But let us take the House of Lords as it is though there be many young Men there are some more Elderly and it is they commonly that sit out hearing Causes and even amongst the young Lords there be some that apply themselves to Business In the general it may be said of that House that many among them are Persons of Honour and of Integrity that will not be Byassed and of experience to Understand and Judge aright of such Matters as are brought before them The great Officers of the Kingdome are part of that Body who in all reason should be knowing Men the Chancellor of England is alwayes their Speaker who is commonly a Person skilled in the Law and they have all the Judges of the Land to be their Assistants with whom they advice and by whose advice they are guided in difficult Points of Law as it is said in Flouredew's Case 1 H. 7. Ter. Pasc. f. 20. Senescallus cum Dominis Spiritualibus Temporalibus per Consilium Iusticiariorum procedent ad Errorem corrigendum by the Counsel and Advice of the Judges they shall correct the Errors viz. of the Judgement complained of So it is probable and there is Ground to hope and expect one may find Justice here as soon as â—n any other Judicatory Nay perhaps sooner here For when a Lord Chancellor or a Lord Keeper is concerned as he is in all Appeals from Decrees in Chancery which is the proper Question at this time before us a Commission to the Judges or to any other Sett of Men is not so likely to relieve a poor Man that is opprest by an unjust Decree whereby those Commissioners may incurre the displeasure of so great a Person by censuring and vacating his Act as the House of Peers who are not in that Awe of him and Subjection to him as all particular Persons are Which consideration alone hath heretofore been sufficient to justifie the Lords interposing even in the ordinary Judicature of the Kingdome in Causes between Party and Party And the Commons themselves did then so farr approve of this as they made it their desire to the King that it might be so So as it passed into a Law to be an Act of Parlament and a Statute according to the Formality of making Lawes in those times 1 R. 2. m. 11. They pray Que querele entre parties ne soit attemptez ne terminez deuaunt Srs. ne Officiers du Conseil mes que la commune ley courge sans estre tarie es lieux on ils soloient dancien temps estre terminez sil ne soit ticle querele encontre si grande personne que home ne suppose aillours dauoir droit The Answer is Le Roy le voet They pray That Sutes between Party and Party may not be retained and determined before the Lords nor before the Councel but that the Law may have its Course and no Obstruction of it bâ— there where such Businesses did antiently use to be determined except it be in such a Sute and against so great a Person as one cannot otherwise hope to have Justice and the King grants it And 1. H. 4. n. 160. this Statute is again Confirmed Now I know not what Sâ—â—â—e nor what Business can be fitter to be within this Exception then where a Lord Chancellor or a Lord Keeper is concerned for the maintenance of a Decree which himself hath made Besides we know what Influence that great Officer hath in all Commissions that Issue under the Great Seal for naming and appointing the Persons that shall be Commissionated by them And certainly one that complaines of Injustice done by so great a Person would not willingly that he should have hand in appointing the Persons that must Examine and Redress it So as all things considered I do not see where such a Power as this could better be lodged then in the House of Peers if it were not already there and that we were now to chuse where it should be placed Yet all Men are fallible and Parlaments may erre and do erre many times and therefore as commonly second Notions and second Thoughts are better and consequently second Judgements so there lies even an Appeale from the first Judgement in Parlament but it must be still to the Parlament as the Law Books say Error in Parliament convient estre reverse per Parlament that is in another Parlament or another Session not in the same All this tends to shew that not onely the Right of Appeales is in the House of Lords but that neither can it be better any where else Yet there is still one Point behind not yet treated of which must be cleared before I make an end and that is Whether the Lords may proceed upon an Appeale if a Member of the House of Commons be concerned And the same question then may be moved concerning Writs of Error for if the Priviledge of that House extends to the one it must extend to the other the same reason being for both as likewise for the Lords not medling with any Business wherein any of their House is concerned In the first place let us consider what the Usage hath been heretofore and what the Judicature of the House of Peers hath been and how exercised in relation to the House of Commons That heretofore in the Antient times even till Henry the 8 th when the House of Commons did need any thing either for repelling any Injury done to them and punishing those who had done it or for supplying them with any thing they wanted and desired for their advantage and well being they did then come and pray in the Aide of the Lords who did examine the particular Businesses and apply the necessary Remedies they being altogether unable to help themselves hath I think been sufficiently proved already in