ingrossing of all Allomes into his own hands for which priviledge he gave a voluntary Imposition upon that Commodity It was like the priviledge granted to John Pechey of the sweet Wines by E. 3. for which the Patentee was called into the Parliament House 50. E. 3. and was there punished and his Patent taken away and cancelled What Impositions have been set on in the Kings time I need not express they are set down particularly in the Book of Rates that is in print they are not easily numbered The time for which they are raised is not short the Patent prefixed to that book bearing date 28. Julii 6 Jacobi will instruct you sufficiently in that point they be limited to the King his Heirs and Successors which I suppose is the first estate of Fee simple of Impositions that ever man read of My eighth and last Observation is upon Tunnage and Poundage given to the King of this Realm upon Wares and Merchandizes exported and imported which is an Imposition by Act of Parliament and as it will appear was given out of the peoples good will as a very gratification to the King to enjoyn him thereby from the desire of voluntary Impositions and to conclude him by that gift in Parliament from attempting to take any other without assent of Parliament for after the ceasing of voluntary Impositions these Parliamentary ones were frequent in the times of the King that succeeded but they were never given but for years with express caution how the money should be bestowed As towards the defence of the Seas protection of Traffick or some such other publick causes Sometimes special sequestrators made by Act of Parliament by whose hands the money should be delivered as 5. R. 2. cap. 3. in a printed Statute 5. R. 2. Rot. Par. 7. R. 2. n. 13. 10. R. 2. n. 12. 7. R. 2. n. 12. The Rates that were given were very variable sometimes 2 s. Tunnage and 6 d. Poundage as 7. R. 2. 3 s. Tunnage and 12 d Poundage 10. R. 2. which grants were not to endure the longest of them above a year 18 d. Tunnage 6 d. Poundage in 17. R. 2.3 s. Tunnage and 12 d. Poundage granted to H. 4. in the thirteenth year of his reign for a certain time in which Statute there is this clause That this aide in time to come should not be taken for an example to charge the Lords and Commons in manner of Subsidy unless it be by the wills of the Lords and Commons and that by a new grant to be made in full Parliament in time to come This clause in good and proper construction may be taken to be a very convention between the King and his people in Parliament that he should not from thenceforh nor any of his Successors set on Impositions without assent of Parliament The like Imposition was granted to H. Rot. Par. 1. H. 5. n. 17. 5. in the the first year of his reign for a short time towards the defence of the Realm and safeguard of the Sea upon condition expressed in the Act that the Merchants Denizens and strangers coming into the Realm with their Merchandizes should be well and honestly used and handled paying the said Subsidy as in the time of his Father and his noble Progenitors Kings of England without oppression or extortion In the end of which Act the Commons protested being bound by any grant in time to come for the purposes aforesaid H. 6. Rot. Par. 31. H. 6. 12. E. 4. c. 3. 6. H. 8. c. 12. 1. E. 6. c. 13. 1. Mar. c. 18. 1. Eliz. c. 19. 1. Jac. c. 33. in the one and thirtieth year of his reign had Tunnage and Poundage given him for his life E. 4. had it given him the third year of his reign as it appeareth in a Statute 12. E 4. cap. 3. H. 8. in the sixth year of his reign and all since in the first year of their reigns have had it given them for term of their life and being now so certainly setled do reach further at that from which they are in couscience and honor excluded by this voluntary gratification For can any man give me a reason why the people should give this Imposition of Tunnage and Poundage above the due Custom upon all Commodities if the King by his Prerogative might set on Impositions without assent of Parliament and were not that a weak action in a King to take that of his people as a benevolence from them with limitation of the same and in what it should be imploied and how they will be used for it and for what time he shall have it which he might justly take without their consents unclogged of these unpleasing incumbrances The Statute of Tunnage and Poundage made in our times that are altogether inclined to flattery do yet retain in them certain shews and rumors of those antient Liberties although indeed the