any Offence after the first Judgment shall be a sufficient Conviction to Bring the Officers or Person within the said penalty for the second Offence 6. And for the prevention of unjust Vexation by Reiterated Commitments for the same 2. Be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Person or Persons which shall be delivered or set at Large upon any Habeas Corpus shall at any time hereafter be again Imprisoned or Committed for the same Offence by any Person or Persons whatsoever other than by the Legal order and process of such Court wherein he or they shall be Bound by Recognizance to appear or other Court having Jurisdiction of the Cause 3. And if any other Person or Persons shall knowingly contrary to this Act Recommit or Imprison or knowingly procure or Cause to be Recommitted or Imprisoned for the same Offence or pretended Offence any Person or Persons delivered or set at Large as aforesaid or be knowingly aiding or Assisting therein then he or they shall forfeit to the Prisoner or Party Greived the sum of five hundred pounds any colourable pretence or variation in the Warrant or Warrants of Commitment notwithstandin to be Recovered as aforesaid 7. Provided alwayes and be it further Enacted That if any Person or Persons shall be Committed for High Treason or Felony Plainly and specially Expressed in the Warrant of Commitment upon his prayer or petition in open Court the first week of the Term or first day of the Sessions of Oyer and Terminer or General Gaol delivery to be Brought to his Tryal shall not be indicted sometime in the next Term Sessions of Oyer and Terminer or General Gaol delivery after such Commitment It shall and may be Lawful to and for the Judges of the Court of Kings Bench and Justices of Oyer and Terminer or General Gaol delivery and they are hereby Required upon motion to them made in open Court the last day of the Term Sessions or Gaol delivery either by the Prisoner or any one in his Behalf to set at Liberty the Prisoner upon Bail unless it appear to the Judges and Justices upon Oath made that the Witnesses for the King could not be produced the same Term Sessions or General Gaol delivery 2. And If any person or persons Committed as aforesaid upon his prayer or petition in open Court the first week of the Term or first day of the Sessions of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol delivery to be Brought to his Tryal shall not be Indicted and Tryed the second Term Sessions of Oyer and Terminer or General Gaol delivery after his Commitment or upon his Tryal shall be Acquitted he shall be discharged from his Imprisonment 8. Provided alwaies That nothing in this Act shall Extend to discharge out of prison any person charged in debt or other Action or with process in any Civil Cause but that after he shall be discharged of his Imprisonment for such his Criminal Offence he shall be kept in Custody according to Law for such other suit 9. Provided alwaies and be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if any person or persons subâ—ects of this Realm shall be Committed to any prison or in Custody of any Officer or Officers whatsoever for any Criminal or Supposed Criminal matter That the said person shall not be Removed from the said prison and custody into the custody of any other Officer or Officers 2. unless it be by Habeas Corpus or some other Legal writ or where the prisoner is delivered to the Constable or other Inferiour Officer to carry such prisoner to some common Gaol 3. or where any person is sent by â—rder of any Judge of Assize or Justice of the peace â—o any Common workhouse or house of Correction 4. or where the prisoner is Removed from one prion or place to another within the same County in order to his or her Tryal or discharge in due Course of Law 5. or in case of sudden fire or Infection â—r other Necessity 6. And if any person or persons â—hall after such Commitment aforesaid make out and â—ign or Countersign any Warrant or Warrants for â—uch Removal aforesaid contrary to this Act as well â—e that makes or signs or Countersigns such Warrant or Warrants as the Officer or Officers that obey or Execute the same shall suffer and Incur the pains and Forfeitures in this Act before-mentioned both for the first and second Offence Respectively to be Recovered in manner aforesaid by the party Grieved 10. Provided also and be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That it shall and may be Lawful to and for any prisoner and prisoners as aforesaid to move and obtain his or their Habeas Corpus as well out of the High Court of Chancery or Court of Exchequer as out of the Courts of Kings Bench or common pleas or either of them 2. And if the said Lord Chancellour or Lord Keeper or any Judge or Judges Baron or Barons for the time being of the degree of the Coif of any of the Courts aforesaid in the Vacation time upon view of the Copy or Copies of the Warant or Warants of Commitment or Detainer or upon Oath made that such Copy or Copies were denied as aforesaid shall deny any writ of Habeas Corpus by this Act Required to be Granted being moved for as aforesaid they shall severally Forfeit to the prisoner or party Grieved the sum of five hundred pounds to be Recovered in manner aforesaid 11. And Be it Enacted and declared by the Authority aforesaid That an Habeas Corpus according to the true Intent and meaning of this Act may be directed and Run into any County Palatine the Cinquâ—… ports or other priviledged places within the Kingdom of Engl. Dominion of Wales or Town of Berwick upon Tweed and