themselves in Cases of blood it is done by leaving Proxy or protestation of their Right of Sitting c. 19. And lastly it may be very well observed though their influence and Interest upon a Spiritual and Temporal account is spread over this whole Kingdom their Revenues great and thereby their Tenants Officiates and Dependents very numerous yet I do not find in Histories that the Bishops of England did ever raise an Army to justifie their interest against any of our Kings or against the other two Estates of Lords Temporal or Commons by Sword or Force but still supported it by their Pen or Prayers 20. Thus I have given an account of the Managers of Religion in this Island and of the Writs whereby they were Summon'd to Parliaments and of other great employments wherein they have been intrusted of a mixt nature part Civil and part Ecclesiastick and both tending to Religious Duties I should now proceed to the Writs which concern Abbots and Priors which till the 36. Hen. 8. were ever entred next the Bishops in the Clause-Rolls and Pawns but there having been no Writs directed to them since the said 36. of H. the 8th except two in Queen Mary's time one to the Abbot of Westminster the other to the Prior of St. John's of Jerusalem I shall follow the Method of the Pawns since the said 36th year referring the Discourse of them to the Chapter of Dissolutions and here proceed to the third Exemplar Writ viz. to the Lord Chancellor being the first Officer of State and Principal Assistant and now annext to a Barony and after to his Title of Earl as will be shewn CHAP. VIII The Third Exemplar of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper AMongst the Romans this great Officer was called Actuarius Scriba Notarius Principis praesentis Vicarius Cancellarius and so it came into France and amongst the Saxons it had the name of Referendarius but in England we do not find this Title of Chancellor till the first of King John An. 1199 though Lambert and others derive it from Edward the Confessors time This Officer continued in so high an esteem that in the 5th of Richard the 2d The Commons in Parliament in their Exhibits to the King desired that the most wise and able man in the Realm might be chosen Chancellor which made Budaeus one of Hen. the 8ths Orators to give this Description Hunc saith he rerum omnium cognitione omni Doctrinarum virtutumque genere instructissimum ornatissimum ingenioque ad omnia versatili omnia in numerato habere oportere fatendum est This Discription is also to be applyed to the Keeper of the Great Seal which invention of a publick Seal as it was more ancient with the Romans so it seems to be very ancient with us in England that Office being Constituted by William the Conquerer in the Year 1067. and for the honour of both as it is shewn in this Section Geffrey a Natural Son to Hen. the Second was Chancellor and the Queen to Henry the Third was Keeper of the Seal 2. These two Offices were sometimes kept distinct and sometimes united in one Person till the Fifth of Queen Eliz. and then it was Enacted That both those Offices should be accounted but as one and the same and that hereafter both should not be used at one time by distinct Persons 3. Whilst they were distinct they had two Seals the Chancellors was of Gold and the Keepers of Silver the Court esteemed Officina Regis and the Seal Clavis Regni but whenever they were either united or distinctly executed still this high Office was managed by Archbishops or Bishops or by the most eminent Laicks for Learning Integrity and Abilities as may be seen by comparing the History of them with their Catalogues 4. To manifest their Eminency it is evident from the Rolls that in the opening of all Parliaments the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper did constantly by the Command of the King shew them the reasons of Summoning them unless in a Vacancy or
Allegations it is evident That the Lords Spiritual are Pares or Peers but inter seipsos gradu Episcopali vitali but not Pares to the Temporal Lords who are Pares gradu haereditario Nobilitatis honoris either Descendent or Created so that though all the Lords in the Lords House may be said to be Peers yet the Lords Temporal being in gradu celsior is Nobilitatis are more properly to be accounted so than any other Degree in respect that as their Interest is greater than any other Degree so they cannot be said to be Pares to any lesser than themselves and therefore it may aptly be said that none but such Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons as are summon'd by Writ to sit in Parliament are to be accounted Peers of the Realm or of Parliament All other Degrees of Nobility or Degrees under these five Degrees are only Pares sui cujusque ordinis and not Pares Regni and so the House of Commons in time of Parliament are Pares minoris Nobilitatis and the Lords of the Lords House Pares majoris Nobilitatis The next subject that I am guided to treat of is concerning Proxees to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal which may be made either of Lords or Peers or of neither Lords nor Peers yet by this Proximation are pro hac vice nobilitated CHAP. XII Of Proxees I Am now to speak of such as are substituted by the Lords Spiritual or Lords Temporal to sit in the Lords House and these are called by the name of Proxees 1. The Latin word for Proxee is Procurator which is sometimes English'd Proxee and sometimes Proctor according to the Employment of the Person to whom it is apply'd Proxee in a Parliamentary sence is constantly apply'd to such a Deputy or Substitute as is chosen by any Lord Spiritual or Lord Temporal by Licence first had from the King in case of just occasion alledged for absence to supply his Deputy in the Lords House and thereupon his Vote to be as significant to all purposes as if the absent Lord were present and therefore the word Proxee may well be thought to be only the Tachygraphy or short writing of Proxime signifying the next in Judgment Opinion Degree or Quality to the Lord who chooseth him for his Proxee But Proctor which is the most literal abbreviation of Procurator hath several applications first to such as are in some sort a Limb or Branch of Parliaments viz. such as are chosen by the Chapters and Clergy together with Archdeacons and Deans to represent the whole Clergy as Knights Citizens and Burgesses do the Laity or whole Commons of England but these are more usually call'd Representatives the other constantly Proctors both being deputed by distinct Degrees to distinct Purposes as will be more fully shewn Secondly There are also Proctors for the two Universities of Cambridge and Oxford And Thirdly Proctors of Ecclesiastical Courts which have no other relation to Parliaments than according as they are concern'd in Elections The Proxees which are admitted to the Lords House are like those in the old Roman Empire call'd Procuratores Caesaris which were the chief of four sorts of Procuratores amongst them because that first and chief of the four were only imploy'd ad Res publicas administrandas the other three for lesser matters and so the Proxees of the Lords House being the chief of all other Proxees are to be esteemed Publicarum rerum administratores as fully as the absent Lords except in some particulars as to Place Continuance c. 2 These Noble Proxees are as I said lincensed by the King upon the Petition or Request of some Lord Spiritual or Lord Temporal and are not usually made of Strangers who are not Members of the Lords House nor of the Assistants of that House When the absent Lords occasions of absence have not been just or his absence inconvenient to the Publick the King hath often deny'd to License their Proxees but when the Allegations have been just the Proxee hath been sometimes allow'd without the Kings License Sometimes it hath been allow'd to the absent Lord to make a Proxee of such a person as is otherwise incapacitated to sit in the Lords House for by this he is nobilitated but there hath been none such allow'd in this Parliament 3. Generally the absent Lord doth six upon such a Lord as I said doth sit in the Lords House by his own Right and Writ of Summons whereby the Proxee-sitting Lord hath a double Voice one for himself the other for the absent Lord to whom he is Proxee 4. These Noble Proxees are made sometimes before the sitting of a Parliament after the Writs are issued and sometimes in the time of their sitting and their Deputations both before and after the sitting have several Forms as will be shewn 5. In former times the Lords Spiritual had the privilege to make two or three Proxees but since the dissolution of Abbies and that Abbots c. were excluded no Proxor or absent Lord doth make but one Proxee 6. The Licenses for Proxees as I said were granted by the King upon the absent Lords Petition which Petition from Edward the Third's time was in this Form Serenissimo Principi Domino Edwardo Dei gratia Regi Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Domino c. Quia impedimentis varijs arduis negotijs c. sumus multipliciter impediti quo instante Parliamento vestro apud Westmonasterium in Quind ' c. proximo futur ' personaliter esse non valentes And so others for other reasons pray that he may be allow'd his Proxee whereupon License was granted as may be seen in ancient Journals but more lately in Queen Elizabeth's time thus Right-trusty and well-beloved We greet you well Whereas we are inform'd That by reason of Sickness you are not able to make repair hither to this our Parliament to be holden at Westminster We have thought good by these our Letters to dispense with you for your absence and to License you to remain still at home for this time so nevertheless that you send up your Proxee of such Personage as may be for you in your Name to give his Voice and Assent or Denial to such Matters as shall be concluded on in our said Parliament And this our Letter shall be your Warrant Given under our Signet at our Palace at Westminster the 20th of November in the Eighth Year of Our Reign 8. These Licenses are usually entred in the Signet or Privy-Seal-Offices and pass no further but are certified to the Lords when sitting 9. This regular Method of Licenses continued till about the end of Queen Elizabeth's Reign but by the kindness or connivance of her Successors to the Nobles there hath been of late no more Ceremony us'd than a Verbal Motion to the King and some Nobles by that Indulgence have constituted Proxees without application to the King only adding in their Deputations to their Proxees viz. per Licentiam
consists of Nine more viz. three Justices of the Kings Bench three of the Common Pleas and three other Barons of the Exchequer and these have gradual interests in those three Courts as will be shewn and with the other five do make fourteen of the first and second Orb and as a further addition of Honor twelve of these fourteen in their Circuits twice every year have Courts also provided for them almost in every County of England as will be shewn The third Orb of the Professors of Law are not usually above six in number yet sometimes more sometimes fewer as will be shewn I mean of such only as have Summons to sit in Parliament and these have Courts also allotted for them viz. the Kings Serjeants at Law the Kings Attorney General the Kings Sollicitor General have the Inns of Courts though common also to under Graduates and Students and the two principal Secretaries of State have the Kings Court or Palace for their Regalias so as the before mentioned five of the first Orb and nine of the second Orb and six of the third Orb these three Orbs being the most eminent of that Profession have not only the Jurisdiction and an Interest in the said Courts but as an higher mark of Honour and Esteem though they were no Lords or Barons of the Realm yet they were and are usually Summon'd by Writs to the High Court of Parliament when ever it Assembled and there they are also dignifi'd with peculiar Places appointed for them and many Priviledges of which with their Number and the Causes of Variation of that Number I shall give an Account in the ensuing Sections 10. These as I said are imploy'd in the Lords House to be Assistants with their sage advices who are perfect knowers both of general and particular Laws viz. in the Laws of God and Nature the Civil Laws practised in most parts of Europe the Ecclesiastick Laws of other Nations but more particularly of our own of our Common Statute Municipal and Customary and By-Laws which are alterae Leges and many others of other Titles which we derive and still retain from the old Roman Empire Saxons c. And thus fraught with knowledge of Laws they bring them for the most part into the Hive or compass of our Common and Statute Law and their universal knowledge makes them esteem'd Learned their Learning indues them with Wisdom their Wisdom enables them to be Justices or Judges out of Parliament and in Parliament to be Assistants there for the better carrying on of Publick Actions and Consultations so as the present Laws may be preserved or such new ones made as their Wisdoms shall think fit to advise there being sometimes as much necessity of making new or correcting altering explaining or inlarging the old as in possitively preserving them for when a Buttress hath sustain'd an House many years and is it self decayed by time it is to the safety of the House to have another Supporter in its room for tempora mutant mores and mores may justly mutare leges considered according to the diversity of circumstances and herein consists the great Master-piece of advice by turning a nolumus mutare into a rational volumus 11. Having now given a short discourse of Law and the Professors of it in general occasioning just grounds for their Assistance I shall proceed to the particular Titles of the chiefest Professors of it and according to my first propos'd Method go on with the fifth Exemplar mention'd in the aforesaid Parliament Pawn viz. to the Lord chief Justice of England The Form of the Fifth Exemplar-Writ to the Lord chief Justice of England CArolus Secundus Dei gratia Angl ' Scot ' Franc ' Hibern ' Rex fidei defensor ' c. Dilecto fideli suo Roberto Foster Militi Capitali Justiciario nostro ad placita coram nobis tenend'assign ' salutem Quia de advisamento assensu Consilij nostri pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotijs nos statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernen ' quoddam Parliamentum nostrum apud Civitatem nostram Westm ' octavo die Maij prox ' futur ' teneri ordinavimus ibidem vobiscum cum magnatibus proceribus dicti Regni nostri Colloquium habere tractatum vobis mandamus firmiter injungend ' quod omnibus alijs pretermissis predictis die loco personaliter intersitis nobiscum ac cum caeteris de Concilio nostro super dictis negotijs tractatur ' vestrum Consilium impensur ' Et hoc nullatenus omittatis Teste me ipso apud Westm ' decimo octavo die Februarij Anno regni nostri tertiodecimo The next words in the foremention'd Pown are consimilia Brevia diriguntur personis subscriptis But before I speak of those Consimilars I shall add some few Observations on this Exemplar Observations on the Exemplar and its Consimilars I Did think to have made distinct Observations on this and the following Consimilars but finding how curiously they in their Jurisdictions Power Authorities and Operations are intermix'd separated and yet united I shall speak of them as they spring up from my Recollections on which others may graft more as best suiting to theirs 1. Neither this chief Assistant nor any of the following Assistants which are call'd Consimilars in the Pawns are mention'd in the Kings Warrant to the Lord Chancellor for summoning a Parliament otherwise than in these words Wherefore We Will and Command you forthwith upon receipt hereof and by warrant of the same to cause such and so many Writs to be made and seal'd under our great Seal for the accomplishment of the same as in like cases hath been us'd and accustom'd as may be seen in the first Chapter And thereupon the Lord Chancellor according to the ancient Custom and such Precedents as I have and shall set down sends his Warrant to the Clerks of the Pettibag in haec verba as in the first Chapter You are hereby required forthwith to prepare for the great Seal of England the several Writs of Summons for the Lords Spiritual and Temporal as also for the Judges and others to appear at the Parliament to be holden c. in such method and form and directed to such persons as are and have been usual in such cases c. Now that the Lord Chief Justice and the Consimilars of which I am to speak have been anciently and usually summon'd I have and shall shew in their following order 2. In the Act of Precedency there is no mention made of the Places of these Assistants but there having never been any dispute among themselves of their Places or Precedencies for they are perfect in their own Regularities and Seniorities c. it had been but expense of time and Paper to insert them and therefore according to the constant order by which they have sat anciently in the Lords House I shall treat distinctly of them so soon as I have ruin through