the former part of this Discourse The Question is now as that was when they complained and when it was at their desire so if when others complained of them and sought remedy against them the Lords had then power to receive the Complaint and relieve the Party grieved Which questionless they had Nor was it ever knowen that ever the House of Commons did before pretend to such a Priviledge as that their Members should be exempt from being put to answer in the House of Lords when any Sute was there commenced against them 16. R. 2. n. 6. Sir Philip Courtney being Knight for Devonshire presents himself to the House of Peers Disant coment il auoit entendâ—z que certeins gentz lui avoient accusez esclandrez au Roi as Seig rs c. Saying he heard he had been accused and slandered to the King and Lords of doeing great wrongs and prayed he might be discharged from serving in Parlament untill he was purged and cleared of them and the Record saith A cause que sa priere sembla au Roi as Seig rs honeste le Roi luy ottroya sa requeste lui en dischargea because
no sending of Counsell to the Tower for pleading for their Clients at the Lords Bar no stop of the Current of Justice It was then observed what the Wisdome of our Fore-Fathers had enjoyned Westminster the 2 d. Nemo recedat a Curia Regis sine remedio But if that should be allowed which is pretended and challenged by the House of Commons as their Priviledge if a Member of theirs be concerned though a Man have received never so hard measure though never so erroneous and unjust a Judgement have been given against him in any of the Courts of Westminster Hall for there is the same reason for both for Writs of Error from a Court of Law as from Appeals from a Court of Equity if Priviledge of the Commons House exempts from the one it must exempt from the other there is no help for him he must sit down and lay his hand upon his Mouth and not once whisper but must Recedere a Curia Regis and that the chief Court the supreame Court sine Remedio So here is an absolute failer of Justice which as Sir Edward Cook saith the Law abhors And as it seemes to me it is upon an irrational ground For here is Priviledge of Parlament against the Parlament it self which makes a Parlament Felo de se to give a Priviledge which enervates it's Power a Power which is proper and peculiar to Parlaments the Dernier Ressort by which it helps when no other Court can help This is taken away and cannot exert it self when a Member of the House of Commons is concerned Against the Rule of all Courts for in other Courts as Chancery Kings Bench Exchequer the Officers that belong to those Courts claime a Priviledge to be sued no where else but no Priviledge to free them that they shall not be sued in their own Courts Now the House of Peers is a Court of Judicature as it is a Part of the Parlament Pars constituens of a Parlament and the Members of the House of Commons have Priviledge as they are Members of Parlament and as their House is the other Pars constituens of a Parlament for both together are Partes constituentes Parliamentum and both make but one Parlament though they be two several constituting Parts And it is not rational to think that either of those Parts can be entituled to a Priviledge which shall abridge the other Part from doeing those Functions which are proper and natural to it As if the House of Peers should assume to themselves a Priviledge that the House of Commons could not without their leave and consent first had propose the Raising of Moneys by way of Tax or Subsidy This is against the nature and constitution of our Parlaments and therefore it cannot be imagined to be true that such a Priviledge can belong to the Lords by one that understands any thing of the Nature of Parlaments And truely it is even as great an Absurdity to say that the House of Commons hath a Priviledge to give a stopp to the Lords proceeding in the hearing of a Cause as a Court of Judicature if one of their Members is concerned in it For the hearing of Causes by way of Appeale or of Writ of Error is as proper and as natural to the House of Lords as a Bill of Subsidy to begin in the House of Commons is proper to that House But I have heard it said that this would be destructive to the House of Commons if the Lords could compell their Members to appeare at their Barr and attend their Causes there and if they would not appear commit them as is the use of other Courts For say they as they commit one they may commit more and even fetch them all out of the House to leave none or not a number to attend the Service there But first this is a mischief so unlike ever to happen that one need almost as little fear it as the Skie falling to kill all the Larks if it were so that they should take upon them to commit those that would not appeare and answer For it is not to be imagined that so many would be concerned in Appeals or Writs of Error at one time as that there would not be enough left to carry on the Business of the House since at most perhaps two or three in a whole Session may be concerned And if so small a number should for their particular occasions which they cannot avoid being sued by others be kept for some few dayes from attending the Publick Service the Matter seems not so great since all along this Parlament for twelve or thirteen years together this House hath had the goodness to dispense still with the attendance of at