Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	act_n	law_n	parliament_n	2,185	5	6.6353	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89755	An additional discourse relating unto a treatise lately published by Capt. Robert Norwood, intituled. A pathway unto Englands perfect settlement. Many things therein are more fully opened, several doubts and objections answered; a brief account given of the ancient laws, customs, and constitutions of this nation, before and since the conquest, so called. With something concerning the Jewish civil constitutions. With a brief answer to Mr. John Spittlehouse, in his book bearing the title, the first addresses to his Excellencie, &c.	Norwood, Robert, Captain.; Norwood, Robert, Captain. Pathway unto England's perfect settlement; and its centre and foundation of rest and peace.	1653 (1653)	Wing N1379; Thomason E708_9; ESTC R207149	39,963	68

the breach thereof ought to be attached secured tryed judged and punished according thereunto for so doing he having power therein or in such case and cases to raise the power force and strength of the County if need be each and every man in each and every County respectively being bound and obliged upon his command and require to aide and assist their respective Sheriffs therein also with the hazard of their lives against any to all who shall oppose the same without distinction of persons offices or places even against the King himself when the Nation had a King This was the onely very true ground and cause of our taking up Armes at first the General being but as high Sheriff of the nation to bring those who by force of arms kept themselves ●●om the judgement and execution of the Law when they had broken and violated the same the peoples liberties and freedoms therein and so the common or Commonwealths peace which every one so far and so much doth as he violates and breaks the laws thereof And I do confess that it was upon this ground and this ground onely that I took commission and accordingly ingaged A little farther You have had proved unto you that all the Kings of England were before their admittance into that office or place sworn duely and truely to observe keep and maintaine the Ordinances Customs and constitutions of our forefathers the ancient fundamental Laws of this Nation inviolate or the laws customs and constitutions of our ancestors as the old records call them I chuse rather to call them by the name of our fathers that because we are commanded by God to honor and obey our fathers They were also sworn to confirm all such other JUST Laws as the Commons or the people should chuse it's all all one but they must be JUST else was not the King bound to confirme them nor none else to keep or observe them but to loath derest discard cast and throw away such laws though made by the best of Parliaments if they be found dissonant against or contrary unto the antient fundamental laws principles customs and constitutions of this Commonwealth in and by which the very real and true freedome and liberty and so the peace and quiet of all every one therein is fully perfectly and intirely kept preserved and maintained even as Nature doth in the natural body that which is against contrary and destructive to the fundamental laws and principles thereof it loaths detests casts up and throws out because it is destructive to its peace and rest to its being and so the cause of death For which cause that no such thing or things might be made or done to the annoyance and disturbance of the peoples peace and being did all the antient Judges in the law as we call them attend the Parliament to advise them therein keep and preserve them therefrom So that it appears there ever was is and of necessity must be a rule measure or standard by and according unto which must all occasional statutes or by-laws as they are called proces and proceedings in or by Parliaments be exactly and perfectly made and done as there is or should be in and unto all things else It becometh not wise men and men in councel to run hand over head as we use to speak to do things and make laws at hap-hazard if they intend their observation and execution it is a shame to see what Ordinances and Acts of Parliament as they are called have been lately published few or none whereof will be found to hold weight and measure To think that Acts of Parliament must therefore be observed and performed and executed because they are Acts of Parliament is most ridiculous for Parliaments may make Acts by which they may make sale give seisin and possession of the people of the land and the land it self unto themselves and some forraign State were this to be observed done or executed think we because it is an Act of Parliament The Parliament declared otherwise of King Johns Act to the Pope when he sold the Kingdome unto him No all such Acts as is before said are void and null in themselves be they made by Parliaments or any other whomsoever as every unjust Act and thing whatsoever is and may not be observed except to be shunned and avoided performed or executed by any whomsoever This was the