to make a Conventional Seizure Entry or Re-entry of or into Goods or Lands Pledged for Debt or Rent or made liable by any Covenant or Clause Irritant to forfeiture for non payment of the same before a Judgment Declaratory of the non payment and of the value of the Goods to be Distrained and Lands Seized for satisfaction of the same is as unjust and wicked as to take a Judicial Distress Pledg or Forfeiture before such Judgment pass'd The Laird of Sauchi Sued one of his Tenants to make him remove from his Tack or Lease the Defendant excepted That he had a Tack it was replied That the Tack was null and void because there was a Clause Irritant contained in it that if the Duty reserved were not paid the Tack should be null and void and that the Duty was not paid to which was duplied by the Defendant that this failure of payment was not yet declared by any Declaratory Sentence of a Judg. The Lords found that there ought to be a Declaratory Sentence of a Judg first Declaratory Sentence of Scotland before any removal of a Tenant ought to be though the Clause Irritant had been that the Tack should be null without any Declaratory Sentence 4th July 1628. 5. That no Bail ought to be Exacted before Contumacy or Judgment First If to Distrain dead Goods and Pledges of Cattle is prohibited before Judgment à Fortiori to Exact for Pledges or Sureties the living Bodies of men is prohibited Secondly It is manifest Christ intended to relieve the oppression of the Poor against the Rich and that none but the Rich are able to give Bail to Tolerate therefore the Rich because they can give Bail on every unjust Suit of theirs to Exact Bail of Poor men before Judgment who are not able to give it fills Prisons and destroys innumerable Innocent Poor and leaves their Blood to cry against those who Tolerate so great an Oppression as to make Necessity Contumacy and Punish the Poor for his Poverty No less abominable is the Practice of Attornies and Clerks with their Writs of Privilege who will command what Bail they please though the Poor man owe them not a farthing and he being once Arrested and not able to give Bail he must therefore Rot or Starve in Gaol or pay whatever the other will ask right or wrong The Chancery Clerks and Officers go a degree beyond these and will take no Bail but four Subsidy men and if they can but Arrest the pretended Debtor will keep him in hold too till he pleads Instanter what they will have to Ruin him These are the Prodigious Reliques of Popish Tyranny left in Protestant Courts of Law and Conscience and translated from Romish Ecclesiastical-Clerks to English Lay-Clerks It were more just these Privileged men had a Privilege granted to Rob on the High-way for there honest men would be able to defend themselves against them but with these two Privileges of theirs one that they will take whomsoever they please Prisoners and the other that they will be Sued no where but in their own Court makes it as difficult to deal with them as Turky Pyrats who will be Tried by none but their Fellows nor Sued any where but in Algier How little necessity there is of this horrible Oppression of Exaction of Pledges No Pledges Bail Outlawries required in Chancery Distresses Bail Penalties Forfeitures and Outlawries before Judgment doth easily appear from this that in the Chancery there is none of all these required and though the Defendants are Richer and the Causes of far greater value than those in Common Law Courts yet do the numerous Plaintiffs rather shun the Common Law Courts and throng thither choosing to Sue there than in the other and certainly if it be truly consider'd these Exactions of Bail and Outlawries and Suprizes of Debtors before warning do but necessitate them to flie from their Creditors and deceive them of what they would be ready to pay on a fair Demand or warning and liberty given to come to a just account with Security This cruel dealing therefore of the Creditor with his Debtor before Judgment tends not to his Profit but very much to his Loss as well as it doth of the Defendant and many times undoes them both 6. That no Arrest ought to be made before a Judgment though there is Contumacy This follows from what hath already been proved That a Plaintiff ought not to be Witness Judg or Executioner thereon in his own Case and therefore not of the Contumacy of his Brother Contumacy but if he is Contumacious the Plaintiff ought by his Witnesses to make Probation of those matters which are necessary to shew a Contumacy as 1. Oblatio Libelli 2. Productio Testium 3. His Refusal to answer and satisfie and thereon obtain a Sentence Declaratory of the Contumacy of the Defendant and a Capias to Arrest him All Arrests therefore before Judgment Pursuivants Tipstaves by Pursuivants Messengers of Arms Tipstaves Maces Sheriffs or any other are Reliques of Popery and contrary to the Law of God and of the Land and indeed are so far from having Right to Arrest before Judgment that they ought not so much as to Summon before an Oblatio Libelli and a Productio Testium 7. That though there is a Judgment yet Christ allows no Imprisonment of a Debtor not able to pay for Disability is no Contumacy and Poverty may more often fall on the Righteous than the Wicked The Scripture makes our Demeanour to the Poor in Prison in this Life of great concernment to our well or evil Being after Death as is said Matth. 25.34 Then shall the King say unto them on his Right hand Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in Naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in Prison and ye came unto me Then shall the Righteous answer him saying Lord when saw we thee an hungred and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in or naked and cloathed thee Or when saw we thee sick or in Prison and came unto thee And the King shall answer and say unto them Verily I say unto you In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these â—y Brethren ye have done it unto me Then shall he say unto them on the Left hand Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was a stranger and ye took me not in naked and ye cloathed me not sick and in Prison and ye visited me not Then shall they also answer him saying Lord when saw
Language of the Beast into Great Britain and Ireland to infect with the same Plague all Judicatures of these Noble Kingdoms vid. How Satisdation before Judgment came in the Authorities cited Calv. Lex tit vocare They Pledg before Summons Summon before Copy Copy before Oath Punish before Contumacy Judg before Hearing or Probation and Arrest before Judgment It cannot be here objected That I proceed partially against Ecclesiastical Judges seeing the Temporal are here equally Taxed with the same Errors and I contend with the Vices and not with the Persons of either Yet so much I may affirm for Truth and shall after prove against Ecclesiastical Judges that the Papal and Episcopal Forms of Preposteration of Execution before Judgment by beginning the Original Process with Attachments Distresses Exactions of Pledges Bail Mainprize Penalties Forfeitures Confiscations Arrests and Imprisonments before a Coppy of the Declaration given and before Oath of Calumny Hearing Probation or Judgment and Outlawries and Excommunicato Capiendos both before and after Judgment were Originally brought both in the Ecclesiastical and Temporal Courts of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland by Romish Bishops and Priests and Parliaments in time of Popery have been so far deceived by them to confirm their Superstitious Formularies in the Temporal Courts in so high a degree as now the Temporal Judges are not able to Reform without the Assistance of an Act of Parliament But I shall first prove that the said Forms are contrary to the Scriptures and Anti-Christian The Texts of Scripture follow Job 24.3 They drive away the Ass of the Fatherless and take the Widows Ox for a Pledg Verse 9. They pluck the Fatherless from the breast and take a. Pledg of the Poor Ezek. 18.7 And hath not Oppressed any but Restored to the Debtour his Pledg Ezek. 33.15 If the Wicked restore the Pledg give again that be had Robbed Amos 2.8 And they lay themselves down upon Cloaths laid to Pledg Psal 37.21 The Wicked borroweth and payeth not again Matth. 