Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	bishop_n	time_n	year_n	3,298	5	4.6228	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96414	A learned and necessary argument to prove that each subject hath a propriety in his goods shewing also the extent of the kings prerogative in impositions upon the goods of merchants exported and imported out of and into this kingdome : together with a remonstrance presented to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty by the Honourable House of Commons in the Parliament holden anno dom. 1610, annoq[ue] regis Jacobi, 7 / by a late learned judge of this kingdome.	Whitelocke, James, Sir, 1570-1632.; England and Wales. Parliament. House of Commons.	1641 (1641)	Wing W1995aA; ESTC R42765	49,132	72

carry his Merchandise where it pleased him notwithstanding any Charter granted or judgment thereupon 16. 〈◊〉 Re● 1. And in the Parliament rolles 2. H. 4. num 109. we finde a notable record which gives warrant for the proceeding in Parliament in this manner as hath been in this Case notwithstanding the judgement in the Exchequer and declares to the Kingdome that notwithstanding the great wonder made by some men nothing hath been done in this businesse by those that serve in the Parliament but in imitation of their worthy predecessors in the very like case In the second yeere of H. 4. the Commons shew that in the time of R. 2. by the meanes of John Waltham Bishop of Salisbury Treasurer of England wrongfully without authority of Parliament and by reason of a judgement given in the Exchequer 16. 17. R. 2. by the Barons there against certaine Merchants of Bristow and other places passage had been taken for wines otherwise than in ancient times had been and therefore they prayed they might pay their prise wines in the manner they had used to pay notwithstanding any judgement given in the Exchequer or other ordinance made by the said Treasurer contrary to the ancient usage which petition the King granted and the judgement thereupon became voyde and the prisage wine hath been paid contrary to the judgement ever since In 1. 1. El. Dier 165. El. Dier 165. upon the complaint made by the Merchants of the impositions set upon cloth by Queene Mary by her absolute power without assent of Parliament the cause was thought too weighty to bee decided in any one Court but as it appeareth in the book it was referred to all the Judges of England who divers times had conference about it So it may well be there is nothing against it in our yeere books for there is nothing of it Another objection was this which was made in the last argument viz. That Custome is originally due by the common Law of England It can then have no other ground or cause but meerly by the Kings royall prerogative as a right and duty originally belonging to his Crowne which if it be it must necessarily follow he may impose for that is but the exercising of that right To prove this was alledged the case 39. 39 E. 3.13 E. 3.13 by which case it appeareth that King Iohn had a custome of eight pence on a tonn of wine in the part of South-hampton but the book doth not tell you that the King had it by prerogative and he might have it aswell otherwise as by prescription or convention which shall rather be intended by reason of the certainty of the summe paied for if it were by prerogative he might take sometimes more sometimes lesse at his will the right being indefinite and the quantity limitted onely by his owne Discretion 18. El Dier 352. A common person may have such a custome certaine as 18. El. Dier 352. the Maior of London hath the twentieth part of salt brought into the City by Aliens which is a great imposition but is good by prescription originally and hath received greater strength since by acts of Parliament made for the confirmation of the liberties and customes of the City of London So it appeareth Dier 43. that Iohn of Britaine had Custome of the ships that arrived at his port of little Yarmouth worth twenty pounds per an And these instances doe inferre that a Custome may bee otherwise then by prerogative and therefore it is no good argument to conclude the King had such a custome Therefore he had it by prerogative The booke in 30. H. 8. Dier 43. 30. Hen. 8. Dier 43. was much pressed on this point which sayeth that custome belonged to the King at Common Law and doth instance in wooll woll fells and leather begun at the Common Law but abridged by the Satute of 14. E. 3. ca. 21. stat 1. 14. Ed. 3. c. 21. statn r. but this appeareth to be a great errour and mistaking in the booke for we doe finde that that custome of woolls wooll-fells and Leather was begun by a grant in Parliament as appeareth in statute 15. E. 1. ca. 7. the words be Granted to us by the Commonalty aforesaid and the last mention before was that the King had granted to the Bishops Earles Barons and all the Commonalty of land c. Novem. 3. Ed. 1. the King recited in his letters patents That Prelati magnates actota Communitas mercatorum Regni granted this new custome And so the ground and motive of that opinion being false all grounded upon that must needs be erroneous It was objected that the King holdeth at this day the encrease of foure pence in the pound over due custome payd by Merchants Aliens according to the purport of the Charta mercatoria 31. E. 1. Rot. char 31. E. 1. nu 44. in Turri by meere right of prerogative at the Common Law for by that grant of the Merchants he cannot hold it they being no body politick at the time of the grant and therefore the grant is meerely voyd to binde in succession And yet the Merchants Aliens doe pay it at this day It is agreed that by the Common-law a contract with a number not incorporate bindeth not succession but we must take notice that they by whom that grant was made of the augmentation of Custome by three-pence in the pound and other encreases 31. E. 1. were Merchants aliens who by the law of Merchants and Nations may contract to binde their successours in matters of traffique for their contracts are not ruled by the Common law of the Land but by the law of Nations per ●egem Mercatoriam as the book case is 13. Ed. 4.10 and there was a good consideration given them by the King for this encrease of custome as discharge of prise Wines for two shillings the Tonn and other