Secondly, The Reafon of it is fo great, that it feems to be its own. It is the very Image and Expression of Justice, Liberty, and Property; Points of fuch eminent Importance, as without which no Government can be faid to be Reasonable, but Arbitrary and Tyrannical. It allows every Man that Liberty God and Nature have given him, and the fecure Poffeffion of his Property, from the In-road or Invafion of his Neigh bour, or any elfe of that Conftitution. It juftifies no Man in a fault, only it provides equal and juft Ways to have the Offender try'd; confidering the Malice of many Profecutors, and the great Value of Liberty and Life,

Thirdly, The End of it was the moft noble of any Earthly projection; to wit, The refixing of those fhaken Laws, held for many hundred years, by conftant Claim, that they living might be re-inftated in their primitive Liberty, and their Pofterity fecured in the poffeffion of fo great a happiness.

Amongst thofe many rich Advantages, that accrew to the free People of England, from this great Charter; and those many confirmatory Statutes of the fame, we fhall present the Reader with the fight of fome few, that may moft properly fall under the Confideration and Inquiry of thefe prefent Times, as found in our Common Law-Books.

First, That every English-man is born free.

Secondly, That no fuch Free-man fhall be taken, attached, affeffed, or imprisoned, by any Petition or Suggestion to the King or his Council, unless by the Indictment or Presentment of good and lawful Men where fuch Deeds be done. 5 Edw.3. Chap.9. 25 Edw. 3. Chap.4. 17 R. 2. Chap. 6. Rot. Parl. 42 Edw. 3. Cook 2 Inft. 46.

Thirdly, That no Free-man fhall be diffeiz'd of his Free-hold or Liberties, or free Cuftoms, &c. Hereby is intended, faith cook, That Lands, Tenements, Goods and Chattels, fhall not be feiz'd into the King's hands contrary to this great Charter, c. 43 Aff. pag.12. 43 Edw. 3. Cook 2. Inft. 32. Neither fhall any fuch Free-man be put from his Livelihood without answer, Cook 2. Inft. 47.

Fourthly, That no Free-man fhall be Out-law'd, unless he shroud and hide himself voluntarily from the Justice of the Law. 2 & 3 Phil. Mar. Dier. 114. 145.

Fifthly, No Free-man fhall be exil'd. Cook fays there are but two Grounds upon which any Man may be exil'd. One by A& of Parliament (fuppofing it not contrary to the great Char ter.) The other in cafe of Abjuration, for Felony by the Common Law, &c. Cook 2. Inft. 47.

Sixthly, No Free-man fhall be deftroy'd; that is, he fhall not be fore-judg'd of Life, Limb, Difinherited, or put to Torture, or Death. Every Oppreflion againft Law, by colour of any ufurp'd Au

thority

thority, is a kind of Deftruction, and 'tis the worft Oppreffion that is done by colour of Juftice. Cook Inftit. 2. 48.

Seventhly. That no Free-man fhall be thus taken, or imprison'd, difJeiz'd, Out-law'd, exil'd, or deftray'd of his Liberties, Free-holds, and free Cuftoms, but BY THE LAWFUL JUDGMENT OF HIS PEERS, (vulgarly call'd Jury.) So that the Judgment of any Fact or Perfon is, by this Fundamental Law, refer'd to the Breafts and Confciences of the Jury: it's rendred in Latin PER LEGALE JUDICIUM; that is, Lawful Judgment. From whence it is to be obferv'd, that the Judgment muft have Law in it, and be according to Law, which cannot be where they are not Judges, how far the Fact is legal, or the contrary; Judicium quafi Juris Di&um, The Voice of Law and Right. And therefore is their Verdict not to be rejected, because it is fuppos'd to be the Truth, according to their Consciences: For Ver dictis from vere di&tum is, quafi di&tum veritatis, or a true Saying or Judgment, 9 Hen. 3. 29. Cook Inft. 1. 39. Inft. 4. 207. Cook fays, that by the word LEGALE, three Things are im ply'd.

Firft, That this was by Law before the Statute; and therefore this Statute but Declaratory of the antient Law.

