I. The Antiquity of the City of London by Way of Prescription.

AS for the Antiquity of this celebrated City, I cannot meet with any Records to inform me when it first commenced. Venerable Bede, a Saxon, and a Priest, Bed. Eccles. Hist. lib. 1. cap. 1. f. 149. l. 50. who writ the Ecclesiasti­cal History of the English Nation, from the coming in of Julius Caesar, to the Year 733, and who lived near 950 Years ago, says, Britannia erat Civitatibus quondam Viginti & octo Nobilissimis, insignita praeter Castella innumera, quae & ipsa Muris, Turribus, por­tis ac seris erant instructa firmissimis: That Britain was of a long time famous in 28 most Noble Cities, besides Castles innumerable, which were of a vast strength: And as for the Names of these Cities I find them set down in Henry Arch-deacon of Huntingdon, Hen. de Hunting. lib. 1. f. 170. b. l. 5. (who writ an History of the Kings of England to the Reign of King Stephen, in whose time he lived) and among them the City of London is mentioned; He begins them thus; York, Can­terbury, Worcester, LONDON, Glocester, Winchester, Carlisle, Lincoln, &c. all of them remaining Cities to this day.Ammian. Marcellin. Ammianus Marcellinus, who wrote near 1300 Years ago, calls London then an Ancient City.

Herodian in the Life of Severus the Emperor of Rome, saith, Londinum urbs magna & opulenta, that it was then a Great and Opulent City.

Cornelius Tacitus, Tacitus lib. 14. An­nal. cap. 10. who married the Daughter of Lucius Ari­cola the Roman Governour of Britain, who was here with him by the space of seven Years, affirms, Quod Londinum [...]empore Nero­nis (which is above 1500 Years past) fuit Copia Negotiatorum & Commeatu maximè celebre, that London in the time of Nero, Lord Cook 4. Instit. fol. 247. a. was a City famous for Trade and Commerce; nay so famous about [Page 4] that time, that by way of highest Honour and Dignity, Cambden tells us it was enobled above 1360 Years since with the Title of AƲGƲSTA. Camb. Brit. f. 305.

Nay, to go a great step higher yet, Fitz-Stephan, or Stephanides, a Monk of Canterbury, born of worshipful Parents in the City of London, who wrote in the Reign of Henry the Second, of this City, St [...]w's Survey of London, f. 575. 4^o Stephanides, cap. de dispositione Urbis. saith; Haec Civitas Ʋrbe Roma secundum Chronicorum fidem satis antiquior est, &c. That if you give any credit to Historians, it's far more ancient than that of Rome.

II. The Rights and Priviledges of the City of London proved from Charters.

NOw certainly that Person must be a Man of a hardned Forehead, or else be very ignorant in the Annals and Hi­stories of this Nation, who can suppose, that these so ancient Ci­ties declared and mentioned by Bede and Huntingdon, whereof London is one, were made Corporations by any Charters of our British, Saxon, or Norman Kings, or that they received all their Priviledges from the sole Grace, Favour and Bounty of them, who in truth were so many and so inconsiderable in those times, that Britain seemed rather an Aristocratical and Democratical Go­vernment mixed together, then any entire or absolute Monarchy; For Xiphiline, Xiphil. è Dio-cassi. p. 601. Impress. Ba­siliae. out of Dion Cassius in the Life of the Emperor Severus, assures us; apud hos, i. e. Britannos Populus magna ex parte Principatum tenet; that among the Britains the People bore a great share or sway in the Soveraignty; which, by shewing what kind of Government was among the Britains in those days, gives us a great Light from whence this ancient City originally had her Priviledges.

And it is another gross and notorious Error for any to affirm, that such Charters of this famous City of London as were granted to the Citizens or Barons of London, proceeded from the mere Will, Pleasure and Kindness of the ancient Kings of England: For whosoever will please to inspect with any Considerateness and Care the ancient Records and Historians of the Kingdom as to this point, may easily satisfy himself, that there is no material Clause in any of the Charters of the City of London but what hath cost the Citizens many thousands of Pounds; and I dare be bold to say, there is not one Subject in all the King's Dominions who hath purchased and paid so dear for his particular Estate by half as the Citizens of London have done for the several Grants and Confirmations of their chargeable Liberties and Priviledges.

It would be endless to file a particular Account of the many vast Sums of Mony which has been paid to the Crown by the City for their several Grants and Confirmations; I shall therefore forbear such an Enlargement, and content my self with giving you a few Instances in the more early Times.

[Page 5]1. In the 9th of Richard the 1st,Ex Rotul. in Scac. the Citizens gave one thou­sand five hundred Marks pro Libertatibus suis conservandis.

2.4 Johan. in Scac. re­man [...]n. In the Reign of King John they paid three thousand Marks pro habenda confirmatione Regis de Libertatibus suis, which was a very great Sum in those Times.

3. In 2 H. 3.MS. penès Do­min. Sam. Baldwin. Serviend. Dom. Reg. ad Leg. MS. penes Jo. Cook Gen. de In­teriori Templo. M.S. Statutor. penes Guil. Petyt. Ar. de interiori Templo. Rast. Stat. f. 1. a. c. 9. they paid Quintamdecimam partem omnium Bo­norum suorum mobilium, a fifteenth part of all their moveable Goods, Ʋt Civitas London, habeat omnes Libertates antiquas & li­beras Consuetudines suas, That the City of London might have all her antient Liberties and free Customs.

4. In 9 H. 3. They paid another fifteenth of all their Move­ables, that London should have all the old Liberties and Customs which it had been used to have.

5. In the 36th H. 3. The King granted Civibus London. In MS in Archi [...]s London. omnes Libertates suas Leges & Consuetudines & quas etiam habuerunt tem­pore Regis Henrici Primi usitatas & non usitatas: for which their Rent was increased septem Libras Sterlingorum per Annum, and they then paid to the King five hundred Marks pro Charta illa habenda; no small Sum in that Age.

6. In 50 H. 3.Stow's Annals fol. 199. 1 Coll. Liber de Antiquis Legibus in Archiv. London. there were twenty thousand Marks paid for a further Confirmation of their Liberties; not to instance in the many illegal Impositions, Tallages, and Taxes, which that ungo­vernable King laid upon the City, notwithstanding so many of his Solemn and Sacred Oaths for the inviolable Observation of Magna Charta.

I shall now proceed to shew from Charters the Privi­ledges that the Citizens of London had to choose their Officers, particularly Sheriffs; and I shall begin with,

1. William the First, commonly called the Conqueror, who did confirm the Ancient Liberties of the City,Stwo's Survey of London. fol. 740. and by one Char­ter demised and granted to the Citizens of London, the said City, and the Sherifwick thereof; and afterwards confirmed the sameThat there were Parliaments in Wil­liam the 1st's time, see Argumentum Anti-Normanicum, prov­ing from ancient Hi­stories and Records, that William Duke of Normandy made no absolute Conquest of England by the Sword, in the sense of our Modern Writers, printed, 1682. in Parliament. For the words of the Record are,Lib. K. in Archiv. London. Auctori­tate Parliamenti Willielmus dimisit tunc Civibus London. totam dictam Civitatem & Vice-Comitatum London. cum omnibus Ap­pendiciis, &c.

2. As to the Sherifwick of Middlesex, Henry the First, Son to this William the Conqueror, confirmed the Liberties of the City of London, and granted to them, their Heirs and Successors for ever the Sherifwick of Middlesex at the Farm of three hundred Pounds per Annum, Ita quod ipsi Cives ponent Vice-Comitatum quales Voluerint de seipsis; so that they should chose what Sheriffs they pleased from among themselves. This was the better to en­able the City to keep the Peace; for many Murders, Rapines, Ch [...]rt. H. 1. per In­spec. 2 H. 5. and Villanies being committed in the City, the Offenders would thereupon fly into Middlesex, and the Citizens having no Power or Jurisdiction before in that County, the Offenders by that Means escaped unpunished.

3.Ex MS. Civitatis London.King Stephen by his Magna Charta confirmed (amongst others) the Liberties of the City, which they not only had in [Page 6] the Times of William the Conqueror, Omnes Libertates & bonas Leges quas Hen. Rex Angl. Ab­vunculus meus eis de­dit & concessit & om­nes bonas Leg [...]s, & bonas Consuetudines eis concedo quas habuerunt Tempore R [...]gis E [...]wardi. Magna Charta Regis Stephani. William Rufus, and Henry the First, but those they had and enjoyed in the time of Edward the Confessor.

