A briefe discourse, concerning the power of the Peeres, and Commons of Parliament, in point of judicature written by a learned antiquerie, at the request of a peere, of this realme.

A briefe discourse, concerning the power of the Peeres, and Commons of Parliament, in point of judicature written by a learned antiquerie, at the request of a peere, of this realme.

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Title page

A BRIEFE DISCOVRSE Concerning the power of the Peeres and Commons of Parliament in point of Iudicature.

A BRIEFE DISCOVRSE Concerning the power of the Peeres and Commons of Parliament in point of Iudicature.

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SIR, to give you as ſhort an account of your deſires as I can, I muſt crave leave to lay you as a ground, the frame or firſt modell of this ſtate.

When after the period of the Saxon time, Harold had lifted himſelfe into the Royall Seat; the Great men to whom but lately he was no more then equall either in fortune or power, diſdaining this Act, of arrogancy, called in William then Duke of Normandy, a Prince more active then any in theſe Weſterne parts, and renowned for many victories he had fortunately atchieved againſt the Franch King, then the moſt potent Monarch in Europe.

This Duke led along with him to this worke of glory, many of the yonger ſons of the beſt families of Normandy, Picardy, and Flanders, who as undertakers, accompanied the undertaking of this fortunate man.

The Uſurper ſlaine, and the Crowne by warre gained, to ſecure certaine to his poſterity, what hee had ſo ſuddenly gotten, he ſhared out his purchaſſe retaining in each County a portion to ſupport the dignity Soveraigne, which was ſtiled [...] [...]; now the antient Demeanes and aſſiguing to others his adventurers ſuch portions as ſuited to their quality and expence, retaining to himſelfe dependancy of their perſonall ſervice, except ſuch Lands as in free Almes were the portion of the Church, theſe were ſtifed Barones [Page]Regis, the Kings immediate Freeholders, for the word Baro imported then no more.

As the King to theſe, ſo theſe to their followers, ſubdivided part of their ſhares into Knights ſees, and their Tennants were called Barones Comites, or the like; for we finde, as in the Kings Writ in their Writs Baronilus ſuis & Francois & Anglois, the ſoveraigne gifts, for the moſt part excending to whole Counties or Hundreds, an Earle being Lord of the one, and a Baron of the inferiour donations to Lords of Towne-ſhips or Mannors.

As thus the Land, ſo was all courſe of Judicature divided even from the meaneſt to the highſt, portion each ſeverall had his Court of Law, preſerving ſtill the Mannor of our Anceſtors the Saxons, who jura per pag [...]s reddebant; and theſe are ſtill tearmed Court-Barons, or the Freeholders Court, twelve uſually in number, who with the Thame or chiefe Lord were Judges.

The hundred was next, where the Hundrus or Aldermanus Lord of the Hundred, with the chiefe Lord of each Towne-ſhip within their limits judged; Gods people obſerved this forme in the publike Centureonis & decam Iudieabant plebem omni tempore.

The County or Generale placitum was the next, this was ſo to ſupply the defect, or remedy the corruption of the inferior, Vbi Curiae Dominorum probantur deſeciſse, pertinet ad vice-comitem Provinciarum; the Judges here were Comites, Vice-comites & Barones Comitatus qui liberas in [...] terr [...] [...]a [...]eant.

The laſt and ſupreme, and proper to our queſtion, was generale placitum apud London univerſalis Synodus in Charters of the Conquerour, Capitalis curia by Glanvile, Magnum & Commune conſilium coram Rege & magnatibus ſuis.

In the Rolles of Henry the 3. It is not ſtative, but ſummoned by Proclamation, Edicitur generale placitum apud London, ſaith the Booke of Abingdon, whether Epium Duces Principes, Satrap [...] Rectores, & Cauſidi [...]i ex omni parte confluxerunt ad iſtam curiam, ſaith Glanvile: Cauſes were referred, Propter aliquam dubitationem que Emergit in comitatu, tum Comitatus neſcit dijudicare. Thus did Ethelweld Biſhop of Wincheſter tranferre his [Page] ſuit againſt Leostine from the County ad generale placitum, in the time of King Etheldred. Queene Edgine againſt God [...], from the County appealed to King Etheldred at London. Congregatis Principibus & ſapientibus Anglia, a ſuit between the Biſhops of Wincheſter and Durham in the time of Saint Edward. Coram Epiſcopis & principibus Regni in preſentia Regis ventilate & finita. In the tenth yeere of the Conquerour, Epiſcopi Comites & Barones Regni poteſtate adverſis provinciis ad univerſalem Synodum pro cauſis audiendis Convocati, ſaith the Booke of VVeſtminſter. And this continued all along in the ſucceeding Kings raign, untill towards the end of Henry the third.

