An Essay On The Trial By Jury, Lysander Spooner [chrysanthemum read aloud .TXT] 📗
![](/uploads/posts/books/2/1/0/0/0/lysander-spooner-an-essay-on-the-trial-by-jury-1.jpg)
- Author: Lysander Spooner
Book online «An Essay On The Trial By Jury, Lysander Spooner [chrysanthemum read aloud .TXT] 📗». Author Lysander Spooner
Their Thrones Only On The Condition Of Their Renewed And Solemn
Promises Of Observance. And It Was Not Until 1429, (As Will Be
More Fully Shown Hereafter,) When A Truce Between Themselves,
And
A Formal Combination Against The Mass Of The People, Had Been
Entered Into, By The King, The Nobility, And The "Forty Shilling
Freeholders," (A Class Whom Mackintosh Designates As "A Few
Freeholders Then Accounted Wealthy," [1]) By The Exclusion Of All
Others Than Such Freeholders From All Voice In The Election Of
Knights To Represent The Counties In The House Of Commons, That A
Repetition Of These Confirmations Of Magna Carta Ceased To Be
Demanded. And Obtained. [2]
The Terms And The Formalities Of Some Of These "Confirmations"
Make Them Worthy Of Insertion At Length.
Hume Thus Describes One Which Took Place In The 38th Year Of
Henry Iii. (1253):
" But As They (The Barons) Had Experienced His (The King's)
Frequent Breach Of Promise, They Required That He Should Ratify
The Great Charter In A Manner Still More Authentic And Solemn
Than Any Which He Had Hitherto Employed. All The Prelates And
Chapter 11 (Authority Of Magna Carta) Pg 164Abbots Were Assembled. They Held Burning Tapers In Their Hands.
The Great Charter Was Read Before Them. They Denounced The
Sentence Of Excommunication Against Every One Who Should
Thenceforth Violate That Fundamental Law. They Threw Their Tapers
On The Ground, And Exclaimed, May The Soul Of Every One Who
Incurs This Sentence So Stink And Corrupt In Hell! The King Bore
A Part In This Ceremony, And Subjoined, ' So Help Me God! I Will
Keep All These Articles Inviolate, As I Am A Man, As I Am A
Christian, As I Am A Knight, And As I Am A King Crowned And
Anointed.' " Hume, Ch. 12. See Also Blackstone's Introd. To The
Charters. Black. Law Tracts, Oxford Ed., P. 332. Makintosh's
Hist. Of Eng., Ch. 3. Lardner's Cab. Cyc., Vol. 45, P. 233 4.
The Following Is The Form Of "The Sentence Of Excommunication"
Referred To By Hume:
"The Sentence Of Curse, Given By The Bishops, Against The
Breakers Of The Charters.
"The Year Of Our Lord A Thousand Two Hundred And Fifty-Three, The
Third Day Of May, In The Great Hall Of The King At Westminster,
In The Presence, And By The Assent, Of The Lord Henry, By The
Grace Of God King Of England, And The Lords Richard, Earl Of
Cornwall, His Brother, Roger (Bigot) Earl Of Norfolk And
Suffolk;, Marshal Of England, Humphrey, Earl Of Hereford, Henry,
Earl Of Oxford, John, Earl Of Warwick, And Other Estates Of The
Realm Of England: We, Boniface, By The Mercy Of God Archbishop
Of
Canterbury, Primate Of All England, F. Of London, H. Of Ely, S.
Of Worcester, F. Of Lincoln, W. Of Norwich, P. Of Hereford, W. Of
Salisbury, W. Of Durham, R. Of Exeter, M. Of Carlisle, W. Of
Bath, E. Of Rochester, T. Of Saint David's, Bishops, Appareled In
Pontificals, With Tapers Burning, Against The Breakers Of The
Church's Liberties, And Of The Liberties Or Free Customs Of The
Realm Of England, And Especially Of Those Which Are Contained In
The Charter Of The Common Liberties Of The Realm, And The
Charter
Of The Forest, Have Solemnly Denounced The Sentence Of
Excommunication In This Form. By The Authority Of Almighty God,
The Father, The Son, And The Holy Ghost, And Of The Glorious
Mother Of God, And Perpetual Virgin Mary, Of The Blessed Apostles
Peter And Paul, And Of All Apostles, Of The Blessed Thomas,
Archbishop And Martyr, And Of All Martyrs, Of Blessed Edward Of
England, And Of All Confessors And Virgins, And Of All The Saints
Of Heaven: We Excommunicate, Accurse, And From The Thresholds
(Liminibus) Of Our Holy Mother The Church, We Sequester, All
Those That Hereafter Willingly And Maliciously Deprive Or Spoil
The Church Of Her Right: And All Those That By Any Craft Or
Wiliness Do Violate, Break, Diminish, Or Change The Church's
Liberties, Or The Ancient Approved Customs Of The Realm, And
Especially The Liberties And Free Customs Contained In The
Charters Of The Common Liberties, And Of The Forest, Conceded By
Our Lord The King, To Archbishops, Bishops, And Other Prelates Of
England And Likewise To The Earls, Barons, Knights, And Other
Chapter 11 (Authority Of Magna Carta) Pg 165Freeholders Of The Realm: And All That Secretly, Or Openly, By
Deed, Word, Or Counsel, Do Make Statutes, Or Observe Them Being
Made, And That Bring In Customs, Or Keep Them When They Be
Brought In, Against The Said Liberties, Or Any Of Them, The
Writers And Counselors Of Said Statutes, And The Executors Of
Them, And A11 Those That Shall Presume To Judge According To
Them. All And Every Which Persons Before Mentioned, That
Wittingly Shall Commit Anything Of The Premises, Let Them Well
Know That They Incur The Aforesaid Sentence, Ipso Facto, (I. E..
