Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	peace_n	power_n	session_n	3,270	5	10.2826	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44117	The learned readings of Sir Robert Holbourne, Knight upon the statute of 25 Edw. 3. cap. 2, being the statute of treasons : to which is added cases of [brace] prerogative, treason, misprision of treason, felony, &c. / written by the Right Honourable Francis Bacon ... ; and now reprinted for publick benefit.	Holborne, Robert, Sir, d. 1647.; Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626. Cases of treason.	1681 (1681)	Wing H2373; ESTC R34943	30,681	150

to enquire of onely and certifie to the Justices of Goal Delivery but those that are against the peace simply they are to enquire and punish 3. The third is To enquire of punish and remove all publick Nusances and grievances concerning Infection of Air corruption of Victuals ease of chaffer and contract of all other things that may hurt or grieve the people in general in their health quiet and welfare And to these three ends as matters of policy subordinate the Court Leet hath power to call upon the pledges that are to be taken for the good behaviour of the Residents that are not Tenants and to enquire of all Defaults of Officers as Constables Ale-tasters c. and for choice of Constables as aforesaid The Jurisdiction of these Leets is ever remaining in the King and in that case exercised by the Sheriff in his turn which is the grand Leet granted over to Subjects but yet it is still the Kings Court. 2. To the second as was said The Election of the pety Constable is at the Court Leet by the Inquest that makes the Presentments the Election of the Head Constables is by the Justices of the Peace at their Quarter Sessions 3. To the third The Office is annual except they be removed 4. To the fourth They be men as it is now used of inferiour yea of base condition which is a meer abuse or degenerating from the first Institution for the pety Constables in Towns ought to be of the better sort of Resiants in the said Town save that they ought not to be Aged or sickly but men of able Bodies in respect of keeping Watch and toil of their place neither ought they to be in any mans Livery And the High Constables ought to be of the ablest sort of Freeholders and of the substantiallest sort of Yeomen next to the degree of Gentlemen but they ought to be such as are not incumbred with any other Office as Mayor Under-sheriff Bailiff c. 5. To the fifth They have no allowance but are bound by Duty to perform their Offices gratis which may the rather be endured because it is but Annual and they are not tyed to keep or maintain any Servants or under-ministers for that every one of the King's People are bound to assist them 6. To the sixth Upon complaint made of his refusal to any one Justice of Peace the said Justice may bind him over to the Sessions where if he cannot excuse himself by some just allegation he may be fined and imprisoned for his Contempt 7. To the seventh The Authority of Constables as it is substantive and of it self or substituted and astricted to the Warrants and Commands of the Justices of Peace so again it is Original or Additional for either it was given them by the Common Law or else annexed by divers Statutes And as for subordinate Power wherein the Constable is onely to execute the Commandments of the Justices of Peace and likewise the additional power which is given by divers Statutes it is hard to comprehend them in any brevity For that they do correspond to the Office and Authority of the Justices of Peace which is very large and are created by the branches of several Statutes which are things of divers and dispersed natures But for the original and substantive Power of a Constable it may be reduced to three heads 1. For matter of Peace only 2. For matter of Peace and the Crown 3. For matter of Nusance Disturbance and Disorder although they be not accompanied with violence and breach of Peace For pacifying of Quarrels begun the Constables may upon hot words given or likelihood of breach of peace to ensue command them in the Kings name to keep the Peace and to depart and forbear and so he may where an Affray is made part the same and keep the Parties asunder and arrest and commit the Breakers of the Peace if they will not obey and call Power to assist him for the same purpose For punishment of breach of Peace past the Law is very sparing in giving any Authority to Constables because he hath no power judicial and the Use of his Office is rather for preventing or staying of Mischief than for punishing of Offences for in that part he is rather to execute the