substance be lost 1. Jac. c. 33. as in the Statute 1. Jac. cap 33. We declare that we trust and have sure confidence of his Majesties good will towards us in and for the keeping and sure defending of the Seas and that it will please his Highness that all Merchants as well Denizens as strangers coming into this Realm be well and honestly entreated and demeaned for such things whereof Subsidy is granted as they were in the time of the Kings Progenitors and Predecessors without oppression to them to be done By this clause as it now continueth the true intent of this Statute appeareth to be that there ought no other Imposition to be laid upon Merchants besides these given by this Statute and this intention hath been well interpreted by use and practice from the time of E. 3. to the time of Queen Mary as before is declared Thus much of this last reason made from observation and the action of our Nation I will answer now such main objections as have been made against the peoples right and have not been touched by me obiter in my passage through this discourse That which hath been most insisted upon is this that the King by his prerogative Royal hath the custody of the Havens and Ports of this Island being the very gates of this Kingdom that he in his royal function and office is onely trusted with the keys of these gates that he alone hath power to shut them and to open them when and to whom he in his Princely wisdom shall see good that by the Law of England he may restrain the persons of any from going out of the Land or from coming into it That he may of his own power and discretion prohibit exportation and importation of goods and Merchandizes and out of his prerogative and preheminence the power of imposing as being derivative doth arise and result for Cui quod majus est licet ei quod est minus licitum est So their reason briefly is this the King may restrain the passage of the person and of the
3. Phil. Mar. in my L. Dier fol. 128. B. and the Law there held to be so at that time upon a question moved in the Queens behalf against divers that being beyond the Seas refused to return upon commandment sent unto them to that purpose The same is again for Law confirmed in the Dutchess of Suffolke Case 2 Eliz. Dier 2. El. 176. 5 R. 2. c. 2 Dier 176. But the Common Law was altered in this point by the Statute of 5. R. 2. cap. 2. by which the passage of all people is defended that they may not go without licence except the Lords and other great men of the Realm Merchants and Souldiers So for the Merchants which are the people dealt withal in the business in hand the Common Law remaineth as it was before the Statute Dier 12. El. 196. and so it was held 12. El. Dier 196. where the case was An English Merchant being a Papist went over-sea and being there did settle himself to remain there for the enjoying the freedom of his conscience It was moved here in England that his going without licence should be a contempt because he went not to traffique as a Merchant but for the cause of Religion It was resolved no such averment would be taken in this case for that the very calling and vocation of being a Merchant did give him liberty to go out of the Kingdom when he would and therefore the secret intent of his going was not to be enquired after Sed lex inspicit quod verisimilius Therefore it was in this case held no contempt but at this day the Law is as it was before 5. R. 2. cap. 2. for that Statute is repealed 4. Jac. cap. 1. 4 Jac. c. 1 And all men whatsoever are now at liberty by the Common Law to pass out of the Realm There is onely against this inconvenient liberty a Proclamation dated at Westminster 9. Jul 5. Jac. Proclam 9. Jul. 5. Jac. To the very same effect in point of restraint of passage with the Statute of R. 2. So the Subject is in this much the more at ease and liberty then he was before That his going over-sea without licence doth not induce any forfeiture but onely incurreth the censure of a contempt and therefore it were to be wished that some firm Law might be made in the case both for the execution of so good a point of policy and for the more quiet of the State in knowing the certainty of the punishment for the offence This liberty and freedom of Merchants hath been strenthened and confirmed by many notable Laws before recited as 14. E. 2. stat 2. cap. 2.15 E. 14. E. 3. st 2. c. 2.15 E. 3. st 2. c. 5.18 E. 3. st 1. c. 3. 3 stat 2. cap 5. 