or Vessell of Wine vented by others was also fined and imprisoned and made satisfaction to the parties grieved 50 Edw. 3. Rot. Parli numb. 33. and more than this a Bill was preferred by the Commons in this Parliament that such as should set new Impositions should have Judgement of life and member 50 Edw. 3 Rot. Parliament num 191. in Arch. Turris These examples strook such a terrour at that time as from the time of King Edw. 3. till the Reign of Queen Mary being a hundred and fifty years and upwards there was no man found that would advise the King of England to set or levie any Impositions upon Merchandizes by Prerogative and therefore we find no Imposition laid upō Merchandizes all that space of time Queen Mary indeed began to set on foot this Prerogative again and laid an Imposition of three shillings and eight pence upon every Cloth transported out of the Kingdome but what doth the Lord Dyer report 1 Eliz. f.165 the Merchants of London saith he found themselves greatly grieved and made exclamation and sute to Queen Elizabeth to be disburthened of that Imposition because it was not granted by Parliament but assessed by Queen Mary her absolute power these frequent Petitions complaints and exclamations these suspensions and remitalls of Impositions are good arguments say they against the right of this Prerogative CHAP. XXI The Answer to the third Objection THis Objection consisteth of several parts and shall recieve an Answer consisting of divers parts the first part of this answer King Edw. 1. being a prudent and resolute Prince did not onely impose the three pence upon the pound upon Merchant Strangers by his Charta Mercatoria but justified and maintained that Imposition during his life True it is that after his death King Edw. 2. it was repealed as is before objected but whose Act was this by whom was this Ordinance made which did repeal this Charter not by the King and his Parliament but by certain rebellious Barons who took upon them the Government of the Realm and called themselves Ordainers Wherefore King Edw. 3. in the first year of his Reign did revive that Charter and commanded by his Writ that the Customes and Duties therein contained should be collected and levied to his use He maketh mention of these Ordinances of 5 Edw. 2. and saith the same were made per quosdā Magnates and not by the King as appeareth by the Record 1 Edw. 3. Rot. fin memb. 30. in Arch. Turris which in another place before I have recited by which Record it likewise appeareth that those Ordinances 5 Edw. 2. were before that time repealed and made void and therefore that which was done in that time of that unfortunate Prince over-ruled by his unruly Barons is not to be urged and used as an example especially since they that urge this repeal of Charta Mercatoria might if they would find any thing which makes against their contradicting humour find in the said Roll of Ordinance made in 5 Edw. 2. divers Arcles wherein those Ordainers did wrong and wound the Prerogative in matter of greater importance than in the repeal of that Charter for they might have found among the same Ordinances these things ordained First that the King should not make gifts of Lands Rents Franhises Wards or Escheats without the consent of the Ordainers Secondly that all gifts and grants formerly made by the King not only of Land and other things in England but in Gasconie Ireland and Scotland should be resumed and made void Thirdly that the King should not depart out of the Realm nor make Warre without the assent of his Barons and of his Parliament That because the King was misguided and counselled by evill Counsellers it was ordained that all his Counsel should be renewed and new Officers and Servants appointed for him These traiterous Ordinances were made against the King at that time and therefore it is a shame that any part of these Ordinances should be made an argument against the right of the Crown in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes for with the same reasons they might argue the King had no right to grant his Lands Rents Wards or Escheats that he might not go out of the Realm nor make Warre nor choose his own Counsellers or Servants without an Act of Parliament and it is manifest that those factious Barons did cause the King to forego the said Impositions rather ad faciendum populum and to gratifie the Cōmons and to draw them to their party than for the good of the Cōmon-wealth for if they had been good Counsellers they would have done as the Senate of Rome did when Nero in a glorious humor to please the people would needs have discharged at once all Customes and Impositions the Senate gave him thanks for his favour towards the people but utterly diswaded him so to doe telling him that in so doing he