Selected quad for the lemma: act_n
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A45577
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A charge given at the general quarter sessions of the peace for the county of Surrey holden at Dorking on Tuesday the 5th day of April 1692, and in the fourth year of Their Majesties reign / by Hugh Hare.
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Hare, Hugh, 1668-1707.; England and Wales. Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace (Surrey)
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1692
(1692)
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Wing H760; ESTC R25410
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29,639
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42
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against whom the Offences which you are to enquire of and present are high-High-Treasons Praemunire's and Misprisions of Treason high-High-Treason is a Crime punishable with Death and whoever compasseth or imagineth the death of the King or Queen and declares it by some Overt Act whoever levyeth War against the King whoever shall counterfeit the King or Queen Regnants Great Seal Sign Manual Privy Segnet or Privy Seal whoever shall counterfeit the Coyn of this Realm or any other Coyn permitted by the King's consent to be current in this Kingdom or whoever shall bring over from beyond the Seas any counterfeit Coyn knowing it to be false and shall make payment thereof in deceit of the King and his People or shall clip impair or falsifie any such Coin as aforesaid or whoever shall obtain or receive from the Bishop of Rome or any Authority of that See any Bull Writing or Instrument Written or Printed or shall Use Publish or put it in Ure or shall be reconciled to the Bishop or See of Rome by virtue of any such Bull or shall perswade any Person to be reconciled by vertue of such Bull or shall abett or conceal such Offenders and Offences or whoever shall by any other ways or means withdraw or endeavour to withdraw any to the Romish Religion or whoever shall be so withdrawn or whoever being a Jesuit Seminary Priest or any other Priest Deacon Religious or Ecclesiastical Person of the Church of Rome and being a Native of this Realm shall come hither or into any of their Majesties Dominions or lastly whosoever during the Present War with the French King shall Send Load Transport or Deliver or cause to be Sent Laden Transported or Delivered for the use of the said French King or any of his Subjects residing in any part of his Dominions or in any place in his Possession any Arms Ordnance Powder Bullets Pitch Tarr Hemp Masts Cordage Iron Coals Lead or Salt-Peter or whoever of their Majesties Subjects shall without License from their Majesties voluntarily go or repair or imbark in any Vessel with an intent to go into France or any Dominions of the French King Whosoever Gentlemen commits any of the Facts abovementioned and all their Aiders Abetters Counsellors and Maintainers are guilty of High-Treason And by the Statute of the 25 th of Edw. the 3d. it is likewise High-Treason to kill the Chancellor Treasurer or any of the Justices Assigned to hear and determine being in their Places doing their Offices All these Facts Gentlemen are High-Treason and you are to enquire and present them In the next place Gentlemen you are to enquire of such Offences against the King and Queen which fall within the Statutes of Praemunire's This Law was made to preserve the Crown of England from the papal Incroachments and Usurpations and to prevent Foreign Appeals in Cases determinable in the King's Courts So jealous were our wise Ancestors of the freedom and independancy of the Regal Power and of their own Liberties that near two Hundred Years before the Reformation in the darkest times of Popery there was no less a Penalty than being put out of the King's Protection being fined at the King's Pleasure and being imprisoned without Bail till that Fine should be paid and their Lands Goods and Possessions Forfeited to the King unless they should come in and receive their Tryal within two Months after Summons no less a Penalty I say than this was provided for all such as should Sue to any Foreign Court or to any Spiritual Court within this Realm to defeat or impeach the Judgment given in the King's Court as also for all such as should on this account purchase or pursue in the Court of Rome or elsewhere any Excommunication Bull or other Instrument against the King his Crown or Realm or should bring receive notifie or execute them here in England and for all their Procurers Maintainers Abettors and Counsellors For in Treasons Murthers and Praemunire's all the Offenders are Principals and are so punishable It would be too tedious Gentlemen to receite to you the several Statutes that have been made especially since the Reformation concerning Praemunire's It is enough to inform you in the General that they are mostly levell'd at Popish Recusants and at such as by word of Mouth or Writing shall defend the Authority the Pope or any Foreign Prince may pretend to have over the King and People of England And Gentlemen I must not omit taking notice to you that an Act made in the last Sessions of Parliament Entituled An Act against Corresponding with their Majesties Enemies Declares That if any Person during the present War with the French King shall Send Load Transport or Deliver or cause to be Sent Laden Transported or Delivered for the use of the said French King or any of his Subjects residing in any part of his Dominions or in any place in his Possession any Goods Merchandizes Wares Or Commodities shall incurr the Pain and Forfeiture of a Praemunire This Act is so exceeding useful for the Nation in this present juncture that I must particularly recommend it to you diligently to enquire and present all Offenders against it In the next place Gentlemen you are to enquire and present all Misprisions of Treason which Word signifieth in our Law Negligence or Oversight in not revealing to the King his Council or some Magistrate a Treason which any Man knows to be committed or about to be committed for it is a high Crime and the Consequences may be very dangerous for any one though not consenting to it for that comes within the Statutes of Treasons to conceal so Capital an Offence Therefore for Misprision of Treason the Offender shall forfeit to the King his Goods and Chattels for ever and the profits of his Lands during his Life and also shall be imprisoned during his Life And Gentlemen now I am discoursing to you concerning such Offences as do most immediately strike at the Persons and Government of the King and Queen I must take notice to you of three sorts of Men of whom we have at this time no small Reason to be Apprehensive and they are these Popish Recusants Protestant Recusants and Protestants who though they have taken the Oaths to their present Majesties and enjoy the Benefit of their Protection do yet make it their business to libel and censure the Government and in their Words and daily Behaviour shew themselves disaffected and to give them their due Character are but one Degree from Traytors By Popish Recusants I mean those Subjects of England who divide their Allegiance between the King and the Bishop of Rome whom they look upon as Christ's Vicar on Earth and of whose Church and Communion they are On this Account they refuse to take the Oath of Supremacy which excludes the Pope's Power in spiritual Matters to any Prince though of their Perswasion and if the
