they held Pleas forbidden by the Customs of the Realm to Ordinary Judges and Suitors to hold In this time Colgrin lost his Franchise of Enfangthief because he would not send a Thief to the common Gaole of the County who was taken within his Liberty and not Bailable In this time Buttolph lost his view of Frank-pledges because he charged the Jurours with other Articles than those which belonged to the View and Amerced people in personal Actions where one was not to be amerced by a pecuniary Punishment And accordingly he caused punishments of Death to Criminal Judges for wrongful mortal Judgements and so he did proportionably for wrongful Judgements of a lesser nature As Imprisonment for wrongful Imprisonments and and like for like with the other Punishments for he delivered Thelweld to Prison because he Judged men to Prison for Offences where they ought not to be Imprisoned He Judged Lithing to Prison because he imprisoned Herbote for the Offence of his Wife He Judged Rutwood to Prison because he Imprisoned Old for the Kings Debt Note In those days people were not to be Imprisoned for Debt but only their Goods distrain'd On the other side he Cut off the Hand of Haulf because he saved Armorks Hand who was Attainted before him that he had Feloniously wounded Richbold He Judged Edulfe to be wounded because he Judged not Arnold to be wounded who had Feloniously wounded Aldens In lesser Judgments he did not meddle with the Judgments but Disinherited the Justices and Removed them according to the Points of those Statutes where he could understand that they had Transgressed their Jurisdiction or the Bounds of their Delegacy or Commission or had concealed Fines or Amerciaments or ought that belonged to the King or had Released or Increased any Punishment contrary to Law or procured Pleadings without Warrant c. Thus far Horns Mirrour Now that this Alfred was one of the Wisest and most Renowned Kings that ever this Land was happily Governed by appears as well by the Eulogies given him by the Ancients as those Encomiastick Verses Dedicated to his Memory by a present Ingenious Courtier Sir Winston Churchill Kt. in his Diri Britannici Fol. 140. Who would not follow him into the Field Who cannot choose but Conquer tho' he yield Whose Sword cut deep yet was his Wit more keen Some Fence ' gainst that But this did wound unseen To thee is due Great Elfrid double praise To thee we bring the Laurel and the Bayes Master of Arts and Arms Apollo so Sometimes did use his Harp sometimes his Bow And from the other Gods got this Renown To Reconcile the Gauntlet to the Gown But who did e're with the same Sword like Thee Execute Justice and the Enemy Keep up at once the Law of Arms and Peace And from the Camp Issue out Writs of Ease The next English Prince of Renown before the Norman Conquest was King Edgar about the year 960. Amongst whose Noble Acts 't is recorded as none of the least memorable that in his Circuits and Progresses through the Countrey he would take Account of the Demeanour of his Lords and especially of his Judges whom he severely Punished if he found them Delinquents Bakers Chron. Fol. 11. Nor have the best and wisest of our Princes since the Conquest been less ready to give up Ill Judges to just Punishment nor our English Parliaments wanting to bring them to it In the pear 1290. being saith Walsingham p. 54. the 17th year of Edw. 1. Justitiarios ferè omnes de falsitate deprehensos a suo Officio deposuit ipsos juxta merita puniens gravi Mulctâ He finding almost all his Judges guilty of Corruption put them out of their places and Punisht them according to their Demerits with heavy Fines Which the Lord Cook in the Second part of his Institutes Fol. 508. likewise takes notice of and tells us That this was done by a Parliament held after the Feast of St. Hillary and only two Judges scap'd scot-free But how severe the Fines of the other Delinquents were appears in Bakers Chronicle fol. 100. Sir Ralph de Hengham says he Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench for Corruption was Fined 7000 Marks Sir John Lovetot one of the Justices of the Common Pleas 3000 Marks Sir William Brompton 6000 Marks Sir Solomon Rochester 4000 Marks Sir Richard Boyland 4000 Marks Sir Walter Hopton 2000 Marks Sir William Saham in 3000 Marks Robert Lithbury Master of the Rolls in 1000 Marks Roger Leicester in 1000 Marks Hugh Bray Escheator and Judge for the Jews 1000 Marks But Sir Adam Stratton Chief Baron of the Exchequer who it seems had been a notable Bribe-fingerer four and thirty Thousand Marks A prodigious Summe allmost 400 years ago And Sir Thomas Wayland Chiefe Justice of the Common-Pleas being found the greatest Offender of all was Attainted of Felony for taking of Bribes and his Lands and Goods Forfeited as appears in the Pleas of Parliament 