would ruine the state of the Common-wealth for indeed no Common-wealth can stand without these duties they are Nervi they are succus sanguis Reipublicae and therefore no Cōmon-wealth was ever without them but the imaginary Common-wealths of Plato and Sir Thomas More for they doe both agree for in the Common-wealths of which they dream there was nothing to be paid for Merchandizes exported and imported But to return to King Edw. 2. what followed upon the Repeal of Charta Mercatoria and the discharge of Impositions which King Edw. 1. established was not that poor Prince King Edw. 2. enforced to take up great sums of money of his Merchants by way of loan which he never repaid again 11 Edw. 2. Rot. fin m. 12. whereby the Merchants received a greater detriment than if they had made a double payment of Customes and Impositions which the King had discharged and therefore the example of this weak Prince doth make but a weak argument against the right of the Crown in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes and here I think it fit to observe that they were all wise and worthy Princes which are spoken of in former ages to have laid Impositions upon Merchandizes namely Solomon in the Holy Land Iulius Caesar and Augustus Caesar in the Empire King Ed. 1. and King Ed. 3. in England but on the other part they which released all Customes and Impositions were but weak Princes and destroyed themselves and the Common-wealth wherein they lived namely Nero in the Empire of Rome King Edw. 2 and King Rich. 2. with us and truly by the rule of our Common Law the King cannot if he would release all Subsides and Aids of his Subjects that they should be for ever discharged of all Subsidies to be given to the Crown such a grant were made void and against the Law Secondly touching the Petitions exhibited to the King in sundry Parliaments against Impositions laid by that King upon Merchandizes upon view of the Record wherein these Petitions are contained with
touching the repeal of Charta Mercatoria by King Edw. 2 and the remit all of divers Impositions by King Edw. 3 upon sundry Petitions of the Commons in Parliament and the punishment of divers Persons in Parliament for procuring Impositions to be set up 106 CHAP. XXVII The Answer to the third Objection 110 CHAP. XXVIII The fourth Objection that the Prerogative is bound or taken away by divers Acts of Parliament 129 CHAP. XXIX The Answer to the fourth Objection 131 CHAP. XXX The fifth Objection that Tonnage and Poundage were never taken but when the same was granted by Parliament 140 CHAP. XXXI The Answer to the fifth Objection 141 CHAP. XXXII The Conclusion 146 CHAP. XXXIII A Comparison of the Impositions set and taken in England by the Kings Prerogative with the Exceptions and Gabells in Forein States and Kingdoms whereby it will appear that the Subjects of the Crown of England do not bear so heavy a burthen by many degrees as the Subjects of other Nations do bear in this kind 147 AN ARGUMENT UP ON The Question of Imposition digested and divided into sundrie Chapters by one of His Majesties learned Counsel in IRELAND CHAP. I. The Exposition and meaning of certain words which do shew the true state of the Question THe Question it self is no more than this Whether the Impositions which the King â—f England hath laid and levied upon Merchandize by vertue of his Prerogative onely without Act of Parliament be lawful or warranted by the Law of England By the word Imposition we mean only such rates or sums of money as the King by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England or Ireland hath set upon Merchandizes imported and exported and commanded the same to be paid and levied to His Majesties use over and above the Customes and Subsidies formerly due and payable for the same Merchandizes By the word Merchandizes we mean only such goods or Merchandizes as are transported over the Seas from one Realm or Dominion unto another to be sold or exchanged for reasonable gain or profit for upon the ingate or outgate of Commodities so crossing the Seas only Customes Subsidies and Impositions for Merchandizes are paid and taken and not for any Commodities carried too and fro by Sea and Land within one and the same Realm and Dominion By the Law of England we understand not only our customary Common Law and our Statutes of England which are Native and peculiar to our Nation only but such other Laws also as be common to other Nations as well as us have been received and used time out of mind by the Kings and people of England in divers cases and by such ancient usage are become the Lawes of England in such cases namely the generall Law of Nations and the Law-Merchant which is a branch of the Law the Imperial or Civil Law the Common or Ecclesiastical