Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	lord_n	sir_n	william_n	28,265	5	9.7201	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38869	An exact account of the trial between Sr. William Pritchard, Kt. and alderman of the city of London, plaintiff, and Thomas Papillon, Esq, defendant in an action upon the case at the sessions of nisi prius holden for the Court of King's Bench at the Guild-Hall in the city of London, on Thursday the 6th of November, 1684, in Michaelmas term, in the 36th year of the reign of King Charles the Second, before Sir George Jefferies, Kt. and Baronet, then Lord Chief Justice of the said Court of King's Bench : to which is added, the matter of fact relating to election of sheriffs, as it was printed in the year 1682.	Pritchard, William, Sir, 1632?-1705, complainant.; Papillon, Thomas, 1623-1702, defendant.; England and Wales. Court of King's Bench.	1689 (1689)	Wing E3587; ESTC R12402	61,421	42

AN EXACT ACCOUNT OF THE TRIAL BETWEEN Sr. WILLIAM PRITCHARD Kt. And Alderman of the City of London Plaintiff AND THOMAS PAPILLON Esq Defendant In an Action upon the Case At the Sessions of Nisi prius holden for the Court of King's Bench at the Guild-hall in the City of London on Thursday the 6th of November 1684. In Michaelmas Term in the 36th Year of the Reign of King Charles the Second Before Sir GEORGE JEFFERIES Kt. and Baronet then Lord Chief Justice of the said Court of King's Bench. To which is added The MATTER of FACT relating to ELECTION of SHERIFFS as it was printed in the Year 1682. LONDON Printed and sold by Richard Janeway in Queens-head-Court in Pater-Noster-Row MDCLXXXIX Pasche xxxvi to Car. Secundi Reg. London ss WIlhelmus Pritchard Miles nuper Major Civit. praedict quaerit de Thoma Papillon in Custod Marem c. pro eo videlicet quod cum duodecimo die Februaris Anno nostri Domini Caroli Secundi nunc Regis Angliae c. tricessimo quinto ipsem idem Wilhelmus Pritchard ac antea abinde pro separat menses ex tunc prox sequend extitit Major Civitat ' London praedict in Officium Majoratus illius debito modo elect praefect jurat ac secundum Consuetudinem Civitat London praedict a tempore cujus contrar memoria hominum non existit in eadem usitat approbat Officium suum Majoratus illius indies intendere debuit pro assiduam diligent ipsius Wilhelmus in regimine Civitat illius pro ipsum secundum debitum Officii sui praedict exequend performand ad honorem dignitat ad Officium illud spectant pertinen praedictus tamen Thomas existens unus de Commitat Civitat praedict sub regimine dicti Wilhelmi virtute Officii sui praedicti praemissor non ignarus sed machinans false ac malitiose invidens felici statui ipsius Wilhelmi in Officio suo praedict necnon ipsum Wilhelmum in executionem Officii illius minus juste inquietare disturbare praedicto duodecimo die Februarii Anno tricesimo quinto superdicto idem Thomas Papillon pro vexatione praefat Wilhelmo adhibend eodem Thoma ad tunc non habente aliquam legitimam vel probabilem Causam Actionis versus ipsum Wilhelmum false malitiose prosequunt fuit extra cur dicti Domini Reg. coram ipso Rege nunchit scilicet apud Westmon in Com. Middlesex adtunc adhuc tent ' existem quoddam Breve ipsius Dom. Reg. de alias Capias versus ipsum Wilhelmum per nomen Wilhelmi Pritchard Militis adtunc Coronator Civitat ' London praed direct ' per quod quidem Breve idem Dominus Rex nunc eidem tunc Coronatori praecepit quod capet ipsum Wilhelmum Pritchard si invent ' foret in Civitat ' London praed ea salvo custodiret ita quod herent Corpus ejus coram Domino Rege apud Westm die cur ' prox post quindenum Pasche ex tunc prox sequend ac respondend praefat ' Thomae Papillon pre nomen Thomae Papillon Armiger de placito trangres quod idem tunc Coronator haberet ibi tunc breve illud Et praedictus Thomas Papillon ex ulteriori nequitia malitia sua praecogitat ' versus ipsum Wilhelmum postea ante retorn ' Brevis praedicti scilicet vicesimo quarto die Aprilis Anno tricesimo superdicto apud London praed videlicet in Parochia Sanctae Mildredae Virginis in Pulletria in Warda de Cheap London praedicum Breve de alis Capias cuidem Johanni Brome Gent. adtunc Coronator Civit ' London praed existem deliberavit exequend ac adtunc ibidem apud Wilhelmum adtunc Major ' Civitat ' London praed ut praefert ' existem praetextu Brevis illius pro Corpus suum capi arrestari ac in Prisona sub Custod ejusdem tunc Coronator per spatium sex horarum ex tunc prox sequem detineri malitiose minus juste procuravit in vituperator ' derogation ' vilipendium praedici Wilhelmi Officii Majoratus ipsius Wilhelmus praed necnon ad damnum prejudicium gravamen ipsius Wilhelmi manifest ' ubi revera de facto praedictus Thomas Papillon praedico tempore captionis arrestionis detentionis ipsius Wilhelmus in Prisona sit ut praefert ' fact ' non habuit aliquam justam vel probabilem causam Actionis versus ipsum Wilhelmum in Premisis praed unde idem Wilhelmus dic ' quod ipse deteriorat ' est damnum habet ad valent ' decem mille librarum inde produc ' sertam c. Die Jovis 6º Novemb. Anno Dom. 1684. Mich. Ter. 36º Car. 2o. B. R. At the Session of Nisi prius for the City of London held at Guild-hall Pritchard versus Papillon London ss SIR William Pritchard late Lord Mayor of the City of London having in Easter Term last brought an Action upon the Case for falsely maliciously