Concessit & red­didit, & Chartâ suâ Confirmavit omnes Consuetudines quas R. Hen. 1. eis dedit & concessit libe è, quietè & plenariè te [...]end. Spel. Glos. Diatriba de Magna Charta. fol. 375. In Archivis London. Journ. Seym. fol. 467. 27 H. 8. The great Case between St. Martin le Grand and the City of London.4. Henry the Second by his Magna Charta did the same, and so did,

5. King Richard the First, his Son, who by his Letters Patents granted to the said Citizens all those their said Customs, and all other Liberties and Free Customs which they had in the time of King Henry, Grandfather to King Henry his Father, whensoever they were best, or most free Customs.

6. King John in the first Year of his Reign, by a Particular Charter, Ex Original. Chart. 1 Johannis. confirmed to the Citizens of London and their Heirs, the free Election of their Mayor and Sheriffs, with a Power to displace and remove the Sheriffs at their own pleasure: the Words are, Quod ipsi de seipsis faciant Vice-Comites quoscun{que} voluerint, & amoveant quando voluerint.

Charta H. 3. per Inspex. 2 H. 5.7. Henry the Third by his Charter ratified and confirmed to the Citizens of London and their Heirs the Sherifwicks of London and Middlesex for the ancient Fee-Farm of 300 l. per. Annum, which was the original Rent in Henry the First his time, with the former Clause, Quod ipsi de seipsis, &c. And after the Citizens should present their Sheriffs so chosen by them at the Exchequer.

Which said Charters of Hen. 1st, King John, and Henry the Third, have by Inspeximus's been confirmed under the Great-Seal of England, one of the greatest Obligations of the King to the People, by Edw. 1. Edw. 2. Edw. 3. Hen. 4. Hen. 5. Hen. 6. Ed. 4. Rich. 3. Hen. 7. Hen. 8. Ed. 6. Q. Mary, Q. Eliz. King James, King Charles 1. and his Present Majesty.

To close this Point, In the memorable Case between the Dean and Chapter of Westminster and the City of London 27 Hen. 8. touching St. Martins le Grand, the City by the deliberate Advice not only of the Recorder and of the City Counsel, but no doubt by the Direction also of other great and eminent Lawyers of England, penned and exhibited the ensuing Articles against the Sanctuary of St. Martin's to the King and Council, as I under­stand it.

Journ. Seym. fol. 467. a. 27 Hen. 8. St. Martins le Grand. Articles declaring for the Mayor and Commonalty of London, that the Enclosure and Chyrch of seynt Martines le Grande, the Messuages, Houses, and Lane of seynt Martins aforesayd, be of and in the Liberty and Jurisdiction of the said City, and that there be, nor by any lawful meane have been any such Priviledges and Im­munity, the which may or ought to defend all manner of enorm E­nemies of God, the Chyrch, the King and the Realme unpunished, as it hath been of long wrongfully accustomed, and especially to disherit our most dread Soveraign Lord and his said City and Chamber [Page 7] of London of such Rights, Jurisdictions, Liberties and free Cu­stomes as of long time before the Foundation, and at the Founda­tion of the said Chyrch, and ever after peaceably and quietly had used and approved by divers Records by Authority of Parlia­ment, Letters Patents, and otherwise, as followeth.

1. First, They seyen that the City of London is, and synce the time of Remembrance of Man, hath been the Chief City of this Realm, and above all other Cities and Towns of the same, as well in Honours, Liberties, and Free Customs highly endowed; and the which Famous City in the time of Seynt Edward King and Confessor, and long time before, always hath been of it self one hoole County, and one hoole Jurisdiction and Liberty by the said Citizens and their Predecessors, of the King and his Progeni­tours holden at Farm.

And the same Citizens then and by all the time aforeseid by reason of their seid Jurisdiction and Liberty among others have had Liberties and free Customs to elect and make of themselves yearly certeyn principal Officers in the said City, which faith­fully shudde answer the King's Ferme, and immediately under him the People of the said City, Nota. That all Officers within the City were to answer as well to the Citizens as the King. and others repairing to the same; in Peace, Ʋnity, and Justice shudde govern after their old Laws and Customs. And also to substitute under them other under-Officers and Ministers to help for the Sustentation and Ex­ecution of the Premisses. Thus far only out of the Record.

III. The Rights and Priviledges of the City of London prov'd from Acts of Parliament.

AND that the Rights of this so Famous and Ancient City might be kept inviolable, and remain and flourish to all fu­ture Generations. It was the great Wisdom of the Kingdom to fortify it with new Rampiers against all succeeding Attaques and Invasions whatsoever.Apud C. Lambard L. L. Will. Prim. f. 170, c. 55. Ut omnes Lib. Hom. totius Monarchia Regni nostri praedict. habe­ant & teneant Ter­ras suas & Possessio­nes suas be [...]è & in pace lib. ab omni Ex­act. injusta, & ab omni Tallagio, ita quod nihil ab e [...] ex­igatur vel capiatur nisi Servitium suum liberum quod de jure nobis facere debent & facere teneatur & pront Statut. est eis & illis a nob. dat. & Concess. jure Heredit. in perpet per Commu­ne Concil. totius Reg­ni nostri praedict.

I shall pass over the Magna Charta confirmed by the Com­mon Council or Parliament of the Kingdom in the fourth Year of William the First, wherein it was ordained [That all the Free­men of the whole Kingdom aforesaid, should have and keep their Lands and Possessions well and in Peace, free from all unjust Ex­actions and Tallage, so that nothing should be exacted or taken from them but their free Services due to him according to Law, given and granted by them to him by Right of Inheritance for ever, and that by the Common Council of the whole Kingdom.]

I say, I shall pass over that Charter, and descend to the Great Charter of the Liberties of England granted in King John's time,Mat. Paris Fol. Ʋt Civitas Londinensis habeat omnes antiquas Libertates & liberas Consuetudines suas tam per Terras quàm per Aquas; andRastall's Stat. Fol. that of Hen. 3. whereby the City was to enjoy all the Old Li­berties and Customs which it had been used to have.

And it is very observable, that the Magna Charta's of Hen. 1. King Stephen, and Henry the Second, were but as general Con­firmations of all the Liberties, good Laws, and ancient Customs of the Kingdom: but Differences happening to arise between King John and the Barons concerning what those Liberties, Laws and ancient Customs, as well of the Crown as of the People, were, that so they might be brought into greater certainty, and receive new force, The Magna Charta of King John was drawn and reduced into more particular and distinct Articles or Chapters, Quam Johannes fi­deli [...]èr tenere juravit Rot. Pat. 17. Joh. per unica m. 23. n. 3. which he swore faithfully to keep and observe, and the Barons did him Homage thereupon. And it is a Truth most infallible, notwith­standing the Ignorance (not to say Malice) of several modern Writers, that have industriously imployed their Pens to defame those Venerable and Ancient Constitutions of the Kingdom, where­by this last Age has been so much poysoned with their notorious Errors. I say, this Charter of King John, Matt. Paris (who was Historiographer Royal to Henry the Third, Son of King John, and who lived in that time) does affirm, did contain ex parte maxima Leges Antiquas & Regni Consuetudines, chiefly the Ancient Laws and Customs of the Realm. And he must be a Man of but an ordinary Capacity and Knowledg in the Saxon Laws, and in the Laws of William the 1st, and Henry the 1st, and other ancient Records of the Nation, that will assert the contrary: But if he desires to come to the Knowledg of the Truth, for which all Men ought to have the highest Deference and Veneration, and will do himself that Justice to compare the Magna Charta of King John with the above-recited Laws and Charters, he may very easily, for the correcting of his Judgment, inform himself, That the Concession and Confirmation of those Laws by King John's Charter were not Leges de novo introductae vel concessae, new upstart Laws inforced upon him by the power of the Barons at Running mead; But they were the avitae Consuetudines & antiquae Leges Anglorum, and to the Observation of which in the general, Vinculo juramenti in die Coronationis suae adstrictus fuit, as we shall shew hereafter.