Law every of which Laws so far forth as the same have been received and used in England time out of mind may properly be said to be the Laws of England CHAP. II. Of the general Law of Nations or Jus Gentium and the force thereof in all Kingdoms that traffique and commerce is a principal subject of that Law and that it giveth power unto all Kings to take Customes and Impositions upon Merchandizes and that the Crown of England hath many Prerogatives annexed to it by the Law of Nations of which our Common Law taketh notice and doth admit and approve the same JUs Gentium or the generall Law of Nations is of equal force in all Kingdoms for all Kingdoms had their beginning by the Law of Nations therefore it standeth with good reason that the Law of Nations should be of force and of like force in all Kingdoms and for this cause in the Realms subject to the Crown of England the Law of Nations also is in force in such cases especially wherein the King himself or his Subjects have correspondence or commerce with other Nations who are not bound in those cases by the Municipall Laws of England Omnes populi saith Justinian qui legibus moribus reguntur partim suo proprio partim coÌ„muni omnium hominum jure utuntur nam quod quisque populus ipse sibi Ius constituit id ipsius proprium Civitatis est vocaturque jus Civile quod vero naturalis ratio inter omnes homines constituit id apud omnes homines plerumque custoditur vocaturque Jus gentium quasi quo jure omnes gentes utuntur and in the same place it is said Ius Gentium omni hominum generi coÌ„mune est exhoc Iure Gentium omnes pene contractus introducti sunt ut emptio venditio locatio conductio societas depositum mutuum c. And with this agreeth our Doctor and Student lib. 1. cap. 2. where it is said that Trade and Traffique is by the Law of Nations so that Commerce Trade Traffique for Merchandize between the people of several Nations and Kingdoms is a principal subject of the Law of Nations and therefore to that question that hath been made in England Whether the ancient Customes payable for Merchandizes did first grow due by our customary Common Law or Statute Law of England Why may I not answer that neither the Customary Law nor the Statute Law of England but the generall Law of Nations did first give these duties unto the Crown of England For as the Law of Nations was before Kings for Kings were made by the Law of Nations Ex jure Gentium Reges originem traxerunt saith Baldus So Kings were no sooner made by the Law of Nations but presently the same Law cum creatus fuerit Rex ei omnia regalia conceduntur competit omnibus Regibus jus imponendi quantum habet Begalia saith Baldus Vectigalia introduct a sunt à jure c. which is the Law of Nature or Nations Ideo non otiosased favoralia saith another Doctor did annex this Prerogative to their several Crowns Vectigalorigine ipsa jus Caesarum Regum partimoniale est saith another Inhaeret Sceptro saith another and therefore when our ancient British Kings took up Customes for Merchandizes transported into France as Strabo writeth Britanni vectigalia tollebant gravia earum rerum quas brevi trajectu in Galliam importabant Shall we presume they did it by Act of Parliament no for doubtlesse they did it by vertue of this Prerogative given unto them by the Law of Nations for Kings upon their first institution did greater things than this by their Prerogative without the consent of the people Vetusissima coronae jura ex singulari Regum decreto primitus orta saith a learned Doctor and at first saith Iustinian Arbitria Regum prolegibus fuere and so saith Halicarnassus lib. 3. Cicero offic. lib. 2. And truly as Customes and Impositions taken upon importations of Merchandizes being most properly called Vectigalia à mercibm evectis
no man shall be Sheriff two years together and that no Commission shall be granted or renew'd for the year following to him that hath been Sheriff the year before Was the Kings Prerogative bound by this Statute when hee granted the Sheriffwick of Northumberland to the Earle of Northumberland during his life with non obstante of that Statute 2 Hen. 7. fol. 6. Again the King hath no ancient and absolute power to grant dispensation for holding Ecclesiastical Benefices in CoÌ„mendum There is a Statute made 7 Edw. 3 in Ireland whereby it is enacted and declared that the Kings dispensation in this case shall be utterly void if it be not by Act of Parliament did this Statute so derogate from the Kings Prerogative and so restrain it that he might not only by his Letters Patents Grant CoÌ„mendamus before the Statute of 28 Hen. 8. in this Realm assuredly the Kings dispensation non obstante the Statute would have taken away the force thereof as if no such Law had ever been made There are manyother