Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789) English Bill of Rights (1689) Edmund Burke, Conciliation with America (1775) Fugitive Slaw Law (1793) Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639) Gottlieb Mittelberger, On the Misfortune of Indentured Servants (1754) Magna Carta (1217) Maryland Toleration Act (1649) Mayflower Compact (1620) Monroe Doctrine (1823) Petition of Rights (1628)
" In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread S overeign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&.
Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.
In Witness
whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the
eleventh of November, in the
Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and
Ireland, the
eighteenth,
and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."
ASCII
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DECLARATION
OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND OF THE CITIZEN
Approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 1789
The representatives
of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing
that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man
are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption
of governments, have determined to set forth in a
solemn
declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man,
in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the
members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of
their rights and duties;in order that the acts of the legislative
power,
as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any
moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions
and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the
grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable
principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution
and redound to the happiness of all. Therefore the National Assembly
recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices
of the Supreme Being, the following rights
of
man and of the citizen:
Articles:
1 Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.
2 The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.
4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.
5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.
6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.
7.
No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in
the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law.
Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be
executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished. But any
citizen summoned
or
arrested in virtue of the law shall submit without delay, as
resistance constitutes an offense.
8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before the commission of the offense.
9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by law.
10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.
11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.
12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be intrusted.
13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means.
14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes.
15. Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration.
16. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all.
17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall have been previously and equitably indemnified.
-------------------------------------
The above
document was written by The Marquis de Lafayette, with help from
his friend and neighbor,American envoy to France,
Thomas
Jefferson. Lafayette, you may recall, had come to the Colonies
at age 19, been commissioned a Major General, and was instrumental
in the defeat of the British during the American Revolutionary
War. He considered one special man his 'father':George
Washington. French King Louis XVI signed this document,
under duress, but never intended to support it. Indeed,
the Revolution in France soon followed, leading to the tyrannical
rule of Napolean Bonaparte.
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THE
MONROE DOCTRINE:
The
Monroe Doctrine was expressed during President Monroe's seventh
annual message to Congress, December 2, 1823
. . . At the proposal of the Russian Imperial Government, made through the minister of the Emperor residing here, a full power and instructions have been transmitted to the minister of the United States at St. Petersburg to arrange byamicable negotiation the respective rights and interests of the two nations on the northwest coast of thiscontinent. Asimilar proposal has been made by His Imperial Majesty to the Government of Great Britain, which has likewise been acceded to. The Government of the United States has been desirous by this friendly proceeding of manifesting the great value which they have invariably attached to the friendship of the Emperor and their solicitude to cultivate the best understanding with his Government. In the discussions to which this interest has given rise and in the arrangements by which they may terminate the occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers. . .
It was stated at the commencement of the last session that a great effort was then making in Spain and Portugal to improve the condition of the people of those countries, and that it appeared to be conducted with extraordinary moderation. It need scarcely be remarked that the results have been so far very different from what was then anticipated. Of events in that quarter of the globe, with which we have so much intercourse and from which we derive our origin, we have always been anxious and interested spectators. The citizens of the United States cherish sentiments the most riendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their fellow-men on that side of the Atlantic. In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy to do so. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defense. With the movements in this hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political system of the allied powers is essentially different in this respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in their respective Governments; and to the defense of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the Governments who have declared their independence and maintain it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States. In the war between those new Governments and Spain we declared our neutrality at the time of their recognition, and to this we have adhered, and shall continue to adhere, provided no change shall occur which, in the judgement of the competent authorities of this Government, shall make a corresponding change on the part of the United States indispensable to their security.