some few mix'd Observations 3. This great Minister of Justice was anciently made by Letters Patents with the Clause of Quam diu nobis placuerit and so it continued till about the end of Henry the Third and then and ever since he hath not been constituted by Commission or Patent as all the other Judges are but by Writ only in this form Rex c. R. F. Militi salutem Sciatis quod constituimus vos Justitiarium nostrum Capitalem ad placita coram nobis tenend'durante bene placito c. Teste c. And this Writ makes him capable of his Parliament-Writ before recited 4. The Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal as I said is admitted Chancellor or Keeper by delivery only of the Great Seal to him and taking his Oath without Patent or Writ but this Lord Chief Justice is admitted to his Office by Writ only and all the other Assistants of whom I shall speak do injoy their Offices in their respective Courts by Patent only and all of them durante bene placito except the Master of the Rolls whose Patent is durante vitâ as will be shewn 5. But neither the delivery of the Great Seal to the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper nor the aforesaid Official Writ to the Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench nor the respective Patents by which the other Justices enjoy their respective Offices do intitle them to sit in the Lords House without such an especial Parliament Writ of Assistance as is shewn in the Exemplar before recited to which all the other Assisting Writs have a Consimilitude 5. This Parliament or Assisting Exemplar Writ to the Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench and all the Consimilars to it mutato nomine titulo Officii agrees in all parts with the Writ to the Lord Chancellor as I have before shewn except the alteration of the words Praedilecto perquam Fideli into Dilecto Fideli which are in this and in all the Writs to the following Assistants 6. The differences between this Writ and that to the Hereditary Lords in Parliament are partly shewn in the Observations on the Lord Chancellors Writ the rest will be shewn 7. This Parliament writ diffeers but in few words from the form of the writ issued in the 15th of Edw. 2 d. from whence I take my rise nor from the Successive Writs to this time which for the satisfaction of others whereby they may see that no new form is obtruded on them I have set here down Verbatim Rex Dilecto Fideli suo Willielmo de Bereford salutem Quia super diversis arduis negotiis nos statum Regni nostri specialiter tangentibus in instante Parliamento nostro die Domincâ prox ' futur ' ante Festum sancti Laurencii prox ' futur ' fecimus summoneri vobiscum cum caeteris de Concilio nostro colloquium habere volumus tractatum vobis mandamus firmiter injungentes quod omnibus aliis pretermissis dictis die loco personaliter intersitis nobiscum cum ceteris de Consilio nostro super premissis tractatur ' vestrumque Consilium impensuri Et hoc nullatenus omittat ' Teste c. In this Writ the words after Regni nostri viz. Ecclesiae Anglicanae are omitted for the Church in those days was almost wholly manag'd by Ecclesiastick Persons who were Conversant in the Civil and Canon Laws c. but in the 26th of Henry the Eighth when the power of the Pope was here abridg'd those words Ecclesiae Anglicanae were entred and continued to this day Also after the word Vobiscum these words ac cum Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus are omitted but as near as I can collect some of the most eminent of the Professors of the Law as the Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chief Baron c. were sometimes Summon'd by Peeral Writs that is by such Writs that were sent to the Nobles and then the words ac cum Praelatis c. as in Richard the Seconds time to Jo. Cavendish Capital'Justic ' and in Henry the Fifths time to William Hanckford and many more were inserted but when ever they were Summon'd meerly as Assistants the words cum Praelatis c. were left out and so have been ever since Edward the Fourths time 8. This Parliament Writ is directed Capitali Justitiario nostro ad placita c. and so is his Writ by which he enjoys that great Office yet his common and general appelation is Capitali Justitiario Angliae which we call Lord Chief Justice of England and sometimes Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench and by some one of those Titles he is called so in several Acts of Parliament and ancient Records as I have hinted and though the word Lord be added to his appellation both in his Assistancies and Office and so to some other of the Assistants yet neither he nor they are to be counted Lords of Parliament for his Writ by which he enjoys his Office which is the Inducement to his Assisting Writ is but durante Placito honore Officii and his Assistance being but durante Parliamento neither of them can six the Title further than the continuance of his Office or Assistance And here it may be observed that the word Vos a word of great eminency always signifying a plural though sometimes apply'd to a single Person is us'd in this Official Writ before mentioned to the this Lord Chief Justice but is not in his Parliament Writ nor in any of the Patents or Parliament-Writs to the other Justices of whom I shall speak in order 9. The antiquity of this great Minister of Justice and his Court is doubtless more ancient under various Titles than from Hen. the Thirds time from whence we vulgarly compute it for the Civilians do acknowledge that Justitiarii sunt umbrae quaedam illorum qui olim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Graecos dicebantur designati ad Custodiam Juris aequitatis However Sir Edward Coke to prove its antiquity tells us of an Epitaph in Ramsy Abby ingraven on Stone in these words Alvinus incliti Regis Edgari Cognatus totius Angliae Aldermannus saith that by Aldermannus is meant Capitalis Justitiarius Angliae and consequently his Assistance in all Councils before the name of Parliament and since that name hath always been esteem'd necessary and as he saith all these Courts of Justice are so ancient that they seem to have their Originals from Custom rather than by Commission 10. His Jurisdiction is so great as well out of Parliament as in Parliament that often times the Lords do wave their own Power and Priviledges of using their own Officers and do direct the Chief Justice to send out his single Warrant to Seize on Persons in case of Treason or Suspicion of it or for other high Crimes or Misdemeanors and the House of Commons have likewise sent to him to come to their House upon the like occasions
quod nos de gratia nostra speciali ac ex certa scientia mero motu nostris ordinavimus fecimus constituimus dilectum fidelem nostrum H. F. Mil. Solicitatorem nostrum Generalem ac ipsum H. F. Solicitatorem Generalem nostrum per presentes ordinavimus fecimus constituimus Habendum gaudend occupand exercend officium illud quamdiu nobis placuerit Percipiend annuatim eidem H. F. pro occupatione exercic ' officij predicti tal' tant ' Vad. Feod Profic ' commoditat ' qual' quanta dicto officio debito sive pertinend prout aliquis alius sive aliqui alij officium predict ' proantea habens sive occupans habuit vel percepit habuerunt sive preceperunt in pro exercitio ejusdem officij eo quod expressa mentio c. In Cujus rei c. Teste c. Observations THough this Imployment was granted by Patent in Edward the Fourths time yet for want of time I shall also begin his Writ of Summons the 21. of Henry the Eight and then Edward Griffin being Attorney General Gosnold was Solicitor and the Writ was Hen. Rex c. Dilecto fideli suo Johanni Gosnold Solicitatori suo Salutem Quia and so verbatim according to the Exemplar in the 36 Hen. 8. William Whorwood was Attorney General and Henry Bradshaw Solicitor and had his Writ the first of Edw. the Sixth Bradshaw was made Attorney General and Edward Griffin Solicitor and had his Writ and the 6. of Edw. 6. Griffith was made Attorney and Jo. Gosnold Solicitor and had his Writ and both continued so till the first of Mary and then William Cordel in the room of Gosnold was made Solicitor and had his Writ also in another Parliament of that year both had their Writs in the 1. and 2 3 and 4. of Phil. and Mary and in the 4. and 5. Phil. and Mary Griffith being Attorney General Rich. Weston afterwards Lord Treasurer was made Solicitor Dominorum Regis Reginae and had his Writ in the 38. of Eliz. Jo. Popham afterwards Lord Chief Justice was Attorney and Thomas Egerton afterwards Lord Chancellor was Solicitor and had his Writ and so they continued to the 39. Eliz. and then Edw. Coke after one of the Justices of the Common-Pleas was made Attorney and Tho. Flemins Solicitor and had his Writ and in the 43. Sir Edw. Coke was put back to be Solicitor and had his Writ and Thomas Egerton was Attorney and in the first of James Edw. Coke then Knighted was again made Attorney General and Tho. Flemins then Knighted also again made Solicitor and had his Writ and in the 21 Jacobi Thomas Coventry Miles after Lord Keeper was made Attorney and Robert Heath Knt. Solicitor after Chief Justice and had his Writ and both had Writs again the first Car. primi and the 15th Jo. Banks Knt. was made Attorney and Edward Harbert Solicitor and had his Writ But at the Summoning of this Parliament no Writ was sent to Sir Heneage Finch then the Kings Solicitor being chosen for the House of Commons and being after made Attorney General still he continued in the House of Commons till he was made Lord Keeper and then he was remov'd to the Lords House by Writ as Lord Keeper and so Sir Francis North being the Kings Solicitor did sit in the House of Commons this Parliament and was not removed thence till he was made Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas so that during this Parliament none whilst actually the Kings Solicitors were Summon'd or did sit in the Lords House yet I thought fit to insert this Degree here though he be not mention'd in this Pawn because there are so many Precedents of his Summons as are before recited in former Kings Reigns Of the Consimilar Writ to the Kings Principal Secretaries THis Officer of State and Assistant is plac't the last in most of the Pawns SECT 19 and brings up the Rear of all the forementioned Assistants which posture is a place of great Honour both in Civil Solemnities and Martial Imployments and that it may so appear in the aforesaid Act of the 31. of Hen. the Eighth none of the other Assistants before recited except the Lord Chancellor are so much as mention'd therein their precedencies being known in their own Courts from a greater antiquity but the Secretaries Place is fix't by that Act viz. if he be under the Degree of a Noble Baron yet it is above all the Assistants and next the Lord Chancellor if he be of the Degree of a Baron then above all Barons or if an Earl as in the case of the Lord Arlington then above all of that Degree unless any of the Superior Officers of State be of that Degree and then next to him and above the rest He hath his Office as Secretary not by Patent but by delivery of the Privy Signet to him and so if there be more than one as now there are two each considered as Principal hath also a Privy Signet delivered to him His Parliament Writ in this Pawn was thus Carolus c. Dilecto fideli Edwardo Nicolas Militi uno primariorum Secretariorum suorum salutem Quia c. and so verbatim according to the last mention'd Exemplar as an Assistant and the Title in the Label is like the Title of his Writ Observations 1. THis Writ agrees with all the former except in the word Vni and so if there be more as I have shewn in the Writ to the Judges yet commonly in Superscriptions he that is made Chief is Stiled Principal without the word one and the other One of the Principal Secretaries of State 2. The word Capitalis is us'd in the Writs to the two Chief Justices and Chief Baron but to the chief Secretary the word Principali is us'd not only signifying the Capital First or Chief but intimating his more immediate Imployment on his Prince for Principali is properly from Principe 3. If there be more Secretaries than one as there are seldom less than two they divide their negotiations into the Title of Provinces both in relation to this Kingdom or Foreign Kingdoms or States and so each of them give an account to the King accordingly and they have an Office appertaining to them call'd the Signet Office Signet where they have four Clerks as their Substitutes to perform their Directions for all Dispatches both Foreign and Domestick and generally they are of his Majesties Privy-Council 4. Their Imployments in Parliament are either in the House of Lords or House of Commons according as they are Summon'd to one or Elected to the other and as the King thinks them in either place most useful for his occasions 5. I need not go back to find the Antiquity of their Summons for it may be presum'd to be ancient from the Eminency and nature of their Imployments so it may suffice only to instance here that in the 36 Hen. 8. William Packet Mil. had his
