jurisdictions and immunities, as any Parliament summoned by writ
under the Great Seal of England, or any member thereof might or
ought to have ; and all and every the members that shall be
elected and chosen to serve in any Parliament hereafter to be
assembled by authority of this Act as aforesaid, shall assemble and
meet in the Commons House of Parliament, and shall enter into
the same, and have voices in such Parliament before and without
the taking of the several oaths of supremacy and allegiance, or
either of them, any law or statute to the contrary thereof in any
wise notwithstanding.
IX. Provided always, that if the King's Majesty, his heirs or
The Protestation 359
successors, shall at any time during any Parliament hereafter to be
assembled by authority of this Act as aforesaid, award or direct
any commission or commissions unto any person or persons what-
soever, thereby giving power and authority to him or them to take
and receive the oath of supremacy and allegiance, of all or any the
members of the Commons House of Parliament, and any the
members of that House being duly required thereunto, shall refuse
or neglect to take and pronounce the same, that from thenceforth
such person so refusing or neglecting shall be deemed no member
of that House, nor shall have any voice therein, and shall suffer
such pains and penalties as if he had presumed to sit in the same
House without election, return or authority.
X. And it is likewise provided and enacted, that this Statute
shall be publicly read yearly at every General Sessions of the
Peace, to be held next after the Epiphany, and every Assizes then
next ensuing by the Clerk of the Peace and Clerk of the Assizes
for the time being respectively. And if they or either of them
shall neglect or fail to do the same accordingly, then such party so
neglecting or failing shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds.
XI. And it is lastly provided and enacted, that His Majesty's
royal assent to this Bill shall not thereby determine this present
Session of Parliament, and that all statutes and Acts of Parliament
which are to have continuance unto the end of this present Session,
shall be of full force after His Majesty's assent, until this present
Session be fully ended and determined ; and if this present Session
shall determine by dissolution of this present Parliament, then all
the Acts and statutes aforesaid shall be continued until the end of
the first Session of the next Parliament.
196. The Protestation
(1641, May 3. Rushworth,YiiL 735. Gardiner, 155, 1561)
"1TITE the knights, citizens and burgesses of the Commons House
V V in Parliament, finding to the grief of our hearts that the designs
of the Priests and Jesuits, and other adherents to the See of Rome,
have of late been more boldly and frequently put in practice than
formerly, to the undermining and danger of the true reformed
Protestant religion in His Majesty's dominions established ; and
finding also that there hath been, and having just cause to suspect
there still are, even during the sittings in Parliament, endeavours
360 English Constitutional Documents
to subvert the fundamental laws of England and Ireland, and to
introduce the exercise of an arbitrary and tyrannical government
by most pernicious and wicked counsels, practices, plots and con-
spiracies ; and that the long intermission and unhappier breach of
Parliaments hath occasioned many illegal taxations, whereby the
subjects have been prosecuted and grieved ; and that divers inno-
vations and superstitions have been brought into the Church,
multitudes driven out of His Majesty's dominions, jealousies raised
and fomented between the King and his people, a Popish army
levied in Ireland, and two armies brought into the bowels of this
kingdom, to the hazard of His Majesty's royal person, the con-
sumption of the revenue of the crown and the treasure of this
realm ; and lastly, finding the great cause of jealousy, that endeav-
ours have been, and are used, to bring the English army into a
misunderstanding of this Parliament, thereby to incline that army
by force to bring to pass those wicked counsels ; have therefore
thought good to join ourselves in a Declaration of our united
affections and resolutions and to make this ensuing Protesta-
tion :
I, A. B., do, in the presence of God, promise, vow and protest to
maintain and defend, as far as lawfully I may, with my life, power
and estate, the true reformed Protestant religion expressed in the
doctrine of the Church of England, against all Popery and popish
innovation within this realm, contrary to the said doctrine, and
according to the duty of my allegiance I will maintain and
defend His Majesty's royal person and estate ; as also the power
and privilege of Parliaments, the lawful rights and liberties of
the subjects, and every person that shall make this Protestation
in whatsoever he shall do, in the lawful pursuance of the same ;
and to my power, as far as .lawfully I may, I will oppose, and by
all good ways and means endeavour to bring to condign pun-
ishment all such as shall by force, practice, counsels, plots, con-
spiracies or otherwise do anything to the contrary in this present
Protestation contained : and further, that I shall in all jnst and
honourable ways endeavour to preserve the union and peace be-
twixt the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, and
neither for hope, fear or any other respects, shall relinquish this
promise, vow and protestation.
