Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
peace_n	commit_v	justice_n	offender_n	2,215	5	10.2168	5	false

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60883	The security of English-mens lives, or, The trust, power, and duty of the grand jurys of England explaining according to the fundamentals of the English government, and the declarations of the same made in Parliament by many statutes / published for the prevention of popish designs against the lives of many Protestant lords and commoners who stand firm to the religion and ancient government of England.	Somers, John Somers, Baron, 1651-1716.	1681 (1681)	Wing S4643; ESTC R33648	56,152	169

part fol. 33. the same be also void and holden for none for ever See also the Statute of Westm 2d cap. 38. and Articâ—â— super Cortas ch 9. So careful have our Parliaments been that the Power of Grand Inquests might be placed in the hands of good and worthy men that if one man of a Grand Inquest though they be Twenty Three or more should not be Liber Legalis Homo or such as the Law requires and duly returned without denomination to the Sheriff all the Indictments found by such a Grand Jury and the proceedings upon them are void and null So it was adjudged in Scarlet 's case I know too well that the Wisdom and Care of our Ancestors in this Institution of Grand Juries hath not been of late considered as it ought nor the Laws concerning them duly observed nor have the Gentlemen and other men of Estates in the several Counties discerned how insensibly their legal Power and Jurisdiction in their Grand and Petit Juries is decayed and much of the means to preserve their own Lives and Interests taken out of their hands 'T is a wonder that they were not more awakened with the attempt of the late Ed. Ch. Justice K. who would have usurped a Lordly Dictatorian power over the Grand Jury of Somersetshire and commanded them to sind a Bill of Indictment for murther for which they saw no Evidence and upon their refusal he not only threatned the Jury but assumed to himself an Arbitrary Power to sine them Here was a bold Battery made upon the ancient Fence of our Reputations and Lives If that Justice's Will had passed for Law all the Gentlemen of the Grand Juries must have been the basest Vassals to the Judges and have been penally obliged Jurare in Verba Magistri to have sworn to the Directions or Dictates of the Judges But thanks be to God the late long Parliament though filled with Pensioners could not bear such a bold Invasion of the English Liberty but upon the Complaint of one Sir Hugh Windham Foreman of the said Jury and a Member of that Parliament the Commons brought the then Chief Justcie to their Bar to acknowledge his fault whereupon the Prosecution ceased The Trust and Power of Grand Juries is and ought to be accounted amongst the greatest and of most concern next to the Legislative The justice of the whole Kingdom in criminal Cases almost wholly depending upon their Ability and Integrity in the due Execution of their Office Besides the Concernments of all Commoners the Honour Reputation Estates and Lives of all the Nobility of England are so far submitted to their Censure that they may bring them into question for Treason or Felony at their Discretion Their Verdict must be entred upon Record against the greatest Lords and process must legally go out against them thereupon to imprison them if they can be taken or to outlaw them as the Statutes direct and if any Peer of the Realm though innocent should justly fear a Conspiracy against his Life and think fit to withdraw the direction of the Statutes in proceeding to the Outlawry being rightly pursued he could never reverse the Outlawry as the Law now stands save by Pardon or Act of Parliament Hence it appears that in case a Grand Jury should be drawn to Indict a Noble Peer unjustly either by means of their own weakness or partiality or a blind submission to the Direction or Opinion of Judges One such failure of a Jury may occasion the Ruine of any of the best or greatest Families in England I mention this extent of the Grand Juries Power over all the Nobility only to shew their joint Interest and Concern with the Commons of England in this ancient Institution The Grand Juries are trusted to be the principal means of preserving the Peace of the whole Kingdom by the terrour of executing the penal Laws against Offenders by their Wisdom Diligence and Faithfulness in making due Inquiries after all Breaches of the Peace and bringing every one to answer for his crime at the peril of his Life Limb and Estate that every man who lives within the Law may sleep securely in his own House 'T is committed to their Charge and Trust to take care of bringing Capital Offenders to pay their Lives to Justice and lesser Criminals to other punishments according to their several demerits The Courts or Judges or Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer and of Gaol Delivery are to receive only from the Grand Inquest all Capital matters whatsoever to be put in Issue tried and judged before them by the Petit Juries The whole Stream of Justice in such cases either runs freely or is stopped and disturbed as the Grand Inquests do their Duties either faithfully and prudently or neglect or omit them And as one part of their Duty is to Indict Offenders so another part is to protect the Innocent in their Reputations Lives and Interests from false Accusers and malicious Conspirators They are to search out the Truth of such Informations as come before them and to reject the Indictment if it be not sufficiently proved and farther if they have reasonable suspicion of Malice or wicked Designs against any mans Life or Estate by such as offer a Bill of Indictment the Laws of God and of the Kingdom bind them to use all possible means to discover the Villany and if it appear to them whereof they are the legal Judges to be a Conspiracy or malicious Combination against the Accused they are bound by the highest Obligations upon Men and Christians not only to reject such a Bill of Indictment but to Indict forth with all the Conspirators with their Abettors and Associates Doubtless there hath been Pride and Covetousness Malice and desire of Revenge in all Ages from whence have sprung false Accusations and Conspiracies but no Age before us ever hatched such Villanies as our Popish Faction have contrived against our Religion Lives and Liberties No History assords an Example of such Forgeries Perjuries Subornations and Combinations of infamous Wretches as have been lately discovered amongst them to defame Loyal Innocent Protestants and to shed their guiltless Blood in the Form and Course of Justice and to make the Kings most faithful Subjects appear to be the vilest Traitors unto him In this our miserable State Grand Juries are our only Security in as much as our Lives cannot be drawn into jeoperdy by all the malicious crasts of the Devil unless such a number of our honest Country Men shall be satisfied in the truth of the Accusations For prevention of such Plotters of wickedness as now abound was that Statute made in the 42 of E. 3.3 See the Stat. 42 E. 3.3 in these words To eschew the mischiefs and damage done to divers of the Commons by False Accusers which oftentimes have made the Accusations more for Revenge and singular Benefit than for the profit of the King or of his People which accused persons some have been taken and