stand fair but if divulged they are sure not only to lose the credit of the Event but double the disrepute if both be bad Herein some men are naturally of a more reserved temper than others however those are only fit to be Counsellors and Secretaries of State who have no Windows in their Breast that is no such transparent Eyes as men may easily see their disposures of Affairs but can wisely keep the Secrets of State from other mens Inspections and in Parliaments I conceive such Tempers are very useful for if the People Trust them they do well in performing their Trust but appealing again to the People shews a diffidence in their own Judgments Thus having shewn the Kings Warrant in the Front and the Secretaries Writ in the Rear and fix't the Noble Lords betwixt those who manage the Laws Divine and those who are Assistants in Human Laws and run through the most constant Writs which are us'd for Summoning such as are to fit in a Parliament either as Essential or Assisting Members thereof I should now proceed to the House of Commons but I shall crave leave First To speak of some accidentall Writs for Assistants Secondly Of the manner of return of all the aforesaid Writs Thirdly Of such as sit there without Writ or Patent Fourthly Of such as sit there only by Patent and Fifthly Of some other Officers who are imployed there by vertue of Patents CHAP. XIV Of Consimilar Writs and Patents upon Emergent occasions 1. I Find in Mr. Prins Breviary That he cites many Records long before Henry the Eighth which I shall not examine because some of them have been so long disus'd Of Knights Justices of North Wales Treasurer of Carnarvan Treasurer of the Kings House Chancellor of the Exchequer Deans Archdeacons Escheators and one Magister Thomas Yong which he takes to be a Master of Chancery that have been Summon'd by Writ to sit in Parliaments in the Lords House but since Henry the Eighth in the Pettibag several Writs of Assistants were issued as I have shewn in the 11th Chap. Sect. 9. to shew the Kings Power some of which were Professors of the Law and some not 2. There was another Writ viz. to the Warden of the Cinqueports which was not constant but occasional for sometimes it was directed to an Earl and sometimes to some one Person under the Degree of a Baron yet by vertue of the Writ he was impowr'd to sit in the Lords House but since Henry the Fourths time when that Office was supplied by the Prince of Wales after called Henry the Fifth who had a Writ with the addition of Guardian ' Quinque Portuum that Trust hath been committed to some one of the Blood Royal and from that Writ other Writs are derived to all the Cinqueports But in respect this Writ as to a Parliament is mostly concern'd about Election of 16. Members to serve in the House of Commons I shall refer the Discourse of it to the second part in that Chapter which particularly treats of the Cinqueports 3. If at any time the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper be absent upon just occasion as when the Lord Keeper Bridgman in this Parliament was Sick a Patent was made for Sir John Vaughan then Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas to supply his place and the like to Sir Francis North Chief Justice of the Common Pleas also c. and though for the most part this happens in time of Parliament yet because it may happen between the time of Summons and the Sitting of a Parliament which is the chief design of this part of this Treatise I have thought fit to enter the form of that Patent in this place rather than defer it viz. CHARLES c. To Our Right Trusty and Welbeloved Sir Francis North Knt. Chief Justice of Our Court of Common Pleas Greeting Whereas Our Right Trusty and Welboved Councellor Heneage Lord Finch Our Lord High Chancellor of England is often so infirm that he is not able constantly to attend in the upper House of this Our present Parliament now holden at Westminster nor there to supply the room and place in the said upper House amongst the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled as to the Office of the Lord Chancellor of England hath been accustomed We minding the same place and room to be supplied in all things as appertaineth for and during every time of his absence have named and appointed you And by these Presents do Name Constitute and Appoint and Authorize you from day to day and from time to time when and so often as the said Lord Chancellor shall happen at any time or times during this present Parliament to be absent from his accustomed place in the said upper House to Occupy Vse and Supply the said room and place of the said Lord Chancellor in the said upper House amongst the Lords Spiritual and Temporal there Assembled at every such day and time of his absence and then and there at every such time to do and execute all such things as the said Lord Chancellor of England should or might do if if he were there personally present Vsing and Supplying the same room Wherefore We Will and Command you the said Sir Francis North to attend to the doing and execution of the premisses with Effect and these Our Letters Patents shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge for the same in every respect In Witness whereof We have caused these Our Letters to be made Patents Witness our Self at Westminster the Nineteenth day of March in the Nine and twentieth Year of our Reign Per ipsum Regem propria manu Signat And having now dispatch't all the Writs and Patents which concern the Summoning of such as sit in the Lords House it is proper to shew the manner of returning of those Writs which is usual in all Courts and ought to be strictly observed here CHAP. XV. Of Returns of Writs relating to the Summoning of such as are to Sit in the Lords House IN all Judicial Courts from whence Writs do issue there is care taken for their due Returns as may be seen in Fitz Herbert and such Authors who have treated of the nature of Writs and their Returns but none of them giving a full account of Parliament Writs and Returns gives me occasion to insert this Chapter As to the Return of the Writs to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Assistants they ought by every individual Person who had a Writ to be deliver'd to the Clerk of the Parliament before the House Sit or immediately upon their Entrance into the House at the Table and by the said Clerk they are to be kept with the Records of that House By the omission of this method many inconveniencies have and may happen to their Successors or Posterity and therefore it is wisht there were more care taken in their due Returns to which they may be incourag'd being of so little trouble in the performance But as to the
either Houses and when they are fixt in both Houses I shall give an account of the most material passages as to the renewing of Writs for supply of Members and other distinct Operations considered as an House of Lords or an House of Commons and in their joynt Operations as Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament and then of their compleat Operations as an intire Parliament consifting of the King and the three Estates viz. the Lords Spiritual the Lords Temporal and the Commons and this is more particularly evident when by passing of Acts the King confirms what those three Estates do joyntly Operate And so I conclude with the Kings power of Summoning Adjourning Proroguing and and Dissolving of this and all other Parliaments and what is to be done with Records Laws c. after Dissolution of any Parliament And because I could not well reduce the copious matters of so large a Subject into my Discourses or observations I shall hereafter add some Annotations as Explanitories and Enlargements to many things which are necessary or convenient to be enlarged or explained AN APPENDIX Being A Diary of the several Sessions of the publick Adjournments Prorogations and Proclamations relating to the Parliament which was Summon'd the 18th of Feb. 1660 1 and Disloved the 24th of Jan. 1668 9. THE Kings Warrant and Writs of Summons for that Parliament were dated the 18th of Feb. 13 Car. 2d 1660. Proclamation contain'd in those Writs 1660. to meet att Westminster the 8th of May following Session the 8th of May 13 Car. 2d 1661 at Westminster continued to the 30th of July following Acts Publick 19. Private 21. 1661. Adjourn'd the 30th of July 13 Car. 2d 1661 to the 20th of November following Session the 20th of Novemb. 13 Car. 2d 1661 continued to the 19th of May 14 Car. 2d 1662. Acts Publick 33 Private 39. Prorogu'd the 19th of May 14 Car. 2d 1662 to the 18th of Feb. 15 Car. 2d 1662 3. The King present Session the 18th of February 15 Car. 2d 1662 3. continued to the 27th July 15 Car. 2d 1663. Acts Publick 17 Private 19 Prorogu'd the 27th of July 15 Car. 2d 1663 to the 16th of March 16 Car 2d 1663 4. The King Present Session the 16th March 16 Car. 2d 1663 4. continued to the 17th of May 16 Car. 2d 1664. Acts Publick 8 Private 10 Prorogu'd the 17th of May 16 Car. 2d 1664 to the 20th of August following The King Present Prorogu'd the 20th of Aug. 16 Car. 2d 1664 to the 24th of Novemb. following By Commission Session the 24th of Novemb. 16 Car. 2d 1664 continued to the 2d of March 17 Car. 2d 1664 5. Acts Publick 12 Private 17 Prorogu'd the 2d of March 17 Car. 2d 1664 5. to the 21st of June 17 Car. 2d 1665. The King Present Proclamation dated the 24th of May 17 Car. 2d for the further Proroguing the Parliament from the 21st of June to a day that shall be fixt at the actual Prorogation thereof Accordingly Prorogu'd the 21st of June 17 Car. 2d 1665 to the 1st of August following By Commission Proclamation dated the 9th of July 17 Car. 2d 1665 for further Proroguing the Parliament from the 1st of Aug. to the 3d. of Octob. following Accordingly Prorogu'd the 1st of Aug. 17 Car. 2d 1665 to the 3d. of October following By Commission Proclamation dated the 10th of August 17 Car. 2d 1665 appointing the meeting of the Parliament at Oxford in respect the Plague was then at London Accordingly Prorogu'd the 3d. of Octob. 17 Car. 2d 1665. at Oxford to the 9th of the same month and place By Commission Session at Oxford the 9th of Octob. 17 Car 2d 1665 continued to the 21st of the same month Acts Publick 9 Private 1 Prorogu'd the 31st of Octob. 17 Car. 2d 1665 to meet at Westminster the 20th of Feb. 18 Car. 2d 1665 6. The King Present Prorogu'd the 20th of Feb. 18 Car. 2d 1661 at Westminster to the 23d of April 1666. Proclamation dated the 23d of April 18 Car. 2d 1666 for Proroguing the Parliament to the 18th Sep. following accordingly Prorogu'd the 23d of April 18 Car 2d 1666 to the 18 of Sep. following By Commission Session the 18th of Septemb. 18 Car. 2d 1666 continued to the 8th of Feb. following Acts Publick 5 Private 5 Prorogu'd the 8th of Feb. 19 Car 2d 1666 7. to the 10th of October 1667. The King Present Proclamation dated the 26th of June 19 Car. 2d 1667 to reassemble the Parliament back from the 10th of October to the 25th of July 19 Car. 2d 1667. Adjourn'd the 25th of July 19 Car. 2d 1667 to the 10th of October following Session the 10th of Oct. 19 Car. 2d continued to the 9th of May 20 Car. 2d 1668. Acts Publick 15 Private 24 Adjourn'd the 9th May 20 Car. 2d 1668 to the 11th of August following Proclamation dated the 3d. of July 20 Car. 2d 1668 for the Parliament to meet the 11th of Aug. and that they shall and may Adjourn to the 10th of Nov. following accordingly Adjourn'd the 11th of August 20 Car. 2d 1668. to the 10th of Nov. following Proclamation dated the 19th of Sept. 20 Car. 2d 1668. to meet the 10th of Nov. as many of both Houses as may Adjourn themselves to the 1st of March 21 Car. 2d 1668 9. Adjourn'd the 10th of Nov. 20 Car. 2d 1668. to the 1st of March 21 Car. 2d 1668 6. Proclamation dated the 18th Dec. 20 Car. 2d 1668. reciting that whereas the two Houses of Parliament had Adjourn'd by the Kings directions from the 10th of Nov. to the 1st of March the King Declares that he will Prorogue them on the said 1st of March to the 9th of October 21 Car. 2d 1669 accordingly Prorogu'd the 1st of March 21 Car. 2d 1668 9. to the 19th of October 21 Car. 2d 1669. Session the 19th of Oct. 21 Car. 2d 1669. continued to the 11th of December following In this Session no bill past the Royal assent Prorogu'd the 11th December 21 Car. 2d 1669 to the 14th February 22 Car. 2d 1669 10. By Commission Proclamation dated the 23d of Decem. 21 Car. 2d 1669 requiring the Members of both Houses to attend at the time prefixt at the last prorogation viz. the 14th Feb. 22 Car. 2d 1669 70. accordingly Session the 14th Feb. 22 Car. 2d 1669 70. continued to the 11th of April 22 Car. 2d 1670. Acts Publick 8 Private 16 Adjourn'd the 11th of April 22 Car. 2d to the 24th of October following Proclamation dated the 21st of April 22 Car. 2d 1670 requiring the Members of both Houses to attend the prefixt time viz. the 24th of October 22 Car. 2d 1670. Session the 24th Oct. 22 Car. 2d 1670 continued to the 22d April 23 Car. 2d 1671. Acts Publick 26 Private 30 Prorogu'd the 22d April 23 Car. 2d 1671 to the 16th of April 24 Car. 2d 1671. The King Present Proclamation dated the 27th Sept. 23 Car. 2d 1671 declaring the Kings resolution to Prorogue the Parliament
THE CONSTITUTION OF Parliaments IN ENGLAND Deduced from the time of King Edward the Second Illustrated by King Charles the Second In His Parliament Summon'd the 18 of February 1660 1. And Dissolved the 24 of January 1678 9. with an Appendix of its Sessions Observed by Sr. John Pettus of Suffolk Knight LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be sold by Tho. Basset at the George in Fleetstreet 1680. The Epistle To the Generous READER HAving the Honor of Consanguinity to some of the House of Lords and free access to most of the Rest who make up the Harmony of that Noble Judicature I thought it not convenient as well to prevent exceptions as dissatisfactions to dedicate this to any one of their particular Lordships well knowing that to offer any addition to their Universal Intuitions had been needless But I devote it in General to such whose Youth or diversions by other Imployments have made them unknowing or less knowing in this Subject which I have brancht out into 16 parts whereof 12 consist of Precognita or things fit to be known or done after Summons and before the sitting of any Parliament the 13.14 and 15. are of matters to be known or done only during the sitting of a Parliament the 16th hath a relation and is a Supplement of such matters as could not well be Inserted to the foregoing 15 Parts T is true this subject of Parliaments hath been treated on by many Learned writers but because none of them have proceeded in such a due Series as they might have done for they were more for the Modus tenendi than Inchoandi I have partly from them and partly from my own observations having been a member of the House of Commons about 12 years and thereby had intercourse with the House of Lords and partly by the help of some worthy Friends digested this Constitution into as clear a Method as my lesser abilities could perform First I shew the Gradations and Progresses to a Parliament from the Fountain viz. the Kings Warrant to the Lord Chancellor Impowering him to Summon it in Generals by Writs Next I shew his Lordships Warrant to the Clerks of the Pettibag for framing according to former Precedents Writs of Summons in Particulars Thirdly I shew that these Clerks did Anciently and do still use a Method therein which Method being fairly ingrost on one large Parchment is called a Parliament Pawn I doe not find that any writers before me have made any mention of these Pawns nor doe I put any weight on them but in their Method whereby they are compos'd because I find that the Clerks not conferring with