Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	court_n	king_n	plea_n	3,508	5	9.7258	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91147	Beheaded Dr. John Hewytts ghost pleading, yea crying for exemplarie justice against the arbitrarie, un-exampled injustice of his late judges and executioners in the new High-Commission, or Court of Justice, sitting in Westminster-Hall. Conteining his legal plea, demurrer, and exceptions to their illegal jurisdiction, proceedings, and bloody sentence against him; drawn up by counsel, and left behinde him ready ingrossed; the substance whereof he pleaded before them by word of mouth, and would have tendred them in writing in due form of law, had he not discerned their peremptory resolution to reject and over-rule, before they heard them read.	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.; Hewit, John, 1614-1658.	1659 (1659)	Wing P3900; Thomason E974_2; ESTC R205170	13,713	20

BEHEADED Dr. John Hewytts Ghost Pleading yea crying for EXEMPLARIE JUSTICE AGAINST The Arbitrarie Un-exampled Injustice of his late Judges and Executioners in the New High-Commission or Court of Justice sitting in WEST MINSTER-HALL Conteining his Legal Plea Demurrer and Exceptions to their illegal Jurisdiction Proceedings and bloody Sentence against him drawn up by Counsel and left behinde him ready ingrossed the Substance whereof he pleaded before them by word of mouth and would have tendred them in writing in due form of Law had he not discerned their peremptory Resolution to reject and over-rule before they heard them read Gen. 3. 10. The voyce of thy brothers BLOUD CRYETH UNTO ME from the ground Exod. 21. 14. If a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour to slay him with guile thou shalt take him from mine Altar that he may die Ps 94. 20 21 23. Shall the throne of Iniquity have fellowship with thee which frameth mischief by a Law They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous and condemn the innocent bloud But the Lord shall bring upon them their own iniquity and shall cut them off in their own wickedness yea the Lord our God shall cut them off Prov. 28. 17. A man that doth violence to the bloud of any person shall flee to the pit Let no man stay him LONDON Printed in the Year of our Lord 1659. The Plea and Demurrer of John Hewytt Dr. of Divinity to the Jurisdiction and Proceedings of the Commissioners in pursuance of an Act for the security of the Lord Protectors Person c. and to the Sentence of Death pronounced against him by them THis Defendant saith That he is by Birth a Freeman of England and that it is the undoubted antient inseparable Birthright Privilege and Inheritance of every English Freeman both by the Common Laws Franchises Great Charters Statutes and Usages of this Land ratified from Age to Age by the Votes Resolutions Declarations Judgements of the High Court of Parliament and other publike Courts of Justice the Oathes of the Kings of England and their Justices and by manie other solemn publick Confirmations Protestations Oathes Vowes and Covenants a Cooks 2 Instit p. 45 to 57. Magna Charta of King John H. 3. E. 1. c. 29. 25 E. 1. c 1. 28 E. 1. c. 1. 5 E. 3 c. 9. 25 E. 3. n. 26 c. 4. 28 E. 3. c. 3. 42 E. 3. c. 23. 2 H. 4. rot Parl. n. 60 the Petition of Right 3 Caroli That no Freeman of England may or ought to be taken or imprisoned or disseised or disinherited of his Freehold Liberties or Free Customs or to be outlawed exiled or any way destroyed passed upon dealt with or forejudged of life or limb or put to death upon any accusation whatsoever but by the lawfull Judgement of his Peers or by the Law of the Land and that he shall not be put to answer without Presentment before the Justices or thing of Record or by due process of the Law or by writ original according to the old Law of the Land b 25 E. 3 c. 2. 26 H. 8. c. 13. 33 H 8. c. 20. 35 H. 8. c. 1. 1 Ed. 6. c. 12. 1 2 Phil. Mar. c. 10 11. 5 E 6. c. 11. 1 Eliz c 6 5 Eliz. c. 11. 13 Eliz. c. 1. 14 Eliz. c. 1. 18 Eliz. c. 1. 27 Eliz. c. 2. 1 H. 4. c. 14. And that all trials hereafter to be had awarded or made for any Tre●son shall be had and used only according to the due order course of the Common Laws of this Realm and not otherwise upon Inquest and presentment by the Oaths of 12 good and lawfull men upon good and probable evidence and witness And that c 5 E. 1. c. 21. 2. Cooks 2 Instit p. 526 527 28 E. 3. rot Parl. n. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. 29 E 3. rot Parl. n. 29 30. E 3. co●am rege rot 92. Cooks 3 Instit p. 52. 42 E. 3. c. 1. 