cases of like nature which I omit as for the particular Statutes before recited the words thereof are too generall to bind or restrain this Prerogative in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes First that Statute of Magna Charta doth give safe conduct to all Merchants to come and go and to tarry within the Realm and to buy and sell their Merchandizes sine malis tolneâ—is per antiqnas rectas consuetudines How do these generall words restrain the Kings Prerogative in this Case for the ancient Common Law of the Land which is the Common Custome of the Realm doth warrant and approve the Kings Prerogative in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes as before I have fully and clearly proved then a reasonable Imposition laid by the King is Antiqua rect a consuetudo warranted and approved by the Great Charter Secondly albeit King Edw. 1. by Act or Charter of confirmation of Charta Mercatoria made in Anno 25. of his Reign doth release the Maletolt of fourty shillings upon a Sack of Wooll and doth grant for him and his heirs that he will take no such thing without the assent and good will of the Commons That word such doth not absolutely bind the Kings Prerog. that he shall lay no Imposition at all for it is to be intended such in quantity such in excess for foury shillings at that time was as much as six pound at this day which the scarcity of money in those dayes being considered and compared with the plenty of money at this day might then be said to be a great burthen and yet this strong band doth not bind K. Ed. 3. his Grand-child but that notwithstanding this Charter or Act of Parliament he took these things in greater quantities sometimes fourty shillings sometimes fifty shillings upon a Sack of Wooll when the Philistins came upon him that is when the Wars of France and other urgent occasions did presse him to it as to the other Article contained in the Act or Charter of 25 Edw. 3. where it is said the people did fear left the Aids and Taxes granted of their good will to the King might turn to a bondage to them and their heires when the same in time to come should be found in the Rolls and the King did grant for him and his heirs That he would not draw such Ayds and Taxes into a Custome that Act in this point restraineth not the Kings Prerogative in setting Impositions upon Merchandizes for it speaketh only of Ayds and Taxes willingly granted by the people in Parliament therefore I marvell that this Article was ever objected or used as an argument against Impositions and whereâ—â— the King doth grant that such Ayds shall not be drawn into a Custome such words are usuall in the preambles of Acts of Subsidies where the grant is large and extraordinary viz. That it may not be drawn into an example that it may not be a president in future times and yet succeeding Parliaments have not forborn to grant as large Subsidies as formerly were granted Thirdly the Statute of 14 Edw. 3. cap. 12. doth rather maintain the Kings Prerogative in this case than any way impugne or impeach it for by that Law free passage is granted to all Merchants paying the Customes Subsidies and profits thereof reasonably due Now certain it is that all duties payable to the King for Merchandizes are of three kinds only Customes which are these ancient and certain duties wherein the Crown hath no Inheritance as is before expressed Subsidies which are granted by Act of Parliament and Impositions which are raised from time to time by the Kings Prerogative onely we find not a fourth kind and therefore the word Profits must needs be taken for Impositions Fourthly the Statue of 11 Rich. 2 cap. 9. though it provide in expresse terms that no Imposition or Charge be layd upon Wooll Wooll-fells or Leather other than the Custome or Subsidy granted in that Parliament yet it saveth alwayes to the King his ancient rights this was as turbulent a Parliament as ever was holden in England and yet was the Kings Right acknowledged though the unruly Lords and Commons did in a manner force his Assent to limit his Prerogative at that time Lastly if these Acts had absolutely bound the Kings Prerogative and had been observed literally and punctually untill this time the King should onely have had at this day the Demi mark for our own Staple Wares and perhaps the three pence Custome for Forein Commodities and no more What an inconvenience what an absurdity had this been at this day when all Forein Princes have raised their Customes to an exceeding height when as I have noted before the necessary expences of the Crown are so much encreased when the prizes of all Commodities are so much enhanced when there is so great a plenty of money in this part of the World when the Kings Revenue within the Land is so much improved