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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	act_n	king_n	parliament_n	3,039	5	6.6283	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37238	Jus imponendi vectigana, or, The learning touching customs, tonnage, poundage, and impositions on merchandizes, asserted as well from the rules of the common and civil law, as of generall reason and policy of state / by Sir John Davis ...	Davies, John, Sir, 1569-1626.	1659 (1659)	Wing D403; ESTC R36082	63,305	189

because the same were gravia vectigalia in those dayes we may easily beleeve that Custome to have been greater than the demi mark for a Sack of Wooll Again the Statute of Magna Charta which was as ancient as King Iohn speaketh of ancient Customs payable for Merchandizes and the Book of 29 Edw. 3. maketh mention of ancient Customes granted to King Iohn in the Town of Southampton which doubtlesse were other Customes than that of the demi mark c. for that in the Record of the Tower 3 Edw. 1. Rot. sin 24. Rot. Patent of the same year m. 9. the demi mark which was first established by the Kings Letters Patents is called Nova Custuma and this was a diminution of the ancient Custome saith the Book of 30 H. 8. Dyer 43. Again when the same King Edw. 1. had by his Writ onely without Act of Parliament established the Custome of the demi mark c. in Ireland in all the Customers Accounts which are found in the Pipe-Rolls in the time of Edw. 1. Edw. 2. Edw. 3. in that Realm it is also called Nova Custuma which importeth as much as a new Imposition for Imposition is a new name and hath been of use but of late years whereas every new charge laid upon Merchandizes in ancient times was called Nova Custuma as the Lord chief Baron Fleming observed in his Argument in Bates Case of Currans in the Exchequor of England but because this Custome of a demi mark was a reducement made by King Edw. 1. of the great and ancient Custome to that proportion which was then thought reasonable as after upon sundry Petitions of the Commons was allowed by the succeeding Princes it obtained in tract of time the name of the great and ancient Custome this Custome of demi mark was not granted to the King by Parliament but reduced to that rate by the King by the prayer of the Cōmons as is expressed in the Record of 3 Edw. 1. fin memb. 24. for albeit the Charter for confirmation of Magna Charta made in 25 Edw. 1. doth recite That the demi mark was granted by the Cominaltie yet is there no Act of P. printed or recorded wherein that grant of the Cominaltie doth appear neither can it stand with the rule of reason that the demi mark being a diminution of the ancient Custome should proceed from the grant of the Cominalty to the King for the King would never have accepted of such a grant as did diminish his Revenue neither had it been thank-worthy or acceptable and therefore the King having a Negative voice would never have given his assent to such a grant in Parliament but it is to be presumed that this diminution of the ancient Custome was made in Parliament and not by Parliament and that by prayer of the Commons as the Record of 3 Edw. 1. Rot. fin memb. 24. testifieth the King was then well pleased for that time to draw down the ancient Custome to that rate and the people did willingly yeeld and consent to the payment thereof and this I take to be the true interpretation of the Charter or Statute made in 25 Edw. 1. And therefore because we find no Act of Parliament whereby the people did originally grant the great and ancient Customes to the King and because we find it was uncertain and subject to diminution and alteration we may conclude that it was but an imposition laid by the King from time to time by vertue of his Prerogative without any grant from the Cominalty of the Realm who can make no grant but by Act of Parliament in truth it were absurd to aff●rme that the great and ancient Custome imposed upon Native commodities of the Kingdom was first granted by Act of Parliament since it cannot be imagined that ever those commodities did passe out of the Kingdom without Custome being equal in time with the first Scepter and since the Scepter was established many hundred years before the people were called to be in Parliament besides the very name of Custome doth note and argue that it began before any Act of Parliament was made for that it signifieth a duty payable or accustomable to be paid time out of mind which in presumption of Law is before any Record wherefore the rules in the Lord Dyers Book are good Law viz. The King hath an Estate of Inheritance in the Custome payable for Merchandizes as being a Prerogative annexed to his Crown And again 30 Hen 8. 