Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	commission_n	peace_n	session_n	2,574	5	10.6777	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80048	Judges judged out of their own mouthes or the question resolved by Magna charta, &c. Who have been Englands enemies, kings seducers, and peoples destroyers, from Hen. 3. to Hen. 8. and before and since. Stated by Sr. Edvvard Coke, Knt. late L. Chief Justice of England. Expostulated, and put to the vote of the people, by J. Jones, Gent. Whereunto is added eight observable points of law, executable by justices of peace.	Jones, J., Gent.; Coke, Edward, Sir, 1552-1634.; England. Magna Charta.	1650 (1650)	Wing C4938; Thomason E1414_1; ESTC R13507	46,191	120

Judge of any Court of Record observe any such Law being so made or practice or suffer to be practised where he hath authoritie any suits or proceedings contrarie to Mag. Chart. and was and is he not perjured Doth not the practice of the Kings-Bench still shew that thence doth issue no other Writ for debt than a Bill of Middlesex or Latitar which express themselves to be for Trespass Are not those Writs still returnable ubicunquè suerimus and the Kings-Bench therefore still removeable at the Kings will whereupon as saith the L. Coke many discontinuances ensue and great trouble of Jurours charges of Parties and delay of Justice for which causes he saith this Statute was made How doth this Statute if therefore made prevent such discontinuances trouble charges and delay of Justice but by declaring that Common-Pleas shall not follow the Kings-Bench How contradictorie to himself is the L. Coke then when he laboureth to make Common-Pleas lawfull to be holden in the Kings-Bench And if as he saith the Pleas of the Crown were divided into high Treason Misprision of Treason Petty Treason Fellonie c. limited to the Kings-Bench because cont Coron dign Regis so that of these saith he the Common-Pleas cannot hold Plea By what Justice can he desire to hold Common-Pl●as in the Kings-Bench unless because more gainfull as when he was supplanted by his successour under colour of preferment from the Common-Pleas to the Kings-Beach he passionately expressed the difference saying That he was called from the warm kitchen to the cold hall and that therefore he desired to reduce Justice to his desire rather than his desire to Justice But let us examine his Arguments for that purpose First saith he The King is out of this Stature How out of this Statute which above all other the King was sworn to observe and obey and to violate was perjurie and punishable in all men without regard of persons and no less in the Lo. C. to say and write otherwise But saith he the King might sue in his Bench. And so might he in any Court of Record which he pleased for all such Courts are called his and have power under him to administer Justice to all men according to their Commissions and Charters as well as the Kings Bench and therefore he had his Atturneys and Sollicitours attending many such Courts Secondly saith he if a man be in custodia any other may lay upon him any action of debt c. because saith he that he that is in custodia ought to have the priviledge of that Court. Now if a man be in custodia for Fellonie c. and an Action for Debt c. be laid upon him shall his priviledge in being in custodia keep him from hanging if he deserve it till he pay the debt or if he be hanged and have any goods shall the Creditour be paid his debt out of the same or if he have any lands out of the Escheat I believe not If a man be not in custodia but a Justice of Peace or a Grand-Juror attending Sessions in Cumberland or Cornwall what priviledge of this Court doth he need If he be arrested there upon a Writ of trespass when he is guiltie of none is he not more disgraced than priviledged by this Court when he is forced to appear in this Court for trespass and nothing declared against him for any such matter ought he not to be dismissed for that matter with costs and dammages answerable to his disgrace and expences though arrested at the Kings suit Shall the King do any man wrong how then doth the Maxim hold that he cannot Shall this Court abuse his name to wrong his Subject Is not Injustice Perjurie in a Judge sworn to do Justice Is not all against Mag. Chart. and truth which is God himself If not so dismissed shall a declaration be admitted against him upon an Original for debt where neither such Writ nor cause belong And shall the Defendant be inforced to wait upon his Bail for trespass to answer that Declaration is not that more Injustice And moreover if that Writ or the Return thereof be forged as all or most Originals directed to the Sheriffs of London or Middlesex are aswel by Clerks of this Court and so filed upon Record here as by Attorneys in the Common-Pleas there shall that