immunities which all Merchants aliens hold and enjoy at this day by force of that contract made 31. E. 1. For a stranger payeth now but two shillings the Tonn for prisage whereas it standeth an English man in much more so as the rule of commutative justice maketh the contract availeable to the King against the Merchants because he parteth with part of his prisage to the Merchant and maketh it availeable to the Merchant against the King because he giveth him encrease of custome above that is due by law 27. E. 3. c 26 But the statute of 27. E. 3. cap. 26. heretofore cited doth make this point cleare without scruple which confirmeth the Charter of 31. E. 1. entirely and by that the encrease of custome by three-pence in the pound which is by name mentioned in the statute is now due by act of Parliament If you will have the King hold this encrease of custome by Prerogative you goe directly against his meaning for it appeareth by that which presently followed this grant that the King took this encrease of

there punished and his Patent taken away and cancelled What impositions have been set on in the Kings time I need not expresse they are set downe particularly in the booke 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 booke bearing date 28. ●uln 6. Iacobi will instruct you sufficiently in that point they be limited to the King his heires 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 Realme upon Wares and Merchandizes exported and imported which is an imposition by act of Parliament and as it will appeare was given out of the peoples good will as a very gratification to the King to enjoyne 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 yeares with expresse caution how the money strould be bes●owed As towards the defence of the Seas protection of traffique or some such other publique causes sometimes speciall sequestrators made by the act of Parliament by whose hands the money should be delivered As 5. 5. R. 2. Rot. Parl. 7. R. 2 n. 13.10 R. 2. n. 12. 7. R. 2. n. 12. R. 2. cap. 3. in a printed Statute The rates that were given were very variable sometimes ii s. tunnage and vi d. poundage as 7. R. 2. iii. s. tunnage and xii d. poundage 10. R. 2. which grants were not to endure the longest of them above a yeare xviii d. tunnage vi d. poundage in 17. R. 2. iii. s. tunnage and xii d. poundage granted to H. 4. in the thirteenth yeare of his raigne for a certaine time in which Statute there is this clause That this aide in time to come should not be taken an example to charge the Lords and Commons in manner of Subsidie unlesse 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 betweene the King and his people in Parliament that he should not from thenceforth nor any of his Successors set on impositions without assent of Parliament The like imposition was granted to H. 5. Rot. parl 1. H. 5. n. 17. in the first yeare of his raigne for a short time towards the defence of the Realme and safeguard of the Sea upon condition expressed in the act that the Merchants Denizens and estrangers comming into the Realme with their Merchandizes should be well and honestly used and handled paying the said Subsidie 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. in the one and thirtieth yeare of his raigne Rot. parl 31. H 6. 12. E. 4. c. 3. 6. H. 8. c. 12. 1. E. 6. c. 13. 1. Ma. c. 18. 1. El. c. 19. 1. Iac. c. 33. had tunnage and poundage given him for his life E. 4. had it given him the third yeare of his raigne as it appeareth in a Statute 12. E. 4. cap. 3. H. 8. in the sixth yeare of his raigne and all since in the first yeare of their raignes have had it given them for terme of their life and being now so certainly setled in it do reach further at that frō which they are in conscience and honour excluded by this voluntarie gratification For can any man give me a reason why the people should give this imposition of tunnage and poundage above the due custome upon all commodities if the King by his prerogative might set on impositions without assent of Parliament and were not that a wea●e 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 imployed 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 incombrances The Statute of tunnage and poundage made in our times that are altogether inclined to flattery doe yet retaine in them certain shewes and rumors of those ancient liberties although indeed the substance be lost as in the Srat. 1. lac cap. 1. Iac. c. 33. 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 highnesse that all Merchants as well Denizens as Strangers comming into this Realme be well and honestly intreated and demeaned for such things whereof Subsidie 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 be laid upon Merchants besides these given by this Statute and this intention hath been well interpreted by use and practise from the time of E. 3. to the time of Queene 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 maine 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 Royall hath the custodie of the Havens and Ports of this Island being the very gates of this Kingdome that he in his royall function and office is only trusted with the keyes of these gates that he alone hath power to shut them and to open them when and to whom he in his Princely wisdome shall see good that by the Law of England he may restraine the persons of any from going out of the Land or from comming into it That he may of his owne power and discretion prohibite exportation and importation of goods and merchandizes and out of this prerogative and preheminence the power of imposing as being derivative doth arise and result For Cui quod maius est licet ei quod est minus licitum est So their reason briefly is this the King may restraine the passage of the person and of the goods therefore he may suffer them not to passe but sub modo paying such an imposition for his sufferance as he shall set upon them for the grounds and propositions laid in this objection I shall not be much against any one of them others of