end I say of those knowing and experienced men in the Laws and Constitutions of this Nation attending there that so there might not be any cause or occasion of disorder or breach of peace which such Laws and proceedings have often occasioned which Rule or Standard is and of necessity must be JUST the just and true freedoms and liberties of the people which is undeniable by any to be as perfectly free as God and Nature hath made them and how free that is I have shewed you before or as an English King said he desired to make them and leave them as free as their owne thoughts Or thus that no man or men whomsoever may bear rule have any power or dominion over them or theirs without their owne consent election and choice to which the laws of God of Nature and of this Land agree beare witness command ordaine or appoint Or thus that nothing be done offered or attempted to be done but as we would should be done unto us Would any of us that any man should without against or contrary to our owne consent put impose or force a Master over us and upon us or if a Master That any should put impose or force a Servant upon us as aforesaid would we that any man or men whomsoever should take us up in the streets and carry us away it may be from our Wives and Children and compel us to fight besides against nay contrary to our minde and will I tell you it is a very great wickedness and a wickedness which God will severely judge So would we that any man or men whomsoever should without our consent take away our estate by or under any pretence whatever without our consents Every man in England will certainly say No and nothing is more contrary to the laws of England then thus doing nor any thing accounted a greater breach of the Peoples liberties and in truth it puts them in a worse condition then were Villains in the times villanage But to require absolute obedience without limitation wereharder much and more unreasonable and unjust then that contract tendered by Nahash that they should be protected by him on condition they would put out their right eyes He was content to leave them one to see withall absolute obedience leaves us neither but strips us quite of all and makes us beasts not men which we may not yeeld unto any no for the sake of any man or men whomsoever Let us a little consider the case of Villanage as it was once in this Land My Author hath it thus in his 14

me therein cited how far or how much the commands of fathers binde and oblige their children it may compared with that story deserve a serious consideration But did I say a considerate man O how few such this day in England It is rara avis in terra 1 That which Parliaments are bound and obliged by Oath duely and truely to observe keep ●nd maintain inviolate that certainly they may not change or alter for to be obliged by Oath to observe and keep a thing inviolate and to have power to change and alter the same is an inconsistencie But Parliaments as you have seen are bound and obliged by Oath duely and truely to observe keep and maintain the Ordinances Customs and Constitutions of our Forefathers the ancient Fundamental Laws of this Nation inviolate Therefore they have no power or authority to change or alter them nor may they do it for their power and authority is bound and limited in and by their commission or trust expressed and confirmed in and by their Oath 2 That which Parliaments are bound and obliged by Oath to cause and compel others with themselves duely and truely to observe and keep that they may not change or alter for then how is it or how can it be or be said to be duely and truely kept But Parliaments as you have seen are so bouná and obliged Therefore may they not change or alter them 3 That which every man of this Nation is bound and obliged by Oath duely and truely to observe keep and maintain inviolate that no man may alter But as you have seen every man is so bound and obliged Therefore may not Parliaments if they be men and men of this Nation change or alter them 4 Trustees Servants or Ambassadours may not act against besides or contrary unto the minde and will of their Lords Trusters or Masters Parliaments or Parliament men are such in reference to the people for whom they serve and from whom they receive their Salaries respectively out of the several Counties for which they serve as is before proved Therefore may not Parliaments change or alter them do any thing against besides or contrary unto them because that were a violation of their Commission Trust and Oath which is To observe keep and maintain them inviolate and to cause and compel others to do so also 5 Every person in this Commonwealth is bound both in his own with person and in reference unto all and every one else so much as in him lies to keep the peace of the Commonwealth inviolate therefore Parliaments if they be members of the Commonwealth ought to keep preserve and maintain the peace of the Commonwealth inviolate But he who breaks the Laws of the Commonwealth breaks the peace of the Commonwealth as is proved before and ought according to the Law to be presently attached and