Declaration be admitted to say that the Defendant is in custodia which is false and be made a Record which would be accounted the next truth to Gospel And shall not the Defendant be admitted to plead Mag. Ch. against the jurisdiction of the Court and such lying Records If not is not all this more Injustice and Perjurie Shall Judges give Judgements upon fal●e Records except to burn them and punish the makers and causers and shall not they be counted and called false Judges and Perjurers and their judgements false judgements and perjuries Shall they that commit Debtors into their Marshals custodie upon such judgements by their priviledge as they call it say that this Statute doth nor take away such priviledges when the Lo. C. himself saith that all Statutes ought to be expounded so that there should be no failer of justice and this Statute being M. Ch. chief of all Statutes and all its Confirmations say that equal justice ought to be done to all men without regard of persons What Statute or custom did or can give any priviledge to any Court to the contrarie What benefit of priviledge hath the Debtor that is so committed by this Court and its priviledge but his undoing and his families and often his untimely death by famin and miserie Is not that so occasioned by the rigour and illegalitie of this Court an offence of the highest nature of Munther and Perjurie Who gaineth any thing by this priviledge but the Court and their Marshal in extorted Fees to the dammage of both Creditor and Debtor and often the ruin of both or either Why therefore doth the L. C. call it a priviledge to the party in Custodie when it appeareth to be no benefir but prejudice unto him and that more aggravated to have more Actions laid upon him for more debts occasioned perhaps by his imprisonment What law or reason requireth any priviledge to any man for debt since this Statute in the 29 chapter freeth all mens bodies from imprisonment untill they be lawfully tried by their Peers and no law but an abortive Statute made 25. Ed. 3. cap. 17. and repealed in the 42 of the same King as aforesaid gave an Arrest against Debtors but Merchants and Accomptants and a Statute made in the said 25 year of the said King gave the Creditors two parts of all their Debtors lands all thei goods except the beasts of their plough for satisfaction of their debts which Statute is still in force and daily executed accordingly As for Accomptants Debtors and Tennants to the King that are so indeed if the Court of Exchequer be thought proper for them why

for all England divided into six See and compare Rast abridg fol. 65. and Rog. Hoveden parte poster Annal. fol. 548. The not reading and publishing of Mag. Char. is the default partly of Sheriffs not requiring it partly of the Clerk of the Crown c. not sending it to them under Seal All defaults of Sheriffs c. are inquirable and punishable by Justices of Peace as Lamb. Fitz. H. Cromp. Dali c. affirm at large 5. Observe the peoples choice resumed by this Statute when the King presumed to make Justices of P. and under that specious Title to impower them first to affront and by degrees to suppress and at last to extinguish the larger power of Conservatours A Prerogative imposture devised by Lawyers for their own advantage when they got the King to confer this creation of Justices of Peace upon his Chancellours and Keepers to whom their creatures became obliged to subject all England to Westminster contrary to Mag. Char. 5. Justices in Eyre are discontinued long since and not onely for that they were interrupted and wearied out by the Prerogative Judges and Courts at Westminster by their Certioraries Corpus cum causa Errours and other Writs as the Lord Coke confesseth in his Exposition of the Stat. called A●t super Chart. fol. 540. but also for that Justices of Assize Justices of Peace and all Oyers and Terminers by their Commissions and Magistrates of Corporations by their Charters were enabled sworn to hear and determine all Trespasses Contempts Oppressions and Misdemeanours according to the Laws and customs of England as appeareth in and by all Commissions of the Peace Oyers Terminers and Charters that have Oyer and Terminer and by the Stat. made for the first institution of Justices of Peace in the 18th year of Ed. 3d. in which year was also ordained the Oath of all Judges and Justices of Oyer and Terminer for the due execution of justice without sale delay or denial which the thrice reverend Judge Anthony Fitz Herb. admonisheth them that consider it and their duty to God and their Countrey not to break upon any conditions Nat. brevium fol. 240. d. but now the common practice is otherwise 6. Justices of Peace ought not to be seduced to transgress M. C. and the Petition of Right by any Stat. that contradicts them nor to lose the publike interest