2dly, That their Verdict must be legally given. Wherein is to be obferv'd, (1ft.) The Jury ought to hear no Evidence, but in the hearing and prefence of the Prisoner. (2dly.) That they cannot fend to ask any Question in Law of the Judges, but in the presence of the Prifoner for, de facto Jus oritur.

3dly, The Evidence produc'd by the King's Counfel, being given, the Judges cannot collect the Evidence, nor urge it by way of Charge to the Fury; nor yet confer with the Jury about the Evidence, but in the prefence of the Prifoner. Cook Inft. 2. 49.

Eighthly, Or by the Law of the Land. It is a Synonimous Expreffion, importing no more than by a Tryal of Peers, or a Jury: For it is fometimes rendred not (or) disjunctively, but (and) which is connectively; however, it can never fignify any thing con trary to the Old way of Trying by Peers, for then it would be connected to a contradiction.

Befides, Cook well obferves, that in the 4th Chapter of the 25th Edw. 3. Per Legem Terra, imports no more than a Tryal by due Procefs, and Writ Original at Common Law, which cannot be without a Jury; therefore, Per Judicium Parum, & per Legem Terra, fignify the fame Privilege unto the People. Cook Inft. 2. pag. 50.

Thus

Thus have we prefented you with fome of thofe Maxims of Law, dearer to our Ancestors than Life; Because they are the Defence of the Lives and Liberties of the People of England: It is from this 29th Chapter of the Great Charter, (Great, not for its Bulk, but the Privileges in it) as from a fpacious Root, that fo many fruitful Branches of the Law of England Springs, if Cook may be credited. But how facred foever they have been efteem'd, and ftill are by noble and juft Minds; yet fo degenerate are some in their Proceedings, that confcious to themfelves of their bafenefs, they will not dare ftand the Touch of this Great Charter, and thofe juft Laws grounded upon it; of which number we may truly rank the Mayor and Recorder of London, with the rest of their wife Companions, in their late Seffions at the Old-Baily, upon the occafion of the Priso

ners.

Firft, The Prifoners were taken, and imprifon'd without Prefentment of good and lawful Men of the Vicinage, or the Neighbourhood, but after a military and tumultuous manner, contrary to the Grand Charter.

2dly, They refused to produce the Law upon which they proceeded; leaving thereby the Prifoners, Jury, and whole Affembly in

the dark.

3dly, They refused the Prisoners to plead, and directly with food that great Privilege, mention'd in the firft Chapter, 25 Edw. 1. Where all Juftices, Mayors, Sheriffs, and other Minifters, that have the Laws of the Land to guide them, are required to allow the faid Charter to be pleaded in all its Points, and in all Causes that shall come before them in Judgment. For no fooner did William Penn, or his Fellow Prifoner, urge upon them the great Charter, and other good Laws, but the Recorder cry'd, Take him away, take him away, put him into the Bale-dock or Hole: From which the Recorder can never deliver himself, unless it be by avowing, the Laws are not his Guide, and therefore does not suffer them to be pleaded before him in Judgment.

4thly, They gave the Jury their Charge in the Prisoner's abfence, endeavouring highly to incenfe the Fury against them.

5thly, The Verdict being given, which is in Law DICTUM VERITATIS, The Voice of Truth her felf, (because not futable to their humour) They did frue times reject it, with many abusive, imperious and menacing Expreffions to the Jury, (fuch as no Precedent can afford us) as if they were not the only conftituted Judges by the Fundamental Laws of the Land, but mere Cyphers only, to fignify fomething behind their Figures.

6thly, Tho the Prifoners were clear'd by their Jury, yet were they continued for the non-payment of their Fines laid upon them, for not pulling off their Hats; in which the Law is notorioully broken. Z

(1ft.)

(ft.) In that no Man fhall be amerced, but according to the Offence; and they have fined each forty Marks.

(2.) They were not merced by any Jury, but at the Will of an in cens' Bench.

Befides, there is no Law against the Hat; and where there is no Law, there can be no Tranfgreffion, and confequently no legal Amercement or Fine, 9 H. 3. Chap. 14. But how the Prifoners were trapanned into it, is moft ridiculous on the fide of the Contrivers, that finding their Hats off, would have them put on again by their Officers, to fool the Prisoners, with a trial of putting them off again; which childish Conceit not being gratified, they Fined them the Forty Marks a piece.