Spel. Gloss. Diatrib. de Mag. Char. f. 374.This great Charter of King John, which Sir Hen. Spelman calls— (Augustissim. Anglicar. Libertatum diploma & sacra An­chora) was in the general ratified and confirmed in several Par­liaments in the Reign of Hen. 3. (and in particular, in the Parliament in the 52 Year of Hen. 3.) after he had conquered and subdued the Barons, and was in the actual Possession of the Entire Regality of the Crown; I say, that then that King did summon a Parliament at Marlborough to provide for the better Estate of the Realm, 52. H. 3. Stat. de Marlb. Preamble. for the more speedy ministration of Justice, as belongeth to the Office of a King, the more discreet Men of the Realm being called together, as well of the higher as of the lower Estate, It was provided, agreed, and ordained, That whereas the Realm of England of late had been disquieted with manifold Troubles and Dissentions, for Reformation whereof, Statutes and Laws were right necessary, whereby the Peace and Tranquillity of [Page 9] the People must be observed, amongst other Acts, Ordinances, and Statutes then made, which the King willed to be observed for ever firmly and inviolably of all his Subjects as well high as low, Register. fol. 97. Stat. de Marl. c. 5. 15 Ed. 4. f. 13. Mir­ror 319. Co. 2 Inst. fol. 108. De Communi Consilio Regni Angliae Provisum fuit, That the Great Charter shall be observed in all his Articles, as well in such as pertain to the King, as to other. And that shall be enquired afore the Justices in Eyre in their Circuits, and afore the Sheriffs in their Counties when need shall be; and Writs shall be freely granted against them that do offend before the King or the Justi­ces of the Bench, or before Justices in Eyre when they come into those parts. Likewise the Charter of the Forest shall be observed in all his Articles, and the Offenders when they be convict shall be grievously punished by our Soveraign Lord the King in Form above mentioned.

Thus we see the steddy and inviolable Observation of this Great Charter (wherein the Article concerning the Liberties and Franchises of the City of London is a main and essential Branch) was thought by this King and his Great and Soveraign Council of Parliament very necessary, if not the best and only way to preserve the Peace and Tranquillity of the People of England. And not only that King, but the whole Nation were divers times sworn to the Religious Observation of it, and the Clergy several times in their Publick Excommunications cursed all such as should violate or infringe any one Article of it.

So zealous were our Ancestors to preserve their Liberties from all Encroachments, that they employed all the Strength of Hu­man Policy and Religious Obligations to secure them entire and inviolate.

Nor did the Care of preserving this Great Charter, and therein the memorable Liberties and Priviledges of the City of London, end with that King's Life; But in the several Confirmations of that Charter in the Reign of that mighty Prince Edw. 1.Ror. Stat. 25 E. 1. m. 38. Co. 2. Inst. c. 38. f 76. Magna Char­ta 28 E. 1. sub mag­no Sigilio in Archi­vis Lond. remanent. by Parliament (in particular in the 25 and 28 Years) the Clergy's care was as great, and as great were their Excommunications against the Breakers of it: Nay, by a General Canon it was strictly ordained and commanded that the Priests and Confessors when their Pe­nitents came to make Confession to them,Pupilla Oculi fol. 50. cap. 22. De se [...] ­tentia lata super magnam Chartam. should charge their Consciences with the inviolable Observation of, and Obedience to this mighty Law, and therein the Preservation of the Liberties and free Customs of this great Metropolis of the Nation (the City of London) as being an essential part in Magna Charta, as I have said before.

Nay, so tender and careful was the Wisdom of Parliament in 34 Ed. 1. That in the Statute de Tallagio non concedendo cap. 4. It was ordained for him and his Successors, viz.Keebl. Stat. cap. 4. fol. 72. Volumus & Concedim. pro nobis & Hered. nostris quòd omnes Cleri & Laici de Regno nostro habeant omnes Leges, Libertates & liberas Consuetudines suas ita liberè & integrè sicut eas aliquo tempore melius & plenius habere consueverunt, & si contra illas quocun{que} Articulo in praesenti Charta con­tento Statuta fuerint edita per Nos & Antecessores nostros vel Consuetudines introductae volumus & concedimus quòd hujusmodi Consuetudines & Statuta vacua & nulla sint in perpetuum. All Clerks and Laymen of our Land shall have their Laws, Liberties, and free Customs as largely and wholly as they have used to have the same [Page 10] at any time when they had them best: And if any Statutes have been made by Ʋs or our Ancestors, or any Customs brought in contra­ry to them, or any manner of Article contained in this present Charter, We will and grant that such manner of Statutes and Customs shall be void and frustrate for evermore.

Co. 2 Instit. f. 534.This containeth (as my Lord Chief Justice Cook observes) a Restitution general to the Subjects of all their Laws, Liberties, and free Customs, as freely and wholly as at any time before, in the better and fuller manner they used to have the same: And this doth not only extend to Magna Charta, and Charta de Foresta, but to all other Laws, Liberties, or Freedoms, and free Customs what­soever. But to proceed.

Rot Claus. 19. H. 2. m. 15. dorso.There having been several Invasions and illegal Proceedings made by the King's Justices and other his Ministers upon the Franchises, Customs and ancient Usages of the City, especially by colour of a Quo Warranto brought against the City 14 E. 2. before Henry de Stanton and others, Justices in Eyre, sitting in the Tower of London, who not only had refused to allow the Citizens some of their Praescriptional Rights, but had fore-judg'd them of others contrary to their ancient Customs. The Com­mons in Parliament, 19 Edw. 2. petition'd the King, That he would please to let the City enjoy again those Liberties, without having any further Attempts made upon it by his Mini­sters or Judges: and as the Reason they gave was extraordinary, so likewise was it most true, Que nosire Commune Recovrir est en la dite Citée, because the general Safety of the Kingdom was in that of the said City: To which the King, De assensu Praelato­rum Comitum Baronum & aliorum in dicto Parliamento tunc ex­istentium, Answered, Que droit soit fait, That Right should be done them.

And indeed it was no wonder that Edw. 2. bore a heavy Hand over the Londoners, Rot. Claus. 35 E. 1. m. 13. dorso. Fit le serement sur le Corps de Dieu & sur les autres Reli­ques. since forgetting his Solemn Oath he had made to his Father Edw. 1. upon the Body of God, and upon other Reliques, in the Parliament 35 of his Reign, That he would never have any thing more to do with Peirce Gaveston, a Gascoign or French-man, who had sadly debauched him, for which (Communi decreto exiliatus) he was banished the King­dom by Act of Parliament:Walsingham. fol. 93. Yet notwithstanding, scarce was the Breath out of the Body of his Royal Father, but Edward sent for Gaveston, made him Earl of Cornwall, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and gave up the Reins of his Government to be wholly managed by the said Peirce Gaveston, after whose Tragical Fall the King re­signed himself to be absolutely governed by the pernicious and wo­ful Counsels of the two Spencers and their Accomplices, of whose usurped Royal Power, their Banishment of the Queen and Prince (afterwards Ed. 3.) their cutting off and murthering so many Noble Men,Walsingham. fol. 93. and others, especially Thomas Earl of Lancaster the King's Unckle, (whom E. 1. upon his Death had charg'd his Son, ut diligeret & faveret) their villanous design totally to destroy the Blood Royal, and other their horrible Destructions, Oppressions, [Page 11] and general Mischiefs, as Traitours and Enemies to the King and Realm, as the Records and Historians of those times witness;Knighton Col. 2531. Dugdale Barona­gium. so have we the Evidence of the whole Kingdom in the Parliament 1 Ed. 3. which (amongst other things) tells us, That Ed. 2. no­thing did, nor would do but as the Spencers and their Party coun­selled him, were it never so great Wrong.

The Answer of Ed. 2. in his Parliament, Anno 19, before mentioned, being not therefore thought a sufficient Guard against the King's Ministers, his Son and Successor, Ed. 3. in the first Year of his Reign, De Assensu Praelatorum, Comitum, Plac. Coronae co­ram Domino Rege apud Eborac. Term. Statutae Trinitat. 1 E. 3. penes Came­rar. in Scaccario re­manen. Baronum & totius Communitatis Regni in Parliamento. By the Consent both of the Lords and Commons, did by his Charter in that Parliament grant and confirm, as a perpetual Law, for him and his Heirs for ever, That since In Magna Charta de Libertatibus Angliae, it was contained, That the City of London should have and enjoy Omnes Libertates suas antiquas & Consuetudines suas, All their Ancient Liberties and Customes; And because the said Citizens had at the time of the said Charter, Et temporibus Sancti Edwardi Regis & Confessoris & Willielmi Conquestoris & aliorum Progeni­torum nostrorum; and in the time of St. Edward the Confessor, and William the Conqueror, and other the Progenitors of the said King, diversas Libertates & Consuetudines tam per Chartas ipso­rum Progenitorum quam sine Chartis ex antiqua Consuetudine, he granted and confirmed to the Citizens their Heirs and Successors, that they should enjoy their Liberties and Customs which they not only had by the Charters of those his said Progenitors, but which they enjoyed without Charters by ancient Customes. And because those Liberties had been oftentimes impeached, and some of them fore-judged in the tempestuous times of Edw. 2. as before hath been observed, and other preceding Kings, contrary to Magna Char­ta: therefore both the King, and the Lords and Commons did set a Brand upon such illegal Proceedings, and by their Solemn Act did publickly condemn them as Vsurpations, to prevent the like in Ages to come; and also put a mark of Infamy upon the Names of Henry de Stanton and his Fellow-Justices, who in the Quo Warranto 14 Ed. 2. refus'd to do the City Justice.