and without probable Cause procured him to be arrested and imprisoned in his Mayoralty against Thomas Papillon Esq The Defendant pleaded not Guilty and thereupon Issue being joyned it came this day to be tried before the Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys and the Jury sworn to try this Cause were these Bartholomew Ferryman Thomas Blackmore Thomas Symonds William Whatton John Green Thomas Amy Jospeh Baggs Daniel Chandler John Reynalds John Allen Joseph Caine and William Withers jun. Mr. Mundy May it please your Lordship and you Gentlemen of this Jury Sir William Pritchard Knight late Lord Mayor of the City of London is Plaintiff and Thomas Papillon Esq is the Defendant And this Gent. is in a special Action upon the Case wherein the Plaintiff does declare That whereas the 12th of Februaery in the 35th Year of this King and before and after for several Months then next ensuing he was Mayor of the City of London being duly elected and sworn into the Office of Mayoralty of the said City and according to the Custom of the said City time out of mind he ought daily to attend the said Office in the diligent Government of the said City according to the Duty of his said Office which he was to execute to the Honour and Dignity belonging thereunto That the Defendant Thomas Papillon being one of the Commonalty of the said City and under the Government of the Plaintiff by virtue of his Office aforesaid not being ignorant of the Premises but contriving and falsly and maliciously envying the happy Estate of the Plaintiff in his said Office as also unjustly to disturb the Plaintiff in the Execution of his said Office the said 12th day of February in the 35th Year aforesaid the Defendant for vexation to the Plaintiff not having any lawful or probable Cause of Action against the Plaintiff falsly and maliciously did prosecute the King 's Writ of alias Capias out of the Court of King's Bench against the

been your Liberties or Properties Gentlemen or any Man's Nay theirs that were engaged in this Design if they had any for those were things much talked of by them In what danger had you and all you had for Life Estate Relations and every thing been But it pleased God in his infinite Mercy to showre down upon us and upon this City and the Government in a mighty Preservation putting it into the Hearts of some in Power to bring the City Militia some of them together and prevent this Mischief or else God knows this whole City might have been by this time once more in Ashes and most of the King's Subjects wallowing in their own and one another's Blood. And their Party too would have felt the sad Effects of it no doubt as well as others So that the Consequence of it was to destroy the Government and that appears by the Parties being engaged in it it could not be to gain a Right to make this Hubbub and ado to arrest the Magistrates of the City and then take Advantage for some other wicked Purpose Another Point of Circumstance that is considerable in this Case is the particular Persons that were to be sued The Mandamus that was directed to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and there is a Return made not by this or that or the other Man but in the Name of them all the whole Court. How comes it then to pass that my Lord Mayor Sir Henry Tulse and those other Gentlemen must be sued and arrested but I warrant you Mr. Cornish or his Party were not to be medled with No he had so much Zeal for Justice and to do the Defendant Right that if he should have been called upon to appear he would not have stood out an Arrest so just a Man he is and such a Lover of Right without all doubt but he was in no danger I dare say they loved one another too well to sue one another That I say Gentlemen is another Circumstance that carrieth Malice in it For I must tell you these things cannot be smothered they are as apparent as the Light And tho' it falls to my turn in this Cause to enmind you of them yet they are as well known to you all as the Passages in your own Families No Gentlemen there was not a Pursuit of Right in the Case it was a designed Piece of Villainy on Purpose to affront the Government nay to destroy it and set us all together by the Ears And if he were ten thousand times Mr. Papillon I would and must tell him so and if it were not for some such devilish End and Purpose he would never have been so greedy of an Office he had before declined and fined for and which he was only called to by a turbulent seditious factious Party that had further aims in it Otherwise I know Mr. Papillon's Humour so well that I am confident he would much rather have been contented to sit in his Counting-house than in Guild-Hall in a scarlet Gown Alack a-day I know Mr. Papillon knows how to spend his time to better Advantage to himself Ay but say the Council for the Defendant we did go on very tenderly and civilly and respectfully for there met at Mr. Cornish's House who I pray Mr. Papillon and Mr. Dubois and Goodenough the prime Attorney in this Cause And there forsooth they tell Goodenough be sure you do nothing but what is exactly according to Law and be sure you carry it very civilly and respectfully to my Lord Mayor good Mr. Goodenough Alack-a-day how wonderful pious and considerate these People are If Mr. Cornish had gone to my Lord Mayor as it was his Duty to