AS this great Court or Counſell conſiſting of the King and Barons, ruled the great affaires of State and controlled all inferiour Courts, ſo were there certaine officers, whoſe tranſcendent power ſeemed to bee ſet to bound in the execution of Princes wills, as the Steward, Conſtable, and Marſhall fixed upon Families in fee for many ages: They as Tribunes of the people, or ex plori among the Athenians, growne by unmanly courage, fearefull to Monarchy, fell at the feet and mercy of the King, when the daring Earle of Leiceſter, was ſlaine at Eveſham.

This chance and the dear experience Henry the 3. himſelfe had made at the Parliament at Oxford, in the 40. yeare of his raigne, and the memory of the many ſtraights his Father was driven unto, eſpecially at Rumny-mead neare Staines, brought this King wiſely to beginne what his ſucceſſour fortunately finiſhed, in leſſening the ſtrength and power of his great Lords; and this was wrought by ſearching into the Regality they had uſurped over their peculiar Soveraignes, whereby they were (as the Booke of Saint Albans termeth them.) [...].

And by the [...] that hand of power which they carried in the Parliaments by commanding the ſervice of many Knights, Citizens, and Burgeſſes to that great Counſell.

[Page] Now began the frequent ſending of Writs to the Commons, their aſſent not onely uſed in money, charge, and making Lawes, for before all ordinances paſſed by the King and Peers, but their conſent in judgements of all natures, whether civill or criminall: In proofe whereof, I will produce ſome few ſucceeding Preſidents out of Record.

When Adam [...] that proud Prelate of Wincheſter, the Kings [...] halfe brother had grieved the State by his daring power, he was exiled by joynt ſentence of the King, the Lords and Commons, and this appeareth expreſſely by the Letters ſent to Pope Alexander the fourth, expoſtulating a revocation of him from baniſhment, becauſe he was a Church-man, and ſo not ſubject to any cenſure, in this the anſwer is, Si Dominus Rex & Regni majores hoc vellent, meaning his revocation, Communitas tamen ipſius ingreſsum in Angli [...]m jam nullat [...]us ſustineret. The Peeres ſubſigne this anſwer, with their names and Petrus de Mountſord vice totius Communitatis, as ſpeaker or proctor of the Commons.

For by that ſtile Sir Iohn [...], Prolocutor, affirmeth [...] under his Armes the deed of Intaile of the Crowne by King Henry the 4. in the 8. yeare of his raigne for all the Commons.

The baniſhment of the two Spencers, in the 15. of Edward the ſecond, Prelate C [...]mites & Barones et les autres Peeres de la [...] & Commun [...]s de Roialme, give conſent and ſentence to the revocation & [...]everſement of the former ſentence the Lords and Commons accords and ſo it is expreſſed in the Roll.

In the first of Edward the 3. when Elixabeth the Widdow [...] of Sir Iohn de Burgo, complained in Parliament, that Hugh Spencer the younger, Robert Bold [...]k and William Cliffe his inſtruments had by dureſſe forced her to make a Writing to the King, whereby ſhe was deſpoyled of all her inheritance ſentence is given for her in theſe words, [...] [...] avis est al [...] Counts & Barones & autres grand [...]s & a tout C [...]mmin [...] de la terre, que le dit eſcrip [...] eſt fait contre [...] & [...] per agard de [...] Parliam [...]dam ſue elloques al livre a la di [...] [...].

