Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	case_n	court_n	reverse_v	2,041	5	12.2818	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28308	Some remarks upon government, and particularly upon the establishment of the English monarchy relating to this present juncture in two letters / written by and to a member of the great convention, holden at Westminster the 22nd of January, 1689.	A. B.; N. T.	1689 (1689)	Wing B31; ESTC R2761	23,032	29

of the Nations why then their Supreme and Legislative power is not worth a Rush for the King though he has no absolute power himself yet has a power above this to destroy it by a Dissolution or Prorogation when he pleases and so like the Cat in the Manger can neither eat Hay himself nor suffer the Horse to eat to whom it belongs This seems contrary to all the Rules of Art and Nature and more Unintelligible than the Doctrine of the Trinity or Transubstantiation for here the Supreme power is subject to an Inferior and the King who is Minor Universis yet is also Major and Superior to them That Power which was given for the Protection of the People is their Destroyer and the great and weighty Affairs of the Nation becomes subject to the passions and humours of a single Person This I think I may safely affirm That all Governments are built upon wrong bottoms where there is not a Supreme and Absolute Power which may without Controll and upon any suddain Occasion or Emergency alter create or repeal such Laws as shall be thought by them necessary for the Peoples Good. Another thing that has been very incongruous and disagreeable in our Establishment is That the Election of the Judges and consequently the pronouncing of the Law should be in the Kings Power If indeed he were a Third Person unconcern'd in point of Interest this Method would be more tolerable but being One that so often sets up an Interest different from that of his People and is subject to be seduc'd by the evil Councels of a Confessor Miss or Favourite and the Peoples Rights hanging wholly upon the Lips of these twelve men in Scarlet it is most fit they should be chosen by Them who are chiefly concern'd and for whose benefit and protection both the King and Laws were first made and intended otherwise that very Prerogative which was given to the King only for the better enabling him to act for the benefit of the People may be and often is set up against them It is contrary to all Rule that in any Controversie a Man should be Judge in his own Case But he in effect is so who has power to make or unmake the Judge at pleasure nor can this defect be well remedyed by granting their Commissions quam diu se bene gesserint This will only oblige a greater care in the first choice that they may be such as in their Principles will stand firm to the Kings Interest The Honour and Income of a Judge to one that knows not how otherways to live is a violent Provocative it is a sort of lawful Bribery upon him to pursue his Maker and Destroyers Commands tho against all the Rules of Justice and Equity self Preservation is his Warrant binds him to a Complyance and makes him think it more allowable to break his Oath then to destroy his Honour and the Interest of a young Favourite who makes hay with great diligence whilst his Sun shines I have often wondered at the unjust Censures of some in saying that our late King so often and so notoriously broke his word and promises to his People in not Governing them according to Law. For Instances they urge His Dispensing with Statutes and his hard Usage of the Gentlemen in Maudlin Colledge in both which I conceive he committed no breach of his Word or Promises if they be taken strictly and in a literal sense This I think may easily be granted if it be consider'd That the present Laws and Constitutions of England are such as do undoubtedly give the King a Power to make the Judge and to the Judge a power to pronounce the Law. What he does judicially affirm is Law and becomes from thenceforth the strongest President the last Judgment being always esteem'd the surest and best Rule to go by Now the King in both these transactions neither made or turnd out any Judges but in such methods that former Judges had pronounc'd Lawful nor did he do afterwards any thing either in the case of Maudlin Colledge or the Dispensing Power but with the Opinion and Concurrence of his Judges being the Method that our Establishment and Laws in such Cases does direct There is also a great Cry against the late Judges for giving their Opinions and pronouncing Judgments contrary to the Laws of the Land and no other Fate must be their reward but that of Tresilian and Belknap It does I must confess seem very reasonable that Men who by their Honour Oaths and Rewards were bound indistinguishably to administer Justice should smart for those Delinquencies by which so many Hundreds have been ruin'd and undone But in the first place let me know how a Judge can give his Opinion contrary to Law whose very Opinion judicially given by the Constitutions of our Government is Law it self and shall be deem'd a stronger President in the point than any other formerly given And Secondly If Judges must suffer for giving Sentence contrary to former Judgments there is scarcely a Term passes even in the best of Times but there are Offences committed by them of this kind How ordinary is it for a Judge to give his Opinion in common Cases contrary to his Brethren on the same Bench and for one Court to reverse the Judgments of another And how full are the Law Books of Judgments and Opinions directly contrary to each other The Law is not Mathematically demonstrable it is a Science which depends upon the Judgment and Opinion only of those that are Learned therein which we often find various and uncertain Is not a Judge Sworn to act and determine according to his Opinion only and who can pretend a power to direct and rectifie it or to judge whether the Sentence given was not according to his real judgment since none can know his heart and thoughts but God And suppose it could be prov'd by Demonstration that his Sentence or Opinion was not Law this may proceed as well from his want of Knowledge as Honesty and what Law is there to punish a Judges ignorance or mistake 'T is hard that Men should be deem'd guilty of a Transgression where there is no Law or condemn'd to punishment where there is no Transgression No no Thô our King was misguided and our Judges were corrupt yet it is not at their doors we must lay our Misfortunes but to the weakness of our Government which gives a Loose to these Inconveniencies and which pins the Justice of the Nation upon the Frailties of a single Man in so Arbitrary a manner Opportunity makes a Thief and these Meshes in the Government tempts the Ministers thereof to slip through sometimes when a Bait lies on the other side to invite them to it It is from this Root that all our late Miscarriages sprung We suffer'd much and yet it was all but little if compar'd to that which was likely to befall us had not Providence snatcht us by a Miracle from the Jaws of