the Commons that an imposition of a peny was set upon wools for Tronage over and above the ancient due which was but a peny and so the subject was charged with two pence Also that a peny was exacted for Mesonage which was but an halfepeny which Impositions the Record doth expresse did amount to an hundred pounds a yeere This petty imposition was as much stood upon in point of right as the other great one of fourty shillings and was taken off upon complaint in Parliament without either justification or excuse for the smalnesse of it My sixth observation is that those which have advised the setting on of impositions without assent of Parliament have beene accused in Parliament for giving that advice as of a great offence in the State and have suffered sharpe censure and great disgrace by it Neither doe I finde that the quality of the person hath extenuated the blame as 50. E. 3. William L. Latimer Chamberlaine to the King and one of his private Councell was accused by the Commons in Parliament of divers deceits and extortions and misdeeds and among other things that hee had procured to bee set upon wooll wooll-fells and other merchandises new impositions to wit upon a sacke of wooll eleaven shillings which the L. Laâ—imer sought to excuse because hee had the consent and good liking of the merchants first But judgement was given against him that he should be committed to prison be fined and ransomed at the Kings will and be put from being of the Councell and this procuring of impositions to bee set on without assent of Parliament is expresly set downe in the entry of the judgement for one of the causes of his censure Richard Lyons a Fermor of the Customes in London the same yeere was accused in Parliament for the same offence Rot. parl 50. E. 3. n. 17 18 19 20. he pleaded hee did it by the Kings command and had answered the money to the Kings Chamber yet was condemned and adjudged in Parliament to be committed to prison and all his lands and goods were seifed into the Kings hand and at the last the hate against these authours of impositions grew so that 50. E. 3. in the same Parliament a petition was exhibited in Parliament to make this a capitall offence the Record is very short and therefore I will set it downe verbatim Item prie le dit Common que foit ordaine per statute en cest present parliament de touts ceux qux cy en avant mittont on font pur lour singuler profit novels impositions per lour authoritie demesn accrocheants al eux eny ul power de riens que soit establi en parliament sans assent de parliament que ils eyent judgement de vie member de forisfacture To this rough petition the King gave a milde and temperate answer Courge la Common ley come estoit al avant use My seventh observation is the cessation betweene 50. E. 3. after this censure in Parliament and 4. Mariae almost two hundred yeeres during which time no King did attempt to impose without assent of Parliament and yet we finde in the Parliament rolls that there was not one of those Kings that raigned in that time but had impositions granted him upon fit occasion by Act of Parliament upon all goods and merchandiles and at divers times during their Reignes sometimes more sometimes lesse upon the tonne and pound but ever for a time certaine and definite so the use of them was not given over but the power of imposing was so clearly and undoubtedly held to bee in the Parliament as no King went about to practise the contrary But to this cessation that was of great weight and credit in our evidence a colour was given by the other side to avert the inference made upon it against the Kings right that is that during that time there was so great a revenue grew to the Crowne by double Custome paid for all merchandises both in England and at Castis by reason of an Act of Parliament made 8. H. 4. which was that no goods should bee carried out of the Realme but to Calles and by reason that the merchants paid Custome both there and here for the same goods that in the seven and twentieth yeere of Henry the sixth the Custome of Callis was 68000. pounds the yeere a great summe if you consider the weight of money then what price it bare and by reason hereof Princes not delighting to charge their munnuting subjects but when need is being so amply supplied otherwise did not put that prerogative in practice To this I answer that if that were true that was urged it might bee some probable colour of the forbearance of imposing but I find it to be quite contrary and that by Record for there was no such restramt of all commodities not to bee transported to any place but Callis but onely wools wool-fells leather tinne and lead that were staple wares which by the stature 37. E. 3. were to be transported thither and not to any other place and the staple continued at that place for the most part from that time untill long after 27. H. â— but there was no double Custome paid both here and there by the same owner but the yeerly profits of the Customes of Callais at those tiems were so farre short of that which hath beene alleaged in 27. H. 6. that it appeareth in an Act of Parliament 27. 