therefore they shall by their Proxie make their Procurator and depart the House the party indited shall be put to plead to the inditement whereunto if he plead Not guilty he shall be thereof tried by his Peers and first the most puisne Baron shall be examined of his verdict by the Lord Steward and so in order until all they man by man have delivered their Opinion of the matter either in convicting the person standing accused before them or by clearing and acquitting him of the crime if by their verdicts he be thought guilty of the offence thereof is made an Act which when it hath the consent of the King it is then esteemed a Judgement and the Offender thereby is attainted Herein is to be noted that this verdict of the Lords is not upon their Oaths but upon their Honour for persons of so high degree should have so great care for the preservation of their Honour as themselves or any other have for the safe-Guard of their Souls which is admitted in that and in all other Attaynders per Pares by the Peers as well for that they are in that place not onely as Triers of the Fact but also Judges appointed over the fault and never was it used that Judges should verifie their sentence upon attestation thereof upon their Oaths Secondly in this manner of trial they must think that the bread which is broken unto others by them may by the just Judgement of God in like measure be broken unto themselves in that he whom they censure was in equal degree unto themselves Thirdly also for that where the Law requireth at the hands of other persons an Oath it ordaineth that Barons should regard their Honors Secondly it is to be noted that the party so arraigned in Parliament ought to be called to answer for himself for the Law of England is not so unreasonable to condemn any that will defend himself and it hath heretofore been noted as an error in the judgement of the Parliament 21 E. 3.46 b. when they have given a judgment in the cause of any private person he being not called thereunto and that in a civil matter of much less moment then is the cause of life and death wherefore if the party may be had and do not willingly and wilfully absent himself he is thereunto called to answer and therefore the Parliament in 37 and 38 H. 8. was freed of fault herein upon the Attainder of the Duke of Norfolk he then being in the Tower for that it was signified by the Lord Burghley Lord Treasurer in the Star-chamber when as Philip the last Earle of Arundel was called to answer in the Star-chamber to an undutiful Letter written by him to her Majesty that the said Duke was sent unto and would not come to the Parliament and the said Lord Treasurer affirmed that he then being of the lower House was sent thither with others see for this 1 Mar. Dyer 93. p. 24. The Lord high Steward giveth the Judgement upon Attaynder of treason 1 H. 4.1 a. 13 H. 8.12 a. as appeareth by the Judgment given in Parliament 21 R. 2. n. 15 16. The Bills of Attaynder in Parliament are intituled Placita Coronae coram Domino Rege in Parliamento suo Errours in Parliament reversed Now touching the manner how errors in the Kings Courts committed are reversed in Parliament I shall be very brief First the parties that are grieved through any erronious judgment given against them 22 E. 3.3 a. 12 Ass p. 22. 2 H. 7.19 ought to make their petition un-the King or Monarch that it would please him to permit that erronious judgement as is given against them in such Courts from whence they cannot further appeal may be in Parliament reviewed and reversed This their Petition ought to contain the effect of their grief and ought to be endorsed Let right be done unto the parties In this manner Soit Droit fait as Parties Hereupon the Lord Chancellor of England shall make a Writ of error 1 H. 7.19 n. directed unto the Judges of such Courts where the error was committed and now to be reversed by the Parliament by vertue of which writ the Lord chief Justice of England shall in person bring before the Lords in the higher House the said Petition the said Writ of error and the Rolls wherein is contained the judgment and proces wherein error is supposed H. 7.19 2 E. 3.3 and shall there leave the same petition writ and the transcript of the said Record but not the Record it self with the Clerk of the Parliament for that the Record it self shall be brought back again into the said Court for these Reasons 8 H. 5. f. Errour 88. 