Truth We need only to lay open the nature and antient Power of the States General with the manner of their Behaviour towards those Kings who abused the Power committed to them to make it evident that the French Monarchy is limited in its Constitution Under the first and second Race of the Kings of France there was no mention of any Assembly of the States General but only of the Franks that is to say the Nobles and Prelats who were used to meet together on the first of May in the open Field where they deliberated with the King concerning matters of Peace and War and took Resolutions of what was to be done all the Year after After the breaking up of this Assembly the Court of the Royal Palace otherwise called the Court of France composed of the Prelats and Great Barons that is to say the immediate Vassals of the Crown met together five or six times a Year to take care of the Execution of what had been resolv'd upon in the General Assembly to deliberate about publick Affairs that offer'd themselves and to determine as Judges the most important matters of private Persons Under the declination of the 2d Race the Governours of Cities and Provinces having made themselves Hereditary Lords of the places of their respective Governments under the Title of Counties and Dutchies cut themselves large Portions out of the Soveraign's Lands by which means the Court of France was no more frequented by the Lords except only when they were obliged to do Hommage and take the Oath of Fidelity or when an Enemy invaded France for then they presented themselves before the King to advise about the present necessity This Disorder continued until the Reign of Philip Augustus who having conquer'd Normandy and the Counties of Tourain Anjou Maine from John without Land King of England and the Country of Vermandois from the Earl of Flanders restored in some manner the Royal Authority and forced the Barons to frequent his Court and to be present at the Assemblies he called for the Affairs and Necessities of State. Nevertheless those Assemblies consisted only of the Prelats and Barons and this till the Reign of King John some Authors say of St. Lewis who being taken at the Battle of Poictiers and carried to England they were forc'd to raise a great Sum of Money for his Ransom and to this End they appli'd themselves to the Merchants and other Inhabitants of Cities who were then the richest Men of the Kingdom who agreed to pay the King's Ransom upon condition that they might be received into the Charges and Offices as well of Peace as of War and be allowed to have a Place and deliberative Voice in the States-General which was accordingly granted to them The Power and Prerogative of the States-General was such that the Kings of France could not make any new Levies of Mony without them Which continued so till the Reign of Charles VII as is acknowledged by Philip de Commines Lib. 6 c. 7. Neither could they make any new Ordinances nor repeal or suppress the old without the consent of the said States as is owned by Davila lib. 2 de li Guerri Civili Under the First and second Race of the French Kings the Ordinances were likewise made in the Assembly of the Prelats and Barons which constituted the Soveraign Court of France 't was there the Treaties of Peace were made between the Kings of France and Foreign Princes and Nations the Portions of the Children of France were there regulated there they treated of their Marriages and generally of all that concern'd the Affairs of State of the King's Houshold and the Children of France The Ordinances that were made in the said Assemblies in the Name of the Kings of France were conceived in these Terms Nos de consilio consensu Procerum nostrorum statuimus c. We with the Advice and Consent of our Lords do ordain And from hence is derived the Custome observed at this Day of verifying the Royal Edicts in the Parliament of Paris which in some sort represents the Assembly of the Prelats and Barons who composed as we have said the Soveraign Court of France In the Treasury of the French Kings at Chartres are found several Treaties between King Philip Augustus and Richard and John without Land Kings of England at the bottom of which are the Seals of the Prelats and Barons by whose Consent and Approbation the said Treaties had been made And Pope Innocent VI having sent to entreat St. Lewis that he would be pleas'd to permit him to retire into France to secure himself from the attempts of Frederick II. the said King answered the Popes Nuncio that he would communicate the Matter to his Parliament without whose Consent the Kings of France could do nothing of Importance This is related by Matthew Paris in the Life of Henry the III. King of England ad Annum 1244. We find also the manner how the States determined all Affairs respecting the Crown and Succession as for Example the Process which was between Philip de Valois and King Edward In this Assembly of the States saith the