Act for the Attainder of Strafford 361
197. Act for the Attainder of Strafford
(1641, May n. 16 Charles I. Private Acts c. i. 5 R 177. Gardiner,
156-158.)
WHEREAS the knights, citizens and burgesses of the House of
Commons in this present Parliament assembled, have, in the
name of themselves and of all the Commons of England, impeached
Thomas, earl of Strafford, of high treason, for endeavouring to sub-
vert the ancient and fundamental laws and government of His
Majesty's realms of England and Ireland, and to introduce an
arbitrary and tyrannical government, against law, hi the said king-
doms, and for exercising a tyrannous and exorbitant power over
and against the laws of the said kingdoms, and the liberties, estates
and lives of His Majesty's subjects ; and likewise having by his
own authority commanded the laying and assessing of soldiers
upon His Majesty's subjects in Ireland, against their consents, to
compel them to obey his unlawful summons and orders, made upon
paper petitions hi causes between party and party, which accord-
ingly was executed upon divers of His Majesty's subjects in a warlike
manner within the said realm of Ireland ; and in so doing did levy
war against the King's Majesty and his liege-people in that king-
dom ; and also for that he, upon the unhappy dissolution of the last
Parliament, did slander the House of Commons to His Majesty:
and did counsel and advise His Majesty that he was loose and
absolved from rules of government ; and that he had an army in
Ireland which he might employ to reduce this kingdom, for which
he deserves to undergo the pains and forfeitures of high treason ;
and the said earl hath also been an incendiary of the wars between
the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, all which offences
have been sufficiently proved against the said earl upon his
impeachment :
Be it therefore enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty,
and by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assem-
bled, and by the authority of the same, that the said earl of Straf-
ford, for the heinous crimes and offences aforesaid, stand, and be
adjudged and attainted of high treason, and shall suffer such pains
of death, and incur the forfeitures of his goods and chattels, lands,
tenements and hereditaments of any estate of freehold or inherit-
ance in the said kingdoms of England and Ireland, which the
said earl or any other to his use, or in trust for him, have or had,
the day of the first sitting of this Parliament, or at any time since ;
362 English Constitutional Documents
Provided that no judge or judges, justice or justices whatsoever,
shall adjudge or interpret any act or thing to be treason, nor hear
or determine any treason in any other manner than he or they
should or ought to have done before the making of this Act, and as
if this Act had never been had or made ; saving always unto all and
singular persons, bodies politic and corporate, their heirs and suc-
cessors, others than the said earl and his heirs, and such as claim
from, by, or under him, all such right, title and interest of, in, and to
all and singular such of the lands, tenements and hereditaments, as
he, they, or any of them had before the first day of this present
Parliament, anything herein contained to the contrary notwith-
standing ;
Provided that the passing of this present Act, or His Majesty's
assent thereunto, shall not be any determination of this present
Sessions of Parliament ; but that this present Sessions of Parlia-
ment, and all Bills and matters whatsoever depending in Parlia-
ment, and not fully enacted or determined, and all statutes and
Acts of Parliament which have their continuance until the end of
this present Sessions of Parliament, shall remain, continue, and be
in full force, as if this Act had not been.
198. Act against Dissolving the Long Parlia-
ment without its own Consent
(1641, May ii. 16 Charles I. c. 7. 5 S. R. 103. Gardiner, 158, 159.)