18 Edw. 1. And he was also Banisht the Kingdom as unworthy to live in that State against which he had so much Offended Sir William Thorp Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench in K. Edw. the Thirds time having of five several persons received five several Bribes which in all amounted to 100 l. was for this alone adjudged to be Hang'd and all his Goods and Lands Forfeited The reason of the Judgment is entred in the Roll in these words Quia praedictus Willielmus Thorpe qui Sacramentum Domini Regis erga populum suum habuit ad Custodiendum fregit malitiosè falsè Rebelliter quantum in ipso fuit Because that as much as in him lay he had broken the Kings Oath made to the People which the King had Intrusted him withall And so much did the then Collective Wisdom of the Nation respect Judges herein that 't is expresly entred that this Judgment should not be drawn into example against any other Officers who should break their Oaths but only against those Qui predictum Sacramentum fecerunt et fregerunt et habent Leges Angliae ad Custodiendum That is only to the Judges that violate their Oaths having the Laws of England Entrusted unto them This Iudgment was given 24 Edw. 3 d. The next year in the Parliament 25 Edw. 3. Numero 10. it was debated in Parliament Whether this Iudgment was Legal and Nullo Contradicente unanimously it was declared to be just and according to the Law and that the same Iudgment may be given in time to come upon the like occasion Which Case I humbly conceive resolves the Case in Law Point Blank thus That it is death for any Judge wittingly to break his Oath in any part of it This Oath of Thorp is entred in the Roll and is the same verbatim with the Iudges Oath in 18 Edw. 3 The same too as I humbly conceive which our Iudges now a days take and is herein afterwards punctually recited The Oaths of our Iudges of England as they bind them to the due
Administration of Iustice to the Subject according to the Laws which are every Free-mans Birth-Right so also as they be of the Kings Council they are by such their Oaths oblig'd lawfully to counsel him that is whenever their opinions are demanded they are sworn and bound to deliver them according to the Law Let us see how our Ancestors resented these matters In a Parliament held in the 11th year of Richard the 2. there was Iudgment of High-Treason given against 18 several Persons and all save one of them of Eminent Rank Three Privy Counselors viz. The Archbishop of York The Duke of Ireland and Earl of Suffolk the Bishop of Exeter the Kings Confessour Five Knights of whom some had been Servants to Edw. the 3. and all but one Servants to the then King and some of them of Noble Descent but that which I more particularly observe there were amongst them Six Judges and Locton the Kings Serjeant at Law Blake of the Kings Council at Law and Usk the under Sheriff of Middlesex Of these 18 8 were Executed that is Sir Robert Tresilian the Lord Chief Iustice was drawn from the Tower through the midst of London to Tyburn and there Hanged so likewise were Usk and Blake and Sir Iohn Salisbury but the other 4 Knights had the Favour to be Beheaded Three that is the Archbishop of York the Duke of Ireland and the Earl of Suffolk died miserable Fugitives in forreign Parts The other seven whereof five were Judges with much ado got a Pardon as to Life but were banished and their Lands and Goods all forfeited and it was made Felony for any to procure their Recalling home and themselves forthwith to be executed as Traytors if at any time they should presume to return And of these eighteen Persons all save three were impeached by the Commons The Offences which procured these Exemplary Punishments were briefly these King Richard the II. being an unthinking dissolute Prince by the ill counsel of some near his Person there had during his minority happened divers miscarriages in the Government To redress which in a Parliament holden in the tenth year of his Reign and the twentieth of his Age a Commission was awarded to Twelve Peers and others of greatest Wisdom and Ability impowering them to inspect the past management of the Houshold the Revenue the Courts of Justice and in a word all things that did concern the Good of the Realm with full power finally to determine and put all things in excution so as might most tend to the Honour of the King Relief of the People and Safety of the Land which Commission was to endure onely one year Now come five of the Persons above-named viz. the Archbishop the Duke the Earl of Suffolk the Chief Justice and Brembre who seeing themselves like to be called to Account for their pernitious Counsels and Irregularities and to be brought to deserved shame and punishment to avoid the same and continue their Villanies for the future they insinuated