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	error_n	writ_n	6,847	5	9.6947	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56321	The declaration of John Pym Esquire upon the whole matter of the charge of high treason against Thomas Earle of Strafford, April 12, 1641 with An argument of law concerning the bill of attainder of high treason of the said Earle of Strafford, before a committee of both Houses of Parliament, in Westminster Hall by Mr. St. Iohn His Majesties solicitor Generall, on Thursday, April 29, 1641 / both published by order of the Commons House.	Pym, John, 1584-1643.; St. John, Oliver, 1598?-1673. Argument of law concerning the bill of attainder of high-treason of Thomas Earle of Strafford.	1641 (1641)	Wing P4262; ESTC R182279	46,678	116

The Kings writ runs not within the County Palatine of Chester and Durham nor within the five Ports neither did it in Wales before the union in Henry the eighth's time after the Lawes of England were brought into Wales in King Edward the first 's time suits were not originally commenced in Westminst Hall for things done in them yet this never excluded the Parliament suits for life lands and goods within those jurisdictions are determinable in Parliament as well as in any other parts of the Realme Ireland as appeares by the Statute of the thirtieth yeer of Henry the third before mentioned is united to the Crowne of England By the Statute of the eight and twentieth yeere of Henry the sixth in Ireland it is declared in these words That Ireland is the proper Dominion of England and united to the Crowne of England which Crowne of England is of it selfe and by it selfe fully wholly and entirely endowed with all power and authority sufficient to yeeld to the subjects of the same full and plenary remedy in all debates and suits whatsoever By the Statute of the three and thirtieth yeer of Henry the eighth the first Chapter when the Kings of England first assumed the title of King of Ireland it is there enacted That Ireland still is to bee held as a Crown annexed and united to the Crown of England So that by the same reason from this that the Kings writ runs not in Ireland it might aswell bee held that the Parliament cannot originally hold plea of things done within the County Palatine of Chester Durham nor within the five Ports Wales Ireland is part of the Realme of England as appears by those Statutes aswell as any of them This is made good by constant practice In all the Parliament rolls from the first to the last there are receivers and tryers of petitions appointed for Ireland For the Irish to come so farre with their petitions for justice and the Parliament not to have cognizance when from time to time they had in the beginning of the Parliament appointed receivers and tryers of them is a thing not to bee presumed An appeale in Ireland brought by William Lord Vescye against John Fitz Thomas for treasonable words there spoken before any Judgement given in the case there was removed into the Parliament in England and there the defendant acquitted as appeares in the Parliament pleas of the two and twentieth yeere of Edward the first The suits for lands offices and goods originally begun here are many and if question grew upon matter in fact a Jury usually ordered to try it and the verdict returned into Parliament as in the case of one Balliben in the Parliament of the five and thirtieth yeere of Edward the first If doubt arose upon a matter triable by Record a writ went to the Officers in whose custody the Record remained to certifie the Record as was in the case of Robert Bagot the same Parliament of the five and thirtieth yeere of Edward the first where the writs went to the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer Sometimes they gave judgement here in Parliament and commanded the Judges there in Ireland to doe execution as in the great case of petition between the coparceners of the Earle Marshall in the Parliament of the three and thirtieth yeere of Edward the first where the writ was awarded to the Treasurer of Ireland My Lords The Lawes of Ireland were introduced by the Parliaments of England as appeares by three Acts of Parliament before cited It is of higher jurisdiction dare Leges then to judge by them The Parliaments of England doe binde in Ireland if Ireland bee particularly mentioned as is resolved in the Book case of the first yeere of Henry the seventh Cokes seventh Report Calvins case and by the Judges in Trinity Terme in the three and thirtieth yeere of Queene Elizabeth The Statute of the eighth yeere of Edward the fourth the first Chapter in Ireland recites that it was doubted amongst the Judges whether all the English Statutes though not naming Ireland were in force there if named no doubt From King Henry the third his time downward to the eighth yeere of Queene Elizabeth by which Statute it is made felony to carry sheepe from Ireland beyond seas in almost all these Kings reignes there be Statutes made concerning Ireland The exercising of the Legislative power there over their lives and estates is higher then