To the King's most excellent Majesty. |
Soit droit fait come est desire |
'HUMBLY shew unto our Sovereign Lord the King, the Lords Spiritual
and Temporal, and Commons, in Parliament assembled, That whereas it
is declared and enacted by a Statute made in the time of the Reign
of King Edward the First, commonly called Statutum de
Tallagio non concedendo, that no Tallage or Aid shall be laid
or levied by the King or his Heirs in this Realm, without the good
Will and Assent of the Archbishops, Bishops, Earls, Barons, Knights,
Burgesses and other the Freemen of the Commonalty of this Realm; and
by the Authority of Parliament holden in the Five and twentieth Year
of the Reign of King Edward the Third, it is declared and
enacted, that from thenceforth no Person should be compelled to make
any Loans to the King against his Will, because such Loans were against
Reason and the Franchise of the Land; and by other Laws of this Realm
it is provided, that none should be charged by any Charge or Imposition
called a Benevolence, nor by such like Charge; by which the Statutes
before mentioned, and other the good Laws and Statutes of this Realm,
Your Subjects have inherited this Freedom, that they should not be
compelled to contribute to any Tax, Tallage, Aid or other like Charge
not set by Common Consent in Parliament. |
'II. Yet nevertheless, of late divers
Commissions directed to sundry Commissioners in several Counties,
with Instructions, have issued; by means whereof Your People have
been in divers Places assembled, and required to lend certain Sums
of Money unto Your Majesty, and many of them, upon their Refusal so
to do, have had an Oath administered unto them not warrantable by
the Laws or Statutes of this Realm; and have been constrained to become
bound to make Appearance and give Attendance before Your Privy Council
and in other Places; and others of them have been therefore imprisoned,
confined, and sundry other Ways molested and disquieted; and divers
other Charges have been laid and levied upon Your People in several
Counties by Lord Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, Commissioners for
Musters, Justices of Peace and others, by Command or Direction from
Your Majesty, or Your Privy Council, against the Laws and Free Customs
of the Realm. |
'III. And where also by the Statute
called The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, it
is declared and enacted, That no Freeman may be taken or imprisoned,
or be disseised of his Freehold or Liberties, or his Free Customs,
or be outlawed or exiled, or in any manner destroyed, but by the lawful Judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land. |
'IV. And in the Eight and twentieth Year
of the Reign of King Edward the Third, it was declared
and enacted by Authority of Parliament, That no Man of what Estate
or Condition that he be, should be put out of his Land or Tenements, nor taken, nor imprisoned, nor disherited, nor put to Death, without being brought to answer by due Process of Law.
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'V. Nevertheless against the Tenor
of the said Statutes, and other the good Laws and Statutes of Your
Realm to that End provided, divers of Your Subjects have of late been
imprisoned without any Cause shewed; and when for their Deliverance
they were brought before your Justices by Your Majesty's Writs of
Habeas Corpus, there to undergo and receive as the Court
should order, and their Keepers commanded to certify the Causes of
their Detainer, no Cause was certified, but that they were detained
by Your Majesty's special Command, signified by the Lords of Your
Privy Council, and yet were returned back to several Prisons, without
being charged with any Thing to which they might make Answer according
to the Law. |
'VI. And whereas of late great Companies
of Soldiers and Mariners have been dispersed into divers Counties
of the Realm, and the Inhabitants against their Wills have been compelled
to receive them into their Houses, and there to suffer them to sojourn,
against the Laws and Customs of this Realm, and to the great Grievance
and Vexation of the People: |
'VII. And whereas also by Authority of Parliament,
in the Five and twentieth Year of the Reign of King Edward
the Third, it is declared and enacted, That no Man should be forejudged
of Life or Limb against the Form of the Great Charter and the Law
of the Land; and by the said Great Charter and other the Laws and
Statutes of this Your Realm, no Man ought to be adjudged to Death
but by the Laws established in this Your Realm, either by the Customs
of the same Realm, or by Acts of Parliament: And whereas 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 Your
Realm: Nevertheless of late times divers Commissions under Your Majesty's
Great Seal have issued forth, by which certain Persons have been assigned
and appointed Commissioners, with Power and Authority to proceed within
the Land, according to the Justice of Martial Law, against such Soldiers
or Mariners, or other dissolute Persons joining with them, as should
commit any Murther, Robbery, Felony, Mutiny or other Outrage or Misdemeanour
whatsoever, and by such summary Course and Order as is agreeable to
Martial Law, and as is used in Armies in time of War, to proceed to
the Trial and Condemnation of such Offenders, and them to cause to
be executed and put to Death according to the Law Martial: |
'VIII. By Pretext whereof some of Your Majesty's
Subjects have been by some of the said Commissioners put to Death,
when and where, if by the Laws and Statutes of the Land they had deserved
Death, by the same Laws and Statutes also they might, and by no other
ought to have been judged and executed: |
'IX. And also sundry grievous Offenders,
by colour thereof claiming an Exemption, have escaped the Punishments
due to them by the Laws and Statutes of this Your Realm, by reason
that divers of your Officers and Ministers of Justice have unjustly
refused or forborn to proceed against such Offenders according to
the same Laws and Statutes, upon Pretence that the said Offenders
were punishable only by Martial Law, and by Authority of such Commissions
as aforesaid: Which Commissions, and all other of like Nature, are
wholly and directly contrary to the said Laws and Statutes of this
Your Realm:' |
X. They do therefore humbly pray Your
most excellent Majesty, That no Man hereafter be compelled to make
or yield any Gift, Loan, Benevolence, Tax or such like Charge, without
Common Consent by Act of Parliament; and that none be called to make
Answer, or take such Oath, or to give Attendance, or be confined,
or otherwise molested or disquieted concerning the same, or for Refusal
thereof; and that no Freeman, in any such Manner as is before mentioned,
be imprisoned or detained; and that Your Majesty would be pleased
to remove the said Soldiers and Mariners; and that Your People may
not be so burthened in time to come; and that the aforesaid Commissions
for proceeding by Martial Law, may be revoked and annulled; and that
hereafter no Commissions of like Nature may issue forth to any Person
or Persons whatsoever to be executed as aforesaid, lest by colour
of them any of Your Majesty's Subjects be destroyed, or put to Death
contrary to the Laws and Franchise of the Land. |
XI. All which they most humbly pray
of Your most excellent Majesty as their Rights and Liberties according
to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm; and that Your Majesty would
also vouchsafe to declare, that the Awards, Doings and Proceedings,
to the Prejudice of Your People in any of the Premises shall not be
drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example; and that Your Majesty
would be also graciously pleased, for the further Comfort and Safety
of Your People, to declare Your Royal Will and Pleasure, that in the
Things aforesaid all your Officers and Ministers shall serve You according
to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm, as they tender the Honour
of Your Majesty, and the Prosperity of this Kingdom. |
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