3. if any thing be done to the contrary of the Premises it shall be void in Law redressed and holden for errour and nought And if any Statute be made to the contrary that shall be holden for none And moreover this Defendant saith that in the Parliament of 2. R. 2. rot Parl. n. 47. the Commons petitioned the King and Lords that the Constable and Marshall of England then encroaching upon this Priviledge of the Commons by holding Pleas of Treason and Felony before them after the course of Martial Law might from thenceforth surcease to hold Pleas of Treason and Felony before them done within the Realme and that the same may be determine only before the Kings Justic●s according to the Great Charter which was then assented to And that upon the like petitions of the Commons in the Parliaments of 1 H ● and 2. H. 4. rot Parl. n. 89. it was assented to and enacted by the King and Lords that the Kings liege people d Cooks 4. Instit p. 124 125. should not be put to answer before the Constable or Marshall in Courts of Chivalry for any thing done within the Realme but that as before in the times of his Progenitors the same might be tried determined only before his Justices in his Courts as it ought to be according to the Common Law of the Realm in no other place or manner Vpon which Considerations many of the Kings loyal Lords Gentlemen and other subjects in the general insurrection of the Villains other Rebels against the King in the 5th year of Richard the 2d having inflicted divers punishments upon the said villains and traytors without due processe of the Law and otherwise then the Lawes and usages of the Realme required though they did it out of no malice prepensed but out of meer loyalty to the King and to appease and cease the present mischief and out of ignorance of the said Lawes and usage in which if they had been learned yet at that time they ought not to have tarried the pro●…ss of the Law in those punishments of their good discretion yet those punishments and executions of them in a summary way being contrary to and not warranted by the Laws and usages of the Realme they were enforced for their future indemnity against the King and his heires and the heires wives and friends of those they punished to petition the King and Parliament for a general pardon by act of Parliament to secure and indemnifie themselves which was granted them in 5. R. 2. Parl. 1. ch 5. else they might have been impeached and punished for the same as well as King Richard the second himself who in the Parliament of 1 H. 4. rot Parl. n. 44 wherein he was enforced to resigne his Crown then deposed for his misgovernment was amongst other Articles impeached of this in particular by that Parliament for that against the great Charter ch 19. and his Coronation Oath be suffered many of his

Li●ge people to be maliciously accused apprehended imprisoned and tried before the Constable and Marshall of England in their military Court for words secretly spoken or acts privately done to the scandal of his Royal Person where they were enforced to acquit themselves by duell whence the destruction not only of the Nobles and Great Men but likewise of all and every the persons of the Commons of the Realm might probably have ensued And this Defendant further saith that one Peter Burchet of the Temple in the 13th year of Queen Elizabeths Reign having wilfully stabbed that famous Sea-Captain John Hawkins for not being of his opinion in Religion Burchet being perswaded in Conscience that it was lawfull for him to kill every one who was not of his opinion the Queen being much incensed against him for this horrid fact commanded him to be forthwith tried and executed for it by Martial Law But her Judges and Councill informing her that he could not be so tried by law it being done not in an Army but in time of peace when her Courts of Law and Justice were open thereupon she desisted from this way of Tryall After which he was tried according to Law for this and his murdering his keeper in the Tower as Mr. Camden records in his Annals of Queen Elizabeth p. 242. 243. And whereas in the Parliament of the 4th of King James holden at Westminster there was some kind of motion made that to extirpate and reforme the inveterate evil customes disorders fewds bloudsheds thefts and spoiles wherewith the worst sort of Inhabitants near the borders and limits of both Realmes of England and Scotland were infected and inured that they might be tried by a summary Proceeding by way of Martiall Law or by the Lawes of the Kingdome into which they fled to purchase their impunity This Parliament was so farre from approving thereof that they specially enacted in this case even of these worst sort of men * 4 Iacob ch 1. That in regard of some difference and inequality in the Laws Trials and Proceedings in cases of life between the Justice