Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	great_a	king_n	people_n	5,231	5	4.6713	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26144	The power, jurisdiction and priviledge of Parliament and the antiquity of the House of Commons asserted occasion'd by an information in the Kings Bench by the attorney general against the Speaker of the House of Commons : as also A discourse concerning the ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the realm of England, occasion'd by the late commission in ecclesiastical causes / by Sir Robert Atkins, Knight ...	Atkyns, Robert, Sir, 1621-1709.	1689 (1689)	Wing A4141; ESTC R16410	69,431	78

will make a Foelix tremble We have often heard it confidently said from the Pulpit That our Laws are like the Spiders Webs which catch the little Flies but the great ones break through them Now it is quite contrary with this great Court this great Court encounters only with great Offenders It is like the Imperial Eagle Aquila non capit Muscas it leaves them to this and other Inferiour Courts but that takes to task the Animalia Majora In the great Case Rot. Parl. 40 E. 3. num 7. King John had resign'd up the Crown of England to the Pope by the hand of Pandolphus his Legate and sordidly submitted to take the Crown at his hand again at a yearly Tribute In the Region of our noble King Edward the 3d. the Pope demanded his Rent and all the Arrears The Prelates Dukes Counts Barons and Commons resolv'd that neither the King nor any other could put the Realm nor the People thereof into subjection sans l'assent de eux This intimates that with their joint consent the Crown may be dispos'd of This was the highest Resolution in Law in one of the highest points in Law concerning the King's Claim of an Absolute Power and in a time when the Pope was in his height And the Commons join in the Resolution both against the Pope's and King John's pretence to a Despotick Power Sir Tho. Smith who was a Secretary of State in his Commonw l. 2. c. 2. fol. 50 51. In Comitiis Parliamentariis posita est omnis absolutae potestatis vis taking in the King as the Head of them as it ought to be understood this shows where the rightful absolute Power under Almighty God is And among other Magnalia he tells us Incerti Juris Controversias dirimunt This shews their transcendent Judicial Power they determine the greatest Disputes and Doubts in Law. They would quickly decide this Dispute and Controversie were it once before them without Argument This appears to be the proper business of a Parliament even from the Writ of Summons both to Lords and Commons for they did not Anciently differ in any thing material as I have abundantly shown already they are De Arduis Regni tractitare Concilium impendere here is their Councelling Power According to that Equitable Rule Quod omnes tangit ab omnibns tractari debet Their Legislative Power is most clearly set out by Bracton a Judge in the time of K. H. 3d. in whose latter times our Innovators would have the House of Commons to begin I cited him before Legis vigorem habet says he quicquid de Consilio de Consensu Magnatum Reipubl communi Sponsione anthoritate Regis praecedente juste fuerit definitum approbatum 5 H. 4. Num. 11. The Record there uses too gross a Word The Commons says the Roll require the King it should have been made it their Request to the King and the Lords accorded that four special Persons should be remov'd out of the Kings House This in some Ages as in the Reign of K. R. the 2d would have been thought a very high presumption and a sawcy thing to speak in the Language of the Pulpit and Press too from a late Cambr. Dr. and a Chaplain in Ordinary if the Title of the Print may be credited but said to be printed by the of that University A sawcy thing with their Prophane and Unhallowed Hands to presume to meddle in a thing so Sacred Thus says the late Printed Sermon But it was a Sacred or Consecrated thing indeed in this Roll of Parliament mention'd One of the 4 required to be remov'd out of the King's House where he was a Domestick was no less than the King's Confessor And it was not in the Reign of a R. the 2d or H. the 6th but of K. H. 4th one of our Wisest and most Active Valiant Kings But it may be thought that these four Persons were in some desperate Popish Plot of killing the King as the four we have heard of were No the King himself will resolve that Doubt That noble King said in answer to it He knew no cause wherefore they should be remov'd but only for that they were hated of the People And yet that great King charged those Four to depart from his House This proves their Councelling Power I might enumerate a vast multitude of Animalia Majora no small Flies that have in several Ages been catched in the Net or Webb of an Inquiry made by the House of Commons who fish only for such greater Fish such as we call the Pike who by Oppression live upon the smaller Fish and devour them The Commons to that end fish with a Net that has a wide and large Meshe such as le ts go the small Frye and compasses none but those of the largest size Such as the Lord Latimer in the time of E. 3. An. 50. Such as Michael de la Pool E. of Suff. and Lord Chancellour in 10. R. 2. Tho. Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury 21 R. 2. and such like William de la Pool D. of Suff. 28 H. 6. who were all impeach'd by the House of Commons in several Parliaments And I my self have seen a Lord Chief Justice of this Court while he was Lord Chief Justice and a Learned Man by leave from the House of Commons pleading before that House for himself and excusing what he had done in a Tryal that came before them in the West whereof Complaint was made to the House And he did it with that great Humility and Reverence and those of his own Profession and others were so far his Advocates as that the House desisted from any further prosecution In the the late Act of 13o. of his now Majesty for safety of his Royal Person there is a Proviso for the saving of the Just Antient Freedom and the Priviledge of either of the Houses of Parliament or any of their Members of debating any Matters or Business which shall be debated or propounded in either of the said Houses or at any Conferences or Committees of both or either of the said Houses or touching the Repeal or Alteration of any old or the preparing any new Laws or the Redressing of any publick Grievances I observ'd but now out of Trewinn Case in the Ld. Dier that the Judgment of the House of Commons in a Case of the priviledge of that House in that Report is called a Judgment of the most high Court of Parliament which proves they are not without a Judicial Power 3 H. 6. Sir Rob. Cott. Abr. fol. 574. The great Case between the E. of Warwick and the Earl Marshal for Precedency fol. 576. was determin'd by the King. By Advice and Consent of the Lords and Commons and yet one would have thought that a Case of Precedency between two Peers should have been a peculiar of the Lords In the Case of 1 H. 7. in the Year Books fol. 4. about reversing of Attainders it is advis'd by all the Judges that those

them unto And Sir Robert Filmer fol. 40. allows neither Lords nor Commons any Power but by the King 's bare Permission and thus they are growing in their Invasions against the Court of Parliament and impeach one first and the other will follow more easily And Sir Robert Filmer further holds the Legislative Power rests solely in the King and fol. 39. he hath these words But the truth is saith he The Liberties and Priviledges of both Houses have but one and the self-same Foundation which is nothing else but the meer and sole Grace of Kings And Doctor Heylin in his Life of Arch-Bishop Laud fol. 91. denies the Priviledges of Parliament to be the Peoples Birth-Right but holds them not otherwise exercis'd than by the Grace and Goodness of the King. Mr. Pryn Sir Robert Filmer and Mr. Dugdale lay great stress upon the diversity that is in the Writs of Summons between the Summons for the Lords and the Summons for the Commons That to the Lords say they is super negottis praedictis tractaturi vestrumque consilium impensuri But that to the Commons is say they only ad faciendum consentiendum his quae tunc ibidem de communi cousilio dicti regni contigerint ordinari It is true that for many years of late that distinction hath been so used in the Summons but not constantly so As to this point I will cite Mr. Dugdale's and Mr. Prin's own Books against their own Opinion The very first writ of Summons which as they say is now extant for the Summoning of the Commons by Election viz. 49 H. 3. runs in these words Nobiscum ac cum praedictis praelatis magnatibus nostris super praemissis tractaturi at que consilium impensuri Dugd. Orig. Jur. pag 18. The Writ De expensis Militum qui venerunt ad Parliamentum venientibus saies that Writ usque ad Westmonasterium ibidem de diversis neg●ciis nobiscum tractaturis See Mr. Pryn's 4th part of a Register of Parliament Writs fol. 8. In Mr. Ryley's Placita Parliamentaria it appears that as the Summons to the Temporal Lords fol. 318. was ad tractandum and so likewise the Summons to the Prelates fol. 319. so also fol. 320. it is entred in these words Mandatum fuit singulis Vicecomitibus per Angliam quod de quolibet comitatu duos milites de qualibet civitate duos cives de quolibet burgo duos Burgenses eligi ad dictum Parliamentum venire facerent ad tractandum c. In the same Book fol. 570. An. 15 E. 2. there is mention of a Writ of Summons for Knights out of Wales to a Parliament at York ad tractandum consilium impendendum In Mr. Pryn's Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva fol. 274. there is the very Indenture return'd by the Sheriff of Norsolk for great Yarmouth ad tractandum consulendum consentiendum And fol. 68. of that Book another Writ de expensis militum reciting the Cause for which they had been Summon'd to the Parliament viz. ad tractandum c. And in the same Book fol. 145. it appears that 18 E. 3. the Writs to the Sheriffs for chusing Knights mention'd what their work was to be in