27. H. 3. ca. 2. H. 6. cap. 2. printed in the booke at large that the Commons doe complaine that whereas in the time of E. 3. the Custome of Callais was 68000. l. per annum at that time which was 27. H. 6. by reason of the ill usage of merchants it was fallen to bee but 12000. pounds the yeere so then there was great cause in that respect to have set on impositions by reason of that great abatement of Customes and yet it was not then offered to bee done without assent of Parliament But if you looke a little further into the extreme necessities of those times you shall finde there never was greater cause to have strained prerogatives for it appeareth in an Act of Parliament 28. H. 6. that it was then declared in Parliament by the Chancellour and Treasurer who demanded reliefe of the people for the King both for payment of his debts and for his yeerly livelihood that the King was then indebted 372000. pounds which now by the weight of money amounteth to above 1100000. pounds and that his ordinary expences was more than his yeerly revenue by 19000. pounds yeerly so if ever there was cause to put a King to his shifts it was then yet wee see they did not venture to put in practice this supposed prerogative It further appeareth in that statute that the people among those reasons they alleaged why they were not able to reteine the King gave this for one that they had so often granted him tonnage and poundage upon merchandises
concerned the right of our whole Nation of which every one of them hath exceeded the other by a gradation in waight and moment The first was the change of our name which was a point of honour The name of Britaine not admitted in legall proceedings wherein we shewed our selves not willing to leave that name by which our ancestors made our Nation famous yet have we lost it saving onely in those cases where our ancient and faithfull protector the Common Law doth reteine it The second was the union a question of greater moment for that concerned the freehold of our whole Nation not in so high a point as having or not having but in point of Division participation that is whether we should enjoy the benefits and liberties of the kingdome our selves onely as we and our ancestors have done or admit our neighbour Nation to have equall right in them and so make our owne part the lesse by how much the greater number should be among whom the Division was to be made Coke li 7. Câ—lâ—â—s case This was adjudged against us both Legally and solemnly and therefore in that we rest hoping of that effect of this judgement which we read of in the Poet Virgil Aeneid l. 1 Dido's speech to Aeneas Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine habetur The third is the question now in hand which exceedeth the other two in importance and consequence concerning the whole kingdome for it is a question of our very essence not what we shall be called nor how we shall divide that we have but whether we shall have any thing or nothing for if there be a right in the King to alter the property of that which is ours without our consents we are but tenants at his will of that which we have If it be in the King and Parliament Then have we propertie and are tenants at our owne will for that which is done in Parliament is done by all our wills and consents And this is the very state of the question which is proposed that is whether the King may impose without consent of Parliament Impositions are of two natures Forreine and Intestine Intestine be those which are raised within our land in the commerce and dealing that is at home within our selves and may aswell for that reason be so called as for that vescuntur intestinis Reipublicae They are fed and nourished with the consuming and wasting of the entralls of the Common wealth Against these I neede not to speake for the Kings learned Counsell have with great honour and conscience in full Councell acknowledged them to be against the law Therefore I will apply my selfe to speake of impositions forreine being the single question now in hand and maintained on the Kings behalfe with great art and eloquence The inconvenience of these impositions to the Common-wealth that is how hurtfull they are to the Merchants in impoverishing them in their estates to the King in the increasing of his revenues by decay of traffique and to the whole people in making all commodities excessive deare is confessed by all and therefore need no debate The point of right is now only in question and of that I will speak with conscience and integrity rather desirous that the truth may be knowne and right be done than that the opinion of my selfe or any other may prevaile