The late events in Spain and Portugal shew that Europe is still
unsettled. Of this important fact no stronger proof can be adduced
than that the allied powers should have thought it proper, on
any principle satisfactory to themselves, to have interposed
by force in the internal concerns of Spain. To what extent such
interposition may be carried, on the same principle, is a question
in which all independent powers whose governments differ from
theirs are interested, even those most remote, and surely none
of them more so than the United States. Our policy in regard
to Europe, which was adopted at an early stage of the wars which
have so long agitated that quarter of the globe, nevertheless
remains the same, which is, not to interfere in the internal
concerns of any of its powers; to consider the government de
facto as the legitimate government for us; to cultivate friendly
relations with it, and to preserve those relations by a frank,
firm, and manly policy, meeting in all instances the just claims
of every power, submitting to injuries from none. But in regard
to those continents circumstances are eminently and conspicuously
different. It is impossible that the allied powers should extend
their political system to any portion of either continent without
endangering our peace and happiness; nor can anyone believe that
our southern brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it
of their own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that
we should behold such interposition in any form with indifference.
If we look to the comparative strength and resources of Spain
and those new Governments, and their distance from each other,
it must be obvious that she can never subdue them. It is still
the true policy of the United States to leave the parties to
themselves, in hope that other powers will pursue the same course.
. . .
Edmund Burke, Speech on conciliation with
America, March 22, 1775
To
restore order and repose to an empire so great and so distracted
as ours is, merely in the attempt, an undertaking that would
ennoble the flights of the highest genius, and obtain pardon
for the efforts of the meanest understanding. Struggling a good
while with these thoughts, by degrees I felt myself more firm.
I derived, at length, some confidence from what in other circumstances
usually produces
judging
of what you are by what you ought to be, I persuaded myself that
you would not reject a reasonable proposition because it had
nothing but its reason to recommend it.
The proposition is peace. Not peace through the medium of war; not peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; not peace to arise out of universal discord, fomented from principle, in all parts of the empire; not precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government. It is simple peace, sought in its natural course and in its ordinary haunts.
Let the colonies always keep the idea of their civil rights associated with your government-they will cling and grapple to you, and no force under heaven will be of power to tear them from their allegiance. But let it be once understood that your government may be one thing and their privileges another, that these two things may exist without any mutual relation - the cement is gone, the cohesion is loosened, and everything hastens to decay and dissolution. As long as you have the wisdom to keep the sovereign authority of this country as the sanctuary of liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, wherever the chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their faces towards you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will have, the more ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be their obedience. Slavery they can have anywhere. It is a weed that grows in every soil. They may have it from Spain, they may have it from Prussia. But until you become lost to all feeling of your true interest and your natural dignity, freedom they can have from none but you. This is the commodity of price, of which you have the monopoly. This is the true Act of Navigation, which binds to you the commerce of the -colonies, and through them secures to you the wealth of the world. Deny them this participation of freedom, and you break that sole bond which originally made, and must still preserve, the unity of the empire. Do not entertain so weak an imagination as that your registers and your bonds, your affidavits and your sufferances, your cockets and your clearances, are what form the great securities of your commerce. Do not dream that your Letters of office, and your instructions, and your suspending clauses are the things that hold together the great contexture of this mysterious whole. These things do not make your government. Dead instruments, passive tools as they are, it is the spirit of the English communion that gives all their life and efficacy to them. It is the spirit of the English constitution which, infused through the mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, vivffles every part of the empire, even down to the minutest member.
Is it not the same virtue which does every thing for us here in England? Do you imagine, then, that-it is the Land-Tax Act which raises your revenue? that it is the annual vote in the Committee of Supply, which gives you your army? or that it is the Mutiny Bill which inspires it with bravery and discipline? No! surely, no! It is the love of the people; it is their attachment to their government, from the sense of the deep stake they have in such a glorious institution, which gives you your army and your navy, and infuses into both that liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble and your navy nothing but rotten timber.