for any Prerogative usurpation but to re-assume their authority fro People to act as conservatours of the ancient peace and profit of the Common-wealth as in cases of Remitter men stand to their best Title 6. Any that Will ought to have Commissions of Oyer and Terminer for all Extortions Oppressions and Misdemeanours of Sheriffs Under sheriffs Escheatours Bayliffs Clerks and all other Officers See Cromp. Just Peace fol. 51.8 Fitz H. Nat. br fol. 112. d. And Justices of Peace and all other Commissioners that ought by their Commissions and Oaths to punish all such offences do not are no less than porjurers and the greatest malefactours of all other themselves Nor can any Writs of Certiorari Corpus cum causa Errour Supersedeas or putting out of Commission excuse or supercede them to finish their Judgements and Executions in all such causes brought in question before them See and compare the Stat. of 2. Ed. 3. and 14. Ed. 3.14 and the 20. Ed. 3.1 and the Procedendo thereupon in Fitz. H. Na. Bre. fol. 240. where it is said They shall proceed to justice according to law notwithstanding any Letter Commandment Prohibition Writ Privy-Seal or Great Seal to the contrary And if any such things be granted by the King or any of his Judges or Coutrs such a Procedendo ought to be granted by the Keeper of the Broad Seal to countermand them and to command justice judgement and execution to be done even against the King much rather against Judges who under colour of Authority and justice delude and wrong Kings and People For saith the L. Coke upon the Stat. of Marlebridge cap. 5. there is no greater injustice than when under colour of Justice men are injured but Writs of Certiorari Corpus cum causa and Errour ought to be had and granted upon proof of malice partiality injustice or errour in matter committed by any inferiour Court but not upon suggestions or bare suppositions as is used See and compare therefore all the said Statutes in this case together with M. Dearhams Manuel p. 25. Nor by any Superiour Judges or Courts that are parties or concerned in the cause See the L. Coke upon Art super Chart. 7. These oppressions are daily committed by mercinary lawyers by colour of Statutes of their own devices against Mag. C. which Stat. ought to be repealed the longer execution thereof resisted by all or any necessary means 7. The granting of Writs or Commissions to do injustice by or to stay or delay justice where it is done or doing or to deny Writs or Commissions to cause or further justice to be done which always was and yet is the practice of the Prerogative Judges at Westminster not onely to cross interrupt Commissioners legally chosen in and by their Counties as Justices in Eyre were and such and all Justices of Peace and Officers of Trust and concernement in and to the Common-wealth still ought to be is the worst of all Oppressions and a general destruction of Law and People committed by colour of an usurped Authority as saith the L. Coke upon the Statute of Marlebr cap. 5. To prevent which his Lordship further saith It is lawful for the People to take up Arms or for Inferiour Judges to commit their Superiors and that before any Verdict or Judgement because they worthily loose the benefit of Law who intend to subvert it and Subordinate authority is more to be obeyed and assisted in the execution of Justice than the Supreamest to be indured to obstruct it All this and more is to be read in effect in the L. Cokes Exposition upon Art super Char. and the Stat. of Marl●br which if executed by Justices of Peace in their Counties and Magistrates in their Corporations would soon regulate abuses settle Peace and much inable the State and Common-wealth to pay publike debts and relieve distressed Souldiers For it is Law it self as virtue it selfe invirtuateth dignifieth and authorizeth her true servants to execute her precepts and confoundeth expulseth and turneth out of her service all her unjust Stewards and underminers As Jacob and David were preferred before their elder brethren and Saul Jeroboam c. were confounded by and for their own Apostacies As in all these cases c. all Justices of Peace should be carefull to observe their Oaths and perform their duties to the Common-wealth whereof they are eminent members So no doubt the Freemen of England would be ready to assist them in the regaining and preservation of their ancient Birth-rights Laws and Liberties Deus Faxit 8. Under the Titles of Trespases Contempts Oppressions