The occasion of this question was given by the book of rates lately set out affronted with the copy of Letters Patents dated July 28.6 Jac. In which book besides the rates is set downe upon every kinde of merchandise exported and imported for the true answering of subsidy to the King according to the Statute of tonnage and poundage In the first yeare of his reigne there is an addition of impositions upon all those kinde of wares which within the book are expressed and the rate of the imposition as high and in some cases higher than the rate of the subsidy And this declared to be by authority of those Letters Patents Heareupon considering with my selfe that heretofore the setting on of one only imposition without assent of Parliament upon some one kinde of merchandise and that for a small time and upon urgent necessity of actuall warre did so affect our whole Nation and especially the great Councell of the Parliament being the representative body of the whole Common-wealth that neither the sunne did shine nor the rivers runne their courses untill it was taken off by the publick judgement of the whole State I thought it concerned me and other members of that Councell that were no lesse trusted for our countreys than those in former times and have their actions to guide and direct us to have the same care they had in preserving the right and liberties of the people having now more cause then they had for that the impositions now set on without assent of Parliament are not upon one or two speciall kindes of goods but almost indefinite upon all and doe extend to the number of many hundreds as appeareth by that printed book of rates and are set in charge upon the whole kingdome as an inheritance to continue to the King his heires and successours for ever which limitation of estate in matter of impositions was never heard of nor read of before as I conceive The inducements expressed in these Letters Patents are much upon point of State and with reference to the rights and practise of forraine princes For this I will not take upon me to enter into the consideration of such great misteries of policie and governement but will only put you in minde of that I observe out of Tit. Tit. Liu. 8. Livius the Romane Hi storiographer Omnem divini humanique moris memoriam abolemus cum novâ peregrinâque patriis priscis praeferimus To that which hath been spoken for the Kings Prerogative I will give answer to so much of it as I may conveniently in my passage through this debate wherein I will principally endevour to give satisfaction to such new objections as were made by the worthie and learned Counselor of the King that spake last in maintenance of his Maiesties Prerogative The case in termes is this Pat. Iuly 28. Iac. 6. The King by his Letters Patents before recited hath ordained willed and commanded that these new impositions contained in that booke of rates shal be for ever hereafter payd unto him his heires and successors upon paine of his displeasure Herevpon the question ariseth whether by this Edict and Ordinance so made by the King himselfe by his Letters Patents of his owne will and power absolute without assent of Parliament he be so lawfully intituled to that he doth impose as that thereby he doth alter the property of his subjects goods and is enabled to recover these impositions by course of Law I think he cannot and I ground my opinion upon these foure reasons 1 It is against the naturall frame and constitution of the policie of
this kingdome which is jus publicum regni and so subverteth the fundamentall Law of the Realme and induceth a new forme of state and government 2 It is against the municipall Law of the Land which is jus priuatum the Law of property and of private right 3 It is against Divers statutes made to restraine our King in this point 4 It is against the practice and action of our Common wealth contra morem majorum and this is the modestest rule to limit both Kings Prerogatives and subiects liberties Upon the first and fourth of these foure principall grounds I will more insist then upon the second and third both for that in their owne nature they are a more proper matter for a Councell of State to the judgement of which I apply my discourse and they have not beene enforced by others As also for that the other two as more fit for a barre and the Courts of ordinary justice have by some professors of the Law beene already most learnedly and exquisitely discussed For the first it will be admitted for a rule and ground of State that in every Common-wealth and government there be some rights of Sovereignty jura Majestatis which regularly and of common right doe belong to the Soveraign power of that State unlesse Custome or the provisionall ordinance of that State doe otherwise dispose of them which Soveraigne power is potestas suprema a power that can controule all other powers and cannot be