43. Custome is an Inheritance in the King by the Common Law and not given by any Statute CHAP. XI Of the ancient duties called Prizes taken out of Forreign goods imported except Wines and the petty-Customes of three pence of the pound were accepted by King Edw. 1. in lieu of Prizes FOr the Forreign commodities which are brought into England our Kings in ancient times did not take any Rates or Customes or Sums of Money but took such part of the severall commodities in specie as they thought fit for their proper use paying for that they took a price as themselves did likewise think fit and reasonable which was called the Kings price this Prerogative is proved by the rule of the Imperiall Law Rex nonrecognoscens superiorem potest è India in propria causa and also by the rule which is given 31 Edw. 3. 60. where the Bishop of Norwich having forfeited to the King thirty Talents of Beasants of Gold because the quantity and value thereof was uncertain it was adjudged that the Kings House should set down of what quantity and value every Talent should be and that the same should be paid accordingly and by the same Prerogative whensoever any Subject is to pay a Fine or Ransome unto the King for a contempt The King himself doth limit and set the Fine or Ransome at his own will or pleasure The Forreign commodities thus taken by the King in Spain at his own price were called Prizes but because these prizes were many times grievances to the Merchants and brought little or nothing to the Kings Coffers That prudent Prince Edw. 1. by that famous Charter called Charta Mercatoria made in the 31 year of his reign did remit unto all Merchant Strangers their prizes and did grant quod de caetero super mercimonia Merchandizas vel bona ipsorum per ipsum Regem vel Ministros suos nullos nulla appretiatio vel estimatio apponeretur quod nulla prisa vel arrestatio ratione prisae inde fieret c. and the Charter doth further recite That for the remission of these prizes the Merchants Strangers did grant unto the King three pence upon the pound now called the petty-custome out of all Forreign Merchandizes imported except Wines and for our Native commodities exported they would pay for every Sack of Wooll four pence and for every three hundred Wooll-fells six shillings and four pence and for every last of Leather a demi mark

forbear to use their Prerogative in that kind for those other notable and true causes which are before at large expressed in the seventeenth Chapter Lastly touching the Imposition of six shillings and eight pence upon every Cloth laid by Queen Mary after the losse of Callis she held the same with a new Imposition upon French Wines without any question during her life and albeit complaint were made against the Imposition set upon Cloaths unto Queen Elizabeth upon her first entry as it is usuall for the people to complain of burthens and charges upon every change of Government Yet we find that after the Conference of the Judges spoken of by my Lord Dyer 1 Eliz. f. 165. Dyer though their resolution be not their reported Queen Elizabeth did continue that Imposition and also the Impost upon French Wines as being lawfull set for the space of fourty four years without any further contradiction besides Queen Elizabeth did raise divers other new Impositions as is before declared whereunto there was never made any opposition during her Reign and which His Majesty that now is hath received without any question for the space of fifteen years and thus much may suffice for answer to the several points in the third Objection CHAP. XXVIII The fourth Objection that the Prerogative is bound or taken away by divers Acts of Parliament FOurthly It is objected That though it were granted and admitted that the King de jure communi hath a rightful Prerogative to lay Impositions upon Merchandizes yet that power say they is restrained and taken away by sundry Acts of Parliament First the Statute of Magna Charta cap. 30. doth give safe conduct and free passage to all Merchants to buy and sell absque aliquibus malis tolnetis per antiquas rectas consuctudines Secondly by the Act or Charrer of confirmation in 25 Edw. 3. The King doth release a Mayltolt of fourty shillings upon a Sack of Wooll and doth grant for him and His Heirs unto the Commons that he shall not take such things without the Commons consent or good will and in the same Act or Charter reciting that wheras divers people of the Realm were in fear that the Aids and Taxes which they had given to the King before that time was towards his War and other businesses of their own grant and good will might turn to a bondage of them and their heirs because in time to come they might be found in the Rolls and were likewise grieved for Prizes taken throught the Realm The King doth grant for him and his Heirs That he will not draw such Ayds Taxes or Prizes into a Custome for any thing that had been done before that time be it by Roll or any other president that may bee found Thirdly by the Statute 14 Edw. 3. cap. 12. the King doth grant that all Merchants Denizens and Aliens may freely come into the Realm with their goods and Merchandizes and freely tary there and safely return paying their Customes Subsidies and profits thereof reasonably due Fourthly by the Statute 11 Rich. 2. cap. 9. it is enacted That no Imposition or Charge be put upō Wools Wooll-fells or Leather other than the Custome or Subsidie granted to the