the Heraulds have committed many mistakes in Christian and Surnames in Titles and Orthography However the Method therein hath continued for many Ages as will be shewn and though I have tried many ways to frame this Treatise yet none pleased me so well as the Method used in the framing of a Pawn which I have herein pursued The Writs which are contain'd and Methodiz'd in all Pawns have two Appellations viz. Exemplars and Consimilars and from those do arise the Method of this Treatise But as the Pawn doth only recite one Writ of one sort as an Example for Consimilar Writs of the same sort to be issued yet are not therein mentioned So I by that Method do take occasion only to Treat of the Exemplars except in some few places for to Treat of all the Consimilars had been too great a task by which means I have here only five Writs which gives me opportunity to treat of the Blood Royal of the Lords Spiritual of the State Officers of the Lords Temporal and of the most Eminent Togati as the Assistants in that noble House the other seven concerning the House of Commons I shall treat of in a distinct Part. And though my design is wholly to treat of what concerns that noble House in this part yet I could not avoid the Intermixtures of some necessary hints of what properly concerns the House of Commons which I intend afvente Deo to publish by it self It was scarce possible that a Subject which spreads it self into such varieties should be so collected as not to have Omissions some of which were purposely done First that I might not injure the Reader nor my Method by two long diversions and yet satisfy him in conclusion 2ly I have been as careful as I could to prevent mistakes but some will be yet those which are necessary to be corrected viz. my own oversights or the Printers I have added them to the end of this Epistle but as for the Printers Omissions of Marginal Authorities and distinctions of Sections and observations which were in my Copy and for his not putting some words into Italick Letters and for want of Comma's Points c. the Ingenious Reader may Easily pardon them I have so order'd this Impression that you have a System or the Contents of an Introduction and of 20 subsequent Chapters Sections and Observations which I thought fit to exhibit that those who have not the Leisure to read all the Chapters may turn to such parts as most suit with their Genius I begin the proper matter of this Treatise with the Kings Warrant in Feb. 1660 1 for Summoning that Parliament and I shall End all with His Proclamation for its Dissolution in 1678 9. In these discourses I take the liberty to look back into former Ages but not forward beyond the Dissolution of that Parliament Only as an Appendix I shall speak of some things that are to be done with Records Leidger Books c. and Allowances to Knights Citizens and Burgesses after any one Parliament is ended Corrigenda Pag. 20 l. 25 d. are read or P. 79 l. 23 after Seal read till of Late years P. 100 l. 17 r. Hertford P. 124 l. 16. r. forgeting the Title of Knight P. 129 fill up the blanck thus L. 15 Ric. 3 11 38 Â 0 38 Â L. 16 Hen. 7 10 42 Â 1 29 Â L. 17 Hen. 8 37 45 Â 1 36 dele 28 44 P. 137 d. son r. Heir to Blanch the Wife of John P. 139 l. 6 d. and 6. P. 383 l. 7 read by this The Reader may also take notice that after the Contents there are observations Printed concerning the Names and Titles of our English Kings especially of the Name Carolus or Charles with some Prophetick Interpretations of it which should have been plac'd next the 14 Page of this Treatise but being omitted by an Accident he is desir'd to read them after that Page if he please THE CONTENTS of this TREATIS The Introduction SHewing the Original of Councils and the several Names of Councils in other Nations and in this Kingdom How and when the Name of Parliament began Of its Etymology and Definition That a Parliament is the Abstract yet includes the whole Constitution and Fabrick of the Government of this Kingdom That it Consists of a King and three Estates and of three
when Created Of two sorts of Dukes how distinguisht A Duke as Generall is not provided for in the Act of Precedency as other degrees of officiall honors are SECT III. Of Marquesses When begun in the Empire and in France When in England the reason of placing him between Duke and Earl From whence the Title is suppos'd to come Noble Actions caus'd Noble Titles and by some Hereditary SECT IV. Of Earls Of the word Comes or Count signifying Earl 6. sorts of Counts according to Selden 22. sorts according to Cassiadore 3. sorts in England Of the incongruity of the words Comes and Earl and from whence the word Earl is derived when first given in England Titutarly and upon what occasion when by Creation Of the Tachygraphy of the word Earl Of the Antient Titular and Created Earls little difference Of Local and Personal Earls here in England SECT V. Of Viscounts Sometimes considered as Equal sometimes of a lesier degree then an Earl Two sorts in England why the Hereditary Viscount interpos'd to Earl and Baron Of the first Created Viscount in England of the Parliamentary dignity of the one and Official Dignity of the other SECT VI. Of a Baron Of the word Baron the Baronial Tenures were the foundation of the Superior Tenures and Degrees Of Contributions to the King from Barons Spiritual Barons how Exempted from Contributions Of several other sorts of Barons The advantages of Created Barons CHAP. VI. Of the Writ to Princes of the Blood Royal. Of the Writ to Edward Earl of Chester Eldest Son to King Edward the 2d Anno 15. Ed. 2. And the Writ to James Duke of York 13. Car. 2. Compar'd Observations on both Writs A Recital or Numeration of the Exemplars of Earls Princes and Dukes of the Blood from Edward the 2d to this Parliament 1661. Observations on the Title of York the Consimilar to the Duke of York Observations on the Consimilars CHAP. VII Of the Writ to the Arch-Bishop and Bishops with Observations Reasons for incerting this Exemplar in this Place shewing that the Idolatrous Jews brought in Paganism into Britain manag'd by Druids and Bards after by Arch-Flamins and Flamins which were Pagan Priests Afterwards Christ Himself or his Apostles or Disciples or some of them brought in Christianity into Britain Bishops had Eleven several Titles according to several Regions given to the first managers of Christian Religion All included in the Word Bishop as Inspector or Father Of the Antiquity of the word Bishop Aristobulus the first Bishop of Britain who were his Successors Of King Lucius his message to Pope Eleutherius and the Popes answer about the first ordering of Christian affairs in Britain Of Linus the first Bishop of Rome and his Successors till the time of Lucius and Eleutherius all subsequent to Aristobulus The Amity between the Bishop of Britain and the Bishop of Rome in that time without any discord about Supremacy Afterwards the Bishop of Rome assum'd the Title of Pope and also a Supremacy to Britain and planted their Dependents there some small Endeavours to oppose it but Fruitless Of several Laws made to lessen the Power and Revenue of the Pope in Britain from the 9th of Hen. the 3. to the 5th of Hen. the 5th Of other wayes us'd by Hen. the 8th from the 9th of his Raign till his death in support of his Supremacy What Countermines were us'd by the Pope Historical passages from Hen. the 8ths Death to the dissolution of this Parliament Anno 1678. against and for the Papal Interest Of the the Titles of Defensor Fidei Supremum Caput how Vs'd disus'd and alter'd from the 12. of Hen. the 8th to the 13. Car. 2d Of Writs to Bishops before and in Edward the 2ds time having both the same and a greater Extention of Power than what is given in the Writs to the Lords Temporal and so to the 31. and 36. of Hen. the 8th and the 13. of Car. the 2d how they continued and alter'd some Observations on the old Writs Of the first Writ in the first Pawn of the 21. Pawns now remaining in the Pettibag Observations on that Pawn Of the 2d Pawn there Of the 3d. Pawn there Of the Pawn of this Parliament begun the 8th of May 1661. wherein Bishops were Omitted though entred in all former Pawns and the reasons of that Omission Of their Writ of Restitution in the same year Aug. 1661. and where Recorded Of their Consimilar Writs Fifteen Observations on their Writs and Temporal Employments CHAP. VIII Of the Writ to the Lord Chancellor Of the Original of the Office of Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper and of the Discription of them Antiently distinct but now Vnited Of their different Seals Of their eminent Imployments Seates and Stations in the Lords Houss Of his single Writ of Summons as Assistant and of his other Writ if otherwise dignified The Office antiently dispos'd of to Ecclessiasticks and of later years wholly to Laicks Of some difference between the Warrant and Writ to Sr. Edw. Hide The form of the Writ Observations on this Writ and the nature of the Office CHAP. IX Of the Writ to the Earl of Southampton Lord Treasurer of England and to the Nobles not of the Blood Of the form of the Writ to the Lords Temporal Observations upon it that the Degrees of Nobles viz. Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons and Titles of the Officers of State are still intermixt in the Writs with some of those fiue Degrees Which of these Degrees are usually made Exemplars Of the Antiquity of the method us'd herein Of their Consimilars Observations concerning the various applications of the Titles Chevaleer Dominus Miles Eques Auratus Bannerettus CHAP. X. Of Patents of Creation enabling the Lords Patentees to sit in Parliament The difference between Writs and Patents and advantages of Patents what the word signifies Patents of 3. sorts viz. of Confirming Reviving and Creating that is given where none was before The form of those 3. sort of Patents Their ellegant preambles The Patents consisting of 4. parts Of the distinct form of the Patents to Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons impowring them to sit in Parliaments Of the Confies of Antient Patents Of Creation money Of the difference in the former and late value of moneys CHAP. XI Of Lords and Peers Of the words Dominus Pares or Lords and Peers what the words signifie When Peers us'd in France and of their number there when in England and of their number there Of the words Praelates Magnates Proceres how to be appy'd Who properly called Peers how placed in the Lords House the words Generally applyed and promiscuously us'd the number increase or decrease according to the pleasure of the King a Corrollary on the Subject CHAP. XII Of Proxies in the Lords House Of the word Procurator Proxie Proctor considered as distinct appellation Proxie only proper in the Lords House Licenced by the King and to whom and sometimes denied A
Proxies double vote when Proxie made sometimes before and sometimes in time of Parliament and how many allow'd the Antient way to be Licenced upon any petition to the King Of the Licence where to be entred Of Tacit Licences Of the form of Licences at this day for a Lord Spiritual as also for a Lord Temporal how to be return'd Of the Titles which intitle Proxors and Proxes to be such The difference of Proxe Writs before the siting of a Parliament and after Prorogations How long they continue Of their places in the Lords House CHAP. XIII Of Assistants in the Lords House The Assistants are generally professors of the Laws the vertues arising from that Profession it is the path to wisdom How call'd Laws The antient way of distributing them The benefit of good Laws in any State The Revenues Honors Profits Places and other Rewards given to the Professors of them Intituled Justices and Judges c. Divided into 3 Orbs or degrees The several sorts of Laws in which they are to be conversant of the Titles of the chief professors 1st Of the Chief Justice of the Kings Bench with general observations on his Writ of Summons to Parliaments Of his Patent and Jurisdiction 2ly Of the Master of the Rolls with observations on his Patent and Writ and Office Of the chief Justice of the Common Pleas with observations on his Patent Writ and Jurisdiction 4ly Of the Lord chief Baron with observations on his Patent Writ Jurisdiction 5ly Of the 3 other Justices of the Kings Bench 6ly Of the 3 other Justices of the Common Pleas 7ly Of the 3 other Barons of the Exchequer with observations on their Writs Patents and Jurisdictions 8ly Of the Kings Sergent at Law with observations on their Writs Patents and Imployments 9ly Of the Kings Atturney General of his Writ Patent and Imployment 10ly Of the Kings Solicitor General of his Writ Patent and Imployment 11ly Of the Kings Principal Secretaries of State of their Writ Signet Precedencies Imployments and Influence CHAP. XIV Of Accidental Writs of Summons Of Antient Writs to Justices of North-Wales Treasurers of Wales Arch-Deacons Eschetors c. and of late to several Officers of the Kings Court and to the Lord Chief Justice to supply the Lord Chancellors or Lord Keepers place in case of sickness c. CHAP. XV. Of Returns of Writs Of the manner of returning all the forementioned Writs different from the return of Writs concerning the House of Commons CHAP. XVI Of Masters of Chancery That they sit in the Lords House without Writ or Summons How they were Imploy'd antiently and how in latter times of the word Magister and how apply'd CHAP. XVII Of the Clerks of the Lords House Some by Patent sit there but none by Writ others neither by Patent or Writ but ex Officio Of the several sorts of Clerks Imploy'd in the House of Lords and in Trials of Peers c. CHAP. XVIII Of the Gentleman Usher of the Black-Rod When and how Instituted and how Imploy'd CHAP. XIX Of the Kings Sergeant at Arms. Of their Antiquity how different from Sergeant at Law or other Sergeants of their Number and nature of their Imployments both in time of Parliament and out of it CHAP. XX. A Corollary to this first part of the Constitution of Parliaments Shewing what is intended to be spoken of in the following parts of this Treatize Observations on the Names and Titles of our English Kings THe Learned Mr. Selden having bestowed an Excellent Addition to Libraries by his book of the Titles of Honour and Sr. Edward Cook thinking it a necessary part of his Institutes for a Student to be well vers'd in the several Titles of our Kings and knowing that the substance flowing from those Titles are the chief Subjects which are handled in Parliaments I think fit to give a light touch by way of Preface to the seueral words of the Title in the Kings Warrant as also in the Title of his Latin Writs which are mentioned so often in the following discourses viz. Charles the Second by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. Carolus Secundus Dei Gratia Rex Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Defensor Fidei c. First It may be observed that all our Kings before and since the coming in of the Normans have been Usher'd into that Regal Dignity by their Christian Names whereof from that time we have Ten several Appellations viz. One Stephen 1 John 1 Mary 1 Elizabeth 1 James 2 Williams 3 Richards 6 Edwards 8 Henrys 2 Charles but of all these Ten Names Charles must have the Honour of Priority given to it To prove this I shall trace their Progresses through Empires Kingdoms Principalities and States under Secular Governours not medling with Ecclesiastical and first of the Name Carolus or Charles Concerning which I shall not goe so far back as Charellus Prince of Lacedemon but since Christianity was first Charles I find that the Name Charles or Carolus for they are agreed to be the same had its first splendor from Charles Surnam'd Martill a French King in Anno 714. who was the first that had the Title of Most Christian King and from whom came Caroloman and Charlemain in Anno 778 and after viz. in Anno 800 the Name of Charles went into the Empire and in Anno 1119 into Flanders In Anno 1150 into Swethland In Anno 1263 into Naples and Sicily In Anno 1310 into Hungary In Anno 1346 into Bohemia In Anno 1601 into Scotland King Charles the first being there Born And in Anno 1625 into England the same Charles being then King so as our Present King Charles the 2d Immediate Heir to Charles the 1st is the Second King of that Name in England and Scotland and that Name of Charles is the first of any of the aforesaid Ten Names affixt to any Diadem in Europe Edwardus or Edward Edward began but in the time of Edward the Elder who was the 24th King of the Saxon Race and 25th Monarch of England And he in Anno 901 gave the first reputation to it In Anno 1332 it went into Scotland And in Anno 1334 Carried into France by our Edward the third who laid Claim to that Crown And in Anno 1433 it went into Portugal continuing still in England with some interpositions of other Names till Queen Mary came to the Crown in Anno 1553. Henricus or Henry began in the Empire of the East Henry Anno 919 and in Anno 1101 came into England from thence Anno 1192 it went into Bohemia thence Anno 1206 to the Emperour then at Constantinople in Greece In Anno 1214 to the Kingdoms of Leo and Castile In Anno 1271 to the Kingdom of Navarr In Anno 1422 carried into France by our Henry the 6th who was then Crown'd in Paris King of France And in Anno 1573 it went into Poland so as this Regal Name of