Is it fit that Duties payable for Merchandizes should stand at a stay and keep the old rates without augmentation CHAP. XXX The fifth Objection that Tonnage and Poundage were never taken but when the same was granted by Parliament FIftly it is objected That the Subsidies of Tonnage and Poundage were never taken by any King of England but when the same were granted by Act of Parliament which is an Argument say they that the King could never take those duties but by his absolute power for if his Prerogative could have imposed those rates of it self what need was there of an Act of Parliament why should the King have expected the consent of the Commons cum Dominus eis opus habet and when the Exchequor were so empty as the Jewells of the Crown were layd to pawn by some of those Kings who were glad to take these Subsidies by Acts of Parliament CHAP. XXXI The Answer to the fifth Objection THe Answer to this Objection is twofold First
That which is objected is not true for Tonnage and Poundage have been taken by the Kings Prerogative without Act of Parliament Secondly If it had been true it is no Argument against the Kings Prerogative in this point for what is Tonnage but a certain sum of money payable for every Tun of VVine imported did not King Edw. 3 by force of his Charter Mercatoria without Act of Parliament take two shillings for every Tun of VVine imported by Strangers did not the same King set a new Imposition of Gauge viz. upon every Tun of VVine brought into London as is before expressed and are not the severall Impositions of VVines taken by His Majesty in England and Ireland a kind of Tonnage being nothing else but extraordinary rates imposed upon ever Tun of VVine and levied and taken by the Kings Prerogative Again was not the three pence upon the pound imposed by King Edw. 1. by his Charta Mercatoria a kind of Poundage and well nigh as great an Imposition as twelve of the pound granted at this day by Act of Parliament if we consider the Standard of Monies in the time of King Edw. 1. when a peny sterling did contain as much or more pure Silver as the three pence sterling doth contain at this day but admit that no Tonnage or Poundage had ever been taken but by grant in Parliament yet it is no Argument but that the King might impose the like or the same by his Prerogative for three particular reasons The first because these Subsidies were granted for maintainance of the Navy Royall the charges whereof were grown so great in the time of King Edw. 4. as appeareth by the Act of Tonnage and Poundage granted in the 12 year of that Kings Reign that it sufficed not nor in time to come was like to suffice or defray the charge of the Crown in keeping the Sea these are the words of that Act if then in the time of King Edw. 4. the Subsidy of Tonnage being three shillings upon a Tun of VVine brought in by Denizens and six shillings upon a tun brought in by Strangers and the Subsidy of Poundage or of twelve pence of the pound upon other Cōmodities was not then sufficient to bear the charge of the Royall Navy which was not comparable by many degrees in strength and beauty and multitude of Ships to the Kings Navie at this day Doth it stand with reason that the Crown should be stinted or limited ever after to take no more than those poor Subsidies granted at that time that the King should wait for a Parliament and pray an ayde of the Commons for a competent means to maintain the Walls of the Kingdom when by the Common Law of the Realm he may grant Letters Patents for Murage to maintain the Walls of a Corporate Town If any unexpected necessity should arise for repairing of the Navy Royall and making a Navall War should the King expect a Parliament for a greater Subsidy to bee granted by the Commons before he should rigge and make ready his Ships perhaps a Kingdom might be lost in the mean time as if a Pilot sitting at the Helm and seeing a sudden gust of wind would over-set the Ship or perceiving her to be running on a Rock should forbear to turn the Helm or cause the Sail to be stricken untill he had consulted with the Mariners or Passengers and demanded their consent or counsell in the businesse the Pilot himself with his Mariners and Passengers might be cast away before they were agreed what course to take Secondly these Subsidies of Tonnage and Poundage were first granted by Act of Parliament in the time of the Civill VVars between the two great Houses of Lancaster and York when the severall Kings were loath to make use of their Prerogatives but were glad to please their people and loath to impose any charge upon them but by common consent in those troublesome times Thirdly Kings and Princes oftentimes of their own noble nature and sometimes in policy do accept that of their Subjects as a