of the Realm of England and that of the Realme of Scotland it appearing to be most convenient for the contentment and satisfaction of all his Majesties Subjects to proceed with all possible severity against such offenders in their own country ACCORDING TO THE LAWES OF THE SAME WHEREUNTO THEY ARE BORNE AND INHERITABLE and by and before the naturall borne subjects of the same Realme by whom their Murders Felonies Rapes c. should be inquired of heard and determined before his Majesties Justices of Assize or Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer or Goal delivery by good and lawfull men of the 3. Counties therein specified and none other And that at all such Trials the Jurie then and there sworne shall have in their power and election according to their conscience and discretion upon their Oathes to receive and admit only such sufficient good and lawfull witnesses upon their Oathes either for or against the party arraigned as shall not appear to them or the greater part of them to be unfit and unworthy to be witnesses in that cause either in regard of their hatred and malice or their favour and affection either to the party prosecuting or to the party arraigned or of their former evil life and conversation Which common equal indifferent Justice allowed to the worst Malefactors as their birthright and inheritance by this Parliament and Act this Defendant now onely craves and hopes you cannot in Law or Justice deny him nor proceed against him by way of Martial Law And so much the rather because since this Statute King Charles in the 3d. year of his Reign by the advice of his Counsell to suppresse the Insolencies of Souldiers and Mariners then billeted in sundry parts of the Realm having issued out Commissions to sundry persons of quality in time of peace to execute Martiall Law upon those Soldiers and Mariners and other dissolute persons only joyntng with them for Murther Robbery Felony Mutiny and other outrages committed by them by such summary course and order as is agreeable to Martiall Law a●… is used in Armies in time of Warre to proceed to the triall and condemnation of such offenders and then to cause them to be executed and put to death according to the Law Martiall By pretext whereof some of the said souldiers and subjects were put to death by some of the said Commissioners when and where if by the Lawes and Statutes of the Land they had deserved death by the same Lawes and Statutes also they might and by no other ought to have been Judged before the Kings Iustices and executed Upon Complaint of these Commissions as illegal in the Parliament of 3. Caroli they were after a full debate by both Houses voted to be against Law And in the Petition of Right it self it was then prayed by the Lords and Commons assented to by the late beheaded King himself and enacted by this Law That hereafter no Commissions of like Nature may issue forth to any person or persons whatsoever to be executed as aforesaid lest by colour of them any of his Majesties Subjects be destroyed or put to death contrarie to the Laws and Franchise of the Land which the Lords and Commons then prayed and the King granted confirmed by Act of Parliament as their Right and Liberty according to the Lawes which Act stands yet in its full force Upon consideration of which late Excellent Law the last long Parliament in the cases of the Lord Connor Magwire and Mac-mohun and the Court of Kings Bench wherein they were tried by their special order in Michaelmas and Hilary Terms 20 Caroli were so just punctual and honorable in confining themselves to the rules of Law and Justice that though these were principal Conspirators and Actors in the late most horrid barbarous bloody Treason Rebellion and Massacre in Ireland and taken in its prosecution yet they were so far from trying them by Marshal Law in a Council of Warre or High Court of Justice even in a time of open warre both in England and Ireland that they assigned the said Maguire Counsil to argue against the very Jurisdiction of the Kings Bench it self whether he being a Peer of Ireland could in point of Law or justice by the Statute of 35 H 8. ch 2. 〈◊〉 any other Act be ●uted of his Trial by his Peers and tried by a Jury of good and lawfull men of the County of Middlesex for a Treason committed in Ireland being sent a Prisoner from thence against his will Which was there * See Mr. Prynnes Argument thereof publickly argued at the Bar by Counsel pro contra and then by the Judges and overruled at last against him before he was put to plead guilty or not guilty to his Indictment after which they both were admitted to take both their peremptory and legal challenges to the Juries returned * 32 H. 6. f 26.