to amuse the World about Grebners Prophecy viz. that Carolus E stirpe Caroli Erit Carolo Magno Major but none can pretend to a greater interest in that Prophecy then our present King Charles the 2d being so punctually and Signally ex stirpe Caroli How ever I am sure nothing can be more particularly Prognostical and Applycable to any Regal Charles then this following Anagram to him being made when he was born Prince of Wales which I have ever since kept safe by me CHARLES PRINCE OF WALES Anagram AL FRAVNCE CRIES O HELP VS As to the uses which shall be made on these regal Names their Progresses and Anagrams being not the proper Subject of this place I shall refer them to my Annotations and proceed to Observations on the Warrant of another Nature THE INTRODUCTION Shewing how a Parliament CONSISTS Section I WHen Families increast into Villages Towns Cities large Countreys Kingdoms and Empires under one Father or Conductor for all other Governments are collateral to Paternal and Monarchical there was a necessity to Constitute a Supream Council of the chiefest and wisest men selected from the multitude as might keep such extended Dominions in a perfect Unity and Obedience to their Original Father or Monarch The end of this Constitution was both for Conservation of the Original Family or Potentate who did thus Constitute them or for his own ease in managing the common interest of Safety and Plenty That their proceedings in their Councils might have the more solemn Effects and Veneration several Nations in imitation have since given distinct names to their Supream Council erected as distinctions to those which were more Subordinate Thus the Jews from whom we derive our most credible Memoires of Antiquity had their Supream Council called the Sanhedrim consisting of secular Persons viz. One Prince as their chief Head besides Seventy others of mixt natures they had also another great Council altogether Ecclesiastical called a Synagogue and other lesser in the nature of our Convocations and sometimes all did meet at the great Sanhedrim which was only kept in Jerusalem and this was the Supream Council as may be seen in the 26th ch of Jeremiah v. 8. who was condemned by the Ecclesiastical Consistory of Priests and absolved by the Temporal or great Sanhedrim of Princes or chief Council as may be more fully seen in that Chapter and in the Jew's Antiquities And to pass the Ariopagus among the Athenians we read that the Old Romans also had their Great Council called a Senate consisting of 300. Laicks chosen out of the Nobiles Majores Minores and their Consistoriani where their Senate did sit and their Comites and Consistoriani as Members thereof did somewhat resemble the Constitution of a Parliament they had also a Pontifical Colledge consisting of Ecclesiasticks but the name of Senate at Rome hath been long since drown'd since the fall of that old Roman Empire for at Rome the name of Senate is now altered into that of Consistory and in the vacancy of the Pope or See of new Rome it is called a Conclave and now the Empire of Germany which did arise from the ashes of the old Roman Empire being shiver'd into several Proprietors lest it should grow again too great was brought to a Dyet for so the chief Council of that Empire is called Yet the old State of Venice still keeps the name of Senate for her great Council and the chief Council in France is called an Assembly of States But here in England we have the name of our chief Council from Romans Saxons Normans and lastly from the French for it hath been called by those Senatus Curia altissima Michel Synoth Assisa Generalis and many more names some of which I think fit to render in English viz. Senate the great Synod or meeting of the King and of the Wise-men the highest Judicatory the General Pleas the Great Court the Common Council of the Kingdom and the General Assize At last in the time of Henry the Third or Edward the Second all these Names were reduced to the word Parliament which was then borrowed from the Language and Name of the chief Councils in France in many of which Provinces and Parliaments our Kings had then a considerable interest I do here mention that the Original of this Name did begin with us in Henry the Third or Edward the Second's time but Sir Edward Coke in his Institutes is pleas'd to cite one Precedent before the Conquest When saith he the word Parliament was here us'd but it seems it did not continue a fix'd name of Parliament from thence for at the great Council held by Henry the First at Salisbury consisting of the three Estates viz. Lords Spiritual Lords Temporal and Commons it is called by the Name of Council and not Parliament as some other Writers have mistaken However it was not us'd again till once in Henry the Third's time as some say but we are certain that it was us'd in the 15th of Edward the Second as I shall shew from safe Records and after Edward the Third was Crowned King of France then and ever since this great Council of the whole Kingdom hath without variation gone by the Name of Parliament And though as that learned Institutor observes That the French Parliaments were lesser Courts subject to the Assembly of Estates yet that Assembly of Estates was but originally a grand Parliament constituted of those lesser Estates or Parliaments and those did anciently consist of Lords Temporal Commons and Clergy for in that rank they are cited by Comines Comines p. 226. an approved Author However since the 15th of Edward the Second we have not altered its name only a little in Orthography which hath made work for that learned Institutor and other grave Writers on this Subject about its Etymology so by Example of those Worthies I may venture to cull out one intending to speak of the rest in my Annotations viz. Parliament i. e. a Parly of minds and to this Etymology I may add this definition That our Parliament consists of a certain number of Men of certain Degrees and Qualities Summoned by Writs from the King to meet together in some place appointed by those Writs to parly or confer their minds to each other for the good of the Publick This Definition will be more fully proved in this following Treatise yet before I confirm it at large I think fit to give a brief and intelligible Explanation of it in relation to a Parliament here in England To that end I shall first set down the Nature of our Monarchical Government and then we shall more easily understand the Constitution of our Parliaments It is generally held That the frame of this Monarchy consists of a King and of three Estates subordinate to him The first Estate mentioned in all our Acts of Parliament is Spiritual and Ecclesiastical govern'd by the Lords Spiritual and this Estate hath Jurisdiction over the whole Kingdom not only considering
Which Schedule or digest they keep fairly ingrost in Parchment as a Record in this Office and this Record is then entituled the Parliament Pawn and hath no other Name which is as they say the awarding of several Writs for a Parliament And this methodical Record is very ancient as may be collected by comparing this with those which remain in the Pettibag And with the like Endorsments are the Clause Rolls in the Tower but there are no more Pawns at present in this Office than from the 21 of Hen. 8. to this of the 31 of Car. 2. making twenty in all Formerly these Pawns or Records some time after the dissolution of every Parliament as will be shewn were carried to the Inrolment Office and then among many other Parliamentary Matters of weighty concern transcrib'd into Parchment Rolls and from thence for more safety carried to the Tower of London where they lost the name of Pawns and were and are still call'd Parliament Clause or Close Rolls which I mention because I shall have often occasion in this Treatise to recite such Clause-Rolls wherein the Pawns were for the most part inserted or endors'd And in respect I do not find that any who have writ before me of Parliaments have taken notice of those Parliament Pawns although they are Recorded and kept in the Pettibag an ancient Office of Record I have cull'd out one of the twenty and made it the foundation of the whole Scheme of this Treatise That there are no more Parliament Pawns in the Pettibag than as I said from the 21. of Hen. the 8th to the 13. Car. 2d this reason may be given that when they were again Enroll'd and transmitted to the Tower or Rolls Chappel it might be thought needless to preserve them in respect that from Ed. the 2. d. to Ed. the 4. th Inclusive they are safely kept inroll'd among the Records in the Tower and from Ed. the 4th to the 21 of Hen. the 8. Exclusive they are kept safe amongst the Records in the Rolls Chappel and from the 21 of Hen. the 8th to the 13 Car. 2d they are preserved amongst the Records in the Pettibag Office and of these which remain in the Pettibag that of the 31 of Hen. the 8th is much defaced and interlin'd but that of the 21 and all the rest from the 36 Hen. 8. are farely ingrost and Legible and Tyed up in one great Bundle the last of which made up for this Parliament of 13 Car. 2d is here Verbatim Transcribed In which for want of Application to the Heraulds the Clerks have Committed many mistakes I suppose by long discontinuance of Methodical Parliaments not being well instructed viz. In the Titles of the Lord Stourton Lord Vaux Lord Wharton Lord Pagit Lord Shandois Lord Stanhop Lord Charles Howard Ld. Roberts Ld. John Pawlet Ld. Coventry Ld. Frances Seymour Ld. Bruce Ld. Newport Ld. Colpeper Ld. Gerrard Ld. Langdale Ld. Hollis Ld. Cornwallis Ld. Delamare Ld. Townsend Ld. Ashly Ld. Crew and some others which shall be rectified in the 4th part of this Treatise However I thought fit to follow the Record Verbatim except in the Marginal Figures and Notes which I have added with Recommendation of Care for the future viz. the 13. Car. 2d is here verbatim transcrib'd CHAP. II. The Copy of the Parliament Pawn of the 13. Car. 2d Anno tertiodecimo Caroli secundi Regis CAROLUS secundus Dei gratia Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Rex Fidei Defensor c. Praecharissimo dilecto Fratri suo Jacobo Duci Ebor'um Albaniae magno Admirallo suo Angliae Salutem Quia de Advisamento Assensu Concilii nostri pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernent ' quoddam Parliamentum nostrum apud Civitatem nostram Westm ' octavo die Maii prox ' futur ' teneri ordinavimus ibidem vobiscum ac cum Magnatibus Proceribus dicti Regni nostri Colloquium habere tractatum Vobis sub fide Ligeantia quibus nobis tenemini firmiter injungen'd mandamus quod consideratis dictorum Negociorum arduitate periculis imminentibus cessante excusatione quacunque dictis die loco personaliter intersitis nobiscum ac cum Magnatibus Proceribus praedictis super dictis Negociis tractatur ' vestrumq ' Consilium impensur ' hoc sicut nos honorem nostrum ac Salvationem defensionem Regni Ecclesiae praedict ' expeditionemque dictorum negotiorum diligitis nullatenus omittatis T.R. Teste Rege apud Westm'd decimo octavo die Februarii Anno Regni sui tertio decimo CONSIMILE Breve dirigitur Praecharissimo Consanguineo suo Ruperto Duci Cumbriae T. ut supra Consimile REX c. Archiepiscopo Cant ' c. Consimilia Archi ' Ebor Episcop ' REX praedilecto perquam fideli Consiliario suo Edro ' Dno ' Hyde Cancellar suo Angliae salutem Quia c. Ut supra usq ' tractatum tunc sic vobis mandamus firmiter injungen'd quod omnibus al'pretermissis praedict die loco personaliter intersitis nobiscum ac cum caeteris de Concilio nostro super dictis negotiis tractatur ' vestrumq ' consilium impensur ' hoc nullatenus omittatis T. ut supra REX Praecharissimo consanguineo suo Thomae Comiti South'ton Thesaurario Angliae Salt'm Quia c. ut supra usque tractatum tunc sic Vobis sub fide Ligeancia quibus nobis tenemini c. ut supra T. ut supra CONSIMILIA Brevia diriguntur Personis subscript ' sub eodem dat' Videlt ' Praecharissimo Consanguineo suo Consimilia GEorgio Duci Bucks Carolo Duci Richmond Georgio Duci Albermarl Exercituum suorum Generali Dukes Three JOhanni Marchioni Winton ' Marquesses Four Edro ' Marchioni Wigorn ' Will'o Marchioni Novi Castri Henr ' Marchioni Dorcestr ' CHarissimo Consanguineo suo Montague Comiti Lindsey magno Camerario suo Angliae Earls Fifty five Jacobo Comiti Brecon ' Senescallo Hospitii Edro ' Comiti Manchester Camerario Hospitii Alberico Comiti Oxon ' Algernon ' Comiti Northumbr ' Francisco Comiti Salop. Carolo Comiti Derb ' Johanni Comiti Rotel ' Will'o Comiti Bedford ' Philippo Comiti Pembr ' Montgomeri Theophilo Comiti Lincoln ' Carolo Comiti Nott ' Jacobo Comiti Suff ' Ric'o Comiti Dors ' Will'o Comiti Sarum Joh'i Comiti Exon ' Joh'i Comiti Bridgewater Rob'to Comiti Leic ' Jacobo Comiti North'ton Carolo Comiti Warr ' Will'o Comiti Devon ' Basil'Comiti Denbigh ' Georgio Comiti Bristol ' Lionell'Comiti Midd ' Henrico Comiti Holland Joh'i Comiti Clare Olivero Comiti Bullingbrooke Mildmay Comiti Westmerland Thomae Comiti Berks. Thomae Comiti Cleveland Edr'o Comiti Mulgrave Henr ' Comiti Monmouth Jacobo Comiti Marlborough Thomae Comiti Rivers Henrico Comiti Dover Henrico Comiti Stamford Henr ' Comiti