Chancellor de l' Hospital was Tried and Debated the most Noble Cause that ever was viz. To whom the Crown of France did belong after the Death of Charles the Fair to Philip of Valois his Cousin or to Edward King of England King Philip not presiding in that Assembly because he was not yet King and besides was a Party It appears clearly from the Power of the States General That the Power of the King of France is bounded by Law indeed this is a Truth whereof we cannot make the least doubt forasmuch as we find it acknowledged by Lewis XI the most unbridled Monarch that ever was See what he writes in the Rosary of War composed by him a little before his Death for the use of Charles VIII his Son. When Kings or Princes saith he have no respect to the Law they take from the People what they ought to leave them possest of and do not give them what they ought to have and in so doing they make their People Slaves and thereby lose the name of a King. For no body can be called a King but he that rules and has Dominion over Free-men This thing was so notorious even to Strangers themselves that Machiavel maintained that the Stability of the Monarchy of France was owing to this because the Kings there were obliged to a great number of Laws which proved the Security and Safe-guard of all their Subjects Lib. 1 di Discorsi c. 16. Messire Claudius de Seissel in his Treatise of the French Monarchy part 2. chap. 12. dedicated to Francis I. maintains upon this account That the Monarchy of France does partake of Aristocrasy which makes it both more perfect and durable Yea he asserts that it was also in part Democratical and expresly maintains that an absolute Monarchy is no other than true Tyranny when it is made use of
Psal 18.50 and his Anointed Ones 2 Sam. 22.51 which Title is given to Saul as well as David and Josiah all those Expressions respect God's Establishment of Kings after that the People had earnestly and obstinately demanded to be govern'd by their Ministry As to the second Head which respects the Laws that God prescribes to the Jews to regulate the Choice and the Conduct of their future Kings set down by Moses in Deut. 17. v. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20. We may therein observe these two things 1st That God supposeth that forasmuch as they would some time after set up a King over them they would also suppose it lawful for them to prescribe to the Royal Power the Form and Rules which their Neighbour-Nations amongst themselves had set to that Form of Government 2ly That God leaving to the People the natural Right of limiting the Royalty amongst themselves according to their own liking and fancy or for giving it more scope and liberty as their Neighbours had done only thought good to prescribe to them these Rules and Limitations 1. God limits their choice as to the Person of a King that he must be one chosen by himself 2. They might not choose a Stranger 3. He do's not allow the King to multiply Horses 4. Nor to lead back the People to Egypt 5. Nor to have great store of Wives 6. Nor to heap up vast Riches 7. He enjoyns him to study the Law of God and have it always with him to observe and keep it And 8. To do Justice equally to all without distinction These are the Laws which Josephus hath compendiously set down Lib. 4. cap. 8. p. 123 after Philo in his Treatise concerning the Creation of the Prince Now it is natural and obvious to conclude from all this 1. That God doth not in that place proscribe a plat-form of a Monarchy for the Government of the Jews but only supposeth that the Jews being desirous of Monarchy would be apt to borrow the Model of it from the Neighbour-Kingdoms 2. That in prescribing some Rules concerning the choice and behaviour of a King he endeavors to prevent the State of Israel from falling into the Inconveniences into which their Neighbour-Nations had cast themselves by allowing their Kings or at least suffering them to take too great a Power and Authority whether in Matters of State or Religion 3. That he supposeth that the People ought to oblige the King to observe these Laws of God and that they might oppose themselves to Princes who at any time should have the boldness to violate them as Josephus expresseth himself in the place quoted before 4. That he allows the People of Israel the same Rights to oppose themselves against the unjust Enterprizes of their Princes turn'd Tyrants which other Nations were possest of against their Princes when they abused their Authority the Reason why People desire a King being that he may Judg and Govern them not that he should Destroy them by playing the Tyrant It is of importance to make these Observations because it appears that in all this God did so far accommodate himself to the Design of the Jews that he never pretended to carry his Laws any farther for we see he does not speak to them concerning the Manner how they ought to behave themselves when they should be attak'd or subjugated by