least two hundred of their Members who have remained at their several Homes for their pleasure many all for their private occasions without coming at all to beare their parts of the Houses Service This is more like to be an Inconvenience to that Service then if the Lords should commit two or three single Persons amongst them for not appearing upon Summons when they are sued before them But none of this need be feared For the House of Lords doth not pretend to a power of committing any Member of the House of Commons if they will not appear nor any Body else for not appearing or not answering being sued before them in a Civil Cause If they will not appeare by themselves or by their Atturney and put in their Answer being lawfully Summoned and having no lawful Excuse for not doeing what is required of them and what they ought to do but will stand out in contempt of their Jurisdiction they will proceede to hear the Cause Ex parte and determine it as they did in the Case of the Deane and Chapter of St. Cedde in Lichfield and the Prior of Newport-Pannel upon a Writt of Error 18. R. 2. n. 11 12. c. The Deane and Chapter had the Parlament before preferred a Petition An̄re S r. tres redoute le Roi a les nobles S rs de cest Parlement c. complaining of a Judgement in the Kings Bench by which an Annuity of 20 Mark per ann and an Arreare of an hundred which they had recovered in the Common Pleas was judged against them in the Kings Bench and had prayed a Scire facias for the Prior to appeare returnable this Parlament which was granted And the Prior now Solempniter vocatus non venit being solemnly called appeared not Whereupon the Record saith Decanus Capitulum petierunt Iudicium Parliamenti quod ob defaltam nunc Prioris procedatur ad examinationem Recordi Processus praedicti Brevis de Errore Quod in Parliamento concessum est The Dean and Chapter demand Judgement and that upon the Default of the Prior they will goe on to examine the Business which the Parlament granted They do so and then give Judgement for the Dean and Chapter And in truth there is all the
THE CASE STATED Concerning the JUDICATURE OF THE House of Peers In the Point of APPEALS Printed in the Year MDCLXXV The Case stated concerning the Iudicature of the House of Peers in the point of Appeals ONe chief end of Parlaments besides that of making good and wholsome Laws for the well governing of the Kingdom is to redress and reform Abuses of Inferiour Courts and to direct them in Cases of great difficulty when by reason of some Circumstance in matter of Fact the Law is not so plain as that they can proceed to give Relief to such suiters as stand in need of Relief and demand it and then have those Courts applied themselves to the Parliament for Advice and Direction Whereas in other Cases where there hath been either a Perverting of Justice in giving a wrong Judgement or a wilful delay of Justice in giving no Judgement at all there the Party grieved complaining to the Parliament finds that Remedy which his Case requires Therefore is it that 1. R. 2. n. 95. the Commons pray That a Parliament be yearly holden to redress delays in Suits and to end such Cases as the Iudges doubt of Now the next thing to be enquired into is how and in what manner the Parliament doth exert this power of Judicature over Inferiour Courts and where and in what part of the Parliament this Jurisdiction is lodged which I think will be easily made out to be singly and solely in the Upper House the House of Peers that there it is and hath ever been both De facto de jure That it hath been Practised so you have multitudes of Presidents sometimes in case of delay in Justice sometimes in case of an Erroneous proceeding in the Application of it As in the 14. E. 3. in the Case of Sir Iohn and Sir Ieffery Stanton Sir Ieffery comes and complains to the House of Lords of delay in the Court of Common Pleas the House of Lords first send to those Judges to proceed to Judgement by a Writ containing the whole Matter as it was represented to them with this that in case the Judges there could not agree in regard of Difficulty or any other Cause they should then come into Parliament and bring with them the Record of the whole Process which Sir Iohn Stonore the Chief Justice did and then the House of Peers as it is expressed in the Roll Les Prelats Countes Barouns Autres du Parliament and who those Autres were is likewise expressed not any of the Lower House but Le Chaunceller Tresorer Iustices del un Bank del autre autres du Conseil du Roy that is Those who were Assistants in the House of Peers as the Attorney and others of the Kings learned Counsel and even the Chancellor and Treasurer if they were not Peers they declare Est finalement accordez the Roll saith it is finally agreed what the Judgement shall be and they command those Judges Quils en lour Bank aillent le Iugement rendre that they go and pronounce that Judgement in their Bench. But there is an Act of Parliament in that 14. of E. 3. c. 5. and that Act is still in force which shews the right of such a Judicature to be in the House of Peers It ordains That a Prelate two Earls and two Barons shall be chosen every Parliament who shall have a Commission from the King to hear the Complaints of those that will complain unto them of such Delays or Grievances done to them in the Chancery Kings Bench Common Bench or Exchequer shall cause the Iudges of the Court