All this,
I know well enough, will sound wild and chimerical to the profane
herd of those vulgar and mechanical politicians who have
no place among us: a sort of
people
who think that nothing exists but what is gross and material,
and who, therefore, far
from being qualified to be directors of the great movement of
empire, are not fit to
turn a wheel in the machine. But to men truly initiated and rightly taught, these ruling and master
principles, which in the opinion of such men as I have mentioned have no substantial
existence, are in truth everything, and all in all. Magnanimity in politics is not
seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together. If
we are conscious of our situation, and glow with zeal to fill our places as becomes our
station and ourselves, we ought to auspicate all our public proceedings on America with
the old warning of the Church, Sursum corda! We
ought to elevate our minds to the greatness of that trust to
which the order of
Providence
has called us. By adverting to the dignity of this high calling,
our ancestors have
turned a savage wilderness into a glorious empire, and have made the most extensive and the only
honorable conquests, not by destroying, but by promoting
the wealth, the number, the happiness of the human race. Let
us get an American revenue
as we have got an American empire. English privileges have made it all that it is; English
privileges alone will make it all it can he.
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The
Petition of Rights, 1628
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, with the King's Majesty's
royal answer thereunto in full Parliament.
To the King's Most Excellent Majesty,
Humbly
show unto our Sovereign Lord the King, the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal, and Commons in
Parliament
assembles, that whereas it is declared and enacted by a statute
made in the time of the
reign
of King Edward I, commonly called Stratutum de Tellagio 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 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, nor by such like charge; by which 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 and make appearance and give utterance 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 custom of the realm.
III. And whereas 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 disseized 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 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.
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 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.
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. (PETITION OF RIGHT 1628:8)
VII. 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 shall 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 time 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 murder, robbery, felony, mutiny, or other outrage or misdemeanor 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.
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 color 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 pretense 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 burdened 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 color
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 honor of
your Majesty, and the prosperity of this
kingdom.
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THE
FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF CONNECTICUT, 1639
January
14, 1639
For as
much as it hath pleased Almighty God by the wise disposition
of his divine providence so to
order
and dispose of things that we the Inhabitants and Residents of
Windsor, Hartford and
Wethersfield
are now cohabiting and dwelling in and upon the River of Connectecotte
and the lands
thereunto
adjoining; and well knowing where a people are gathered together
the word of God
requires
that to maintain the peace and union of such a people there should
be an orderly and decent
Government
established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs
of the people at all
seasons
as occasion shall require; do therefore associate and conjoin
ourselves to be as one Public
State
or Commonwealth; and do for ourselves and our successors and
such as shall be adjoined to
us
at any time hereafter, enter into Combination and Confederation
together, to maintain and
preserve
the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus which
we now profess, as also, the
discipline
of the Churches, which according to the truth of the said Gospel
is now practiced amongst
us;
as also in our civil affairs to be guided and governed accordinbg
to such Laws, Rules, Orders and
Decrees
as shall be made, ordered, and decreed as followeth:
1.It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that there shall be yearly two General Assemblies or Courts, the one the second Thursday in April, the other the second Thursday in September following; the first shall be called the Court of Election, wherein shall be yearly chosen from time to time, so many Magistrates and other public Officers as shall be found requisite: Whereof one to be chosen Governor for the year ensuing and until another be chosen, and no other Magistrate to be chosen for more than one year: provided always there be six chosen besides the Governor, which being chosen and sworn according to an Oath recorded for that purpose, shall have the power to administer justice according to the Laws here established, and for want thereof, according to the Rule of the Word of God; which choice shall be made by all that are admitted freemen and have taken the Oath of Fidelity, and do cohabit within this Jurisdiction having been admitted Inhabitants by the major part of the Town wherein they live or the major part of such as shall be then present.