Upon The Deed Being Done.) And Those That Ignorantly Do So, And
Be Admonished, Except They Reform Themselves Within Fifteen Days
After The Time Of The Admonition, And Make Full Satisfaction For
That They Have Done, At The Will Of The Ordinary, Shall Be From
That Time Forth Included In The Same Sentence. And With The Same
Sentence We Burden All Those That Presume To Perturb The Peace Of
Our Sovereign Lord The King, And Of The Realm. To The Perpetual
Memory Of Which Thing, We, The Aforesaid Prelates, Have Put Our
Seals To These Presents." Statutes Of The Realm, Vol. 1, P. 6.
Ruffhead's Statutes, Vol. 1, P. 20.
One Of The Confirmations Of The Charters, By Edward I., Was By
Statute, In The 25th Year Of His Reign, (1297,) In The Following
Terms. The Statute Is Usually Entitled. "Confirmatio
Cartarum,"(Confirmation Of The Charters.)
Ch. 1. "Edward, By The Grace Of God, King Of England, Lord Of
Ireland, And Duke Of Guyan, To All Those That These Presents
Shall Hear Or See, Greeting. Know Ye, That We, To The Honor Of
Cod, And Of Holy Church, And To The Profit Of Our Realm, Have
Granted, For Us And Our Heirs, That The Charter Of Liberties, And
The Charter Of The Forest, Which Were Made By Common Assent Of
All The Realm, In The Time Of King Henry Our Father, Shall Be
Kept In Every Point Without Breach. And We Will That The Same
Charters Shall Be Sent Under Our Seal, As Well To Our Justices Of
The Forest, As To Others, And To All Sheriff's Of Shires, And To
All Our Other Officers, And To All Our Cities Throughout The
Realm, Together With Our Writs, In The Which It Shall He
Contained, That They Cause The Aforesaid Charters To Be
Published, And To Declare To The People That We Have Confirmed
Them At All Points; And To Our Justices, Sheriffs, Mayors, And
Other Ministers, Which Under Us Have The Laws Of Our Land To
Guide, That They Allow The Same Charters, In All Their Points, In
Pleas Before Them, And In Judgment; That Is, To Wit, The Great
Charter As The Common Law, And The Charter Of The Forest For The
Wealth Of Our Realm.
Ch. 2. "And We Will That If Any Judgment Be Given From Henceforth
Contrary To The Points Of The Charters Aforesaid By The Justices,
Or By Any Others Our Ministers That Hold Plea Before Them,
Against The Points Of The Charters, It Shall Be Undone And Holden
For Naught.
Ch. 3. "And We Will, That The Same Charters Shall Be Sent, Under
Our Seal, To Cathedral Churches Throughout Our Realms There To
Chapter 11 (Authority Of Magna Carta) Pg 166Remain, And Shall Be Read Before The People Two Times In The
Year.
Ch. 4. "And That All Archbishops And Bishops Shall Pronounce The
Sentence Of Excommunication Against All Those That By Word, Deed,
Or Counsel, Do Contrary To The Foresaid Charters, Or That In Any
Point Break Or Undo Them. And That The Said Curses Be Twice A
Year Denounced And Published By The Prelates Aforesaid. And If
The Same Prelates, Or Any Of Them, Be Remiss In The Denunciation
Of The Said Sentences, The Archbishops Of Canterbury And York-,
For The Time Being, Shall Compel And Distrain Them To Make The
Denunciation In The Form Aforesaid." St. 25 Edward I., (1297.).
Statutes Of The Realm, Vol. L, P. 123.
It Is Unnecessary To Repeat The Terms Of The Various
Confirmations, Most Of Which Were Less Formal Than Those That
Have Been Given, Though Of Course Equally Authoritative. Most Of
Them Are Brief, And In The Form Of A Simple Statute, Or Promise,
To The Effect That "The Great Charter, And The Charter Of The
Forest, Shall Be Firmly Kept And Maintained In All Points." They
Are To Be Found Printed With The Other Statutes Of The Realm. One
Of Them, After Having "Again Granted, Renewed And Confirmed" The
Charters, Requires As Follows:
"That The Charters Be Delivered To Every Sheriff Of England Under
The King's Seal, To Be Read Four Times In The Year Before The
People In The Full County," (That Is, At The County Court,) "That
Is, To Wit, The Next County (Court) After The Feast Of Saint
Michael, And The Next County (Court) After Christmas, And At The
Next County (Court) After Easter, And At The Next County (Court)
After The Feast Of Saint John " 28 Edward I., Ch. 1, (1300.) V
Lingard Says, "The Charter Was Ratified Four Times By Henry Iii.,
Twice By Edward I., Fifteen Times By Edward Iii., Seven Times By
Richard Ii., Six Times By Henry Iv., And Once By Henry V.;"
Making Thirty-Five Times In All. 3 Lingard, 50, Note, Philad.
Ed.
Coke Says Magna Carta Was Confirmed Thirty-Two Times. Preface
To 2 Inst., P. 6.
Lingard Calls These "Thirty-Five Successive Ratifications" Of The
Charter, "A Sufficient Proof How Much Its Provisions Were
Abhorred By The Sovereign, And How Highly They Were Prized By The
Nation." 3 Lingard, 50.
Mackintosh Says, "For Almost Five Centuries (That Is, Until 1688)
It (Magna Carta) Was Appealed To As The Decisive Authority On
Behalf Of The People, Though Commonly So Far Only As The
Necessities Of Each Case Demanded." Mackintosh's Hist. Of Eng.
Comments (0)