these words viz. Nobiscum cum praelatis proceribus praedictis super diversis arduis negotiis nos statum regni nostri specialiter tangentibus tractaturi suum consilium impensuri And fol. 147. and 149. the like words in the Writs And fol. 177. And 276. and 283. and 381. Indentures return'd from Reading Bristol London with the same words And ib. fol. 178 and 179 and 291 for Windsor and 365. So that in the Reigns of seven several Kings and those of the most Ancient Kings there was no such distinction in the Writs of Summons Another Argument used by these late Authors to prove that the whole Power and all the Priviledges of the House of Commons are not from the Original Constitution of the Government as I Affirm and I hope have proved they are but of a later Original and by the meer Grace and Indulgence of Princes as indeed they must be if the House of Commons began within Memory is taken from the Words and Phrases of our Historians who have written since the coming in of the Normans and ascribe the making of Laws and all the Determinations and Decrees in Matters of Judicature and all the Actings of the Ancient Parliaments before the time of the Normans to the King and Lords only Exclusive to the Commons and that the Commons had no part in them till this time of 49 H. 3. And they ground this Opinion upon the Form of Penning of our Ancient Acts of Parliament which seem by the Words of them to be meer Concessions of our former Kings and to have proceeded only from their Royal Bounty and at their sole Will and Pleasure And they Confirm themselves in that Opinion from observing the Course used in the beginning of Parliaments when the Speaker makes his humble Petitions to the King for the Granting of them Freedom from Arrests and Freedom of Speech Now to discover the Falsity of these Grounds and the Weakness of these Arguments taken from the Words and Phrases us'd by our Historians I shall shew that our Historians who have written since the time of the coming in of the Normans and have Translated the Saxon Annals have in those Translations instead of the Saxon Titles used the Titles that were never in use before their own Times which Titles used in the Saxons times had quite different Significations from the Titles used in the times of the Translators The Title Earl for Example is used in the Penning of the Saxons Laws as among those of Athelstan as we may see by Mr. Lambert in his Book de Priscis Anglor Legibus and the Title Comes came in amongst us since from the Empire and signified a different thing from Earl. Now our Translators mistaking those two Titles Earl and Comes to signifie the same thing wherever they met with Earl in the Annals of the Saxons they have rendred it Comes in their Translations and whatever in those times was done by Earls and whatever Power the Earls then used is by our Translators ascribed to our Comites who are therefore also called Earls when in Truth they had different Significations and were different in their Powers Mr. Selden takes notice of this Error in our Norman or English Translators proceeding from their Ignorance But from this Error false Conclusions have been raised and false Measures taken in our Discourses concerning the Power of the Peers Sir H. Spelman observes the same Error in our Translators in rendring Words and Titles Non èmore Saeculi antiquioris but according to the Titles used in their own times when many times they signified different things Nobilis says Mr. Selden in the Saxons times denoted every Gentleman Now because

Point Mr. Pryn in his Preface to Sir Cotton's Abr. is of an Opinion by himself that tota Communitas signifies the whole Baronage But it appears by the Body of the Letter there written that Communitas is distinguished from the Majores Sir Sir Cotton's Abridgement 6 E. 3. fol. 12. in the upper part It is said the Lords and Great Men by the Mouth of Sir Henry Beaumont Mr. Hakewell in his aforesaid Treatise speaking of William Trussel says the Commons aswered by his Mouth 13 E. 3. 2 R. 2. Numb 16. Sir Cotton's Abr. fol. 174. The Commons return their Answer to the King by Sir James Pickering their Speaker 17 R. 2. Numb 17. Sir R. Cott. Abr. 353. The King advising with the Commons concerning a Peace with France return their Answer by Sir John Bussey their Speaker Mr. Hakewell in his Book before cited fol. 205. 