Transcript of the Act of Predency 31. Hen. 8. Cap. 10. The Act of Precedency 31. Hen. 8. Cap. 10. FOrasmuch as in all great Councils and Congregations of men having sundry Degrees and Offices in the Common-wealth it is very requisite and convenient that an order should be had and taken for the placing and sitting of such Persons as been bound to resort to the same To the intent that they knowing their places may use the same without displeasure or let of the Council Wherefore the Kings most Royal Majesty although it appertaineth to his Prerogative Royal to give such Honors Places and Reputation to his Counsellors and other his Subjects as shall seem best to his most Excellent Wisdom He is nevertheless pleas'd and contented for an Order to be had and taken in this his most High Court of Parliament that it shall be Enacted by Authority of the same in manner as hereafter followeth First It is Enacted by Authority aforesaid That no Person or Persons of what Estate Degree or Condition soever he or they be of except only the Kings Children shall at any time hereafter attempt or presume to sit or have place at any side of the Cloth of State in the Parliament-Chamber neither of the one hand of the Kings Highness nor of the other whether the Kings Majesty be there Personally present or absent 2. And forasmuch as the Kings Majesty is justly and lawfully Supream head in Earth under God of the Church of England and for the good exercise of the said most Royal Dignity and Office hath made Thomas Lord Cromwel and Lord Privy Seal his Vicegerent for good and due ministration of Justice to be had in all Causes and Cases touching the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and for the Godly reformation and redress of all Errors Heresies and Abuses in the said Church It is therefore also Enacted by Authority aforesaid That the said Lord Cromwel having the said Office of Vicegerent and all other Persons which hereafter shall have the said Office of the grant of the Kings Highness his Heirs or Successors shall Sit and be plac't as well in this present Parliament as in all Parliaments to be holden hereafter on the right side of the Parliament-Chamber and on the same Form that the Archbishop of Canterbury sitteth on and above the same Archbishop and his Successors and shall have Voice in every Parliament to assent or dissent as other the Lords of the Parliament 3. And it is also Enacted That next to the said Vicegerent shall sit the Archbishop of Canterbury and then next to him on the same Form and side shall sit the Archbishop of York and next to him on the same Form and side the Bishop of London and next to him on the same side and Form the Bishop of Durelme and next to him on the same side and Form the Bishop of Winchester and then all the other Bishops of both Provinces of Canterbury and York shall sit and be plac't on the same side after their Ancienties as it hath been accustomed 4. And forasmuch as such other Personages which now have or hereafter shall happen to have other great Offices of the Realm that is to say the Offices of the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Lord President of the Kings Council the Lord Privy Seal the Great Chamberlain of England the Constable of England the Lord Marshal of England the Lord Admiral the Grand Master or Lord Steward of the Kings most Honourable Houshold the Kings Chamberlain and the Kings Secretary have not heretofore been appointed and ordered for the placing and sitting in the Kings most High Court of Parliament by reason of their Offices It is therefore now Ordained and Enacted by Authority aforesaid That the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Lord President of the Kings Council and the Lord Privy-Seal being of the Degrees of Barons of the Parliament or above shall sit and be placed as well in this present Parliament as in all other Parliaments hereafter to be holden on the left side of the said Parliament-Chamber on the higher part of the Form of the same side above all Dukes except only such as shall happen to be the Kings Son the Kings Brother the Kings Vncle the Kings Nephew or the Kings Brothers or Sisters Sons 5. And it is also Ordained and Enacted by Authority aforesaid That the Great Chamberlain the Constable the Marshal the Lord Admiral the Great Master or Steward and the Kings Chamberlain shall sit and be placed after the Lord Privy-Seal in manner and form following that is to say every of them shall sit and be placed above all other Personages being of the same Estates or Degrees that they shall happen to be of that is to say the Great Chamberlain first the Constable next the Marshal third the Lord Admiral the fourth the Grand Master or Lord Steward the fifth and the Kings Chamberlain the sixth 6. And it is also Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the Kings chief Secretary being of the Degree of a Baron of the Parliament shall sit and be placed above all Barons not having any of the Offices aforementioned and if he be a Bishop that then he shall sit and be placed above all other Bishops not having any of the Offices before remembred 7. And it is also Ordained and Enacted by Authority aforesaid That all Dukes not afore mention'd Marquesses Earls Viscounts counts and Barons not having any of the Offices aforesaid shall sit and be placed after their Ancientry as it hath been accustom'd 8. And it is further Enacted That if any Person or Persons which at any time hereafter shall happen to have any of the said Offices of Lord Chancellor Lord Treasurer Lord President of the Kings Council Lord Privy-Seal or chief Secretary shall be under the Degree of a Baron of the Parliament by reason whereof they can have no interest to give any assent or dissent in the said House That then in every such case such of them as shall happen to be under the said Degree of a Baron shall sit and be placed at the uppermost part of the Sack in the midst of the said Parliament-Chamber either there to sit upon one Form or upon the uppermost Sack the one of them above the other in order as is above rehearsed 9. Be it also Enacted by Authority aforesaid That in all Tryals of Treason by Peers of this Realm if any of the Peers that shall be called hereafter to be Tryers of such Treason shall happen to have any of the Offices aforesaid that then they having such Offices shall sit and be placed according to their Offices above all the other Peers that shall be call'd to such Tryals in manner and form as is above mention'd and rehears'd 10. And it is also Enacted by Authority aforesaid That as well in all Parliaments as in the Star Chamber and in all other Assemblies and Conferencies of Councils the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Lord President the Lord
Rewards in store which they conferr'd proportionably to their Services and such Rewards were purposely reserv'd for such as had either given good Counsel or followed it by venturing their Lives and Fortunes for preservation of the Empire and some such Orders were made in our Edw. the 3ds time and confirmed by many Successive Councils as may be read in Sir Edw. Coke and Judge Dodridge 12. There are also other lesser Councils besides what I mentioned before as the Common Council of London and the like though not for number in other Cities which relate only to the Government of those Cities and Counsellors at Law and the meeting of such degrees as are qualified for that purpose are called in some of the Inns of Court Parliaments which relate only to matters of Law and Government of their Societies and Councils of War and Trade and many of these are great Assistants and often imploy'd both in the Privy and publick Council of the Kingdom 13. I have been the longer on this subject because all the Degrees hereafter mentioned are Members either of the Kings Privy Council or the Parliament or both yet their Writs of Summons are not singly Conciliario but by annexation to those Degrees which are capacitated to be Counsellors but the Degrees mentioned in the Act of whom I treat next are constantly of the Privy Council or Parliament but there are only some of the Parliament which are of the Privy Council by which means matters are more easily manag'd between the King the Privy Council and the Parliament the one constantly Sitting the other Summon'd only upon Emergencies of State which latter being thus Constituted it may well be call'd Magnum Concilium Animarum or a Council of Souls rather than Bodies so as the King may say with Cicero Conscientia conciliorum meorum me Consolatur i. e. The knowledge and Conscientious concurrence of minds or Souls for so Conscientia sometimes siguifies and integrity of my Counsellors are my Consolation 14. In the first Chapter I have shewn the List of the Privy Council who gave their Advice as t is said in the Warrant for Summoning the Parliament to begin the 8th of May 1661. and all but one of them had Summons and did sit in the Lords House or were Elected for the Commons House yet it may be observed that Prince Rupert was Summon'd as Duke of Cumberland The Duke of Laderdale being a Scotch Lord was not Summon'd till he was made Earl of Gilford some years after The Duke of Ormond was Summon'd as Earl of Brecknock in Wales the Lord Anthony Ashly Cooper was chosen a Burgess of Dorsetshire for the House of Commons but his Writ was time enough to sit in the Lords House Sir Charles Berkley Knt. was chosen a Burgess in Somersetshire and soon after made Lord Fitz Harding an Irish Title and so continued in the House of Commons to his death Sir George Cartret Knt. and Bar. was chosen Burgess for Portsmouth and continued in the Commons House to the end of that Parliament Sir Edward Nicholas Knt. was Summon'd to the Lords House but Sir William Morrice was chosen Burgess for Plymouth and continued with the Commons to his death Now I proceed with the chief of such as are for the most part of the Kings Privy Council mention'd in the Act and do with others of lesser Degreees Constitute both the Privatum and Magnum concilium or Parliament SECT III. Of the Princes of the Bloud IN this Act the King by vertue of his Kingly Office for so is the word in the Act and Prerogative Obs I. having power to give such Honors Places and Reputation to his Counsellors and other his Subjects as shall seem best to his most Excellent Wisdom especially to his Council or Parliament gives the Priority of all Places and Precedings to these following seven Degrees of the Bloud-Royal viz. 1. to the Kings Son first entituled Prince of Wales in the 11. Edw. the 3d. 2. to the Kings Children 3. to the Kings Brother 4. to the Kings Uncle 5. to the Kings Nephew 6. to the Kings Brothers Son 7. to the Kings Sisters Son all of these have Title of Earls or Dukes and any one of these where others in priority are wanting are to be accounted the first in their own seven Degrees and are Prior to the 5 following Degrees which comprehend all the Lords Temporal and these as they happen to be more or less have their distinct Writs as also their proceedings to all or any other Degrees either Spiritual or Temporal Official or Hereditary of whom I shall speak more in the following Sections and Chapters but if there be a failour of any of these or that they are absent from Parliaments in respect of Minority or otherwise then some of the Lords Spiritual have precedency to the Lords Temporal as will be shewn All that were Summon'd of this Degree to this Parliament were only the Duke of York the Kings Brother and Prince Rupert his Sisters Son Sect. Cap. 2. Fig. 1. and 2. SECT IIII. Of the Kings Vice-Gerent or Vicar-General Obs THe words of the Act are That forasmuch as the Kings Majesty is justly and lawfully Supream Head on Earth under God of the Church of England and for the good Exercise of that most Royal Dignity and Office viz. of Supream Head of the Church hath made Thomas Lord Cromwel who was not only Lord Privy Seal as in the Act is exprest but Master of the Kings Jewel-House Baron of Okham Knight of the Garter Earl of Essex and Lord Great Chamberlain 2. His Vice-Gerent for the good and due administration of Justice to be had in all Causes and Cases touching the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and for the Godly Reformation of all Errors Heresies and Abuses in the said Church so as he injoy'd Dignities and Offices of a mixt nature Ecclesiastical and Civil and thereby was placed above all the Lords Spiritual and above all the Lords Temporal of the following Degrees and not only in respect of his Temporal Dignities but as Vice-Gerent in Ecclesiasticals had power given him and to his Successors in that Office to sit above those Degrees in Parliament and to have a Voice and Liberty to assent or dissent as other Lords 3. But there hath been none imploy'd in this Office since that time as needless I conceive for the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in their Provinces and the Bishops in their Diocesses have ever since in a manner suppli'd the Duty of that Office under their own Titles and by their own Jurisdictions especially the Archbishop of Canterbury who is rankt in the next place in this Act and in all Pawns except this where some of the Bloud Royal are not exemplars SECT V. Of the Arch-Bishops and Bishops Obs I THE Title of Bishop is more ancient than the Title of Christian as I shall shew in the seventh Chapter however it became more general after Christianity spread it self The word comes from the