to the King That this Commission intrenched upon the Royal Power and was derogatory to the Crown that the procurers thereof had extorted His Royal Assent thereunto in Parliament and that this was Treason for so the Chief Justice and Blake the Kings Council who was advised withal in the Writ declared it to be whereupon Blake was commanded to prepare an Indictment of Treason against all the said Commissioners and against such others as had been most active in procuring that Authority Accordingly he draws the Indictment which stands entred in the Roll and is to this effect That they the said Commissioners c. had Traiterously conspired among themselves to make this Commission by Authority of Parliament against the Royalty of the King to his disherison and in derogation of the Crown and that they forced the Kings Consent and confederated themselves to maintain one another in so doing It was designed that they should be tryed upon this Indictment in Middlesex or London and therefore some of the parties to be prosecuted not being Peers Usk the Under-Sheriff of Middlesex was acquainted with the business who was to return a Pack'd-Iury you see that 's a very old Game that might be sure to do the business which he performing accordingly was therefore hang'd But further the five grand Favourites that the King might the more confide in their Counsels for so are the words of the Record and that under colour of Law they might cover their malice from the King and the Kingdom before the Trials were to be brought on advise the King to demand the Opinion of some of the Judges that is of the two Chief Justices and Chief Baron and the Judges of the Common-Pleas six in all in number and of Locton the Kings Serjeant Blake of the Kings Council at Law was commanded to draw up those Questions who did it accordingly and for drawing the same and the before-mentioned Indictment he was himself Drawn and Hanged The Questions being prepared in Writing the Iudges were sent for to Nottingham Castle where in the Kings own Presence they were commanded upon their Allegiance to deliver their Opinions 1. Whether the Commission was derogatory to the Rights of the Crown They answered It was 2. Whether the persuading and urging the King to consent thereunto in Parliament was Treason They answered That it was Here were other Questions ask'd but these were the Main and those for which they were condemned as appears by the Replication of the Commons to the Iudges Answer and by the Words of the Iudgment That they the said Iudges knew that this Commission was awarded in Parliament c. that it was for the Publick Good That they knew of the Traiterous Intent to destroy the Procurers of this Commission That they knew the Law and that it was not Treason and had delivered such Opinions thereby under colour of Law to cover their Treasonable Intent and therefore Iudgment of High-Treason was given against them and against Locton the Kings Serjeant who had Subscribed these False Opinions with the Iudges And though there be other Articles against the Rest yet this alone is adjudged Treason in the several Iudgments against every one of the Eighteen And 't is observable That in all these Iudgments they are adjudged Traitors as well against the Person of the King as against the Common-wealth And it is there declared upon great Advice taken That in Treasons which concern the King and Kingdom they are not bound to proceed according to the Rules of the common-Common-Law but according to the Course of Parliaments so as may be for the Common-Good Nor were these Iudgments huddled up in haste but given upon long and mature Deliberation the Work of a Whole Parliament And it is declared in the Roll That they spent long time and took great pains in examining the Evidence the better thereby to satisfie their own Consciences and the World Their Proceedings against the five Plotters were begun the 14 of Novemb. and the
Barons of our Court of Exchequer Charles Rex TRusty and Well-beloved We greet you well Taking into our Princely Consideration that the Honour and Safety of this our Realm of England the Preservation whereof is Only Entrusted to our Care was and is more nearly concern'd than in late or former times as well by divers Counsels and Attempts to take from us the Dominion of the Seas of which we are sole Lord and Right Owner and Proprietor and the Loss whereof would be of greatest Danger and Peril to this Kingdom and other our Dominions and many other ways We for the avoiding of these and the like Dangers well Weighing with our self that where the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in general is concern'd and the whole Kingdom in Danger there the Charge and Defence ought to be Borne by all the Realm in general did for the preventing so publick a Mischief resolve with