the Isles of Jersey or Guernsey any Law or Usage to the Contrary notwithstanding 12. And for preventing Illegal Imprisonments in prisons beyond seas 2. Be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no subject of this Realm that now is or hereafter shall be an Inhabitant or Resiant of this Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales or Town of Berwick upon Tweed shall or may be sent prisoner into Scotland Ireland Jersey Guernsey Tangier or into any parts Garrisons Islands or places beyond the seas which are or at any time hereafter shall be within or without the Dominions of His Majesty His heirs or successours 3. And that every such Imprisonment is hereby Enacted and adjudged to be Illegal 4. and that If any of the said subjects now is or hereafter shall be so Imprisoned every such person and persons so Imprisoned shall and may for every such Imprisonment maintain by vertue of this Act an Action or Actions of false Imprisonment in any of his Majesties Courts of Record against the person or persons by whom he or she shall be so Committed detained Imprisoned sent prisoner or Transported Contrary to the true meaning of this Act and against all or any
is garnisht with Golden Stars was not originally Erected but confirmed and establisht by the Stat. of the 3 H. 7. Ca. 1. For there had before been some such Jurisdiction as Cook observes 4. Instit fo 62. yet there is reason to believe That it grew up rather by Connivance and Usurpation than any due course of Law The Crimes it pretended to punish were the Exorbitant Offences of Great Men whom Inferiour Judges and Jurors though they should not would in respect of their Greatness be afraid to offend Bribery Extortion Maintenance Champerty Imbracery Forgery Perjury Libelling Challenges Duels c. Their proceedings were by English Bill and Process under the Great Seal and the punishments by them Inflicted were Fines Imprisonment Pillory Cutting off Ears c. But whatever pretences there were for the setting up this Court at first 't is certain it was made use of as a property of Arbitrary Power to Crush any whom the Ruling Ministers and Favourites had a mind to destroy and indeed there were Three things in the very nature of this Court which were destructive to the Original Constitution of our English Government and Liberties 1. They proceeded without Juries 2. They pretended to a Power to Examine men upon their Oaths touching Crimes by them supposed to be committed which is contrary to all Law and Reason For Nemo tenetur seipsum Accusare No man is bound to accuse himself 3. The Judges of this Court proceeded by no known Law or Rules but were left at Liberty to Act Arbitrarily and according to their own pleasures whereas the Law of Engl. hates to leave to any such an unlimited Power but as it marks out the several species of Crimes such or such an Act shall be Treason this Felony that petty Larceny c. So it awards certain and positive punishments proportionate to each of them Therefore this Court being found a Grievance to the Subject was by this Act dissolved and taken away And to the intent nothing of the like kind should by any other name be practised for the future it is Declared and Enacted That the King and His Privy Council shall not question or dispose of the Lands or Goods of any Subjects And if they do each Privy Counsellor or present forfeits 500l to the party grieved A Clause in the Act of 31. Car. 2. C. 1. Whereas by the Laws and Customs of this Realm the Inhabitants thereof cannot be compelled against their wills to receive Souldiers into their Houses and to sojourn them there Be it Declared and Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Officer Military or Civil nor any other person whatever shall from henceforth presume to Place Quarter or Billet any Souldier or Souldiers upon any Subject or Inhabitant of this Realm of any degree quality or profession whatever without his consent And that it shall and may be lawful for every such Subject and Inhabitant to refuse to Sojourn or Quarter any Souldier or Souldiers notwithstanding any Command Order Warrant or Billeting whatever HAVING thus recited several of the most material Statutes provided by the care and wisdom of our Ancestors and prudent Legislators for the Guarding and Securing our English Liberties I shall now for the Reader 's Information proceed to add certain other Laws of another nature And first give the Reader all the Statutes at this day in force against Protestant Dissenters upon the account of Religion And secondly an Abstract of all the Laws against Papists And in order to the first of these we begin with a Statute touching the Writ De Excommunicato Capiendo upon which many people have been prosecuted Which Act is as followeth Anno Quinto Reginae Elizabethae Ca. 23. An Act for the due Execution of the Writ De Excommunicato capiendo FOrasmuch as divers persons offending in many great Crimes and Offences appertaining meerly to the Jurisdiction and Determination of the Ecclesiastical Courts and Judges of this Realm are many times unpunished for lack and want of the good and due Execution of the Writ de Excommunicato Capiendo directed to the Sheriff of any County for the taking and apprehending of any such Offenders 2. The great abuse whereof as it should seem hath grown for that the said Writ is not Returnable in any Court that might have the Judgment of the well Executing and serving of the said Writ according to the Contents thereof 3. But hitherto have been left only to the discretion of the Sheriffs and their