I Must entreat the Readers patience, whil'st I present unto him a ruffe drawne Mast of the jurisdiction of the high Court of Parliament.

And in doing it, I shall imitate a Lands Cape: first shew it you remote and in its primitive times, scarse discernable wheth­er Land or no Land, whether a Parliament or no Parliament, then we shall sayle neerer untill we come within certain cogni­zance of our own times, nay to this present; and then if we Shipwrack in the haven, if having bin befriended in the course of our Navigation by our failes, we shall split in our anchor; I mean, if in the computation of all times we have had a Par­liament unquestionable in substance, in form, in all necessary adjuncts, and now in our own time, even at this present, (when ecclipsed justice, like the sun imprisoned under a cloud, breaks out with lustre) be concluded in defect of judicature, I shall say the stars have had malignant aspects in our Horizon.

But first I shall do my best endeavour to satisfie them that hold the House of Lords to be only interressed, so that the House of Commons might be thought to make an inrode upon their priviledges, and be pregmaticall without president, though not without presumption: Let those know, that ani­ma est tota in toto, & tota in qualibet parte: and judicature is the soule of this great compacted body, the times were when, both Houses sate in one place and had one Speaker; and since the power of judicature must be founded upon a preparatorie im­peachment, and this preparatory impeachment must be fram'd by the Commons House; we must justifie them not guilty of the Title of fools by the wiseman, to lay a foundation and ne­ver consider by what means the structure is to be finished, nay excuse them from that generall Remonstrance of a generall grievance, extravidiciall proceedings.

The Lords are under his Majesty the chief, but the Com­mons must be admitted for Members; and the helpe of those doth much advantage the preservation of the whole com­pound; nay on the contrary, the Gout is as mortall as the Head-ach.

Besides, the Commons commenc'd proceedings against the parties impeached of high Treason (though seasoned with much moderation and temper) are of ripe age, and blush to be kept in long Coats, though now unhappily suspended by rea­son of unfortunate intervening occasions: and now by reason of a mis-interpreted rumor of their jurisdiction, which is by some drawn into question; Let it be proclaimed on their be­half to all the world, that facts of Treason are above the cog­nizance of ordinary reason, and sometimes above the punish­ment of the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom, and yet never above the power of a Parliament.

And it being in my apprehension out of dispute, that the Commons are deeply interrested in that particular of judica­ture, I shall survey that high Court of Parliament.

Parliament did I say? from what Radix? Parler le ment, to speak ones mind. This must be attended with judgement and reason, but surely the House of Commons speak with none of them, if they be not able to maintain their jurisdiction, and know not their own power; this is its Etymologie, which is warranted by the best Antiquarie of his time; Vetusto nomine e Gallia mutata Parliamentum dicitur.

This high Court hath not bin confin'd to this individuall appellation, but hath bin christened by severall God-fathers: Majores nostri Anglo Saxones, intitled it Prudentum Conventus, concillium, & magnus conuentus; succeeding Historiographers Commune concillium, Curia altissima, Generale placitum, commu­ne totius Regni concillium presentia Regis: But certainly if they intended these flourishing Titles to a Parliament without ju­dicature, they spoke of their riding to Parliament not sitting in it, an unhappy Parliament, like the City Myndas, whose gates [Page]were so wide, that the City might run out of them.

To allow these to be Synonia's of Parliament, and to disal­low judicature, were but Jewish like to say all haile King of the Jews, and in the mean time crucifie him: Mulmuccius of some called Donwallo, did writ two books of the Laws of the Brit­tains, the one called Statuta Municipalia, the other Leges Judi­diariae, for so the same do signifie in the Brittish tongue, which is as much to say as the Statute Law and Common Law, wch books were written 441 yeers before the incarnation of Christ, and how should there be Statute Laws without a Parliament? King Alfred ordained for a perpetuall usage that twice in the yeer or oftner if need be, they should assemble themselves at London to treat in Parliament of the government of the peo­ple of God, how they should keep themselves from sin, live in quiet, and receive right by holy Laws and judgements.

In the Heptarchy, the Parliaments had their continuance; witnesse the Stile of Parliaments in the time of Ina King of the West-Saxons: Ego Ina dei gratia, &c. Congregatione ser­vorum dei, &c. Constitui rectum conjugium & justa judicia pro stabilitate, &c. Et nullo Aldermano vel alicui de toto regimine no­stro liceat conscripta abolere judicia: So did Osfa King of the mercians, and Ethbert King of Kent.

In the Raign of King Ethelston his Acts of Parliament are stiled thus: Haec sunt judicia Exoniae quae sapientes consilio Ethe­stam Regis instituerunt, & iterum apud Frefresham, & tertia vice apud—ubi haec definita simul & confirmata sunt. Here I find a Parliament summon'd, concillia Regis, prorogued in those words iterum & tertia vice, the royall assent in those words confirmata sunt, and the dissolution in those words definita simul.

The Parliament of King Canutus at Winchester bore this Title, Haec sunt Statuta Canuti Regis Anglorum, Danorum, Nor­vegarum, venerando ejus sapien [...]em concillio, habita in Sancto nata­li Domini apud Wintonian.

Here we begin to make Land, and descrie a visible Title to a Parliament, being in substance and form neerly allyed unto [Page]the presidents of these very times: In one word, time out of minde this high Court and its Judicature hath flourished be­fore the Conquest; in the Conquest although silent leges inter arma, and ever since the Conquest untill this present houre.