"\ 1 7HEREAS great sums of money must of necessity be speedily
V advanced and provided for the relief of His Majesty's army
and people in the northern parts of this realm, and for preventing
the imminent danger it is in, and for supply of other His Majesty's
present and urgent occasions, which cannot be so timely effected
as is requisite without credit for raising the said monies ; which
credit cannot be obtained until such obstacles be first removed
as are occasioned by fears, jealousies and apprehensions of divers
His Majesty's loyal subjects, that this present Parliament may be
adjourned, prorogued, or dissolved, before justice shall be duly exe-
cuted upon delinquents, public grievances redressed, a firm peace
between the two nations of England and Scotland concluded, and
before sufficient provision be made for the re-payment of the said
monies so to be raised ; all which the Commons in this present
Act Abolishing Court of Star Chamber 363
Parliament assembled, having duly considered, do therefore most
humbly beseech your Majesty that it may be declared and enacted :
And be it declared and enacted by the King, our Sovereign
Lord, with the assent of the Lords and Commons in this present
Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that this
present Parliament now assembled shall not be dissolved unless it
be by Act of Parliament to be passed for that purpose ; nor shall
be, at any time or times, during the continuance thereof, prorogued
or adjourned, unless it be by Act of Parliament to be likewise passed
for that purpose ; and that the House of Peers shall not at any
time or times during this present Parliament be adjourned, unless
it be by themselves or by their own order ; and in like manner,
that the House of Commons shall not, at any time or times, during
this present Parliament, be adjourned, unless it be by themselves
or by their own order ; and that all and every thing or things what-
soever done or to be done for the adjournment, proroguing, or dis-
solving of this present Parliament, contrary to this Act, shall be
utterly void and of none effect.
199. Act for the Abolition of the Court of Star
Chamber
(1641, July 5. 16 Charles I. c. 10. 5 S. R. no. The whole act reprinted
in Gardiner, 179-186.)
"II 7"HEREAS by the Great Charter many times confirmed in
Parliament, it is enacted that no freeman shall be taken or
imprisoned, or disseised of his freehold or liberties or free
customs, or be outlawed or exiled or otherwise destroyed, and
that the King will not pass upon him or condemn him but by law-
ful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land ; and by an-
other statute made in the fifth year of the reign of King Edward
the Third, it is enacted that no man shall be attached by any
accusation nor forejudged of life or limb, nor his lands, tenements,
goods nor chattels seised into the King's hands against the form
of the Great Charter and the law of the land; and by another
statute made in the five-and-twentieth year of the reign of the
same King Edward the Third, it is accorded, assented and estab-
lished, that none shall be taken by petition or suggestion made to the
King or to his Council, unless it be by indictment or presentment
of good and lawful people of the same neighbourhood where such
deeds be done, in due manner or by process made by writ origi-
364 English Constitutional Documents
nal at the common law, and that none be put out of his franchise
or freehold unless he be duly brought in to answer and forejudged
of the same by the course of the law, and if anything be done
against the same, it shall be redressed and holden for none ; and
by another statute made in the eight-and-twentieth year of the
reign of the same King Edward the Third, it is amongst other
things enacted, that no man of what estate or condition soever he
be shall be put out of his lands or tenements, nor taken nor im-
prisoned nor disinherited without being brought in to answer by
due process of law; and by another statute made in the two-and-
fortieth year of the reign of the said King Edward the Third, it is
enacted, that no man be put to answer without presentment before
Justices or matter of record, or by due process and writ original
according to the old law of the land, and if anything be done to
the contrary, it shall be void in law and holden for error ; and by
another statute made in the six-and-thirtieth year of the same
King Edward the Third, it is amongst other things enacted, that
all pleas which shall be pleaded in any Courts before any of the
King's Justices, or in his other places, or before any of his other
ministers, or in the Courts and places of any other Lords within
the realm, shall be entered and enrolled in Latin ; and whereas
by the statute made in the third year of King Henry the Seventh,
power is given to the Chancellor, the Lord Treasurer of England
for the time being, and the Keeper of the King's Privy Seal, or
two of them, calling unto them a Bishop and a Temporal Lord of
