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cause_n	according_a	judgement_n	law_n	1,948	5	4.8277	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63255	The triumphs of justice over unjust judges exhibiting, I. the names and crimes of four and forty judges hang'd in one year in England, as murderers for their corrupt judgments, II. the case of the Lord Chief Justice Trefilian, hang'd at Tyburn, and all the rest of the judges of England (save one) banisht in K. Rich. the 2ds time, III. the crimes of Empson and Dudley, executed in K. Henry the 8th's days, IV. the proceedings of the ship-money-judges in the reign of K. Charles the first, V. diverse other presidents both antient and modern : to which is added VI. the judges oath, and some observations thereupon, humbly dedicated to the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs.	Philo-Dicaios.	1681 (1681)	Wing T2297; ESTC R3571	28,282	42

England was to be done whereupon a Scire Facias issued out of the Exchequer reciting the said Writs to warn Mr. Hampden amongst others to shew Cause why he should not be Charged with this Money Upon this he being Summoned Appeared and demanded Oyer of those Writs and Schedule which being Entred he Demurr'd in Law that is demanded the Opinion and Judgment of the Court of Exchequer Whether this Writ were sufficient in Law to Force him to pay the said Twenty Shillings This being a Great and General Case the Barons of the Exchequer desired the Assistance of the rest of the Judges who did Joyn accordingly The Case was argued first by Councel on both Sides and next by the Judges severally of whom Sir Richard Hutton Knight one of the Judges of the Common-Pleas and Sir Richard Crook Knight one of the Judges of the King 's Bench in large and learned Arguments since Printed did shew the Illegality of such Writs and gave their Opinion That the Defendant Hampden ought not to be Charged But the rest of the Judges were resolved to carry the Point for the King and accordingly gave their Opinions That the Defendant ought to be Charged And then it was the Part of the Barons of the Exchequer to give Judgment which was Entred in these Words Quod seperalia Brevia predicta Retorn ' eorundem ac Schedul ' praedict ' eisdem Annex ' ac materia in eisdem content ' sufficient ' in Lege Exist ' ad praefat Johannem Hampdem de predictis viginti solidis super ipsum informa ex causa praedictae Assessae onerand Ideo consideratum est per eosdem Barones quod pr●●…ctus Johannes Hampden de eisdem viginti solidis oneretur inde satisfaciat That the said several Writs and Returns thereof and the Schedules thereunto annex't and the Matter in the same contained are sufficient in Law to Charge the said John Hampden with the Twenty Shillings upon him in the Form and by Vertue of the Assessment afore-said imposed Therefore it is considered by the said Barons That the said John Hampden shall be Charged and shall satisfy the same This Judgment was imposed as such an Infallible Determination of the Law in this Case that no further Dispute would be allow'd thereof to any others insomuch that a Person of Honour having a Case depending in the King 's Bench was denyed any Argument or Debate concerning the Right of Ship-Money for no other Reason but that it had been by the former Judgment decided already in the Exchequer It may perhaps be said This Imposition of Ship-Money was small and inconsiderable Mr. Hampden a Gentleman of a fair Fstare was Assessed but Twenty Shillings And Why should any Body-scruple such a petty Business when the King Commanded it Was not the Remedy far worse than the Disease Why should any Subject exspend a great deal of Money in Law to avoid Payment of so Trivial a Sum Or What Harm could accrue to the Publick by the Judges allowing the King Power to Impose such an Assessment when it was for the Defence of the Realm from Eminent and Imminent Danger and he exerted that Power so favourably c. In Answer to such Objections it must be said That true it is it was then only Mr. Hampden's Case but the whole Nation every individual Subject of England was concern'd in it nay so far concern'd that all his Estate and Liberty was therein given up The Question was not Quantum but Quo Jure If Publick Danger might give the King Title to lay Impositions without a Parliament and He alone were Judge of such Danger When might it not be alledged If Twenty Shillings were Assessed on Mr. Hampden that Year How did it appear but Twenty Pounds might be required the next and Two Thousand Pounds the Year following And What Use what Occasion would the Court have had for ever afterwards