King in that Parliament if any be the same to be adnulled and repealed saving to the King his ancient right there are other Acts of Parliament containing the same sence and substance but these principally have been singled out and cited as specially Statutes restraining and taking away the Kings Prerogative in laying Impositions upon Merchandizes CHAP. XXIX The Answer to the fourth Objection TO this Objection first I answer That this being a Prerogative in point of Government as well as in point of profit it cānot be restrained or bound by Act of Parliament it cannot be limited by any certain or fixt Rule of Law no more than the course of a Pilot upon the Sea who must turn the Helme or bear higher or lower sail according to the wind and weather and therefore it may be properly said That the Kings Prerogative in this point is as strong as Samson it cannot be bound for though an Act of Parliament be made to restrain it and the King doth give his consent unto it as Samson was bound with his own consent yet if the Philistins come that is if any just or important occasion do arise it cannot hold or restrain the Prerogative it will be as thred and broken as easie as the bonds of Samson and again Ius imponendi vectigalia inhaeret sceptro saith the Law Imperiall quod Sceptro inhaeret non potest tolli nisi sublato Sceptro The Kings Prerogatives are the Sun-beams of his Crown and as inseparable from it as the Sun-beams from the Sun The Kings Crown must be taken from his head before his Prerogative can be taken away from him Samsons hair must be cut off before his courage can be any jot abated Hence it is that the Kings Act nor any Act of Parliament can give away his Prerogative for in his own Act the King cannot release a tenure in Capite nor grant it to any Subject Dyer 44. If the King grant Land to I.S. to hold as freely as the King himselfe holds his Crown he shall hold his Land still of the King in Capite and if he Alien it hee shall pay a Fine for the tenure is vested in the King by his Prerogative saith the Book 14 Hen. 6. 12. and therefore when King Edw. 3. did grant unto the Black Prince his eldest Son the Dutchy of Cornwall una cum omnibus wardis maritagiis releviis c. non obstante Prerogativa Regis the Prince could not seize a Ward that held of the Kings Ward who held in Capite of the King because it belonged to the King by his Prerogative 34 Ass. pl. 25. whereby it is manifest that the King by his own Grant cannot sever his Prerogative from the Crown nor communicate any part thereof to any one not to the Prince his eldest Son and in this case of Tenure it was resolved in the last Assembly of Parliament in England That no Act of Parliament could be framed by the wit of man whereby all Tenures of the Crown might be extinguished neither can any Act of Parliament in the flat Negative take away the Kings Prerogative in the affirmative The King hath a Prerogative in the affirmation that he may pardon all Malefactors There is a Statute made at Northampton 2 Edw. 3. That no Charter of pardon for killing a man shold thence forth be granted but in one case where one man killeth another in his own defence by misfortune Hath this Statute so bound the Prerogative as no man ever since hath been pardoned for killing a man but in the cases before mentioned The King hath a Prerogative in point of Government to make choice of the Sheriff in every County there is a Statute made 28 Edw. 3 cap. 7. That

over and above the duties payable by Denizens for the same commodities which grant being made by the Merchants of every Nation not being incorporated and made a body politick is in respect of them of no force of the rule of the common Law until the Kings charter made it good and maintained it untill it was confirmed by Parliament 27 Edw. 3. which was fifty years after the date of the Charter upon the matter these duties payable by Merchant Strangers were onely Impositions raised and established by the Kings charter which Charter being made in England was after wards established exemplised under the Great Seal of England and transmitted into Ireland with a special Writ directed to the Officers of the Customes there to levy three pence of the pound and other duties mentioned in that Charter as appeareth in the Red Book of the Exchequer there by vertue of which Writ onely without Act of parliament the three pence of the pound and other duties were levied and paid to the Crown in Ireland CHAP. XII Of the ancient Customes payable for Wines called Prizage and Butlerage THe most ancient Custome payable for Wines is Prizage which is not any sum of Money but two Tunns of Wine in specie out of every Ship freighted with twenty Tun the one to be taken before the Mast and the other behind the Mast of the Ship and the price which the King himself did limit to pay was twenty shillings onely for every Tun as appeareth by an ancient Record of 52 Hen. 3. whereby we may conjecture what easie rates the King gave for the prizes of other Merchandizes This Custome of Prizage was meerly an Imposition for it could