the King's most honourable Council, and the two Chief Justices
of the King's Bench and Common Pleas for the time being, or
other two Justices in their absence, to proceed as in that Act is
expressed for the punishment of some particular offences therein
mentioned ; and by the statute made in the one-and-twentieth
year of King Henry the Eighth, the President of the Council is
associated to join with the Lord Chancellor and other Judges in the
said statute of the third of Henry the Seventh mentioned : but
the said Judges have not kept themselves to the points limited by
the said statute, but have undertaken to punish where no law doth
warrant, and to make decrees for things having no such authority,
and to inflict heavier punishments than by any law is warranted ;
II. Forasmuch as all matters examinable or determinable before
the said Judges, or in the Court commonly called the Star Cham-
ber, may have their proper remedy and redress, and their due
punishment and correction, by the common law of the land, and
in the ordinary course of justice elsewhere ; and forasmuch as the
reasons and motives inducing the erection and continuance of that
Act Abolishing Court of Star Chamber 365
Court do now cease ; and the proceedings, censures and decrees
of that Court have by experience been found to be an intolerable
burden to the subjects, and the means to introduce an arbitrary
power and government ; and forasmuch as the Council Table hath
of late times assumed unto itself a power to intermeddle in civil
causes and matters only of private interest between party and
party, and have adventured to determine of the estates and liber-
ties of the subject, contrary to the law of the land and the rights
and privileges of the subject, by which great and manifold mis-
chiefs and inconveniences have arisen and happened, and much
uncertainty by means of such proceedings hath been conceived
concerning men's rights and estates : for settling whereof and pre-
venting the like in time to come :
III. Be it ordained and enacted by the authority of this
present Parliament, that the said Court commonly called the
Star Chamber, and all jurisdiction, power and authority belonging
unto or exercised in the same Court, or by any of the Judges,
Officers or Ministers thereof, be from the first day of August in
the year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred forty and
one, clearly and absolutely dissolved, taken away, and determined ;
and that from the said first day of August neither the Lord
Chancellor or Keeper of the Great Seal of England, the Lord
Treasurer of England, the Keeper of the King's Privy Seal, or
President of the Council, nor any Bishop, Temporal Lord, Privy
Councillor, or Judge, or Justice whatsoever, shall have any power
or authority to hear, examine or determine any matter or thing
whatsoever in the said Court commonly called the Star Chamber,
or to make, pronounce or deliver any judgment, sentence, order
or decree, or to do any judicial or ministerial act in the said
Court; and that all and every Act and Acts of Parliament,
and all and every article, clause, and sentence in them and
every of them, by which any jurisdiction, power or authority is
given, limited or appointed unto the said Court, commonly called
the Star Chamber, or unto all or any the Judges, Officers or Min-
isters thereof, or for any proceedings to be had or made in the
said Court, or for any matter or thing to be drawn into question,
examined or determined there, shall, for so much as concerneth
the said Court of Star Chamber, and the power and authority
thereby given unto it be, from the said first day of August, re-
pealed and absolutely revoked and made void.
IV. And be it likewise enacted, that the like jurisdiction now
used and exercised in the Court before the President and Council
in the Marches of Wales ; and also in the Court before the Presi-
366 English Constitutional Documents
dent and Council established in the northern parts ; and also in
the Court commonly called the Court of the Duchy of Lancaster,
held before the Chancellor and Council of that Court ; and also in
the Court of Exchequer of the County Palatine of Chester, held
before the Chamberlain and Council of that Court ; the like juris-
diction being exercised there, shall, from the said first day of
August one thousand six hundred forty and one, be also repealed
and absolutely revoked and made void, any law, prescription, cus-
tom or usage ; or the said statute made in the third year of King
Henry the Seventh ; or the statute made in the one-and-twentieth
of Henry the Eighth ; or any Act or Acts of Parliament hereto-
fore had or made, to the contrary thereof in any wise notwith-
standing ; and that from henceforth no court, council, or place of
judicature shall be erected, ordained, constituted, or appointed
within this realm of England or dominion of Wales, which shall
have, use or exercise the same or the like jurisdiction, as is or
hath been used, practised or exercised in the said Court of Star
Chamber.
