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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30617	The soveraignty of the British seas proved by records, history, and the municipall lawes of this kingdome / written in the yeare 1633, by that learned knight, Sr John Boroughs ...	Borough, John, Sir, d. 1643.	1651 (1651)	Wing B6129; Wing B3774_CANCELLED; ESTC R10587	24,855	175

THE SOVERAIGNTY of the BRITISH SEAS Proved By Records History and the Municipall Lawes of this KINGDOME Written in the yeare 1633. By that Learned Knight Sr JOHN BOROUGHS Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London London Printed for Humphrey Moseley and are to be sold at his Shop at the Princes Armes in St Pauls Church-yard 1651. To the Reader BE not startled to see so great a subject handled in so small a Volume When you have read but a little of this little you 'll thinke the Authour was tender of your trouble but not of his own For how cheape soever you come by this Book it cost the Author the perusall and search of the best and most Records of our Nation And yet hee was one that knew well enough how to value his time for none made better use of it and in these kinds of Scrutinies you may beleeve he went the best way because hee knew them all and trod them every day it being his Office not to be ignorant of any Records that concern'd the Honour or Antiquitie of this Island It was written at the request of a great Person who desir'd to understand the true State of the Question concerning the Dominion of the British Seas as well what Histories as our own Records would afford And here 't is done in a little roome for the Author was able to speake fully and briefly both at once Some others have written of the same Subject and if wee thought any spake more or so much in so short compasse wee should forbeare the publication of this Wee are borne in an Island and cannot goe out of it without asking leave of the Sea and Winde and not to know what Right we have to that Water which divides us from all the World is something ill becoming such as can read and may know for reading The Title is not too bigge for the Booke though one of the greatest Ships of the World was call'd by the same name and if some knowing Persons bee not deceiv'd our Author was the first that hinted it having written this Discourse three yeares before that famous Vessell was built Farewell The Soveraigntie Of the Seas of ENGLAND THat Princes may have an exclusive property in the Soveraigntie of the severall parts of the Sea and in the passage ●ishing shores therof ●s so evidently true by way of fact as no man that is not desperately ●●pudent can deny it and for the point of right though some of late have endeavored by way of argument to prove the contrary affirming them to be not onely publique but common yet the notorious practise of all Maritime Countries the necessity of Order in mutuall commerce and the safety of mens persons goods lives had taught even the most barbarous Nations to know by the light of humane reason that lawes are as equally necessary for the governement and preservation of such as frequent quent the Seas as of those that trade and negotiate on the firme land And that to make lawes and to give them the life of execution must of necessity require a supreame authority for to leave every part of the Sea and shores to an arbitrary and promiscuous use with-a correcting and securing power in case of wrong or danger is to make men of the like condition with the fishes that live therein of which the greater doe usually devoure and swallow the lesse I conceive therefore that Princes doe entertaine these Schoole Problems and Criticismes no otherwise then with contempt and scorne much disdaining to bee wrangled out of the ancient rights regalities annexed to their crownes by the subtile Arguments of witt and Sophistrie specially considering that amongst the Civill Lawyers themselves there is so great diversity of opinion whilst some peremptorily maintaine That Mare littora maris jure Gentium sunt communia Others as confidently saying Videmus de jure Gentium in mare esse distincta dominia sicut in terra And further mare ipsum ad centum usque milliaria pro territorio districtuque illius Regionis eviproxim appropinquat assignatur with many other like alterations diameter wife contradictorie the one to the other And therefore the question being not as yet resolved amongst themselves it were strange to thinke that Princes in the meane time will relinquish the possession of those Royalties which they and their Ancestors have held beyond all memory without a judgement first agreed upon and affirmed in the case And for his sacred Majesty our dread Soveraigne Lord the King such is his cleare and indubitable right to the Superiority of the Seas of England derived and confirmed upon him by immemorable prescription and continued in possession even untill this very yeare 1633. that the hearts and consciences of all just men must necessarily subscribe to the evident truth thereof But if contrariewise any shall presume and goe about actually to dispossesse his Majestie of this his undoubted birthright or usurpe upon his Soveraigntie in a case so highly concerning his honour and safety as well of his owne kingdomes and subjects as of other Nations that under the wing of his protection doe passe those Seas his Majestie no doubt will never be unprovided of a good sword to vindicate that right which all his royall progenitors have carefully maintained the lawes and customes of this kingdome have ratified and confirmed forraigne Nations have freely acknowledged as by the subsequent monumēts of Record History the Cōmon lawes of the land will evidently appeare When Julius Caesar first undertook the Invasion of this our Isle of Brittaine he found the neighbouring Nation of the Gaules in a manner altogether ignorant of the Island it selfe the condition of the Inhabitants their Townes Havens approaches Quae omnia fere Gallis erant incognita neque enim temere praeter mercatores adit ad illos quisquam neque eis ipsis quidquam praeter oram Maritimam atque eas Regiones quae sunt contra Galliam notum est So are the words of Caesar whereby it appeareth that the Brittains kept off all Strangers except Merchants from approaching their confines that those Merchants in their accesse were restrained to the shore only that lay opposite to the Gaules without being suffered to make further discoveries of the more remote coasts Insomuch that the same Caesar upon diligent examination of those Merchants Neque quanta esset Insulae magnitudo neque quae quantae Nationes incolerent neque quem usum belli haberent aut quibus institutis uterentur neque qui essent ad majorum naviū multitudinē idonei portus reperire poterat which restaint of strangers they could not otherwise make good but by the goodnes greatnes of their Shipping as may be gathered by the words of the same Caesar afterwards used For though the Brittaines for ordinary imployment Rivers and upon the Coasts neare the maine had Ships composed of meane