2.It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the election of the aforesaid Magistrates shall be in this manner: every person present and qualified for choice shall bring in (to the person deputed to receive them) one single paper with the name of him written in it whom he desires to have a Governor, and that he that hath the greatest number of papers shall be Governor for that year. And the rest of the Magistrates or public officers to be chosen in this manner: the Secretary for the time being shall first read the names of all that are to be put to choice and then shall severally nominate them distinctly, and every one that would have the person nominated to be chosen shall bring in one single paper written upon, and he that would not have him chosen shall bring in a blank; and every one that hath more written papers than blanks shall be a Magistrate for that year; which papers shall be received and told by one or more that shall be then chosen by the court and sworn to be faithful therein; but in case there should not be six chosen as aforesaid, besides the Governor, out of those which are nominated, than he or they which have the most writen papers shall be a Magistrate or Magistrates for the ensuing year, to make up the aforesaid number.
3.It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the Secretary shall not nominate any person, nor shall any person be chosen newly into the Magistracy which was not propounded in some General Court before, to be nominated the next election; and to that end it shall be lawful for each of the Towns aforesaid by their deputies to nominate any two whom they conceive fit to be put to election; and the Court may add so many more as they judge requisite.
4.It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that no person be chosen Governor above once in two years, and that the Governor be always a member of some approved Congregation, and formerly of the Magistracy within this Jurisdiction; and that all the Magistrates, Freemen of this Commonwealth; and that no Magistrate or other public officer shall execute any part of his or their office before they are severally sworn, which shall be done in the face of the court if they be present, and in case of absence by some deputed for that purpose.
5.It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that to the aforesaid Court of Election the several Towns shall send their deputies, and when the Elections are ended they may proceed in any public service as at other Courts. Also the other General Court in September shall be for making of laws, and any other public occasion, which concerns the good of the Commonwealth.
6.It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the Governor shall, either by himself or by the Secretary, send out summons to the Constables of every Town for the calling of these two standing Courts one month at least before their several times: And also if the Governor and the greatest part of the Magistrates see cause upon any special occasion to call a General Court, they may give order to the Secretary so to do within fourteen days' warning: And if urgent necessity so required, upon a shorter notice, giving sufficient grounds for it to the deputies when they meet, or else be questioned for the same; And if the Governor and major part of Magistrates shall either neglect or refuse to call the two General standing Courts or either of them, as also at other times when the occasions of the Commonwealth require, the Freemen thereof, or the major part of them, shall petition to them so to do; if then it be either denied or neglected, the said Freemen, or the major part of them, shall have the power to give order to the Constables of the several Towns to do the same, and so may meet together, and choose to themselves a Moderator, and may proceed to do any act of power which any other General Courts may.
7.It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that after there are warrants given out for any of the said General Courts, the Constable or Constables of each Town, shall forthwith give notice distinctly to the inhabitants of the same, in some public assembly or by going or sending from house to house, that at a place and time by him or them limited and set, they meet and assemble themselves together to elect and choose certain deputies to be at the General Court then following to agitate the affairs of the Commonwealth; which said deputies shall be chosen by all that are admitted Inhabitants in the several Towns and have taken the oath of fidelity; provided that none be chosen a Deputy for any General Court which is not a Freeman of this Commonwealth.
The aforesaid deputies shall be chosen in manner following: every person that is present andqualified as before expressed, shall bring the names of such, written in several papers, as they desire to have chosen for that employment, and these three or four, more or less, being the number agreed on to be chosen for that time, that have the greatest number of papers written for them shall be deputies for that Court; whose names shall be endorsed on the back side of the warrant and returned into the Court, with the Constable or Constables' hand unto the same.
8.It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield shall have power, each Town, to send four of their Freemen as their deputies to every General Court; and Whatsoever other Town shall be hereafter added to this Jurisdiction, they shall send so many deputies as the Court shall judge meet, a reasonable proportion to the number of Freemen that are in the said Towns being to be attended therein; which deputies shall have the power of the whole Town to give their votes and allowance to all such laws and orders as may be for the public good, and unto which the said Towns are to be bound.