7 H. 4. says that Sir John Tiptoft while he was Speaker signed and sealed the Deed of Entailing the Crown with these words Nomine totius Communitatis Mr. Elsing in his Treatise of Parliaments fol. 125. tells us that what was spoken by the Speaker is entred in the Rolls as spoken by the Commons But take what is done by the Defendant to be his proper acting yet he acting only as a Minister and Servant to the High Court of Parliament by the ordinary Rules of Law in Cases of Officers he is not suable nor any way punishable for it This is Resolved in the Rutland's Case 6 Rep. 54. and the same Case likewise Reported in Moor's Rep. 765. That an Officer or Minister executing Process which is erroneously awarded as where a Capias is awarded against a Peer the Officer is to be excus'd for he must not dispute the Authority of the Court but obey And in that Case the Secondaries of the Counter and the Serjeants in London were excus'd and held not guilty of any offence So in the Case of the Marshelsea 10 Rep. 76. Where the distinction is If the Court have a Jurisdiction the Officer is excus'd though the Process be Erroneous Qui jussu Judicis aliquod fecerit non videtur dolo malo fecisse quia parere necesse est Keilwey 99. a Med. by Brudnel and the Lord Dier in Trewinnard's Case fo 60. b Where a Writ of Priviledge in case of a Parliament-man Arrested is granted where it ought not to be and the Sheriff by virtue of that Writ discharged the person Arrested Yet the Sheriff saith that Case is not chargeable in an Action for this Parere necesse est What that necessity is we may see in that Case of Trewinnard Dier fo 61. a Med. if the Sheriff refuse to execute the Writ And as a fair warning to Sheriffs and other Officers not to resist or disobey the Commands and Orders of the House of Commons the Lord Dier mentions what punishment was inflicted upon the Sheriffs of London in the Case of Geo. Ferrers They were committed to the Tower for their contempt in not letting a Parliament-man taken in Execution to go at large when the Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons came for him without a Writ Nay the Lord Dier says in the latter end of that Case of Trewinnard that if the Parliament err'd he speaks it of the House of Commons yet there is no default in the Sheriff When the late King being in Person in the House of Commons and sitting in the Speaker's Chair ask'd the then Speaker Whether certain Members whom the King named were then in the House The Speaker answer'd readily and wisely and with a good presentness of mind which arose from the Genius of that House That he had neither Eyes to see nor Tongue to speak but as the House was pleased to direct him III. POINT As to the last Point That for matters done in or by the Parliament as the matters in our Case are neither the King's-Bench nor any other Court but the Court of Parliament it self can by Law take Cognizance of it This is the great Point of the Case I shall first offer to prove it by Reasons and then I shall back and enforce those Reasons by many Authorities and those of the highest sort 1. Reason The Parliament gives Law to this Court of the Kings-Beneh and to all other Courts of the Kingdom and therefore it is absurd and preposterous that it should receive Law from it and be subject to it The greater is not judged of the less 2. The Parliament is the immediate Court for Examining the Judgments of the Court of King's-Bench and if they be erroneous they reverse them and if this Court should against Law take upon them to proceed in this Cause and give Judgment the Parliament when it Meets no doubt will set it aside as Erroneous And no Man does in the least doubt but they have power to do it and there is as little doubt but they will do it therefore it is wholly in vain for this Court to take Cognizance of it and it cannot be revers'd elsewhere it being in a matter of Jurisdiction See the Statute of 27 Eliz. c. 8. The Preamble reciting that Erroneous Judgments given in the King's-Bench are only to be reform'd by the High Court of Parliament which Court of Parliament was not in those days 〈◊〉 often holden as in Ancient time it had been Neither yet in respect of the greater Affairs of the Realm could they well be consider'd of and determin'd in Parliament c. There is an Exception of Errors that concern'd the Jurisdiction of the King's-Bench those remain as before and in the Errors that are referr'd to the Judges of the Common-Pleas and Barons of the Exchequer by 27 Eliz. c. 8. the Jurisdiction of the Parliament is to Examine them c. 3. This Court as all the Courts of Common-Law Judge only by the ordinary Rules of the Common-Law But the proceedings of Parliament are by quite another Rule The matters in Parliament are to be discuss'd and determin'd by the Custom and Usage of Parliament and the Course of Parliament and neither by the Civil nor the Common-Law used in other Courts 4. The Judges of this and of the other Courts of Common-Law in Westminster are but Assistants and Attendants to the High Court of Parliament And shall the Assistants judge of their Superiors 5. The High Court of Parliament is the dernier resort and this is generally affirm'd and held but it is not the last if what they do may yet again be examin'd and controll'd 6. The Parliament is of an absolute and unlimited power in things Temporal within this Nation I shall now proceed to Authorities that are full to this Point and do second and back those Reasons that I have offer'd wherein I shall not observe any method by reducing or ranking of them under these Reasons that I have offer'd because some of the Authorities justifie several of these Reasons all at once That the Parliament hath the highest and most