of the Judiciall in question Untill the nine and twentieth yeere of Edward the third erroneous judgements given in Ireland were determinable no where but in England no not in the Parliaments of Ireland as it appeares in the close rolls in the Tower in the nine and twentieth yeere of Edward the third membr 12. Power to examine and reverse erroneous judgements in the Parliaments of Ireland is granted from hence Writs of errour lie in the Parliament hereupon erroneous judgements after that time given in the Parliaments of Ireland as appears in the Parliament rolls of the eighth yeere of Henry the sixth no. 70. in the case of the Prior of Lenthan It is true the case is not determined there for it 's the last thing that came into the Parliament and could not be determined for want of time but no exception at all is taken to the jurisdiction The Acts of Parliament made in Ireland have bin confirmed in the Parliaments of England as appears by the close rolls in the Tower in the two and fortieth yeere of Edward the third memb 20. dorso where the Parliament in Ireland for the preservation of the Countrey from the Irish who had almost destroyed it made an Act that all the land owners that were English should reside upon their lands or else they were to bee forfeited This was here confirmed In the Parliament of the fourth yeer of Henry the fifth chap. 6. Acts of Parliament in Ireland are confirmed and some priviledges of the Peeres in the Parliaments there are regulated Power to repeale Irish Statutes power to confirme them cannot be by the Parliament here if it hath not cognizance of their Parliaments unlesse it be said That the Parliament may doe it knowes not what Garnesey and Jersey are under the Kings subjection but are not parcels of the Crowne of England but of the Duchy of Normandy they are not governed by the Lawes of England as Ireland is and yet Parliaments in England have usually held plea of and determined all causes concerning lands or goods In the Parliament of 33. H. i● there be plactia de Insula Jernesey and so in the Parliament 14. E. 2. and so for Normandy and Gascoyne and alwaies as long as any part of France was in subjection to the Crown of England there were at the beginning of the Parliaments receivers and tryers of petitions for those parts appointed I beleeve your Lordships will have no cases shewed of any plea to the jurisdiction of the Parliaments of England in any things done in any

was full of horror and malignity yet it is past many years since The murder of that Magnanimous and glorious King Henry the fourth of France was a great and horrid Treason And so were those manifold attempts against Qu. Elizabeth of blessed memory but they are long since past the Detestation of them only remains in Histories and in the minds of men and will ever remain But this Treason if it had taken effect was to be a standing perpetuall Treason which would have been in continuall act not determined within one time or age but transmitted to Posterity even from generation to generation The tenth Consideration is this That as it is a Crime odious in the nature of it so it is odious in the judgement and estimation of the Law To alter the setled frame and constitution of Government is Treason in any estate The Laws whereby all other parts of a Kingdome are preserved should be very vain and defective if they had not a power to secure and preserve themselves The forfeitures inflicted for Treason by our Law are of Life Honour and Estate even all that can be forfeited and this Prisoner having committed so many Treasons although he should pay all these forfeitures will be still a Debtor to the Common-wealth Nothing can be more equall then that he should perish by the Justice of that Law which he would have subverted Neither wil this be a new way of bloud There are marks enough to trace this Law to the very originall of this Kingdome And if it hath not been put in execution as he alledgeth this 240. years it was not for want of Law but that all that time hath not bred a man bold enough to commit such Crimes as these which is a circumstance much aggravating his offence and making him no whit lesse liable to punishment because he is the onely man that in so long a time hath ventured upon such a Treason as this It belongs to the charge of another to make it appear to your Lordships that the Crimes and Offences proved against the Earle of Strafford are High Treason by the Lawes and Statutes of this Realm whose learning and other abilities are much better for that service But for the time and manner of performing this we are to resort to the Direction of the House of Commons having in this which is already done dispatched all those instructions which wee have received and concerning further proceedings for clearing all Questions and Objections in Law your Lordships will hear from the House of Commons in convenient time FINIS AN ARGVMENT of Law concerning the Bill of ATTAINDER of HIGH-TREASON of THOMAS Earle of Strafford At a Conference in a Committe of both Houses of Parliament By Mr. St. JOHN his Majesties