Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	king_n	law_n	prerogative_n	3,673	5	10.4433	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93441	The antiquity & original of the Court of Chancery and authority of the lord chancellor of England being a branch of Serjeant Snagg's reading, upon the 28 chapter of Magna Charta, at the Middle Temple, in Lent, 13 Eliz. : with his congratulatory epistle, (by way of preface) to the Lord Chancellor Hatton, in 29 Eliz.	Snagg, Robert.	1654 (1654)	Wing S4381A; ESTC R42651	18,654	95

of the chief of the Nobility were Partners therin which were never fully appeased until the Parliament was holden at Marlebridge about the 52 year of his Reign when and where that Charter was enacted in that Parliament and thereby the antient Laws and Liberties revived and restored which Charter so enacted sithence hath been by all Kings Queens solemnly sworn at their Coronations to be kept and so hath been sacredly Observed to this day unless some Forgetfulness in some Kings and Ignorance in some Officers hath infringed the same But now by Gods blessing plentifully powred upon us it is in sull Use to the great Comfort of all good Subjects and immortal fame of her most Excellent Majesty And in the 28 Chapter of that Charter and Act of Parliament I find it set down in Latine in excellent and significant brief words to this effect That no Freeman shall be dealt with either in Life Liberty Lands Liberties Body or Goods nor that the King would send for any nor proceed against any Nisi per legale judiciū parium suorum aut per legem terrae And that the King would not defer deny nor sell Justice or Right to any which is as it were the sum of all the Charter Act and the whole mark that was shot at to revive the antient Laws and restore the antient Liberty and Liberties to the Subjects Wherein I noted That both how far the Prerogative should go and what is Right and Justice common to all is referred to be decided per legem terrae what therefore that Lex terrae was which was so carefully sought dearly bought with so much Noble blood which was then thereby revived I thought if I could find I had that I sought for And therfore I thought it best to begin with such Reporters or Writers of our Law as writ nearest the time of that Charter and looked into Mr. Bracton that wrote about 9 H. 3. the very time of the first granting of the Charter who was one of the chief that were appointed as it is delivered by Traditiō to find out again the antient Laws of the Land when the King was pleased to put thē again into the force that they had lost by the Conquest And in his Book in print I find it thus written Cum autem ferè in omnibus Regionibus utatur legibus jure scripto sola Anglia usa est in suis fmibus jure non scripto consuetudine in ea quidem ex non scripto jus venit quod usus comprobavit And after that he saith in the next Chapter these words Leges Anglicanae fuerunt approbatae consensu utentium Sacramento Regum confirmatae And Cap. 3. Consuetudo more utentium approbata vicem Legis obtinet consuetudinis non vilis est authoritas And he saith further Lib. 1. Cap. 8. treating of that Law which he calleth the Custom of the Land Lex autem facit Regem attribuat igitur Rex Legi quod Lex attribuit ei id est dominationem potestatem nam ubi dominatur voluntas non Lex ibi non est Rex Whereof may be aptly collected that before this Law was there was no King here in this Land for if the Law of the Land made the King there was none before it But Kings we find by all Stories to be of a great antiquity here in this Land and so by consequence the Law must And then looking for that matter in the Reports of the Law I found a Book Case in 2 H. 4. fol. 18. That it was agreed by the Judges that the Common Custom of the Realm was the Law of the Land And in that point looking further I found all Books of Law agree which Judgement of the Judges from time after the Enacting of that Charter and the judgement of Mr. Bracton before at the time of the penning of the Charter concurring in one satisfied me That Lex terrae which is there set down and thereby revived and now holden by the great Charter whereto every King and Queen is sworn at the Coronation was the antient Custom of the Land that all People of several Nations that at several times inhabited here liked best of as fittest for this place whereby the Kings lived in greatest Honor and Ease and the People in greatest Quietnes and Freedom wherfore thereto the Kings were content to bind themselves and the Subjects could abide no other And so I drew that travel to this conclusion That our Law is the antient Custom of the Country or Land and of that Antiquity that there is no Record nor Matter that can shew the Commencement thereof nor any man can tell it but it was before all memory of Man that remaineth in the world consisting of Maxims General Grounds Rules received approved allowed as just good necessary for the Governmēt of this Land begun when this Land first became a Common-wealth under a King and ever sithence used approved and allowed from time to time time out of mind of Man and by experience found in all Ages to be fittest for the place and to be necessary honest and profitable both for the Prince and People and being so found fit and continued it became a Custom to be observed of all that should inhabit or remain here and when it was lost by the Conquest it was again restored by Common consent of Parliament as was necessary it should be for that the force it had by Custom and Usage was interrupted by the Conquest So as the Custom of the Realm revived by Parliament is the Law of the Land which is the Genus to all And the Parliament and the Acts thereof and the Prerogative of the Prince and the particular Customs of several Counties Cities Boroughs Manors be all but Species of it For that General Custom of the Realm which is the Law of the Land authorizeth the Parliament limiteth the Prerogative alloweth and disalloweth of Private Customs and whatsoever in England is to be allowed and not to be allowed as they are consonant or dissonant to the reason thereof But when I had found out this by Reading then looking into the course of Practice I found the Lord Chancellor fitting highest in Westminster-Hall and had most to do bare the greatest rule and yet gave his judgement as it seem'd to me as it pleased himself whatsoever the Law of the Land required in the case And seeing Men of great Honor Learning Integrity sit in that place and so judge I was in a maze not finding at the first how it could stand with the Great Charter that referred all judgement ad Legem terrae and how any thing different from that Law could be allowable in the Land sith the Kings were all sworn to maintain the Charter that restored the Law and his Lordship and all the Judges were placed by the King But when I looked further and perused it well I found that the Custom of the