controuled but by it selfe It will not be denied that the power of imposing hath so great a trust in it by reason of the mischiefes may grow to the Common-wealth by the abuses of it that it hath ever beene ranked among those rights of Soveraigne power Then is there no further question to be made but to examine where the Soveraigne power is in this Kingdome for there is the right of imposition The Soveraigne power is agreed to be in the King but in the King is a twofold power the one in Parliament as he is assisted with the consent of the whole State the other out of Parliament as he is sole and singular guided merely by his owne will And if of these two powers in the King one is greater than the other and can direct and controule the other that is Suprema Potestas the Soveraigne Power and the other is subordinata It will then be easily proved that the power of the King in Parliament is greater than his power out of Parliament and doth rule and controule it for if the King make a grant by his Letters Patents out of Parliament it bindeth him and his successours he cannot revoke it nor any of his successours But by his power in Parliament he may defeate and avoyd it and therefore that is the greater power If a judgement be given in the Kings Bench by the King himselfe as may be and by the Law is intended a writ of Errour to reverse this judgement may be sued before the King in Parliament which writ must be granted by the Chancellor upon bill indorsed by the King himselfe as the book is 1 H. 1 H. 7.19.6 7.19.6 And the forme of the writ of Error is that it being directed to the Chiefe Justice of the Kings Bench Lib. ntrac fol. 302. c. 1. Quia in recordo processu ac etiam in redditione judicii loquelae quae fuit in Curiâ nostrâ coram nobis Error intervenit manifestus ad grave damnum c. Nos errorem si quis fuerit modo debito corrigi partibus praedictis plenam celerem justitiam fieri volentes in hâc parte vobis mandamus quòd Recordum processum loquela illius cum omnibus ea tangentibus in praesens Parliamentum nostrum sub sigillo tuo distinctè apertè mittas hoc breve ut inspectis c. nos de Consilio advisamento Dominorum spiritualiū temporalium ac Communitatis in Parliamento nostro praedicto existentis ulterius pro errore illo corrigendo fieri faciamus quod de jure secundum legem consuetudinem Regni nostri Angliae fuerit faciendum So you see the Appeale is from the King out of the Parliament to the King in Parliament the writ is in his name the rectifying and correcting the errours is by him The book is not so that the Cōmons should meddle but with the assent of the Lords and Commons than which there can be no stronger evidence to prove that his power out of Parliament is subordinate to his power in Parliament for in Acts of Parliament be they lawes grounds or whatsoever else the Act and power is the Kings but with the assent of the Lords and Commons which maketh it the most soveraigne and supreame power above all and controulable by none Besides this right of imposing there be others in the Kingdome of the same nature As the power to make lawes the power of Naturalization the power of erection of arbitrary government the power to judge without appeale the power to legitimate all which doe belong to the King only in Parliament Others there be of the same nature that the King may exercise out of Parliament which right is growne unto him in them more in those others by the use and practice of the Common-wealth as denization coynage making warre which power the King hath time out of minde practised without the gain-saying and murmuring of his subjects But these other powers before mentioned have ever beene executed by him in Parliament and not otherwise but with the reluctation of the whole Kingdome Can any man give me a reason why the King can only in Parliament make lawes No man ever read any law whereby it was so ordained and yet no man ever read that any King practised the contrary Therefore it is the originall right of the Kingdome and the very naturall constitution of our State and policy being one of the highest rights of soveraigne power So it is in naturalization legitimation and the rest of that sort before recited It hath been alleaged that those which in this Cause have enforced their reasons from this Maxime of ours That the King cannot alter the Law have diverted from the question I say under favor they have not for that in effect is the very question now in hand for if he alone out of Parliament may impose he altereth the Law of England in one of these two maine fundamentall points He must either take his Subjects goods from them without assent of the party which is against the Law or else he must give his owne Letters Pattents the force of a Law to alter the property of his subjects goods which is also against the Law That the King of England cannot take his subjects goods without their consent it need not be proved more then a principall it is jus indigena an old homeborne right declared to be Law by divers statutes of the Realme As in 34. E. 3. cap.