do being then an Alderman we know it full well and said to my Lord Mayor there were such Persons at my House talking of such a matter and I come to advertize you of it and desire you would consider of it he had shewn his Piety and his Zeal and Love for Justice much more in that than in admitting such Cabals in his House But we know very well as well as if we were in them that they must go Hand in Hand in all these seditions and factious Businesses It is plain Gentlemen what the Design was from the Beginning to the End nothing but to cause a Tumult and Confusion in the City in Order to put that damned hellish Conspiracy for the destruction of the King and his Brother and every Man that was honest and loyal in Execution This is certainly known to you all and that there should be such a Parcel of People untowardly linked together in this matter not one man of which that they can pretend to be in anywise a Well-wisher to the Government or to any that have any share in it No they are all Persons that are obnoxious to the Government that had any hand in it but none of them Church of England-men or Friends to her Establish'd Worship notorious Dissenters or profligate Atheistical Villains that herd together This Gentlemen is plain English and necessary to be used upon all these Occasions So that it remains now upon your Consciences whether upon all these Circumstances that have been mentioned you think the bare obtaining of a Right in a Legal Course or some worse thing was designed We all know Mr. Papillon to be a wealthy Man an able Merchant one that had rather have minded his Affairs abroad or at the Exchange than the expensive troublesome Office of Sheriff of London but that something was to be done to wreak a damned malice and Revenge upon the Government And sure he must think as his Party it seems did that they would not be sufficient to subvert the Government unless he could get into that Office. This I tell him openly and let him or his Party make their Remarks upon it as they please But you are to Judge whether these things be a sufficient Evidence of malice to support the Plaintiffs Action There was questionless a Devilish Malice fixed in his Heart and Mind and he wanted an opportunity to effect it and he thought it for his own security to be best to take this Course and nothing else was in it For abundance of People have a Mind to do mischief but want opportunity and safe ways to do it in And Oh they rejoice if they hit upon a project that shall carry a specious pretence and colour of Law for then they think they are safe enough As in Case I have a Mind to do any particular Man an injury in his reputation and business the business must not be done down-right by going to every Body and saying such an one is Poor or a Beggar and do not trust him but I must cunningly and slily insinuate it I am sorry for such a Man I believe he is an honest Man but however he oweth Money and under this sort of Sniveling Canting Whining sly rate do any Man an injury whatsoever and yet forsooth he shall have no

Have you done Gentlemen or will you call any more Witnesses Mr. At. Gen. We rest it here my Lord till we hear what they say to it L. Ch. Just Come then what have you to say that are for the Desendant Mr. Serj. Maynard May it please your Lordship and you Gentlemen of the Jury I am of Counsel in this Case with the Defendant Mr. Papillon I see Gentlemen it is a Cause of great Expectation and by that means they would make it greater by far than indeed it is in it self But I suppose you who are upon your Oaths to try this Issue will duly weigh and consider what it really is Gentlemen the Record tells you what it is an Action upon the Case wherein the Plaintiff declares that the Defendant did arrest him being then Lord Mayor without any probable Cause and out of Malice Now as to that Gentlemen I conceive and think I may appeal to my Lord Chief Justice in it for Direction in point of Law that my Lord Mayor if he do mistake in his Office and do not do that which belongs to him to do he is as much subject to the Process of Law and Actions as any private Person in the City of London If he does any Man an Injury or does that which is not right in his Office by which another Person is grieved he is liable to the Prosecution of any particular Subject the King has that is so grieved by him Then they alledge that this particular Action and Arrest thereupon was prosecuted and done out of Malice and without probable Cause Now what have they proved of that They prove the thing done that he was arrested at the Defendant's Suit and that he was kept in Custody six hours But if we can give you any account of a probable Cause for it that is sufficient to justify as from this Action Gentlemen the Question that you are to try is not Whether this Man or that Man were duly chosen into such an Office but whether there were any probable Cause for the Defendant to contest about the Choice And herein the Case will fall out to be thus There was a difference in the City of London as is very well known to every body about the Choice of Sheriffs for the City wherein the Defendant was one of the Competitors there were upon the Nomination and Election in the Hall a great many more Voices or Suffrages for one than for the other which was certified to the Court of Aldermen and Lord Mayor as is