our self to have a Royal Navy prepared that might be of Force and Power with Almighty God's Blessing and Assistance to Protect and Defend this our Realm and our Subjects therein from all such Perils and Dangers And for that purpose we Issued forth Writs under our great Seal of England Directed to all our Sheriffs of our several Counties of England and Wales Commanding thereby all our said Subjects in every City Town and Village to provide such a Number of Ships well-furnish't as might serve for this Royal Purpose and which might be done with the greatest Equality that could be In performance whereof though generally throughout all the Counties of this our Realm we have found in our Subjects great Chearfulness and Alacrity which we Graciously Interpret as a Testimony as well of their Dutiful Affection to us and our Service as of the Respect they have to the Publick which well becometh every good Subject Nevertheless finding that some few happily out of Ignorance what the Laws and Customs of this Realm are or out of a desire to be eased in their Particulars how General soever their Charge be or ought to be have not yet Paid and Contributed to their several Rates and Sessments that were set upon them And foreseeing in our Princely Wisdom divers Suits and Actions are not unlike to be Commenced and Prosecuted in our several Courts at Westminster We desirous to avoid such Inconveniencies and out of our Princely Love and Affection to all our People being willing to prevent such Errors as any of our Loving Subjects may happen to run into have thought fit in a Case of this Nature to Advise with you our Judges who we doubt not are well Studied and Informed in the Rights of our Sovereignty and because the Tryals of our several Courts by the Formalities in Pleading will require a long Protraction We have thought fit by this Letter directed to you All to require your Judgments in the Case as it is set down in the Inclosed Paper which will not only gain Time but also be of more Authority to over-rule any Prejudicate Opinions of others in the Point Given under Our Signet at Our Court of White-Hall the Second of February in the Twelfth Year of Our Reign 1636. The CASE propounded in the Paper inclosed was thus worded Charles Rex WHen the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in General is concern'd and the whole Kingdom in Danger Whether may not the KING by Writ under the Great Seal of England Command all the Subjects in His Kingdom at their Charge to Provide and Furnish such Number of Ships with Men Victuals and Munition and for such Time as He shall think fit for the Defence and Safe-guard of the Kingdom from such Danger and Peril And by Law compel the Doing thereof in case of Refusal or Refractoriness And Whether in such Case is not the KING the sole Judge both of the Danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided To which the JVDGES delivered their Opinions as followeth May it please Your most Excellent Majesty WE have according to Your Majestie 's Command severally and every Man by himself and All of us together taken into Serious Consideration the Case and Questions Signed by Your Majesty and inclosed in Your Letter And We are of Opinion That when the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in General is Concern'd and the whole Kingdom in Danger Your Majesty may by Writ under the Great Seal of England Command all the Subjects of This Your Kingdom at their Charge to Provide and Furnish such Number of Ships with Men Victuals and Ammunition and for such Time as Your Majesty shall think fit for the Defence and Safe-guard of the Kingdom from such Peril and Danger And that by Law Your Majesty may Compel the Doing thereof in case of Refusal or Refractoriness And we are also of Opinion That in such Case Your Majesty is the sole Judge both of the Danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided John Bramston John Finch Hum. Davenport John Denham Richard Hutton William Jones George Crook Thomas Trevor George Vernon Robert Barclay Francis Crawley Richard Weston But it is to be noted That though all the Judges did thus Sign this Answer yet it was not according to all their Opinions for Crook and Hutton dis-assented and declared That such a Charge could not be laid by any such Writ but by Parliament But the Major-Part of the Judges being absolutely Resolved upon that Opinion pressed them to Subscribe likewise with the rest for that the Greater Number must involve and conclude the Less which they said was usual in all Cases of Reference And that the Lesser Number must submit to the Opinion of the More although they varied in Opinion As in the Courts of Law If Three Judges agree in Opinion against One or Two where there is Five Judges Judgment is to be Entred per Curiam if the Major Part agree