18 E. 3. stat 1. cap. 3. and divers other and therefore though it be admitted that the King may restrain persons and goods yet it may well be denied that he hath power of himself alone without assent of Parliament simply and indefinitely to restrain all traffique in general or to shut up all the Havens and Ports and to bar the vent and issuing of Wares and Merchandizes of the whole Kingdom as appeareth plainly that this hath been done this three hundred years or near thereabouts by Act of Parliament onely and that the Kingdom of England made this matter of Traffique so tender a case to deal in as that it hath ever held it a matter fit for the consultation of the great Council of the Kingdom and for no other In 11. 11. E. 3. cap. 1. E. 3. The exportation of Woolls was prohibited by Act of Parliament in which Statute there was this clause Untill that by the King and his Council it be thereof otherwise provided which power so given to the King to be used for the good of the Commonwealth gave occasion to him to abuse it to his profit and commodity by giving licences of transportation to all that would give forty shillings upon a Sack of Wooll above the due Custom This appeareth in the Records in the Exchequer 13. E 3. Rot. 2 Rem Thes 13. H. 3. R. Thes rot 2. I will describe the Record that you may perceive the ground of it the better Rex collectoribus Custumae in portu magnae Jermouth salutem Quia concessimus dilecto fideli nostro Hugoni de Wriothsley quod ipse viginti septem saccos lanae dimid de lanis suis propriis in portu praedicto carriare eas usque Antwerpe ad stapulam nostram ibidem ducere possit solvendo ibidem dilecto Clerico nostro Willielmo de Northwel custodi guarderobae nostrae 40 s. pro quolibet sacco pro custuma subsidio inde nobis debitis c. vobis mandamus quod praedict Hugon dictos viginti septem saccos lanae dimid in portu praedicto carriaere permittatis c. And another the same year 13. E. 3. rot 12. R. Thes Rex collectoribus custumae c. Cum nuper ordinaverimus quod passagium lanarum c. apertum existeret quod sigillum nostrum quod dicitur Coket quod prius claudi sub serra custodiri mandavimus ape iretur apertum teneretur ideo vobis mandavimus quod sigillum praedictum in portu praedicto aperiri apertum tenerifaciatis omnes illos qui hujusmodi lanas carriare ducere velint permittatis receptis prius ab iisdem viz. de mercatoribus aliis indigenis 40 s. de quolibet sacco lanae Divers other such sales of Traffick occasioned by this Parliamentary restraint were made between 11. E. 3. that the restraint was made and 14 E. 3. that this inconvenience being espied the Sea was opened by Statute 14. E. 3. st 2. c. 2. 15. E. 3. c. 5. st 2. and the restraint removed 14 E. 3. stat 2. c. 2. 15. E. 3. cap. 5. stat 2. and this forty shillings so exacted was complained of as an Imposition in Parliament and the occasion and the effect were both taken away together by Act of Parliament 14. E. 3. c. 21. st 1. st 2. c. 1. 14. E. 3. stat 1. cap. 21. stat 2. cap. 1. It followed in all Kings times sithence the death of E. 3. that this opening and shutting of the Havens restraining and enlarging of Traffick was done by Act of Parliament I will give one instance in the reign of every King 5. R. 2. c. 2. st 2. 5. R. 2. cap. 2. stat 2. For the passage of Wooll Wooll-fells and Leather 6 H. 4. c. 4 2. H. 5. c. 6. st 2. 6. H. 4. cap. 4. For the Traffique and Commerce with Merchants Aliens 2. H. 5. cap. 6. stat 2. For the restraint of Staple Commodities to places certain and for the Traffique of the Merchants of the west 27. H. 6. cap. 1. 27. H. 6. c. 1. that is enacted in Parliament which is contained in the
advance the Kings power and prerogatjve Bracton l. 1. c. 8. but you make him no King for as Bracton saith Rex est ubi dominatur lex non voluntas So we see that the power of imposing and power of making Laws are convertibilia coincidentia and whosoever can do the one can do the other And this was the opinion of Sir John Fortescue that reverend and honorable Judge a very learned professor of the Common Law and Chief Justice of the Kings Bench Fortesc de laudibus Leg. Ang. c. 9. in the time of Henry 6. His words are these in his Book De laudibus Legum Angliae cap. 9. Non potest Rex Angliae ad libitum leges mutare regni sui principatu namque nedum regali sed politico ipse dominatur Si regali tantum praeesset iis leges mutare posset tallagia quoque caetera onera imponere ipsis inconsultis quale dominium leges civiles indicant cum dicunt quod principi placuerit legis habet vigorem sed longè aliter potest Rex politicis imperans quia nec leges ipse sine subditorum assensu mutare poterit nec