The pretence of the present East India Companies property stated and considered as well in respect to the sole trade exclusive to all others, as to their islands, forts, &c.

The pretence of the present East India Companies property stated and considered as well in respect to the sole trade exclusive to all others, as to their islands, forts, &c.

Table of contents

The PRETENCE of the preſent Eaſt India Companies Property Stated and Conſidered as well in Reſpect to the Sole Trade Excluſive to all others, as to their Iſlands, Forts, &c.

The PRETENCE of the preſent Eaſt India Companies Property Stated and Conſidered as well in Reſpect to the Sole Trade Excluſive to all others, as to their Iſlands, Forts, &c.

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THE Pretence of their Property to the Sole Trade Excluſive to all others is grounded on the Kings Charter, which Grants them the Trade in that manner, and Provides that they ſhall not be diſſolved without 3 years notice.

The Proviſo for 3 years is as follows.

PROVIDED alſo that if it ſhall hereafter appear to Us Our Heirs or Succeſſors, That this Grant or the continuance thereof in the whole or any part thereof ſhall Not be Profitable to Ʋs, Our Heirs or Succeſſors, or to this Our Realm, That then and from thenceforth upon and after Three Years warning to be given to the ſaid Company by Ʋs, Our Heirs or Succeſſors under Our or their Privy Seal or Sign Manual, this preſent Grant ſhall Ceaſe, be Void, and Determin, to all Intents, Conſtructions and Purpoſes.

Upon this Proviſo the Judges have given this following Opinion.

We are of Opinion, That by this Clauſe the Eaſt India Company cannot be Determined till after 3 years warning given them under the Privy Seal or Sign Manual, and that they will continue a Company during the ſaid 3 years, and may Trade and Act in the mean time.

It will not be amiſs to make ſome Obſervations on this Opinion of the Judges.

1. The Judges Opinion is given ſtrictly upon the foregoing Clauſe of the Charter, with reſpect only to what the King Himſelf might do, which does no ways limit the Parliament; For the Parliament made Void a Charter granted to the Canary Company in Anno 1667. And Our Kings themſelves in all Reigns have Vacated their Patents ſo ſoon as they have been found Prejudicial to the Publick Good.

2. The Judges do not ſay, That though the Company continue a Company, and may Trade and Act, That others Their Majeſties Subjects may not likewiſe lawfully Trade into and from the Eaſt Indies as well as the ſaid Company, notwithſtanding their Charter.

3. They do not ſay in what manner the Company may Trade notwithſtanding ſuch Notice, whether as amply as ever they did before, or if it may not be Limited only to the bringing home their Effects.

4. They do not ſay the King could not give a concurrent Grant or Charter before the expiration of the ſaid Three Years, and indeed it ſeems ſtrange to ſay, That the King cannot give his Subjects leave to do that, which they can Lawfully do without his Leave.

5. They do not ſay the Company have not Forfeited their Charter, and that by a Scire Facias the King could not void it without any Notice given them.

And having thus conſidered the Judges Opinion on the Proviſoe, I ſhall now proceed to conſider the Companies pretence of Property to the Sole Trade excluſive to all others.

There can be no Property without a Legal Right, and therefore if the Company have not a Legal Right they can have no Property, and that they have no Legal Right may appear by theſe following Conſiderations.

All Property is grounded on the Common or Statute Law of this Land, and the Companies pretence of Property to the Sole Trade being grounded on the Kings Charter only, its plain they can have no other Right or Property than what the King can lawfully grant them.

All Trade being the Right of every Subject of this Realm, they cannot be excluded from it by Grant from the King without conſent in Parliament, and this appears not only from the Petition which the Company themſelves preferred the laſt Seſſion to the Honourable Houſe of Commons, Praying to have an Act of Parliament paſſed to confirm the ſaid Trade to them excluſive to all others.

But the ſame is likewiſe evident by the ſeveral Judgments at Law given, ſince the late Happy Revolution, againſt the Eaſt India Company and the Affrican Company, notwithſtanding their Charters, and may likewiſe appear by the Meſſage which the King himſelf lately ſent the Houſe by an Honourable Member of His Privy Council.

And beſides that the Company have no Property in that Trade excluſive to others, There would ariſe many inconveniences by their enjoying it Three years after warning (although they had a Property thereunto) and the whole Trade would be in danger to be loſt to this Nation, of which His Majeſty having been pleaſed to take Notice in His Meſſage to the Houſe on this occaſion as the reaſon why he did not give them Notice, it will be therefore unneceſſary to mention the particulars.