and the Others are to submit unto it c. These are the very Words of Judge Crook excusing himself for having thus Subscribed See the Arguments on Hampden's Case p. 12. Having thus got the Business back't with the Subscriptions of all the Judges of England the same were Enrolled in all the Courts of Westminster-Hall And now they began to Prosecute briskly all the Defaulters amongst whom the Chiefest was John Hampden of Buckingham-shire Esquire who had upon one of these Ship Writs directed to the Sheriff of that County been Assessed Twenty Shillings for his Lands in Stoke-Mandevil in that County which not being paid was Certified amongst others into the Chancery upon a Writ of Certiorari Dated 9 Martii Anno 12. Car. by a Schedule thereunto annexed and by a Writ of Mittimus Teste 5 Maii 13 Car. transmitted into the Exchequer with a Command there to do for the Leavying of the Sums so Assessed and Unpaid Prout de Jure secundum Legem Regni nostri Angliae suerit faciendum So as of Right and according to the Law of our Kingdom of
THE TRIUMPHS OF JUSTICE OVER Vnjust Iudges EXHIBITING I. The Names and Crimes of Four and Forty Iudges Hang'd in one Year in England as Murderers for their corrupt Judgments II. The Case of the Lord Chief Justice Tresilian Hang'd at Tyburn and all the rest of the Judges of England save one banisht in K. Rich. the 2ds Time III. The Crimes of Empson and Dudley Executed in K. Henry the 8th's Days IV. The Proceedings of the Ship-money-Judges in the Reign of K. Charles the First V. Diverse other Presidents both Antient and Modern To which is added VI. The Judges OATH and some Observations thereupon Humbly Dedicated to the Lord Chief Iustice Scroggs Discite Justitiam moniti non temnere Leges LONDON Printed for Benjamin Harris at the Stationers Arms in the Piazza under the Royal Exchange 1681. TO Sir William Scroggs Kt. LORD CHIEF JUSTICE Of His Majesties Court of KINGS-BENCH AT WESTMINTER I Know not to whom I could more properly Dedicate a Treatise of this Nature than to Your Lordship who is at Present Lord Chief Justice of England and have set such remarkable Copies to inferior Magistrates What is here offered is neither Prophecy nor Plaister Lampoon nor Romance but a clear Mirrour retreiv'd out of the Closet of wise Antiquity In which future Administrators of publick Justice would do well to Look For you know My Lord Common-Law runs much upon Presidents And if a Man happen to have none of the best Physiognomies there is no reason why he should straight grow angry and fling stones to break all the Looking-Glasses he meets with only because they represent the true Figure of the Object 'T is a Priviledge we Scribblers that write for Bread hold by Prescription to put any great Bodies name in the front of our Book Princes have not been able to exempt themselves or their Favourites from the Persecution of Dedications nor is there I humbly conceive any Rule made in Your Lordships Court to forbid them Suffer then I beseech Your Lordship this Address to remain a Monument to Posterity of the Sentiments this Age has of Your Lordships Conduct and Merits and witness to all the world how much its Author is Westminster-Hall this 23 of Dec. 1680. Your Lordships most humble Servant Philo-Dicaios THE TRIUMPHS OF JUSTICE OVER Vnjust Iudges c. UNdoubtedly there may be because there has been too often in the World such a thing such a sin such a mischief as Corruption of Iudges that is when by means of Pecuniary or other Bribes or which is all out as bad Threatnings Promises of Reward Malice Revenge hopes of greater or fears of being turned out of present Preferments or any other ill motive They that are appointed and Sworn to Administer equal and impartial Right and Justice are wrap'd aside or Bias'd to serve a Turn or Wreck a private Grudge or to free the Guilty or condemn the Innocent or to lean rather to the one side than to the other or wilfully to declare that to be Law which they cannot but know is not so or to adjudge punishments disproportionate to the Crimes that appear before them or any the like base illegal practises How odious this Vice is to God and Man as being equally destructive to Religion and Humane Society and how severely it has been heretofore punished by both may appear by The Ensuing Examples 1. As to God who is Capitalis Justitiarius Caeli Terrae the Grand never-erring Justitiary of all the World His Sacred Word prohibits nothing more positively nor omplain of any thing lowder or with more repeated importunities Thou shalt not rest the judgment of the poor in his cause Thou shalt take no gift for a gift blindeth the eye of the wise and perverteth the words of the Righteous Ex. 23.6 and 8 ver Thou shalt not rest juegment thou shalt not respect persons neither take a gift c. Deut. 16.19 Woe unto them that