determin Causes yet appealable to the Lord Chancellor 5. There are other Masters of Chancery call'd Extraordinary and six Clerks of eminent Quality and other Clerks imployed both in the Chancery and Rolls but these are not Summon'd to Parliaments of whom I shall speak more but in in those capacities which I have mention'd the Master of the Rolls as Master of the Rolls or chief Clerk of the Pettibag or both or chief Master of Chancery or in all three Capacities he is very Assisting to a Parliament especially in the business of Summons c. For as I have shewn in Cap. 2. whenever the Kings Warrant is sent to the Lord Chancellor to issue out Writs for a Parliament his Lordship either sends it or a like Warrant to the Master of the Rolls who as chief Clerk of the Pettibag causeth the other Clerks of the Office to ingross all the Writs both for the House of Lords and House of Commons so as they may be fit for the Great Seal and these being thus done and fairly abstracted and ingross't into a Roll which is call'd the Parliament Pawn and lies there as a Memorial and Record of what they have done and as a President for the future all the particular Writs mention'd or intimated in that Pawn being fitted are carried to the Lord Chancellor and being in his presence Seal'd they are immediately delivered to Messengers belonging to the Chancellor who do take care to dispose some to the Persons to be Summon'd for the Lords House and others to the respective Sheriffs of all Counties and Comitated Cities for Elections of such as are to sit in the House of Commons and so the Master of the Rolls and the Clerks of the Pettibag having done all their parts and the Messengers and Sheriffs theirs the same Writs which concern the Lords House are or ought to be return'd to the Clerk of the Lords House at the first Sitting and the Writs for Elections are to be return'd by the respective Sheriffs to the Clerk of the Chancery Crown Office and not to the Pettibag as hath and will be shewn for they come no more there till some time after Dissolution of a Parliament and then for ease of that Office and more safely preserving them they are order'd to be carried to the Rolls and from thence to the Tower all which will be more fully shewn which method I often repeat in this Treatise because I find it so much neglected As to the Imployment of the other Eleven Masters of the Chancery in time of Parliament I shall shew it in a distinct Chapter This Master of the Rolls doubtless hath been anciently Summon'd to Sit in the Lords House yet I find no Writs issued to him till the 36th of Henry the Eighth and then as Master of the Rolls not as chief Master of Chancery and after that he was Summon'd to all Parliaments except the 39th of Eliz. and first of King James and in this very Parliament a Writ was prepared for him but being Elected a Member of the House of Commons his attendance was not requir'd in the House of Lords for what reason I know not but he hath his place whenever he Sits there next to the Lord Chief Justice of England upon the second Woolsack as will be shewn in the Chapter of Places The Consimilar Writ to the Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas THE Patent which invests this Chief Justice to his Imployment in this Office is in haec verba Carolus c. Omnibus ad quos Patentes Litterae nostrae pervenerint salutem Sciatis quod Constituimus dilectum fidelem Orlandum Bridgman Militem Capital'Justitiarium nostrum de Banco suo Duran ' bene placito Teste c. Observations HIS Writ of Summons to Sit in Parliament is also Capitali Justitiario nostro de Banco mutato nomine in all other words agreeing with the Exemplar and here it may be again observed to prevent vulgar misunderstandings That the Lord Chief Justice of England is Chief Justice of the Kings Bench or upper Bench and this is Chief Justice of the Common Bench and sometimes one is call'd Chief Justice of the Pleas of the Crown as in the Latin words De placitis Coronae and this Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas or Communia Placita yet in the Latin Writ it is de Banco so as both Courts are call'd Bancks or Benches and both call'd also Courts of Pleas in respect of Pleas or Pleadings one properly concerns the King in matters Criminal the other concerns the Pleas or Pleadings of the Commonalty or Common People among themselves in matters Civil and one also is call'd the Upper Bench the other the Common Bench and therefore what ever the Patent or Writs are yet for an easier distinction I here intitle one the Chief Justice of the Kings Bench the other Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas 2. As for the names Bench or Banc Pleas or Placita I refer them to my Annotations 3. The Chief Justice hath three more Justices to assist him in this Court 4. That which makes the eminency of this Court is That only the learned Serjeants of the Coife of whom I shall speak in order being the next Degree to Judges do Plead in this Court yet not prohibited from Pleading in all other Courts but all other Graduans of Law have the liberty to Plead in all other Courts but not in this 5. The Pleas of this Court cannot be so well ascertain'd as that of the Kings Bench because the Pleas held by Common Persons or between Subject and Subject are devided into as many Branches as Actions and the Actions into as many Causes as there are variety of Contests in the Kingdom yet all these Actions Causes and Contests are included under three notions Real Personal and Mixt which are here tried as they happen according to the strict Rules of Law As for Personal and Mixt Actions they are tried in other Courts but Real Actions are only Pleadable here nor are any Fines of Concord which is observable levied in any Court but this so that as Sir Edward Coke saith the Motto of this Court may be Haec est finalis Concordia 6. Upon these and other considerations the necessity of requiring Assistances from the Justices of this Court may appear For as the Justices of the Kings Bench may acquaint the Lords with what concerns the King so the Justices of the Common Pleas may most properly acquaint them with what concerns the People whereby Laws for either may be corrected repeal'd or made de novo as shall be thought most expedient 7. The Justices of this Court are not concern'd in the managing of any Summons to a Parliament as the Lord Chancellor and Master of the Rolls are Of the Consimilar Writ to the Chief Baron of the Exchequer THE Title of this is different from the two Chief Justices for his Pattent is thus Carolus c. Omnibus ad quos Patentes Litterae nostrae pervenerint Sciatis
quod constituimus Matthaeum Hale Militem Capitalem Baronem Scaccarij nostri duran ' bene placito Teste c. Scaccarius being that which we call Exchequer But his Writ of Summons to a Parliament is with this addition Dilecto Fideli Matthaeo Hale then as in the Exemplar Writ omitting Durante hene placito and so in all the Assisting Writs because the continuance of a Parliament as I said is but Durante Placito Regis therefore needless to insert it Observations THIS Chief Baron hath four more Barons to assist him in his proper Court of the Exchequer whereof the puisne or youngest made Baron of the four is not an Itinerant Justice nor accounted in the number of the Twelve Judges 2. These Barons are not such as are before mention'd of the next Degree to Viscounts in the Lords House nor such as are meerly Barons by Courtesy or Barons of Court Barons or Barons of the Cinqueports of whom I shall speak more when I treat of them in the House of Commons but are great Officers of Justice and so his Writ calls him Baro Scaccarij or Baron of an Officiate Place but the Writ to the noble Baron before mention'd is to an Hereditary Place viz. Johan Nevil Baro de Abergaveny and so to others of that Degree 3. Some think they were call'd Barons because the Court of Exchequer was anciently manag'd by noble Barons but as Okham saith that these Barons were to be Majores Discretiores c. being either cull'd out of the Clergy or Laity or the Kings Court and for many ages the chief of these five Barons was call'd as now both in his Patent and Writ Capitalis Baro and generally is Intitled the Lord Chief Baron the other four Barons do assist him in all matters between the King and his Subjects in cases properly appertaining to Assize Exchequer or the Kings Revenue 4. He is the chief Judge of that Court in matters of Law as also of Informations of any abuses therein and of Pleas upon them and solely gives order for Judgment wherein the Lord Treasurer thinks not fit to concern himself 5. He alone without other Barons in Term time Sits in Afternoons at Guild-hall upon Nisi prius upon cases which arise in London and cannot be dispatch't in the Mornings he takes Recognizances of Debt Appearances and Observances of Orders he takes the Presentations of all Offices unto himself and causeth an Oath to be given to the Lord Mayor of London He takes Audits Accounts c. in his absence and sometimes to ease him the second and third Baron hath the like power and the fourth takes the Oath of Sheriffs and as I said the three first of the five have constantly their Writs of Summons to a Parliament yet the fifth is also of good use in that Office but hath no Writ of Summons as the other 6. That which is most observable of this Court is that all Cases of great difficulty in the Kings Bench or Common-Pleas are still Adjourn'd to the Exchequer Chamber and there with the Barons Debated Argued and Resolved by all the Twelve Judges whereof the four first Barons make four of the Twelve 7. This Court consists of two parts the upper Exchequer and the lower the upper is that wherein these Barons do execute their Justice but herein the Lord Treasurer as Supervisor may Sit as oft as he pleaseth however once in every Term he seldom fails to Sit and hear Matters but the lower Exchequer is chiefly under the care of the Lord Treasurer the Offices of upper and lower being distinct yet both of them considered jointly under the Title of the Exchequer do include eight Courts or Offices viz. A Court of Pleas in some manner like the Kings Bench and Common-Pleas Secondly The Court of Accounts Thirdly The Court of Receipts Fourthly The Court of the Exchequer Chamber being for the Assembly of all the Judges of England as I said for Matters in Law for special Verdict Fifthly The Court of Exchequer Chamber for Errors in the Court of Exchequer Sixthly The Court of Exchequer Chamber for Errors in the Court of Kings Bench Seventhly The Court of Equity in the Exchequer Chamber Eighthly That which was but is not now call'd a Court yet is an Office much of the same nature and of as great concern as some of the other Intituled the Remembrancers Office of the first Fruits and Tenths who takes all Compositions and makes out all process for such as do not pay the same so that the business of this Court and inclusive Courts and Offices doth imploy above 200. Officers and Clerks 8. From which may be computed what variety of business this Court doth afford to a Parliament though not in the troubles of Summoning it yet by bringing in and issuing out of Money which are the Nerves of a Kingdom and Arteries of a Parliament so as the Progresses of this and the inclusive Courts do occasion more Debates in Parliament than what ever do arise from the Chancery Rolls Kings Bench or Common-Pleas Having done with the first Orb or Rank of Degrees of such Professors of the Law as are Summond to Parliaments consisting of five viz. Lord Chancellor Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench Master of the Rolls Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and Lord Chief Baron I shall proceed to the second Orb or Rank of Degrees usually Summon'd and these are three Justices of the Kings Bench three Justices of the Common Pleas and three Barons of the Exchequer whose Writs are also Consimilary to that of the Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. The Consimilar Writ to the three Justices of the Kings Bench. EACH of these Justices have their distinct Patents in these words 1. Carolus c. Omnibus c. Sciatis quod constituimus c. Tho. Mallet Militem unum Justitiariorum suorum ad placita coram c. Teste c. 2. His Parliament Writ hath also the same words in the Dative Case Vni Justitiariorum suorum 3. Tho. Twisden Miles had his Patent and Parliament Writ in the same words Vnum Vni 4. Wodham Windham had also his Pattent and Writ in the same words Vnum Vni Of the Consimilar Writs to the three Justices of the Common Pleas. 1. ROB. Hide Mil. had his Patent of Constituting him Vnum Justiciarium suorum and his Parliament Writ Vni Justitiariorum 2. Tho. Tyrrill Mil. had the like Patent of Constituting him Vnum and his Parliament Writ Vni 3. Samuel Brown Mil. had the like Patent of Constituting him Vnum and his Parliament Writ Vni Of the Consimilar Writs to the three Barons of the Exchequer 1. EDward Atkins Mil. had his Patent of Constituting him Vnum Baronum de Scaccario and in his Parliament Writ Vni Baronum de Scaccario 2. Christopher Turner Mil. had the like Patent of Constituting him Vnum and his Parliament Writ Vni 3. This place was vacant so but eight of the nine Judges
were Summon'd to this Parliament at the time of Summoning Observations 1. ALL their Patents and Writs except the mutation of their Names and Titles are verbatim the same especially in the words Vnum Vni viz. one of the Justices signifying that they were all so equally presum'd to be just that they are rendered to us rather by an Unity than a Priority viz. by one and one and not by 1 st 2 d. 3 d. and 4th yet in the 30th and 39th of Eliz. and 1. Jacob. I find the word alter next to Capitalis Vnus in the Kings Bench and Common Pleas only but in the Exchequer in the 43. Eliz. next Capitalis Baro is Secundus tertius Baro. 2. Of these fourteen which are of the first and second Rank of the Professors of the Law two of them are properly Judges of matters of Equity viz. the Lord Chancellor and Master of the Rolls the other Twelve are call'd the Twelve Judges of the Common-Law the two Judges of Equity have been constantly Summon'd to Parliaments except as I have shewn but as to the Twelve sometimes all and sometimes but some of them are Summon'd according to the Kings Pleasure or the vacancy of their Places or imployed in their Itinerances I need not begin higher than Henry the 8. and then there were nine Summon'd and the 30th of Henry the Eighth twelve the 36th of Henry the Eighth but six the first of Edward 6th nine the 6th of Edward the Sixth nine the 7th of Edw. 6th but seven the first of Mary but eight the first of Mary but five the first and second of Phil. and Mary but 6. the second and third of Phil. and Mary 8. the 4th and 5th of Phil. and Mary but eight the 28th of Eliz. eleven the 30th Eliz. eleven the 35th Eliz. twelve the 39. Eliz. eleven the 43. Eliz. ten the first of James the full number of 12. but in respect of the changing of them before the Parliament sate there were two Writs made for the several Judges before the Parliament sate the 21. Jac. eleven the first Car. primi twelve the 15th Caroli primi eleven and the 13th Caroli Secundi also eleven as I said accounting the two Chief Justices and chief Barons in all these years 3. In all these Writs I do not so much trust to the several Pawns as to the Writs themselves where I doubt of any mistakes in the Clerks 4. To conclude this Section as in all the Judicial and Equitable Courts before mention'd there are distinct Jurisdictions and methods of managing the concerns of their respective Courts so in many things there are also excellent intermixtures and concurring Authorities of their Courts and Powers whereby they make up the Harmony of Justice as in cases of Consult in the Chequer Chamber Writs of Error and other matters which I have hinted and whoever will take a full survey not only of their Jurisdictions but of the number of their Clerks Attorneys or other Officers of various Appellations belonging to their respective Courts may think that they are so many Principalities within our Kingdom and thereby see how necessary it is for these Assistants who have so great influence over the whole Kingdom to be Summon'd to this Supream Judicatory to Advise either the Corroborating the old Laws or altering them or making new where there is just occasion as I have shewn of Reviving Correcting or inlarging them according to the fluctuations of Affairs which not only happens in this Kingdom but in all other Kingdoms and States so as Laws are still suited to the tempers and dispositions of those who are to be govern'd for Tempora mutantur nos mutamur in illis there being a secret confederacy between time and human affairs which can scarce be discovered the time was is and to come being so nice that the future reverts into a Prae-existence that to an existence and so into a circular perpetuity of notional gradations And thus having as briefly as I could dispatch't the first and second Orb of Professors of Law I proceed to the third which consists of the Kings Serjeants at Law the Kings Attorney General his Solicitor General and his Secretaries Of the Consimilar Writs to the Kings Serjeants c. I Am now to treat of the third Orb or Degrees of the Professors of the Law viz. the Kings Serjeants at Law the Kings Attorney General the Kings Solicitor General and the Kings Secretaries and some others