subjectum populum renitentem onerare peregrinis impositionibus In which place I must interpret unto you that peregrinae impositiones be not strange and unheard of impositions as was urged by the worthy Gentleman that spake last but impositions upon traffick into and out of forain Countries Fortesc de laud. Leg. Ang. cap. 36. which is the very thing in question Further in the thirty sixth Chapter he saith of the King of England Neque Rex ibidem per se aut ministros suos tallagia Subsidia aut alia quaevis onera imponit ligeis suis aut leges corum mutat vel novas condit sine concessione vel assensu totius regni sui in Parliamento So he maketh these two powers of making Law and imposing to be concomitant in the same hand and that the one of them is not without the other he giveth the same reason for this as we do now but in other words because as he saith in England it is principatus mixtus politicus the King hath his soveraign power in Parliament assisted and strengthened with the consent of the whole Kingdom and therefore these powers are to be exercised by him only in Parliament In other Countries they admit the ground of the Civil Law quod principi placuerit legis habet vigorem Because they have an absolute power to make Law they have also a power to impose which hath the force of a Law in transferring property Ph. Com. l 4. cap. 1. l. 5. cap. 8. Philip Comines that lived at that time in his fourth Book the first Chapter the fifth Book the eighth Chapter taketh notice of this policy of England and commends it above all other States as settled in most security And further to our purpose laieth this ground That a King cannot take one penny from his Subjects without their consent but it is violence And you may there note the mischiefs that grew to the Kingdom of France by the voluntary impositions first brought in by Charles the Seventh and ever since continued and encreased to the utter impoverishment of the Common people and the loss of their free Councel of three Estates And if this power of imposing were quietly setled in our Kings considering what the greatest use they make of assembling of Parliaments which is the supply of money I do not see any likelihood to hope for often meetings in that kind because they would provide themselves by that other means And thus much for my first reason grounded upon the natural constitution of the Policy of our Kingdom and the publike Right of our Nation 2 For the point of Common Law Com. Law which is my second reason it hath been well debated and nothing left unspoken that can be said in it and therefore I will decline to speak of that which other men have well discussed and the rather for that there is nothing in our Law-book directly and in point of this matter neither is the word imposition found in them until the case in my L. Dier 1. Diec. 1. E. 165. Eliz. 165. for we shall finde this business of an higher strain and alwaies handled elsewhere as afterwards shall appear yet I will offer some Answers to such Objections as have been made on the contrary in point of Common Law and have not been much stood upon by others to be answered The Objections that have been made are these That from the first Book of the Law to the last no man ever read any thing against the Kings power of imposing No Judgement was ever given against it in any of the Kings Courts at Westminster Other points of Prerogative as high as this disputed and debated his excess in them limited 42. Ass p. 9. as in the book of 42. Ass pl. 5. where the Judges took away a Commission from one that had power given by it to him under the great Seal to take ones person and to seise his goods before he was indicted So Master Scrogs case 1 2 E. Dier 175 1 2. El Dier 175 the power of the King in making a Commission to determine a question of right depending between two parties notably debated and ruled against the King that he could not grant it To this I answer That cases of this nature of which the question now handled is have ever been taken to be of that extraordinary consequence in point of the Common right of the whole Kingdom that the States would never trust any of the Courts of ordinary Justice with the deciding of them but assumed the cognisance of them unto the high Court of Parliament as the fittest place to decide matters so much concerning the whole body of the Kingdom as 2. Ed. 3.7 it appears that Ed. 1. had granted a Charter to the men of Great Yarmouth that all the ships of Merchants coming to the Port of Yarmouth should land their goods at their Haven