justifie the wicked for reward and taketh away the righteousness of the righteous from him Isa 5.23 A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosome 't is done you see slyly and in the dark to pervert the ways of judgment Prov. 17 23. Woe unto yee who turn judgment into wormwood and leave off righteousness in the earth Amos 5.7 The good man is perished out of the earth and there is none upwright amongst men They all lye in wait for bloud they hunt every man his brother as with a net that they may do evil with both hands earnestly The Prince asketh and the Judg gapeth for a reward and the great man uttereth his mischievous desire so they wrap it up the best of them is as a briar the most upright is sharper than a thorn-hedg c. Mic. 7.2 3 4 ver with many of the like Texts 2 As corrupt Judges are thus obnoxious to the Curse of God so hath his Divine Providence not seldome Executed it upon them even in this world by the hands of men Nor indeed is there any thing that can render Kings Gods Vicegerents more Glorious or better establish any state than to keep the Current of Justice clear and unsullied and exemplarily to punish their Subordinate Ministers and especially Judges that shall presume to impoison that Sacred Fountain Several Heathen Princes are Renowned for this wholesom severity 'T is said of Alexander Severus the Roman Emperour that he had such an aversion and abhorrence of unjust Judges that at the very sight of them he would vomit Choler was ready with his fingers to pluck out their eyes-Theatrum Historicum f. 546. The Mighty Monarch Cambyses King of Persia finding that one Sisamnes his Chief Justice Proeses our Author calls him in Latin had receiv'd a Bribe and for the same pronounced an unjust Sentence forthwith caused him to be Executed and curiously flead and with his skin cover'd the Common Seat of Justice and Constituted Otanes the said Sisamnes's own Son Judg in his Room That so beholding daily those Reliques of his justly-punisht Father It might serve as a Memento to him to act more uprightly Chronicon Carionis l. 2. p. 19. But not to search so far off our own Nation affords us perhaps the most notable and numerous Examples of Royal Justice in this kind of any in the world For we find it Recorded in that Antient Law-Book Entituled The Mirrour of Justices most of which is said to be Compiled before the Conquest and Augmented by the Learned Andrew Horn in the Reign of K. Edw. the Ist and which is often Cited by the Famous Lord Coke and to this day continues in good Repute amongst Lawyers That King Alfred a Renowned Saxon-Prince who Governed this Realm about the Year of our Lord 900. did in one years space bring to Condign punishment no fewer than four and forty of his Justices so the Law Terms those we call Judges and this was long before either Justices of the Peace Establisht or the Courts fixed at Westminster But
England was to be done whereupon a Scire Facias issued out of the Exchequer reciting the said Writs to warn Mr. Hampden amongst others to shew Cause why he should not be Charged with this Money Upon this he being Summoned Appeared and demanded Oyer of those Writs and Schedule which being Entred he Demurr'd in Law that is demanded the Opinion and Judgment of the Court of Exchequer Whether this Writ were sufficient in Law to Force him to pay the said Twenty Shillings This being a Great and General Case the Barons of the Exchequer desired the Assistance of the rest of the Judges who did Joyn accordingly The Case was argued first by Councel on both Sides and next by the Judges severally of whom Sir Richard Hutton Knight one of the Judges of the Common-Pleas and Sir Richard Crook Knight one of the Judges of the King 's Bench in large and learned Arguments since Printed did shew the Illegality of such Writs and gave their Opinion That the Defendant Hampden ought not to be Charged But the rest of the Judges were resolved to carry the Point for the King and accordingly gave their Opinions That the Defendant ought to be Charged And then it was the Part of the Barons of the Exchequer to give Judgment which was Entred in these Words Quod seperalia Brevia predicta Retorn ' eorundem ac Schedul ' praedict ' eisdem Annex ' ac materia in eisdem content ' sufficient ' in Lege Exist ' ad praefat Johannem Hampdem de predictis viginti solidis super ipsum informa ex causa praedictae Assessae onerand Ideo consideratum est per eosdem Barones quod prâ—â—…ctus Johannes Hampden de eisdem viginti solidis oneretur inde satisfaciat That the said several Writs and Returns thereof and the Schedules thereunto annex't and the Matter in the same contained are sufficient in Law to Charge the said John Hampden with the Twenty Shillings upon him in the Form and by Vertue of the Assessment afore-said imposed Therefore