9.It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that the deputies thus chosen shall have power and liberty to appoint a time and a place of meeting together before any General Court, to advise and consult of all such things as may concern the good of the public, as also to examine their own Elections, whether according to the order, and if they or the greatest part of them find any election to be illegal they may seclude such for present from their meeting, and return the same and their reasons to the Court; and if it be proved true, the Court may fine the party or parties so intruding, and the Town, if they see cause, and give out a warrant to go to a new election in a legal way, either in part or in whole. Also the said deputies shall have power to fine any that shall be disorderly at their meetings, or for not coming in due time or place according to appointment; and they may return the said fines into the Court if it be refused to be paid, and the Treasurer to take notice of it, and to escheat or levy the same as he does other fines.
10.It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that every General
Court, except such as through
neglect
of the Governor and the greatest part of the Magistrates the
Freemen themselves do
call,
shall consist of the Governor, or some one chosen to moderate
the Court, and four other
Magistrates
at least, with the major part of the deputies of the several
Towns legally chosen;
and
in case the Freemen, or major part of them, through neglect or
refusal of the Governor
and
major part of the Magistrates, shall call a Court, it shall consist
of the major part of
Freemen
that are present or their deputiues, with a Moderator chosen
by them: In which said
General
Courts shall consist the supreme power of the Commonwealth, and
they only shall
have
power to make laws or repeal them, to grant levies, to admit
of Freemen, dispose of
lands
undisposed of, to several Towns or persons, and also shall have
power to call either
Court
or Magistrate or any other person whatsoever into question for
any misdemeanor, and
may
for just causes displace or deal otherwise according to the nature
of the offense; and also
may
deal in any other matter that concerns the good of this Commonwealth,
except election of
Magistrates,
which shall be done by the whole body of Freemen.
In which Court the Governor or Moderator shall have power to
order the Court, to give
liberty
of speech, and silence unseasonable and disorderly speakings,
to put all things to vote, and in case the vote be equal to have
the casting voice. But none of these Courts shall be adjourned
or dissolved without the consent of the major part of the Court.
11.It is Ordered, sentenced, and decreed, that when any General Court upon the occasions of the Commonwealth have agreed upon any sum, or sums of money to be levied upon the several Towns within this Jurisdiction, that a committee be chosen to set out and appoint what shall be the proportion of every Town to pay of the said levy, provided the committee be made up of an equal number out of each Town.
14th January 1639 the 11 Orders above said are voted.
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The
Maryland Toleration Act, 1649
An Act Concerning Religion.
Forasmuch as in a well governed and Christian Common Weath matters concerning Religion and the honor of God ought in the first place to bee taken, into serious consideracion and endeavoured to bee settled, Be it therefore ordered and enacted by the Right Honourable Cecilius Lord Baron of Baltemore absolute Lord and Proprietary of this Province with the advise and consent of this Generall Assembly:
That whatsoever person or persons within this Province and the Islands thereunto helonging shall from henceforth blaspheme God, that is Curse him, or deny our Saviour Jesus Christ to bee the sonne of God, or shall deny the holy Trinity the father sonne and holy Ghost, or the Godhead of any of the said Three persons of the Trinity or the Unity of the Godhead, or shall use or utter any reproachfull Speeches, words or language concerning the said Holy Trinity, or any of the said three persons thereof, shalbe punished with death and confiscation or forfeiture of all his or her lands and goods to the Lord Proprietary and his heires.
And bee it also Enacted by the Authority and with the advise and assent aforesaid, That whatsoever person or persons shall from henceforth use or utter any reproachfull words or Speeches concerning the blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of our Saviour or the holy Apostles or Evangelists or any of them shall in such case for the first offence forfeit to the said Lord Proprietary and his heirs Lords and Proprietaries of this Province the summe of five pound Sterling or the value thereof to be Levyed on the goods and chattells of every such person soe offending, but in case such Offender or Offenders, shall not then have goods and chattells sufficient for the satisfyeing of such forfeiture, or that the same bee not otherwise speedily satisfyed that then such Offender or Offenders shalbe publiquely whipt and bee imprisoned during the pleasure of the Lord Proprietary or the Lieutenant or cheife Governor of this Province for the time being. And that every such Offender or Offenders for every second offence shall forfeit tenne pound sterling or the value thereof to bee levyed as aforesaid, or in case such offender or Offenders shall not then have goods and chattells within this Province sufficient for that purpose then to bee publiquely and severely whipt and imprisoned as before is expressed. And that every person or persons before mentioned offending herein the third time, shall for such third Offence forfeit all his lands and Goods and bee for ever banished and expelled out of this Province.