Foreign Powers as supposing that common sense would be sufficient to instruct them that in those Cases they were to follow the Example of other Nations who bore patiently the Yoke of the Prince that conquer'd them These things thus laid down it clearly appears that God set Bounds to the Royal Power long before he established any King in Israel and that the Jews could not but believe that Kings had another Law set them than that of their own Wills. Indeed we see 1st That this Institution did not at all derogate from the Rights of the People to choose their own Kings under certain Conditions and by a form of Treaty Compact or Capitulation We find that the Election of Jephtha Judg. 11.10 clearly supposeth this as likewise afterward the same may be seen in the Election of Saul David and Solomon 1 Chron. 28.8 and 1 Chron. 29.24 We find that Ishbosheth was brought into the Camp by Abner only to show him to the People that they might consent to the choice of him 2 Kings 2.9 2ly Though this Institution seem to be immediate yet did it not at all hinder or prejudg the Peoples Right of making Treaties and Capitulations with their Prince and consequently of rejecting them when at any time they should invade or violate the said Rights and Capitulations And of this we have an illustrious Example in the Sons of Samuel whose ill administration gave the Jews an occasion to demand a King by which means Samuel himself was as we may say obliged to renounce his Power as Judg which notwithstanding he had received immediately from God himself 3ly How immediate soever the Kings of Juda may have been established by God yet they never had the Character of an Arbitrary and unbounded Power as is suppos'd by those who would infer that because Monarchy was instituted by God the Power of him that is invested with it cannot be justly limited neither can for any Misdemeanour whatsoever be deposed To make it more sensible and evident we need only take notice of what the Scripture tells us in several places 1st They could not alienate the Lands and Countries that belonged to the State to any Strangers neither could they take them from their Subjects by way of Truck or Exchange as appears from that History of Naboth 1 Kings 21. 2ly They could not invade the Sacerdotal Functions as is apparent from the History of Vzzia who was boldly and couragiously resisted by the High Priest Azaria and his Colleagues 2 Chron. 26.18 3. They could not constrain the Levites to go to War that Tribe being excepted from all the rest who were subject to that Service as Abulensis owns it 1 Kings 9.22 4. They could impose no Tributes but in case of Necessity and with the consent of the People and those who have undertaken to do otherwise have been censured therefore by the Prophet Mic. 3.1 Not to mention that the excessive Tributes Solomon imposed on the People were the cause of the ten Tribes shaking off Rehoboam's Yoke 1 Kings 12.3 4ly I say that though God had seemed to fix the Royal Dignity to one Family to wit that of David yet was it not so bound up that the Succession must always pass from the Father to the eldest Son and not to the younger Thus we see that Solomon was preferred to Adonijah by David by the consent of the People Thus Rehoboam designed to settle the Succession upon Abijah the Son of Maachah as thinking him most fit for Government though he had elder Brothers 2 Chron. 11.22 Jehoshaphat on the contrary preferred Jehoram to the Succession before all his other Sons
because he was his First-born 2 Chron. 21.3 All which evidently proves that both Kings and People supposed themselves to have right from the Divine Graunt or Concession for the Establishment of Kings to regulate the Rights of Royalty and the Questions depending thereon according to the Maxims of Political Prudence and the Rights of Nations Neither do we find that Samuel grounds his Discourse on any other Principles or that he supposes that Kings ought to be invested with a boundless Power as some imprudently do imagine See in what manner he expresseth himself to diswade the Jews from their importunate Demand to have him settle a King over them 1 Sam. 8.1 2 3 4 5 to the end And it came to pass that when Samuel was old that he made his Sons Judges over Israel But his Sons walked not in his ways but turned aside after Lucre and took Bribes and preverted Judgment Then all the Elders of Israel assembled themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah and said unto him Behold thou art old and thy Sons walk not in thy ways now therefore make us a King to judg us like other Nations But the thing displeased Samuel when they said Give us a King to judg us And Samuel prayed unto the Lord and the Lord said unto Samuel Hearken unto the Voice of the People in all that they say unto thee for they have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them According to all the Works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day wherewith