Deputies by whose Negligences and Defaults for the most part the said Writ is not Executed upon the Offenders as it ought to be 4. By reason whereof such Offenders be greatly encouraged to continue their sinful and criminous Life much to the displeasure of Almighty God and to the great contempt of the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Realm 2. Wherefore for the redress thereof be it enacted by the Queens Most Excellent Majesty with the assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That from and after the first day of May next coming every Writ of Excommunicato Capiendo that shall be granted and Awarded out of the high Court of Chancery against any person or persons within the Realm of England shall be made in the time of the Term 2. And Returnable before the Queen's Highness Her Heirs and Successors in the Court commonly called the King's Bench in the Term next after the Teste of the same Writ 3. and the same writ shall be made to contain at the least twenty days between the Teste and the Return thereof 4. And after the same writ shall be so made and sealed that then the said Writ shall be forthwith brought into the said Court of King's Bench and there in the presence of the Justices shall be opened and delivered of Record to the Sheriffs or other officer to whom the serving and Execution thereof shall appertain or to his or their Deputy or Deputies 5. And if afterward it shall or may appear to the Justices of the same Court for the time being that the same writ so delivered of Record be not duty returned before them at the day of the return thereof or that any other Default or Negligence hath been used or bad in the not well serving and Executing of the said Writ that then the Justices of the said Court shall and may by Authority of this Act Assess such Amerciament upon the said Sheriff or other Officer in whom such Default shall appear as to the discretion of the said Justices shall be thought meet and convenient which Amerciament so Assessed shall be Estreated into the Court of Exchequer as other Amerciaments have been used 3. And he it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the Sheriff or other Officer to whom such writ of Excommunicato Capiendo or other Process by virtue of this Act shall be directed shall not in any wise be compelled to bring the
such person and persons so as aforesaid offending shall be deemed declared and Adjudged to be Traytors and shall suffer pains of Death and also lose and Forfeit as in Cases of High Treason 2. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if any person or persons at any time after the four and twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred sixty and one during his Majesties Life shall Malitiously and Advisedly publish or affirm the King to be an Heretick or Papist or that he endeavourr to introduce Popery 2. Or shall Malitiously and Advisedly by Printing Writing Preaching or other Speaking Express Publish Vtter or Declare any words sentences or other thing or things to Incite or stir up the people to Hatred or dislike of the Person of His Majesty or the Established Government 3 Then every such person and persons being thereof Legally Convicted shall be disabled to have or enjoy and is hereby disabled and made incapable of having holding enjoying or exercising any Place Office or Promotion Ecclesiastical Civil or Military or any other Imployment in Church and Stateother than that of his Peerage and shall likewise be liable to such further and other Punishments as by the Common Laws or Statutes of this Realm may be inflicted in such Cases 4 And to the end that no man hereafter may he misled into any Seditious or Vnquiet Demeanour out of an opinion that the Parliament B-gun and held at Westminster upon the third day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and forty is yet in being which is undoubtedly Dissolved and Determined and so is hereby declared and adjudged to be fully dissolved and determined 5 Or out of an opinion that there lies any Obligation upon him from any Oath Covenant or Engagement whatsoever to endeavour a Change of Government either in Church or State 6 Or out of an Opinion that both Houses of Parliament or either of them have a Legislative Power without the King 7 All which Assertions have been seditiously maintained in some Pamphlets lately Printed and are dayly promoted by the Active Enemies of our Peace and Happiness 3. Be it therefore further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if any person or persons at any time after the four and twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord. one thousand six hundred sixty and one shall Maliciously and Advisedly by Writing Printing Preaching or other Speaking Express Publish Vtter Declare or Affirm That the Parliament Begun at Westminster upon the third day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and forty is not yet Dissolved or is not Determined or that it ought to be in being or hath yet any Continuance or Existence 2 Or that there lies any Obligation on him or any other person from any Oath Covenant or Engagement whatsoever to endeavour a Change of Government either in Church or State 3 Or that both Houses of Parliament or either House of Parliament have or hath a Legislative Power without the King or any other words to the same Effect 4 That then every such person and persons so as aforesaid offending shall incurr the danger and penalty of a Premunire mentioned in a Statute made in the sixteenth year of the Reign of King Richard the Second 