The petition exhibited to his
majesty
by the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons in this present
parliament
assembled, concerning divers rights and liberties of the subjects. . . .
To the king's most excellent
majesty:
Humbly show 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
Statutum de Tallagio non Concedendo, that no tallage or aid should be
laid
or levied by the king or his heirs in their realm by the king or his
heirs
in this realm without the goodwill and assent of the archbishops,
bishops,
earls, barons, knights, burgesses, and other the freemen of the
commonalty
of this realm; and, by authority of parliament holden in the
five-and-twentieth
year of the reign of King Edward III, 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, or by
such
like charge; by which the statues 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: yet,
nevertheless,
of late divers commissions directed to sundry commissioners in several
counties 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 to do so, 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 therefor 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.
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; and in the eight-and-twentieth year of the reign of King Edward
III
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 disinherited, nor put to death, without
being brought to answer by due process of law: 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 showed; 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 anything to which they might make answer
according
to the law.
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: and whereas also, by authority of parliament in the
five-and-twentieth
year of the reign of King Edward III, 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 divers commissions under your majesty's great seal have issue
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 murder, robbery, felony,
mutiny,
or other outrage or misdemeanour whatsoever, and by such summary course
and order as is agreeable to martial law and 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;
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, adjudged and
executed;
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 forborne 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.
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 burdened in time to come; and that
the
foresaid 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 (all of 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 and 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.
Taken from Stephenson and
Marcham, Sources
of English Constitutional History, vol. 1.