Bu [...] now some may say to me, what need you waken so many sleepy Records, to prove that Parliaments have been? who is it of so desperate an opinion, that offers it in question? tru­ly I cannot name him or them, but whosoever they were that enstilled this jealousie of Judicature into His MAIETIES thoughts, did ipso facto subvert Parliaments, and the undoub­ted rights thereof. Arictotle bids us not to dispute utrum nix sit alba, and the like visible and apparent truths: but if any man of an obdurate judgement, would have denied that there was anima rationalis, then Aristotle must have proved there was homo, and than anoma rationalis will be drawn in by con­sequence: prove homo, that is, prove a Parliament, and anima rationalis which is Judicature, wil be drawn in by consequence; Besides ‘Judicis off [...]cium est ut res, ita temporarerum quaerere.’

Next I must shew that which the Law hath a tender respect unto, even the ends of Parliaments exitus acta probat, and those I finde thus capitulated by Sir Edward Cooke; primo, ad subditos a delinguendo declinandos, hoc est, ut delicta tam bonis cau­tisque legibus, tam debita earundam executione anticiparentur; now if debita executio legum can be in Parliament inflicted upon Delinquents subditos, without legall proceedings and tryall (except they will say nothing, and so be prest to death) I leave it to be argued amongst Children.

2. Ut tuta tranquillaque sic vita hominum; but certainly the the life of man is not preserved by the impunity of offenders, which must passe sublata judacatura.

3. Ut vixis quibusdam sanctionibus sanctisque judicijs vis uni­eunque fieret, but whether jus implies not punishing malefa­ctors, as well as relieving the oppressed (credelitas parcens being more destructive to the Common-wealth than credulitas pu­miens) let puisnies be the judges.

A Parliament in its Etimology is altissima curia, but how ill-favouredly this name becomes it; if one Justice of Assize may hear and determine capitall offences, and this altissima curia not have the power of a Grand-jury to him to finde bil­la vera.

The first man that ever suffered for Treason, if want of a president would excuse him, might have begot Traytors to the third and fourth generation with impunity; but we will impute it unto the integrity of those times that have not foste­red such unbounded spirits to attempt such crimes as might leave presidents of this nature.

And thus I have mustred some few arguments in vindicati­on of the Judicature of the Parliament, and I think they are vallid enough for the intricacie of the question; where tacks will serve what need is there of tenpenny-nayls? and now I have spent some time in scanning a Parliament with Judica­ture, I will cast an eye upon that pritty silken Bug-beare of State, a Parliament without Judicature; for contraria contra­riis opposita magis clucescunt.

Curia altissima if that be wanting, must be curia infima mag­na, becomes curiaminima; whereas all Courts were derived from it, all Courts may insult upon it; the high prized tin­cture of the Lords Robes begins to fade, the Eumins lose their complexion, if they lose their Judicature; their Speaker may study silence, and report to himselfe that which he never heard nor read off, a Parliament without Judicature; the re­verend Judges that sit Attendants on the Lords House, in re­spect of those intricate mysteries in Judicature, that happen to be discussed before this Tribunall (though most venerable in their own Sphear) may sit like so many Plovers prickt down for stales, with this motto, videntur & non sunt; and the House of Commons that were hitherto stiled prudentum con­ventus, may impeach with little wit, and be remedied with as little power.

The Common-Laws speaks on Parliament and its Judica­ture, [Page]as you have seen; your Statute Law confirms it, presi­dents strengthen it, reason even undeniable reason fortifies it; what magick is there then, that the case is thus altered; if it lyes in the degrees of the persons impeacht, hear then the Sta­tute of Marlebrige, Provisum est concordatum & concessum quod tam majores quam minores justitiam habeant, & recipiant in curia domini Regis; out of which and the rest that I have told you, this may be drawn for a maxime to posterity, concerning the high Court of Parliament; Si vitustatem spectas est antiquis­sima, si dignitatem est honoratissima, si jurisdictonem est capacis­sima.

And by this time I suppose all men will be ready to confesse that Judicature doth belong to that high Court of Parliament, but some will say with that Pamphleteer, in his book entitu­led a Complaint to the House of Commons, is no Court of Re­cord, and therefore why should they commit men to prison, seeing they have no right to Judicature?

To whom I return this answer, That both Houses make but one Court, so one Court of Record; 'tis true, 'twas mo­ved in the first Parliament of Henry the Fourth, and debated, whether the Commons had right of Judicature? and 'twas resolved afterwards in the fixt year of Edward the Fourth, that they had; for in that year the Duke of Clarence was sentenced by the Lords, the Duke of Buckingham being then High-Stew­ard, but the Commons Protested against it, which sheweth that they had right; and though in the first of Henry the 4. the Commons referred by protestation the pronouncing of Sentence of deposition against Richard the 2. to the Lords, yet they were equally interressed in it, as appears by the Record; for there were made Commissioners for the whole Parliament, one Bishop, one Abbot, one Earle, one Baron, and two knighs, Grey and Erpingham for the Commons; and to inferre, That because the Lords pronounced the sentence, the point of judg­ment should be only theirs, were as absurd, as to conclude that there was no authority in any other Commissioner of [Page]Oyer and Terminer, then in the person of that man solely that gave the Sentence.

In the second Hen. 5. The Petition of the Commons im­plied no lesse than a right they had to assent to all things in Parliament, and so it was answered by the King, when Ada­mour that proud Prelate of Winchester the Kings halfe Brother had grieved the State by his over-daring power, he was exiled by just sentence from the King, the Lords and Commons; and this appears expressely by the answer sent to Pope Alex­ander the fourth, who sent a letter for his revocation, because he was a Church-man, and therefore not subject to any cen­sure, the answer was Si dominus Rex & Regni majores hoc vel­lent, communitas tamen ipsius ingressum in Angliam nubatentus sustineret; the Peers subsigned this Answer with their names, and Petrus de Mountford vice totius communitatis as Speaker of the Commons: And this is sufficient that there is a power of Judicature belongs to that Court, and that both Houses are equally interressed in it.