And this was the opinion of Sir Iohn Fortescue that reverend and honourable Judge a very learned professor of the Common Law and chiefe Justice of the Kings Bench Fortescu de laudibus Leg. Ang. cap. 9. in the time of Henry 6. â—â—s words are these in his book De laudibus Legum Angliae cap. 9. Non Potest Rex Angliae ad libitum leges mutare regni sui principatu namque nedum regali sed politico ipse dominatur Si regali tantum praeesset iis leges mutare posset tallagia quoque cateraonera imponere ipsis inconsultis quale dominium leges civiles indicant cum dicunt quod principi placuerit legis habet vigorem sed longè aliter potest Rexpoliticis imperans quia nec leges ipse sine subditorum assensu mutare poterit nee Subjectum populum renitentem enerare peregrinis impositionibus In which place I must intepret unto you that peregrinae impositiones be not strange and unheard of impositions as was urged by the worthy gentleman that spake last but impositions upon traffique into and out of forrain Countreyes which is the very thing in question Fortescue de laud. Leg. Ang. cap. 36. further in the thirty sixth Chapter he sayeth of the King of England Neque Rex ibidem per se aut ministros suos tallagia Subsidiae aut alia quaevis onera imponit ligeis suis aut leges corum mutat velnovas condit sine concessione vel assensu totius regni sui in Parliamento So he maketh these two powers of making Law and imposing to be concomitant in the same hand and that the one of them is not without the other He giveth the same reason for this as we doe now but in other words because as he saith in England it is principatus mixtus politicus the King hath his Soveraigne power in Parliament assisted and strengthened with the consent of the whole kingdome and therefore these powers are to be exercised by him only in Parliament In other Countreyes they admit the ground of the Civil Law quod principi placuerit legis habet vigorem Because they have an absolute power to make Law they have also a power to impose which hath the force of a Law in transferring property Ph. Com. l 4 cap. 1. l 5. ca. 8. Philip Comynes that lived at that time in his fourth book the first chapter the fifth booke the eighth chapter taketh notice of this policie of England and commends it above all other States as setled in most security And further to our purpose layeth this ground That a King cannot take one penny from his Subjects without their consent but it is violence And you may there note the mischiefs that grew to the kingdome of France by the voluntary impositions first brought in by Charles the seventh and ever since continued and encreased to the utter impoverishment of the Common people the losse of their free Councell of three estates And if this power of imposing were quietly setled in our Kings considering what is the greatest use they make of assembling of Parliaments which is the supply of money I doe not see any likelihood to hope for often meetings in that kind because they would provide themselves by that other meanes And thus much for my first reason grounded upon the naturall constitution of the policie of our kingdome and the publike right of our nation 2. Com. Law For the point of Common Law which is my second Reason it hath been well debated and nothing left unspoken that can be sayd in it and therefore I will decline to speak of that which other men have well discussed and the rather for that there is nothing in our Law-book directly and in point of this matter neither is the word imposition found in them Dier 1. E. 165. untill the case in my L. Dier 1. Eliz. 165 for we shall finde this businesse of an higher strain and alwayes handled elsewhere as afterwards shall appeare yet I will offer some answers to such objections as have been made on the contrary in point of Common Law and have not been much stood upon by others to be answered The objections that have been made are these that from the first Book of the Law to the last no man ever read any thing against the Kings power of imposing No judgement was ever given against it in any of the Kings Courts at Westminster Other points of prerogative as high as this disputed and debated his excesse in them limited as in the book of 42. 42. Ass p. 5. Ass pl. 5. where the Judges took away a Commission from one that had power given by it to him under the great Seale to take ones person and to seise his goods before he was indicted 1. 2. E. Dier 175. So Master Scrogs case 1. 