of a Parliament But as to the Illegality of these Ship-Writs I refer the Reader to Judge Crook's Argument where the same is Demonstrated to be against the Common-Law against divers Statutes not to be maintain'd by any Prerogative or Power Royal unwarrantable by any former Precedents c. Let us see then what were the Consequences of these Extrajudicial Opinions and this Illegal Judgment of the Judges First As to the King They thereby mis-led him as much as in them lay to Discompose the Harmony of Government to Entrench upon the Property of His Subjects and contrary to his Intentions by Colour of Right to violate the Laws which no doubt that Good Prince meant to have preserv'd Inviolable Secondly As to the Subjects They were not only hereby Injured but their Affections Alienated from their Sovereign which to occasion is no doubt a very High because almost Irreparable Treason The Genuine Sense of these Resolutions being no less than this That the King of England as often as Himself pleaseth may declare the Kingdom to be in Danger and that so often His Majesty for Prevention of such Dangers may by His Writ under the Great Seal of England alter the Property of the Subject's Goods without their Consent in Parliamen and that in such Proportions as His Majesty shall think fit And besides may deprive them of the Liberty of their Persons and that in such Manner as Himself shall please Thirdly As to the Judges themselves It prov'd deservedly Fatal For no sooner was a Parliament Call'd but they were call'd to Account for these their Illegal Opinions and Judgment And after a long Debate on Monday the Seventh of December 1640. these Four several Votes Passed upon them without so much as One Negative Voice to any of them viz. First THat the Charge imposed upon the Subjects for the Providing and Furnishing of Ships and the Assessments for Raising of Money for that purpose commonly called Ship-Money are against the Laws of the Realm the Subjects Right of Property and contrary to former Resolutions in Parliament and to the Petition of Right Secondly That the Extrajudicial Opinions of the Iudges Published in the Star-Chamber and Inrolled in the Courts at Westminster before Recited in the whole and in every part of them are against the Laws of the Realm the Right of Property and the Liberty of the Subjects and contrary to former Resolutions in Parliament and to the Petition of Right Thirdly That the Writ to the Sheriff of Bucks particularly Recited and the other Writs commonly called Ship-Writs are against the Laws of the Realm the Right of Property and the Liberty of the Subjects and contrary to former Resolutions in Parliament and to the Petition of Right Fourthly That the Iudgment in Mr. Hampden's Case as before Recited in the matter and substance thereof and in that it was conceived that Mr. Hampden was any way Chargeable is against the Laws of the Realm the Right of Property the Liberty of the Subjects and contrary to former Resolutions in Parliament and to the Petition of Right These

forsomuch that before this time the said Offences Extortions Contempts c. might not nor as yet may be conveniently Punished by the due Order of Law except it were first found and presented by the Verdict of Twelve ●●en thereto duely Sworn who for the Causes before Recited will not find nor present the Truth wherefore be it by the Advice and Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by Authority of the same Enacted Ordained and Established That from henceforth as well the Iustices of Assize as the Iustices of the Peace in every County of the said Realm upon Information Note it was to be without any Presentment or Indictment found by any Grand or Petty Jury for the King c. shall have full Power Authority by their Discretion to hear determine all Offences c. Here you see Matters were left to be determined by Judges and Justices Without Iuries in a Summary Chancery-Method only according forsooth to their Discretion Yet still there was a Proviso THat no such Information should extend to Treason Murder or Felony nor to any other Offence for which any Person should lose Life or Member Nor to lose by or upon the same Information any Lands Tenements Goods or Chatteis to the Party making the same Information Which deserves Particular Notice Yet observe how the same Reverend Lord Coolt in the Place before-cited descants on this Act. By Pretext saith he of this Law Empson and Dudley did commit upon the Subject unsufferable Pressures and Oppressions and therefore this Statute was Justly soon after the Decease of Henry the Seventh Repeal'd by an Act of Parliament 1 H. 