punished for the same Therefore may not Parliaments change or alter them for that were to break them and so to break or at least a visible attempt to break the peace of the Commonwealth in the breaking of them which they also are bound to preserve and keep inviolate against whom or against every infringer whereof as well Kings as others were Writs to be granted free as is shewed before 6 Parliaments may not do the things that are unjust nay God may not nor he cannot for it is contrary to his being But it is unjust unrighteous wicked and impious to change or alter that which I am intrusted and sworn duely and truely to observe keep and maintain inviolate and that Parliaments are so intrusted and sworn is already proved Therefore may not Parliaments change or alter them nor do nor suffer ought to be done so much as in them lies tending towards their alteration The work and business of Parliaments is by most most greatly mistaken And because those who lately were turned out of doors had so much triumphed over the late King the peoples servant they thought they might do the same over the People also who verily are and will so prove to be their Lords and Masters in and according to the Law unto which none in England but is and ever held himself to be accountable in words at least the last King not excepted as by his Declarations doth appear Laws must be just I and justly made also that is the rule and standard but who must judge and determine this when whether or wherein they be so or no Why every man who makes the question gives himself the answer Why surely they who are to observe them to be punished for the breach of them to judge and execute by and upon them But who are they why all Englishmen the whole people of England in and by their several Courts and Officers as in and by their Hundred-Courts County-Courts Courts of Inquest Sheriffs Juryes and the like who are to make inquiry after to examine try and see that nothing be done offered or attempted by any contrary to the fundamental principles the antient known Laws of the Land they are the rule and standard onely to try all things by as it was done by a sworn Jury out of every County in the time of King William as is shewed before but I can onely speak in generals I must go on and doubtless every man hath and needs must have a right and liberty of trying examining and proving all and every of the Acts and Deeds of Parliaments at least such as do or may concern himself which I might leave out and say more and prove it too but I have been much too long already and I love not to affirme any thing without proof for 1. Otherwise he ceases to be a man to yeeld obedience as a man should or as becomes a man to do but as a beast 2. The Apostles who were sent of God and that with the working of miracles yet submit that which they taught injoyned and commanded to the examination trial and judgement of the people and commend the Bereans with the stile and title of Nobility for so doing yet mistake me not this dislike or disapproving of such Acts is to be manifested and regulated in a due and orderly way and manner as to in and by the Courts and Officers appointed thereunto as is said before for as in the natural body so in this civil are their several Offices and Officers as eyes hands head feet heart and the like And indeed that which doth and that which onely and alone doth or should binde and oblige all and every one to the observing doing obeying and performing of any thing is the goodness justness and righteousness thereof and not the persons place or thing from whom or whence it comes How shall I or any else know any thing that comes from any to be the will the minde and command of God but as it is just and right and good that assures me it is the command the minde and will of God I need no more nor better

page and for it he brings the Laws of Alfred Ethelstane Edgar and Canute with those of Henry the first This was the fealty sworn unto the Lords by their Vassals My Liege I am your man and bear you faith of life member and terrene honour saving the faith I owe to other Lords Or thus My Lord I will bear you true faith and do you true service as my duty to you is And if our dury or obedience unto Parliaments exclude us from the Law we are in worse estate then Villains yet a Villain who of all Vassals was fettered in greatest servitude and bondage most bound prohibited and restrained from troubling or molesting his Lord yet he even he might bring Actions of Trespass and Appeals from other Counties Cities or Franchises And he saith that Glanvil Bracton Britton Fleta with the Myrrour and others do all agree in this That there is in Law so great an obligation on the Lord and so great a charge that the Lord would often refuse to take his Tenants homage so that there was a Writ made commanding him to take it and by it to oblige himself to his tenant whom he was to defend and his Trespass on him had in Law had a very great aggravation because the Vassal was to be under the defence and protection of his Liege or Lord and that in divers cases Vassals might defend themselves