5.25 Agree with thine Adversary quickly while thou art in the may with him lest at any time the Adversary deliver thee to the Judg and the Judg deliver thee to the Officer and thou be cast into Prison Verily I say unto thee Thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost Farthing Matth. 18.15 If thy Brother trespâ—ss against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone if he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother But if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two that in the Mouth of two or three Witnesses every word may be established And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the Church but if he neglect to hear the Church let him be to thee as an Heathen man and a Publican After the Servant who had been forgiven by his Lord Ten Thousand Talents Verse 28 Went out and found one of his fellow-servants which ought him an Hundred Pence and he laid hands on him and took him by the Throat saying Pay me that thou owest And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet and besought him saying Have patience with me and I will pay thee all And he would not but went and cast him into Prison till be should pay the Debt Verse 32. Then his Lord after that he had called him said unto him O thou wicked Servant I forgave thee all that Debt because thou desiredst me Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant even as I had pity on thee And his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the Tormenters till he should pay all that was due unto him As to Criminal Proceeding the Texts are 1 Tim. 5.19 Against an Elder receive not an Accusation unless under two or three Witnesses Numb 35.30 Whoso killeth any Person the Murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of Witnesses but one Witness shall not Testisie against any Person to cause him to die Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a Murderer which is guilty of death but he shall be surely put to death Deuter. 17.8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in Judgment between Blood and Blood between Plea and Plea and between Stroke and Stroke being matters of Controversie within thy Gates then shalt thou arise and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse And thou shalt come unto the Priests the Levites and unto the Judg that shall be in those days and enquire and they shall shew thee the Sentence of Judgment From all which may be infer'd 1. That no man ought to be Summon'd before a Judg till a Copy of the Plaintiffs Declaration be first given him For Christ saith If thy Brother Trespass against thee go and tell him his Fault between thee and him alone which is fully performed by giving him a Copy of the Declaration or Bill of Complaint and without it the same cannot be done nor the full State of the Case be Represented to him nor he take time of deliberation for an Answer And from this Precept of Christ will follow first the Ordaining of Editio vocatio in jus simul ex continenti by the Popish Theodor an Bishops in the Civil Law is a corruption and destroying of the Excellent Law of the Twelve Tables Si in jus voces atque eat which is already proved to have implied a Preceding Oblatio Libelli and was the clear Law of Nature and immutable in all Civil Actions 2. That the Law of Scotland of including the Libel in the Summons though it far excel our Summons by Writs yet it is not so perfect as the Precepts of Christ to make the Oblatio Libelli or to give the Copy of the Declaration to the Defendant before Summons for first he must be forced to send many times Hundreds of Miles to a Judg to get a Summons before the Return of which all the business if there is no Contumacy may be far better agreed and ended between him and his Brother at home Secondly If there is no Contumacy as there can be none before a Copy of the Declaration delivered by which the Demand is made it is unjust to lay such a Punishment on a Defendant to run Hundreds of Miles to his great Cost and Trouble in England to appear before a Judg at Westminster and when he comes there no Bill in Chancery nor any Declaration at Common Law is put against him And in Scotland to appear at Edenburgh at a longer day when he was ready and tender'd to satisfie his Brother at home in a shorter and he refused only to put him to Charge and Vexation Thirdly It is unreasonable and unjust that the Plaintiff should be compell'd to send so far for such a Trivial Formality as the hand of a Judg to his Libell'd Summons or to expect no Judicial assistance from it if he gratis make Oblatio Libelli as
Christ Commands for if as is the Modern practice in Scotland the Lords of the Session never read a word of the Libell'd Summons and they may be Blasphemy or Treason for ought they know yet they set their hands to them as fast as they can be brought and I have my self set my hand to Hundreds of them and that course of Summoning being by Act of Parliament made in time of Popery which we had no power to alter I thought that kind of Justice better than none at all though before Oblatio Libelli it serves to no more Use than our Latitat and Subpoena Offices and others to have a pretence of gathering Money for the People for doing nothing and perhaps if all Truth were spoken for doing Mischief Fourthly If as the ancient Practice was of Sir Thomas More when he was Chancellor of England who used to read over himself in Person every Bill was prefer'd in Chancery and consider whether it were just or no before he would grant a Summons of Subpoena and of Skene in Scotland who as I have been informed there would likewise read the Bills himself before a Summons was granted and if he found them not fit would tear them in pieces and throw them over the Bar. It hath been therefore to no purpose for the Plaintiff to have sent to Judges for Summons who might see that Injustice in his Bill which the Defendant perhaps might not see or might be willing to pass by if it had been first shewn to him at home Fifthly It is unjust for the Plaintiff to make his Oblatio Libelli first to the Judg and to get a Summons thereon before he doth it to the Defendant for the Defendant may perhaps if shewn him shew the Plaintiff so just exceptions against the Bill as may satisfie the Plaintiff himself and save both Parties the Trouble and Cost of going further to Law or he may amend his Bill on such exceptions and if he think it just after amended insist on the same further to shew his bill first therefore to the Defendant though his Enemy if he will except against it is more profitable to the Plaintiff for amendment than if he shewed it his own Councel for a Friend may never shew the Party his Faults as an Enemy will As it is more Just so it is therefore more safe first to make the Oblatio Libelli to the Defendant before it be done to the Judg. Sixthly The Justi dies or time of Returning an Answer cannot be agreed without great Trouble and Cost unless there be first an Emparlance between the Parties without troubling the Judg. Against offend the taking out of Execution on Judgment acknowledged by assent and on Recognizances and Statutes in England and on Registred Bonds in Scotland without Summons or Oblatio Libelli or Warning or Demand Seventhly Because Judges use to take Caution or Plegii de prosequendo of the Plaintiff and the like Pledges of the Defendant purposely to hinder Agreement according to Christ and to set them by the Ears to get in Fees to the Court. 