Misdemeanours are comprehended all breaches of Magna Char and all Offences against all Statutes in force and concurrent with Mag. Char. and the Petition of Right which all Justices of Peace and Magistrates in their several jurisdictions are Authorized and sworn to hear and determine without fear favour or respect of persons How then to be excused or delayed by any Writ or command of any Superiour And how are the Judges of the Kings-Bench whereof the chief was the Kings Deputy by Writ now Superiour or equal to any other Judges or Justices If that maxim be true moritur Actio cum Personâ But the Office of a Deputy dyeth with its Master as a Letter or Warrant of Attorney with its maker the King-Bench may be spared as well as his person And all causes in this Common-wealth be called Common-Pleas and tryed by the Common Law of the land and Verdicts of common people and Free-holders of every County and Corporation before the Free Judges Magistrates freely chosen by the said Common and Free-People to justifie them at home and not before mercinary makers expounders and sellers of all Lawes and Liberties as they please at Westminster And doth not the said Stat. of 28. Ed. 3. warrant Justices of Peace or any two of them whereof one to be of the Quorum to call and keep Sessions as often as they see need to do justice to their Countrey See the Stat. at large and Cromp. I. P. fol. 112. and F. H. I. P. fol. 10. Whereunto adde That as Magna Charta compriseth all the Law of this land agreed upon by Kings and People and would be read and published in English as aforesaid for the better understanding thereof by all English People to the end that the ignorance of their Law should be not excuse for any of them to transgress it So how needless it is if not pestiferous to have this Common-Law reduced to a private mercinarie Trade or particular science exceeding the seven Liberal by such professours thereof as have and do endeavour to disguise mask and hide it from all but themselves in base French and Latine intricacies and obscurities to the end to make all persons offendors thereof and none excusable but by their resolutions of their own Riddles which are alwaies answerable to their Fees be the cause right or wrong whereby the cure of Law becometh an incurable disease until that superfluous mercinary profession be abolished or regulated so as the best and soundest Lawyers may be used in Parliaments as in former times to sit upon Wol-sacks to answer to what that high Court shall be pleased to aske them and not as members of that Court to make Lawes and Oaths for others which they never observe themselves but for their own gain and the peoples damage To which end they alwaies preamble their inventions against Mag. Char. with titles of Acts for the good of the people when in their subsequents they hurt all but themselves As passing by all former their last Acts for the inlarging of poor prisoners for debt sufficiently witness whereby neither creditor nor debtour are any way relieved but both further entangled and Lawyers Fees more procreated Videat experientia Conclusivè That there can be no firm peace or end of Wars till there be an end of mercinarie professours of Law less needful or useful for Parliaments or People than Bishops or such as might be used there or elswhere for saying or reading prayers while these neither pray preach nor study but their own lucrative magnificence every where upon the peoples purses Adde lastly Such Justices of Peace as will not execute Mag. Char. with its confirmations and the Petition of Right and desert and wave the execution and practice of contradictory Statutes for zeal to their Creatours or fear to be unmade by those that made them ought to be deserted and waved by all good Patriots of their countrey as excommunicated persons and breakers of M. Chà And such onely as will execute Mag. Ch. c. ought to be confirmed by the choise of the People in their Counties respectively whereby they may act as the ancient Conservatours of the Peace did by the Common Law of England before Mag. Char. and since which was to conserve the Peace of England by all necessary means word or sword unlimited by Prerogative Statutes devised by mercinary Lawyers to steal from the People their birth-right Authority in the name of the King unto themselves to sell delay and deny it at their pleasures which to do is apparently contrary not onely to Mag. Char. and the Common Laws of England and also to common reason but chiefly to the divine Providence of God for neither Law Reason nor Divine justice would ordain a man to conserve the publike peace of Gods people which peace as they is his own without giving that man an unlimitable power by which he may execute his Office and without which he cannot FINIS