Solicitor GENERALL Published by order of the Commons House LONDON Printed by G. M. for John Bartlet at the signe of the gilt Cup neare S. Austins-gate in Pauls Church-yard 1641. Mr. St. IOHN's Argument My Lords THE Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Commons House of Parliament have passed a Bill for the attainting of Thomas Earle of Strafford of High-Treason The Bill hath been transmitted from them to your Lordships It concernes not him alone but your Lordships and the Commons too though in different Respects It is to make him as miserable a man as man or Law can make him Not losse of life alone but with that of honour name posterity and estate Of all that 's deare to all To use his owne expression an eradication of him both root and branch as an Achan a troubler of the State as an execrable as an accursed thing This Bill as it concernes his Lordship the highest that can be in the penall part so doth it on the other side as highly concerne your Lorships and the Commons in that which ought to be the tendrest the Judicatory within that that judge not them who judge him And in that which is most sacred amongst men the publike Justice of the Kingdome The Kingdome is to be accounted unto for the losse of the meanest member much more for one so neare the head The Commons are concerned in their Account for what is done your Lordships in that which is to be done The Businesse therefore of the present Conference is to acquaint your Lordships with those things that satisfied the Commons in passing of this Bill such of them as have come within my capacity and that I can remember I am Commanded from the Commons at this time to present unto your Lordships My Lords in Judgements of greatest moment there are but two waies for satisfying those that are to give them Either the Lex lata the Law already established Or els the use of the same power for making new Lawes whereby the old at first received life In the first consideration of the setled Lawes In the degrees of punishment the positive Law received by generall consent and for the common good is sufficient to satisfie the Conscience of the Judge in giving Judgement according to them In severall Countries there is not the same measure of punishment for one and the same offence Wilfull murder in Ireland is Treason and so is the wilfull burning of a house or stacke of Corne. In the Isle of Man it 's fellony to steale a Hen but not to steale a Horse and yet the Judge in Ireland hath as just a ground to give Judgement of high Treason in those Cases there as here to give Judgement onely of Fellony and in the Isle of Man of Felony for the Hen as heere of pettie Larceny My Lords in the other consideration of using the Supreame power the same Law gives power to the Parliament to make new Lawes that enables the inferiour Court to judge according to the old The rule that guides the conscience of the Inferior Court is from without the prescripts of the Parliament and of the Common Law in the other the rule is from within That salus populi be concerned That therebe no wilfull oppression of any the fellow members that no more blood be taken then what is necessary for the Cure the Lawes and Customes of the Realme as well enable the exercise of this as of the ordinary and Judiciall power My Lords what hath beene said is because that this proceeding of the Commons by way of Bill implies the use of the meere Legis-Lative power in respect new Lawes are for the most part past by Bill This my Lords though just and Legall and therefore not wholy excluded yet it was not the only ground that put the Commons upon the Bill they did not intend to make a new Treason and to condemne my Lord of Strafford for it they had in it other Considerations likewise which were to this effect First the Commons knew that in all former ages if doubts of Law arose upon cases of great and generall Concernement the Parliament was usually consulted withall for resolution which is the reason that many Acts of

here in the Kings bench that was in Trinity tearme in the three-and-thirtie yeare of Henry the eight this was before the making of that Statute Obj. To this againe will bee said that it was for treason by the Lawes and Statutes of England but this is not for anything that 's treason by the Law of England but by an Irish Statute So that the question is onely whether your Lordships in Parliament heere have cognizance of an offence made treason by an Irish Statute in the ordinary way of judicature without bill for so is the present question For the clearing of this I shall propound two things to your Lordships consideration Whether the rule for expounding the Irish Statutes and customes bee one and the same in England as in Ireland That being admitted whether the Parliaments in England have cognizance or jurisdiction of things there done in respect of the place because the Kings writ runnes not there For the first if in respect of the place the Parliament here hath cognizance there And secondly if the rules for expounding the Irish Statutes and Customes bee the same here as there this