2. That no man ought to be Summon'd before a Judg until a Productio Testium first made to him For Christ saiâ—h If he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the Mouth of two or three Witnesses every word may be Establish'd whence will follow that the Mock-Probation still falsely mention'd in the end of every Declaration Et inde Producit Sectam and Summons on Motions and Rules of Courts founded on the Infamous Credit of Affidavit-men are abominable Reliques of Popery and Anti-Christian 1. Because they are not produced to the Defendant where he dwells that he may except against their Persons if he hath cause and if he hath none he may see them Sworn and if they Swear false he may have his lawful Remedy against them 2. Because the Affidavit-men are single Witnesses whereas Christ Commands two or three Witnesses 3. They are both such as live in London and Westminster and such as come out of those Parts altogether unknown to the Judges and Masters who take their Oaths if therefore they will proceed on the Testimony of single Witnesses seeing by the Precept of Christ Actor Sequitur forum rei and the Plaintiff is to carry his Witnesses to the Defendant it is far more Just and Equal that the Affidavit be either taken by Commission in the Parish where the Defendant lives or every Minister be Authorized to take the Oath on notice given to his Parishioner to be present if he please at the Taking 4. Because generally the Affidavit-men are Knights of the Post and common Swearers for Hire who will Swear any thing for a Dinner 5. Because Probatio non admittitur in contrarium whereby Courts overflow with Perjury And as is said Jer. 23.10 Because of Swearing the Land mourns 3. That a Defendant can be guilty of no Contumacy till an Oblatio Libelli and a Productio Testium first made to him For Christ says The Plaintiff is not to tell the Church till two Refusals made by the Defendant one to hear him single the other when he haâ—h produced his Witnesses 4. That no Pledges or Distress ought to be taken till Judgment For Ezek. 18.7 says The Debtour ought to be restored his Pledg And Christ Commands on Contumacy shewn by two Refusals immediately to tell the Church so he is to do nothing further till the Sentence of the Church is pass'd and very just for thus far none hath Judged whether his Cause is just and his Brother Contumacious but himself and he ought not to be Judg in his own Case and much less be his own Carver of Execution by Pledges and Distresses on his own Authority without the Sentence of a Judg. Secondly Otherwise the Ass of the Fatherless the Ox of the Widow and the Pledg of the Poor would be taken from them without Hearing of their Cause and the Creditor Land-lord and every other Person would be Judges in their own Case and Carve Execution for themselves Thirdly Though the Poor may be able to give Convenotinal Pledges yet they are not able to give besides Judicial Pledges when they are enforced to sue for their Conventional unjustly seized and detained from them nor though they are able to Mortgage the Right of their little Living to be seized when they fail paying Interest for the Debt yet are they not able to leave Possession by which they must live if the Creditor unjustly enter before a Judgment Declaratory and a true Account made by him and a Return of the over-plus whereto the Mortgage amounted above the Debt So though a Poor man is able to grant a Rent-charge and a Clause of Distress if he be in Arere on paying Interest for the Debt yet if the Creditor wrongfully or excessively Distrain he is not able on a Replevin to give Pledges de Prosequendo and de Returno habendo to take a Conventional Distress therefore or
any Delays by Jeofails Repleaders Arrests of Judgment or Writs of Error another cause was that both Parties and Advocates took the Oath of Calumny that they believed their Allegiance just and true Illud juretur quod lis sibi justa videtur which Oath keeps their Allegiances clean from falsity that I never found so much as one Fiction in all their judicial Proceedings and if the same Oath were but taken here as there I believe there would not one Bill in Chancery or Declaration at Common Law come in for Twenty which now are thrust in by heaps many other causes there are which lessen the labour of a Judg and of the Suitors which for Brevity I omit all which shew the Prudence of that Noble Kingdom where the People enjoy so great Justice with so little Cost and Contention Lastly we could have done more Business than we did had we been set to Act as the Roman Judges every one single without Associates in a Court by himself and how great an Addition to the Publick Treasury as well as advantage to Justice the lessening the number of Judges and turning Fees to Salary will cause is already mention'd A Satyr against the Cruel Preposteration of Ecclesiastical and Temporal Courts in Judicial Proceedings contrary to the Precept of Christ Matth. 18.15 AND will you never learn the skill Which first Subpoena is or Bill Or foremost know with all your wit If Declaration is or writ Or which precede should in your Tale The Capias or Original You which is best who make a pause To Sentence first or hear the Cause With Execution who begin Before a Judgment or a Sin Who grinde and eat the Poor distrest With Tongue and Teeth of Romish Beast For Grace in Anglice's who curse The Rent was bad the Patch is worse Who have no Summons but Surprize Who have no Laws but Treacheries Do you not know there is a Cry Gone up against your Cruelty The Prince himself of Righteousness So foul Oppressions to suppress Descended hath on Earthly Globe And glorious Dy'd his Scarlet Robe In his own blood to keep the Peace And from your Dungeons to release Twelve Trumpets hear 12 Apostles whose Silver sound Doth from the East to West rebound Proclaim'd the Sacred Edict have And Penalty whence none can save Which lest to you should be in vain Ye Adders deaf hear it again If Thee thy Brother or thy Friend Or Enemy hap to offend See thou to warn him do not grudg Twice at the least without a Judg And the last time see thou no less Shew him than thy two Witnesses Or three to make the Fact appear If he shall doubt to him more clear Nor shalt thou him for any thing Unto the Seat of Judgment bring Untill he Litis Contestate Or shew a Contumacious hate That if thou canst thou may'st him prove Thus first at home to win by Love Let every Plaintiff thus his Suit Begin or be for ever mute No form of Strife shall be but this Our express will and pleasure is The Nations Bow and struck with Awe Adore the Justice of the Law And to the dread Tribunal run High as the Clouds bright as the Sun With loud Appeals and further will Upon this Statute draw their Bill Both of Indictment and Complaint And of these Crimes you thus attaint That against this Divinest Act More Fees and greater to exact The furious Plaintiff false or true While hot you bind him to pursue The slow Defendant wrong or right You Bail or Goal to make him fight And Fines on Concords heavy lay To make them your unhappy prey The Debtor travailing to find The Creditor with honest mind Your Outlawries ambush the way And will not suffer him to pay But in your Tolls you take him there And bind him like a filly Dear Or what doth make him as forlorn To death you hunt him with the Horn To make his Skin and Carcass yours You cheat both him and Creditors And while his Plaint each sadly tells You take the Fish and leave the Shells Thus Innocents you lay in Chains Before they know who 't is complains Or what 't is for nor shall they see 't Till all Extortion's paid by Sheet You lay Imbargues and Prizes take Before the War proclaimed you make And Right by Battle try and Wounds Mortal before the Trumpet sounds Your Hell-hounds hunt without a noise Your Snake not rattles but destroys There 's nothing true and nothing Sworn Till Justice is to pieces torn And you who cite not but infest us With your Excessus Manifestus And us torment with great unfitness Dr. Cousins writes in defence of suppressing the names of Witnesses Accusers Excommunication ipso facto without Citation Because you will not name the Witness Your Ipso Facto's make us wonder At Thunderbolts without a Thunder And Bodies Judg in Hell to cast Before the Judgment day is past And deathless Souls make pale and wan Because you Curse before you Ban. No Plea deceives the Judg on high What will you do stand mute or flie All rather or who most repents Burn Popish Forms and Presidents Is it not better then to turn To Flames than you your selves to burn Some way with speed appease his Ire Your pain proclaimed is Hell and Fire Of Summons to answer before a Copy given of what is required to be answer'd This is in Scotland provided for by Act of Parliament and no man is troubled to appear before any Judg to answer before by their Libell'd Summons a Copy is deliver'd to the Person