And further, by the same Authority, it was Enacted, Quod pro aliqua Personali Transgres­sione vel Judicio per­sonali alicujus Mini­stri eju [...]dem Civita­tis non capiatur Libertas Civitatis illi­us in manum nostram vel Hered. no­strorum nec Custos in eadem Civitate eâ occasione deputetur sed hujusmodi Mini­ster prout qualitas transgressionis re­quirit, puniatur. That the Liberty of the said City should not be taken into the Hands of Edward the Third, or his Heirs, for any Personal Trespass or Judg­ment of any Minister of the said City; Nor that a Custos should be set over the said City upon any such like Occasion, but the Minister that transgressed, should be punished according to the Quality of his Offence.

And when Richard the Second (that unfortunate Prince) endeavour'd to shake the Antient Government of the City, as also of the whole Kingdom; for his unlucky Flatterers had so far impos'd upon his Ʋnderstanding, that forgetting his solemn Corona­tion-Oath, whereby he was bound to govern his Subjects secundum Leges Regni according to the Laws of the Kingdom, not secundum merum Imperium Regis; he often declared, Quod Leges suae erant [Page 12] in Ore suo, Rot. Parl. 1 H. 4. Art. 16. & in Pectore suo, & quod ipse solus possit mutare & condere Leges, that the Laws were in his Mouth and in his Breast, and that he had such a Prerogative that he could make and change Laws when he pleased.

The Commons considering the high Consequences which would unavoidably affect the whole Kingdom by the Invasion of the Liberties of the City, they presently took the Alarm, and thereupon petition'd the King.

Jones Rep. f. 240. E. Rotulo Parl. tent. apud Westm. die Iu­nae & prox. ante fest. omnium sanct. RRs. Richar. secund. post Conquest. 7^o N. 37. Item priont les Com­munes purgreinder qui ete & nurtur de pai [...] perenter vos Lie­ges & pr. come pro­fit que vos Citenis de Citeè de Lon­d [...]e, soient entirem. en ce present Parle­ment restituz a eur. Franchises & frank Usages & que il plese a vouz. tres dont Sig­niory devestre grace especiale granter & confirmer as vos dit Citeins & alers Suc­cessors per voz Leres Patents touts leurs Libertées & Frank. Usages auxi entire­ment & pleinement come ils ou leurs Predecessors les avoi­ent en temps d'aucu­ne des vòz tresnobles Progenitours, oue clause, de licet usi non fuerint vel abusi fuerint, ensemble­ment oue les Fran­chises qu'ls ont en especial de vestre tres gracious grant ou confirmencent, nient const [...]e steautz au­cuns estatuz jugge­ments renduz Ordi­nances, ou Charters faits ou grants einz ces heures a contrarie si bien en temps davons de voz dites Progenitors come en le vie, issint come le restreint de leur Libertees & Franks Usages ad en plusours maneres accaunt ces h [...]ures empirez & arreriz. Pestate de eux, & riens value a come profit du Roilme, & que touz les vins & Vitailleas si bien pessoners come auters oue lours Vitailles venantz a vostre dite Citee soient desore enaunt desouz le gouer­nail & renle del' Mair & Aldermannes de la Citèe avant dit pur les temps esteantz, come auncienement soloient estre & oultre granter que nul Mair de la dite Citèe desore enavant, ne fair ne soit constreint de faire en vestre Eschequer tres doubte seigneur, nailleurs autre serement, mais solment launcien serement use en temps le Roy Edward vestre tres nobleaies (qui Dieux assoil) aucun Estatute ou Ordinance au contrarie ent faitz non obstantz.That for the greater Quiet and maintenance of Peace between his Leige People and for common Profit, his Citizens of his City of London should be in the then present Parliament entirely restor'd to their Franchises and free Usages: And that it might please his most Dread Highness of his special Grace to grant and confirm to his said Citizens, and their Successors, by his Letters Patents, all their Liberties and free Usages, as entirely and fully as they, or their Predecessors enjoyed them in the time of any of his most Noble Progenitors, with the Clause of Licet usi non fuerint vel abusi fuerint; as also with the Franchises which they enjoyed from his most Gracious Grant or Confirmation, notwithstanding any Statutes, Iudgments given, Ordinances or Charters late made or granted to the contrary, as well in the time of any of his said Progeni­tors, as in his own Reign: Because the Restraint of their Liberties and Frank Ʋsages had several ways before that time empaired and put back their Estates, and was not available to the common Pro­fit of the Realm; and that all the Vintners and Victualers, as well Fishmongers and others with their Victuals, coming to his said City, should be from thenceforward under the Rule and Gover­nance of the Mayor and Aldermen of the aforesaid City for the time being, as anciently they were wont to be. And further to grant that no Mayor of the said City for the future should take, nor be constrained to take, in his Court of Exchequer, any other Oath, but only the ancient Oath used in the time of King Edward his most Noble Grandfather (whom God absolve) any Sta­tute or Ordinance to the contrary thereof made notwith­standing. To which the King answered,Vid. Cart. Concess. Civibus London. 7 R. 2. & lib. H. in Archivis Lond. fol. 169. De assensu Praelato­rum, Dominorum, Procerum & Magnatum sibi in eodem Par­liamento assistentium, Le Roy, le Voet, So it pleaseth the King.

H. Knighton Coll. 2740 L. 7. An. Dom. 1392. Walsingham, fol. 347.Notwithstanding all which, a sad Convulsion fell upon the City of LONDON in the sixteenth Year of that King, the occa­sion of it was this: That King having sent to the City of London to borrow 1000 l. and they refusing, a certain Lumbard or [Page 13] Banker undertook to lend the same, he having other People's Mony in his Hands, and lending it without their consent, they fell upon him, and so beat him, that. it e'en cost him his Life. The King hearing this was extreamly enraged, and forthwith summon­ing a great Council of Peers at Nottingham, Omnes Regai pe­ne majo e [...]. (not a standing Pri­vy Council) he acquaints them with the matter, and they ad­vised him presently to curb the haughty Insolence of the Citizens, Qui omnes infesti Civibus propter di­versa [...] causas consu­lant. and one of their principal Reasons was, because they were great Favourers and Encouragers of the Lollards, (such as we now call Protestants).

Hereupon the Mayor and Sheriffs with several of the Alder­men were committed to the Castle of Windsor, and the rest to other Castles, till the King should otherwise by his said Council de­termine.

And in that Great Council it was Decreed, Domini Tempora­les Regni cuncti & Episcopi fete omnes, nee non exercitus ta­lis qui merito terrori Londinensium posset esse. Cives de sub Coelo delere. Londinenses ergo in medio Miseriarum subito constituti & velut versati inter eadem & malleum, cum non esset locus excusationis. Decreverunt se po­tius submittere Regis gratiae, quam suc­cumbere veridicto vel judicio duodenae. that a Custos should be set over the City: Shortly after another Great Council of Peers met at Windsor, where were the Temporal Lords of the whole Kingdom, and almost all the Bishops, and such an Army drawn together as might justly put the Londoners into Terror and Consternation: And here it was designed to blot the Name of a Citizen from under Heaven. But this was frustrated by the Duke of Lancaster, and the Londoners, when they saw there was no way left for them to make their legal Defence, resolved rebus sic stantibus, rather to submit themselves to the King's Mercy than stand to the Verdict and Judgment of twelve Men, to be summon­ed to pass upon them after the new way of proceeding by the Statute of 28 E. 3. cap. 10. and therefore they voluntarily gave the King 10000 l. and so were restored to their antient Liberties and Customs.

But Henry the Fourth, soon after coming to the Crown, this proceeding against the City of London, Caput Regni & Legum (the like whereof never happened from that time to this day, being now 290 Years ago) so startled all other Cities and Burroughs of the Kingdom, that we find the care of succeeding Parliaments was very memorable as to this Point in the Reigns of Hen. 4. Hen. 5. and Hen. 6. and that in the first Article sometimes before, and sometimes after the Confirmation of the Rights, Liberties, Fran­chises, and Customs of Holy Church, the two great Charters, and those of the Lords and Commons; the Cities and Borroughs were always sure to be remembred by them, as you may take notice, if you please to consult these Statutes, 4 Hen. 4. cap. 1. 7 Hen. 4. cap. 1. 9 Hen. 4. cap. 1. 3 Hen. 5. cap. 1. and 2 Hen. 6. cap. 1. I will give you the first of them at large, the others are in effect but repetitions of the same, and therefore I shall only refer you to them for a further Confirmation.