23 Eliz Dy. 375. First because these Rolls do concern other matter Secondly because if judgment should be there affirmed then the inferiour Court may have Record whereupon to a ward Execution And lastly for that it is a Rule that when a Record is sent from an inferior Court to a higher Court it is never remanded so that if the former judgement should be affirmed in the Parliament and the Parliament after dissolved the party plaintiff should be without remedy wherefore the record is brought back again as aforesaid 1 H. 7.20 And thus the said Petition indorsed the Writ of Errour and the Transcript remaining in the hands of the Clerk of the Parliament the matter shall be signified unto the Lord Steward by whom together with the other Lords Spiritual and Temporal 22 E. 3.3 a. and with the Iudges the same shall be determined or otherwise the King may appoint out a Commission and thereby assigne certain Earles and Barons who together with the Iudges shall determine the same but the Commons shall not intermeddle therewith moreover after that the Transcript is examined with the Record and that the Record is sent back to the former Court the party plaintiff ought to assigne his Error in writing and thereupon shall have a Scire facias against the defendant ad audiendum errores which writ shall be returned the next Parliament ensuing for that the common day of a Scire facias is forty days but because it is uncertain whether the Parliament shall be dissolved or no before that time therefore the said writ shall be returned the next Parliament 8 H 5. f. tit Error 88. but if the writ be sued forth at a Session of Parliament the same shall be returned the next Session after the said errors assigned and the Scire facias pursued the plaintiff shall not enter into Recognisance to satisfie the judgment 1 H. 7.20 if it shall happen to be given against him or to render his body to prison in such manner as is done in a writ of error in the upper Bench sued upon an erronious judgment given in the Common place but he shall still remain in prison for if the party plaintiff should be at large upon such recognisance acknowledged in
by a County or a Barony are summoned by Writ to come to the Parliament and the King bears their expences of their remaining and aboad and all the other Deanes Arch-Deacons and Persons are summoned to appear by two sufficient Proctors which come with a duplicate of their Procurations whereof one part remaineth with the Clerk of the Parliament and the other with the Proctors 2. The summons of the Laity as Earls Barons and their Peers which hold Lands and rents to the value of a County or of a Barony viz. 20. Knights Fees every Fee being accompted at 20. l. per annum which make 400. l. or 23. Knights Fees and a half which makes 400. Marks per annum and none of the Laity of lesser condition are namely and particularly called by Writ except their presence be necessary for some special and extraordionary cause 3. Next the King sends his VVrits to the Cinque Ports to chuse Barons to answer alleadge and do for their Baronies as if all were present a VVrit under the great Seal for the VVarden for their expences 20. s. 4. Next the King sendeth his VVrits to the Sheriff of every Shire to chuse two Knights of every Shire a Mark for their expences 5. Then the King sends his VVrits to the Cities of London and Yorke or other Cities that are Counties to chuse two grave Citizens and they must also have a Mark for their expences 6. And then the Kings VVrit goeth to the Bailiffs of Boroughs to chuse two Burgesses There must be two principal Clerks of the Parliament and they must sit in the midst of the Justices to enrole all the Pleas and businesses of the Parliament not being Clerks to the Justices for there is no Justice in England hath any power or Jurisdiction in the Parliament but that the King calleth them thither to assist the Lords and to hear and determine petitions for the two Clerks are immediately subject to the King except the King assigne some of the Justices to examine their Rolls These Clerks enrole all the Judgments given in the Parliament and before the end of the Parliament they deliver them over to the Treasurer keeping a Transcript or Counter-roll to themselves their wages a Mark a day Other Clerks were assigned by the King to the Bishops and others to the Proctours of the Clergy another to the Earls and Barons another to the Knights another also to the Citizens and Burgesses these set down all doubts and answers and are present in their Counsels and being at leisure they assist the two principal Clerks to enrole the Acts of Parliament If a matter of difficulty either concerning Peace or War be moved in Parliament the King wil enjoyn all the several degrees or tribes of the Parliament the Bishops the Proctours the Barons c. to go apart into several places and the case is to be delivered to their several Clerks whereupon they are to debate amongst themselves and to advise and if all or the greatest part do not agree then the Lord Steward the Lord Constable and the Lord Marshal are to chuse thirty five out of the number two Bishops three Proctors two Earls three Barons five Knights five Citizens and five Burgesses and these thirty five men may chuse twelve and these may descend to six these six to three and these three to two and these two to one and so one person may determine a cause except the King gainsay it which he may do during the Parliament otherwise