8. Cap. 8. A good Caveat to Parliaments to leave all Causes to be measured by that Golden and Strait-Mete-Wand of the Law and not to the incertain and crooked Cord of Discretion It is not almost Credible continues the same Judicious Author to fore-see when any Maxim or Fundamental-Law of this Realm He means as to this particular Case Tryals per Pais that is by Juries is Altered what dangerous Inconveniences do follow Which most expresly appears by this Most Vnjust Strange Act For hereby not only Empson and Dudley themselves but such Justices of Peace Corrupt Men as they caused to be Authorized Committed most grievous and heavy Oppressions and Exactions Grinding of the Faces of poor Subjects by Penal Laws be they never so Obsolete or unfit for the Time Suppose for a Parallel in our Times putting the Statutes against Popish Recusants in Execution against Protestant Dissenters at a Juncture when Popery was just ready to over-run us all by Information only without any Presentment or Tryal by Jury being The Antient Birth-Right of the Subject But to Hear and Determine the same by their Discretion These and other like Oppressions and Exactions by or by Means of Empson and Dudley and their Instruments brought Infinite Treasures to the King's Coffers whereof the King in the End with great Grief and Compunction Repented This Statute of 11 H. 7 We have Recited and shewed the Inconveniencies thereof to the end that the like should never hereafter be attempted in any Court of Parliament And that others might avoid the Fearful End of these Two Time-Servers Empson and Dudley Thus far that Oracle of our English Laws Wherein be pleased to observe First That he sticks not to call even an Act of Parliament most Vnjust and Strange And in the Second Part of his Institutes fol. 51. Vnjust and Injurious because it Altered a Fundamental-Law of the Realm viz. Denyed Tryal by Juries a most Essential Part of English Freedom and never to be parted with Secondly Observe what became of these Two Wicked Men though they had such a Colour of Law to bear them out They were in the Beginning of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth first Indicted for other base Practises in Finding of False Offices for the King to the Dammage and Disherison of His Subjects Which Indictment ran as follows see Cook 's Instit Part the Fourth fol. 198. Juratores praesentant quod Richardus Empson nuper de London Miles c. In English thus THe Jurors present That Richard Empson late of London Knight late Counsellor of the most Excellent Prince Henry the Seventh late King of England on the Tenth Day of May in the Twentyeth Year of the said late King and divers Times before and after at London c. Not having God before his Eyes but as the Son of the Devil imagining the Honour Dignity and Prosperity of the said late King and the Prosperity of His Kingdom of England not at all to Value or Regard But to the end that he might obtain to be a more Singular Favourite of the said late King whereby he Himself might be made a Noble or Great Man and Govern the whole Kingdom of England at his Pleasure Falsly Deceitfully and Treasonably Subverting the La●y of England did amongst other Things the Day and Year afore-said at London in the Parish and Ward afore-said procure and cause to be found divers false Inquisitions and Offices of Intrusions and Alienations of divers Leige-Subject's Mannors Lands and Tenements that they held the Mannors Lands and Tenements in those Inquisitions specified of our Lord the King in Capite or otherwise when in Truth it was not so And afterwards when the said Leige-Subjects of our Lord the late King would have tendered and alledged Traverses to the said Inquisitions in the Court of Him the said late King according to the Law of England they could not be admitted to those Traverses But he the said Richard Empson debar'd and delay'd them from the same 'till they had agreed with him to pay divers Great and Insupportable Fines and Redemptions as well for the Profit of the said late King as for the proper private Advantages of him the said Richard to the great Impoverishment of the said Subjects And that the said Richard the Day and Year afore-said in the Parish and Ward afore-said and several Times before and after divers Leige-Subjects of the said late King holding of out said Lord the King divers Mannors Lands and Tenements by Knight's-Service and themselves being by the Death of their Ancestors under Age and so in the Wardship of the King by Reason of their Tenure when they came to lawful Age and ought to have had due Livery of their Mannors Lands and Tenements according to the Custom and Law of England and would have Prosecuted the same according to the Course of Chancery did refuse them so to do and totally deny and erclude until they had made with him the said Richard divers great Fines and Redemptions more than they could bear as well for the Gain of the said late King as for the private Benefit of him the said Richard Whereby many of the said late King's People were by such Grievances and Vnjust Extortions many wayes vered Insomuch that the Subjects of the said late