or affixed at the Door of his dwelling House containing all the matters at large to which his answer is required and though the People of England are not yet so happy as to enjoy so great a Privilege on which those invaluable Treasures of their Liberty and Propriety depend yet every Attorny and Clerk of a Court hath it and is free from giving appearance before a Judg or being Arrested till a Copy of the Declaration first deliver'd him and Judgment pass'd against him Attor Ac. 28. The reason why these Lay-Clerks who are Successors in Courts to the old Romish Spiritual Clerk Monopolize this from the whole People only to themselves is Filthy Lucre For first if the Plaintiff were compell'd as he ought to be to make Oblatio Libelli to the Defendant by giving or sending a Copy of his Bill in Chancery or of his Declaration at Common Law to the Defendant at his dwelling House and so likewise the Defendant bound to return his Answer Sealed up directed to be left for the Plaintiff in such Court having Jurisdiction of the Cause as the Plaintiff desired within Fifteen Days after the Service of the Copy at the dwelling House to be by the Officer of the Court deliver'd Sealed to the Attorney of the Plaintiff when he demands the same and the like done on Reply Duply Triply and Quadruply and all Exceptions of Fact or Law Postulations and Motions of
humble compllment with my Body I thee worship a Divinity as Idolatrous as that of the rude Indians who first worship their Cotton-Idols and if their Prayers succeed not beat them What though the Jewish Scripture saith Gen. 3.16 Thy desire shall be to thy Husband and he shall rule over thee yet is this to be intended in acts Matrimonial not Magisterial And the Christian Scripture makes you requital and Eph. 5.28 Men are commanded to love their Wives as their own Bodies they must therefore first beat their own bodies or suffer their Wives to beat them before they beat theirs and you are made as great Rulers over the Husbands Bodies as they over yours 1 Cor. 7.4 And likewise also The Husband hath not power over his own Body but the Wife Ladies I pity you that Scripture has been so ill translated and ill expounded in all your concerns of marriage and the more in regard you have as bad dealing from the Expositors of the Law as the Gospel for Brook 12 H. 8. fo 4. says plainly Beaten by her Husband hath no Remedy That if a Man beat an Out-law a Traytor a Pagan his Villain or his Wife it is dispunishable because by the Law these persons can have no actions But I wish Ladies the next Law made for you may sort you with better company or farewell to England to be the Paradise of Women Husband suffers others to abuse and ravish her she hath no remedy 7. The Husband may not only be cruel to his Wife himself but command others to beat and abuse her and she hath no remedy yea if another Ravish her she hath no remedy to recover damage unless he will assent to joyn with her in the action as 8 H. 4. fo 21. A Woman was Prisoner in the Marshalsy and made a suggestion to the Court that the Marshal's man had ravish'd her in Prison Gascoigne commanded the Marshal to take his Man to his custody and his staff from him And the Court told the Woman that she alone could not bring the Appeal Sans Sons Baron but if her Husband would come and they two together prove the Rape the Ravisher should be hanged or otherwise not a Woman is in a sweet case if her Man is a Wittal and willing to make money of her Made a prey to all will seize her 8. This encourageth vile persons to rob the Noble and Rich of their Daughters and makes the City of London so insecure for young Ladies that few great fortunes escape from being betrayed to persons unworthy of them whereas if marriage changed not the propriety goods and right of the Woman to the Man but left the same as full in the right of the Woman and her self in as full ability and capacity to Purchase and Sue for her self as before she and her friends would be able to take some course to preserve her and her Estate and such Insidiators be discouraged where they saw their hopes of making a prey taken away 9. This gives the Husband if she dies and leaves Children power on a second Marriage to give her Goods to a Step-Mother and cast off her Children 10. It gains the Husband power to get as many Women with Child as he pleaseth and to maintain them and their Children with the Goods of the Lawful Wife Transubstantiation brings the same mischief to the Husband as to the Wife The Man again is as bad mischiefed by this Transubstantiation as the Woman 1. This gives power to steal and esloigne all her Husband's Substance and put it into the hands of his Enemies 2. It gains the Woman power where she is not able her self to hire unknown persons with her Husband's Goods to rob beat disseize the Husband and Esloigne his Goods from him 3. This gives her power to lay all her secret and unknown debts both true and feigned by her Confederates on her Husband and to undo him 4. Gives her power to commit as many Trespasses either with tongue or hand truly or by confederacy with her Complices making her Husband liable to pay the damage and undo him 5. It Gives her power to hire Adulterers with her Husband's Goods Whereas it is well known Men and Women of all estates and conditions if they have not been before a Priest in a Temple will live forty years together in one House and dare not rub beat or injure one another because they have liberty to sue for damage which benefit this sottish Sacrament of Priests and Lawyers gives not persons transubstantiated A Law would be thought very absurd and unjust which should Enact That no Man or Woman should sue one another in the Common-wealth what horrible wickednesses and villanies would be committed by the two Sexes one against onother but it is more unjust to make such a Law in Families and more unjust to make such a Law between Men and their Wives then in Families For in the Common-wealth such as are persecuted in one City can fly to another In Families such as like not one anothers company and are unmarried can be received and have protection in other Families But Men and their Wives are chained together and cannot avoid the injuries of one another and have no remedy unless they have the same liberty too for injury and propriety of their own as all other Subjects have and not compelled to live as Out-laws deprived of benefit of Law A Note taken at the King's-Bench of the miraculous Transubstantiation of a Shoulder of Mutton between a Man and his Wife Being a Puny I went as others did in a morning to Westminster to the King's-Bench to hear and see the Forms of proceeding Transubstantiation of a shoulder of Murton where amongst others a Counsellor moved at the Bar in arrest of Judgment and for Cause alledged That the Plaintiff in his Declaration complained against A. and B. his Wife that amongst other Goods they had taken Armum ovillum Anglice a shoulder of Mutton from him and converted the same to the use of the said A. and B. his Wife the ground of the exception against that part of the Declaration was because though the Wife eat her share of the Mutton with the Husband yet the same ought not to be said to be converted to the use of the Wife but only of the Husband the ratio rationis was because the Wife is one person with the Husband that is to say transubstantiated into him and she being transubstantiated the shoulder of Mutton which she eat must be likewise transubstantiated into him and so the shoulder of Mutton was converted wholly to his use and not to the use of the Wife And so some Precedents were cited for it and others contrary which profound piece of Popish Transubstantiation did so puzzle the Court that they would give no resolution then but would consider of it and settle a course in it which made me being not arrived beyond natural simplicity to think them all mad who