2. El. Dier 175. the power of the King in making a Commission to determine a question of right depending between two parties notably debated and ruled against the King that hee could not grant it To this I answer that causes of this nature of which the question now handled is have ever been taken to be of that extraordinary consequence in point of the Common right of the whole kingdome that the State would never trust any of the Courts of ordinary justice with the deciding of them but assumed the cognisance of them into the high Court of Parliament as the fittest place to decide matters 2. Ed. 3.7 so much concerning the whole body of the kingdome As 2. Ed. 3.7 it appeares that Ed. 1. had granted a Charter to the men of great Yarmouth that all the ships of Merchants comming to the port of Yarmouth should land their goods at their haven and not at any other haven at that port as at Garneston and little Yarmonth which were members of that port This was very inconvenient for the Merchants and a great hurt to traffique and therefore the Charter was questioned in the time of Ed. 2. and adjudged good by the Counsell but the parties not contented with this judgement in the second yeer of King E. 3. by an order in Parliament made upon a petition there exhibeted against this grant brought a Scire facias out of the Chancery returnable in the kings bench to question againe the lawfullnesse of the Patent and in that suit the cause was notably Debated and those reasons much insisted upon that have been enforced in this case As that of the Kings power in the custodie of the ports But the matter so depending in the ordinary Court of justice a Writ came out of the Parliament and did adjourne it thither againe where it gave occasion of a good Law to be made to prevent the like grants and to make them voyd notwithstanding any judgement given upon them and to make such judgements also void The Statute is 9. E. 3. c. 1. 9. E. 3. c. 1. everyal en and denizen may
upon the people unlesse they bee granted in Parliament The Kings answer is If any such impositions were made it was by great necessity and with the astent of the Prelates Barons and some of the Commons present yet hee will not that such Impositions not duly made bee drawne in consequence Here the King acknowledgeth an Imposition not to bee duly made though with the consent of the Higher House and some of the Commons because it was not in full Parliament much rather hee would have thought so if it had beene by the King alone King E. 4. that was a rough and warlike Prince and was more beholding to his sword in the recovery of his right to the Crowne then to the affection of the people at a Parliament held the seventh yeer of his reigne made a Speech to the Commons Sir Iohn Say being then Speaker in which speech is contained very notable matter and very pertinent to our purpose and because the Record is not in print I will set downe the Kings speech verbatim as it is entered upon the Parliament roll and then I will make a paraphrase upon it Iohn Say Rot. parl 7. E. 4. The record begins Memorandumâ— quod die veneru 3. die Parl. and ye Sirs come to this my Court of Parliament for the Commons of this my Realme The cause why I have cald and summoned this my present Parliament is that I purpose to live upon mine owne and not to charge my subjects but in great and urgent causes concerning more the Weale of themselves and also the defence of them and of this my Realme rather than mine owne pleasure as heretofore by Commons of this Land hath beene done and borne unto my progenitours in time of need wherein I trust that yee Sirs and all the Commons of this my Land will bee as tender and kinde unto mee in such cases as heretofore any Commons have beene to any of my progenitours And for the good will kindenesse and true hearts that yee have borne continued and shewed to mee at all times heretofore I thanke you as heartily as I can also I trust yee will continue in time comming for which by the grace of God I shall bee to you as good and gracious a King and reigne as righteously upon you as ever did any of my progenitours upon Commons of this my Realme in dayes past and shall also in time of need apply my person for the Weale and defence of you and of this my Realme not sparing my body nor life for any jeopardy that might happen to the same Out of this wee may observe first the Kings Protestation to live of his owne and not to charge his subjects by which I gather hee did acknowledge a certain and distinct property of that which was his subjects from that which was his owne which excludeth the right to impose at his will for if that be admitted the subjects property is proprietas prâ—caria not certaine how much of his is his owne for that is his which the King will leave him for there is no limit or restraint of the quantity the right being admitted but onely the Kings will The second thing I observe is this that in charging of his subjects he would confine himselfe betweene these two bounds the one it should bee in great and urgent causes concerning more the Weale of them and the defence of them and his Realme that his owne pleasure wherein he