5 And it is hereby also declared That the Oath usually called the Solemn League and Covenant was in it self an Unlawful Oath and Imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the Fundamenaal Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom 6 And that all Orders and Ordinances or pretended Orders and Ordinances of both or either Houses of Parliament for imposing of Oaths Covenants or Engagements Levying of Taxes or Raising of Forees and Arms to which the Royal Assent either in Person or by Commission was not expresly had or given were in the first Creation and Making and still are and so shall be taken to be Null and Void to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever 7 Provided never theless That all and every person and persons Bodies Politick and Corporate who have been or shall at any time hereafter be questioned for any thing Acted or Done by Colour if any the Orders or Ordinances herein before mentioned and declared to be Null and Void and are Indempnified by an Act Intituled An Act of Free and General Pardon Indempnity and Oblivion made in the twelfth year of His Majesties Reign that now is or shall be Indemnified by any Act of Parliament shall and may make such use of the said Orders and Ordinances for their Indemnity according to the true intent and meaning of the said Act and no other as he or they might have done if this Act had not been made any thing in this Act contained notwithstanding 4. Provided always That no person be Prosecuted for any of the Offences in this Act mentioned other than such as are made and declared to be High Treason unless it be by order of the Kings Majesty his Heirs or Successors under his or their Sign Manual or by order of the Council Table of his Majest his Heirs of Successors directed unto the Attorney General for the time being or some other of the Council learned to His Majesty His Heirs or Successors for the time being 2 Nor shall any Person or persons by vertue of this present Act incur any the Penalties herein before mentioned unless he or they be Prosecuted within six months next after the offence Committed and Indicted thereupon within three months after such Prosecution any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding 5. Provided always and be it Enacted That no person or persons shall be Indicted Arraigned Condemned Convicted or Attainted for any of the Treasons or Offences aforesaid unless the same Offender or Offenders be thereof Accused by the Testimony and Disposition of two Lawful and Credible Witnesses upon Oath 2 Which Witnesses at the time of the said Offender or Offenders Arraignment shall be brought in person before him or them Face to Face and shall openly avow and maintain upon Oath what they have to say against him or them concerning the Treason or Offences contained in the said Indictment unless the party or parties Arraigned shall willingly without violence Confess the ame 6. Provided likewise and be it Enacted That this Act or any thing therein contained shall not extend to deprive either of the Houses of Parliament or any of their Members of their just Antint Freedom and Priviledge of Debating any matters or business which shall be propounded or debated in either of the said Houses or at any Conferences or Committees of both or either of the said Houses of Parliament or touching the Repeal or Alteration of any Old or preparing any New Laws or the Regressing of any Publick Grievance but that the said Members of either of the said Houses and the Assistants of the House of Peers and every of them shall have the same freedom of
not be such a Discretion as confounds all Discretion but they must weigh the Circumstances and go according to Law and Judgment and certainly the law intended such Bail if any be accepted should be bound Body for Body for otherwise it seems no security And therefore many wise men wondered the other day when Count Conning smark was Acquitted on the Indictment for the Barbarous Murder of Esquire Thynn that he was suffered to go so soon abroad for being a Stranger he was never like to come again into Enggland and being so rich what values he to discharge the Forfeitures of his Sureties Recognizances which likewise may be easily Compounded At most the Forfeieure is to the King and what is it that to the next Heir or Kinsman He is by this means Outed of his Legal Remedy to Revenge the Blood of his near and dear Relation Sed haec Obiter The form of an Appeal of Murder I C. Hic Instanter Appellat W. E. c. In English thus I here instantly Appeals W. F. of the death of his Brother H. C. For that whereas the aforesaid H. was in the Peace of God and the King at Tonbridge in the County of Rent the twenty eighth day of March in the thirty fourth year of the Reign of our Lord Charles the Second c. at seven a Clock in the Evening of the same Day cama the said W. F. as a Felon of our Lord the King in a premeditated Assault with Force and Arms c. And upon him the said H. C. then and there felonionsly an Assault did make and with a certain Sword of the price of twelve pence Which he then and there in his Right Hand did hold the aforesaid H. upon his Head did strike and one mortal wound of two Inches long in forepart of his Head even unto the Brain to the said H. did then and there Feloniously give of which said wound the said H for three days then next following did Languish and then viz. the such a day of such a month he there died or if the case be so Instantly died And so the said W. H. as a Felon of our Lord the King the aforesaid H. Feloniously did Kill and Murder against the Peace of our said Lord the King his Crown and Dignity And that this he did wickedly and as a Felon against the Peace of God and our Lord the King the aforesaid osters that the same be detained as the Court of our Lord the King shall think meet Diversity of Courts and Jurisdictions Written in the time of King Hen. 8. 