Duaren lib. 1. Disp c. 1. Hermann vult lib. 1. discep c. 1. Goed ad l. 9. n. 1.6.7 ff de verb. sign 2. By the Law si vis vocationi fuat testamini igitur em capito appears that after the Defendant had a Copy of the Declaration deliver'd no Capias before Judgment was to issue against him without a Fugam fecit or at least an hiding himself and the word Testamini shews there must be Productio testium Probation by witnesses of the flight or absconding and not a Latitat granted on a meer false Suggestion and Lie or on the Forgery of an Outlawry to destroy that inestimable Right of Liberty from wrongful Imprisonment and more valuable than Life it self 3. By the Law si vindiciam falsam tulit rei si velit is Arbitros tres dato forum Arbitriis fructus duplione damnum deciditor appears That the Plaintiffs were Fined pro falso elamore double the value on a Writ of Enquiry of Damage to a Jury of Three which like Commissioners for examination of Witnesses being equally chosen by the Parties were more able and equal than a numerous Jury of Twelve all chosen by the Sheriff 4. This being granted that by the Ancient Roman and Athenian Laws Oblatio Libelli preceded vocatio in jus and vocatio in jus preceded Contumacy and Probation by Witnesses preceded Sentence of the same and that Plaintiffs were punish'd for false Suggestions it follows there was neither taking of Pledges Distress Attachment Satisdation Exaction of Bail or Arrest in their Original Process nor before Judgment except on Contumacy proved by Witnesses which shews that neither Romans nor Athenians were Authors of beginning Law-Suits with Execution 5. It appears by the Law Aeris confessi rebusque jure judicatis c. That the Pagan Execution it self after Judgment was more Just and Merciful than the Papal and Episcopal is now with us before Judgment for first they were so far from Arresting before Demand and before Judgment that they could not Arrest the Defendant on Hearing and Trial and Judgment pass'd against him without giving him Monition of the Judgment and till Thirty Days Justi dies to provide the Money were expired but now on a bare Bond before Judgment and before so much as a Demand made they cast into the Goal the Husbandman from his Plow the Tradesman from his Shop and the Merchant from the Exchange without giving the least notice Thirty or so much as Three Days to provide the Money whereby they and their Families their Reputation and Trade are oftentimes destroyed not only to the ruin of themselves but great damage of the Publick for the greatest bulk of Trade of the Nation being driven on Money borrowed on Interest if it be intended what is borrowed should be applied to Trade it is impossible that they can pay interest for it to the Creditor if they must keep it at their Chambers for the Creditors to call it in again on an hour's warning or as they now do without any warning at all and imploy it at their Trade they cannot unless they may have at least warning for so small a pittance of Time as Thirty Days which the very Heathen allowed their Debtors to be free from Arrest though Judgment was past against them This abominable Cruelty of beginning Suits with Execution came not therefore from the Heathen but from the pretended Christian Romish Bishops and Clerks All Attachments Distresses Exactions of Pledges Bail and Arrests before Judgment are Executions before Judgment and come from Romish Bishops against whom the Heathen shall rise in Judgment Now that beginning of Suits with Executing by exacting of Pledges before Oblatio Libelli Bail before Flight Judgment before Hearing Distress Attachment and Arrest before Judgment was brought into Great Britain by the Romish Bishops appears by these Reasons 1. Because the Register of Writs that old Romish Idol to which more innocent Causes and Persons have been Sacrificed and Destroyed according to the proportion of the Territory it Commands than to the Turkish Alcoran is in Latine which is the Romish Language in which Register all the Original Process of Summons Attachment and Distringas are composed for Exacting of Pledges and Bail Distress imposing Penalties and Forfeitures Arrest and Imprisonment in Personal Actions and Grand-capes and Petty-capes in real before Oath of Calumny Oblatio Libelli Hearing Probation or Judgment and in Indictments by Inquisition 2. Because all old Formalities of Entries and Pleadings of Instruments and Contracts Publick and Private were Originally in Latine which shews they were formed by Romish Bishops or their Clerks in their own Language conform to their Romish Idol the Register beginning with Execution as particularly appears in all Instruments concerning Feudal Jurisdiction are Clauses and Conventions of Distress Reentry Penalties and Forfeitures horrible unjust before Oath of Calumny Ohlatio Libelli dies justi Hearing Probation Judgment or Judg but the Lord himself in his own Case over his Vassal 3. Because anciently the Romish Bishops have been Chancellors in that Court which is Officina Brevium the Shop of Writs where they are forged and have been likewise chief Judges in the other Courts of the King keeping all their Proceedings in Latine Court-hand and Chancery-hand secret from the understanding of King and People whereby they exercised what Tyranny and Oppression they pleased 4. Because they and other Ecclesiastical Persons as Abbots Priors and the like have Possess'd the Third part of all the Baronies Honors and Mannors in the Land and had they not been stopt by the Statutes of Mortmain might by this time have got all this way therefore of taking Distress Penalties and Forfeitures before Judgment advanced their Interest in Tyranny and made them Arbitrary and absolute Judges in their own Case 5 Because anciently the Romish Bishops have been Outlawries and Excommunicato Capiendos and Judgment of Heresies the Romish Inquisition in Disguise and to the shame of Protestants still claim to be in their Ecclesiastical Courts Judges of Heresie whereby as the Common Law Judges by their Outlawries which are Temporal Excommunicato Capiendos they by their Excommunicato Capiendos which are Spiritual Outlawries have brought in the Romish Inquisition to begin all Suits with Execution before Judgment 6. Because the Greek Bishops first destroyed the Equal Law of the Twelve Tables Si in jus vocet aâ—que eat which is before interpreted Statim eat and made it in jus vocati statim eant aut satisdent which Satisdation included all the Rabble of Distresses Pledges Bail Mainprize Arrests and Imprisoments before Oblatio Libelli Hearing Probation or Judgment which Greek Bishops were the Instruments of that wicked Empress Theodora who foisted into the Laws of Justinian what they pleased concerning Judicial Proceeding touching Marriage Filiation and Succession and all other matters and the Romish Bishops followed them in their wickedness in whatsoever was for their gain and brought the same with themselves and the
we thee an hungred or a thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in Prison and did not minister unto thee Then shall he answer them saying Verily I say unto you in as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these ye did it not to me And these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the Righteous into Life Eternal It may be much doubted what account these inferior Judicial Proceedings of Exactions of Pledges and Bail before Summons Outlawries Excommunicato Capiendo's Penalties Forfeitures Confiscations Arrests and Imprisonment before Judgment will be able to give at the Supream Judgment they being all point Blank contrary to the Judicial Precepts of Christ And this Humanity and Mercy to Prisoners that are Poor and unable to pay hath so far prevailed amongst most Nations and with the Civil Law and with the Law of Scotland that in all these Cessio Bonorum if a Prisoner in Execution for Debt makes a Cessio Bonorum that is assigns his whole Estate he hath left by Inventary on Oath to the Creditor he ought to be set at liberty and certainly the Arresting of Debtors without giving warning or time necessary and who are not able to pay before Judgment or detaining them in Prison after Judgment is not only as hath been already said hurtful to the Creditor himself but to the Publick the same being destructive to Trade and likewise to the Peace for Civil Wars and Seditions have been caused both in the Grecian Roman and many other Commonwealths by the Cruel Prosecution and Imprisonments by Creditors of their Debtors and I