4. Hen. 4. cap. 1.A Confirmation of the Liberties of the Church, and of all Corporations and Persons.

FIrst, That Holy Church have all her Liberties and Franchises, and that the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, Keeble's Stat. f. 195. and all the Cities, Buroughs and Towns Franchised, have and enjoy all their Liberties and Franchises which they have had of the Grant of the Progenitors of our said Lord the King, Kings of England, and of the Confirmation of the same our Lord the King, and that the great Charter, and the Charter of the Forest, and all the good Ordinances and Statutes made in the time of our said Lord the King, and in the time of his Progenitors, not repealed, be firmly holden and kept.

And for the Honour of Magna Charta, I will conclude this Head with an Act of Parliament thus (cited by Mr. Petyt), viz.

Mr. Petyt's An­cient Right of the Commons of Eng­land asserted, f. 103 Rot. Parl. 12 Ed. 4. n. Rast. Stat. 12 Ed. 4. cap. 7. That valiant and great Prince Edw. 4. after the overthrow of his Enemies, and peaceful Possession of the Crown, ass [...]i [...]ed with the Iudges of England, Arch-Bishops, Abbots, Priors, his Dukes, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons, with the Great Men, or Knights of the Counties, and Commons in full Par­liament, hath left this recorded to Posterity; They call this Great Charter the Laudable Statute of Magna Charta, which Statute was made for the great Wealth of this Land; Vpon which Magna Charta, the great Sentence and Apostolick Curse by a great number of Bishops was pronounced against the Breakers of the same, and the same Sentence is four times in the Year openly declared, according to the Law of Holy Church, and in affirmance of the said Statute of the said Great Charter divers Statutes have been made and ordained.

And great reason certainly they had to put so high a value on that so famous Charter, since the substantial part of the Laws thereof were no less than the great Results, Decrees, and Iudgments ordained by the Prudence and Iustice of the British, Saxon, and Danish Dynasties, founded upon two grand and principal Bases or Pillars LIBERTY and PROPERTY, which like those two brazen ones called Booz and Jachin supporting the Temple of Solomon, upheld the tot­tering Frame and Fabrick of our ancient Government, though often by evil Men designed to be overthrown.

Preface to Cook's 2 Instit. Moor's Reports fol. 797. per Popham. Matt. Paris. 839. A Charter Empta & Redempta, purchased and redeemed with vast Treasure of the Nation, and the Effusion of a Sea of Christian Blood: A Law published and established with fearful Execrations and terrible Curses against the Infringers and Breakers thereof, and all done with that Religious Solemnity, and profound Ceremony, as it may seem inferior only to that of the Commandments of Almighty God, given to the Iewish Nation. Thus far Mr. Petyt.

From all which 'tis plain, that by Prescription even as high as the Roman Times,

1. London was a famous City and Corporation, Co. 2 I [...]stit. f. 250. and had Franchises, Liberties and Customs.

2. That those Franchises, Liberties and Customs out-lived the Roman Power, and descended to succeeding Generations.

3. That they flourished under the Saxon Government. And,

4. Were ratified and confirmed by Parliament held in the Reign of William the First.

5. They were confirmed in Parliament by the Magna Charta's of William 1. Hen. 1. King Stephen, Hen. 2. King John, Hen. 3. and Edw. 1. and by particular Acts of Parliament of Ed. 2. Ed. 3. and Rich. 2. and by the general Acts of Parliament of Hen. 4. Hen. 5. Hen. 6. and Ed. 4. and that which is of no small concern, is,

The Rights and Priviledges of the City of London are ren­dred inviolable by the General Coronation Oaths of the Saxon Kings, by the solemn Oath of William the first, and by the par­ticular Coronation Oaths of William the Second, Henry the first, King Stephen, Richard the first, King John, Henry the third, and Edw. the first, and all succeeding Kings down to this day.

I shall not give you the trouble of the several Oaths at large, but only recite to you what principally makes to my point, refer­ring you for the rest to the Books from whence I collect them.

To begin with the Oath of the Saxon Kings, The Oath of the Saxon Kings. In vit. Aelfredi mag. f. 62. Dei Ecclesiam ac u­niversum Imperii Po­pulum Christianum vera Pace fruiturum, omnem{que} iniquita­tem omnibus ordinibus inter dicturum & mandaturum in omnibus Judiciis Justitiam & Miserecordiam. which they took at their Coronation.

It was, That they would peaceably govern the Church and the People of their Kingdom, and would forbid all Injustice to all Or­ders of Men, and that in all Judgments Justice and Mercy should be mingled together.

William the Conqueror's Oath just before he was crowned, was,

That he would govern all his Subjects with that prudent Care as became a good King; Enact, and Himself keep Right Law, Promisit se velle cunctum populum si­bi subjectum justè ac Regali Providentia regere, rectam Legem statuere & tenere, injusta{que} judicia pe­nitùs interdicere. Ho­ved. pars prima fol. 258. l. 14. Quod se modestè erga subjectos ageret, & aequo jure Anglos quô Franco [...] tractaret. Malmesb. lib. 3. fol. 154. b. lin. 8. and would interdict to the utmost of his Power, all false Judgments, and that he would govern both the English and the French by the same Equality of Law, without respect to either.

William the Second (in die Coronationis suae) upon his Co­ronation, as well by himself,Coepit tam per se quam per omnes quos poterat fide Sacra­mento{que} Lanfranco promittere Justitiam, Equitatem & Miseri­cordiam se per totum Regnum, si Rex fo­ret, in omni Negotio observaturum, Pacem, Libertatem, securitat, Ecclesiarum contra omnes defensurum. Eadmer. lib. 1. fol. 13. lin. 51. as by all those whom he could get to pass their Faith for him, promised by Oath to Lanfrank, Arch­bishop of Canterbury (if he might be King) that he would observe Justice, Equity and Mercy throughout his whole Kingdom, [Page 16] and that he would stand up in the Defence of the Peace, Liberty and Security of the Church against all Men.

B [...]nas & sanctas omni Populo Leges se servatur. & omnes Oppressiones & ini­quitates quae sub fra­t [...]e suo em [...]serant in omni sua Domi­nat. [...]am in Ecclesiis quàm in Secularibus negotiis prohibitu­rum & subversurum, spospo [...]derat [...]aec om­nia ju [...]is-jurandi interjectione firmata sub monimento Litterarum sig. sui Testimonio roboraturum. Ea. lmer. lib. 3. fol. 55. lin. 44. Henry the First upon his Coronation-day swore before the Clergy and People, that he would keep the good and sacred Laws, and all his People should have the benefit of them, that through­out all his Dominion he would forbid all manner of Oppressions and Injustice, into which the Nation was sunk in his Brother's Reign, as well in matters belonging to the Church, as in those that were secular, and all these things he further corroborated under his own Hand and Seal.

Omnes E [...]actio­nes Mischingas & Inj [...]itias sive per Vice Comites vel a­lios quossibet m [...]lè ind [...]ctus funditùs ex­tirpo, bonas Leges & antiquas & justas Consuetudinis in Mu [...]dris & Plitis & aliis Causis observa­re vel observari prae­cipio & constituo. Juravit & vovit, Sacr. Sanct Evang. & plurimorum sancto­rum Reliquiis coram eo positis quod rec­tam Justitiam exer­cebit in Populo sibi commisso deinde ju­ravit quod Leges malas & Consuetu­dines perversas si aliquae sint in Regno suo delebit & bonas custodiet. Bromp. 1158. lin. 57. Vid. Matt. Paris fol 153. lin. 39.King Stephen, as you may find under his Seal and Charter, concessit & juramento vovit, swore utterly to extirpate all Ex­actions, ‘Miskennings, and Injustices illegally introduced either by Sheriffs or any other whomsoever; That he would observe himself, and command and cause to be observed the good and ancient Laws and just Customs, in Murders, Pleas, and other Causes.’

Richard the First, the Oath he took at the high Altar in West­minster-Abby is thus Registred in Brompton: ‘He swore and vowed upon the holy Evangelists, and the Reliques of several Saints, that he would execute upright Justice to his People committed to his care, and that he would abrogate and disannul all Evil Laws and wrongful Customs, if there should be any found within his Kingdom, and that he would observe and maintain those that were good and laudable.’