not be granted by the Merchants of Forreign Nations being no body politique as is before declared neither is there any Act of Parliament wherby our own Merchants did ever grant it unto the Crown This duty of Prizage was remitted unto the Stranger by the Charter of 31 Edw. 1. before mentioned and in lieu thereof by vertue of the same Charter the King before mentioned receiveth two shillings for every Tun of Wine brought in by Strangers which we now call Butlerage but Prizage is paid in Specie by all our own Merchants at this day the Citizens of London only excepted who having remissiō of Prizage by a special charge were charged with a new Imposition called Gauge viz. de quolibet dolio 1 d. de vinis venientibus London which was accounted Forreign Magno Rot. An. 1 Edw. 1. in the Office of the Pipe at Westminster the last of these Impositions which by the continuance have gotten the name of Custome was laid and imposed three hundred years since and have ever since been approved and are now maintained by the Common Law of England as the lawfull and ancient Inheritance of the Crown CHAP. XIII Of the ancient Officers which our Kings have created by vertue of their Prerogatives to search and over-see all sorts of Merchandizes and to collect the duties payable for the same AS our ancient Kings by vertue of their Prerogative without Parliament have laid the Customes or Impositions before expressed upon all sorts of Merchandizes exported and imported so by the same Prerogative have they ordained severall sorts of Officers to search and over-see those Merchandizes on which they had laid those Impositions namely the Gauger of Wines a high Officer is as ancient as the Imposition of the Gauge it self before mentioned the Alneger of the cloths which is more ancient than any Act of Parliament that makes mention of the cloths for there is a Record of 14 Edw. 2. in Archivis turris which speaketh of the Alneger the Packer of Woolls the Garbellor of spices besides the Officer of the Customes viz. the Customer Comtroller and Searcher all which Officers have ever taken Fees of Merthants both Denizens and Aliens not by grant of the Merchants or Act of Parliament but by vertue of their severall Patents granted from the King CHAP. XIV Of other Impositions besides the ancient Customes before mentioned laid upon Merchandizes by severall Kings and Queens since the Conquest some of which Impositions have been discontinued or remitted and some of them are continued and paid at this day and first of the Imposition set by King Edw. 1. over and besides the Customes spoken of before IT appeareth in the Record of the Exchequer of England That in 16 Edw. 1. an Imposition of four shillings was laid upon every Tun of Wine brought into England from certain Towns in Gascogine and Spain and at this day answered and compted for duty for the space of ten years untill the 26 Edw. 1. when it was remitted but during the Kings pleasure only it appeareth likewise 25 Edw. 1. by the Charter of the confirmation then made of the Great Charter that King Edw. 1. had for divers years before set and laid an Imposition of fourty shillings upon every Sack of Wooll exported which ad instantiam Communitatis he was pleased to remit which remittall was of meer Grace upon the Petition of the Commons after that Imposition had been laid many years before and it is to be noted that this Imposition of fourty shillings upon a Sack of Wooll was taken and levied above twenty years together after the new Imposition of the demi mark upon a Sack of Wooll which was set and established for that begun in 3 Edw. 1. and this Imposition of fourty shillings continued till 25 Edw. 1. which is a strong argument that the first establishment of the demi mark was not by a binding Act of Parliament with a Negative voice that no other duties should be taken for those Merchandizes as was surmized but was only a mitigation or reducement of a greater Custome paid before which was done of meer Grace upon some reason of State at that time CHAP. XV Of the Imposition set and taken by King Edward the second KIng Edward the second in the beginning of his Reign did as well take the ancient as the new Custome upon Wooll Wooll-fells and Leather which ancient Custom must needs be intended an ancient Imposition over and besides the demi mark which was then called the new Custome and this appeareth by a Record in the Tower 3 Ed. 2. Claus. memb. 16. where the King directeth his Writ collectoribus suis tam antiquae quam novae customae lanarum pellium corriorum and requireth them to pay certain Debts of his Fathers King Edward 1. out of their old and new Customes and a hundred thousand pound pro damnis occasione retardationis solutionis debitis c. and howbeit afterwards he being a weak Prince and misguided by ill Counsell and over-ruled by his unruly Barons was driven first to suspend the payments of his Customes of three pence the pound and other duties contained in Charta Mercatoria during pleasure only as appeareth by his Writs of Supersedeas directed to the Collectors of his