Barons of our Court of Exchequer Charles Rex TRusty and Well-beloved We greet you well Taking into our Princely Consideration that the Honour and Safety of this our Realm of England the Preservation whereof is Only Entrusted to our Care was and is more nearly concern'd than in late or former times as well by divers Counsels and Attempts to take from us the Dominion of the Seas of which we are sole Lord and Right Owner and Proprietor and the Loss whereof would be of greatest Danger and Peril to this Kingdom and other our Dominions and many other ways We for the avoiding of these and the like Dangers well Weighing with our self that where the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in general is concern'd and the whole Kingdom in Danger there the Charge and Defence ought to be Borne by all the Realm in general did for the preventing so publick a Mischief resolve with our self to have a Royal Navy prepared that might be of Force and Power with Almighty God's Blessing and Assistance to Protect and Defend this our Realm and our Subjects therein from all such Perils and Dangers And for that purpose we Issued forth Writs under our great Seal of England Directed to all our Sheriffs of our several Counties of England and Wales Commanding thereby all our said Subjects in every City Town and Village to provide such a Number of Ships well-furnish't as might serve for this Royal Purpose and which might be done with the greatest Equality that could be In performance whereof though generally throughout all the Counties of this our Realm we have found in our Subjects great Chearfulness and Alacrity which we Graciously Interpret as a Testimony as well of their Dutiful Affection to us and our Service as of the Respect they have to the Publick which well becometh every good Subject Nevertheless finding that some few happily out of Ignorance what the Laws and Customs of this Realm are or out of a desire to be eased in their Particulars how General soever their Charge be or ought to be have not yet Paid and Contributed to their several Rates and Sessments that were set upon them And foreseeing in our Princely Wisdom divers Suits and Actions are not unlike to be Commenced and Prosecuted in our several Courts at Westminster We desirous to avoid such Inconveniencies and out of our Princely Love and Affection to all our People being willing to prevent such Errors as any of our Loving Subjects may happen to run into have thought fit in a Case of this Nature to Advise with you our Judges who we doubt not are well Studied and Informed in the Rights of our Sovereignty and because the Tryals of our several Courts by the Formalities in Pleading will require a long Protraction We have thought fit by this Letter directed to you All to require your Judgments in the Case as it is set down in the Inclosed Paper which will not only gain Time but also be of more Authority to over-rule any Prejudicate Opinions of others in the Point Given under Our Signet at Our Court of White-Hall the Second of February in the Twelfth Year of Our Reign 1636. The CASE propounded in the Paper inclosed was thus worded Charles Rex WHen the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in General is concern'd and the whole Kingdom in Danger Whether may not the KING by Writ under the Great Seal of England Command all the Subjects in His Kingdom at their Charge to Provide and Furnish such Number of Ships with Men Victuals and Munition and for such Time as He shall think fit for the Defence and Safe-guard of the Kingdom from such Danger and Peril And by Law compel the Doing thereof in case of Refusal or Refractoriness And Whether in such Case is not the KING the sole Judge both of the Danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided To which the JVDGES delivered their Opinions as followeth May it please Your most Excellent Majesty WE have according to Your Majestie 's Command severally and every Man by himself and All of us together taken into Serious Consideration the Case and Questions Signed by Your Majesty and inclosed in Your Letter And We are of