gift which they might exact take as a duty and therefore our most potent and politique Kings have ordained and accepted many things in Parliament which they might have done in their private Chambers by their own prerogative without any other Ceremony who ever made doubt of the Kings Prerogative in establishing the Standard of monies and yet how many Acts of Parliament do we find touching Monies in the times of King E. 1. and King Edw. 2 the Kings Prerotative in making establishing Marshall Law was never yet in question yet are there Acts of Parliament touching Musters departures of Souldiers without their Captains Licences or the like The King only doth give Honours and places of precedency yet King Hen. 8. made an Act of Parliament whereby he rancked the great Offices of the Crown in their severall places as well in Council as in Parliament No man ever doubted but the King being the Fountain of Justice may erect Courts of Justice by his Prerogative yet we find the Court of Augmentations and the Court of VVards erected by Act of Parliament Lastly in the time of Edw. 2. we find an Act of Declaration of the principall Prerogatives of the Crown of England were most undoubted and clear yet His Majesty was pleased in his first Parliament to accept of an Act of Recognition CHAP. XXXII The Conclusion BY these reasons and demonstrations which are before expressed it is evident that the King of England by vertue of an ancient Prerogative inherent to the Crown and Scepter may justly and lawfully set Impositions upon Merchandizes and may limit and rate the quantity and proportion thereof by his own wisdom and discretion without Act of Parliament and this Prerogative is warranted and approved by the generall Law of Nations and the Law Merchant which is a principall branch of the Law of Nations by the Imperial Law the Ecclesiasticall Law and by the rule of the Common Law of England and by the practice of the most prudent Kings and Queens of England since the Conquest and that this Prerogative is grounded upon many excellent reasons and that the severall Objections made against this Prerogative are but shadows and colours of reason and clearly removed and washed away by the severall Answers thereunto CHAP. XXXIII A comparison of the Impositions set and taken in England by the Kings Prerogative with the Exceptions and Gabells in Forein States and Kingdoms whereby it will appear that the subjects of the Crown of England do not bear so heavy a burthen by many degrees as the Subjects of other Nations do bear in this kind ALbeit indeed the King of England being no Emperor and having all Imperiall Rights within his own Kingdoms hath and ever had as absolute a Prerogative Imponere vectigalia or to lay Impositions as the Emperor of Rome or Germany or any other King Prince or State in the world now have or ever had yet let
over and above the duties payable by Denizens for the same commodities which grant being made by the Merchants of every Nation not being incorporated and made a body politick is in respect of them of no force of the rule of the common Law until the Kings charter made it good and maintained it untill it was confirmed by Parliament 27 Edw. 3. which was fifty years after the date of the Charter upon the matter these duties payable by Merchant Strangers were onely Impositions raised and established by the Kings charter which Charter being made in England was after wards established exemplised under the Great Seal of England and transmitted into Ireland with a special Writ directed to the Officers of the Customes there to levy three pence of the pound and other duties mentioned in that Charter as appeareth in the Red Book of the Exchequer there by vertue of which Writ onely without Act of parliament the three pence of the pound and other duties were levied and paid to the Crown in Ireland CHAP. XII Of the ancient Customes payable for Wines called Prizage and Butlerage THe most ancient Custome payable for Wines is Prizage which is not any sum of Money but two Tunns of Wine in specie out of every Ship freighted with twenty Tun the one to be taken before the Mast and the other behind the Mast of the Ship and the price which the King himself did limit to pay was twenty shillings onely for every Tun as appeareth by an ancient Record of 52 Hen. 3. whereby we may conjecture what easie rates the King gave for the prizes of other Merchandizes This Custome of Prizage was meerly an Imposition for it could not be granted by the Merchants of Forreign Nations being no body politique as is before declared neither is there any Act of Parliament wherby our own Merchants did ever grant it unto the Crown This duty of Prizage was remitted unto the Stranger by the Charter of 31 Edw. 1. before mentioned and in