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	parliament_n	repeal_v	4,000	5	12.1621	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91147	Beheaded Dr. John Hewytts ghost pleading, yea crying for exemplarie justice against the arbitrarie, un-exampled injustice of his late judges and executioners in the new High-Commission, or Court of Justice, sitting in Westminster-Hall. Conteining his legal plea, demurrer, and exceptions to their illegal jurisdiction, proceedings, and bloody sentence against him; drawn up by counsel, and left behinde him ready ingrossed; the substance whereof he pleaded before them by word of mouth, and would have tendred them in writing in due form of law, had he not discerned their peremptory resolution to reject and over-rule, before they heard them read.	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.; Hewit, John, 1614-1658.	1659 (1659)	Wing P3900; Thomason E974_2; ESTC R205170	13,713	20

BEHEADED Dr. John Hewytts Ghost Pleading yea crying for EXEMPLARIE JUSTICE AGAINST The Arbitrarie Un-exampled Injustice of his late Judges and Executioners in the New High-Commission or Court of Justice sitting in WEST MINSTER-HALL Conteining his Legal Plea Demurrer and Exceptions to their illegal Jurisdiction Proceedings and bloody Sentence against him drawn up by Counsel and left behinde him ready ingrossed the Substance whereof he pleaded before them by word of mouth and would have tendred them in writing in due form of Law had he not discerned their peremptory Resolution to reject and over-rule before they heard them read Gen. 3. 10. The voyce of thy brothers BLOUD CRYETH UNTO ME from the ground Exod. 21. 14. If a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour to slay him with guile thou shalt take him from mine Altar that he may die Ps 94. 20 21 23. Shall the throne of Iniquity have fellowship with thee which frameth mischief by a Law They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous and condemn the innocent bloud But the Lord shall bring upon them their own iniquity and shall cut them off in their own wickedness yea the Lord our God shall cut them off Prov. 28. 17. A man that doth violence to the bloud of any person shall flee to the pit Let no man stay him LONDON Printed in the Year of our Lord 1659. The Plea and Demurrer of John Hewytt Dr. of Divinity to the Jurisdiction and Proceedings of the Commissioners in pursuance of an Act for the security of the Lord Protectors Person c. and to the Sentence of Death pronounced against him by them THis Defendant saith That he is by Birth a Freeman of England and that it is the undoubted antient inseparable Birthright Privilege and Inheritance of every English Freeman both by the Common Laws Franchises Great Charters Statutes and Usages of this Land ratified from Age to Age by the Votes Resolutions Declarations Judgements of the High Court of Parliament and other publike Courts of Justice the Oathes of the Kings of England and their Justices and by manie other solemn publick Confirmations Protestations Oathes Vowes and Covenants a Cooks 2 Instit p. 45 to 57. Magna Charta of King John H. 3. E. 1. c. 29. 25 E. 1. c 1. 28 E. 1. c. 1. 5 E. 3 c. 9. 25 E. 3. n. 26 c. 4. 28 E. 3. c. 3. 42 E. 3. c. 23. 2 H. 4. rot Parl. n. 60 the Petition of Right 3 Caroli That no Freeman of England may or ought to be taken or imprisoned or disseised or disinherited of his Freehold Liberties or Free Customs or to be outlawed exiled or any way destroyed passed upon dealt with or forejudged of life or limb or put to death upon any accusation whatsoever but by the lawfull Judgement of his Peers or by the Law of the Land and that he shall not be put to answer without Presentment before the Justices or thing of Record or by due process of the Law or by writ original according to the old Law of the Land b 25 E. 3 c. 2. 26 H. 8. c. 13. 33 H 8. c. 20. 35 H. 8. c. 1. 1 Ed. 6. c. 12. 1 2 Phil. Mar. c. 10 11. 5 E 6. c. 11. 1 Eliz c 6 5 Eliz. c. 11. 13 Eliz. c. 1. 14 Eliz. c. 1. 18 Eliz. c. 1. 27 Eliz. c. 2. 1 H. 4. c. 14. And that all trials hereafter to be had awarded or made for any Tre●son shall be had and used only according to the due order course of the Common Laws of this Realm and not otherwise upon Inquest and presentment by the Oaths of 12 good and lawfull men upon good and probable evidence and witness And that c 5 E. 1. c. 21. 2. Cooks 2 Instit p. 526 527 28 E. 3. rot Parl. n. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. 29 E 3. rot Parl. n. 29 30. E 3. co●am rege rot 92. Cooks 3 Instit p. 52. 42 E. 3. c. 1. 