the Kings of England had then been in peaceable possession of the sayd Dominion of the sayd Sea of England by immemorable prescription Secondly that the Soveraignty belonged unto them not because they were Domini utriusque ripae as when they had both England and Normandy and so were Lords of both shoares For Edward the First at this time had not Normandy but that it is inseparably appendant and annexed unto the Kingdome of England our Kings being superiour Lords of the said Sea by reason as the said Record speaketh of the sayd Kingdomes Thirdly onely the Kings of England had power to make Lawes and exercise supreame Jurisdiction over all persons and in all causes within the sayd Sea and in their absence to the Masters of their said Ships onely appertaineth Fourthly That the King of France could not make an Admirall in that Sea without doing wrong to the King of England but that it was an usurpation upon his right Lastly that all this was affirmed and acknowledged by the Agents of most part of Christendome being strangers to the Crown of England Surely I beleeve no Prince in the world can produce clearer evidence for any part of his estate then the King of England by this Record can doe for his Soveraignty and exclusive Jurisdiction in the Sea of England Yet for further declaration hereof I will adde certain others of succeeding times in affirmance of that above mentioned The first whereof is that of King Edward 3. being an Article amongst others upon which the Kings Justices were to be advised with all the title of the Record being as followeth Articuli super quibus Justiciarii Domini nostri Regis sunt consulendi Item ad finem quod resumatur continuetur ad subditorum prosecutionem forma procedendi quondam ordinata inchoata per Avum Dominum nostruns Regis ejus Concilium ad restituendum conservandum antiquam superioritatem Maris Angliae jus officii Admirallatus in eodem quod corrigendum leges statuta per ejus Antecessores Angliae Reges du dum ordinata ad conserv an dum pacem justitiam inter omnes Gentes Nationis cujuscunque per mare Angliae transeuntes ad cognoscendum super omnibus in contrarium attemptatis in eodem ad puniendum delinquentes damna parti satisfaciendum Quae quidem leges statuta per Dominum Richardum quondam Regem Angliae in redditu suo à terra sancta correcta fuerunt interpretata declarata Insula de Olleron publicata nominata in Gallica lingua Lay loy Olleron In this Record as in the former the ancient right of the King of Englands superiority in the Seas of England and the large extent thereof is clearely specified but especially in the conclusion wee may observe to the great glory of our English Nation that the famous Lawes of Olleron which after the Rhodian Lawes were antinquated and absolete have now well neare 500. yeares been received by all the Christian world for regulating Sea affaires and deciding Maritime controversies were first declared by King Richard the first a King of England at his returne from the Holy land and by him caused to bee published in the Isle of Olleron then belonging to the Dutchy of Aquitane and thereupon and from that Island tooke their name which they yet retaine and this is the more worthy of note because untill this Record being lately found was produced the most learned Lawyers and Antiquaries of our times were altogether ignorant by whom those Lawes were ordained and why they were so called To the same purpose and effect is this originall in French but expressed here in English Item to the end that having seen and considered the formes of proceeding and Letters ordained by the Counsell of our sayd Lord Grandfather to the King for them and the sayd Nation of England to recover and retaine the sayd Subjects Assistants and Allies and to cause redresse to be made unto them for all damages done to them on Sea and Land during the said Truce Peace and Confederation and against the forme of the same by the said French their Assistants and Allies and to shew the clamour of the people for the said dis-inheritance and the damages which by reason of such clamour might happen and especially to retaine the Soveraignty which his Ancestors the Kings of England used to have in the sayd Sea of England as touching the ancient declaration and interpretation of Lawes by them made to governe all manner of people passing through the sayd Sea And first to his Admirall and Masters and Marriners of the Ships of the Cinque Ports of England of all other Lands annexed to the Crowne of England belonging to his Army in the said Sea the like formes of proceedings and letters be henceforth observed with all such amendment as may be ordained by the said Consells of our said Lord the King to the profit and honour of him And moreover the Record following sheweth how much that great King Edward the third held himselfe in honour bound not to suffer the dominion of the Sea to be lost or impaired in his time but especially wee are in it to observe that the Kings of England were anciently as now Domini Anglicani circumquaque Lords of the Seas environing England for so the words of the Record are Rex dilecto fideli suo Galfrido de Say Admirallo flotae suae naevium ab ore aquae Thamisiae versus partes Occidentales salutem Cum nuper nos animadvertentes quod Progenitores nostrûm Reges Angliae Domini Maris Anglicatani circumquaque etiam defensores contra hostium invasiones ante haec tempora extiterunt Et plurimum nos taederet si honor noster regius in defensione hujusmodi armis quod absit depereat temporibus nostris aut in aliquo minuatur c. Mandamus vobis quod statim visis presentibus et absque ulteriori dilatione naves portuum praedictorum alias naves quae jam paratae existunt super mare tene atis And first to the practique proofe of this Dominion and Superioritie in all succeeding times what can be more pertinent and materiall then to shew That the Kings of England successively have had the Soveraigne guard of the Seas That they have imposed taxes and tributes upon all Ships passign and fishing therein That they have stoped and opened the passage thereof to strangers as they saw cause That all wrecks and and Royall fishes therein found are originally due and doe belong unto them Every of which particulars the testimonies following will amply manifest As touching therefore the guard of the Seas It is apparent by the Records of Parliament and by the printed bookes of Statutes that Tomage and Poundage were granted as for other reasons so especially and all waies for enabling the King to guard the Seas And accordingly divers admiralls from time to time were constituted