the foresaid Iustices as far forth as appertaineth unto their Offices And besides these things granted upon the Articles of the Charters aforesaid The King of his special Grace for redress of the grievances that the people hath sustained by reason of his Wars and for the amendment of their Estate to the intern that they may be the more ready to do him service and the more willing to assist and aid him in time of need hath granted certain Articles the which he supposeth shall not onely be observed of his leige people but also shall be as much profitable or more than of the Articles heretofore granted One of the causes for the making this Act L. Coke f. 537 538 539. was saith the Lord Coke as in the Preamble is suggested that there was no certain punishment in many points established by the said Charters against the violators of the same which also by this Act saith he is remedied And the word People here saith he doth include all the Kings Subjects c. And again the word Pain ne fuit estable some read saith he Pain ne fuit execute and that is true in effect but the Original is Pain ne fuit estable that is no pain was set down certain And saith he fol. 539. This Act had but the force of a Charter until confirmed by this Parliament the 34th Ed. 1. And that these Charters should be read four times in the year in full County here is an order taken for the publishing And Ou remedie ne fuit avant c. is to be construed saith he where no Action was given by the Kings Writ to be pursued at Common Law c. Again here saith he for the better Execution of those glorious two Lights Magna Charta and Charta Forestae a new Court and new Justices were appointed c. Again saith he these clauses against the Kings Servants out of their places as well as others And to hear the Plaints without delay day by day and to determine them without admitting such delaies as be at Common Law was the first ground of the raising of the Justices called Trail Baston and their Courts so called in respect of their precipitate proceedings from day to day without such convenient leisure and time as Common Law allowed c. they in the end had such Authoritie as Justices in Eyer but albeit they had their Authoritie by Act of Parliament yet if they erred in judgement a Writ of Error did lie by the general Rule of the Common Law to reverse the Judgement in the Kings-Bench which being once resolved and known and their Jurisdiction fettered with so many limitations their Authoritie by little and little vanish●d Expost and Quer. Was there any certain Pain established by this Statute against the violators of Magna Charta other than by Commission in Eyer that the Justices might determine and punish the Offendors by Imprisonments Fines or Amerciaments according to the Trespass Ought not the Justices of the Kings-Bench to have so punished all such as were Indicted before Sheriffs or Justices in Eyer who had power to inquire and certifie them of all such Offendors and Offences against Magna Charta by the Statute of Marlebridge 51. Hen. 3d Doth not the Lord Coke say elsewhere That all Statutes ought to be construed so as that there should be no failer of Justice should not the Justices of the Kings-Bench have construed Magna Charta so Doth not the 14th chap. of Mag. Charta expresly direct That all offendors ought to be Amercied by their equals according to the quantitie of the Trespass Doth the Lord Coke speak truth when he saith this Statute gave any man Remedie for the certaintie of the punishment other than Magna Charta did before Was it not made more uncertain by referring it to the Justices in Eyers discretion whether Amerciaments Fyne or Imprisonment Doth he not confess plainly when he saith It is true in effect that the Pain was not Executed as some read instead of the Pain was not Established That it was the fault of the Justices of the Kings-Bench in not Executing the Pain of Amercying c. as they might and ought to have done was the cause of Impowering the Justices in Eyer who were but Enquirers before now to determine and punish such Offendors and Offences as they did forbear viz. The Kings Servants with whom by this time they of the Kings-Bench tampered for their Offices And was it not for the same cause the people were Declared to be choosers of Justices in Eyer And doth not the Lord Coke shew a great spight between himself and his brethren whom he would have to be ancient and the Justices in Eyer whom he calleth a new Court and new Justices And shew his Memory to be weak as his Envy was strong when he is forced to give himself the Lye either here or in his Exposition of the Stat. of Marlebridge where he saith They were then Justices and a court though but for Inquirie And upon the 23th Chap. of Magna Charta he saith they used before that time to give charge to all Juries concerning Wears c. Doth not the Lord Coke say fol. 235. That Bracton wrote before the making West 1. which was 3. Ed. 1 And doth not Bracton lib. 3. cap. 11 12 and 13. say Justices in Eyer were before his time Doth not Camden in his Britannia pag. 104. say They were Instituted by King Hen. 2 Doth not Hoveden in his Annais part poster fol. 113. b. confirm the same And add that K. Hen. 2. divided