3. if any thing be done to the contrary of the Premises it shall be void in Law redressed and holden for errour and nought And if any Statute be made to the contrary that shall be holden for none And moreover this Defendant saith that in the Parliament of 2. R. 2. rot Parl. n. 47. the Commons petitioned the King and Lords that the Constable and Marshall of England then encroaching upon this Priviledge of the Commons by holding Pleas of Treason and Felony before them after the course of Martial Law might from thenceforth surcease to hold Pleas of Treason and Felony before them done within the Realme and that the same may be determine only before the Kings Justic●s according to the Great Charter which was then assented to And that upon the like petitions of the Commons in the Parliaments of 1 H ● and 2. H. 4. rot Parl. n. 89. it was assented to and enacted by the King and Lords that the Kings liege people d Cooks 4. Instit p. 124 125. should not be put to answer before the Constable or Marshall in Courts of Chivalry for any thing done within the Realme but that as before in the times of his Progenitors the same might be tried determined only before his Justices in his Courts as it ought to be according to the Common Law of the Realm in no other place or manner Vpon which Considerations many of the Kings loyal Lords Gentlemen and other subjects in the general insurrection of the Villains other Rebels against the King in the 5th year of Richard the 2d having inflicted divers punishments upon the said villains and traytors without due processe of the Law and otherwise then the Lawes and usages of the Realme required though they did it out of no malice prepensed but out of meer loyalty to the King and to appease and cease the present mischief and out of ignorance of the said Lawes and usage in which if they had been learned yet at that time they ought not to have tarried the pro●…ss of the Law in those punishments of their good discretion yet those punishments and executions of them in a summary way being contrary to and not warranted by the Laws and usages of the Realme they were enforced for their future indemnity against the King and his heires and the heires wives and friends of those they punished to petition the King and Parliament for a general pardon by act of Parliament to secure and indemnifie themselves which was granted them in 5. R. 2. Parl. 1. ch 5. else they might have been impeached and punished for the same as well as King Richard the second himself who in the Parliament of 1 H. 4. rot Parl. n. 44 wherein he was enforced to resigne his Crown then deposed for his misgovernment was amongst other Articles impeached of this in particular by that Parliament for that against the great Charter ch 19. and his Coronation Oath be suffered many of his

Li●ge people to be maliciously accused apprehended imprisoned and tried before the Constable and Marshall of England in their military Court for words secretly spoken or acts privately done to the scandal of his Royal Person where they were enforced to acquit themselves by duell whence the destruction not only of the Nobles and Great Men but likewise of all and every the persons of the Commons of the Realm might probably have ensued And this Defendant further saith that one Peter Burchet of the Temple in the 13th year of Queen Elizabeths Reign having wilfully stabbed that famous Sea-Captain John Hawkins for not being of his opinion in Religion Burchet being perswaded in Conscience that it was lawfull for him to kill every one who was not of his opinion the Queen being much incensed against him for this horrid fact commanded him to be forthwith tried and executed for it by Martial Law But her Judges and Councill informing her that he could not be so tried by law it being done not in an Army but in time of peace when her Courts of Law and Justice were open thereupon she desisted from this way of Tryall After which he was tried according to Law for this and his murdering his keeper in the Tower as Mr. Camden records in his Annals of Queen Elizabeth p. 242. 243. And whereas in the Parliament of the 4th of King James holden at Westminster there was some kind of motion made that to extirpate and reforme the inveterate evil customes disorders fewds bloudsheds thefts and spoiles wherewith the worst sort of Inhabitants near the borders and limits of both Realmes of England and Scotland were infected and inured that they might be tried by a summary Proceeding by way of Martiall Law or by the Lawes of the Kingdome into which they fled to purchase their impunity This Parliament was so farre from approving thereof that they specially enacted in this case even of these worst sort of men * 4 Iacob ch 1. That in regard of some difference and inequality in the Laws Trials and Proceedings in cases of life between the Justice