exception as I humbly conceive must fall away In England there is the common law the Statutes the acts of Parliament and customes peculiar to certaine places differing from the common law if any question arise concerning either a custome or an act of Parliament the common law of England the first the primative and the generall law that 's the rule and expositour of them and of their severall extents it is so heere it is so in Ireland the common law of England is the common law of Ireland likewise the same here and there in all the parts of it It was introduced into Ireland by King John and afterwards by King Harry the third by act of Parliament held in England as appeares by the pattent Rolls of the 30. yeare of King Henry the third the first membrana The words are Quia pro communi utilitate terrae Hiberniae unitate terrarum Regis Rex vult de communi consilio Regis provisum est quod omnes leges consuetudines quae in regno Angliae tenentur in Hibernia teneantur eadem terra eisdem legibus subjaceat per easdem regatur sicut Dominus Johannes Rex cum ultimo esset in Hibernia statuit fierimandavit Quia c. Rex vult quod omnia brevia de communi Jure quae currunt in Anglia similiter currant in Hibernia sub novo sigillo Regis mandatum est Archiepiscopis c. quod pro pace tranquillitate ejusdem terrae per casdem leges eos regi deduci permittant ea 〈◊〉 omnibus sequantur In cujus c. Teste Rege apud Woodstock decimo none die Septembris Here 's an union of both Kingdomes and that by act of Parliament and the same Lawes to bee used here as there in omnibus My Lords That nothing might bee left here for an exception that is that in treasons felonies and other capitall offences concerning life the Irish lawes are not the same as here Therefore it is enacted in a Parliament held in England in the fourteenth yeere of Edward the second it is not in print neither but is in the Parliament book That the Laws concerning life and member shall be the same in Ireland as in England And that no exception might yet remaine in a Parliament held in England the fifth yeere of Edward the third It is enacted quod una eadem Lex fiat tam Hibernicis quam Anglicis This Act is enrolled in the Patent rolls of the fifth yeere of Edward the third part 1. memb 35. The Irish therefore receiving their Lawes from hence they send their Students at Law to the Innes of Courts in England where they receive their degree and of them and of the common Lawyers of this Kingdome are the Judges made My Lords The petitions have been many from Ireland to send from hence some Judges more learned in the Lawes then those they had there It hath been frequent in cases of difficulty there to send sometimes to the Parliament here sometimes to the King by advice from the Judges here to send them resolutions of their doubts Amongst many I 'll cite your Lordships onely one because it is in a case of Treason upon an Irish Statute and therefore full to this point By a Statute there made in the fifth yeere of Edward the fourth there is provision made for such as upon suggestions are committed to prison for Treason that the party committed if he can procure 24. Compurgators shall be bailed and let out of prison Two Citizens of Dublin were by a grand Jury presented to have committed Treason They desired the benefit of this Statute that they might bee let out of prison upon tender of their Compurgators The words of the Statute of the fifth yeere of Edward the fourth in Ireland being obscure the Judges there not being satisfied what to doe sent the case over to the Queene desired the opinion of the Judges here which was done accordingly The Judges here sent over their opinion which I have out of the Booke of Justice Anderson one of the Judges consulted withall The Judges here delivered opinion upon an Irish Statute in case of Treason If it bee objected That in this case the Judges here did not judge upon the party their opinions were onely ad informandum conscientiam of the Judges in Ireland that the judgement belonged to the Judges there My Lords with submission this and the other Authorities prove that for which they were cited that is That no absurdity no failer of Justice would ensue if this great Judicatory should judge of Treason so made by an Irish Statute The common Law the rule of Judging upon an Irish Statute the pleas of the Crowne for things of life and death are the same here and there This is all that hath yet been offered For the second point That England hath no power of Judicature for things done in Ireland My Lords the constant practice of all ages proves the contrary Writs of errour in Pleas of the Crowne as well as in civill causes have in all Kings reignes beene brought here even in the inferiour Courts of Westminster Hall upon judgements given in the Courts of Ireland The practice is so frequent so well known as that I shall cite none of them to your Lordships no president will I beleeve bee produced to your Lordships that ever the case was remanded back againe into Ireland because the question rose upon an Irish Statute or custome But it will be said That writs of errour are only upon a failer of justice in Ireland and that suits cannot originally be commenced here for things done in Ireland because the Kings writ runs not in Ireland This might bee a good plea in the Kings Bench and inferiour Courts at Westminster Hall the question is whether it bee so in Parliament