by the Law of God and by a Statute made in the first Year of King James the First but it is so hard a matter to have full proof brought of it that no Jury can be too cautious and tender in a prosecution of this Nature However where the Evidence is clear and undeniable you must proceed according to your Oaths You are also to enquire and present all Persons that have depraved the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Blessed Lord and Saviour either by Word of Mouth or otherwise who being convicted shall suffer Imprisonment and make Fine and Ransom at the King's Will and Pleasure if they be prosecuted within three Months after the Offence is committed You are also to enquire if any Person hath Depraved Despised or Derogated from the Book of Common Prayer by any Enterludes Plays Songs Rhimes or other open Words or hath compelled any Minister to use any other form of Worship for in this Case the Oftender that is guilty of so great an Irreverence to God and disrespect to the Government both in Church and State shall for the first Offence forfeit to their Majesties 100 Marks for the second Offence 400 Marks and for the third Offence all his Goods and Chattels and shall suffer Imprisonment during Life You are also to enquire if any Restor or Vicar who keeps a Curate hath neglected once in a Month to read the Common-Prayer in his Parish Church for all Incumbents guilty of this Neglect shall upon complaint made on Oath by two credible Witnesses before two Justices of the Peace of the said County forfeit to the Poor of that Parish 5 pounds a Month and if the Penalty be not paid in ten days after fuch Conviction then his Goods are to be Distrained and Sold for that purpose by a Warrant from the said Justices Lastly you are to enquire if any Person have maliciously Struck or drawn any Weapon in any Church or Church-yard to the intent to strike another the Offender who is Convicted hereof shall have one of his Ears cut off and if he have no Ear then he shall be Markt in the Cheek with the Letter F in token of a Fray-maker and the Law reputes it to be so ungodly and irreligious an Action that all persons guilty of it are declared to be Ipso Facto Excommunicated which is the highest Censure and Penalty the Christian Church can inflict I have now Gentlemen gone through the first part of my Charge I have not knowingly omitted any point that is Material and as for smaller Defects I doubt not but your Experience in the Proceedings of this Court will fully supply them If the time would allow me I should in the next place urge you to exert your utmost Vigour and Diligence in punishing and putting a stop to those Violations of Moral Justice which are so notoriously prevalent among us and which unless they are speddily reformed by a due severity seem to threaten us with extraordinary punishments from Heaven by representing to you at large the weighty and indispensible Obligations that lie upon you to do your parts towards the promoting so good a Work But I hope it will be sufficient to hint to you these three Considerations viz. 1. That you are Men and Christians 2. That you are Englishmen and I hope all of you well wishers to the present Government 3. That you have bound your selves by a Solemn Oath impartially to enquire and present those who are guilty of these scandalous Debaucheries and those Petty Constables Headboroughs and other Under-Officers who by their Neglect and Connivance without any regard to their Duty or their Oaths have encouraged these Vices or have made defaults in any other things that relate to their respective Offices Gentlemen if I had time I should enlarge on every one of these three particulars But I assure my self your own Conscience will press these thoughts home to you and I doubt not but we shall find by your presentments that you have a well grounded Zeal for the Glory and Honour of God a true Love to your Country and a sincere and affectionate Loyalty to their present Majesties King William and Queen Mary upon whom next under God our safety wholly depends and a tender and conscientious regard to the sacred Obligation of an Oath which being a Solemn Appeal to the Almighty and All knowing Judge and Avenger of all Falshood and Unrighteousness will if not faithfully performed entail God's curse on your selves and your Families according to that of the Prophet Zachary A Curse shall enter into the House of him that sweareth falsly by the Name of God Gentlemen I shall now proceed to the second part of my Charge which comprehends all offences against Civil Justice This is a subject so Copious that having detained you so long in the former part of my Charge the time will not permit me fully to declare to you every particular Offence within the compass of our Commission and of your Cognizance Therefore Gentlemen you are to expect only a short Summary of the most material Points of your Duty in drawing up of which if I am less exact than is usual I hope you will impute it to my want of skill in these Affairs and to my Disability which makes it self every way too apparent worthily to execute this important Office with which my Brethren who are all of them much fitter for it have been pleased to Honour me Civil Justice is a Vertue of a very large extent for thereby we are obliged even by Natural Religion to deal with all Men as we would be willing were we in their Circumstances and they in Ours they should deal with us And if this is a debt we owe to all Men then certainly our own Countrymen who enjoy the same common benefits of Security and Protection may much more expect it from us And to this end that the Rich and the Poor may be equally safe in what is their own the Laws have not only declared what that is but have also appointed Punishments for those that shall transgress these Limits and invade any other Man's Property Now Gentlemen those Persons who may legally claim this Justice at our Hands or in case it be refused them may appeal to the Law for satisfaction for the injury are either our Superiors or our Fellow Subjects To the former namely our Parents whether Political or Natural we are obliged by the fifth Commandment to pay Obedience Tribute Reverence and Honour to the latter namely our Fellow Subjects we are obliged by the eighth Commandment to render whatsoever is by Law due unto them and when by Force or Fraud we take or detain from them any of their Legal Rights we are guilty of Theft But to proceed Of Governours and Magistrates there are two sorts Supreme and Subordinate By the Supreme Magistrate you know none can be meant besides our Sovereign Lord and Lady the King and Queen