nor There be three Degrees of businesses in the Parliament 1. Wars or matters touching the Kings person the Queen and the Kings children 2. The publick businesses of the Commonwealth 3. The private and particular matters yet these are to be handled as the Bills come in by priority The principal Cryer of the Parliament the Chancellour Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer shall record the defaults of all those that are summoned A Sermon before the Parliament must be provided by the Arch-Bishop in whose diocess it is holden Proclamation must be made in the Hall or Monastery where it is holden and in the City or Town that all men by a certain day bring in their petitions c. The Chancellor or the chief Justice of England is to declare the cause of the Summons of the Parliament The King in state ever to be present in the Parliament if he be not sick if he be sick to send for twelve persons of the house to see his person and to satisfie the house of the cause of his absence For the session the King sits alone The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury on his right hand Yorke on his left hand and so every man in his degree and the Lord Steward is to see that every man sit amongst his Peers The Ushers of the Parliament stand within the door of the house and the Cryer stands without the door and the Kings guard stands a good way without the door to keep tumults and crowds of people from about the door All sit except he that speaks who must stand to speak that all may hear None is to go in or out of the house but at one door onely The King never requires aide but for war or to make his Son a Knight or to marry his Daughter and that in full Parliament Two Knights of the Shire are greater then any one Earle or Baron and two Proctours then any one Arch-Bishop or Bishop and the King can hold his Parliament without any Arch-Bishop Bishop Earle or Baron with the Commons alone for there was a Parliament before there was any Barons but if the Commons do not appear there can be no Parliament though all the great Peeres of the Realm were present with the King for the Proctours Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Realm do represent the whole Commons of the Realm but the great Peers of the Realm are present onely for themselves and for no others The Parliament ought not to be dissolved as long as any Bill remaines undiscussed if it be the King is perjured and publick Proclamation is to be made in the Parliament and in the Palace that if any have any petition he ought to come in and if no answer be made it is to be intended that all men are satisfied Any man that will may have a Transcript or Copie of the Acts before they be printed paying for the same 10. l. 5. s. or 10 l. 08 s. 01 d. And the Parliament may be holden in any place where it shall please the King viz. at Oxford at Kennelworth at Marlborough at Gloucester at Acton-Burnel at Leicester at the Blackfryers c. 14 H. 8. DODDRIDGE Of the Antiquity of the Parliament of England THe Ancient and first Parliament that I have read of is that in Polydore Virgil in the reign of H. 1. in the 16 year which was about the year of our Lord 1116. And this was held at Salisbury as he saith where were assembled with the King all the
which they called in their ancient English tongue Gereduysis or a Counsel sometimes Wittena Mota as a meeting of wise men and sometimes by the Greek word Synoth The Latine Authors of that age did call it Consilium Magnatum Conventus and Praesentia Regis Praelatorum Procerumque Collectorum as appeareth by the Charter of King Edgar to the Abbey of Crowland in the year 961. At which time it seemeth by the subsigning that Abbesses had their voices there and consents aswel as the Prelates and Nobles of the Land After the Norman Conquest the two first Kings reigned with their swords in their hands absolutely of themselves viz. the Conqueror and William Rufus his Son not admitting of themselves any general Assemblies of the States of the Realm but permitting onely provincial Synodes of the Clergy for the composing of Ecclesiastical controversies as some write wherein they themselves sate nevertheless as Presidents yet in their meetings as it is in Hovedon where he setteth down the Lands of William the Conqueror he did set them down And by the Counsels of the Barons fecit summoniri per universos Consultatus Angliae Anglos nobiles sapientes sua lege eruditos ut eorum jura Consuetudines ab ipsis audiret Electi igitur de singulis totius Patriae Comitatibus viri Duodecem Jurejurando Confirmaverunt primo ut quoad possint recto tramite neque ad dextram neque ad sinistram partem divertentes legem suarum Consuetudinem sanctitatem patefecerint nil praetermittentes nil addentes nil praevaricando Mutantes And oftentimes he and his son William called together the Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Archiepiscopos Episcopos Abbates Comites Barones Vicecomites