they have forsaken me and served other Gods so do they also unto thee Now therefore hearken unto their Voice howbeit protest solemnly unto them and shew to them the manner of the King that shall reign over them And Samuel told all the Words of the Lord unto the People that asked of him a King and he said This will be the manner of the King that shall reign over you he will take your Sons and appoint them for himself for his Chariots and to be his Horsemen and some shall run before his Chariot and he will appoint him Captains over thousands and Captains over Fifities and will set them to ear his Ground and to reap his Harvest and to make his Instruments of War and Instruments of his Chariots and he will take your Daughters to be his Confectioners and to be his Cooks and Bakers And he will take your Fields and your Vine-yards and your Olive-Yards even the best of them and give them to his Servants And he will take the tenth of your Seed and of your Vineyards to bestow it upon his Officers and his Servants And he will take your Men-Servants and your Maid-Servants and the goodliest of your young Men and your Asses and put them to his Work. He will take the tenth of your Sheep and ye shall be his Servants And ye shall cry out in that Day because of your King which ye shall have chosen you and the Lord will not hear you in that Day Nevertheless the People refused to obey the Voice of Samuel and they said Nay but we will have a King over us that we also may be like all the Nations and that our King may judg us and go out before us and fight our Battels And Samuel heard all the Words of the People and he rehearsed them in the Ears of the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel Hearken unto their Voice and make them a King and Samuel said unto the Men of Israel Go ye every Man unto his City 'T is obvious to observe from this account 1st That the Injustice and Miscarriage of Samuel's Sons was the cause why the Jews demanded a King to be set over them 2ly That their Demand is couch'd in those terms that make it evident they desired to be governed after the manner of their Neighbour-Nations 3ly That this their Demand was displeasing to Samuel 4ly That God look'd upon it as a Contempt of himself and a casting off of his Authority for the Reasons before alledged 5ly That God strictly enjoyns Samuel to protest and declare unto them how they must expect to be treated by the Kings that should reign over them 6ly That Samuel in this his Declaration delineates to them the compleat Pourtraiture of a Tyrant rather than of a King to affright the People from the Demand they had made and that as a Prophet he foretells the things should happen to them under the Government of their Kings 7ly That he represents to them the Miserie 's annex'd to Royalty as their Bondage in Egypt and the several other Servitudes which had forced them to cry unto God but denounces to them that God to punish them for this their Rebellion against him and their Contempt of his Administration would not hear them 8ly That the People dazled with the Lustre of Royalty and the Advantages they thence promised to themselves in time of War notwithstanding this Remonstrance persevered in their Demand 9ly That finally therefore God commands Samuel to give way to their Request and to set a King over them according to their Desire This in short is the sense which Josephus gives of this History Antiq. lib. c. 4. From whence it is evident that the Synagogue never believed that God had granted to the Kings of Judea any of those Tyrannical Rights which some would appropriate to Kings from these Words Hoc est jus Regis Josephus makes out that what is said 1 Sam. 10.25 that Samuel wrote the Right or rather the Manners and Behaviour of a King in a Book and laid it up before the Lord was done by him for this end that the People for time to come might know that he as a Prophet had in this his description of the Manners of a King Ibid. cap. 5. foretold them all the Calamities and Miseries that would overtake them under a Monarchy chang'd into Tyranny that thereby they might be induc'd to Acknowledge their unthankfulness towards God and their Folly in being so earnest for a King as often as they should cast their Eyes on this his Prophecy I know that some to assert the unbounded Power of Monarchs have endeavoured to prove from these Words of the vulgar Latin Translation hoc est jus Regis that the Monarchical Government amongst the Jews was of this Nature and that therefore Samuel does not represent the Kings here as subject to any Laws or Punishments which it seems he consequently ought to have done after that he had declared their Conduct and Behaviour as absolutely contrary to the Rights of the Society But as I have already before observed never was so weak a Foundation made use of whereon to raise such vast Pretensions as may be easily made out so as to convince those who make use of an improper Translation both to delude themselves and to abuse others about a Question which is of so great Importance