parts wheresoever in subjection to the Crowne of England The last thing I shall offer to your Lordships is the case of 19. El. in my Lord Dyer 306. and Judge Cromptons book of the jurisdiction of Courts fol. 23. The opinion of both these Books is That an Irish Peer is not triable here It 's true a Scotish or French Nobleman is triable here as a common person the Law takes no notice of their Nobility because those Countries are not governed by the Lawes of England but Ireland being governed by the same Laws the Peers there are triable according to the Law of England onely per pares By the same reason the Earle of Strafford not being a Peere of Ireland is not triable by the Peers of Ireland so that if hee bee not triable here hee is triable no where My Lords In case there be a Treason and a Traitor within the Statute and that he be not triable here for it in the ordinary way of judicature if that jurisdiction failes this by way of Bill doth not Attainders of Treason in Parliament are as legall as usuall by Act of Parliament as by Judgement I have now done with the Statutes of 25. E. 3. and 18. H. 6. My Lord of Strafford hath offended against both the Kingdomes and is guilty of high Treason by the Lawes of both 5 My Lords In the fifth place I am come to the Treasons at the common Law The endevouring to subvert the fundamentall Lawes and government of the Kingdome and to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannicall government In this I shall not at all labour to prove that the endevouring by words counsels and actions to subvert the Lawes is treason at the common Law if there be any common Law treasons at all left nothing treason if this not to make a Kingdome no Kingdome take the politic and government away England's but a piece of earth wherein so many men have their commorancy abode without ranks or distinction of men without propertie in anything further then possession no Law to punish the murdering or robbing one another That of 33. H. 8. of introducing the Imperiall Law sticks not with your Lordships It was in case of an appeal to Rome these appeals in cases of marriages other causes counted Ecclesiasticall had been frequent had in most Kings reigns been tolerated some in times of Popery put a conscience upon them the Statutes had limited the penalty to a Premunire only Neither was that a totall subversion only an Appeale from the Ecclesiasticall Court here in a single cause to the Court at Rome and it treason or not that case proves not a treason may be punished as a felony a felony as a trespasse if his Majesty so please the greater includes the lesser In the case of Premunire in the Irish reports that which is there declared to be treason proceeded upon only as a Premunire The thing most considerable in this is whether the treasons at common Law be taken away by the Stat. of 25. E. 3. 1. H. 4. or 1. Q. M. or any of them My Lords To say they bee taken away by the Stat. of 25. E. 3. is to speak against both the direct words and scope of that Statute In it there 's this clause That because many other like cases of treason might fall out which are not there declared therefore it is enacted That if any such case come before the Judges they shall not proceed to judgement till the case bee declared in Parliament whether it ought to be adjudged treason or not These words and the whole scope of that Statute showes That it was not the meaning to take away any treasons that were so before but onely to regulate the jurisdiction and manner of tryall Those that were single certain Acts as Conspiring the Kings death Levying warre Counterfeiting the money or great Seal Killing a Judge these are left to the ordidinary Courts of Justice The others not depending upon single Acts but upon constructions and necessary inferences they thought it not fit to give the inferiour Courts so great a latitude here as too dangerous to the subject those they strained to the Parliament This Statute was the great security of the subject made with such wisdome as all the succeeding ages have approved it It hath often passed through the fornace but like gold hath lost little or nothing The Statute of 1. H. 4. cap. 10. is in these words Whereas in the Parliament held the 21. yeere of Richard the second divers paines of treasons were ordained insomuch that no man did know how to behave himselfe to doe say or speake It is accorded that in no time to come any treason be adjudged otherwise then it was ordained by the Statute of 25. E. 3. It hath bin said To what end is this Statute made if it takes not away the common Law treasons remaining after the Statute of 25. E. 3. There be two maine things which this Statute doth First it takes away for the future all the Treasons made by any Statute since 25. Ed. 