Warrants of the Justices or when suddden matter ariseth upon his view or notorious circumstances to apprehend Offenders and carry them before the Justice of Peace and generally to imprison in like cases of necessity where the case will not endure the present carrying before the Justices And thus much for the matters of Peace For matters of the Crown the Office of the Constable consisteth chiefly in four parts 1. The first is Arrest 2. The second is Search 3. The third is Hue and Cry 4. And the 4th is Seisure of goods All which the Constable may perform of his own Authority without any Warrant of the Justices of Peace 1. For first If any man will lay Murder or Felony to another's charge or do suspect him of Murder or Felony he may declare it to the Constable and the Constable ought upon such Declaration or Complaint carry him before a Justice and if by common voice or Fame any man be suspected the Constable of Duty ought to arrest him and bring him before a Justice though there be no other accusation 2. If any house be suspected for the receiving or harbouring of any Felon the Constable upon complaint or common fame may search 3. If any fly upon the Felony the Constable ought to raise Hue and Cry and search for his goods and keep them safe without impairing and to inventary them in the presence of honest neighbours 4. For matters of common Nusance and grievance they are of a very variable nature according to the several comforts which mans Life and Society requireth and the contraries which infest the same In all which be it matter of corrupting Air Water or Victuals or stopping straitning or indangering passage or general deceits in Weights Measures Sizes or counterfeiting Wares and things vendible the Office of the Constable is to give as much as in him lies Information of them and of the offenders in Leets that they may be presented But because Leets are kept but twice in the year and many of these things require present or speedy remedy the Constable in things of notorious and vulgar nature ought to forbid and repress them in the mean time 8. To the eighth They are for their Contempt to be fined and imprisoned by the Justices in their Sessions 9. To the ninth The Oath they take is in this manner YOV shall swear that you shall well and truly serve the King and the Lord of this Law-day and you shall cause the Peace of our Lord the King to be well and duely kept to your power And you shall arrest all those that you see committing Riots Debates and Affrayes in breach of Peace And you shall well and duely endeavour

your self to your best knowledge that the Statutes of Winchester for Watch Huy and Cry and the Statutes made for the punishment of sturdy Beggars Vagabonds Rogues and other idle Persons coming within your Office be truly executed and the Offenders punished And you shall endeavour upon complaint made to apprehend Barreters and riotous Persons making Affrays and likewise to apprehend Felons and if any of of them make resistance with force and multitude of mis-doers you shall make Out-cry and pursue them till they be taken and shall look unto such Persons as use unlawful Games and you shall have regard unto the maintenance of Artillery And you shall well and duely execute all Process and Precepts sent unto you from the Justices of Peace of the County and you shall make good and faithful presentments of all Blood-sheds Out-cries Affrays and Rescues made within your Office and you shall well and duely according to your Power and knowledge do that which belongeth to your Office of Constable to do for this year to come So help c. 10. To the tenth The Authority is the same in substance differing onely in extent The pety Constable serving onely for for one Town Parish or Borough the Head Constable serving for the whole Hundred Neither is the petty Constable subordinate to the Head Constable for any commandment that proceeds from his own Authority but it is used that the Precepts of the Justices be delivered unto the High Constables who being few in number may better attend the Justices and then the Head Constables by vertue thereof make their Precepts over to the petty Constables 11. To the eleventh In case of necessity he may appoint a Deputy or in default thereof the Steward of the Court Leet may which Deputy ought to be sworn Now to conclude the Office of Constables consists wholly in these three things viz. Their Office concerning 1. The conservation of the Peace 2. The serving the Precepts and Warrants of the Justices 3. Their attendance for the execution of Statutes CHAP. XXI Of the Jurisdiction of Justices Itinerantes in the Principality of Wales THese Justices