‘Henry the Third swore, That he would likewise, see that up­right Justice should be administred to his People committed to his Charge,Quod in Populosi­bi commisso rectam Justitiam tenebit, quod{que} Leges malas & iniquas Consue­tudines si quae sint in Regno suo delebit & bonas observabit & ab omnibus faciet observa [...]i. Mat. Paris fol. 289. l. 25. Ego Edw. Filius & Haeres Hen [...]ici Reg. prositeor, consiteor & promitto coram Deo & Angelis ejus amo­do & deinceps Le­gem & Justitiam pa­cem{que} sacrae Dei Ec­clesiae Populo{que} mi­hi subjecto sine re­spectu servare, sicut cum Consilio Fideli­um nostrorum inve­nire poterimus, Pon­tificibus quo{que} Ec­clesiae Dei condignum & canonic. Honorem exhibere, quae ab Imperatoribus & Regibus Ecclesiae sibi commissis collata sunt inviolabile conservare, Abbatibus & Vasis Divinis congruum honorem secundum Fidelium nostro­rum, &c. sicut Deus me adjuvet & sacra Dei Evangelia caetera desiderant. Cam. Brit. Annal. Hybern. f. 800. and that he would abolish and extirpate all bad and wicked Laws and Customs if there should be any found within his Kingdom, and observe the good, and cause all Men else to observe and keep them.’

Edward the First, his Coronation Oath was thus ‘— Ego Edwardus Filius & Haeres Henrici Regis, &c. I Edward, the Son and Heir of King Henry, do profess, declare and promise before God and his Angels, That from henceforth I will exe­cute Law, Iustice and Peace to the Holy Church of God, and to the People over whom I have the Charge, without any respect, as We shall be able to discern with the Advice of our Parliament; and also to the Priests of God's Holy Church, will exhibit, and pay all befitting and canonical Honour, and inviolably preserve whatsoever hath been conferr'd upon the Church by Emperors and Kings committed to them, as also to [Page 17] the Abbots and holy Vessels a becoming Honour according to our Counsellours, &c. So God me help and his holy Gospel.’ The rest of the Oath is wanting, but much desired.

I shall give you the next Oath at full length, and it is that of Edward the Second.

'Tis true, this is the first Coronation Oath that I meet with upon Record, formally entred; yet I doubt not, had the Records of former Kings been preserved and left to Posterity, but we should have found them much what the same with this. The Monkish Writers, as in this King's Coronation, so in others precedent, give only a summary Account of them, more Historico.

And as this Oath is the first compleat one I meet with, so for fear least all may not understand it, as it is in its Original Language, I will take the pains to give it them in English,

‘Sire, Will you grant and keep, and by your Oath, con­firm to the People of England, the Laws and Customs to them granted by the ancient Kings of England, your lawful and reli­gious Predecessors, and namely the Laws, Customs, and Fran­chises [Page 18] granted to the Clergy and to the People, by the glori­ous King Saint Edward, your Predecessor.’

The King's Answer.

I grant, and promise to keep them.

The Bishop. Sire, Will you keep Peace and Agrement entirely according to your Power, both to God, the Holy Church, the Clergy, and the People?

The King's Answer.

I will keep it.

The Bishop. Sire, Will you, to your Power, cause Law, Justice, and Discretion in Mercy and Truth to be executed in all your Judgments?

The King's Answer.

I will.

The Bishop. Sire, Will you grant to hold and keep the Laws, and rightful Customs, which the Commonalty of your Kingdom have, and to defend and uphold them to the Honour of God so much as in you lies?

The King's Answer.

I grant and promise so to do.

And this done, the King swore to the Observation of what he promised upon the Altar.

In Rot. Claus. 1 E. 3. pats prima. m. 24 in dorso.As to the Oath of Edward the 3d, Son and Successor of Ed­ward the 2d, it is entred likewise in French in the like Form.

Richard the Second, his Coronation-Oath.

The Oath is to be seen in Rot. Claus. 1 R. 2. m. 44. Sacr. Dom. Regis Corpo­rale de concedendo & servando cum sacra Confirmatione Leges & Consuetudines ab antiquis, justis & De­o devotis Regibus Angliae Progenitori­bus ipsius Regis Ple­bi Regni Angliae con­cessio & praesertim Leges, Consuetudines, & Libertates a gloriosissimo & sanctissimo Rege, Edwardo Clero, Po­pulo{que} Regni praedict. concessis.As to that particular which concerns this Point, is this: ‘That he would confirm and religiously keep the Laws and Customs granted by the ancient, just, and devout Kings of England, the Progenitors of the said King, to the People of the Kingdom of England, and especially the Laws, Customs, and Liberties granted by the most glorious and most holy King Edward to the Clergy and People of the aforesaid Kingdom.’ But the formal Oath of this King Richard is enrolled in the Parliament Roll of 1 H. 4. N. 16, 17.

Which form agrees with that of Edward the Second, and Ed­ward the Third, and the like form as to substance hath been ob­served even down to our time by all succeding Kings.

Now to imagine that after so much Treasure paid to the Crown by the Citizens of London for their Liberties; after so many Confir­mations of them by the Charters of so many Kings of England; and those back'd with so many Acts of Parliament; and all further strengthened and corroborated by the Coronation-Oaths of all these Kings: To imagine I say, after all this, that so Antient and Famous a City as London can be destroyed and annihilated in two or three Terms, after so many Centuries of Years by any Power less than that of Parliament, and become a common Vill as Isling­ton, &c. is so strange a piece of Extravagance, that I wonder how it can ever meet with a favourable Entertainment in the Mind of any, that will give themselves the liberty but of half an hour's serious Consideration upon the matter; For I dare be bold to affirm, that there cannot any such President be found, not only, I say against the Rights of this Renowned City of London, but of any other City, or Town Corporate, or other body Politick in all Records, Histories, or Law-books to this instant of time.

I shall now proceed to acquaint you with the Statute of the 1st of King James, and the Petition of Right, and give you some few Observations deduced from them, and so upon the whole leave every Man to think, or act, as his Judgment, Ho­nour, Loyalty, and Conscience shall best direct and influence him.

It was the Solemn Declaration of King James, and that con­firm'd by the greatest Authority of the Kingdom, himself being present in Parliament.

‘That to alter or innovate the fundamental and antient Laws, Priviledges, and good Customs of this Kingdom, Parl. Stat. 1 Jac. c. 2. wereby not only the Royal Authority, but the People's secu­rity of Lands, Livings, and Priviledges both in gene­ral and particular are preserved and maintained: He said, To alter them, it was impossible, but that present Confusion should fall upon the whole State and Frame of this Kingdom.’

And in the Declaration of divers Rights and Priviledges of the People in the third Year of King Charles the First, Petition of Right, 3 Car. 1. that glo­rious Martyr; It is declared, ‘That the Subjects ought to be governed by the Laws and free Customs of the Realm, and that no Offender of what kind soever is exempted from the Proceedings to be used, and Punishments to be inflicted by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm; and that all the King's Officers and Ministers should serve him according to the Laws, and Statutes of the Realm, as they tendred the Honour of his Majesty, and the Prosperity of his Kingdom.’

And thus have we in short, seen the Force and Power of the sacred Coronation-Oaths both of the Saxon, Norman and English Kings, and deliver'd the great Judgment of King James, and his present Majesty's most Blessed Father, That there are fundamental and ancient Laws and Customs of the Kingdom, whereby both the Royal Authority, and the People's Security of their Lives and Estates, both in general and particular, have been preserved and maintained, which whensoever invaded, it was impossible but that a dreadful Desolation should fall upon the whole Kingdom.

Thus have we seen that the Subjects of England ought to be governed by the Laws and free Customs thereof, and that all the King's Ministers ought to make the Laws and Statutes of the Realm the measure of their Actions, and if they do contrary to them, they are not to be exempted from due Punishments; and that these are fundamental Principles of the English Mo­narchy, I shall beg the Reader's Favour to present him with some few Instances.

The Lawyers say, and that most justly, That he Law of Eng­land is founded upon Reason: We have had many Kings endow­ed with excellent Science, but (as my Lord Cook says of King James) ‘Not learned in the Laws of the Realm of England; Cook's 12. Rep. f. 65. and Causes which concern the Life, or Inheritance, or Goods, or Fortunes of the Subject, they are not to be decided by Natural Reason, but by the Artificial Reason and Judgment of Law, which Law is an Act which requires long Study and Experience before that a Man can attain to the Cognizance of it, and the Law is the golden Met-wand and Measure to try the Causes of the Subjects, and which protects the King in Safety and Peace.’