lieu thereof by vertue of the same Charter the King before mentioned receiveth two shillings for every Tun of Wine brought in by Strangers which we now call Butlerage but Prizage is paid in Specie by all our own Merchants at this day the Citizens of London only excepted who having remissiō of Prizage by a special charge were charged with a new Imposition called Gauge viz. de quolibet dolio 1 d. de vinis venientibus London which was accounted Forreign Magno Rot. An. 1 Edw. 1. in the Office of the Pipe at Westminster the last of these Impositions which by the continuance have gotten the name of Custome was laid and imposed three hundred years since and have ever since been approved and are now maintained by the Common Law of England as the lawfull and ancient Inheritance of the Crown CHAP. XIII Of the ancient Officers which our Kings have created by vertue of their Prerogatives to search and over-see all sorts of Merchandizes and to collect the duties payable for the same AS our ancient Kings by vertue of their Prerogative without Parliament have laid the Customes or Impositions before expressed upon all sorts of Merchandizes exported and imported so by the same Prerogative have they ordained severall sorts of Officers to search and over-see those Merchandizes on which they had laid those Impositions namely the Gauger of Wines a high Officer is as ancient as the Imposition of the Gauge it self before mentioned the Alneger of the cloths which is more ancient than any Act of Parliament that makes mention of the cloths for there is a Record of 14 Edw. 2. in Archivis turris which speaketh of the Alneger the Packer of Woolls the Garbellor of spices besides the Officer of the Customes viz. the Customer Comtroller and Searcher all which Officers have ever taken Fees of Merthants both Denizens and Aliens not by grant of the Merchants or Act of Parliament but by vertue of their severall Patents granted from the King CHAP. XIV Of other Impositions besides the ancient Customes before mentioned laid upon Merchandizes by severall Kings and Queens since the Conquest some of which Impositions have been discontinued or remitted and some of them are continued and paid at this day and first of the Imposition set by King Edw. 1. over and besides the Customes spoken of before IT appeareth in the Record of the Exchequer of England That in 16 Edw. 1. an Imposition of four shillings was laid upon every Tun of Wine brought into England from certain Towns in Gascogine and Spain and at this day answered and compted for duty for the space of ten years untill the 26 Edw. 1. when it was remitted but during the Kings pleasure only it appeareth likewise 25 Edw. 1. by the Charter of the confirmation then made of the Great Charter that King Edw. 1. had for divers years before set and laid an Imposition of fourty shillings upon every Sack of Wooll exported which ad instantiam Communitatis he was pleased to remit which remittall was of meer Grace upon the Petition of the Commons after that Imposition had been laid many years before and it is to be noted that this Imposition of fourty shillings upon a Sack of Wooll was taken and levied above twenty years together after the new Imposition of the demi mark upon a Sack of Wooll which was set and established for that begun in 3 Edw. 1. and this Imposition of fourty shillings continued till 25 Edw. 1. which is a strong argument that the first establishment of the demi mark was not by a binding Act of Parliament with a Negative voice that no other duties should be taken for those Merchandizes as was surmized but was only a mitigation or reducement of a greater Custome paid before which was done of meer Grace upon some reason of State at that time CHAP. XV Of the Imposition set and taken by King Edward the second KIng Edward the second in the beginning of his Reign did as well take the ancient as the new Custome upon Wooll Wooll-fells and Leather which ancient Custom must needs be intended an ancient Imposition over and besides the demi mark which was then called the new Custome and this appeareth by a Record in the Tower 3 Ed. 2. Claus. memb. 16. where the King directeth his Writ collectoribus suis tam antiquae quam novae customae lanarum pellium corriorum and requireth them to pay certain Debts of his Fathers King Edward 1. out of their old and new Customes and a hundred thousand pound pro damnis occasione retardationis solutionis debitis c. and howbeit afterwards he being a weak Prince and misguided by ill Counsell and over-ruled by his unruly Barons was driven first to suspend the payments of his Customes of three pence the pound and other duties contained in Charta Mercatoria during pleasure only as appeareth by his Writs of Supersedeas directed to the Collectors of his