of the Kings Council upon emergent occasions These Serjeants at Law in the Latin appelation are call'd Servientes ad Legem for Serjeant and Servant are the same only differing by a vulgar Pronunciation or the Idiom of our Language which often renders an A. for an E for properly Servant ought to be writ Servient from Servio to Serve or from Servare to Keep so as they may be said to be as well Keepers of the Laws as Servients to the Law As these are Servientes ad Legem so there are another sort of which I shall speak who are Attendants in the Lords House call'd Servientes ad Arma but Cedant Arma togae therefore I proceed to Serjeants at Law The Gradations to this Title are thus attain'd viz. After the young Students of the Law have continued Seven Years in the Inns of Courts and have done their Moots or Motus ad Literarum and other exercises they are called or admitted to plead at the Bar of any Court except the Common-Pleas and are thereupon called Barresters and thereby also gain the Title of Esquire And after that they are promoted to be Readers of Law in the Inns of Chancery whereof there are eight viz. Cliffords-Inn Lions Clements Barnards Staple Furnivals Davis and New-Inn which are dependent on the four Inns of Court viz. the Inner Temple Gray's-Inn Lincolns-Inn and the Middle-Temple in some one of which they are to be Benchers and Readers also and thus they are to pass seventeen Years in their Studies before they can arrive to the dignity of a Serjeant or Serviens ad Legem but after they have perform'd their Readings the King taking notice of their Proficiencies doth by his Writ call a certain number of them to take upon them that Dignity and the reason of making a number of ten or more at one time is because the charge to each may be the less because almost no Dignity in any Profession especially of Law is usher'd in with greater State Ceremony and Charge than this Degree as may be read in Fortiscue de legibus Angliae Crooks Reports c. The Form of which Writ for Electing of a Serjeant is in haec verba CArolus Secundus Dei gratia as in other Writs Fideli nostro I. M. Mil. Salutem Quia de advisamento concilij nostri ordinavimus vos ad statum gradum Servient ' ad Legem immediate post receptionem hujus Brevis nostri Suscipiend'Vobis Mandamus firmiter injungend'quod vos ad statum
return of Writs concerning the House of Commons the method consists of much trouble and perplexity not only from the time of the executing the Writs but in undue returns as will be shewn in their proper place This Chapter concluding all the Patents and Writs of Summons and Returns which concern the Lords House by vertue of which the Persons so Summon'd by Writ do sit there now I must speak of such as sit there without Patent or Writ of Summons and first of the Masters of Chancery CHAP. XVI Of the Masters of Chancery THE Secretaries of State did bring up the Rear of the State Officers and now the Masters of Chancery do bring up the Rear of the Assistants and though I have spoke something of the Master of the Rolls partly as chief of the twelve Masters of Chancery yet there he was considered as Master of the Rolls or Records rather than one of the twelve Masters of Chancery whereof as I said he is the chief and these twelve are called Masters in Ordinary 2. For there are also other Masters in Chancery called Extraordinary which are of an uncertain number according to the businesses of the respective Counties wherein they are imployed 3. As for the twelve they usually are chosen out of Barresters of the Common Law or Doctors of the Civil Law and eleven of them do sit in the Chancery or in the Rolls as Assistants saith Sir Edward Coke to the Lord Chancellor and to the Master of the Rolls every day throughout each Term of the year and to them are committed Interlocutory Reports and stating of Accounts and sometimes by way of reference to them they are impowr'd with a final Determination of Causes there depending 4. These twelve have time out of mind sat in the Lords House yet have neither Writs nor Patents for many Ages past impowering them so to do but I conceive as the Master of the Rolls is as is said by that Institutor an Assistant to the Lord Chancellor the remaining eleven may fairly be said to be Assistants both to the Lord Chancellor and Master of the Rolls in all or most Matters depending in both or either Courts and so Virtute Officij they are inclusively capacitated by the Writs to the Lord Chancellor or Master of the Rolls to be Assistants to them in the Lords House as they are in Chancery without any particular VVrit or Patent to them 5. Anciently this Title was higher than what Sir Edw. Coke affords them for I find in an old Manuscript in the hands of Sir J. C. one of the Masters but I have not the opportunity of searching the Records therein mentioned Intitutled De Cancellario Angliae ejus Cojudicibus de authoritate eorum and then follows viz. In dicta Curia Cancellarij sunt ordinati duodecem Cojudices viz. Magistri sive Clerici de prima forma ad Robas which in the 13. Chap. I call the first Orb pro Arduis negotis Regis Regni Reipublicae expediendis which agree verbatim and 't is observable with the very words of all Writs of Summons to Parliaments eidem Cancellario omnino assistentes secum continuo consedentes which in a manner Intitles them to sit in the Lords House with him and many other matters are mentioned therein which I shall refer to my Annotations because I cannot now warrantably insert them but I find in other Books that anciently they had the care of inspecting all Writs of Summons to Parliaments committed to them which is now as I have shewn performed by the Clerks of the Pettibag 6. As to the Title of Maister from Magister and from Magus a Wiseman it is as ancient as most of our borrow'd words from the Latin and was still apply'd to Persons of Knowledge and other Abilities above the Degrees of Yeomandry Amongst the old Romans as may be read in Livy Pomponius Aurelius and others they had twelve great Officers to whom that Title was given viz. Magister Populi or Dictator Magister Equitum Magistri Census Magister in Auctionibus Magistri Epistolarum Magistri Memoriae Magistri Militum Magister Navis Magistri Officiorum Magistri Scriniorum Magister Curiae Magistri Aeris and many more of a lesser Rank for I speak not of Magistri Familiae or Privatae or as the word is vulgarly applied to its relative word Servant but as a Title applied to Persons of Eminency for their Integrity and Learning and of these there are also twelve sorts with us which are found in the Law Books whereof the first we meet with in the Statutes is the Master of the Mint in 2 H. 6. c. 14. 2. the Master of the Rolls in the first of H. 7. Cap. 20. for till then he was call'd Clerk of the Rolls or Custos Archivorum and chief Clerk of the Chancery of which there are twelve as I said since which six chief Clerks and a greater number of a lesser Form are there Constituted whereby they are distinguisht from the ancient Clerks now the 12. Masters of Chancery which may be accounted the Third sort in point of time mentioned in the Statutes the Fourth The Master of the Horse in the first of Edw. the Sixth the Fifth The Master of the Postern in 2 Edw. 6. the Sixth The Master of the Kings Houshold in the 32 H. 8. chang'd to the Lord Stuard of the Kings Houshold Charles Duke of Brandon being the first of that Title mentioned in any Statute the 7th The Master of the Court of Wards in the 33 of Hen. the 8. now of no use the Eighth The Master of the Musters after in the 33 Eliz. called Muster Master General the 9.10.11.12 viz. The Master of the Armory the Master of the Kings Jewels the Master of the Ordinance and Master of the Kings Wardrop are mentioned in the Statute of 39 Eliz. not but these Officers were before but the Statutes as I said do not take notice of them till the times that they are quoted in the said Statutes 7. Now as the old Romans had others which had the Titles of Magistri viz. Magistri Vniversitatis vel Societatis so we in imitation at Cambridge have the Title of Magister fixt at the head of every College in that University which is an argument of their Antiquity of which I shall speak more whereas Oxford hath but three which bear that Title 8. It is also applied to the Heads of Halls of Companies in London and other Cities and it hath been formerly applied to all the Members of the House of Commons who were not actually Knights or Esquires or of higher Degrees but in the House of Lords I do not find it used to any to whom Writs of Summons were sent to sit there except to some Priors and Deacons who were sometimes called Magistri in their Writs and others of Religious Orders call'd also in their Writs Magistri as also to Officers in Chancery viz. 49 Edw. 3. Magistro Thomae Yong Officiario
Curiae Cancellariae but whether it was the same Office which is now executed by the Masters of the Chancery Non Constat however they were then under the notion of Clerks in an Ecclesiastical sence but as Writs were sent to Clerks or Ecclesiasticks with the Title of Magister so in Henry the Fourths time and not before there were Writs sent to Laicks with that Title and those were Persons of high Quality viz. in the 2.3 and 6. Hen. the 4th Magistro Thomae de la Ware sometimes call'd Ware and Warre to attend those Parliaments and the same Thomas was also Summon'd to the Parliaments of the 1.2.3.4.5.7.8 and and 9. of Hen. the 5th Magistro Tho. de la Ware and so to the 1.2 and 3. of Hen. the Sixth but in the second Parliament of that year Mr. De la Ware was not Summon'd but one VVrit was Magistro Johanni Stafford Thes Angliae and another VVrit Magistro Willielmo Alremith Custod privati Sigilli But in the 4th and 6. of Hen. the Sixth both those were left out and the same Magistro Tho. de la Ware Summond again and for brevity passing to the 36. of Hen. the Eighth and then it was expressly Roberto Bows Mil. Magistro sive Custod Rotulorum Cancellariae being then also chief of the twelve Masters of Chancery However Sir Edw. Coke saith they are Assistants to the Lord Chancellor or as the Manuscript saith Cojudices and thereupon ex Officio do sit in the Lords House and the antiquity of the Places allotted them there as will be shewn and their Imployments in every Parliament makes their attendance a kind of Praescription And now I proceed to such as sit in the Lords House by Patent only without Tenure VVrit or Praescription CHAP. XVII Of the Clerks of the Lords House HEre I am to speak of such as have places allowed them in the House of Lords by vertue of Patents only and first of the Clerks This Title of Clerk from Cleros when the Clergy had by reason of their great learning the guidance of Civil Offices was given as an honour to them and most of the great Offices as the Privy Seal Master of the Rolls c. had the Titles of Clerks but now that Title remains to a lower sort of which there are 26. in number who still retain that Title The first as to the Progresses of Parliament is the Clerk of the Pettibag which is under the Conduct and within the Patent of the Master of the Rolls who is the chief of all the Clerks in the Lords House of which Office I have spoke in that Section of the Rolls and in other places 2. The Clerk of the Crown in the Chancery call'd Clericus Coronae in Cancellario in his Patent of whom I have also spoke cursorily in several places is an Officer to whose care many great things are committed which may be read in Compton and others but as to what concerns this Subject I must again remind that all Parliament VVrits which are sent from the Pettibag are return'd and kept by the Officer so that the Pettibag gives as it were the beginning this the continuance and ending to a Parliament So as this Clerk of the Crown hath three Capacities Before the Sitting of a Parliament to receive returns of VVrits which were issued from the Pettibag And in Parliament to take care according to directions for the issuing of Writs in case of change or mortality And in the Lords House he first reads the Titles of all Bills to be presented to his Majesty of which and other parts of his Duty I shall speak more 3. The third Clerk is term'd in his Patent Clericus Parliamentorum because he is Clerk in all Parliaments during his life his imployment here being only conversant about the Affairs of Parliament Now in respect that all Bills and Matters of State have here their result in the Lords House he is the proper Keeper of such Records for the Lords House is a Court of Record and to that end his Books are fairly writ exactly compos'd according to the very words and sence of that House and constantly perus'd by some Lords appointed for that purpose as well for his own justification as others satisfaction He hath also an Assisting Clerk allowed him who is of great use and ease to him both of them being well grounded in learning experience and ability in the safe expediting the concerns of that House which hath both an Ocean of VVisdom and curious Rivolets of Honorary punctilios not to be omitted by them somewhat different from all other Courts he hath also a Reading Clerk allowed him who likewise attends the Lords Committees and these are all the Clerks which constantly attend in the Lords House and are within the Bar. 4. Of the Clerks of the House of Commons I shall speak in the second part 5. As I have shewn the Imployments of the Clerks of the Crown Office in Chancery so to prevent misapplications it is fit to shew the Imployments also of the Clerk of the Crown Office in the King's Bench who is no constant attendant in this House or in the House of Commons but only upon contingencies and then by Order but more especially in the Lords House for producing reading and managing Records concerning VVrits of Error Habeas Corpus c. of which I shall speak in order but his most eminent Imployment is upon the Tryal of Peers as will be shewn Of the 26. Clerks before mention'd who still retain that Title these five which I have named are the chief which are imployed in Parliamentary Matters but of the other 21. which may be seen in Lambert Fitz Herbert c. neither the six Clerks in Chancery being Officers of Eminency imployed in that Court bearing that Title nor are the other Clerks which are imployed also in that Court in the least as I know of ingag'd in the Fabrick of Parliaments Note that those five Clerks whom I first mention'd have places allotted them within the Bar of either House as I said And now I must speak of other Attendants of another nature viz. the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and the Serjeant at Arms. CHAP. XVIII Of the Gentleman Vsher of the Black Rod. THere are but three ways by which the House of Lords do send any Message to the Commons of two of them I have spoken viz. by some of the Judges or by some of the Masters of Chancery and the King also uses two ways viz. by his Secretaries or some of the Privy-Council when they are Members of the House of Commons both upon ordinary and extraordinary occasions or for attending his Person upon Addresses c. But when he hath occasion to Command the House of Commons to attend him in the House of Lords he only sends this Officer the manner of which Ceremony I shall shew in order He is call'd the Black Rod from the Black Staff or Rod about three foot long tipt with