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justice_n authority_n peace_n power_n 2,673 5 4.5185 4 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A37543 The Jury-man charged, or, A letter to a citizen of London wherein is shewed the true meaning of the statute entituled, An act to prevent and suppress seditious conventicles ... H. E. 1664 (1664) Wing E10; ESTC R23241 12,624 15

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Daniel was by a miracle defended in disobeying Another Exception which they conceive destroyes the whole Act is its contrariety to the Fundamental Laws of the Land in respect of its proceedings for it seems contrary to the best Clause in all that so much magnified Magna Charta viz. chap. 29. Nullus liber homo capiatur vel imprisonetur aut disseisietur de libero Tenemento suo vel libertatibus vel liberis consuitudinibus suis aut ut legetur aut exubetur aut aliquo modo destruatur ver super eum ibimus nec super eum mittemus nisi per legale Judicium parium suorum vel per legem terra Nulli vendemus nulli negabimus aut differemus justitiam vel rectum No Free Man may be taken or imprisoned or disseised of his free Tenement or his Liberties or free Customes or Out-lawed or Banished or any way Destroyed Neither will we go upon him or send upon him but by lawful Judgment of his Equals or by the Law of the Land We will sell to none we will deny to none or defer Justice or Right It is to be observed that that great Lawyer Sir Edward Cook 2d Part Inst p. 49. observes upon the Exposition of Per Legale Judicium that the manner of Trial by Juries was by Law before this Statute it self and so is more ancient than Magna Charta And upon these words p. 50. Nisi per Legem terra But by the Law of the Land he saith it is without due Process of Law and that is by Indictment or Presentment of good and lawful men where such deeds be done in due manner or by Writ original of the Common Law Against this Ancient and Fundamental Law I find saith he an Act of Parliament made that aswel Justices of Assizes as Justices of the Peace without any finding or presentment by the Verdict of 12. men upon a bare Information for the King before them made should have full Power and Authority by their discretions to hear and determine all Offences and Contempts committed or done by any person or persons against the Form Ordinance and Effect of any Statute made and not repealed c. By colour of which Act shaking this Fundamental Law it is not credible what horrible Oppressions and Exactions to the undoing of infinite numbers of People were committed by Sir Richard Empson Kt. and Edmund Dudley being Justices of the Peace throughout England And upon this unjust and injurious Act as commonly in like cases it falleth out a new Office was erected and they made Masters of the Kings Forfeitures But at the Parliament holden in the first year of Henry the 8th this Act of the 11th of Henry the 7th is receited made void and repealed and the Reason thereof is yeelded for that by force of the said Act it was manifestly known that many sinister crafty feigned and forged Informations had been pursued against divers of the Kings Subjects to their great damage and wrongful vexation And the ill success hereof and the fearful end of these two Oppressors should deter others from committing the like and should admonish Parliaments That instead of this ordinary and pretious Trial Per Legem Terra they being not in absolute and partial Trials by discretion Thus far Cook Now Sir Inasmuch as this Act allows two Justices of Peace or the chief Magistrate of the place not only to be Witnesses but to pass Sentence of Imprisonment or Fine and make Record of the Offence without any Finding or Presentment by the Judgment of twelve men it being contrary both to the Custome of England Magna Charta and the Statute of Henry the 8th they judge it absolutely nul and of no effect So that those that carry on the execution of it are liable to the same miserable end with Empson and Dudley aforesaid Besides That this Judgment and Record of one or two Justices of the Peace is full two parts of the proceedings whereby 5000. of his poor Neighbours may be Banished from their native Country their dear Wives sweet Babes loving Friends and all other accommodations into another world for seven years yea and if they return before that time expired to be hanged as Felons And all this for nothing but worshipping God according to what they are fully perswaded to be his will Is this according to the so much Celebrated Laws of England Judge O ye Turks and Pagans But suppose we that this Act were as just in every respect as Justice it self and most neccessary to the Weal of the Nation so that at least a third part of the People would be destroyed without it be duly executed as they are likely to be by the execution of it yet it must by no means be executed upon those that are not proved to be guilty of the breach of it Let us see then what is neccessary to be proved against every man or woman that is justly convicted of Breach of this Act. First This Prisoner must be sixteen years of age 2ly He must be a Subject of this Realm 3dly Ae must be present at an Assembly Conventicle or Meeting 4thly Such Assembly Conventicle or Meeting must be held under colour or pretence of some exercise of Religion 5thly He must be present at such Assembly or Meeting under such colour or pretence of some exercise of Religion 6thly That exercise of Religion must be in another manner then is allowed by the Lyturgie or Practice of the Church of England 7thly There must be present at this Assembly five persons over and above those of the same houshold If the Witnesses fail in any one of these Particulars the Indictment is void Now Sir I beseech you Where shall we find Witnesses competent for such Evidence Take for example a Meeting of Quakers for they are most free and open in their Worship who will be so daring as to venture his soul upon it That they meet together under pretence or colour of any exercise of Religion in other manner then is allowed by the Liturgy or practice of the Church of England or if any should be so bold and mad as to make no Conscience of Swearing any thing that the Judges should bid him Swear Shall you or I be so mad as to believe him or be satisfied in our consciences that it is so For let us consider what knowledge is requisite in such a Witness and then try the Hackney-Witnesses whether they be so qualified First It is necessary that he know every single person against whom he bears Testimony was there present under colour or pretence of Religion But how should he know this except every such person should tell him so But they do constantly aver That they come not together under any pretence or colour As pretence and colour is opposed to intention and reality and therefore are not guilty I beseech you mark the Act doth not say Whosoever shall be present at any exercise of Religion but shall be present under pretence