condemneth those occasions that grew upon excesse of private expence by over great bounty or otherwise and admitteth onely such as grow by reason of warres or other such like publique causes concerning the whole State the other bound or limit is that those burdens should bee secundum morem majorum as heretofore had beene done and borne by the Commons to his ancestours in time of need The third thing I observe is that hee acknowledged these burdens did proceed out of their good will and kindenesse and not out of his right and prerogative out of these words that hee trusted they would bee as tender and kinde to him in such cases as heretofore any Commons had beene to his progenitours And lastly wee may note the recompence promised by the King to his subjects for their good wils and kindenesse his goodnesse and grace his just and righteous government the jeopardy of his body and life for their Weale and defence Did this King assume to himselfe a â—ight to lay burdens on his subjects at his owne will without their assents that offered to buy them at his need with the price of his blood the most sacred relique in the Kingdome My fourth observation is that in all petitions exhibited by the Commons in Parliament against Impositions the very knot of their griefe and the principall cause of their complaint hath beene expressed in those petitions that the impositions have beene without assent of Parliament by which is necessarily inferred that their griefe was in point of right not of burden In 11. Rot. parl 21. E. 3. nu 11. E. 3. nu 11. the complaint of the Imposition of two shilling upon a sacke of wooll two shillings upon a tonne of wine sixe pence upon aver de pois the cause of grievance expressed because it was done Sans assent de Commons 25 E. R. Parl. 25. E. 3. n. 22. 3. n. 22. In a petition the Commons complaine that an imposition upon wools was set by the consent of the merchants they pray that Commissions bee not made upon such singular grants if they bee not in full Parliament and if any such grants bee made they may bee held as void 17 E. 3. n. 28. R. Parl. 17. E. 3. n. 28. The Commons in their petition informe the King it is against reason they should be charged with impositions set on by assent of merchants and not in Parliament My fifth observation is that whensoever any petition was exhibited against impositions there was never any respect had of the quantity but they were ever intirely abated as well where they were small as where they were great no request ever made to make them lesse when they were great nor excuse made of their ease when they were exceeding small which sheweth that it was not the point of burden or excesse was respected in their complaint but the point of meere right 25. E. 3. nu 22. R. Parl. 25. E. 3. nu 22. Fourty shillings set an imposition upon a sacke of wooll upon complaint all taken off and no suit to be eased of part because it was too great 36. E. 3. nu 26. ibid. 38. E. 3. nu 26. Three shillings and four pence upon a sacke of wooll all taken off and no excuse made for the smalnesse for 21. E. 3. nu 11. two shillings a sacke 21. E. 3. n. 11. two shillings tonnage and six pence poundage 50. E 3. nu 163. R. Parl. 50. E. 3. nu 163. A great complaint was made in Parliament by
there punished and his Patent taken away and cancelled What impositions have been set on in the Kings time I need not expresse they are set downe particularly in the booke of rates that is in print they are not easily numbered the time for which they are raised is not short the Patent prefixed to that booke bearing date 28. â—uln 6. Iacobi will instruct you sufficiently in that point they be limited to the King his heires and successors which I suppose is the first estate of Fee simple of impositions that ever man read of My eighth and last observation is upon tunnage and poundage given to the King of this Realme upon Wares and Merchandizes exported and imported which is an imposition by act of Parliament and as it will appeare was given out of the peoples good will as a very gratification to the King to enjoyne him thereby from the desire of voluntary impositions and to conclude him by that gift in Parliament from attempting to take any other without assent of Parliament for after the ceasing of voluntary impositions these Parliamentary ones were frequent in the times of the King that succeeded but they were never given but for yeares with expresse caution how the money strould be besâ—owed As towards the defence of the Seas protection of traffique or some such other publique causes sometimes speciall sequestrators made by the act of Parliament by whose hands the money should be delivered As 5. 5. R. 2. Rot. Parl. 7. R. 2 n. 13.10 R. 2. n. 12. 