1. Note That a women cannot now bring an Appeal for the death of any other Ancestors being baried there from by Magna Charta Cap. 34. whereas as you have heard it is provided that none shall be taken or Imprisoned upon the Appeal of any woman for the death of any Person but only of her Husband But she may at this day bring an Appeal of Robbery c. For wherein she is not by that Statute restrained Coke 2d Instit fol. 68. 2. The women that brings an Appeal for the death of her Husband must be his Wife not only de Facto but de Jure not only called and reputed or cohabiting with him but actually and legally Married to him and of such a Wife the Antient-Law-Books speaks de morte viri Inter Brachia sua Interfecti the Husband is killed within her Arms. that is whilst he was legally in her possession but that the Appellant and the person killed were not ever lawfully coupled in Matrimony is a good Plea in an Appeal 3. This Right of Appeal for the death of her Husband is annexed to her Widdow-hood as her Quarentine is and therefore if the Wife of the Dead Marry again her Appeal is gone even altho the second Husband should die within the year day after the Murder of the first For she must all the while before the Appeal be brought continue Faemini viri sui his Widdow upon whose death the Appeal is brought furthermore if she bring the Appeal during her Widdow-hood and take a Husband whilst it is depending the Appeal shall Abate that is be out of doors for ever Nay if on her Appeal she hath Judgment against the Defendant if afterwards she take an Husband before the Defendant be Hanged she can never have Execution of death against him 4. By the Statute of Glocest. made in the sixth year of King Edw. 1. Cap. 9. It is Enacted that if an Appeal set forth the Deed the year the day the hour the Reign of the King and the Town where the Deed was done and with what Weapon the Party was slain the Appeal shall stand in effect and shall not be abated for default of fresh Suit if the party shall Sue within the year and the day after the Deed done 5. As for the year and day here mentioned it is to be acconnted for the whole year according to the Calendar and not for twelve Months at twenty eight days to the Month. So likewise the day intended is a Natural day And this year and day must be accounted after the Felony and Murder Committed Now if a man be Mortally Wounded on the first day of May and thereof Languishes to the first day of June and then dies the Question here arises whether the year and the day allowed for bringing the Appeal is to be reckoned from the giving the Wound or the time of Death Some have held the former For that the Death ensuing hath Relation to it and that is the Cause of the Death and the Offender did nothing the day of the Death But the truth is the year and day shall be accounted only from the first of June the day of the Death for before that time no Felony was Committed and thus it hath often been resolved and Adjudged and the reason abovesaid grounded upon Relation which is a Fiction in Law holdeth not in this Case Coke 2. Ingit fol. 320. 6. If an Appeal of Murder be brought and depending the Suit and after the Year and Day is elapsed one become accessary to the Murder the Plaintiff shall have an Appeal against him after the Year and Day past after the Death but it must be brought within the Year and Day after this new Felony as accessary 7. If a Man be Indicted for Murder and Convicted only of Man-slaughter and have the Benefit of his Clergy it seems the Wife and Heir cannot afterwards bring their Appeal Touching which the Lord Cook 3 Instit Fo. 131. cites a Case in these words Thomas Burghe Brother and Heir of Henry Burghe brought an Appeal of Murder against Thomas Holcroft of the Death of the said Henry The Defendant pleaded that before the Coroner he was Indicted of Man-slaughter and before Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer he was upon that Indictment Arraigned and confessed the Indictment and prayed his Clergy and thereupon was Entred Curia advisare vult the Court will consider
thereby appears some of them did come to Church and heard divine Service to save the Penalties in the former Acts and yet continued Papists still in their hearts Therefore by this Act they were all to take the Sacrament once a year And if they refused they should forfeit 20 l. the 1st year for the 2d year 40 l. for every year afterwards 60l untill he or she have received the said Sacrament And by the 4th Section the Church Wardens and Constables are to present the monthly absence of all POPISH Recusants but they are not bound by this Act to present any but Papists For from this Act we may observe that none can be Prosecuted upon this Act or any of the other which it refers to which are all those here before rehearsed unless they be POPISH Recusants for so are the express words of the Act. And without doubt should any busy Officer whatsoever Present ot prosecute any person thereupon other than a Popish Recusant the person so presented may Joyn Issue that he is no such person as these Acts intend being not a Papist So that upon the whole matter we may conclude It is an abuse and utterly Illegall to Prosecute