From this Consideration proceeds the Rule of Law, Le Roi ne ser­ra conclude à m [...]n­stre ou à di [...]e le ve­ritie mes le Ley ad­judgera luy pl is­tost. d'estre deceive Cook's 1 Rep. f 43 a. That the King in pleading, shall not be concluded to shew or to say the Truth, but the Law judges him very often to be deceived.

Le Roy ne [...]oit fair [...]ort, ne son Pre­rogative voet [...]estre asc. un garruntie à lui de fair inju [...]ie al autre, Altonwood's Case. 1 Rep. f. 44. b. Vid. Plowd. Com. f. 247. a.The King can do no Wrong, neither will his Prerogative be any Warrant to Him to do any Injury to another.

Est le dutie de Sub­jects a v [...]ier que le Roy soit verement enformè, Car le Roy ad le Charge del Bi­en publique & pur ceo ne poet entend. ses private besoignes, & les grants que il fait, il fait come Roi & il doit estre issint instruct que son purpose & intent. prendra effect. Cook's 1 Rep. fol. 52. a.It being the duty of Subjects to see that the King be truly informed, for he hath the Charge of the Publick-Weal, and therefore he cannot attend his private Businesses, and the Grants that he makes, he makes as King, and therefore as King, he ought to be so instructed that his Purpose and Intent should take Effect.

If he makes a Charter, de gratia speciali, certa Scientia & mero motu, Idem fol. 53. a. and that is solemnly confirmed under the Great Seal of England, yet those Clauses, Non valent in illis in quibus praesumi­tur, Principem esse ignorantem, are of no force, as to those things in which it is presumed that the King is ignorant, and therefore the Courts of Westminster-Hall, notwithstanding such Charter so solemnly made and ratified, when it appears that the King was deceived in Law, have adjudged them to be void: And in the great Case of 28 H. 8. in Parliament, when the Bishops of Salis­bury and Worcester, being two Foreigners, were deprived of their Bishopricks, it was declared by Act of Parliament,Act Parl. 28. H. 8. n. 28. That the King having no Knowledg nor other due Information or In­struction of the Statute of Provisors, had, contrary to those Sta­tutes, nominated and preferred Lawrence Campegius and one Hierome to those Sees.

In the Message sent by Ed. 6. and his Council,Fox's Martyrol. 2 vol. p. 668. 1 Col. to the Rebels in Devonshire, The Council tell them that the six Articles were taken away by Parliament; ‘Dare then, say they, any of you with the name of a Subject, stand against an Act of Parliament, a Law of the whole Realm? What is our Power, if Laws should be thus neglected; yea, what is your Surety, if Laws be not kept?’

Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester, Id. in eodem volum, fol. 2. col. 1. in his Letter to the Lord Protector, the Duke of Somerset, in Edw. 6. time, writes thus: ‘Now whether the King may command against an Act of Parliament, and what danger they may fall in that break a Law with the King's Consent, I dare say, no Man alive at this day hath had more experience, what the Judges and Lawyers have said, than I.’

1. I had Experience in my old Master the Lord Cardinal, who obtained his Legacy by our late Soveraign Lord's Request at Rome, and in his Sight and Knowledg occupied the same with his two Crosses and Maces born before him many Years, yet because it was against the Laws of the Realm, the Judges concluded the Offence of the Praemunire.

For which when he was indicted in the King's Bench,Dr. Burnet's Re­form. 1 Vol. fol. 80. Anno 1529. Fox Vol. 2. fol. 253. col. 2. though he pleaded his Ignorance of the Statute of Praemunire, yet that would not help him, but he was forced to submit himself to the Law, whereupon it was declared in a great Council convened at Windsor by all the Lords, and other the King's Council, that he was out of the King's Protection, that he had forfeited his Goods and Chattels, and that his Person might be seized on.

And notwithstanding his Allowance made by the King of his Legantine Power, to which the whole Clergy of England, [Page 22] knowing the King's declared Pleasure therein, submitted; yet they were all indicted in a Praemunire in the King's Bench, for that Submission, though by the King's Consent, to the illegal Power of the Legate, and thereby breaking the Statutes against Provisions or Provisors: nay, it appears in the Rolls that seve­ral Commissions were granted under the Great Seal in Sup­portation of that Authority, but all in vain: The King could do no wrong, he was misconusant of the Law, nor had he power of himself to alter, suspend, or repeal it, and therefore it was in vain for the Clergy to pretend it was a publick and an allowed Error, and that the King had not only connived at the Cardinal's Proceedings, but had made him all the while his chief Minister,Dr. Burnet's 1 Vol. fol. 112, 113. Anno. 1531. 30 H. 8. that therefore they were excusable in submitting to an Authority to which the King gave so great Incouragement, and that if they had done otherwise, they had been unavoidably rui­ned. But it was answered, that the Laws were still in force, and that their Ignorance could not excuse them, since they ought to have known the Law; yet since the Violation of it was so publick, tho the Court proceeded to a Sentence that they were all out of the King's Protection, and were liable to the Pains in the Statute, the King was willing upon a reasonable Composition, and a full submission, to Pardon them: but before that was done, they were forced in the Convocation to acknowledg the King Supream Head of the Church, and the Province of Canterbury to pay 100000 l. in lieu of all Punishments which they had incurred by going a­gainst the Statutes of Provisors, and the Province of York 18840 l. with another Submission of the same nature, and so [...] had a general Pardon confirmed by Act of Parliament.

From all which, it may be observed how careful the King's Ministers ought to be in preserving and keeping inviolable the sacred Coronation-Oaths of their Princes, with which by Law they are in a special manner intrusted; and when they have forgot the duty of their own Oath and Office, it is the Happi­ness and Safety of both Prince and People, that in all Ages there hath still been a Court Soveraign to call them to a strict and severe Account, and to make them memorable Examples, not only to the present, but to all future Generations.

I shall pass over the Punishment upon the Justices in King Alfred's time (which you may read at your leasure in the Miror of Justice) and shall come to the nearer Times of our own Norman and English King's and I'll begin with,Horn. Miror of Justice, p. 239, 240. 241, 243, 244.

1. One Ralph Flambard in the Reign of William the Second, who was a Man of a mean Extraction, being the Son of Turstin, a common secular Priest of Bayon in France, who by infamous Flattery and crafty Accusations, got himself advanced to the Bishoprick of Durham, Treasurer of England, and Primier Mi­nister of State, of whose execrable Villanies both Malmesbury, [Page 23] Ordericus Vitali, and Matthew Paris, Malmesb. fol. 88. Order. Vital. f 6 [...]8. Matt. Paris. fol. 56. give a large Account (to whom because I design brevity, I will refer the Reader) at last this Flambard, ad omne scelus paratus, a Man dextrous in all Wickedness and Villany, was in Parliament 1 Hen. 1.Parl. 1 H. 1. Com­muni Concilio Gen­tis Anglorum. im­peached, and by the Common Council of England committed to the Tower, from whence Custodibus suis pecunia corruptis, by cor­rupting his Keepers he slipt Coller, made his Escape and fled into Normandy.

2. Henricus de Bathonia in the 34 H. 3. was one of the Iusti­ces of the Common Pleas, and Conciliarius specialis Regis, a Man very learned in the Laws of the Land,Matt. Paris. f. 811, 814, 820. he was accused for being Domini Regis subdolus subplantor in Officio Justiciariae sibi Com­misso, Stimulatus ac vo­luntarius adeo tur­pibus, per fas & nefas, emolumentis inhia­bat, ut in una sola itineratione plus, ut dicebatur, quàm du­centas libratas terrae sibi appropriaret. a cunning Supplantor of his Soveraign Lord the King in his Office of Justiciar committed to him, and that by natural Inclination he was, right or wrong, so gaping after Bribery and Corruption, that in one bare Journey of a Circuit it was reported he appropriated to himself above 200 pounds worth of Land, (no mean Sum in that Age) and the King reputans causam hanc crimen Lesae Majestatis, looking upon him for this no less than guilty of high Treason, he was in the Parliament following im­peached at the Suit of the King, charging him among other things,Imponens eidem inter caetera quod totum Regnum per­turbavit & Barnagi­um universum con­tra ipsum Regem ex­asperavit, unde sedi­tio generalis immi­nebat. that he was a Disturber and an Aggrievor of the whole Kingdom, and that he stirr'd up the whole Parliament against him, by reason whereof a general Sedition might very likely have ensued. I find no Judgment given, but this is certain, that the King was so enrag'd against him, that he openly decla­red, Ʋt siquis Henricum de Barthonia occideret, quietus sit à morte ejus, & quietum eum protestor, that if any body would but kill this Henry de Barthonia, he should be discharged of his Death, and secur'd by the King; but at last, pro duabus millibus marca­rum, plene reconciliatus fuit, a good round Fine got his Pardon, and he was fully reconcil'd to the King.