usual but some Contest being a Poll was demanded and granted and upon that Poll my Lord Mayor was pleased to declare the Election on one side against Mr. Papillon who yet was apprehended by the first Choice to be one that had most Suffrages But several Meetings there were and several Common-Halls assembled so that it was a contested matter and as I said there had been a Report made on the Defendant's behalf We insist not upon the Right of Election that has been otherwise determined But when he is put in Nomination by the Electors in the City and has many Suffrages and he conceives himself rightly chosen and they that are the Managers of the Election give such an account that in their Judgment he was chosen that surely was a probable Cause for him to proceed upon it And if there be but a probable Cause to bring this to a Question no doubt he might very well take the course the Defendant took Here is no Arrest without legal Process nay their own Witnesses say there was an offer to take an Appearance without putting it on so far as an Arrest If my Lord Mayor would have but given an Appearance there had been an end but he did not think fit to do that and so the Process of Law was executed upon him Then here is the Case in short A Man thinks himself rightly and duly chosen into an Office and has probable reason so to think for the Judges of the Election think so too and deliver that as their Opinion so that tho he is mistaken as the Event proves yet he is not alone in his Mistake nor without ground of his Apprehension then if it be under favour such a Man has no other Proceedings to take in the World for settling this matter but to appeal to your Lordship and that great Court where your Lordship sits to have a Writ to command the Mayor or other proper Officer to swear such a Man into the Office or shew good cause why he doth not If the Mayor upon the Receipt of the Writ thinks fit to obey it and swears the Man all is well If not he must make a Return of the Writ with the Cause why the Command of the Writ is not obeyed Now the Suggestion of the Writ is that he was duly chosen into such an Office and therefore he had a fair way to put this matter to an end if he would have returned he was chosen or not chosen there had been an end of the business which he ought under favour to have done in Obedience to the King 's Writ What then follows upon his not doing so the Party that is grieved hereby has no other course to take but to bring his Action against the Mayor for it This course the Defendant took by taking out a Writ against the Plaintiff and what was the Effect of that Writ It is indeed charged here by the Counsel on the other side that there was a Design of a discontented Party in it and I know not what and a great deal of stir made that a Coroner of the City of London should arrest my Lord Mayor It may be it was not so reverently done but yet if he thought he had good Cause of Action against him he might do it lawfully Doth this prove to you that this was maliciously and unreasonably done Malice must be to the Person Zeal and Earnestness to have Right done to a Man's self or another in a legal Course of Justice is not Malice nor will make the Prosecution of the Action unreasonable and groundless Have they proved to you Gentlemen any particular Discontent and Malice that was between the Plaintiff and Defendant No truly I think by all the Proof that has been offered the quite contrary does appear The Defendant took out a Mandamus directed to the Plaintiff which was not duly returned What then doth he do next Doth he most violently arrest him that with Submission he might do and no Offence in Law No but he doth not do it but only desired from time to time as we shall prove anon that he would but give an Appearance that would have put a Conclusion to this Dispute There is no Appearance given whereupon he is arrested and detained in Custody six hours If a Man be once in the Officers Hands taken upon legal Process how long soever the Officer keeps him is not at all to be laid upon the Person that brings the

they deserve That which is urged Gentlemen by way of Crimination in this Case against the Defendant and an unjust as well as foreign Reflection not at all concerning the Cause is as if the Defendant were acquainted with the Insurrection and Conspiracy that was intended against the King's Life and for subversion of the Government and procured the Plaintiff then Lord Mayor to be arrested to further and promote that Insurrection But as that was insinnated only for Reflection's-sake so I hope you Gentlemen will be pleased to take notice that not one word of any such thing is proved at all that the Defendant ever knew of any intended Insurrection nor that this was done with any such Design For even their first Witness Keeling from whose being imployed by the Coroner in the Execution of the Writ upon Sir William Pritchard the Plaintiff they would argue that somewhat else was designed in it doth give a positive denial of any such thing now upon his Testimony here And Mr. Papillon the Defendant never knew him in his Life nor imploy'd him in this Business nor ordered that he should be imploy'd in it nor ever saw him but the Coroner gave him his Warrant to execute If therefore Keeling and Goodenough were concerned in any ill Business and have taken upon them to