the Realm in six parts setled thre● Justices in Eyer to every part whose names he relateth And doth not the Mirror of Justice lib. 3o. Tit. 1o. Justice in Eyer declare their power at large And as for their Election by the people doth he not say fol. 538. That Magna charta c. containeth the substance of all that is contained in these Articles And doth he not say in his Preamble That Magna Charta is an Act declarative of the ancient Laws and Customs of England before it and no introductive of any new And fol. 558. That of ancient time before the making of this Act all such Officers or Ministers as were instituted either for Preservation of the Peace of the County or for execution of Justice because it concerned all the Subjects of that County and they had a great interest in the due and just exercise of their places were by force of the Kings Writs in every several County chosen in full and open County by the Free-holders of the same County Again saith he So it was then and yet is of Coroners and so it was then and yet is of Knights of the Shire for Parliaments and of the Verdors of a Forest and likewise it was of ancient time of the Sheriff of the County and restored by this Act but this is altered by divers Acts of Parliament Now were not Justices in Eyer therefore

that were before Magna Charta chosen by the peole as they were Ministers of Justice wherein the people were concerned And were they by this Act but restored to their ancient jurisdiction as the Lord Coke saith Sheriffs were Was not that alteration which was made by divers Acts of Parliament made by such Acts as were contrary to Magna Charta And are not or ought not all such Acts to be void as the L. Coke hath elsewhere said Doth not these contradictions declare the Lord Coke to have been distracted with spight and envy against ●ustices in Eyer And where in this leaf he would perswade the people to suspect Justices in Eyer of corruption and Monopolizing justice to wrong the people that chuse them can the people believe that these Justices who are to be chosen by them and to be displaced by them when and as often as they see cause will or can wrong them more than those chosen by the King and his Servants without their consents unless they can believe that they may be perswaded to give their consents to wrong themselves Is it not a Bull of less formality than ever any Popish Bull was keeping a man off with his Horns That he shall have no hold of his tail when he saith That the clause where no remedy was before c. ought to be expounded where no Action was given by the Kings Writs to be pursued at Common Law Since by the Statute of Marlebridge Justices in Eyer were to inquire by the Kings Writs and now are by express words of this chapter not onely to inquire but also to determine by virtue of their Commissions without the Kings Writs And what cause could they or can any other Court determine by virtue of their Commission without the Kings Writs but is Actionable by the Kings Writs What doth this Statute give by virtue of this Commission if all things Actionable by Writs be not determinable by these Commissions without Writs And what doth this Statute avail if not constructable as others so that there should be no failer of justice Where was the failer of justice but in the Kings Courts and Iudges in not executing justice upon the Offendors of Magna Charta Doth it not therefore appear that the said clause Where no Remedy was before ought to be expounded where no remedy was given before by Iustices in Westminster against the Kings Servants and themselves that were the greatest contractors in the breaches of Magna Charta Were not the Iustices in Eyer therefore inabled with a power to supply their defaults faults and to do right to the People against the King himself and all his Servants at Westminster that wilfully failed in their justice and power And where he saith The Justices called Trail Baston had like authoritie as Justices in eyer and committed Errors upon pretence thereof had all their proceedings transported to the Kings-Bench doth it not appear by the Statute called Ragman that those Iustices were made by the King without the consent of the people and sent abroad perhaps of purpose to err and abuse the people to give colour to the Kings-Bench to send their Writs of Error for the proceedings of the Iustices in Eyer upon pretence of like Errors so to suppress all Iustice against themselves and their Creatures Doth not the Lord Coke here withal prefer the chargeable delaies of causes spun out by Termes and Years before speedy justice done day by day at mens own doors which he calleth Piecipitat Doth he not ground this course for suppressing speedy justice by Writs of Errors upon the resolution of the Iudges at Westminster which he al leadgeth as sufficient to maister