3. to 1. Hen. 4. even to that time For in respect that by another Act in that Parliament the Statute of 21. E. 2. was repealed it will not bee denyed but that this Statute repeales more treasons then these of 21. E. 2. it repeals all Statute treasons but those in 25. E. 3. Secondly It not only takes away the Statute treasons but likewise the declared treasons in Parliament after 25. E. 3. as to the future After declaration in Parliament the inferiour Courts might judge these treasons for the declaration of a treason in Parliament after it was made was sent to the inferiour Courts that toties quoties the like case fell out they might proceed therein the subject for the future was secured against these so that this Statute was of great use By the very words of it it still referrs all treasons to the provision of 25. E. 3. it leaves that entire and upon his old bottome The Statute of 1. Q. M. cap. 1. saith That no offences made treason by any Act of Parliament shall thenceforth be taken or adjudged to bee treason but onely such as be declared and expressed to bee treason by the Statute of 25. E. 3. concerning treason or the declaration of treason and no others And further provides that no pains of death penaltie or forfeiture in any wise shall ensue for committing any treason other then such as be in the Statute of 25. E. 3. ordained and provided any Acts of Parliament or any declaration or matter to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding By the first part of this Statute onely offences made Treason by Act of Parliament are taken away the Common Law Treasons are no way touched The words and no others refer still to offences made treason by Act of Parliament they restraine not to the treasons onely particularly mentioned in the Statute of 25. E. 3. but leave that Statute entire as

would have done to others It s true we give law to Hares and Deeres because they be beasts of Chase It was never accounted either cruelty or foul play to knock Foxes and Wolves on the head as they can be found because these be beasts of prey The Warrener sets traps for Powlcats and other Vermine for preservation of the Warren Further my Lords most dangerous diseases if not taken in time they kill Errors in great things as Warre and Marriage they allow no time for repentance it would have been too late to make a law when there had been no law My Lords for further answer to this objection he hath offended a law a law within the endeavouring to subvert the lawes and politie of the state wherein he lived which had so long and with such faithfulnesse protected his Ancestry himself and his whole family it was not malum quia prohibitum it was malum in se against the dictates of the dullest conscience against the light of nature they not having the law were a law to themselves Besides this he knew a law without That the Parliament in cases of this nature had potestatem vitae necis Nay he well knew that he offended the promulged and ordinary rules of law Crimes against law have been proved have been confessed so that the question is not de culpa sed de poena what degree of punishment those faults deserve we must differ from him in opinion that twenty felonies cannot make a treason if it be meant of equality in the use of the Legislative power for he that deserves death for one of these felonies alone deserves a death more painful and more ignominious for all together Every felony is punished with losse of life lands and goods a felony may bee aggravated with those circumstances as that the Parliament with good reason may adde to the circumstances of punishment as was done in the case of John Hall in the Parliament of 1. H. 4. who for a barbarous murder committed upon the Duke of Glocester stifling him between two feather-beds at Calice was adjudged to be hanged drawn and quartered Batteries by Law are punishable only by fine and single dammages to the party wounded In the Parliament held in 1. H. 4. cap. 6. one Savadge committed a Battery upon one Chedder fervant to Sir John Brooke a knight of the Parliament for Sommersetshire It s there enacted that he shall pay double dammages and stand convicted if he render not himselfe by such a time The manner of proceedings quickned the penalty doubled the circumstances were considered it concerned the Common-wealth it was Battery with breach of priviledge of Parliament This made a perpetuall Act no warning to the first offendor And in the Kings Bench as appears by the booke case of 9. H. 4. the first leafe double dammages were recovered My Lords in this of the Bill the offence is high and generall against the King and the Common-wealth against all and the best of all If every Felony be losse of life lands and goods what is misuser of the Legislative power by addition of Ignominie in the death and disposall of the lands to the Crowne the publicke patrimony of the kingdome But it was hoped that your Lordships had no more skill in the Art of killing of men then your worthy Ancestors My Lords this appeale from your selves to your Ancestors we admit of although we do not admit of that from your Lordships to the Peers of Ireland He hath appealed to them your Lordships will be pleased to heare what Judgement they have already given in the Case that is the severall attainders of treason in Parliament after the Statute of 25. E. 3. for treasons not mentioned nor within that Statute and those upon the first offendors without warning given By the Statute of 25. E. 3. its treason to levy war against the King Gomines and Weston afterwards in Parliament in 1. R. 2. num 38. 