where such Delay is complained of to come before them with the whole Process in the Cause may call to them the Chancellor Treasurer Iustices of either Bench and Barons of the Exchequer as they shall think fit to assist them So shall proceed to take a good accord and make a good judgement and then send that to the Iustices before whom the Plea did depend with order that they hastily go to give judgement accordingly And if the Case were of such difficulty as that they could not well determin it they were then to bring it to the next Parlaement where a Final Accord was to be taken what judgment ought to be given which was to be sent to the Iudges and they commanded to proceed without delay and give that judgment And to begin to do Remedy upon this Ordinance they are the words of the Act the Lords are named viz. The Arch Bishop of Canterbury the Earls of Arundel and Huntington the Lord de Wake and the Lord Ralph Basset and it is Enacted that a Commission and a Power should be granted to them to endure till the next Parliament For this was but for the Intervals of Parlament the Parliament Sitting the Complaint was to be made to the House and the House to give the Redress Then for Erroneous Judgements and Decrees whether given in Courts of Law or Courts of Equity that the Remedy en dernier ressort lies likewise in the House of Peers will I think be easily proved Concerning the Courts of Law it is not at all Controverted but that by a Writ of Error all such Judgements in Inferiour Courts with which any Body shall find himself aggrieved may be removed unto and Reversed in that House if they find cause for it It is true that in Rastals Collection of Entries Tit. Error en le Parlament pag. 302. there is this Clause inserted in the Writ there entred viz. Vobis mandamus quod Record Process c. in presens Parliament c. mittatis hoc Breve ut inspect Recordo Processis predicto Nos de Consilio advisamento Dominorum Spiritualium Temporalium ac Communitatum in Parliamento nostro predict existent ulterius pro errore illo corrigendo fieri faciamus quod dejure secundum Legem consuetudinem Regni nostri Angliae fuerit faciendum Here one would think is a clear Testimony that the House of Commons are Copartners with the Lords in Judging those Writs of Error But I may say there is an Error in this Entry and it was set right that very year in the 1. of H. 7. by a Meeting and Consultation of all the Judges in the Exchequer Chamber It is in the Year-Book Pasc. 1. H. 7. p. 19 20. in Flouredews Case the words are these Et postea per avisament omnium Iusticiariorum in Camera Scaccarii existent congregat pro eadem materia errore illo corrigendo sic intelligendum est si Parliament sit apud Westm. tunc oportet partem habere billam de Rege indorsatam c. Et quam cito Billa sic indorsata fuerit Breve de Errore Transcriptum pred in Parliamento deliberentur Clericus Parliamentorum habebit custodiam inde Et per Dominos tantum non per Communitatem assignabitur Senescallus qui cum Dominis Spiritualibus Temporalibus per concilium Justiciariorum procedent
to the Jurisdiction of Parlament which one may boldly conclude both upon the general Reason of all Inferior Courts being subordinate to the Supreame Court and particularly from the Constitution of the Court of Chancery which in it's antient Legal capacity as it acts Secundum Legem consuctudinem Angliae is in such a subordination and A fortiore then ought it to be so acting in a capacity of a later Acquisition and in a more arbitrary and irregular way In latter times that is from 12. Iac. all the last Kings Reigne and so much as is past of the Kings Reigne that now is Presidents are frequent of Appeals in Parlament from Decrees in Chancery which yet is five and fifty yeares And it hath formerly been the Opinion of the House of Commons that moderne Presidents were best and strongly was it urged by them in the Case of the Earle of Clarendon to induce the Lords to commit him to Prison upon a general Impeachment of Treason without special Matter shewen from one single President of that being done in the Case of the late Earle of Strafford against multitudes of Presidents produced to the contrary But now they are of another Mind And because we find not in the antient Rolls of Parlament Presidents full in the Point of Appeals from unjust Decrees in Chancery they doe deny that the Parlament hath now such a Power of receiving Appeals To which it hath been already said That the antient Rolls since the time that the Chancery hath Acted as a Court of Equity in 17. R. 2. are many of them lost those that remaine are very general especially since Henry the sevenths time mentioning onely publick Bills scarce any thing of particular Businesses sometimes naming the Parties that had Sutes depending in the House of Peers but not expressing the Matter in difference that one cannot tell whether they were Appeals or Original Causes Let any body peruse the Journals of Parlament of H. 8. E. 6. Q. Mary and Q. Elizabeth and he shall find it so But goe to the times before and you will see that the House of Peers did exercise their Jurisdiction over the Chancery as well as over all the other Courts of Westminster And this they have done in all times The Statute of 14. E. 3. shews they did it in case of delay of Justice And they have sometimes stopped a Proceeding in Chancery and ordered the Businesse to be proceeded in in another Court 