custome by way of contract only and not by Prerogative for the same yeare following he directeth his writs to the officers of his ports reciting the contract made with the Aliens by Charta Mercatoria adding further that some Denizens were willing to pay the like custome upon the same immunities to them to be granted and doth assigne his officers to gather it but with this clause Si gratanter absque coertione solvere voluerint ita quod aliquem Mercatorem de regno potestate nostrâ ad praestationes custumas hujusmodi invito solvendas nullatenùs distringatis Nothing can more plainly expresse that the Kings intention was not to demand this by way of Prerogative but by force of the contract If there were such a Prerogative in the Crowne as of right to have custome how commeth it to passe this Prerogative never yet had fruit or effect for this I can maintaine that the King of England hath not one penny custome or imposition upon merchandizes elder than the fourth yeare of Queen Mary that hee holdeth not by act of Parliament and by the peoples grant The eldest that he hath is that of wools woolfells and lether and that is by act of Parliament as appeareth in the Statute 25. E. 1. cap. 7. 25. E. 1. c. 7. the tonnage and poundage by Parliament in the first yeare of every Kings reigne The Aliens encrease of custome by Parliament 27. E. 3. 27. E. 3. cap. 27. cap. 26. then this Prerogative hath been much neglected that it was never called on to be put in execution untill now of late yeares Concerning the statutes made for restraining our Kings from the exercise of this pretended Prerogative Statutes 3. which is the third matter I stand upon Those that have maintained the Kings Prerogative in this point have endeavoured to interpret those statutes to extend only to restraine him from imposing upon wool woolfells and lether which are staple commodities And the reason they give for this restraint more than for other goods is because the King by statute is restrained to a custome certaine for those commodities as the halfe mark a sack of wooll and halfe a mark three hundred woollfels and thirteene shillings foure pence a last of lether and therefore great reason he should not exceed this custome in these commodities This objection receiveth many answers First it appeareth both by the expresse letter of divers of the Lawes made in this point by the occasion that induced the making of the Lawes and by the execution of them that all other wares and merchandises aswell as those of the staple were within the purpose and intent of those Lawes Secondly the reason aleadged why there should be restraint for the staple commodities rather than for the other is mistaken for the Lords and Commons did grant to E. 1. by act of Parliament the custome of the halfe mark for wooll woolfels and lether which was matter of mere grace and liberality and includeth no restraint in it but rather a favourable extention quite contrary to the sense of the objection according to that rule of interpretation Gratiosa ampliari decet odiosa restringi And admit some Lawes be made expresly to restraine impositions upon wooll woollfels and lether by reason that the occasion of making such Lawes was the actuall imposing upon those goods at that time shall we not by good construction Secundum mentem extensivum legis extend this law to other wares and merchandizes that are within the same mischiefe If we look to the reason of the law we shall make no doubt of it for that is because the impositions were without assent of Parliament not because they were upon such and such commodities Besides those Lawes so made are declarativae juris antiqui non introductivae novi In the enumeration of those statutes which I conceive make directly to this purpose I will endeavour rather to answer the objections made against them than to enforce the sense and meaning of them which is very plaine and open and needs no interpretation The first statute enforced is Mag. charta cap. 30. made in the ninth yeare of H. 3. by which it is enacted that all Merchants shall have free egresse and regresse out of and into this Realme with their goods and merchandizes to buy and sell sine omnibus malis tolnetis per antiquas rectas consuetudines in which words we may inferre that both the use and right of imposing are absolutely excluded and debarred for Consuetudo which in this case is to be taken for Vsage which is mos not improperly for Portorium a duty paid in money as our English word Custome in one sense doth signifie implyeth a begining and continuance by consent and will of the parties not by power and enforcement which cannot be a custome and therefore it cannot be an imposition for that ariseth mercly out of the will and power of their imposer and is against the will of him upon whose goods it is set But take Consuetudo either for mos or portorium the epithetes with which it is qualified antiquum and rectum doe describe it to bee of that nature that it cannot be an imposition for antiquum in legall construction is that which is time out of minde that is not an imposition for then by continuance of time it should grow aright by prescription and were justifiable Rectum implyeth a limitted right which inferreth there may be a wrong and exceeding of that right which is not in impositions for if there be a right in the King to impose the quantity time and other circumstances are in his discretion the right is illimited And if he set on never so great an imposition there is as much right in it as if it be never so small the excesse maketh it a burthen but not a wrong We may further observe that in the statute malum tolnetum which is evill toll is set downe by way of antithesis to antiqua and recta consuetudo by which is inferred that exactions upon wares and merchandizes not qualified with these two properties of antiquum and rectum are evill and unjust This is made more evident by a Record in the Tower of the sixteenth yeare of H. 3. which was a mandat sent by the King to the Customers of his ports for the execution of this law made in 9. H. 3. Rot. claus 16. H. 3. num 20 whereby it is commanded Quod omnibus Mercatoribus in portum suum venientibus cum vinis aliis merchandizis scire faciant quod salvò securè in terram Angliae veniant cum vinis mercandizis suis faciendo inde rectas debitas consuetudines nec sibi timeant de malis tolnetis quae us faciat Rex vel in terrâ suâ fieri permittat By this record the word Consuetudo is interpreted to be mos not portorium otherwise it should have beene solvendo consuetudines not faciendo Also these