that you cannot do but onely by proceeding against him by a lawfull Indictment and Trial by a Grand and Pettie Jurie according to the great Charter Laws and Statutes of the Land and the late Petition of Right which this new Act cannot repeal or null All which this Defendant is readie to averr justifie and make good when and where this high Commission Court or his Highness the Lord Protector shall appoint which being a meer matter of Law wherein both the liberties and lives of all the Free born people of England are so universally highly and equally concerned as well as the libertie and life of this Defendant proper only to be debated before and resolved by the Judges of the Law or the high Court of Parliament This Defendant thereupon humbly praieth That it may be referred to openly argued by his learned Counsel before all the Judges or a Parliament by them determined and in the mean time humbly demandeth the Judgement of this High Commission Whether they may can or ought in point of Law and Justice to proceed against condemn or execute this Defendant upon anie illegal accusation or Impeachment whatsoever here exhibited or read against him without a legal Indictment Presentment and Trial by a Jurie of his Equals Or can take anie further connusance of the Charge against him for the premised Authorities Reasons which he in all humilitie referreth to and imploreth you to take into your saddest considerations and that in the Name and dreadfull presence of the Omniscient Omnipotent Soveraign g Gen. 18. 25 Judge of all the Earth h 2 Cor. 25. ●0 before whose glorious Tribunal you must all ere long appear stript of all Earthlie Honors Pomp Guards and Power to give a strict acount of all your Actions whether good or evil and of your proceedings in this verie Cause when this his Plea and Demurrer will rise up in judgement against and condemn you in case you willfully prejudge mis-judge or reject it now without due and full examination according to Law Justice Conscience And if the Consideration of this terrible day of account and just retribution before Christs own Tribunal shall not prevail with you to admit of this his Legal Plea and Demurrer as being after your deaths perhaps manie years yet to come and no waies endangering the loss of your Lives Lands Honors or Estates in this present world He shall then humbly intreat you for your own future indemnitie he hopes without offence seriously to consider That in the Parliament of 11 R. 2. c. 1. 5. 21 R. 2. c. 11 12. Tresylian chief Justice of the Kings Bench Belknappe Chief Justice of the Common Pleas John Care Iohn Holt Roger Fulthorpe William de Burgh Judges and Iohn Locton the Kings Serjeant were all impeached of high Treason condemned and some of them executed as Traytors and Enemies to the King Realm the rest perpetually banished their Lands and Estates confiscated to the King and all access of their wives children or others to them during their exile prohibited by Judgement Act of Parliament only for delivering their opinions through menaces and fear of death at Nottingham Castle under their hands and Seals against the Law of the Land That the Lords and Commons who procured the Commission in the Parliament of 10 R. 2. for the better Government of the Realm and moved the King to consent thereto deserved to be punished as Traytors by capital pain of death That so by colour of these their opinions Robert de Veer Duke of Ireland Nicholas Brambre Knight and others of the Kings ill Counsellers might take occasion to destroy and take away the lives of the Lords who procured and executed that Commission and others of the Kings people by undue and illegal Indictments and proceedings without any lawfull Trial by their Peers as Traitors to the King And the said Sir i Henry de Knyghton de Event Angliae l. 5. p. 2718 2726 2727 27 28. Nicholas Brambre for enforcing the Judges with others of the Kings ill Counsellors to deliver their opinions against Law and for his beheading executing 22 Prisoners of Newgate impeached and indicted of felony or suspition of felony at Foul-●oke in Kent by regal and tyrannical power incroached by him without warrant or due processe of the Law a-against the Great Charter and Vsage of the Realm of Engl. was in the same Parl. condemned for high Treason beheaded at Tower-hill on the same block with the same Axe he had prepared to cut off the heads of others he intended there to execute as his Enemies And that in the last Parliament of King Charles the k Their Impeachments are entred in the Iournals of the Lords and Commons House two chief Justices Brampston and Finch the chief Baron Davenport and all the rest of the Judges and Barons except two were by the whole House of Commons and some of the Commissioners here sitting and Counsel pleading against this Defendant impeached of high Treason