of the Realm of England and that of the Realme of Scotland it appearing to be most convenient for the contentment and satisfaction of all his Majesties Subjects to proceed with all possible severity against such offenders in their own country ACCORDING TO THE LAWES OF THE SAME WHEREUNTO THEY ARE BORNE AND INHERITABLE and by and before the naturall borne subjects of the same Realme by whom their Murders Felonies Rapes c. should be inquired of heard and determined before his Majesties Justices of Assize or Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer or Goal delivery by good and lawfull men of the 3. Counties therein specified and none other And that at all such Trials the Jurie then and there sworne shall have in their power and election according to their conscience and discretion upon their Oathes to receive and admit only such sufficient good and lawfull witnesses upon their Oathes either for or against the party arraigned as shall not appear to them or the greater part of them to be unfit and unworthy to be witnesses in that cause either in regard of their hatred and malice or their favour and affection either to the party prosecuting or to the party arraigned or of their former evil life and conversation Which common equal indifferent Justice allowed to the worst Malefactors as their birthright and inheritance by this Parliament and Act this Defendant now onely craves and hopes you cannot in Law or Justice deny him nor proceed against him by way of Martial Law And so much the rather because since this Statute King Charles in the 3d. year of his Reign by the advice of his Counsell to suppresse the Insolencies of Souldiers and Mariners then billeted in sundry parts of the Realm having issued out Commissions to sundry persons of quality in time of peace to execute Martiall Law upon those Soldiers and Mariners and other dissolute persons only joyntng with them for Murther Robbery Felony Mutiny and other outrages committed by them by such summary course and order as is agreeable to Martiall Law a●… is used in Armies in time of Warre to proceed to the triall and condemnation of such offenders and then to cause them to be executed and put to death according to the Law Martiall By pretext whereof some of the said souldiers and subjects were put to death by some of the said Commissioners when and where if by the Lawes and Statutes of the Land they had deserved death by the same Lawes and Statutes also they might and by no other ought to have been Judged before the Kings Iustices and executed Upon Complaint of these Commissions as illegal in the Parliament of 3. Caroli they were after a full debate by both Houses voted to be against Law And in the Petition of Right it self it was then prayed by the Lords and Commons assented to by the late beheaded King himself and enacted by this Law That hereafter no Commissions of like Nature may issue forth to any person or persons whatsoever to be executed as aforesaid lest by colour of them any of his Majesties Subjects be destroyed or put to death contrarie to the Laws and Franchise of the Land which the Lords and Commons then prayed and the King granted confirmed by Act of Parliament as their Right and Liberty according to the Lawes which Act stands yet in its full force Upon consideration of which late Excellent Law the last long Parliament in the cases of the Lord Connor Magwire and Mac-mohun and the Court of Kings Bench wherein they were tried by their special order in Michaelmas and Hilary Terms 20 Caroli were so just punctual and honorable in confining themselves to the rules of Law and Justice that though these were principal Conspirators and Actors in the late most horrid barbarous bloody Treason Rebellion and Massacre in Ireland and taken in its prosecution yet they were so far from trying them by Marshal Law in a Council of Warre or High Court of Justice even in a time of open warre both in England and Ireland that they assigned the said Maguire Counsil to argue against the very Jurisdiction of the Kings Bench it self whether he being a Peer of Ireland could in point of Law or justice by the Statute of 35 H 8. ch 2. 〈◊〉 any other Act be ●uted of his Trial by his Peers and tried by a Jury of good and lawfull men of the County of Middlesex for a Treason committed in Ireland being sent a Prisoner from thence against his will Which was there * See Mr. Prynnes Argument thereof publickly argued at the Bar by Counsel pro contra and then by the Judges and overruled at last against him before he was put to plead guilty or not guilty to his Indictment after which they both were admitted to take both their peremptory and legal challenges to the Juries returned * 32 H. 6. f 26.