Opinion That when the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in General is Concern'd and the whole Kingdom in Danger Your Majesty may by Writ under the Great Seal of England Command all the Subjects of This Your Kingdom at their Charge to Provide and Furnish such Number of Ships with Men Victuals and Ammunition and for such Time as Your Majesty shall think fit for the Defence and Safe-guard of the Kingdom from such Peril and Danger And that by Law Your Majesty may Compel the Doing thereof in case of Refusal or Refractoriness And we are also of Opinion That in such Case Your Majesty is the sole Judge both of the Danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided John Bramston John Finch Hum. Davenport John Denham Richard Hutton William Jones George Crook Thomas Trevor George Vernon Robert Barclay Francis Crawley Richard Weston But it is to be noted That though all the Judges did thus Sign this Answer yet it was not according to all their Opinions for Crook and Hutton dis-assented and declared That such a Charge could not be laid by any such Writ but by Parliament But the Major-Part of the Judges being absolutely Resolved upon that Opinion pressed them to Subscribe likewise with the rest for that the Greater Number must involve and conclude the Less which they said was usual in all Cases of Reference And that the Lesser Number must submit to the Opinion of the More although they varied in Opinion As in the Courts of Law If Three Judges agree in Opinion against One or Two where there is Five Judges Judgment is to be Entred per Curiam if the Major Part agree and the Others are to submit unto it c. These are the very Words of Judge Crook excusing himself for having thus Subscribed See the Arguments on Hampden's Case p. 12. Having thus got the Business back't with the Subscriptions of all the Judges of England the same were Enrolled in all the Courts of Westminster-Hall And now they began to Prosecute briskly all the Defaulters amongst whom the Chiefest was John Hampden of Buckingham-shire Esquire who had upon one of these Ship Writs directed to the Sheriff of that County been Assessed Twenty Shillings for his Lands in Stoke-Mandevil in that County which not being paid was Certified amongst others into the Chancery upon a Writ of Certiorari Dated 9 Martii Anno 12. Car. by a Schedule thereunto annexed and by a Writ of Mittimus Teste 5 Maii 13 Car. transmitted into the Exchequer with a Command there to do for the Leavying of the Sums so Assessed and Unpaid Prout de Jure secundum Legem Regni nostri Angliae suerit faciendum So as of Right and according to the Law of our Kingdom of

Counsel or Assent to any thing the which might turn to Hurt or Dis-heriting of the King by any Way or Colour And that ye shall not know any Hurt or Disheriting of the King but that ye shall make it to Him known by You or by some other Person And that ye shall do equal Law and Execution of Right to all the King's Subjects Rich and Poor without having Regard to any Person And that ye shall not take by You or by any other privily ne apart any Gift or Reward of Gold or of Silver nor of any other Thing the which might turn you to Profit unless it be Meat or Drink and that of Little Value of any Man that shall have any Plea or Process hanging before you as long as the same before your self such Pleas and Processes shall be hanging nor after for that Cause And that ye shall take no Fees as long as ye be Iustice nor Robe of any Person great or small in any Case but of the King Himself And that ye shall not give any Counsel or Advice to any Person great or small in any Ease where the King is Party And in case that any Persons of what ever Estate they be of come before You in Sessions with Force and Arms or otherwise against the Peace or against the Form of the Statute thereof made for to disturb the Execution of the Common-Law or for to Menace the People that they may not do the Law That ye shall Arrest their Bodies and put them in Prison and in case they be such as ye may not Arrest that ye shall Certifie the King of their Names and of their Misdoing hastily to that End that he may thereof Ordain Remedy that ye shall not maintain by your self nor by none other privily nor openly any Plea or Quarrel hanging in the King's Courts or elsewhere in the Country And that ye shall not Delay any Person of Common-Right for the Letters of the King or of any other Person nor for any other Cause And in case that any Letters come to you contrary to the Law that ye shall nothing do for such Letters but ye thereof shall Certifie the King And ye shall proceed to do the