V. Be it likewise declared and enacted by authority of this
present Parliament, that neither His Majesty nor his Privy Coun-
cil have or ought to have any jurisdiction, power or authority by
English bill, petition, articles, libel, or any other arbitrary way
whatsoever, to examine or draw into question, determine or dis-
pose of the lands, tenements, hereditaments, goods or chattels of
any the subjects of this kingdom, but that the same ought to be
tried and determined in the ordinary Courts of Justice and by the
ordinary course of the law.
200. Act for the Abolition of the Court of
High Commission
(1641, Julys- 16 Charles I. c. ii. $ S. J?. 112. Gardiner, 186-189.)
WHEREAS in the Parliament holden in the first year of the
reign of the late Queen Elizabeth, late Queen of England,
there was an Act made and established, entitled ' An Act restoring
to the Crown the ancient jurisdiction over the State ecclesiastical
and spiritual, and abolishing all foreign power repugnant to the
same ' : in which Act, amongst other things, there is contained one
clause, branch, article or sentence whereby it was enacted to this
Act Abolishing Court of High Commission 367
effect : namely, that the said late Queen's Highness, her heirs and
successors, Kings or Queens of this realm, should have full power
and authority by virtue of that Act, by Letters Patents under the
Great Seal of England, to assign, name and authorize when and
as often as Her Highness, her heirs or successors, should think
meet and convenient, and for such and so long time as should
please Her Highness, her heirs or successors, such person or per-
sons being natural bom subjects to Her Highness, her heirs or
successors, as Her Majesty, her heirs or successors, should think
meet to exercise, use, occupy and execute under Her Highness,
her heirs and successors, all manner of jurisdictions, privileges and
preeminences in any wise touching or concerning any spiritual or
ecclesiastical jurisdiction within these her realms of England and
Ireland, or any other Her Highness's dominions and countries ;
and to visit, reform, redress, order, correct and amend all such
errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, offences, contempts and enor-
mities whatsoever, which by any manner spiritual or ecclesiastical
power, authority or jurisdiction can or may lawfully be reformed,
ordered, redressed, corrected, restrained or amended, to the pleas-
ure of Almighty God, the increase of virtue and the conservation
of the peace and unity of this realm : and that such person or
persons so to be named, assigned, authorized and appointed by
Her Highness, her heirs or successors, after the said Letters
Patents to him or them made and delivered as aforesaid, should
have full power and authority by virtue of that Act and of the said
Letters Patents under Her Highness, her heirs or successors, to
exercise, use and execute all the premises, according to the tenor
and effect of the said Letters Patents, any matter or cause to the
contrary in any wise notwithstanding ;
II. And whereas by colour of some words in the aforesaid
branch of the said Act, whereby Commissioners are authorized to
execute their commission according to the tenor and effect of the
King's Letters Patents, and by Letters Patents grounded there-
upon, the said Commissioners have, to the great and insufferable
wrong and oppression of the King's subjects, used to fine and
imprison them, and to exercise other authority not belonging to
ecclesiastical jurisdiction restored by that Act, and divers other
great mischiefs and inconveniences have also ensued to the
King's subjects by occasion of the said branch, and commissions
issued thereupon, and the executions thereof: therefore for the
repressing and preventing of the aforesaid abuses, mischiefs and
inconveniences in time to come :
HI. Be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty and
368 English Constitutional Documents
the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled,
and by the authority of the same, that the aforesaid branch,
clause, article or sentence contained in the said Act, and every
word, matter and thing contained in that branch, clause, article
or sentence shall from henceforth be repealed, annulled, revoked,
annihilated and utterly made void for ever ; anything in the said
Act to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.
IV. And be it also enacted by the authority aforesaid, that no
Archbishop, Bishop, nor Vicar General, nor any Chancellor,
Official, nor Commissary of any Archbishop, Bishop or Vicar
General, nor any ordinary whatsoever, nor any other spiritual or
ecclesiastical Judge, Officer or Minister of Justice, nor any other
person or persons whatsoever exercising spiritual or ecclesiastical
power, authority or jurisdiction by any grant, licence or commis-
sion of the King's Majesty, his heirs or successors, or by any power
or authority derived from the King, his heirs or successors, or other-
wise, shall from and after the first day of August, which shall be in
the year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred forty and one,
award, impose or inflict any pain, penalty, fine, amercement,