dis-Judged and put to fines and ransoms for that they had trayterously endeavoured to subvert the fundamental Laws and Government of the Realm of England and instead thereof to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical Government against Law which they had declared by trayterous words opinions and judgements in the case of Ship-money against Mr. John Hampden Which judgement and opinions concerned only the propertie of the Subjects goods not the hazard of their lives inheritances and forfeiture of their estates as your present proceedings doe being of a more high and dangerous consequence In which Parliament by the like Impeachment and prosecution * See Canterburie Straffords printed Trials William Laud Archbishop of Canterburie and Thomas Earl of Strafford Lord Deputie of Ireland were condemned and executed by Judgement of Parliament and some here present as Traitors guiltie of High Treason for that they endeavoured traiterously to subvert the Fundamental laws and established government of this Realm and in stead thereof to bring in and set up an arbitrarie and tyrannical power against Law To prove which Charge their arbitrarie proceedings contrarie to the Laws and great Charters of England both at the Counsil Table in the High Commission Star Chamber and elsewhere were given in Evidence against them and more particularly the Earl of Strafford's proceeding against the Lord Mount-Norris in Ireland by a Council of War in time of Peace and condemning him to death therein without any legal Indictment and Trial by his Peers against the great Charter Laws of the Land though he did not execute him thereupon And whether your present proceedings of like nature against this Defendant in case you reject or over-rule this his Plea and Demurrer and condemn and execute him by pretext of an illegal Act made by no free and lawfull Parliament of England for offences not treasonable by the known Laws and Statutes of the Land nor legally proved against him by any one Witness produced in Court

14 H. 7. f 19. Brook Challenge 86 211 217. Stamfords Pleas l. 3. c. 7 Cooks 3 Instit p. 27. according to Law admitting such challenges even in Cases of high Treason and all just Exceptions to the Witnesses produced and had a most fair and free triall being found guilty by the Jury before any Judgment passed against them Which Justice he humbly craves in his Case of less hainousness and importance than theirs being a native English free-man and they onely Irish Rebells because this his inherent Birthright and Liberty can e 1 E 6. c. 12. 1 2 Phil. Mar. c. 10 11. Cooks 3 Instit c. 1 2. neither be forfeited by him for any real or pretended 〈…〉 or offence whatsoever nor yet be denied or deferred to him after all the premised Laws Statutes Charters Judgments Resolutions Presidents without the highest injustice And he further saith that to proceed against trie condemn execute him in this high-high-Court without a legal Indictment Presentment and Trial by the Oaths of twelve good and lawfull men according to the due order and course of the Common Laws of this Realm and that in Westminster Hall it self the place of Law publick Justice in time of Peace when and where all other Courts of Justice are open or in any other form by way of Martial Law or otherwise than a just Jurie of his Equals is not only illegal erroneous against all Rules of Justice the Commissioners themselves being both his grand and pettie Jurie and his Judges likewise if not parties interessed to whom he can take no peremptory nor legal challenges which the f Cook 's 3 Instit f. 27. Brook Challenge 217. Law allows him if tried by a Jury in cases of high Treasonat this day but also wilfull and malicious Murder by the Laws of England being against Magna Charta c. 29. and done by such power and strength as he this Defendant cannot defend himself against as is resolved in Sir Edward Cook 's 3 Instit p. 52. 224. printed by special Order of the House of Commons dated 12 May 1641. and long before in Andrew Horn his Mirrour of Justices c. 5 p. 296 297. who records that our noble King Alfred caused no less than 44. of his Justices to be hanged in one year as Murderers for condemning and executing some of his people without a legal Indictment and Trial by a sworn Jury and others of them for offences not capital by the known Laws of the Land and without clear and pregnant Evidence And this Defendant likewise saith that the Commons themselves sitting at Westminster after the late Kings Execution in their printed Declaration of 17 Martii 1648. expressing the grounds of their proceedings against the said King and for settling the present Government in way of a Free State to which many in present power and ●●tting here were assenting and gave their Votes did thereby faithfully promise and engage to the whole English