remember we received often advertisement from our Army in Scotland to desire us to restrain our Letters of Caption from Arrests of Debtors and that we fill'd the opposite Army who were then in Hostility against us with greater Recruits of Debtors who fled from Arrests than they had been ever able of their Power to have done and of Debtors so Potent for the Privilege of Peers to be free from Arrest was then taken away as drew multitudes with them to the Hills who would if secured from Arrest have all stayed quiet Neuters at home 8. That in case of Contumacy of the Debtors Christ allows both to take Pledges Arrest and Imprison him after Judgment 9. That he allows not though after Judgment to detain the Debtor in Prison for Penalties and Forfeitures above the value of the Debt and Damage One single Judg. 10. That he allows on lawful Probation and Judgment Imprisonment to be by one single Judg. For he says in the Singular Number and the Judg deliver thee to the Officer and thou be cast into Prison Verily I say unto thee thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the utmost farthing And at that time the Roman Judges both at Rome and in Judaea sate on single Tribunals in Courts by themselves and not with associates Judices delegati à principe fuerunt 12. in Civitate Romana Octo Erant Minores Quatuor Majores quilibet sedebat in suo Praetorio in Basilica glâ—in Rub. in § Rebus in Authent de Judicibus in Collat 6. In the City of Rome there were Twelve Judges Delegates made by the Emperor Eight Lesser and Four Greater and every one of them sate in his several Court in the Palace Hall This Christ seems to allude to Matth. 19.28 When the Son of Man shall sit in the Throne of his Glory ye also shall sit upon Twelve Thrones Judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel In the like manner they placed single Judges in the Provinces as Herod Felix Festus and others were all single Judges within their several Territories of Judaea And these single Judges were not only 1. Judges of Temporals but Spirituals till the Superstition of the Emperors divided the Supream Jurisdiction into Episcopal and Imperiâ—l giving the Supremacy to the Episcopal for before the Emperors the Roman Law was Rex Sacrorum Praeses esto as appears by the Laws of Romuâ—us and Numa of whom one was an Augur and King which was then their highest kind of Prophet and above a Priest and the other a Sacrificer and a King The Senate after the Expolsion of Tarquin took upon themselves to be Praesides Sacrorum and the Emperors after they had overtopt the Senate made themselves High-Priests and Emperors so did Julius Caesar so did Augustus and their Successors till as is before said Superstition again divided the Imperial Jurisdiction But likewise 2. the same Judg was of Civils and Criminals and 3. the same one Judg was of Fact Law and Equity and there was not amongst nor in any Empire in the World that unnecessary and unjust distinction of Chancery Common Law and Juries It is not here objected against the Bishops that they place more Judges than one in their Spiritual Courts or any Court where they can get Jurisdiction we know the contrary and too Ambitious and Subtle they were to draw any such Inconvenience on themselves but they rather studied to lay that Clog of unnecessary Number on the Layity in the Common Law Courts they themselves having usually been sole Judges in the Spiritual Courts concerning Marriage Testaments and Tiths under the name of Judg Spiritual or Ecclesiastical and in the Chancery concerning other Temporal matters under the name of the Judg of Conscience and Equity and in their Inquisitions Criminal concerning matters of Life and Death under the name of the Judg of Heresie have made themselves absolute Monarchs over the Religion Justâ—ce Estates and Lives of the People and Clogg'd them with numerous Judges and Juries that they might not be able to lift an hand or move a Tongue against them in the same manner as the Senate did deceive the People of Rome by multiplying their Tribunes under pretence of favour to them to no other intent but that the Defensors of their Liberty might be more easily divided against themselves and weaker to oppose the Senate I shall only give a touch of the Reasons why more Judges than one ought not to be admitted in any one Court except in a Court of Appeal or in Judges equally Elected by the Parties as Arbitrators and Commissioners for Examination of Witnesses use to be 1. Because as to Election of the Judges it is easier to find one Man of Ability and Integrity fit to be a Judg than Twelve Reasons why more Judges than one ought not to be admitted in one Court 2. The hearing of a multitude of Causes is extream tedious and toilsome where there is therefore a numerous Court they are apt to shift their Collar from the labour and leave all to the President while they either talk with one another more pleasant discourse or let their Wits run a wool-gathering or plainly nod and sleep upon the Bench. 3. Admit they do attend the Cause which they very rarely do except for a Friend or against an Enemy they may vary in their
he ought to be punish'd in One Hundred Pounds to the King and Imprisonment one Year without Bail and One Hundred Pounds more to the Knight injured thereby or to any other Person who in his default will Sue for the same and is contrary to the two said standing Acts of Parliament of greater consequence than Magna Charta or the Petition of Right themselves for if there is a Protestant Parliament no doubt they will make and we shall not want Protestant Laws but if once there get in a Papist Parliament both Protestant Laws Religion and Protestants themselves will be all destroyed And as the Sheriff Returns Fictions to Courts so do they send Fictions to him and it is hard for him to know when they speak true and when false as if a Venire Facias be sent him to Return 12 Jurors he must Return 24 which is double the number or he shall be Fined for as they write their words in the Venire by halves so do they as it seems their Meaning by halves yet the poor Sheriff is bound to understand them to his Cost then if they send him a Pone per Vadios Salvos plegios the Sheriff must Return no other Plegii to answer their Fiction than his own Fiction of Plegii John Den and Richard Fen or they will teach the Party to have a false Imprisonment against him Suits are removed when the Plaintiff hath been at all the Cost and trouble and is ready for a Trial on meer vexation and to delay on Suggestion or Fiction of a Cause without any Oath of Calumny Attachments and Arrest of Goods and Persons is used in the City without any Oblatio Libelli or Oath of Calumny on meer Fictions and Suggestions City Law 22. but very wrongfully for a Citizen hath as good Right to Magna Charta as he hath to the Charter of the City and under the name of being free of the City doth not lose the liberty of a Subject to be free from Arrest before Judgment Coke Vind. Law 26. says Abuses of Fictions to Arrest before Judgment This brings to my remembrance how a Gentleman was Arrested for 1500 l. the same day that he was to have been Married without any colourable cause of Action spitefully to hinder his Match and was not able to give Bail but the Party being Non-suit the Gentleman notwithstanding could recover as I remember no more than 7 s. 2 d. Cost yet he lost his Monies and indeed himself by it for I know it was the occasion of his utter Undoing and a man that is Cannibally given may devour the Credit of 500 men Arresting them for 5000 l. a piece never declare yet pay no Cost though Party Arrested had better have paid 500 l. and this is so usual that 't is commonly said I 'le bestow a Bill of Middlesex on such a man to stay him in Town that I may have his company into the Countrey when I go down And I my self was informed by a Sea-Captain who was a Sufferer in such an Arrest That there happen'd to be two Merchants in London each of which designed a Voyage to the same Port of Barbary whether he who could arrive first was assured he should to his great gain obtain the Prime of the Market to which purpose they both strove with all diligence possible which should be foremost at the Spring