Protestants on such Laws as were made solely and wholly against Papists as will further appear in our next Observation and we have heard some Judges have declared so much However I shall here add the Judgment of the House of Commons in the Case for tho I know and own a vote of either or both Houses cannot Repeal a Law nor alter its sense yet certainly the House consisting of so many wise discreet persons a great number of them Excellently Learned in the Laws they are as like to Interpret a doubtful Law and hit upon the true Interpretation how far and to what it does extend as two or three little swaggering Justices or any single Judge At least were I an Officer I should rather incline to credit their opinion not run an hazard by employing the Toils made for restraining the Wolves and the Foxes to intangle destroy the Innocent sheep meerly because they do not all exactly tread in the very same steps and bite punctually all of one Sort of Grass Sabbati Sexto die Nov. 1680. Resolved Nemine contradicente That it is the opinion of this House That the Acts of Parliament made in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James against Popish Recusants ought not to be extended against Protestant dissenters And now having discharged these unlawful weapons let 's see what Legal Arms there are or have been really formed against the Sectaries And the first was the very sword of Goliah there was none like it 1. I mean the Act of 35 Eliz. Ca. 1. which some would make us believe has had as many Lives as a Cat intituled An Act to Retain the Queen's Majesties Subjects in their due Obedience This was the first Law that was made since the Reformation against those we commonly called Sectaries Conventiclers or Protestant Dissenters and this Act indeed beyond all dispute was made against them and them only for the Popish Recusants are expresly Excepted out of it as appears by the Act And that the Reader may better judge of the true difference between this Act and those others before recited made against Popish Recusants by the style and expressions I shall here insert the first Paragraph and give you the substance of the rest of it For the preventing and avoiding of such great Inconveniencies and Perils as might happen and grow by the wicked and dangerous practices of seditious Sectaries and disloyal Persons Be it Enacted by the Queen 's most Excellent Majesty and by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That if any person or persons above the Age of sixteen years which shall obstinately Refuse to Repair to some Church Chappel or usual place of Common-Prayer to hear Divine Service Established by Her Majesties Laws and Statutes in that behalf made and shall forbear to do the same by the space of one month next after without any lawful cause shall at any time after forty daies next after the End of this Session of Parliament by Printing Writing or Express Words or Speeches advisedly or purposely practise or go about to make or persuade any of Her Majesties Subjects or any other within her Highness's Realms or Dominions to deny withstand and impugn Her Majesties Power and Authority in cases Ecclesiastical United and Annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm or to that end or purpose shall advisedly or maliciously move or persuade any other person whatsoever to forbear or abstain from coming to Church to hear Divine Service or to Receive the Communion according to Her Majesties Laws and Statutes aforesaid or to come to or be present at any unlawful Assemblies Conventicles or Meetings under colour or pretence of any Exercise of Religion contrary to Her Majesties Laws and Statutes or if any person or persons which shall obstinately Refuse to Repair to some Church by the space of one month to hear Divine Service as is aforesaid shall after the said forty daies either of him or themselves or by the Motion Persuasion Inticement or Allurement of any other willingly Joyn in or be present at any such Assemblies Conventicles or Meeting under colour or pretence of any such Exercise of Religion contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm as is aforesaid That then every such person so offending as aforesaid and being thereof lawfully convicted shall be Committed to Prison and there to Remain without Bail or Mainprise until they shall Conform and yield themselves to come to some Church Chapel or usual place of Common-Prayer and hear Divine Service c. Then the Act goes on and provides That if the person do not Conform within three months after Conviction he should Abjure that is be Banisht and swear never to come back without leave And if he will not swear so then the same to be Felony without Benefit of Clergy From which Act these 3 things are observable 1. That the same was wholly intended against the Puritanes or Sectaries for the Papists are expresly exempted by a particular clause Sect. 12. in these words ' Provided that No Popish Recusant or Feme Covert shall be compelled or bound to abjure by vertue of this Act. 2. That Q. Eliz. and her wise Parliament did not intend or take such Protestant Recusants to be within the meaning of or punishable by the other before mentioned Statutes against popish Recusants For if they had so understood they might have punished them sufficiently on those old Laws without giving themselves the trouble of making this new Law against them Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora God and the Law do nothing in vain 3. If it be objected That all those Laws as well as this ought to be construed to one