Nation That the good old Laws and Customes of England The Badges of our Freedom the benefit whereof our Ancestors enjoyed long before the Conquest and spent much of their bloud to have confirmed by the great Charters of their Liberti●● which have continued in all former Changes and being duly executed are the most just free and equal of any other Laws in the world shall be duly continued and maintained the Liberty Property and peace of the Subject being so fully preserved by them adding that if these Laws should be taken away all industrie must cease all miserie bloud and confusion would follow and greater calamities if possible than fell upon us by the late Kings mis-government would certainly involve all persons under which they must inevitably perish And moreover the General Council of the Officers and Army themselves whereunto most Officers and Souldiers in present power and some Commissioners here sitting were parties in the Declaration of their Engagements Remonstrances Representations Proposals Desires and Resolutions for settling the Parliament in their just Privileges and the Subjects in their Liberties and Freedoms printed by their own Orders and reprinted all together by Order of the Lords in Parliament 27 September 1647 pag. 11 36 37 38 39. especially in their Declaration and Representation tendered to the Parliament concerning the just and fundamental Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom 14 May 1647 do profess and declare That they were not a meer mercinarie Armie hired to serve any arbitrarie power of State but called forth and conjured by several Declarations of Parliament to the defence of their own and the peoples just Rights and Liberties and that they took up Arms in Judgment and Conscience to those Ends and have so continued them and are resolved according to the Parliaments just desires in their Declarations and such principles as they have received from their frequent informations and their own common sense concerning those fundamental Rights and Liberties to assert and vindicate the same against all arbitrarie power violence and oppression and against all particular parties and interests whatsoever that so all the free-born people of this Nation may sit down in quiet under the glorious administration of justice and righteousness and in full possession of those fundamental Rights and Liberties without which we can have little hopes as to humane considerations to enjoy any comfort of life or so much as life it self but at the pleasure of some men Ruling according to will and power That they desire the establishment of such good Laws as may duly and readily render to every man their just Rights and Liberties And more particularly in their Proposals to the Commissioners of Parliament in order to the clearing and securing of the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom August 1. 1647. Sect. 10. p. 114. they proposed That the Rights and Liberties of the Commons of England May be cleared and vindicated from any other Iudgment Sentence or Proceeding against them other than by their Equals or according to the Law of the Land And this Defendant finally saith that by the Instrument of Government it self 16 December 1653. Artic. 6. and the Oath therein prescribed to and accordingly taken by his Highness Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector he is limited and sworn not to alter suspend abrogate or repeal the Laws and to govern these Nations according to the Laws Statutes and Customes causing Justice and Law to be equally administred whereunto he is likewise obliged and sworn again by his Oath prescribed in the late printed humble Petition and Advice Neither doth that pretended Act by which you here sit as Commissioners to trie this Defendant made by no legitimate nor free Parliament of England and that when near one hundred and fiftie Members thereof were causlesly and forcibly secluded authorize you as he humbly conceiveth to proceed against him for any Crime therein specified to Conviction or final Sentence but onely as in Cases of high Treason and misprision of Treason and according to Justice and