cum suis militibus and in the time following we find that there was conventum omnium Episcoporum Abbatum Florentius Vigorniensis procerum Regni Londini in palatio Regis But an old Manuscript Book saith That the first Parliament wherein the Commons were called aswel as the Prelates and Nobles Liber Cantuarmu was in the sixteenth year of H. 1. and then was first called by the name of Parliament as some say from the Peeres a potiore parte quasi parium Conventus some derive it from the Peeres ridiculously quast Parium lamentum others more probably derive it from the French word Parler as that of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to treat and to confer together Some of the French Historians write that this name in this sence began at an Assembly of the Peeres of France about the yeer of Christ 1200. But I find the word to have bin in use with us in this Realm long before for Ingulphus who died in the year 1109. used the word for the meeting or Chapter of the Abbot and Covent writing thus Concessimus etiam tunc seriantiam nostrae Ecclesiae semiano de Leke qui veniens coram conventu in publico Parliamento nostra similiter Juramentum praestitit quod fidus fidelis nobis existerit Neither do I doubt but that the word was brought into this Realm by the French Monks and first used by the Statists in the time of H. 1. and since that time the authority of this Court hath stood setled and the Communalty hath had their voice which the said H. 1. granted unto them being a natural Englishman himself and in love of the English Nation when at that time the Normans were on the terms of revolt from him in favour of Robert his Brother Duke of Normandy Now for the form of Assembling of these three sorts of Estates in this high Court I find no certainty till the time of King John It is apparent by a Petition exhibited by the Lord Fitz-Hugh in a Parliament holden at Leicester 2 H. 1. that the principal Nobility were onely called and they after the end of the Parliament to impart unto the Barons and their country what was done in the Parliament Afterwards King John ordained that all the Barons of England should come in their proper persons to the Parliament whensoever they were summoned The form I will deliver out of the words of the petition Ipse Dominus Rex generalis summonitiones vicecomitibus cujuslibet Comitatus diligeret ipsos injungendo quod omnes Comites Barones quorum nomina infra scripta fuerunt infra suas balivas residentes ipsi summonirent ad veniendum ad Parliamentum Regis hoc non omittatur quacunque ex causa sub paend Magni Contemptus at which time as it is in the Book intituled Modus tenendi Parliamentum all Earls which have Lands Tenements and Revenues to the value of an entire County at twenty Knights Fees after twenty pound a Fee or the value of an entire Barony which is fifteen Knights Fees and a half came to the Parliament but when so great a multitude coul not but breed tumultuous confusion King Henry the third after he had smarted by these confused multitudes of Barons ordained that those Earls and Barons unto whom he directed his Writs should onely come to the Parliament so in the ancientest Summons that I have seen which were in 49 H. 3. there were called besides the Earls onely 17 Barons This which King H. 3. began was fully perfected by King Edward the first his Son who elected the wisest and such as pleased him and likewise omitted them and their children in their summons if they did not equal their Parents in wisdom and other good parts and offices of valour and government so we see in that time Hilton Corbet Point Leyburne Vavasour c. and such other like were summoned once or twice in Parliaments and their posterity wholly omitted afterwards The Barons and Bishops were called De Negotiis tractaturi Consilium impensuri The Knights and Burgesses ad faciendum consentiendum iis quae ibidem de communi Consilio dicti Regni nostri favente Deo contigerit ordinari super Negotiis antedictis And in the same words were the Clergy called ad faciendum consentiendum so as it seemeth they had asmuch to do in Parliament then as Knights of Shires and Burgesses WILLIAM CAMDEN Of the Antiquity of Parliaments in England I Find in many ancient Histories that the Kings of this Land did use to call together the Nobility and Estates of the Realm to confer with them especially about matters of War when any necessary occasion did move them thereunto But it is thought by Holinshead in his Chronicle that the first use of the Parliament did begin in the 17 year of H. 1. which since that time hath remained in force and is frequented unto our times insomuch as when any thing is to be decreed appertaining to the State of the Commonwealth it shall not be received as a Law until by the Authority of that Assembly it shall be established And because the house of Parliament should not be overcharged with multitudes E. 1. did order that none of his Barons and