have power to hear and determine all criminal Causes which are called in the Laws of England The Pleas of the Crown and herein they have the same Jurisdiction that the Justices have in his Majesties Bench commonly called the Kings Bench. They have Jurisdiction to hear and determine all civil Causes which are called in the Laws of England Common Pleas and do take knowledgement of all Fines levied of Lands or Hereditaments without suing out any Dedimus potestatem and herein they have the same Jurisdiction that the Justices of the Common Pleas do execute at Westminster Also they may hear and determine all Assises upon Disseisins of Lands or Hereditaments wherein they equal the Jurisdiction of the Justices of the Assize Justices of Oyer and Terminer may hear and determine all notable Violences and Outrages perpetrated or done within their several Precincts of the Principality of Wales In the Kings Gift are 1. The Prothonotory his Office is to draw all Pleadings and to enter and engross all Records and Judgments in civil Causes 2. The Clerk of the Crown his Office is to draw and engross all Proceedings Arraignments and Judgments in criminal causes In the disposing of the Judge 1. The Marshal whose Office is to attend the Persons of the Judges at their coming sitting and going from the Sessions or Court 2. The Crier He is tanquam publicus Praeco to call forth such Persons whose appearances are necessary and to impose silence to the People There is a Commission under the great Seal of England to certain Gentlemen giving them power to preserve the Peace and to resist and punish all turbulent Persons whose misdemeanours may tend to the disquiet of the People and these be called the Justices of the Peace and every of them may well and truly be called and termed Eirenarcha The chief of them is called Cusos Rotulorum in whose custody all the Records of their Proceedings are resident Others there are of that number called Justices of Peace and Quorum because in their Commission they have power to sit and determine Causes concerning breach of Peace and misbehaviour the words of their Commission are conceived thus Quorum such and such unum vel duos c. esse volumus and without some one or more of them of the Quorum no Sessions can be holden And for the avoiding of a superfluous number of such Justices for through the Ambition of many it is counted a credit to be burthened with that Authority the Statute of 38 Hen. 8. hath expresly prohibited that there shall be but eight Justices of Peace in every County These Justices being appointed by the Lord Keeper do hold their Sessions quarterly In every Shire where the Commission of the Peace is established there is a Clerk of the Peace for the Entring and Engrossing of all Proceedings before the said Justices And this Officer is appointed by the Custos Rotulorum Every Shire hath its Sheriff which word being of the Saxon English is as much to say as Shire Reeve or Minister of the County His Function or Office is twofold 1. Ministerial 2. Judicial As touching his Ministerial Office he is the Minister and Executioner of all the Process and Precepts of the Courts of Law and thereof ought to make Return and certificate 34 H. 8. c. 16. As touching his Judicial Office he hath Authority to hold two several Courts of distinct natures The one called the Tourne because he keepeth his turn and circuit about the Shire and holdeth the same Court in several places wherein he doth enquire of all Offences perpetrated against the Common Law and not forbidden by any Statute or Act of Parliament and the Jurisdiction of this Court is derived from Justice distributive and is for criminal offences and is held twice every year The other is called the County Court wherein he doth determine all petty and small Causes civil under forty shillings arising within the said County and thereof it is called the County Court The jurisdiction of this Court is derived from Justice Commutative and is held every Month The Office of the Sheriff is annual and in the Kings gift whereof he is to have a Patent Every Shire hath an Officer called an Escheator which is an Office to attend the Kings Revenue and to seize into his Majesties hands all Lands either escheated Goods or Lands forfeited and therefore is called Escheator And he is to inquire by good Inquest of the death of the King's Tenants and to whom their Lands are descended and to seize their Bodies and Lands for Ward if they be within age and is accountable for the same and this Officer is named by the Lord Treasurer of England There are in every Shire two other Officers called Crowners or Coroners they are to enquire by