their going such ought to be their speed to make known the Treason Or if in any case they be otherwise openly flagitious though they be not legally infamous or if they are men of desperate Fortunes so that the temptation of want is manifestly strong upon them and the restraint of Conscience can be supposed to be little or none at all what ever they say is at least to be heard with extraordinary caution if not totally rejected In Scotland such a degree of Poverty S. G. Mackâ—zy Crim. Law lib. 26.3 that a Witness cannot swear himself to be worth Ten Pounds is sufficient to lay him aside wholly in these high Concernments of Criminal Cases And in some other Kingdoms to be a loose liver is an Objection of the same force against any produced for Witnesses And for the better discovery of the Truth of any fact in question the Credit of the Witnesses and the value of the Testimonies it is the Duty of the Grand Inquest to be well informed concerning the Parties indicted of their usual Residence their Estates and manner of living their Companions and Friends with whom they are accustomed to converse such knowledge being necessary to make a good judgment upon most accusations but most of all in suspitions or Indictments of secret Treasons or Treasonable Words where the accusers can be of no credit if it be altogether incredible that such things as they testifie should come to their knowledge Sometimes the quality of the accused person may set him at such a distance from the Witnesses that he cannot be supposed to have conversed with them familiarly if his Wisdom and Conduct has been always such that it is not credible he would trust men so inconsiderable or meer strangers to him and such as are wholly uncapable to assist in the Design which they pretend to discover Can the Grand Inquest believe such Testimony to be of any value Or can they avoid suspecting Malice Combination and Subornation in such a case or can they shew themselves to be just and conscientious in their Duty if they do not suspend their Verdict until further Enquiry and write Ignoramus upon the Bill It is undoubtedly Law which we find reported in Stiles Stiles Repor 11. That Though there be Witnesses who prove the Bill yet the Grand Inquest is not bound to find it if they see cause to the contrary Now to make their Enquiry more instrumental and advantageous to the Execution of Justice they are enjoined by their Oath to keep secret the King's Counsel their fellows and their own Perhaps 't is not sufficiently understood or considered what duty is enjoyned to every man of a Grand Inquest by this clause of their Oath being seldom if ever explained to them in the general charge of the Judges at Sessions or Assises But it is necessary that they should apprehend what Counsel of the King is trusted with them Certainly there is or ought to be much more of it communicated to them than is commonly thought and in things of the greatest consequence To them ought to be committed in the several Counties where any Prosecutions are begun the first Informations and suspitions of all Treasons Murders Felonies Conspiracies and other Crimes which may subvert the Government endanger or hurt the King or destroy the Lives or Estates of the innocent People or any way disquiet or disturb the common Peace Our Law intends the Councils of the King to be continually upon the protection and security of the People and prevention of all their mischiefs and dangers by wicked lawless and injurious men And in order thereunto to be advising how to right his wronged Subjects in general if the publick safety be hazarded by Treasons of any kind or their Relations snatcht from them by Murderers or any way destroyed by malicious Conspirators in form of Law or their Estates taken away by Robbery and Thieves or the Peace broken And for these ends to bring to exemplary Justice all offenders to deterr others from the like Wickedness And until these Counsels of the King come to the Grand Jury he can bring no such Criminals to judgment or to answer to the Accusations and Suggestions against them Hence it becomes unavoidably necessary to reveal to the Grand Juries all that hath been discovered to the King or any of his Ministers Judges or Justices concerning any Treasons or other Offences whereof any man is accused And where suspicion hath caused any to be imprisoned all the grounds of their suspitions ought to be opened concerning the Principals and the Accessories as well before as after the fact all the circumstances and presumptions that may induce a belief of their Guilt and all notices whatsoever which may enable the Jury to make a more exact and effectual Enquiry and to present the whole Truth They themselves will not only be offenders against God by reason of their Oath but subject to legal punishments if they knowingly conceal any Criminals and leave them unpresented and none can be innocent who shall conceal from them any thing that may help and assist them in their Duty The first notices of Crimes or suspicions of the Criminals by whomsoever brought in and the intentions of searching them out and prosecuting them legally are called the King's Counsel because the principal care of executing Justice is entrusted to him and they are to be prosecuted at his Suit and in his name and such proceedings are called Pleas of the Crown From hence may be easily concluded that the Kings Counsel which by the Oath of the Grand Inquest is to be kept secret includeth all the persons offered to them to be indicted and all the matters brought in Evidence before them all circumstances whatsoever whereof they are informed which may any way conduce to the discovery of Offences all intimations given them of Abettors and Encouragers of Treasons Felonies or Perjuries and Conspiracies or of the Receivers Harbourers Nourishers and Concealers of such Criminals Likewise the Oath which enjoins the Counsel of their Fellows and their own to be kept implies that they shall not reveal any of their personal knowledge concerning Offences or Offenders nor their intentions to indict any man thereupon nor any of the Proposals and Advices amongst them of ways to enquire into the truth of any matter before them either about the Crimes themselves or the accusers and Witnesses or the party accused nor the debates thereupon amongst themselves nor the diversity of opinionins any case before them Certainly this Duty of secresie concerning the Kings Counsel was imposed upon the Grand Inquest with great reason in order to the publick good It was intended that they should have all the advantages which the several cases will afford to make effectual Enquiries after Criminals to offer them to Justice If packs of Thieves private Murderers secret Traitors or Conspirators and Suborners can get Intelligence of all that is known of their Villanies all the parties concerned may

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