Selected quad for the lemma: act_n
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A65176
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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.
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1681
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Wing V729; ESTC R6049
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10,228
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be by the High Court of Parliament planed reduced to certainty and adjudged And further tells us that this Court being the most Supream Court of this Realm is a part of the frame of the Common Laws and in some cases doth proceed Legally according to the ordinary course of the Common Law as it appeereth 39 E. 3. f. Coke Inst ch 29. fol. 5. To be short of this Court it is truly said Si vetestatem spectes est antiquissima si dignitatem est honoratissima si jurisdictionem est capacissima If you regard Antiquity it is the most Ancient if Dignity the most Honourable if Jurisdiction the most Soveraign And where question hath been made whether this Court continued during the Heptarchy let the Records themselves make answer of which he gives divers Instances in the times of King Ine Offa Ethelbert After the Heptarchy K. Edward Son of Alfred K. Ethelston Edgar Ethelred Edmond Canutus All which he saith and many more are extant and publickly known proving by divers arguments that there were Parliaments unto which the Knights and Burgesses were summoned both before in and after the Reign of the Conquerour till Hen. 3. time and for your further satisfaction herein see 4 E. 3.25 49 Ed. 3.22 23 11 H. 4.2 Litl lib. 2. c. 10. Whereby we may understand 1. That Parliaments are part of the frame of the Common Law which is laid in the Law and Light of Nature right Reason and Scripture 2. That according to this Moral Law of Equity and Righteousness Parliaments ought frequently to meet for the common peace safety and benefit of the People and support of the Government 3. That Parliaments have been all along esteemed an essential part of the Government as being the most ancient honourable and Soveraign Court in the Nation who are frequently and perpetually to sit for the making and abolishing Laws Redressing of Grievances and see to the due administration of Justice 4. That as to the place of Meeting it was to be at London the Capital City the Eye and Heart of the Nation as being not only the Regal Seat but the principal place of Judicature and residence of the chief Officers and Courts of Justice where also the Records are kept as well as the principal place of Commerce and Concourse in the Nation and to which the People may have the best recourse and where they may find the best accommodation 5. The Antiquity of Parliaments in this Nation which have been so ancient that no Record can give any account of their Beginning my Lord Coke thus tracing them from the Briteans through the Saxons Danes and Normans to our days So that not to suffer Parliaments to sit to answer the great ends for which they were Instituted is expressely contrary to the Common Law and so consequently of the Law of God as well as the Law of Nature and thereby Violence is offered to the Government it self and Infringement of the Peoples sundamental Rights and Liberties Secondly What we find hereof in the Statute-Law The Statute Laws are Acts of Parliament which are or ought to be only Declaratory of the Common Law which as you have heard is founded upon right Reason and Scripture for we are told that if any thing is enacted contrary thereto it is void and null As Coke Inst l. 2. c. 29. f. 15. Finch p. 3. 28 H. 8. c. 27. Doct. and Stud. The first of these Statutes which require the frequent Meeting and Sitting of Parliaments agreeable to the Common Law we find to be in the time of Ed. 3. viz. 4 Ed. 3. ch 14. In these words Item it is accorded that a Parliament shall be holden every Year once or more often if need be The next is in the 36 of the same K. Ed. 3. c. 10. viz. Item For the maintenance of the said Articles and Statutes and Redressing of divers Mischiefs and Grievances which daily happen A Parliament shall be holden every year as at another time was ordained by a Stutate viz. the aforementioned in his 4th year And agreeable hereto are those Statutes upon the Rolls viz. 5 Ed. 2. 1 R. 2. No. 95. By which Statutes it appeareth that Parliaments ought Annually to meet to support the Government and to redress the Grievances which may happen in the interval of Parliaments That being the great End proposed in their said Meetings Now For Parliaments to meet Annually and not suffered to sit to Answer the Ends but to be Prorogued or Dissolved before they have finished their Work would be nothing but a deluding the Law and a striking at the foundation of the Government it self and rend'ring Parliaments altogether Useless for it would be all one to have No Parliaments at all as to have them turn'd off by the Prince before they have done that they were called and intrusted to do For by the same Rule whereby they may be so turn'd off One Session they may be three Sessions and so to threescore to the breaking of the Government and introducing Arbitrary Power To Prevent such intollerable Mischiefs and Inconveniencies are such good Laws as these made in this Kings time and which were so Sacredly observed in after times That it was a Custom especially in the Reigns of H. 4. H. 5. H. 6. to have a Proclamation made in Westminster-Hall before the end of every Session * An honest and a necessary Proclamation to be made every Parliament That all those who had any matter to present to the Parliament should bring it in before such a day for otherwise the Parliament at that Day should Determine Whereby it appears the People were not to be eluded nor disappointed by surprizing Prorogations and Dissolutions to frustrate and make void the great ends of Parliaments And to this purpose saith a late Learned Author That if there was no Statute or any thing upon record extant concerning the Parliaments sitting to redress grievances yet that I must believe that it is so by the fundamental Law of the Government which must be Lame and imperfect without it For otherwise the Prince and his Ministers may do what they please and their Wills may be their Laws Therefore it is provided for in the very Essence and Constitution of the Government it self and this saith our Author we may call the Common Law which is of as much value if not more than any Statute and of which all our good Acts of Parliament and Magna Charta it self is but Declaratory so that though the King is intrusted with the formal part of summoning and pronouncing the dissolution of Parliaments which is done by Writ yet the Laws which Oblige him as well as us have determined how and when he shall do it which is enough to shew that the Kings share in the Soveraignty that is in the Parliament is cut out to him by Law and not left at his disposal The Next Statute we shall mention 25 Ed. 3. ch 23. Statute of Provisors to inforce
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 Câ—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