and not at any other Haven at that Port as at Garneston and Little Yarmouth which were members of that Port. This was very inconvenient for the Merchants and a great hurt to Traffick and therefore the Charter was questioned in the time of Ed 2. and adjudged good by the Council But the parties not contented with this judgment in the second year of King E. 3. by an order in Parliament made upon a Petition there exhibited against this Grant brought a Scire facias out of the Chancery returnable in the Kings Bench to question again the lawfulness of the Patent and in that Suit the cause was notably debated and those Reasons much insisted upon that have been enforced in this case as that of the Kings power in the custody of the Ports But the matter so depending in the ordinary Court of Justice a Writ came out of the Parliament and did
Parliament by which such impositions are given to the King in which they are called most commonly by the name of Aids as proceeding of good will and benevolence The fourth Statute alledged on this part is that of 5. 5. E. 2. cap. 14. Rot. Ordin E. 2. c. 14. just in point of the matter in question and therefore I will set it down as I finde it Verbatim in the Record in the Tower Ensement novelles customes sont levies antients enhaunces come sur levies drapes vine aver du pois aut choses purquoy les Merchantes veynont pluis vilement meynes de bien menynont en la terre les Merchants estrangers demurront pluis longment que ils soleyent faier pur le quel demoure le choses sont le pluis enhaunces que ils ne soloyent estre al dammage de roy de son people Nous ordonomus que tout manners de male tolls levies puies de Coronement de Roy Ed. faier de Roy Henry soyent entirement oustes de tout estreints put tout jours nient contristeant le Chartre que le dict Roy Ed fist us Merchants aliens pur ceo que il fuit fair contra le grand Char. encountre le Franchise de la City de Londres sans assent de Baronage c. Savant neque dont al Roy le custome de leynes peulx de quirs c. si aver les do et By this Law is recited That by the levying of new Customs and by the raising of old Traffique was destroyed and all things made dear And therefore all new Impositions and Customs were discharged Chartâ Mercatoriâ by which Custom that was encreased on Aliens was taken away and the reason alledged Because it was sans assent de Baronage and against the great Charter And this is further with this clause Saving to the King his Custom of Wooll Wooll-fells and Leather Si aver les do et Great wars have been raised against the credit of this Law in the Parliament House and Three things have been especially objected against it First That it is no Law for it was enforced upon the King by some of the Nobility that were too strong for him the Realm being then in tumult and mutiny about the quarrel of Peirce of Gaveston so never had the Kings free consent but he gave way unto it for fear of greater mischeif Secondly That in it self it is unjust as in taking away the Custom granted to the King by Charta Mercatoria 31. E. 1. and in making doubt whether the King should have the Custom of Woolls c. by those words Saving it to him Si aver les do et The third Objection is That if it were a Law it is repealed To these I give particular Answers To the first That this Statute was made both at the instance of the King and people with a purpose and intention on all parts to settle things in a stay and order both in the Kings house and Commonwealth the King and his Nobles standing in good terms when this business was taken in hand and it was begun and ended with great solemnity and ceremony For the King in the third year of his reign gave Commission under his Great Seal to 32. Com. 16. Mar. 3. E. 2. Rot. ordin 5. E. 2. Lords spiritual and temporal of which there were eleven Bishops eight Earls and thirteen Barons they being as Committees of the higher House to devise Ordinances for the good government of his house and his Realm In which Commission he doth for the honor of God the good of him and of his Realm of his freewill grant to the Prelates Earls and Barons and others elected by the whole Kingdom full power to ordain the State of his house and Realm by such Ordinances as by them should be made to the honor of God the honor and profit of holy Church the honor of himself the profit of him and his people according to right and reason and the oath he made at his Coronation These joyning with others of discreet Commons in Parliament and taking every of them a solemn oath for their sincere