before his face without consulting the present Judges of the Land who refuse to join or sit with you in this new illegal way of Trial will not much more involve you in the Crime and guilt of the verie self same high Treasons for which they were thus anciently and lately impeached condemned executed by Judgment of Parliament and so expose you to the like capital censures forfeitures confiscations of your real and personal Estates as they underwent in future Parliaments by your endevoring to subvert all the premised fundamental Laws and established legal proceedings in the Land and to introduce and set up a meer arbitrarie and tyrannical power contrarie to Law to the endangering not onely of the properties but lives liberties and Inheritances of all the Noblemen Gentlemen Clergie-men and other Freemen of England by such exorbitant martial proceedings after all these Statutes Judgments with the late Remonstrances Declaratiions Leagues Covenants and solemn Oaths of the Lord Protectour himself and others against them yea after the many years Wars and heavie Taxes imposed on the Nation for the maintaining and inviolable preservation of these fundamental Laws Liberties and Rights against all arbitrarie Commissions and proceedings whatsoever he humbly submits to your own impartial Resolutions and consciences And thereupon this Defendant praies his Dismission from any such further proceedings against him without a lawful Jury and Trial by his Peers And that you will be pleased after deliberate consideration of the premises to reverse and recall that arbitrary unrighteous bloudy Sentence of Death you have newly passed against him without anie lawfull Indictment Presentment Trial Confession or Conviction of Treason which strikes at the Root of the Fundamental Laws liberties franchises of all English Free-men and cuts off all their necks at one stroke transcending all the arbitrarie tyrannical proceedings of Strafford Canterbury and the late King Charles whom some of your selves have impeached censured condemned decapitated as the very worst and greatest of Tyrants lest it become a most pernicious fatal president to posteritie to others or your own destruction and render you as execrable to all succeeding generations as anie formerly guiltie of the like exorbitant proceedings Just and Legal Exceptions to the Cause and Manner of the Illegal Judgement given against Dr Iohn Hewytt humbly tendred by him to the consideration of those Commissioners who denounced it THat it is specially enacted by the Statute of Westminster the 1. ch 12. and accordingly resolved in Brook Pain 1 2 4 5 8 9 12 13 14 15 19 and the Year-Books therein abridged by Stamfords Pleas of the Crown l. 2. c. 60. Dyer f. 205. a. 300. b. Cooks 2. Institutes p. 177 178 179. and 3. Institutes p. 217. That no man ought by Law to be condemned or put to death in case of Treason or Felony for standing mute or refusing to plead or put himself upon his Trial or for challenging more than 36. of the Jurie peremptorily but only in these cases 1. When and where the person accused and arraigned is a a West 1. c. 12. Stamford l. 2. c. 60. f. 149. b. Cooks 2 Instit p. 177. 179 Notorious Traytor or Felon and openly of evil name and defamed thereof But Dr. Hewytt is no such person 2. When and where the Treason or Felony for which he stands accused is b Cooks 2 Instit p. 177. Stamford f. 150. a. notorious evident certain or at least very probable and already found upon Oath against him by the Presentment or Indictment of an honest lawfull Grand-Iury of his Equals of the same County wherein he is arraigned or confessed by himself All which Circumstances and Evidences of Guilt were wanting in Doctor Hewytts case 3. When and where the Judges c Stamford l. 2. c. 60. f. 150 a. for the better satisfaction of their consciences and discharge of their duties doe as they ought by Law first openly examin the Evidence and Witnesses which prove the person arraigned guilty of the Fact of Treason or Felonie for which he stands indicted before they proceed to give Iudgement against him for not pleading or standing mute Which was not done in this case there being neither Witnesses nor Evidence produced in open Court to prove him guiltie 4. When and where there is a legal Indictment found against the partie arraigned which being read openly to him in Court the Traytor or Felon thereupon doth either d Stamf. l. 2. c. 60 Cooks 2 Instit p 177 178. wilfully or maliciously stand mute refusing to answer or plead thereunto which the e Stamford f. 150. b. 43 Ass 30. Fitz. Corone 225. 8 H. 4. 2. Cooks 2 Instit p. 178. 21 E. 3. 18. Iury there impannelled to trie him are by Law to enquire of finde and return upon Oath Or peremptorily challengeth above 35 of his Iury without any legal cause or exceptions Or else obstinately f Cooks 2 Instit p. 178. refuseth to put himself upon a Legal Tryal by God and his Country being a Iury of honest lawfull men of the County then and there present * 11 H. 4. c. 11 Cooks 3 Instit p. 32 33. retorned by the Sheriff alone not Iustices or others for to try him to whom by Law he may take both his legal and peremptory Challenges saying That he will be tried only by God and the Bench or by God and the Court or Judge or g 4 E 4 11. 