State as having lost its Liberty since their consenting to the Establishment of Tyranny and consequently having no right to attempt any thing towards the Recovery of it But I desire those who fain would obtrude this Delusion upon others as they have upon themselves to consider 1. That known Maxime of Right Possessor malae fidei non praescribit An unjust Possessor makes no Praescription Indeed if this be true That a Man needs only usurp the Goods and Rights of another to make himself the lawful Master of them Robbers Usurers and those who by abusing of the Law deprive others of their Rights will be found to be of the best and most thriving Trades in the World. If this be so the Church of Rome and the Pope by the Possession they have been in for so many Ages must carry it by Prescription to hang burn and massacre neither can any one oppose himself against their just Title 2. They ought to consider that if Kings be accounted Minors or under Age because they cannot alienate their Dominions as being only granted them for the good of the State the People are so on a much better Title and Prescription can never prejudice them I know it is a Maxime in Law Praetor cum injustè judicat jus dicit that a Judg though he judges unjustly his Judgment stands good in Law and accordingly must be obey'd from whence some might conclude That the most unjust Kings cannot be contradicted and that it is unlawful for any to oppose themselves to their Decisions But those who should make this Objection probably would not take notice of the Consequence of it It is for the Interest of the Society that the Judgments pronounced by the ordinary Judges should be valid though some of their Judgments may be unjust but no body ever believed that this Maxime authorizeth the Magistrate either Subaltern or Soveraign to tread under-feet the Laws and to make publick Profession to judg all things according to their fancy 2ly 'T is a constant truth That Kings could never justly touch the Peoples Rights they being commissionated neither by God nor Man to judg what be the Rights of the People and having no more right to deprive them thereof than a party at Law has right to deprive his party of the Right that justly belongs to him CHAP. XVII An Answer to the last Objection AFter all that hath been said I cannot suspect that any should make an Objection that has so little Appearance of any Probability as is that which is the 2d of those that remain to be examined by me some suppose their conceit to be of some weight who urge the Acts of Parliament under King Charles II as destructive of this form of the English Government The Words are these That it is not lawful on any Pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King c. Indeed it cannot be denied but that these Words seem to suppose that those who swear to them cannot believe it is lawful to take up Arms against the Kings of England howsoever they may behave themselves nor by any opposition to hinder the overturning of the Laws and Government We may well acknowledg that Power to be unbounded which it is not lawful to oppose by force of Arms now these Acts of Parliament declare that it is not lawful to resist the King wherefore the King of England must be supposed an unlimited and absolute Monarch and by Consequence we must conclude that the Government of England is wholly changed and destroyed so that whatsoever we have alledged in the foregoing Discourse can only be made use of as a History of what is past but not as a Rule or Precedent for what is to come This conceit is so unreasonable that it seems scarce worth the pains to stop at it however I shall endeavour in few Words to satisfy those who seem unwarily to be taken in the Snare which the Malice of a Popish Court had laid for them 1st They must know that the Fundamental Laws of any State are of the Nature of Contracts Pactions and Capitulations which according to the common opinion of Lawyers are irrevocable Buxtorf in Bull. aurea cap. 1. § 7. whence it follows That all Oaths that are taken against Capitulations of this nature may be Sins to those who take them but cannot oblige them as being unlawful Oaths 2ly They cannot suppose that the Parliaments of Charles II did ever think of repealing these Fundamental Laws without accusing the Members that composed them of having been prevaricators and betrayers of the Interest of their Country by changing the limited Monarchy into a true Tyranny 3ly They cannot do this Injury to these illustrious Assemblies without casting the same Blemish upon the Bishops in the House of Lords during those Sessions of Parliament and making them altogether odious either for their Stupidity or for their Malice for their Stupidity if imprudently they gave their consent to Laws made on purpose to change the Kingly Government into Tyranny or for their Malice if they wilfully betrayed the Interest