it is considered by the said Barons That the said John Hampden shall be Charged and shall satisfy the same This Judgment was imposed as such an Infallible Determination of the Law in this Case that no further Dispute would be allow'd thereof to any others insomuch that a Person of Honour having a Case depending in the King 's Bench was denyed any Argument or Debate concerning the Right of Ship-Money for no other Reason but that it had been by the former Judgment decided already in the Exchequer It may perhaps be said This Imposition of Ship-Money was small and inconsiderable Mr. Hampden a Gentleman of a fair Fstare was Assessed but Twenty Shillings And Why should any Body-scruple such a petty Business when the King Commanded it Was not the Remedy far worse than the Disease Why should any Subject exspend a great deal of Money in Law to avoid Payment of so Trivial a Sum Or What Harm could accrue to the Publick by the Judges allowing the King Power to Impose such an Assessment when it was for the Defence of the Realm from Eminent and Imminent Danger and he exerted that Power so favourably c. In Answer to such Objections it must be said That true it is it was then only Mr. Hampden's Case but the whole Nation every individual Subject of England was concern'd in it nay so far concern'd that all his Estate and Liberty was therein given up The Question was not Quantum but Quo Jure If Publick Danger might give the King Title to lay Impositions without a Parliament and He alone were Judge of such Danger When might it not be alledged If Twenty Shillings were Assessed on Mr. Hampden that Year How did it appear but Twenty Pounds might be required the next and Two Thousand Pounds the Year following And What Use what Occasion would the Court have had for ever afterwards of a Parliament But as to the Illegality of these Ship-Writs I refer the Reader to Judge Crook's Argument where the same is Demonstrated to be against the Common-Law against divers Statutes not to be maintain'd by any Prerogative or Power Royal unwarrantable by any former Precedents c. Let us see then what were the Consequences of these Extrajudicial Opinions and this Illegal Judgment of the Judges First As to the King They thereby mis-led him as much as in them lay to Discompose the Harmony of Government to Entrench upon the Property of His Subjects and contrary to his Intentions by Colour of Right to violate the Laws which no doubt that Good Prince meant to have preserv'd Inviolable Secondly As to the Subjects They were not only hereby Injured but their Affections Alienated from their Sovereign which to occasion is no doubt a very High because almost Irreparable Treason The Genuine Sense of these Resolutions being no less than this That the King of England as often as Himself pleaseth may declare the Kingdom to be in Danger and that so often His Majesty for Prevention of such Dangers may by His Writ under the Great Seal of England alter the Property of the Subject's Goods without their Consent in Parliamen and that in such Proportions as His Majesty shall think fit And besides may deprive them of the Liberty of their Persons and that in such Manner as Himself shall please Thirdly As to the Judges themselves It prov'd deservedly Fatal For no sooner was a Parliament Call'd but they were call'd to Account for these their Illegal Opinions and Judgment And after a long Debate on Monday the Seventh of December 1640. these Four several Votes Passed upon them without so much as One Negative Voice to any of them viz. First THat the Charge imposed upon the Subjects for the Providing and Furnishing of Ships and the Assessments for Raising of Money for that purpose commonly called Ship-Money are against the Laws of the Realm the Subjects Right of Property and contrary to former Resolutions in Parliament and to the Petition of Right Secondly That the Extrajudicial Opinions of the Iudges Published in the Star-Chamber and Inrolled in the Courts at Westminster before Recited in the whole and in every part of them are against the Laws of the Realm the Right of Property and the Liberty of the Subjects and contrary to former Resolutions in Parliament and to the Petition of Right Thirdly That the Writ to the Sheriff of Bucks particularly Recited and the other Writs commonly called Ship-Writs are against the Laws of the Realm the Right of Property and the Liberty of the Subjects and contrary to former Resolutions in Parliament and to the Petition of Right Fourthly That the Iudgment in Mr. Hampden's Case as before Recited in the matter and substance thereof and in that it was conceived that Mr. Hampden was any way Chargeable is against the Laws of the Realm the Right of Property the Liberty of the Subjects and contrary to former Resolutions in Parliament and to the Petition of Right These