and it happen'd that he who had his Ship first ready had entertained this Captain of my acquaintance to command her for him and all being ready to set Sail the Captain would needs walk into the City to take his parting Cup and Farewell of his Friends where unexpectedly he was Arrested for 5000 l. though not owing a farthing and the same being a Choak-Bail-Sum he knew he should get none to be Surety for him and thereupon sent to his Merchant to inform him how he was boarded before he could get aboard who being much troubled that his Captain was taken by a Land Pyrat repaired to him and understanding from him that he did not owe the Party at whose Suit he was Arrested a farthing and knowing withal that it was done by the Spite of the other Merchant to stop his Ship from getting before him he gave Bail for his Captain and sent him immediately on the Voiage All which Mischiefs happen because there is no Law to compel to give a Copy of the Declaration and Oath of Calumny before Arrest by which all Fictions are prevented All the Judicial Transactions of Fines and Recoveries are Fictions Fictions of Fines and Recoveries so though we have fled from Land to Sea and back again from Sea to Land we know not where to find Rest for the Sole of our Foot from Fictions We are next come to another horrible cause of their Increase which is that no Averment or Probation to the contrary is admitted against the Sheriff or the Clerk nor the Returns or Records how Records which are nothing but the Scribling of Clerks in false Latine and Court-hand for their Fees come to be of higher Authority than the Scripture it self is strange for it was never denied except against Mahomets Alchoran but Averment and contrary Probation might be brought against the false Copying false Translating or false Printing of any word or Clause in the Scripture or it would be very difficult to overthrow Popery What greater reason is there of so many Forgeries of Clerks but that there is no Averment allowed against their Records nor contrary Probation whereby they may for Money insert what Fictions and Falsities they please Estopples are another mischievous cause and the denial of liberty of Travers as bad or worse than the other Turpia quid referam vanae mendacia Linguae I am weary and ashamed to recite so much reflecting so deeply on the Honourable and necessary Profession of the Law Pudet haec opprobria nobis Et dici potuisse non potuisse refelli But all this may be easily taken away of Fictions and Falsities if so small a matter of Form were but alter'd as to give liberty to Traverse all is false and to cause the Plaintiffs and Defendants to give Copies of their Declarations and Pleas and to give their Oath of Calumny to them for I saw it by experience in Scotland which I must acknowledg and testifie to the Honour of their Form of Judicial Proceedings That I could never for the space of Six Years observe the least Fiction in the same which I can attribute to no other cause than the wise and just Act of Parliament concerning the Oath of Calumny Jac. 1. P. 9. C. 125. and the present Practice accordingly which Act being short I have transcribed That Advocates and Fore-speakers in Temporal Courts sall Sweare THrow the consent of the hail Parliament it is Statute and Ordained That Advocates and Fore-speakers in Temporal Courts and alswa the Parties that they plead for gif they be present in all Causes in the beginning or
he be heard in the Cause he sall Swear that the Cause he Trowis is gud and leill that he sall Plead and gif the Principal Party be absent the Advocate sall Swear in the Saule of him after as is conteyned in thir meters Illud juretur quod Lis sibi justa videtur Et si quaeretur verum non insicietur Nil promittetur nec falsa probatio detur Vt Lis tardetur dilatio nulla petetur Of Judgment before Hearing Part of a Satyr translated out of Seneca page 685. on the Sottish Emperour Claudius who used to Sentence before Hearing Deflete virum Quo non alius Potuit citius Discere Causas Vna tantum Parte audita Saepe nutra Quis nunc Judex Toto lites Audiet Anno Tibi jam cedit Sede relicta Qui dat populo Jura Silenti Cretaea tenens Oppida Centum Cedite moestis Pectora palmis O Causidici Venale genus Vosque poetae Lugete novi Vosque in primis Qui concusso Magna parastis Lucra fritillo Weep for the Man All ye who can Then whom none would Or sooner could A Cause right catch Or it dispatch Though part but one He heard or none A Judg alas Is now an Ass He cannot hear In a whole Year Or end a Suit There 's such Dispute To thee give place Minos his Grace Though he hath Men And Ten times Ten Cities in Creete Who do him greete And with his Laws The silent aws Goblins and Ghosts With all their Hosts Oh Saleable Lawyers now Yell And likewise you Ye Poets new And you whose pains For easie Gains Causes to hast The Dice did cast It is further mention'd that when Claudius for this kind of Justice was Arrested in Hell on a Latitat and many complaints were there made against him by those who were injured thereby he desired he might be heard to answer for himself and espying there P. Petronius who had been his Creature while above ground he humbly requested Aeacus who was the Judg that Petronius might be of his Councel and plead his Cause for him Petronius having been used to the Trade while alive very readily Venit Defendit Vim injuriam quando but Aeacus sharply forbid him to speak being clear of opinion that Claudius who had condemned so many before Hearing ought in Justice to suffer the Talio and be himself so condemned he therefore to as many complainants as desired it gave liberty to lay more Arrests and more Bilbo's on him before Judgment and to as many as desired Judgments gave them as many as they would have before Hearing and to Execute as many punishments as they would against which he strugled much to have been heard to answer for himself yet they thrust such a Gag into his mouth that he was enforced to suffer many Judgments to pass against him on a Nihil Dicit Now though a feigned Aeacus is to be derided yet there is a Judg of the World who will not be mocked and though there are many forward enough to condemn Claudius yet may there too many if they will but inspect their own Forms of Judicial Proceeding find themselves guilty of as great if not worse Vices in their Judicatories than he An Enumeration of divers Forms of Judicial Proceeding whereby the People are Condemn'd and Judgment pass'd against them before Hearing The First is When Men are repell'd from shewing the Truth and Merit of their Cause and compellâ—d to make their Allegations in Formalities and Fictions A Dispute between two Judges concerning Formality and Truth in Judicial Proceeding The point of Formality in Judicial Proceedings is very well Disputed by two famous Judges Fitzherbert and Brook 14. H. 8.25 b. Where the Case was this In an Action of Debt brought on an Obligation indorsed with a Condition to perform all Covenants in an Indenture between the Defendant and Plaintiff which Indenture contained Four Covenants One whereof was That a stranger should be Clerk to the Sheriff who was then Plaintiff and also that the stranger should pay at the Profers Seventeen Pounds at such a Feast and Thirty Pounds more at such a Feast and other Covenants which he Recites and saith further That he was a Lay-man and not Letter'd and that the Indenture was read to him concerning no more than the two first Covenants and no other which two he had paid and performed and so damands Judgment Si Actio and says not Et sic non est factum on which Plea the Sergeants demur'd in Law Fitzherbert I conceive this a good Plea for by the Law a man is Compellable to no more than only to shew the matter of his Case in Truth and good Sentence and if the Parties in their shewing cannot agree then to join Issue upon the matter of Fact on which they differ and put it on Trial of the Jury and then the Judg on the Truth of the matter of Fact found shall adjudg what is the Law and here it seems the Defendant hath shewn in Truth and good Sentence for he hath shewn he was a Lay-man and not Letter'd and that only two of the Covenants in the Indenture were read unto him and no more