Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	new_a	old_a	testament_n	18,420	5	8.4579	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43077	A treatise concerning statutes, or acts of Parliament, and the exposition thereof written by Sir Christopher Hatton ...	Hatton, Christopher, Sir, 1540-1591.	1677 (1677)	Wing H1142; ESTC R14799	17,009	104

is taken particularly for all the general words both because the preamble which is the key to open many Statutes as Justice Dier saith favoureth and giveth light to that exposition and other men may be spoken with themselves if their Officers abuse men though the King cannot at mens pleasures be come unto and it is chiefly ordained for Religious Persons that had Pensions of the King who were delayed and defrauded by the King's Officers and as in these cases so will there appear special reason of other Statutes in this kind or else they must be taken according to their words for as Civilians say In dubio haec legis praesumitur esse sententia quam verba ostendunt But if the words and mind of the Law be clean contrary that Law or Statute is void Vbi manifeste pugnant legis voluntas verba neutrum sequendum est Verba quia non congruunt menti mens quia non congruit verbis As for example A Noble-man of this Realm lately deceased was attainted de facto of High Treason in Queen Mary's time and in an Act of Parliament it was intended to confirm the judgment and those words were void because the Attaindor was void by mis-recital and by consequence for want of Jurisrisdiction in the Commissioners and because it was void it could not be confirmed for that which is weak may be made stronger but that which hath no subsistance cannot be corroborated Et confirmare est illud quod est firmum facere Likewise divers Statutes that should have been continued in Parliaments have been misrecited and by that occasion discontinued and dissolved Out of the Premisses ariseth the solution of one great doubt which is Whether the Parliament may err or not for it is lately declared wherein it hath erred And though there be no Court higher to convince or pronounce upon the error yet when the matter is plain every Judg may esteem of it as it is and being void is not bound to allow it for good and forcible CHAP. III. Another division of Acts of Parliament WHere there are not Essential Differences Divisive men that would use plainness in Treatises of Learning are allowed to divide more than once and so do I at this time Wherefore I say again of Statutes some be Penal some are Beneficial or Gracious And again some Statutes are constitutive of new Laws some declaratory of old some go to the abridgment of the Common Law some to the enlargement I will not stand upon defining the Members of these divisions nor shew examples for they bear their Names and Natures in their forehead so far forth as doth in this precurse and preparation to the rest of this work Only I will say with Sir Edward Saunders late chief Baron of worthy memory that all Statutes in a manner are Penal to some but if they be beneficial to very many and punish a few they are to be counted gracious taking that denomination of the prevalent quality And whereas I have said that some Statutes are constitutive of new Laws and go to the enlargement of the Common Law I cannot tell how it might be taken of some who hold the Law to be so perfect and so large as Reason is in every thing and beyond Reason a man cannot go for Reasonable is the Difference constitutive and convertible with man But our Laws are not grown to that perfection nor the grounds of Law are not all so perfect but that the contraries of some are as reasonable as our Laws As for example The law or custom of the eldest Sons inheriting the whole Land how doth the consent of the Laws of other Countries go against that and the number of such laws are many Wherefore seeing Reason must be bridled and restrained in the course of the Law the law of England and reasonable be not convertible nor always coincident together I know that Reason may be called the Mother of the Law and Maxims the Foundations in respect of the more part of the Laws and Maxims may not be denied but they may be compared and must be reconciled in every case where they seem to differ but all this negotiation bringeth us a less matter than that which Tully de legibus speaketh of Lex est summa ratio c. Neither is this defect peculiar to our law for the Civil Law saith Non omnium quae à majoribus constituta sunt ratio reddipotest And we are so far from Perfection in our Law that both our Courts of Law yea and our Courts of Conscience as the Author of the Book called The Doctor and the Student saith must leave of necessity some things that need reformation to the Conscience of the party himself and then may Acts of Parliament be made right well that are constitutive of new Laws and corrective of old CHAP. IV. A Division of Interpretation of Statutes NOw that Statutes are divided let us likewise divide their Interpretation which is of two sorts One is according to the precise words of every Statute the other according to equity For when the words express not the intent of the Makers the Statute must be further extended than the bare words but ever it must be thought that the meaning of the Makers was such when there is any proceeding other than the words bear for it were an absurd thing to make an exposition go further than either the words or the intention of the Statutaries reached unto especially seeing a great part of them are by election namely all of the Lower House and then by the law Civil the Assembly of Parliament being ended Functi sunt officio and their Authority is returned to the Electors so clearly that if they were altogether assembled again for interpretation by a voluntary meeting Eorum non esset interpretari For the Sages of the Law whose wits are exercised in such matters have the interpretation in their hands and their Authority no man taketh in hand to control wherefore their Power is very great and high and we seek these Interpretations as Oracles from their mouthes CHAP. V. Of Interpretation of Statutes according to Equity ALl Statutes may be expounded by Equity so far forth as Epicaia goeth that is an exception of the Law of God and Law of Reason from the general words of the Law of Man for such cases are taken for understood and what is understood is not out of the Law By the Law of Reason I mean as the Author of the Book called The Doctor and Student doth the Law Eternal or the Will of God known to every man by the light of natural Reason and by the Law of God I mean the Old and New Testaments not favouring their Opinions that by circuity of Argument would batter or beat down any good Law of man by colour of contrariety thereof to the Word of God when the truth in plainness of dealing is otherwise to be discerned The