against their Lord as for atturning and assigning his vassals service which the Law permitted them to do to his enemy or foe for that was against the Law wherein as in divers other cases the Lord might forfeit his Vassals homage and service for his right might be forfeit escheat or evict by Law and dominion over slaves was also lost by negligence violence per injustam resistantiam as Bracton expresseth it nay there may be such delict in the Lord as may not onely warrant but enforce the vassal to complain and accuse his Lord or cause him to be indited for his life in the Courts of Justice which the King himself can no more shut against the meanest subject then he can the doors of all the Churches They are Fleta's own words saith my Author and that he might go higher then a Church of clay His meaning therein is left to be considered by others and is so by me also He goes further and tells us that there be some cases in which a vassal may not onely indite his Lord for his life but may appeal him and fight against him in combat or wage battel with him In his 18 page he tells us that as the vassal might do nothing against his Lord to dis-inherit him vel ad aliam arrocem injuriam or do any other wickedness or injury unto him so must not the Lord against the vassal for if he do say they the homage is dissolved and all obligation So that as my Author saith in his 19 page we see this Oath of fealty to be so limited by Law that it bindeth no more then Law requireth and that the same Law doth set a Vassal nay a Villain free from and arm him against his own Lord in defence of himself and the Laws with the Publike good He goes on and tells us from his fore-cited Authors how that all Allegiance Oaths of Fealty and so all obedience observance duty and subjection unto all even the highest and greatest of all is in reference to Justice to the common good and profit of the Land per honestum utile for publike peace and common justice Allegiance saith he was ad Legem to the Laws the Kingdom and the Kingdoms good and profit And verily no more or no otherwise may any require it from any And if Parliaments expect or require it otherwise it were much better for all the people that they were Slaves Vassals and Villains as those of old in which cases as saith my Author in his 24 page they debate who should be Judge And for this they all agree in that Fundamental Principle of Right Reason and Nature That Parties may never be Judges in their own Causes for which besides all others the Myrrour is large and clear among all exceptions to the Judges person if he have no Commission or refuse to shew it as he ought or be party c. of which also Britton in Appeals cap. 22. fol. 41. So that you see plain Parliaments may not be Judges in their own Cause of their own Acts and doings But who then Why the People first in by and amongst themselves and then in and by their several Courts Offices and Officers ordained and appointed thereunto God himself ever hath doth and ever will do submit his Commands his Ways his Acts Doings and Judgements in reference to the sons of men to be examined tryed and judged by the sons of men as you will finde it thorowout the Scriptures The God of England nay the God of all the world will be just and do nothing but what is just and that unto the least and commit the same unto the judgement of the least even those who are his creatures and shall any man or men in England refuse to submit their Commands their Acts and Deeds unto the judgement of those who are their Superiours who made created and entrusted them Sure it may not nor it must not be Why should we so forget our Maker For which cause and causes we may not we must not we ought not nay we dare not know any person or persons thing or things whomsoever or whatsoever that may or shall be otherwise ordained appointed instituted or commanded so as to yeeld any obedience thereunto nor may we nor must we nor ought we nor dare we to fall down and worship any man or men or any of the Idol-inventions of any man or men whomsoever we may onely know and do the Commands of our God and the Laws Statutes and Ordinances of our fore-fathers We will not go down into Egypt into the house of bondage from which the Lord our God hath set and kept us free We will not for we may not being all and every one of us Nazarites unto the Lord suffer our seven locks to be shaved off our heads by any Dalilah whatsoever lest we be taken by the Philistims and by them have both our eyes put out and so be led as then it is very easie to be done and bound in fetters to grind in the prison-house We have kept and preserved them hitherto we have defended and maintained our Liberties against Kings and Parliaments with the hazard of our lives the expence of our estates and blood also Those who have lost their locks let them grinde in the Prison-house if it must be so until they be grown again but we wish it may or might be otherwise and pray it may so be We for our parts neither may must can nor will the Lord our God helping and assisting of us give a false unjust untrue unwarrantable illegal value and estimate