3. R. 2. n. 22. Sir Philip Darey complained that the Prior of St. Iohn's of Hierusalem â—ued him in Chancery for two Mannors which he said that Edward the 3 d had granted to his Father and produced a Deed shewing that the Priors Predecessor had passed away the Fee of those Mannors to Edward the 2 d. The Lords order that Deed to be carried to the Barons of the Exchequer they to examine the King's Title and the Proceedings in Chancery to be stopped The same Parlament the Earle of Pembrook and William de Zouch complaine that Sir Robert Roes and Thomas his Son Sued them in Chancery for certain Lands in Yorke-shire that had been formerly belonging to William Cantloe pretending certaine Feoffments to have been made by Cantloe to their advantage and that they endeavoured likewise to get an Order for a Tryal in the Countrey where they were powerful The Lords take the Matter into their own hands and refer the Examination to three of the Judges Kneuet Cavendish and Belknap to examine and report who doe report those Feoffments to be otherwise then Sir Robert and his Son pretended The Chancellors have themselves sometimes Repaired to the Lords for direction in Businesses of Difficulty and of Consequence as 9. H. 5. The Abbot of Ramsey Sueing in Chancery for a Prohibition to stop Proceedings in the execution of a Sentence given in the Arches against his Tenants in a Case of Tythes the Bishop of Durham Lord Chancellor brought the business into the House of Peers to have their direction in it declaring all that had passed before him and Counsel then being heard on both sides the Duke of Bedford who was Guardian of the Realme in the absence of the King and the Lords asked the opinion of the Judges who were there present the Judges of ei Bench and the Chief Baron charging them to give Lour bon advis selone l'exigence de la ley pur de pluis seure exhibition de Iustice celle part to give their Advice what was required by Law for the more certain rendring of Justice in that particular which they did And after mature deliberation Sentu suit per le dit Gardein Seignors selone l'advis de le dits Iustices Baron c. It was resolved by the said Gaurdian and Lords according to the Advice of the Judges that no Prohibition should be granted We see by these antient Presidents the Power that the House of Peers did heretofore exercise over the Court of Chancery It is true that we have not such frequent Examples of it in those times as we have of latter dayes within some fifty or threescore years since the work of that Court hath swelled to that bigness as now it is which hath furnished much Matter for Appeals and was never questioned till now In so much as in the Year 1666 when the Case of Skinner the Merchant complaining of Wrongs done him by the East India-Company was before the Lords the House of Commons interposing and declaring against the Lords meddling with an Original Cause and denying them that Jurisdiction to which notwithstanding their Lordships had an undoubted Right and maintained it to the last both by Reason and Presidents yet the House of Commons in all those Debates and Conferences upon that Subject alwayes allowed them their Judicature in Appeals and Writs of Error which they said they did not at all question but now they are come to question Appeals one step further and upon the same Ground and with as much Reason they may take away Writs of Error next and so put an end to all Judicature in the Supreame Court of Judicature But I hope I have made it clear that both those parts of Judicature are and must be Essentiall parts of the Supreame Judicature and the Matters they concern to be wholly within the Cognisance of it That which I heare sticks with many is the present Constitution of the House of Peers Composed of so many young Lords who have not Experience in Business and may be thought to mind Modes and Fashions more then serious things And perhaps the Prospect of what is coming on may in their Opinion not give better hopes However Right is Right If it be a Right belonging to them till there be a Law to dispose of it otherwise it ought not upon any prudential Ground to be taken from them that were to set the House of Peers very loose for by the same reason one may as well take away all their other Rights and Priviledges
his Prayer seemed reasonable to the King and Lords the King did grant him his desire and discharged him of his attendance This was upon the Wednesday the Monday after at the request of the Commons he was restored to his Place and good Name That very Parlament he was again Petitioned against by Nicolas de Pontingdon for dispossessing him of the Mannor of Bygelegh upon pretence that Thomas his Father was a Bastard and by Richard Somestre likewise for dispossessing him of some Land in Thurverton he appears upon it and those Differences are referred to some Person there named to end them by a certaine time which it seems they could not doe for in 4. H. 4. I find Pontingdon petitioning still against him and making the same complaint of the same unjust act and then the Lords referre the Matter to be tried at Law but determine and appoint first what shall not be the Point in Issue to wit a pretence of Sir Philip Courtneys of a Release made unto him by one Thomas Pontingdon a Parson then they appoint what shall be in Issue to wit the Bastardy of Thomas the Father The House of Commons it seems did not in those dayes