demeanor in the business did make this and other Ordinances which were so well liked of by the King that after they were made he took an oath to observe them and caused them to be published in Pauls Church-yard by the Bishop of Salisbury by denouncing Excommunication against all that should wilfully infringe them Pullic 3. Kal. Oct. 5. E. 2. Râ—t ord Pat. 5. Oct. 5. E. 2. Rot. ordin And by his Letters Patents dated 5. Oct 5. regni sui did send them through the Realm to be published and from thenceforth to be observed thereby signifying his great liking and approbation of them after which they had the force and power of Laws given unto them in the Parliament in the fifth year of his reign The second Objection which is the injustness of the Law instanced in two points The taking away of Charta Mercatoria and the doubting of the Kings right to the Custom of Wooll-fells and Leather c. To the first of these I deny it to be unjust but to be according to the Law of England and liberty of the Kingdom for that Charter did contain in it divers grants of things which were not in the power of the King to grant without assent of Parliament the trial per medietatem linguae and other things tending to the alteration of the Law and burdening of the people and therefore that Charter never had his undoubted and setled force until it was confirmed by Act of Parliament but lay asleep almost twenty years together without being put in execution between 5 E. 2. and 27. E. 3. when it was confirmed for the doubt that is supposed to be made in the Statute of the Kings right to the Custom of Wooll Wooll-fells and Leather I take it there is no such doubt made For the words Saving the Kings right to the Custom of Woolls si aver les dort have this construction that is at such times as he ought to have it so the word si hath the signification of quando for it had been a folly to have made a Saving of that of the right whereof they had doubted neither is it likely but that they would have taken it away if it had not been lawful but there was no colour to doubt of the right of it for it was given by Act of Parliament and ever continued in force without challenge or exceptions to the lawfulness of it The third Objection is That this Statute is repealed To this I plead Nullum valet recordum If it be repealed it must be by Act of Parliament for unum quodque dissolvitur iisdem modis quibus est colligatum I and others have searched the Records of the Realm and endervoured by all means to inform our selves of the truth herein we can find no Act of Parliament of repeal
return paying the Subsides Customs and other profits reasonably due Upon the words of this Law was great advantage taken in this that besides Custom and Subsidy which comprehend all the certain and ordinary duties the King hath upon the wares and goods of Merchants there are other profits spoken of to be due These they affirm cannot be understood but of Impositions by the King without assent of Parliament To this I answer if they were not duties due to the King besides Custom and Subsidy which might satisfie the intention of these words this objection might have had some colour in it but it is plain that besides these two there are other profits due to the King upon Merchants goods as Scavage Tonage and the like And you shall finde a Petition in Parliament Rot. Par. 50. E. 3. nu 163. 50. E. 3. against the raising of these above the old rate The eighth Law is 15. E. 3. stat 2. c. 5 E. 3. Stat. 2. cap. 5. whereby it is enacted that every Merchant may freely buy and sell and pass the Sea with their Merchandizes of Wooll and all other things paying the Custom of old time used according to the Statute made in the last Parliament in Midlent which was the Stat. 14. E. 3. stat 2. cap. 2. This Law doth expresly exclude the novelty of Impositions The ninth Law is that 18. 18 E. 3. stat 1. c. 3 E. 3. stat 1. ca. 3. whereby it is enacted That the Sea be open to all manner of Merchants to pass with their Merchandizes where it shall please them The tenth is 27. E. 3. stat 2. c. 2 27. E. 3. stat 2 cap. 2 for the assurance of Merchants-strangers and other the King doth will and grant for him and his Heirs that nothing shall be taken over the due Customs not taken of them to his use by colour of suit or in other manner against their wills The eleventh is 38. E. 3. cap. 2. 38. E. 3. cap. 2. that all manner of Merchants aliens and Denizens may buy and sell all manner of merchandizes and freely carry them out of the Realm paying the Customs and Subsidies thereof due The last is 22. H. 8. cap. 8. 