7. R. 2. n. 12. R. 2. cap. 3. in a printed Statute The rates that were given were very variable sometimes ii s. tunnage and vi d. poundage as 7. R. 2. iii. s. tunnage and xii d. poundage 10. R. 2. which grants were not to endure the longest of them above a yeare xviii d. tunnage vi d. poundage in 17. R. 2. iii. s. tunnage and xii d. poundage granted to H. 4. in the thirteenth yeare of his raigne for a certaine time in which Statute there is this clause That this aide in time to come should not be taken an example to charge the Lords and Commons in manner of Subsidie unlesse it be by the wills of the Lords and Commons and that by a new grant to be made in full Parliament in time to come This clause in good and proper construction may be taken to be a very convention betweene the King and his people in Parliament that he should not from thenceforth nor any of his Successors set on impositions without assent of Parliament The like imposition was granted to H. 5. Rot. parl 1. H. 5. n. 17. in the first yeare of his raigne for a short time towards the defence of the Realme and safeguard of the Sea upon condition expressed in the act that the Merchants Denizens and estrangers comming into the Realme with their Merchandizes should be well and honestly used and handled paying the said Subsidie as in the time of his Father and his noble Progenitors Kings of England without oppression or extortion In the end of which act the Commons protested being bound by any grant in time to come for the purposes aforesaid H. 6. in the one and thirtieth yeare of his raigne Rot. parl 31. H 6. 12. E. 4. c. 3. 6. H. 8. c. 12. 1. E. 6. c. 13. 1. Ma. c. 18. 1. El. c. 19. 1. Iac. c. 33. had tunnage and poundage given him for his life E. 4. had it given him the third yeare of his raigne as it appeareth in a Statute 12. E. 4. cap. 3. H. 8. in the sixth yeare of his raigne and all since in the first yeare of their raignes have had it given them for terme of their life and being now so certainly setled in it do reach further at that froÌ„ which they are in conscience and honour excluded by this voluntarie gratification For can any man give me a reason why the people should give this imposition of tunnage and poundage above the due custome upon all commodities if the King by his prerogative might set on impositions without assent of Parliament and were not that a weaâ—e action in a King to take that of his people as a benevolence from them with limitation of the same and in what it should be imployed and how they will be used for it and for what time he shall have it which he might justly take without their consents unclogged of these unpleasing incombrances The Statute of tunnage and poundage made in our times that are altogether inclined to flattery doe yet retaine in them certain shewes and rumors of those ancient liberties although indeed the substance be lost as in the Srat. 1. lac cap. 1. Iac. c. 33. 33. we declare that we trust and have sure confidence of his Majesties good will towards us in and for the keeping and sure defending of the Seas and that it will please his highnesse that all Merchants as well Denizens as Strangers comming into this Realme be well and honestly intreated and demeaned for such things whereof Subsidie is granted as they were in the time of the Kings Progenitors and Predecessors without oppression to them to be done By this clause as it now continueth the true intent of this Statute appeareth to be that there ought no other imposition be laid upon Merchants besides these given by this Statute and this intention hath been well interpreted by use and practise from the time of E. 3. to the time of Queene Mary as before is declared Thus much of this last reason made from observation and the action of our Nation I will answer now such maine objections as have been made against the peoples right and have not been touched by me obiter in my passage through this discourse That which hath been most insisted upon is this that the King by his prerogative Royall hath the custodie of the Havens and Ports of this Island being the very gates of this Kingdome that he in his royall function and office is only trusted with the keyes of these gates that he alone hath power to shut them and to open them when and to whom he in his Princely wisdome shall see good that by the Law of England he may restraine the persons of any from going out of the Land or from comming into it That he may of his owne power and discretion prohibite exportation and importation of goods and merchandizes and out of this prerogative and preheminence the power of imposing as being derivative doth arise and result For Cui quod maius est licet ei quod est minus licitum est So their reason briefly is this the King may restraine the passage of the person and of the goods therefore he may suffer them not to passe but sub modo paying such an imposition for his sufferance as he shall set upon them for the grounds and propositions laid in this objection I shall not be much against any one of them others of