Inquest in what manner and by whom every Person dyeth of a violent death and to enter the same of Record which is matter criminal and a Plea of the Crown and therefore they are called Coroners or Crowner as one hath written because their enquiry ought to be publick in corona populi 34 H. 8.20 These Officers are chosen by the Free-holders of the Shire by vertue of a Writ out of the Chancery De Coronatore elegendo And of them I need not to speak more because these Officers are in use elsewhere Forasmuch as every Shire is divided into Hundreds it is also by the said Statute of 34 H. 8. cap. 26. ordered that two sufficient Gentlemen or Yeomen shall be appointed Constables of every Hundred Also there is in every Shire one Goal or Prison appointed for the restraint of Liberty of such Persons as for their offences are thereunto committed until they shall be delivered by course of Law In every Hundred of every Shire the Sheriff thereof shall nominate sufficient Persons to be Bailiffs of that Hundred and Under-ministers of the Sheriff and they are to attend upon the Justices in every of their Courts and Sessions THE CONTENTS Of the Readings c. LEcture I. Pag. 3. The Definition of Treason 5. The first Case 20. Lecture II. 41. The Second Case 49. Lecture III. 62. The Contents of the Cases of Treason c. CHAP. I. CAses of Treason Pag. 73. Chap. II. The Punishment Tryal and Proceeding in Cases of Treason 78. Chap. III. Cases of Misprision of Treason 83. Chap. IV. The Punishment Tryal and proceeding in Cases of Misprision of Treason ibid. Chap. V. Cases of pety Treason 84. Chap. VI. The Punishment Tryal and proceedings in cases of Pety Treason 85. Chap. VII Cases of Felony 86. Chap. VIII The Punishment Tryal and proceedings in cases of Felony 93. Chap. IX Cases of Felony de se with the Punishment Tryal and Proceedings 98. Chap. X. Cases of Premunire 99. Chap. XI The Punishment Tryal and proceeding in Cases of Premunire 102. Chap. XII Cases of Abjuration and Exile and the Proceedings therein 103. Chap. XIII Cases of Heresie and the Tryal and Proceedings therein 106. Chap. XIV The King's Prerogative in Parliament 107. Chap. XV. The Kings Prerogative in matters of War or Peace 108. Chap. XVI The Kings Prerogative in matters of Moneys 110. Chap. XVII The Kings Prerogative in matters of Trade and Traffick 111. Chap. XVIII The Kings Prerogative in the Persons of his Subjects 112. Chap. XIX An Answer to the Question proposed by Sir Alexander Hay Knight touching the Office of Constables 114. Chap. XX. Three ends of the Institution of the Court Leet 118. Chap. XXI The Jurisdiction of Justices Itinerantes in the Principality of Wales Pag. 132. FINIS

of consent and is not able to satisfie for the Marriage he shall abjure the Realm CHAP. XIII Cases of Heresie and the Trial and Proceedings therein THE Declaration of Heresie and likewise the Proceedings and Judgment upon Hereticks is by the Common Laws of this Realm referred to the Jurisdiction Ecclefiastical and the Secular Arm is reached to them by the Common Laws and not by any Statute for execution of them by the Kings Writ de Haeretico comburendo CHAP. XIV The Kings Prerogative in Parliament THE King hath an absolute negative Voice to all Bills that pass the Parliament so as without his Royal Assent they have a meer nullity and not so much as Authoritas praescripta or Senatus consulta had notwithstanding the Intercession of Tribunes The King may summon Parliaments dissolve them prorogue them and adjourn them at his Pleasure The King may add Voices in the Parliament at his Pleasure for he may give Priviledge to Borough Towns as many as he will and may likewise call and create Barons at his pleasure No man can sit in Parliament except he take the Oath of Allegiance CHAP. XV. The Kings Prerogative in matters of War or Peace THE King hath power to declare and proclaim War and to make and conclude Peace and Truce at his pleasure The King hath power to make Leagues and Confederacies with Foreign States more straight and less straight and to revoke and disannull them at his pleasure The King hath power to command the Bodies of his Subjects for the service of his Wars and to muster train and levy men and to transport them by Sea or Land at his pleasure The King hath power in time of War to execute Marshal Law and to appoint all Officers of War at his pleasure The King hath power to grant his Letters of Mart and Reprisal for remedy to his Subjects upon foreign wrongs at his pleasure The King hath power to declare Laws by his Letters Patents for the government of any place conquered by Arms at his pleasure The King may give Knight-hood and thereby mable