22. H. 8. cap. 8. by which it was enacted that Tables should be set up in Ports by which the certainty and very duty of every Custom Toll and Duty or sum of money to be demanded and required of Wares and Merchandizes shall and may plainly appear and be declared to the intent that nothing be exacted otherwise then in old time hath been used and accustomed By this late Law it appeareth that the judgment of the whole Parliament was at that time That nothing was due upon Wares and Merchandizes but that which which was certain and had been antiently due by which Impositions are excluded whose qualities are novelty and incertainty as being set on as present occasion moveth and proportioned for quantity and other circumstances as the will of the King directeth These are the Laws which I conceive most directly tend to the restraining the Kings of England from the exercise of that irregular power of imposing at the first offered by them to be put in execution yet not pressed as their right and never practised but upon opposition of the whole State and at last deserted and given over until of late as by that which followeth in the fourth place will appear My fourth and last assertion is Custom 4 That this practise of imposing without assent of Parliament is contra morem Majorum In this I will make an historical perlustration of the times past whereby I will discover and make known what passages have been in this business in this Kingdom and especially in the high Court of Parliament for the space of 300 years and more last past since the beginning of the reign of E. 1 sithence which time and not before this Kingdom hath grown into the glory and reputation of foraigne traffique And as a worthy Gentleman of the Kings learned Councel made certaine considerations upon this question framed and strengthened out of the greatness of his wit and reason so I grounding my self upon the practice of former times which is the safest rule whereby to square the right both of King and people in this Common-wealth where their right is jus consuetudinarium a right that groweth by use and practice I will propose unto you certaine observations out of the action and experience of former times untill the raignes of the two late Queenes by which you may the better ground and frame your judgements in the determination of the right in this question My first observation is in point of circumstance that there never was any Imposition set but in time of actuall war and duplicatis vexillis they were set on very rarely and sparingly but for a short time and that certaine and definite and upon some few commodities and that by the assent of the Merchants that were to beare the burthen In our time the occasion not so sensible the continuance to be perpetual the number many hundreds almost no kinde of Commodity spared I will give you some few Instances of these circumstances out of the Records themselves The maletole of Wooll set on by King E. 22. E. 1. orig Scacc. Rent Thes 22. E. 1. mem Scac. R. Thes T. Mich. Rot. parl 17. E. 3. nu 28. 1. which gave the occasion of the Stat. 25. yeare of his raigne was given by Merchants The Record saith Mercatores gratanter concesserunt in subsidium guerrae Regis It further sheweth it was for his necessity of Warre which then was great also For the time of F. 3. there need not many instances for his whole raigne was almost an actuall warfare As in the sixt year of his raigne for his war in Scotland and Ireland In the thirteenth year of his raigne for his war in France severall Impositions were set on In the seventeenth year of E. 3. the Record in the Tower mentioneth that forty shillings Imposition was upon a sacke of Wooll by the grant of Merchants Rot. parl 50. E. 3. nu 38. and it was in the time of VVar. In the twentieth yeare of King E. 3. it appeareth in the Record that the Imposition then put upon VVools was by the assent of Merchants for two years for the necessity the King had in his passage over the sea to recover his right and to defend the Realme My second observation is Never any Imposition was set on by the King out of Parliament but complaint was made of it in Parliament and not one that ever stood after such complaint made but remedy was afforded for it Et quod Rex inconsulto fecit consulto revocavit his Soveraigne power controlled his subordinate In which it is a thing very notable that the King in no one Case ever claimed or so much as ever named his right or prerogative which no doubt would have been