of the State though they knew well enough what must be the end and aim of these Regulations I desire these Gentlemen to make some Reflection on this truth Is it possible they should have no Consideration at all either for the Reputation or Conscience of their Ancestors They have shewed themselves so jealous of a change in the form of the Government by making of a successive State an Elective one and yet they suppose that the Parliament and the Bishops that sat in them have in sport changed the form of the Government by making it of a limited Royalty to become an absolute and unbounded Monarchy 4ly They must needs accuse these Parliaments of a strange Folly for these Gentlemen suppose that the Disorders which then ruled in the State obliged the Parliament to restore Charles II. They suppose that the Anarchy and various Sects which had the upper hand before his recall making wise Men not without cause to apprehend the Ruine of the Protestant Religion as well as the Overthrow of the State they thought themselves obliged to employ all their strength for restoring of Charles II. as supposing him a good Protestant and a King whom his Adversities had made wise in hopes of being governed by him according to the ancient Laws of the Kingdom And yet after this they will perswade us That the Parliament thought it fit and reasonable to destroy the Nature of the Royalty in England by making it Mistress of the Laws and authorizing it to destroy the Protestant Religion whenever the Popish Faction should think fit to have it done 5ly They must accuse these Parliaments of the commission of a horrid piece of Imprudence in attempting upon the Liberty of the People For if this were indeed their Design were they not obliged at the same time to repeal all the other Laws which restrain the Power of the Kings of England For we know that
paying Relief or making fine The Guardian of an Heirs Land shall take the reasonable Issues Customs and Services without destruction or waste of his Men or Goods And if such Guardian make destruction and waste he shall lose the Wardship and the Guardian shall keep in repair the Houses Parks Ponds Pools Mills and other Appurtenances to the Estate out of the Profits of the Land. And shall take care that the Heirs be married without disparagement and by the Advice of their near Kindred That a Widow shall give nothing for her Dower or Marriage after the death of her Husband but shall be suffered to dwell in her Husband's House Ninety days after his death within which time her Dower shall be assigned her and she shall immediately have her Marriage and her Inheritance The King nor his Bayliff shall not seize any Land for debt if the Debtors Goods be sufficient nor shall the Debtors Sureties be distrain'd upon when the Debtor himself is able to pay the Debt But if the Debtor fail of payment the Sureties if they will may have the Debtors Lands till the Debt be fully satisfied unless the Principal Debtor can shew that he is quit against his Sureties The King shall not allow any Baron to take Aide of his free Tenants but for the Redemption of his Person for the making his Eldest Son a Knight and towards the Marriage of his Eldest Daughter once and hereunto he shall have but a Reasonable Aid That none shall do more Service for a Knights Fee than is due for the same That Common Pleas shall not follow the King's Court but shall be holden in some certain Place And that Recognitions be taken in their proper Counties and after this manner viz. That the King shall send two Justices four times a year who together with four Knights of the same Shire chosen by the Shire shall take Assizes of Novel disseisin Mordancester and Darrein presentment nor shall any be summoned hereunto but the Jurors and the two Parties That a Freeman shall be amerced for a small fault after the manner of the fault and for a great fault according to the Greatness of the fault saving his Contenement A Villain also shall be amerced saving his Wainage and in like manner a Merchant saving his Merchandise by the Oath of good Men of the Vicinage That a Clerk shall be amerced according to his Lay-see in manner aforesaid and not according to his Ecclesiastical Benefice That no Town be amerced for not making Bridges nor Banks but where they have been of old time and of Right ought to be That the measure of Wine of Corn and the breadth of Cloth and the like be rectified and so of Weights That Assizes of Novel Disseizin and Mordancester be abbreviated and so of other Assizes That no Sheriff shall entermeddle with Pleas of the Crown without the Coroners and that Counties and Hundreds shall be at the ancient Farms without any Encrease except the King 's own Demesn Mannors If any Tenant of the King die the Sheriff or other the Kings Bayliff may seize and enroll his Goods and Chattels by the view of lawful Men but yet so as that nothing thereof be taken away till it be fully known whether he owe any clear debt