In An. 4. Edward 3. it appeareth by a Letter to the Pope, [Page] that to the ſentence given againſt the Earle of Kent, the [...] Commons were parties, as well as the Lords and Peeres, for the King directed their proceedings in theſe words, Comitibus, Magnatibus, Baronibus, & aliis de Communitate, dicti Regni ad Parliamentum, illud congregatis injunximus ut ſuper [...]is diſcernerent & judicarent, quod rati [...]ni et juſtitiae, conventret, habere prae [...], ſolum Deum qui cum concordi unanimi ſententia tanquam r [...]rum crimmis [...] majestatis m [...]rti adjudicarent ejus ſententia, &c.

When in the 50. years of Edward 3. the Lords had pronounced Parl. Ann. 5. E. 3. the ſentence againſt Richard Lyons, otherwiſe then the C [...]mmons agreed they appealed to the King, and had [...] and the ſentence [...]tred to their deſires.

When in the firſt yeare of Richard the ſecond, William Par. Ann. 1. Richa. 2. 11. 3. 8. and 3, 5. Weſt [...]n, and Iohn [...]ennings, were arraigned in Parliament, for ſurrendring certaine [...]ores of the Kings, the Commons were parties to the ſentence againſt them given, as appeareth by a Memorandum annexed to that Record. In the firſt of Henry the 4. although the Commo [...]s referre by proteſtation, the pronouncing of the ſentence of depoſition againſt King Richard the ſecond u [...]to the Lords, yet are they equally intereſſed in it, as it appeareth by the Record, for there are made Proctors or Commiſſioners for the whole Parliament, one B. one Abbot one [...] Baron, and 2. Knights, & G [...]y & Erpingham for the Commons, and to in [...]er that becauſe the Lords pronounceth the ſentence, the point of judgement ſhould be onely theirs, were as abſurd as to conclude, that no authority was beſt in any other Commiſſioner of Oyer and Terminer. then in the perſon of that man ſolely that ſpeaketh the ſentence.

In 2. Henry 5. the Petition of the Commons importeth no Rot. Parl. An. 2. H. 6. [...]ſſe, then a right they had to act and aſſent to all things in Parliament, and ſo it is anſwered by the King; and had not the adjournall Roll of the higher houſe beene left to the ſole [...] of the Clarke of the upper Houſe, who [...] out of the neglect to obſerve due forme, or out [Page] of purpoſe to obſcure the Commons right and to flatter the power of thoſe he immediately ſerved, there would have beene frequent examples of all times to cleere this doubt, and to preſerve a juſt intereſt to the Common-wealth, and how conveniently it ſuites with Monarchy to maintaine this forme, leſt others of that well framed body knit under one head, ſhould ſwell too great and monſtruous. It may be eaſily thought for; Monarchy againe may ſooner groane under the weight of Ariſtocracie as it once did, then under Democracie which it never yet either felt or fear'd.

FINIS.

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A Briefe Diſcourſe, Concerning The Power of the PEERES, and Commons of PARLIAMENT, in point of Judicature.

Written by a Learned Antiquerie, at the Requeſt of a Peere, of this REALME.

Printed in the yeere, That Sea-Coale was exceeding deare. 1640.

Information about this book

Title statement

A briefe discourse, concerning the power of the Peeres, and Commons of Parliament, in point of judicature written by a learned antiquerie, at the request of a peere, of this realme.

Selden, John, 1584-1654.

Edition statement

1640

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2006-02 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A67870

ID [STC]

STC 22166

ID [STC]

ESTC R212268

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

23108831

ID [OCLC]

ocm 23108831

ID [VID]

53

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Early English books online.

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(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A67870)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 53)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1781:8)

Source

— A briefe discourse, concerning the power of the Peeres, and Commons of Parliament, in point of judicature written by a learned antiquerie, at the request of a peere, of this realme., Selden, John, 1584-1654..

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[2], 6 p.

s.n.],. [London :: printed in the yeere, that sea-coale was exceeding deare, 1640.. (Attributed to Selden by STC (2nd ed.) and NUC pre-1956 imprints.) (Place of publication suggested by STC (2nd ed.) and NUC pre-1956 imprints.) (Signatures: A⁴.) (Page 3 misnumbered as 5.) (Reproduction of original in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.) (Includes bibliographical references.)

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