Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	council_n	parliament_n	privy_a	2,717	5	9.7040	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65176	Vox populi, or, The peoples claim to their Parliaments sitting, to redress grievances, and provide for the common safety, by the known laws and constitutions of the nation humbly recommended to the King and Parliament at their meeting at Oxford, the 21th of March.		1681 (1681)	Wing V729; ESTC R6049	10,228	18

the Realm shall choose and to strengthen and maintain them after his Power Thirdly These Laws are also in full agreement and oneness with Magna Charta it self that Antient Fundamental Law which hath been Confirmed by at least Forty Parliaments viz. We shall deny We shall defer to no Man Justice and Right much less to the whole Parliament and Kingdom in denying or deferring to pass such necessary Bills which the Peoples needs call for Object But to all this which hath been said it may be objected That several of our Princes have otherwise practised by Dissolving or as laterly used by Proroguing Parliaments at their pleasures before Grievances were Redressed and Publick Bills of Common Safety Passed and that as a Priviledge belonging to the Royal Prerogative Answ To which it is Answered That granting they have so done First it is most manifest that doth not therefore create a right to them so to do according to that known maxime a facto ad jus non valet Consequentia especially when such Actions are against so many express and positive Laws such Principles of Common Right and Justice and so many particular Tyes and Obligations upon themselves to the contrary Secondly But if it had been so yet neither can Prerogative be pleaded to Justify such Practices because the King has no Prerogative but what the Law gives him and it can give none to destroy its self and those it protects but the contrary Bracton in his Comments pag. 487. tells us That although the Common Law doth allow many Prerogatives to the King yet it doth not allow any Bracton p. 487. that He shall wrong or hurt any by His Prerogative Therefore 't is well said by a late Worthy Author upon this point That what Power or Prerogative the Kings have in Them ought to be used according to the true and genuine intent of the Government that is for the Preservation and Interest of the People And not for the disappointing the Councils of a Parliament towards reforming Grievances and making provision for the future Execution of the Laws and when ever it is applyed to frustrate those ends it is a Violation of Right and Infringment of the Kings Coronation Oath who is obliged to Pass or Confirm those Laws His People shall chuse And tho He had such a Prerogative by Law yet it should not be so used especially in time of Eminent danger and distress The late King in his Advice to his Majesty that now is in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 239. Tells him that his Prerogative is best shewed and exercised in Remitting rather than exacting the Rigor of the Laws there being nothing worse than Legal Tyranny Nor would he have him entertain any Aversion or Dislike of Parliaments The late King's advice to his majesty which in their right Constitution with freedom and honour will never Injure or Diminish His Greatness but will rather be as interchangings of Love Loyalty and Confidence between a Prince and his People It is true some Flatterers and Traytors have presumed in defiance to their Countries Rights to assert that such a boundless Prerogative belongs to Kings As did Chief Justice Trisilian c. in R. 2's time Advising him that he might Dissolve Parliaments at pleasure and that no Member should be called to Parliament nor any Act past in either House without His Approbation in the first place and that who ever advis'd otherwise were Traytors But this Advice you read was no less Fatal to himself than Pernicious to his Prince Bakers Chron. p. 147 148 and 159. King James in his Speech to the Parliament 1609. Gives them assurance That he never meant to Govern by any Law but the Law of the Land tho it be disputed among them as if he had an intention to alter the Law and Govern by the absolute power of a King but to put them out of doubt in that matter tells them That all Kings who are not Tyrants or Perjured will bound themselves within the limits of their Laws And they that persuade the contrary are Vipers and Pests both against them and the Common-wealth Wilson K. J. p. 46. The Conclusion 1. IF this be so That by so great Authority viz. so many Statutes in force The fundamentals of the Common Law the Essentials of the Government it self Magna Charta The Kings Coronation Oath so many Laws of God and Man the Parliament ought to sit to Redress Grievances and provide for Common Safety especially in times of Common Danger And that this is eminently so who can doubt that will believe the King so many Parliaments The Cloud of Witnesses the Publick Judicatures their own sense and experience of the manifold Mischiefs which have been acted and the apparent Ruine and Confusion that impends the Nation by the restless Attempts of a bloody Interest if speedy Remedy is not applyed Then let it be Queri'd Whether the People having thus the Knife at the Throat Cities and Habitations Fired and therein their Persons fryed Invasions and Insurrections threatned to Destroy the King and Subjects Church and State and as so lately told us upon Mr. Fitz Harris's commitment the present Design on Foot was to Depose and Kill the King and their only remedy hoped for under God to give them Relief thus from time to time Cut off viz. Their Parliaments who with so much care cost and pains are Elected sent up and Intrusted for their help turned off re infecta and rendred so insignificant by those frequent Prorogations and Dissolutions Are they not therefore justified in their important Cryes in their many Humble Petitions to their King Fervent Addresses to their Members earnest Claims for this their Birth-right here Pleaded which the Laws of the Kingdom consonant to the Laws of God and Nature has given them 2. If so what then shall be said to those who advise to this high Violation of their Countries Rights to the infringing so many just Laws and exposing the Publick to those desperate hazards if not a total Ruine If King Alfred as Andrew Horne in his Mirror of Justice tells us hanged Darling Segnor C●dwine Cole and Forty Judges more for Judging contrary to Law and yet all those false Judgments were but in particular and private Cases What Death do those Men deserve who offer this violence to the Law it self and all the Sacred Rights of their Country If the Lord Chief Justice Thorp in Ed. 3's time for receiving the Bribery of One hundred pounds was adjudged to be Hanged as one that had made the King break his Oath to the People How much more guilty are they of making the King break his Coronation Oath that perswade him to Act against all the Laws for holding Parliaments and passing Laws therein which he is so solemnly sworn to do And if the Lord Chief Justice Tresilliun was Hanged Drawn and Quartered for Advising the King to Act contrary to some Statutes only what do those deserve that advise the King to Act not only against some but against all these Ancient Laws and Statutes of the Realm And if Blake the Kings Council but for Assisting in the Matter and drawing up Indictments by the Kings Command contrary to Law though it is likely he might Plead the Kings Order for it yet if he was Hang'd Drawn and Quartered for that what Justice is due to them that assist in the Total Destruction of all the Laws of the Nation and as much as in them lies their King and Country too And if Vsk the under Sherif whose Office it is to Execute the Laws for but endeavouring to aid Tresitian Blake and their Accomplices against some of the Laws was also with Five more Hang'd Drawn and Quartered What punishment may they deserve that Aid and endeavour the Subvertion of all the Laws of the Kingdom And if Empson and Dudley in Henry the Eights time though two of the Kings privy Councel were Hanged for Procuring and Executing an Act of Parliament contrary to the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and to the great vexation of the People so that though they had an Act of Parliament of their side yet that Act being against the known Laws of the Land were Hang'd as Traytors for putting that Statute in Execution then what shall become of those who have no such Act to shelter themselves under and who shall Act not only contrary to but to the Destruction of the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and how Harmonious such Justice will be the Text tells us Deut. 27.17 Cursed be he that removeth his Neighbours Land-mark and all the People shall say Amen That this present Session may have a happy Issue to answer the great ends of Parliaments and therein our present Exigencies and Necessities is the incessant Cry and longing Expectation of all the Protestants in the Land. FINIS