to the King and then the Kings Debt shall be paid and the Residue shall remain to the Executors to perform the Testament of the Dead And if nothing be owing to the King all the Goods shall go to the use of the dead If any Free-man dye Intestate his Goods shall be distributed by his nearest Kindred and Friends and by the view of the Church Widows shall not be distrain'd to marry if they are minded to live unmarried provided they find Sureties that they will not marry without the King's Assent if they hold of the King or without the Consent of their Lords of whom they hold No Constable or other Bayliff shall take any Man's Corn or other Chattels but he shall forthwith pay for the same unless he may have respit by consent of the Seller That no Constable shall distrain any Knight to give Money for the keeping of his Castle if he himself will do it in his own proper Person or by another sufficient man if he may not do it himself for a reasonable Cause And if the King lead him in his Army he shall be discharged of Castleward for the time No Sheriff or Bayliff of the King nor any other person shall take the Horses or Carts of any Free-man to make carriage without his leave The King nor his Bayliffs shall not take any Man's Wood for Castles or other Occasions but by License of him whose the Wood is That the King do not hold the Lands of them that be convicted of Felony longer then a year and a day after which they shall be delivered to the Lord of the Fee. That all Wears from henceforth be utterly put down in Thames and Medway and throughout all England That the Writ called Precipe be not from henceforth granted to any person of any Freehold whereby a Freeman may lose his Court. If any be disseiz'd or delay'd by the King without Judgment of Lands Liberties or other his Right he shall forthwith have restitution and if any Dispute arise upon it it shall be determin'd by the Judgment of the Five and twenty Barons And such as have been disseiz'd by the King's Father or his Brother shall have Right immediately by the Judgment of their Peers in the King's Court. And if the King must have the Term of others that had taken upon them the Cross for the Holy Land the Archbishop and Bishops shall give Judgment therein at a certain day to be prefixt without Appeal That nothing be given for a Writ of Inquisition of Life or Member but that it be freely granted without price and be not denyed If any hold of the King by Fee-farm by Socage or Burgage and of any other by Knight's Service the King shall not have the Custody of the Heir nor of his Lands that are holden of the Fee of another by reason of such Burgage Socage or Fee-farm Nor ought the King to have the Custody of such Burgage Socage or Fee-farm and no Freeman shall lose his Degree of Knighthood by reason of petty Serjeanties as when a Man holds Lands rendring therefore a Knife an Arrow or the like No Bayliff shall put any man to his Law upon his own bare saying without faithful Witnesses That the Body of a Free-man be not taken nor imprisoned nor that he be disseiz'd nor Out-law'd nor Exil'd nor any way destroyed Nor that the King pass upon him or imprison him by force but only by the Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land. That Right be not sold nor delay'd nor denyed That Merchants have liberty to go and come safely to buy and sell without any manner of Evil Tolls by the Old and Lawful Customs That no Escuage or Aid be
laid upon the Kingdom but by the Common-Council of the Kingdom unless it be to redeem the King's Person or to make his eldest Son a Knight or to marry his eldest Daughter once and for these a reasonable Aid shall be given That it be in like manner with respect to Tallages and Aids from the City of London and other Cities that have Priviledges therein And that the City of London may fully enjoy her ancient Liberties and free Customs as well by Water as by Land. That it shall be lawful for any Man to go out of the Kingdom and to return saving his Allegiance to the King unless it be in time of War for a short time for the common profit of the Realm If any borrow Money of a Jew be it more or less and die before the Debt be paid no Interest shall be paid for the same so long as the Heir is under age of whomsoever he hold And if the Debt become due to the King the King shall take no more than what is contain'd in the Charter If any Man die and owe Money to the Jews his Wife shall have her Dower and if he left Children Necessaries shall be provided them according to the quantity of the Freehold and the residue shall go to pay off the Debt saving the Services due to the Lords The like shall be observed in case of other Debts and when the Heir comes of age his Guardian shall restore him his Land as well stockt as he could reasonably afford out of the Profits of the Land coming in by the Plough and the Cart. If any Man hold of any Escheat as of the Honour of Wallingford and Nottingham Bonon and Lancaster or