find fault that a Business concerning a Member was by the Lords entertained and a Determination made in it and more that a Member should think himself unworthy and unfit to sit in the House of Commons because there was an Accusation brought into the Lords House against him and to make it his sute to the King and Lords to dispence with him from sitting till he was cleared and till that he stood right again in their good Opinions The House of Commons did not then send him to the Tower for shewing his respect and deference to the House of Lords So far from it that they come themselves Sutors to the King and Lords in his behalf and pray that he may be restored to his place in their House as likewise to his good Name and at their request the King and Lords doe it There was not in those dayes the least question made nor the least difference between the two Houses upon on this score Now Counsel has been pulled from the Bar in Westminster Hall and sent to the Tower for having but pleaded at the Lords Bar in a Cause wherein a Member of the House of Commons hath been concerned the so doeing voted a Breach of their Priviledge which would not have been so thought heretofore as appears by this President And there are other Presidents both Old and New which demonstrate the truth of what I say 3. R. 2.24 25. Iohn Earle of Pembrook and William le Zouch complaine in their Petition A lour tres redoute Seignor le Roy as Seig rs du Parlement that Sir Robert de Roos of Ingmarthorp and Thomas his Sonne sued them in Chancery and endeavoured to get a Tryall at the Assizes in the Countrey for some Lands settled upon them by their Kinsman William de Cantlow which Settlement Sir Robert Roos they say maintained to be otherwise then in truth it was and to be for the advantage of his Son by which means he would recover those Lands from them The Lords refer the Business to three of the Judges who are to call all Parties before them to examine the Matter and to report it to the House which they did and then delivered the Examinations and the Accompt of their proceedings in Writing to the Clerk of the Parlament Sir Robert Roos was then Knight of the Shire for Yorkshire yet being Summoned appearred before those Judges who had order to Examine him and the Business which concerned him 5. R. 2. n. 61. Sir William de Eurcester and Margaret his Wife set forth in their Petition several eomplaints of the miscarriages and deceitful dealings of Sir Thomas Hungerford entrusted by them in many Businesses who had warning to put in his Answer Luy quiel Monsieur Thomas saith the Record vint en Parlement en sa persone faisant primerment sa protestation de adjouster corriger amender si embusoigneroit y fist sa responce le mist avant en Parlement en escript en la forme que sensuyt La responce de Thomas Hungerford Chevalier c. That is the said Sir Thomas came into Parlament in Person making first protestation to adde correct and amend as there would be need then put in his Answer in Writing in the forme following viz. The Answer of Sir Thomas Hungerford c. He was then Knight for Sommersetshire And this appears as well for him as for Sir Robert Roos that they respectively served for those Counties by the Writts de Expensis Militum which are in the Clause Rolls in the Tower for those Parlaments The Journalls of Parlament say nothing of it nor can it be expected they should for the Names onely of the Persons and of their Business are there Recorded whether or no they were Members of Parlament is not mentioned nor taken notice of as not materiall nor no wayes altering the Case Sir Philip Courtney indeed is in the Journal expressed to be Knight for Devon upon that special occasion of his coming up to the Lords House and desiring to be discharged his attendance till he was purged else neither had he been knowen to be so by the Record of the Journall We may see that by the Journals now Where Mens Names are entred as there is occasion for it of Businesses in which they are concerned but never of their being or not being Parlament Men Yet it being within our Memory we remember some as Sir Arthur Ingram 21. Jac. May 28. he was then a Member of the House of Commons yet one Mrs. Grizil Rogers petitions the House of Lords complaining how she was sued and vexed in several Courts by him and others there named for some Lands in Sommersetshire and she desires their Lordships to end those differences and to settle her Title Upon which there is a long Order made for that purpose every particular thing in question between them is determined and all Sutes are ordered to cease in those other Courts In the Parlament of 16. Car. 1. Apr. 6. Sir Robert Pye was a Member of the House of Commons and yet the Lady Dyer sets forth in her Petition to the Lords how he and one Mr. Button had extended Lands belonging to Sir Richard Tichburne at a far under-value so as she who had likewise a Judgement after theirs upon those Lands for a Debt oweing to her was in danger to lose it The Lords order Counsell on both sides to agree upon drawing up Assurances for the satisfying of all Parties the Parties themselves to signe and seale them and so the Lady Dyer to be paid her Money The House of Commons then found no fault with these Proceedings there was no Quarelling with the Lords nor questioning of their Jurisdiction no Vote for committing of those who petitioned for relief in a Cause against a Member