39. adjudged traitors for surrendring two severall Castles in France onely out of feare without any compliance with the Enemy this not within the Statute of 25. E. 3. My Lords in 3. R. 2. John Imperiall that came into England upon letters of safe conduct as an Agent for the state of Genoah sitting in the Evening before his doore in Breadstreete as the words of the Records are paulo ante ignitegium John Kirby and another Citizen comming that way casually Kirby trode upon his Toe it being twilight this grew to a quarrell and the Embassadour was slaine Kirby was indicted of high treason the inditement findes all this and that it was onely done se defendendo and without malice The Judges it being out of the Statute of 25. E. 3. could not proceede the Parliament declared it treason and judgement afterwards of high treason there 's nothing can bring this within the Statute of 25. E. 3. but it concernes the honour of the Nation that the publicke faith should be strictly kept It might endanger the trafficke of the Kingdome they made not a Law first they made the first man an example This is in the Parliament roll 3. R. 2. num 18. and Hilary Terme 3. R. 2. Rot. 31. in the Kings Bench where judgment is given against him In 11. R. 2. Tresilian and some others attainted of treason for delivering opinions in the subversion of the Law and some others for plotting the like My Lords the case hath upon another occasion beene opened to your Lordships only this is observable That in the Parliament of the first yeare of Henry the third where all treasons are again reduced to the Statute of 25. E. 3. these Attainders were by a particular Act confirmed and made good that the memory thereof might bee transmitted to succeeding ages They stand good unto this day the Offences there as here were the endeavouring the subversion of the lawes My Lords after 1. H. 4. Sir John Mortimer being committed to the Tower upon suspicion of treason brake prison and made an escape This no way within any Statute or any former Judgment at common Law for this that is for breaking the prison only and no other cause in the Parliament held the second yeer of Henry the sixth hee was attainted of high treason by Bill My Lords Poysoning is only murder yet one Richard Coke having put poyson into a pot of pottage in the kitchin of the Bish of Rochester whereof two persons died hee 's attainted of treason and it was enacted that he should bee boyled to death by the Statute of 22. H. 8. cap. 9. By the Statute of 25. H. 8. Elizabeth Barton the holy maid of Kent for pretending revelations from God that God was highly displeased with the King for being divorced from the Lady Katherine and that in case he persisted in the separation and should marry another that he would not continue King above one moneth after because this tended to the depriving of the lawfull succession to the Crowne shee is attainted of treason In the Parliament 2. 3. H. 6. cap. 16. the Lord Admirall of England was attainted of treason for procuring the Kings Letters to both Houses of Parliament to be good to the said Earle in such matters as hee should declare unto them for saying that hee would make the Parliament the blackest Parliament that ever was in England endevouring to marry the Lady Elizabeth the Kings sister taking a bribe of Sherrington accused of treason and thereupon consulting with Councell for him and some other crimes none of them treason so cleerely within the Statute of 25. E. 3. or any other Statute as is the case in question My Lords All these Attainders for ought I know are in force at this day the Statutes of the first yeere of Henry the fourth and the first of Qu. Mary although they were willing to make the Statute of the five and twentieth yeere of Edward the third the rule to the inferiour Courts yet they left the Attainders in Parliament precedent to themselves untoucht wherein the Legislative power had been exercised There 's nothing in them whence it can be gathered but that they intended to leave it as free for the future My Lords In all these Attainders there were crimes and offences against the Law they thought it not unjust circumstances considered to heighten and add to the degrees of punishment and that upon the first offender My Lords We receive as just the other Lawes and Statutes made by these our Ancestors they are the rules wee goe by in other cases why should we differ from them in this alone These My Lords are in part those things which have satisfied the Commons in passing of the Bill It is now left to the Judgement and Justice of your Lordships FINIS