and I think he is only bound to perform what was read to him and so the Obligation to be good for the same and void for the Residue which was not read and I find it adjudged 47. E. 3. where one was bound to an ignorant Lay-man who was not Letter'd in an Hundred Pounds to be paid at several days of payment and at the first day the Obligor made due payment for what was then to be paid and the Obligee made him an Acquittance of the first Sum and in the end of the Acquittance was added a general Release and of this only that part was read to the Obligee which was an Acquittance of the first Sum but the part which mention'd a general Release was not read and this matter was pleaded in an Action of Debt after brought against the Obligor and it made the Acquittance which was read good and the Release which was not read void and so the Deed was adjudged good for part and void for part and it would be a great Mischief if it should be otherwise for in the same Case if the Deed should be void in whole then the Obligor should lose all the Money he paid and if it should be good in the whole then the Obligee should lose his Obligation which were unreasonable that any man should be deceived by his Ignorance of the Fact though he may by his Ignorance of the Law And here the Defendant being bound to perform two of the Conditions in the Indenture which were read to him he cannot plead non est factum for that would be a Lie and contrary to the Truth of his own confession therefore seeing he hath pleaded the Truth in good Order and good Sentence and concludes Judgment Si Actio I think he cannot plead or conclude in any
Moral Law of God of Truth and Equity neither if these Writs were Formed according to the Truth and Equity of the Moral Law of God is it possible a sufficient number should be Formed for Writs are finite and Cases of Equity infinite and not to be put in Writs or written except by God in the Fleshly Tables of the Heart and in the Spiritual Tables of the Soul it self and Conscience It will be asked How could they subsist before H. 6. without a Sub paena and Equity from a Chancellour seeing the Common Law Writs could not supply it and what expedient is there now how Equity may be supplied To which I answer That Equity was then supplied by the Writ of Right and Justicies the Titles of both which Writs signifie Equity and likewise other Writs and the General Issues Formed on them of the Meer Right Not Guilty Null Tort Null dissersint Nihil debet guided the Jury to find according to Right and Equity by the Moral Law of God and not the Ceremonial Law of Man till the Judges to wrest the Power belonging to Jurors into their own hands brought in the Tender of the Demy mark to turn the Issue of meer Right into a Possessary Issue and instead of Truth brought in the Pictions of Colours destroyed the Justicies by Writs of Remover gave way to false Laying of Counties in Transitory Actions changed Venues granted new Trials abated Declarations for Variance from the Bond and not Sueing for what was paid as well as for what was not granting Arrests of Judgment after Verdict and not permitting to demur first to the Law and after to plead to the Fact before Verdict prohibited on the Issue Not Guilty matters of Justification to be given in Evidence admitted Demurs to Evidence admitted special Verdicts caused Juries to be of an even and not of an odd number and the Verdict not to be according to the Plurality of Votes and many other ways they had to weary Juries from giving a Verdict according to Conscience and Equity or when they had so given it to same I conclude therefore to compell men to Commence Suites by Writs in the present Age is to condemn them without Hearing of the Equity and Merits of their Cause and to compell them to revive again those Ancient Writs and trie Equity by Juries hath many great inconveniences before mention'd to be incident to all Writs especially such as are Antiquated and not understood but all these mischiefs are salved by Commencing Suites by a Copy of the Declaration Sworn in stead of a Writ which cannot be Sworn and a Judg Commissionated with Jurisdiction of Fact Law and Equity under Appeal which single Judg in a Court by himself sitting without Vacation as a Chancellour hath Power to do will no doubt be able to dispatch more Causes without troubling any Writs Juries or Councel at the Bar and more justly and under Account in one Year then 't is possible for any Chancellour with Plurality of Offices or Court with Plurality of Judges Juries and Councel at the Bar to do in Seven 6. Men are condemned before Hearing on the Capias Vtlagatum and Excommunicato Capiendo A Satyr on a Papist and a Protestant Imprison'd one on an Outlawry the other on an Excommunicato Capiendo against Imprisonment before Hearing A Papist and a Protestant Who used when they met to Rant About the Altar and the Rail Were both together Clapt in Gaol The first was catch'd by an Outlawry The last whose Conscience did vary From Bishops and their Common Prayer As Felon or a false Betrayer Was therefore Excommunicate And put to beg within a Grate Pap. Brother then quoth the Papist sad Are Protestants too grown so mad To have an Inquisition here Who thus can though no cause appear Forfeit our Goods and Selves at will In Prisons cold to starve and kill Before they Hear us doest not know Amongst our selves it is not so Who by Experience wiser grown Will Inquisition now have none Witness the Rich Venetian And wary Dutch who late began For Liberty against such Lords And Swisse with their two handed Swords For this Proud Aragon Rebell d And Naples Silk-men hardly quell'd And many more abhor'd such Tricks Yet are they all good Catholicks So Holland justly now prevents Imprisonment of Innocents And makes to help the Poor opprest Before a Judgment no Arrest Is this the Charta and of Right Petition for which you fight That every ' Torney and his Clerk Who use to live upon the shark Forge all the Outlawries they please Remedies worse than the Disease And that Poor men may be betray'd First Forge the County where 't is laid They Forge and Antedate the Writs Of Parchment cut in little Bits Then next they Forge the Sheriffs name And Forge Returns upon the same They Proclamations Forge and Feign And Exigends next without pain And all this Knavery you may spie Page Sixth of the Academy Which is their Mother and their Nurse Teachers to Forge and Steal of course Such Clerks deserve hanged to be As Nicholas Clerks upon a Tree And thus though made them to prevent They fool all Acts of Parliament For no Averment must deny The Shrieve or Clerk although they lie Is this the Liberty so proud You use to cry it up aloud And Property you so much Vant That every Papist it doth want What Purgatory can you tell Is worse than this on Earth your Hell Or what Hell is there more worth fearing Than Your Damnation without Hearing He neither shews me Time or Place Nor Witnesses brought Face to Face My Goods are all Confiscated My very Wives and Children's Bed The Bailies Seised without account Of Price to what they did amount Or Witness Writings Boxes Chest And Money too on a Suggest And Lies and Fictions in worse case I am than Felons in this Place Their Goods although the Law is strict Not Forfeit are until Convict But left to feed them Oh the blest Justice is shewn to men distrest By Protestants who only you Say have the Religion true But Christ says Know them by their Works Which shews you worse than Jews or Turks I have not left a Bit of Bread Witness these unfeign'd Tears I shed The Plaintiff asks of me a Sum As at the Dreadful Day of Doom I answer shall and God doth know I do not him a Farthing ow Yet can I not although I try Be brought to answer or deny His Forged Stuff or see the Face Of Judg or Jury on the Place But here to perish am designed And to this Dungeon confined Unless I give what e're he 'l ask This is my miserable Task I think you now turn Witches too The Rogues the mischief who did do To bring me here sure had a Spell What Language 't was I cannot tell 'T was written in a little scrow Half-words and dash't that none might know Or ratâ—er scratch'd it was in Soot With Devils Claw or Cloven Foot Prot.