7thly, Instead of accepting their Verdict as good in Law, and for the true decifion of the matter, according to the Great Charter (that conftitutes them proper Judges, and which bears them out, with many other good Laws, in what they agreed to, as a Verdict) the Court did moft illegally and tỷ rannically Fine and Imprifon them, as in the Tryal was exprefs'd: And that notwithstanding the late juft Resentment of the Houfe of Commons, in Judg Keeling's Cafe, where they refolv'd, that the precedent and practice of Fining and Im prifoning of furies, for their Verdicts, were illegal. And here we muft needs obferve two Things.

First, That the Fundamental Laws of England cannot be more lighted and contradicted in any thing (next Englishmen's being quite deftroy'd) than in not fuffering them to have that equal medium, or just way of tryal, that the fame Law has provided, which is by a Jury.

Secondly, That the late Proceeding of the Court at the Old Buly, is an evident Demonftration, that furies are now but mere Formality, and that the partial Charge of the Bench muf be the Verdict of the Jury; for if ever a Rape were attempted on the Confciences of any Fury, it was there. And indeed the Igno rance of Jurors of their Authority by Law, is the only Reason of their unhappy cringing to the Court, and being feared into an Anti-Confcience Verdict, by their lawlefs Threats.

But we have lived to an Age, fo devoid of all Humanity and Reafon, as well as Faith and Religion, that fome flick not to turn Butchers to their own Privileges, and Confpirators against their own Liberties. For however, Magna Charta had once the Rep tation of a facred unalterable Law, and few hardned enough to incur and bear the long Curfe that attended the Violaters of it; yet it is frequently objected now, that the Benefits there delign'd are but Temporary, and therefore liable to alteration, as other Statutes are. What Game fuch Perfons play at, may be lively

Tead

read, in the attempts of Dionyfius, Phalaris, c. which would have Will and Power be the People's Law.

But that the Privileges due to English-men by the Great Charter of England, have their Foundation in Reafon and Law; and that those new Caffandrian ways, to introduce Will and Power, deferve to be detefted by all Perfons profeffing Senfe and Honefty, and the leaft Allegiance to our English Government; we fhall make appear from a fober Confideration of the Nature of thofe Privileges contain'd in that Charter.

1. The Ground of Alteration of any Law in Government (where there is no Invafion) fhould arise from the univerfal difcommodity of its continuance, but there can be no disprofit in the difcontinuance of Liberty and Property, therefore there can be no juft ground of alteration.

2. No one English-man is born Slave to another, neither has the one a right to inherit the fweat and benefit of the other's labour (without confent ;) therefore the Liberty and Property of an English-man cannot reafonably be at the Will and Beck of another, let his Quality and Rank be never fo great.

3. There can be nothing more unreasonable than that which is partial; but to take away the LIBERTY and PROPERTY of any which are naturaf Rights) without breaking the Law of Nature (and not of Will and Power) is manifeftly partial, and therefore unreasonable.

4. If it be juft and reafonable for Men to do as they would be done by, then no fort of Men fhould invade the Liberties and = Properties of other Men, because they would not be ferved fo themselves.

5. Where Liberty and Property are deftroy'd, there muft always be a State of Force and War; which however pleafing it may be unto the Invaders, it will be efteem'd intolerable by the Invaded; who will no longer remain fubject in all humane Probability, than while they want as much Power to free themfelves, as their Adverfàries had to enflave them: The troubles, bazards, ill-confequences, and illegality of fuch Attempts, as they have declined by the most prudent in all Ages; fo have they proved moft uneasy to the most favage of all Nations, who first or last have by a mighty Torrent freed themselves, to the due punishment and great infamy of their Oppreffors: Such being the advantage, fuch the difadvantage which neceffarily do attend the fixation and removal of Liberty and Property.

We shall proceed to make it appear, that Magna Charta (as recited by us) imports nothing less than their prefervation. No Free-man fhall be taken, or imprisoned, or be diffeized of his Freebold, or Liberties, or free Cuftoms, or be Out-law'd, or Exil'd, or any

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ether