that you cannot do but onely by proceeding against him by a lawfull Indictment and Trial by a Grand and Pettie Jurie according to the great Charter Laws and Statutes of the Land and the late Petition of Right which this new Act cannot repeal or null All which this Defendant is readie to averr justifie and make good when and where this high Commission Court or his Highness the Lord Protector shall appoint which being a meer matter of Law wherein both the liberties and lives of all the Free born people of England are so universally highly and equally concerned as well as the libertie and life of this Defendant proper only to be debated before and resolved by the Judges of the Law or the high Court of Parliament This Defendant thereupon humbly praieth That it may be referred to openly argued by his learned Counsel before all the Judges or a Parliament by them determined and in the mean time humbly demandeth the Judgement of this High Commission Whether they may can or ought in point of Law and Justice to proceed against condemn or execute this Defendant upon anie illegal accusation or Impeachment whatsoever here exhibited or read against him without a legal Indictment Presentment and Trial by a Jurie of his Equals Or can take anie further connusance of the Charge against him for the premised Authorities Reasons which he in all humilitie referreth to and imploreth you to take into your saddest considerations and that in the Name and dreadfull presence of the Omniscient Omnipotent Soveraign g Gen. 18. 25 Judge of all the Earth h 2 Cor. 25. ●0 before whose glorious Tribunal you must all ere long appear stript of all Earthlie Honors Pomp Guards and Power to give a strict acount of all your Actions whether good or evil and of your proceedings in this verie Cause when this his Plea and Demurrer will rise up in judgement against and condemn you in case you willfully prejudge mis-judge or reject it now without due and full examination according to Law Justice Conscience And if the Consideration of this terrible day of account and just retribution before Christs own Tribunal shall not prevail with you to admit of this his Legal Plea and Demurrer as being after your deaths perhaps manie years yet to come and no waies endangering the loss of your Lives Lands Honors or Estates in this present world He shall then humbly intreat you for your own future indemnitie he hopes without offence seriously to consider That in the Parliament of 11 R. 2. c. 1. 5. 21 R. 2. c. 11 12. Tresylian chief Justice of the Kings Bench Belknappe Chief Justice of the Common Pleas John Care Iohn Holt Roger Fulthorpe William de Burgh Judges and Iohn Locton the Kings Serjeant were all impeached of high Treason condemned and some of them executed as Traytors and Enemies to the King Realm the rest perpetually banished their Lands and Estates confiscated to the King and all access of their wives children or others to them during their exile prohibited by Judgement Act of Parliament only for delivering their opinions through menaces and fear of death at Nottingham Castle under their hands and Seals against the Law of the Land That the Lords and Commons who procured the Commission in the Parliament of 10 R. 2. for the better Government of the Realm and moved the King to consent thereto deserved to be punished as Traytors by capital pain of death That so by colour of these their opinions Robert de Veer Duke of Ireland Nicholas Brambre Knight and others of the Kings ill Counsellers might take occasion to destroy and take away the lives of the Lords who procured and executed that Commission and others of the Kings people by undue and illegal Indictments and proceedings without any lawfull Trial by their Peers as Traitors to the King And the said Sir i Henry de Knyghton de Event Angliae l. 5. p. 2718 2726 2727 27 28. Nicholas Brambre for enforcing the Judges with others of the Kings ill Counsellors to deliver their opinions against Law and for his beheading executing 22 Prisoners of Newgate impeached and indicted of felony or suspition of felony at Foul-●oke in Kent by regal and tyrannical power incroached by him without warrant or due processe of the Law a-against the Great Charter and Vsage of the Realm of Engl. was in the same Parl. condemned for high Treason beheaded at Tower-hill on the same block with the same Axe he had prepared to cut off the heads of others he intended there to execute as his Enemies And that in the last Parliament of King Charles the k Their Impeachments are entred in the Iournals of the Lords and Commons House two chief Justices Brampston and Finch the chief Baron Davenport and all the rest of the Judges and Barons except two were by the whole House of Commons and some of the Commissioners here sitting and Counsel pleading against this Defendant impeached of high Treason dis-Judged and put to fines and ransoms for that they had trayterously endeavoured to subvert the fundamental Laws and Government of the Realm of England and instead thereof to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical Government against Law which they had declared by trayterous words opinions and judgements in the case of Ship-money against Mr. John Hampden Which judgement and opinions concerned only the propertie of the Subjects goods not the hazard of their lives inheritances and forfeiture of their estates as your present proceedings doe being of a more high and dangerous consequence In which Parliament by the like Impeachment and prosecution * See Canterburie Straffords printed Trials William Laud Archbishop of Canterburie and Thomas Earl of Strafford Lord Deputie of Ireland were condemned and executed by Judgement of Parliament and some here present as Traitors guiltie of High Treason for that they endeavoured traiterously to subvert the Fundamental laws and established government of this Realm and in stead thereof to bring in and set up an arbitrarie and tyrannical power against Law To prove which Charge their arbitrarie proceedings contrarie to the Laws and great Charters of England both at the Counsil Table in the High Commission Star Chamber and elsewhere were given in Evidence against them and more particularly the Earl of Strafford's proceeding against the Lord Mount-Norris in Ireland by a Council of War in time of Peace and condemning him to death therein without any legal Indictment and Trial by his Peers against the great Charter Laws of the Land though he did not execute him thereupon And whether your present proceedings of like nature against this Defendant in case you reject or over-rule this his Plea and Demurrer and condemn and execute him by pretext of an illegal Act made by no free and lawfull Parliament of England for offences not treasonable by the known Laws and Statutes of the Land nor legally proved against him by any one Witness produced in Court