any Subject to perform Knights Service at his pleasure CHAP. XVI The Kings Prerogative in matters of Moneys THE King may alter his Standard in baseness or fineness of his Coyn at his pleasure The King may alter his stamp in form at his pleasure The King may alter the valuations of his Coyn and raise and fall Moneys at his pleasure The King by his Proclamation may make Moneys of his own current or not current at his pleasure The King may take or refuse the Subjects Bullion and Coyn more or less money The King by his Proclamation may make Fereign money current or not current CHAP. XVII The Kings Prerogative in matters of Trade and Traffick THE King may constrain the Person of any of his Subjects not to go out of the Realm at all The King may restrain any of his Subjects to go out of the Realm into any special Part foreign The King may forbid the exportation of any Commodities out of the Realm The King may forbid the importation of any Commodities into the Realm The King may set a reasonable Impost upon any Foreign Wares that come into the Realm and so of Native Wares that go out of the Realm CHAP. XVIII The Kings Prerogative in the Persons of his Subjects THE King may create any Corporation or Body Politick and enable them to purchase and grant and to sue and be sued and that with such restrictions and modifications as he pleases The King may denizen and enable any Foreigner for him and his Descendents after the Charter though he cannot naturalize nor enable him to make pedegree from Ancestors Paramount The King may enable any attainted Person by his Charter of Pardon to purchase and to purge his Blood for the time to come though he cannot restore his Blood for the time past The King may enable any dead Person in Law as men professed to take and purchase to the King's Benefit CHAP. XIX An Answer to the Question proposed by Sir Alexander Hay Knight touching the Office of Constables TO the first Of the Original of the Authority of Constables it may be said Caput inter nublia condit for the Authority was granted upon the Ancient Laws and Customes of this Kingdom practised long before the Conquest and intended and instituted for the conservation of the Peace and repressing all manner of disturbance and hurt of the People and that as well by way of prevention as punishment but yet so as they have no Judicial power to hear and determine any cause but onely a Ministerial power as in the answer of the seventh Article more at large is set down As for the Office of the High Constable the original of that is yet more obscure for though the High Constables Authority hath the more ample Circuit he being over the hundred and the pety Constable over the Village yet I do not find that the pety Constable is subordinate to the High Constable or to be ordered or commanded by him and therefore I doubt the High Constable was not ab origine but that when the business of the Countrey increased the Authority of the Justices of Peace was inlarged by divers Statutes then for conveniency sake the Office of High Constables grew in use for the receiving of the Commands and Precepts from the Justices of Peace and distributing them to the petie Constables and in token of this the Election of High Constables in most parts of the Kingdom is by the appointment of the Justices of Peace whereas the election of the pety Constable is by the People But there be two things unto which the Office of Constable hath special reference and which of necessity or at least a kind of congruity must precede the Jurisdiction of that Office either the things themselves or somewhat that hath a similitude or analogy towards them 1. The one is the division of the Territory or gross of the Shires into Hundreds Villages and Towns for the High Constable is Officer over the Hundred and the pety Constable is over the Town or Village 2. The other is the Court Leet unto which the Constable is a proper Attendant and Minister for there the Constables are chosen by the Jury there they are sworn and there that part of their Office which concerneth Information is principally to be performed for the Jury is to present Offences and the Offenders are chiefly to take light from the Constables of all matters of Disturbance and Nusance of the People which they in respect of their Office are presumed to have best and most particular knowledge of CHAP XX. Three ends of the Institution of the Court Leet 1. THe first end of the Institution of the Court Leet is To take the Oath of Allegiance of all Males above the Age of twelve years 2. The second To enquire of all offences against the peace and for those that are against the Crown and Peace both