But the Company muſt nevertheleſs remain a Company and Body Politick three years for ſome purpoſes; otherwiſe many miſchievous Conſequences would enſue, the prevention of which muſt have been what was intended by the Proviſo in their Charter for 3 years warning.

For if the Company ſhould ceaſe and determine immediately there could be no Proprietor to their Eſtate, there would be no body to make Satisfaction for what is due from them to others, nor to demand or receive of thoſe who are Debtors and accountable to them, ſo that they could neither pay what they Owe, nor receive what is due to them, nor divide their remains (if any there were) to the Adventurers.

And as to the Property they claim in their Iſlands, Forts, &c. in the ſame manner as any man in England has to his Mannors and Lands, it is Evident by the Clauſe in their Charter before recited, that their Grant may determin and Ceaſe at 3 years warning given under the Privy Seal or Sign Manual, and when that is determined, ſo is their Pretence of Property, which therefore differs very much from the right a particular man has to his Mannors and Lands, the one being founded on a Legal Right, the other depending only on the Kings Will and Pleaſure.

But though they have no Right or Property to the Sole Trade, it is to be acknowledged they have a Right and Property to their Forts, Caſtles, &c. although not in the ſame manner as they pretend; the Iſlands of Bombay and St. Hellena, being Annexed to the Crown, and holden of the Mannor of East Greenwich at a certain Quit Rent, cannot therefore be Sold to the Dutch, or French, or Alienated from Their Majeſties Subjection.

Their Iſlands, Forts, &c. are ſuch as have either been granted to them and their Succeſſors as a Company by the Crown, or have been Purchaſed by them from the Former East India Company; ſo that their property to them has a Publick regard to the Trade which is National, and their Succeſſors are thoſe which ſhall ſucceed them in that Trade as a Company; and it is therefore altogether different from the Property which a Private Man has to his particular Eſtate. Nevertheleſs it's but juſt a reaſonable Allowance ſhould be made to the Company for them; in the Valuing of which it is to be conſidered what the Company paid either to the Crown, or the former Company for them, and the Uſe and Advantage they may be to the carrying on the Trade, the Value of which may be adjuſted by Perſons indifferently Choſen on both ſides, as has been formerly practiſed by ſeveral Succeſſive Companies; and if any other Forts, &c. have been acquired by the Preſent Company, the Value of them may likewiſe be adjuſted in the ſame manner.

Ʋpon the Whole Matter, ſeeing that the Eaſt India Trade is ſo Neceſſary and Advantageous, and Beſt to be managed by a National Joint Stock, and that the Preſent Company have no Right thereunto Excluſive to others, And that the ſaid Trade is already ſo much impaired and in ſuch danger to be loſt to this Kingdom, as His Majeſty is pleaſed to intimate in His Meſſage; and was fully proved before the Houſe of Commons in the laſt Seſſion, It cannot therefore be doubted but the Honourable Houſe will direct a Bill to be brought in in order to paſs into an Act of Parliament to Eſtabliſh a New East India Company, in which no one may be Excluded from his Right to that Trade, who deſires to be Concerned therein, which its Humbly Conceived is the only Foundation on which this Trade can be Eſtabliſhed, ſo as to be preſerved and advanced to the Honour and Intereſt of this Nation, as His Majeſty has recommended to them in his ſaid Meſſage.

Information about this book

Title statement

The pretence of the present East India Companies property stated and considered as well in respect to the sole trade exclusive to all others, as to their islands, forts, &c.

Edition statement

1698

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2009-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A55762

ID [STC]

Wing P3316

ID [STC]

ESTC R221860

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99833107

ID [PROQUEST]

99833107

ID [VID]

37582

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Early English books online.

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(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A55762)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 37582)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 3017:2b, 2053:32)

Source

— The pretence of the present East India Companies property stated and considered as well in respect to the sole trade exclusive to all others, as to their islands, forts, &c.,

Extent

1 sheet ([1] p.)

s.n.,. [London :: 1698]. (Imprint from Wing (2nd ed.).) (Item at 2053:32 is a reproduction of the original in the Bodleian Library.) (Item at 3017:2b is a reproduction of the original in the British Library.) (Item at 3017:2b bound with: At a general court of the adventurers in the general joynt-stock to the East-Indies, holden the fourteenth of November, 1694. [London : s.n., 1694].)

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