Law the same Letters notwithstanding and that ye shall do And procure the Profit of the King and his Crown in all Things where ye them Reasonably may do And in case that ye be found in Default here-after in any of the Points afore-said ye shall be at the King's Will of Bodies Lands and of Honour to do thereof that that shall please the King This well-contrived necessary Oath prescribed by the Prudence of our Fore-Fathers would bear a large Comment but we must hasten and shall only remarque First That they Swear Well and Truly that is Uprightly and according to Law to Serve the King and his People Secondly That they shall do Equal Right and Execution of Law to all the King's Subjects Rich and Poor that is without Partiality Favour Malice c. Justice is Pictured Blind in respect of the Subject not the Object She has a Ballance not to weigh Gold but the Crime She has regard to Offences not Persons Thirdly That if any Letters from the King unduely obtain'd for so all such are supposed to be shall be brough to them contrary to Law they are not to regard them much less are they to value any Verbal Commands or little Raskally Insinuations of any Court-Favourites huffing Grandees or small Minions of State Fourthly That by this their Oath Judges are to proceed according to Law their Business is Jus Dicere to Declare and Administer the Laws Establish't not Jus Dare to Impose their own Whimsical Arbitrary Peevish or Self-designing Opinions for Law or to Usurp a Legislative Power so as deliver that to be Law which in truth is not so And if they shall presume to offend herein they are Exemplarily to be punished For since 't is a known Maxime of Law Ignorantia Juris non excusat That Ignorance of the Law shall excuse no Man The Reason of which is because every Man is supposed to be Privy and consenting to all our Laws by his Representatives in Parliament How much less are Judges whose Profession and Office it is to Understand the Law and therefore must take Notice of it at their Peril to be Indulg'd Under what Character will they plead Excuse Are they Persons of known Learning and strong Natural Parts great Reading exqusite Eloquence c All this but aggravates their Fault that they should abuse such good Gifts to the Dishonour of the King that Commissions them and Prejudice of His People that expected more exact Dealings from such Eminent Accomplishments Will they shelter themselves under the before-mentioned Plea of Ignorance This is already shewn to be an Invalid Allegation and besides 't is a Reflection on that Royal Power that Preferr'd them And What infinite Mischiefs of which there is no Particular Complaint or Information may the Subjects suffer in their Lives and Fortunes under such Ignorance which is alwayes attended with Equal Presumption Or lastly Suppose it should be offered in their Favour That for some time at first they were Upright and have had the Reputation of Prudence and Integrity in all Cases except such and such for which Now they are questioned To this it may be fitly Answer'd as he of Lacedemon said of the Athenians If they carryed themselves Well when Time was and now Ill they deserve a Double Punishment because they are not Good as they were and because they are Evil as they were not The Judges 't is true are declared in the Parliament-Roll of the 11 R. 2. to be Executors of the Statutes Judgments and Ordinances of Parliament But they must not make themselves the Executioners of them too by endeavouring the Destruction of the Fundamentals of our Laws and Liberties The Law is the Temple the Sanctuary whither the Subject is to run for Shelter and Defence But if the Judges Sacerdotes Justiti●e those Priests of Justice shall like those of Delphos uttter False Ambiguous and Time-Serving Oracles Where is the Comfort of the Poor Votaries Will not this Sanctuary then become Templum sine Numine like that of the Roman Emperour who after he had built it put no Gods into it We shall have the Dead Killing-Letter of the Law but not the Quickening Preserving Sense of it The Fabrick and Formalities of the Temple but the Goddess Astraea and the Dii Tutelares all that should Conserve our Liberties and Properties will be vanish't And instead thereof we shall have but an Indian Pa-god a frightful terrible Idol of Arbitrary Power delighting in Humane Sacrifices and only Adorable for Averting that Mischief with which it threatens us But Contraria juxta se posita magis elucescunt Contraries illustrate each other We have hitherto Treated the Reader with Dolesome Narratives of Lewd Judges Let us now briefly Entertain him with an Account of some Good