of other Escheats which are in the King's Hand and are Baronies and die his Heir shall pay no other Relief nor perform any other Service then he should have paid and perform'd to the Baron and that the King shall hold such Escheats as the Barons held them That Fines made for Dowers Marriages Inheritances and Amercements wrongfully and contrary to the Law of the Land be freely remitted or ordered by the Judgment of the Five and twenty Barons or of the major part of them together with the Archbishop and such as he shall call to him Provided that if one or more of the Five and twenty have themselves any like complaint that then he or they shall be removed and others put in their rooms by the residue of the Five and twenty That the Hostages and Deeds be restored which were deliver'd to the King for his Security That they that live out of the Forest be not obliged to come before the Justices of the Forest by common Summons unless they be Parties or Pledges And that the Evil Customs of the Forests and Foresters Warrens and Sheriffs and Ponds be redress'd by twelve Knights of each County who shall be chosen by the Good Men of the County That the King remove wholly from their Bayliff-wick the Kindred and whole Dependance of Gerard de Aties that hereafter they have no Bayliffwick to wit Engeland Andr ' Peter ' Gigo de Cances Gigo de Cygon Matthew de Martino and his Brethren and Gelfrid his Nephew and Phillip de Mark. And that the King put away the Foreign Soldiers Stipendaries Slingers and Troopers and their Servants who came with Horses and Arms to the Nusance of the Realm That the King make Justitiars Constables Sheriffs and Bayliffs of Men that know the Law of the Land and will cause it to be well observed That Barons who have founded Abbies for which they have Charters of Kings or ancient Tenure shall have the Custody of them when they are vacant If the King have disseiz'd the Welsh men or esloyn'd them from Lands or Liberties or of other things in England or in Wales let them presently be restored to them without Plea and if they have been disseiz'd or esloin'd from their English Tenements by the King's Father or his Brother without Judgment of their Peers the King shall without delay do them Justice as he does Justice to Englishmen of their English Tenements according to the Law of England and of Welsh Tenements according to the Law of Wales and of Tenements in the Marches according to the Law of the Marches In like manner the Welshman shall do to the King and his Subjects That the King restore Lewelin's Son and all the Welsh Hostages and the Deeds that were delivered to him for security of the Peace That the King do Right to the King of Scotland concerning restoring of Hostages and his Liberties and Right according to the Form of the Agreement with his Barons of England unless it ought to be otherwise by vertue of some Deeds which the King has by the Judgment of the Archbishop and others whom he shall think fit to call to him That all Forests that have been afforested by the King in his own time be disafforested and so of Banks which by the King himself have been put in defence All these Customs and Liberties which the King has granted to the Kingdom to hold and keep for his own part towards his Men all Clerks and Lay-men of the Kingdom shall observe and keep for their parts towards their Men. This is the Form of the security for keeping Peace and the Liberties betwixt the King and the Kingdom The Barons shall chuse Five and twenty Barons of the Realm whom they will themselves upon whom it shall be encumbent that with all their might they observe and keep and cause to be observ'd and kept the Peace and Liberties which the King has granted to them and confirm'd by his Charter to wit That if the King or his Justices or Bayliffs or any of his Ministers offend any Person contrary to any of the said Articles or transgress any Article of this Peace and Security And that such offence be made known to four of the said Five and Twenty Barons those four Barons shall go to the King or to his Justitiar if the King be out of the Realm declaring to him that such an abuse is committed and shall desire him to cause it speedily to be redressed And if the King or if he be out of the Realm his Justitiar do not redress it those four Barons shall within a reasonable time to be limited in the Charter refer the matter to the residue of the Five and twenty Barons And those Five and twenty with the Commonalty of all the Land shall distress the King all the ways they can to wit by seizing his Castles his Lands and Possessions and by what other means they can till it be redrest according to their good likeing saving the Person of our Lord the King and of the Queen and of their Children And when it is redrest they shall be subject to the King as before And whoever will may swear to put these things in Execution viz. To obey the Commands of the said Five and twenty Barons and to distress the King