7 E. 4 29. Brook Pain 14. by God and the Virgin Mary or Holy Church there being no president extant in Records or Law-books of any Traytor or Felon hitherto condemned to die for standing mute or not pleading onely for refusing to be tried by God and the honourable Bench Judges Court Alone without any Indictment or Jurie and for earnestly importuning the Court and his Judges that he may be tried onely by God and his Countrey and on an Indictment by a Jury of his Equals according to Law casting himself wholly upon such a Trial after a lawfull Presentment and Indictment first found against him by a Jury The onely reason rendered in and by the forecited Statute and Law-books of all Judgments hitherto given against any Traitour or Felon for standing mute and refusing to plead being this h W. 1. c. 12. 3. Instit p. 217. 2. Instit p. 179. 8 E. 3. Itin. Nort. Fitz. Corone 359. 14 H. 4. 7. Brook Pain 14 15. Because he peremptorily refuseth to stand to and be tried by the Law of the Land and a due and lawfull Triall by a Jury of his Equals according to the course of the Common Law and the great Charter But Dr. John Hewytt is now condemned to be executed as a Traitour by the High Court of Justice contrarie to all former Presidents Statutes Law-books and the onely legal reason in former times of all Judgments rendered against any persons in such cases even for his frequent earnest importunate demanding and peremptorie casting of himself upon a due

legal Trial by God and his Countrie and an indifferent Jurie of his Equals according to the common Statute Laws and great Charter of Englaud after a legal Presentment and Indictment to be first found against him and for refusing to waive this his legal Trial to the publick prejudice of all other English Freemen and cast himself whollie and solie upon a new kind of arbitrarie Trial contrarie to Law By God and the Bench Court and the Commissioners themselves who would be both his Grand and Petty Jury as well as Judges without and before any legal Presentment Indictment or Jurie impannelled or return'd to trie him Therefore he humblie conceives this Judgment denounced against him upon this reason ground alone to be most erroneous illegal unjust repugnant to all former Presidents to one this verie Week at the Sessions in the Old Baily by Judgment of some of his Judges at Westminster and of very dangerous consequence Whereupon he humbly praies the suspension reversal thereof as unjust and meerlie void in Law by the Statutes of 25 E. 1. cap. 2. 42 E. 3 c. 1. lest the Execution of him for a Traitour upon this Judgment and ground should prove wilfull Murder and a shedding of innocent bloud in the account both of God and man What therefore the Prophet Jeremiah alleged to the Princes of Judah in a like case when they resolved him at first to be worthy of death without a legal hearing or trial Jerem 26. 11 14 15. As for me bebold I am in your hands to do unto me what seemeth good and meet unto you But know ye for certain that if ye put me to death ye shall surely bring innocent bloud upon your selves and upon this City and upon the Inhabitants thereof Whereupon the Princes and People upon second and better advised thoughts altered their former bloudie Sentence saying This man is not worthy to die for he hath spoken unto us in the Name of the Lord our God And the hand of Ahikam was with Jeremiah that they should not give him into the hand of the People to put him to death Shall be my Allegation to those who have passed this unjust Sentence of Death against me and if it produce not the like effect for their reversal thereof and my preservation from its violent bloudie Execution as it did in this Prophets case I shall then earnestly pray to God that it may not draw down from Heaven that heavie Sentence of wrath upon them nor that sad Judgment upon the whole Land of England which this Prophet denounced against Jehojakim Jer. 20. 17 18 19. But thine eys amd thine heart are but for thy covetousness and for to shed Innocent Bloud and for oppression and violence to do it Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehojakim They shall not lament for him saying Ah my brother or ah sister ah Lord or ah his glory But he shall be buried with the burial of an Ass drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem And that which the Prophet Joel threatened to Egypt and Edom Joel 3. 19. Egypt shall be a desolation and Edom a desolate Wilderness for their violence against the children of Judah because they have shed Innocent Bloud in the Land And that against all Rules of Law and Justice in that they intitle The High Court of Justice which will not palliate but i Eccles 3 16 17. Psal 94. 20 21 23. aggravate the Injustice acted in it and make it more detestable both to Man and God himself who averrs this for an undoubted truth Gen. 9. 5 6. Surely your bloud of your lives will I require at the hand of everie Beast will I require it and at the hand of everie mans brother will I require the life of man Who so sheddeth Mans Bloud by Man shall his Bloud be shed for in the Image of God made he Man FINIS