Authority given by Act of Parliament And is it not the resolution of all Lawyers that no power but Parliament is equal to Parliament and no Parliament to be so impowred as to cross Magna Charta and its Confirmations Doth he not further sol 559. alleadge the resolution of all the Iudges of England against the King and his Councel for an Erroneous Act when they had chosen a Sheriff for Lincoln in a case of necessity without the consent of the People But to hasten this Treatise to an end I shall end this Statute for this time with few chapters following viz. The King hath granted unto his people Cap. 8. Elect. of Sherifts that they shall have Election of their Sheriff in every Shire where the Sheriffalty is not of the Fee if they list I shall say no more to this than hath been said before In summons and Attachements in Plea of land C. 25. Summons A. ●ach the Whits from henceforth shall contain 15. days full at the least after the Common Law if it be not in Attachement of Assizes taken in the Kings presence or of Pleas before Iustices in Eyer during the Eyer Upon this I must ask Expost and Quer. Is not a Writ of Debt Summons Should not that be given to the party which ought to be summoned Should not an Attachement follow by distinction of 15. days as this Statute prescribeth Shall the repealed Statute of the 25th of Ed. the 3d serve Lawyers turns to make a distinction between a Plea real and Personal And shall that Writ of Summons be counterfeited either in it self or in its return as aforesaid Such Executions shall be done of them that make false Returns of Writs Ca. 16. False Retur of Wr. whereby right is deferred as it is ordained in the 2. Statute of Westminster with like pain at the Kings commandment This is an Act of Confirmation L. C. upon Ca. 16 f. 568. whereby the Statute of Westminster the 2d. cap. 39th touching false returns is confirmed Doth not the 2d Statute of Westminster cap. 39. say Expost Q. That the King hath commanded that Sheriffs shall be punished by the Justices once or twice if need be for such false Returns and if they offend a third time none shall have to do therewith but the King c Doth not the Court of Kings-Bench assume the King to be always there in Person And what they speak to be his own speech Is it not they therefore that should punish Sheriffs for their false Returns the third time of their offence But is it not indeed they and their Creatures as well as those of the Common-Pleas do make false Returns in the names of the Sheriffs of L●ndon and Middlesex and do consequently make those Sheriffs liable to Actions as aforesaid How can they punish those Sheriffs for those false Returns which they themselves suffer their Clerks to make unknown to the Sheriffs as aforesaid And who but they cause or suffer all Sheriffs falsly to Return Exigents with the words Per judicium Coronatorum and the Coroners names who know no such thing And if any man be Out-lawed without the judgement of the Coroners of his County or any mention made thereof in the Sheriffs Return is not that Outlawry as injurious

in Countrey whereby he saith the Laws and the due execution thereof were disturbed the remainders of the Factions of the Spencers and others who in Edward the 2d. his time had made such Judges as had put all Laws out of all order so that this King being Edward the 3d. could not reform what had been deformed hitherto but now endeavoureth to do it by means of this Oath made in Parliament in the 18th year of his Reign and this Act made in the 20th If Kings endeavoured to perform their duties as this King did and Judges would not should not such Judges suffer as in this Kings time divers did If Kings and Judges contrary to their Oaths and Offices omit their duties as this Kings Father and his Judges did should not such Kings and Judges suffer for their defaults as he and they did If Kings and Bishops did lately neglect their duties contrary to their Oaths and Offices and were punished for their defaults why not such Judges as were the greater Delinquents for suffering them so to offend and more for consenting thereto And more than that when they advised the same If the secret Sacriledge of one Achan deserved Gods indignation against all his People of Israel until they discovered and punished him and his Offence What doth the manifest extortion a sin no less prohibited than Sacriledge of so many Achans merit of Gods Judgements against the whole Nation of England if they prosecute not or leave unpunished their Offences which are more than Extortions as Perjuries Forgeries Sacriledge it self and divers others spoken of before Judge O People Judge your selves O ye People least ye be Judged FINIS POST-SCRIPT IF it please the Parliament to require more proofs than common experience of the common breach of all the Common Law of England by our common Mercinary Judges they may cause Commissions in Eyer or other Oyers and Terminers to be issued to clear the matter by more particular evidences Eight Observable POINTS OF LAW Executable by Justices of the Peace in their Counties and Magistrates in their Corporations Necessary to be known to the COMMON PEOPLE 1. The choise of all Officers of Peace and Trust anciently in the People cōfirmed by Magna Chart. 