3.Judicium reddi­tum versùs Justi­ciarios & alios Mini­stros Dom. Regis in Parliamento 18 E. 1.The memorable Judgment that was given in the Parlia­ment of 18 Ed. 1. against the Iusticiars and others of the King's Ministers for their intolerable Injuries and Oppressions committed both on Church and State, contrary to the Great Charters so many times purchased and redeemed, granted and confirmed to the Subjects by the several Oaths of Ed. 1, Hen. 3. and King John, and corroborated by the dreadful thundring out of the Sentence of Excommunication against the Invaders of the Common Liberties of England contained in them; that those Criminals had subtilly and maliciously by divers Arguments of Covetousness and intollerable Pride, incited the King against his faithful Subjects, and counselled him, contrary to the good and wholsome Advice of his Parliaments, and had not been afraid impudently to assert and prefer their own foolish Counsels, as if they were more fit to consult about, and to preserve the Common-Wealth, than all the Estates of the Kingdom assembled together; that [Page 24] they had troubled the Land,Ex Chron. ab An. 1272. 1 Ed. 1 ad An. 1317. 10 Ed. 2. m. 8. The Secu [...]ity of Eng­lish Men's Lives, or the Trust, Power, and Duty of the Grand-Jury of Eng­land. pag. 156. to the End. and disturbed the Nation, grievously oppressed the People, and under pretence of expounding the ancient Laws had introduced new and evil Customs; so that through the Ignorance of some, and Partiality of others (who either for re­ward, or for fear of great Men had been engaged) there was no certainty in the Law, that they scorned to administer Justice to the People; they cast into Prison many of the King's faithful Sub­jects, like Slaves, for no real fault in the World; where, with Grief, Hunger, or the excessive weight and burthen of their Chains, they died; they extorted at their Pleasure infinite Sums of Mony for their Ransoms, by reason whereof they contracted the irreconcileable Hatred, and dreadful Imprecations of all Men, as if they had obtained such an incommunicable Priviledge by the detestable Charter of Non obstante, That they might at their own Lust be free from all Laws both humane and divine; at last, not­withstanding some of them absconded, yet by Judgment of Par­liament, all (except John Mettingham and Elias Beckingham, who are named for their Honour) were condemned, some to Impri­sonment, others to Banishment, or Confiscation of their Estates, and none escaped without grievous Fines, and the loss of their Offices.

Cook's 3 Instit. fol. 223. Rot. Parl. Anno 24 E. 3. p. 3. m 2. dorso. Rot. Pat. An. 25. E. 3. p. 1. m. 7. Quia praedictus Willielmus de Thorp Sacramentum Do­mini Regis quod er­ga Populum habuit custodiendum fregit maliciosè, fal [...]è, & rebellitèr in quantum in ipso fuit, & ex causis supradictis per ipsum Willielmum (ut praedictum est) expressè cog­nitis suspendatur. Et quod omnia Terrae & Tenemeta, Bona & Catalla sua Domino Regiremaneant forisfacta.4. In the 24 E. 3. Sir William Thorpe, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, was indicted before the Iustices of Oyer and Terminer, and found guilty, and afterwards the Judgment was confirmed in Parliament, which was, That this Sir William having maliciously and falsely, and rebelliously, as much as in him lay, broken the King's Oath which he had the keeping of towards the People, he was ad­judged to be hang'd, but afterwards paying a great Fine to the King, he procur'd his Pardon.

5. The last Instance I shall give, is the Case of Sir Richard Empson, who was a Lawyer, and Privy-Counsellour to Hen. 7. he was indicted in the first Year of King Henry the 8th,Anderson's I Rep. Case 201. fol. 156, 157, 158. Deum prae Oculis non habens. Ut Filius Diabolicus. Ut ipse magis sin­gulates favores dicti nuper Regis adhiber. unde magnat. fieri potuisset, ac totum Regnum Angliae se­cundum ejus Volun­tatem gubernaret. f. 156. Fal [...]ò, decep­tive, & proditorie, Legem Angliae sub­veriens, diversos Li­geosi, sius nuper Re­gis ex sua falsa covina & subtil. ingenio contra communem Legem Regni Angliae de diversis Feloniis, Murdris, & aliis Artic. & Ossen. per ipsum Rich. tunc supposit. indict. fecit ac indict. procuravit, abbetavit & excitavit. That he not having the the Fear of God before his Eyes, but like a Child of the Devil subtilly designing the Honour, Dignity, and Prosperity of the late King, as also the Prosperity of his Kingdom of England to destroy; and that he might accumulate to himself the particular Grace and Favour of the said late King, that he might be made a great Man and govern the whole Kingdom of England according to his Will and Pleasure, falsely, deceitfully, and traiterously sub­verting the Law of England, of his own covin and subtile Inventi­ons did cause, procure, abet and stir up several of the King's Leige People to be indicted for divers Felonies, Murders, and other Offences which he contrived, contrary to the Law of the Land: and [Page 25] when they were so indicted, he committed them to Prison without any Process of Law, as to the Fleet, Counter, and the Tower of London, there to remain at his will, until they had paid divers great Fines and Ransoms for his own profit in Subversion of the Law, the great Damage and Impoverishment of the Subjects, by rea­son whereof the People being miserably harrassed and oppressed with such his Exactions, did murmur and repine against the late King, Per quod plures & diversi populi dicti nuper Reg [...]s hijs gra­vaminibus & indebi­tis exactionibus mul­tiplicitèr torqueban­tur in tant. quod Po­puli dicti nuper Re­gis versus i [...]sum nu­per Regem multipli­citèr murmurabant & malignabant in magnum periculum ipsius nuper Regis Regni sui Angliae ac ad sub­versionem Legum & Consuetudinum ejusdem Regni. to the manifest Danger of the said King and the Kingdom, and to the utter Subversion of the good Laws and Customs of the Realm; whereof being found guilty, Judgment of Death passed upon him,Speed's Chron. fol. 903. N. 3. and he was accordingly executed.

The Consideration of some of the forementioned Presidents, and others,Anderson's 1^o Rep. ib. printed in my Lord Chief Justice Anderson's Re­ports, were allowed to be sufficient Reasons and Authorities by Queen Elizabeth, why the Judges of the Common Pleas, refused to admit and comply with certain illegal Letters Patents which She had sent to them on the behalf of her Servant, one Richard Cavendish; they confess,Ils doient confessè que ils ne ont per­formé les Command­ments; mes ils di­soint que ceo ne'st ascun offence ou contempt à sa Ma­jestie pur ceo que les Commandments fue­runt encounter [...]le Lev de Terr. En­quex Cases fuit dit que nul est lye de obeyer tiel Com­mandment. fol. 155. That they had not obeyed the Queen's Commandment therein, nor could they; But they said, that it was no Offence nor in Contempt to her Majesty, because those Com­mands were contrary to the Law of the Land; In which Cases it was said, That no Man is bound to obey such Commands; and further they said, that the Queen her self was sworn, and had taken an Oath to keep the Laws, and so likewise had the Iudges; to break which voluntarily, as to what concern'd the Iudges, they answered, that if they had obeyed those Commands, they should do otherwise than what the Law could warrant them in; nay, directly against the Law, which would be contrary to the Oath they all had solemnly taken, in Offence to God, to her Majesty, to their Country, and Common Weal, in which they were born and had been bred; and if the Fear of God did not restrain them, yet the dreadful Examples of others, and the Punishments of such who had before offended against the Laws, would remember them, and keep them from doing any such thing, and for that the Queen and the Iudges were sworn, therefore they would not act according to her Letters Patens.

The Solemnity of the Proceedings in this case was very great, and memorable.

1. The Queen commanded the Lord Chancellour, Fol. 154. Sir Christo­pher Wray, the Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and the Master of the Rolls to hear the Reasons of the Judges.

2. Those Iudges were the Lord Anderson, Mr. Justice Mead, Mr. Justice Windham, and Mr. Justice Periam, Men [Page 26] that were religious to the Church, loyal to the Queen and of excellent Judgment, Gravity, and Wisdom in their Profes­sions.

3. The Lord Chancellour having heard their Reasons, allowed of the Matters, and gave his Approbation of them.

4. He having acquainted her Majesty with them, the Book says, She readily accepted of them.

And now to draw to a Conclusion.