do that which they ought not to have done that doth not signify any thing in this Case nor ought to turn to the Defendant's prejudice Nor if any thing were done by the Officers that were to execute this Process that were a Misfesance or a Male-execution of their Office that ought not to be imputed as a Fault in the Defendant But for this Matter now before you the Case will depend upon this Point chiefly Whether the now Defendant had a reasonable Cause or probable Ground to bring an Action against the Plaintiff at the time when it was brought and this Arrest made For there is many a Man that at the Commencement of his Action doth conceive in himself he has a good probable Cause of Action against another Man that in the Event of Things finds he was mistaken and hath no such Cause and thereupon desists the Prosecution of it Therefore the Probability of the Cause at the time-when this Fact was done is the Question you now are to try For we are not now considering whether that probable Cause did continue and prove a good Cause the Event of this Matter has proved it quite otherwise Indeed the Original Question of this whole Cause was Who were only Elected Sheriffs And that at the time of such Election made a great number of Votes passed for the Defendant is I think very notorious both upon the lifting up of Hands and upon the Poll. These things we shall offer to you and shall make it out that these gave occasion to the Defendant to contest the Election and consequently to the bringing of the Action that the Plaintiff was thus arrested upon If then there were such things as these that we have opened which gave a colour to controvert the Right and the Defendant pursued the Method prescribed by the Law to bring it to a Determination and there was no particular disrespect or incivility offered to my Lord Mayor then sure there was no reason to bring this Action against us And that there was no indecent behaviour used towards the Plaintiff doth appear from the Evidence that hath been given of the whole Transaction All that was desired of my Lord Mayor was but an Appearance For this was indeed an Action that did not require Bail but an Appearance though I must needs say I never knew any one so averse to give an Appearance to an Action as the Plaintiff was for after a Latitat and Capias taken out and being frequently acquainted with it and at length upon application after the taking out of the Alias Capias and many Attendances with all the deference and respect imaginable both to his Person and Office not so much as a bare Appearance could be obtained Upon the opening of the Declaration and the Cause you have been told of the great Dangers that were in the Case as to the infringement of Publick Peace and the Government which has been very much aggravated on the other Side But had the reasonable Request of the Defendant by his Attorney or the Officer so often repeated been but complied with it had been but sending to any Attorney and ordering an Appearance and then I hope the Peace of the Kingdom had been in no Peril from such a Design as this Arrest Which I would not have mentioned nor should have taken to be at all concerned in the Issue now before you to be tried but that I find them to be taken into the Question when I hope you will consider they are no way material to the Point in Controversy Now Gentlemen in our Defence against this Suit of the Plaintiffs we shall call our Witnesses to prove what we have opened And our Defence will be in these Steps First To shew the inducement to our Action against the Plaintiff which will shew there was a probable Cause Secondly Give an Account of the reverent Carriage and Behaviour towards the Plaintiff in the prosecution how with reiterated Applications it was only desired that the Plaintiff would give an Appearance which he was not pleased to do and that thereupon with great civility the King's Writ was executed as indeed I see no Proof to the contrary For neither the Coroner nor those other People that gave their Assistance to him were at all rude in their Carriage to my Lord Mayor but as soon as the Arrest was made they were all turned off and the Coroner staid alone with my Lord and went with him in his Lordship 's own Coach to the Skinners-Hall which was the Coroner's House Neither was there any thing ill done after all this was past For upon the Plaintiffs appearance the now Defendant declared in his Action and intended to pursue it but it happened that afterwards in a short time these things suffered some debate in a Trial that was here about a Riot at this Election where the Question of the Right and Election was determined on the other side which gave the Plaintiff in that Action the Defendant in this satisfaction that he was in a mistake and so he thought fit to discontinue that Action and proceeded no further L. Ch. Just No Mr. Ward that was not the Question determined then Mr. Ward My Lord I humbly conceive the Issue of that Cause did determine that Question L. Ch. Just No no I tell you it was not the Question Mr. Ward I must submit it to your Lordship L. Ch. Justice I perceive you do not understand the Question that was then nor the Question that is now You have made a Long Speech here and nothing at all to the purpose you do not understand what you are about I tell you it was no such Question Mr. Ward My