1 COunties and Sheriffs Turns were ancient Courts in the time of King Arthur before And in the Turns were tried all Pleas of the Crown in the Counties all Common-Pleas under fourty shillings without Writ and above to any value with Writs according to the Law maxim Quod placita de Catallis debitis c. quae summam 40s attingunt vel excedunt secundùm legem consuetudinem Angliae sine brevi Regis placitari non debent See the Lord Coke upon the 35th Chap. of Magna Charta and upon the Stature of Gloucester fol. 310. 312. Hundreds and Court Burons have the same power and rights and neither Sheriffs nor Stewards are Judges but suiters onely fol. 312. And so all men were to have Law and Justice at home cheap and near and not to fetch it from Westminster far and dear And the Conservators otherwise called Guardians of the Peace before Magna Charta and since had all necessary power to govern their Counties in Peace and to execute all Laws conducing thereunto and to command the power of their Counties to assist them and were chosen as all other Officers of Peace and Trust were by their Counties as the Lord Coke affirmeth 2. This Mutuatus is usual in the Kings-Bench and Common-Pleas to fetch poor men not worth 40. s. from York or Cornwall to London for 5. s. debt or less and to Outlaw him in the Common-Pleas if he come not which example other Courts of Record follow too much 2. As Superiour Courts ought not to incroach upon Inferiour so the Inferiour ought not to defraud the Superiour of those causes that belong to them viz. Neither ought a man be sued in any Court of Record for debt not amounting to 40s by way of mutuatus and other lawless tricks dayly used by Attornies nor in any inferiour Court for debt of 40 shillings or exceeding by dividing it into Actions under 40 shillings In which cases the Defendant ought to be admitted to plead to the jurisdiction of the Court and to have a Prohibition to stay the suit see the Lord Coke upon the Stat. of Glouc. fol. 311. And all Courts were to dismiss all Actions entred without sufficient bail to prosecute answerable for costs and damages If non-suited or cast and not Jo. Do. and Rich. Ro. as is used See F. H. Just P. the Register and Fitz. H. Nat. brevium at large And no Court of Record was to proceed in any action of debt before the Plantiff swore his said debt to be 40s or more and his damage in trespass to be so much at least And if Battery that he was beaten indeed to his uncurable hurt to that value See the Stat. of Glouc. and the L. Coke upon it with his reason for the discontinuance of this practice 3. Doth not the denial of an Habeas Corpus to bring a prisoner before a Judge without Fees both to Judge and Attorney include the sale delay and deniall of Justice while the prisoner is unprovided to buy it 3. All the Kings Writs for the doing justice and right to all men freely and speedily without delay or denial ought to be granted and had freely at the Kings cost And justice ought to be done freely without sale fully without denial and speedily without delay whereby saith the Lord Coke it appeareth that justice must have three qualities viz. To be Free because nothing is more vile than what is venal Full and perfect that it may not halt And speedy because delay is a kind of denial See the L. Coke upon the Stat. of Marlbr chap. 80. Thus to have and do was the Common Law of England and the Liberties and Right of the People before Mag. Char. and saved unto them by it and the best Birth-right they ever had or can have whereby their Lands Goods Wives Children Bodies Lives Honours and Estimations ought to be protected from injuries See the L. C. upon the 29 38 c. of M. C. 4. All defaults offences of Sheriffs Coroners Escheatours c. inquirable and punishable by Justices of Peace 4. Therefore Magna Char. ought to be read and published to the People in all Cathedrals twice yearly And all breakers thereof are excommunicated ipso facto and so twice pronounced by two Acts of Parliament Tit. confirm excommengm t in Rast abridg fol. 65. and 148. And it ought to be read in full County in every shire four times yearly and all the breakers thereof inquired of there and further inquired of and punished by Fines Imprisonments c. by Justices in Eyre two of every Counties chusing whereby 12. or 14. may serve in circuits throughout England and Wales divided into six or seven Provinces as twelve did serve