And be it also further Enacted by the same authority advise and assent that whatsoever person or persons shall from henceforth uppon any occasion of Offence or otherwise in a reproachful manner or Way declare call or denominate any person or persons whatsoever inhabiting, residing, traffiqueing, trading or comerceing within this Province or within any the Ports, Harbors, Creeks or Havens to the same belonging an heritick, Scismatick, Idolator, puritan, Independant, Prespiterian popish prest, Jesuite, Jesuited papist, Lutheran, Calvenist, Anabaptist, Brownist, Antinomian, Barrowist, Roundhead, Separatist, or any other name or terme in a reproachfull manner relating to matter of Religion shall for every such Offence forfeit and loose the somme of tenne shillings sterling or the value thereof to bee levyed on the goods and chattells of every such Offender and Offenders, the one half thereof to be forfeited and paid unto the person and persons of whom such reproachfull words are or shalbe spoken or uttered, and the other half thereof to the Lord Proprietary and his heires Lords and Proprietaries of this Province. But if such person or persons who shall at any time utter or speake any such reproachfull words or Language shall not have Goods or Chattells sufficient and overt within this Province to bee taken to satisfie the penalty aforesaid or that the same bee not otherwise speedily satisfyed, that then the person or persons soe offending shalbe publickly whipt, and shall suffer imprisonment without baile or maineprise [bail] untill hee, shee or they respectively shall satisfy the party soe offended or greived by such reproachfull Language by asking him or her respectively forgivenes publiquely for such his Offence before the Magistrate of cheife Officer or Officers of the Towne or place where such Offence shalbe given.
And be it further likewise Enacted by the Authority and consent aforesaid That every person and persons within this Province that shall at any time hereafter prophane the Sabbath or Lords day called Sunday by frequent swearing, drunkennes or by any uncivill or disorderly recreacion, or by working on that day when absolute necessity doth not require it shall for every such first offence forfeit 2s 6d sterling or the value thereof, and for the second offence 5s sterling or the value thereof, and for the third offence and soe for every time he shall offend in like manner afterwards 10s sterling or the value thereof. And in case such offender and offenders shall not have sufficient goods or chattells within this Province to satisfy any of the said Penalties respectively hereby imposed for prophaning the Sabbath or Lords day called Sunday as aforesaid, That in Every such case the partie soe offending shall for the first and second offence in that kinde be imprisoned till hee or shee shall publickly in open Court before the cheife Commander Judge or Magistrate, of that County Towne or precinct where such offence shalbe committed acknowledg the Scandall and offence he hath in that respect given against God and the good and civill Governement of this Province, And for the third offence and for every time after shall also bee publickly whipt.
And whereas the inforceing of the conscience in matters of Religion hath frequently fallen out to be of dangerous Consequence in those commonwealthes where it hath been practised, And for the more quiett and peaceable governement of this Province, and the better to preserve mutuall Love and amity amongst the Inhabitants thereof, Be it Therefore also by the Lord Proprietary with the advise and consent of this Assembly Ordeyned and enacted (except as in this present Act is before Declared and sett forth) that noe person or persons whatsoever within this Province, or the Islands, Ports, Harbors, Creekes, or havens thereunto belonging professing to beleive in Jesus Christ, shall from henceforth bee any waies troubled, Molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof within this Province or the Islands thereunto belonging nor any way compelled to the beleife or exercise of any other Religion against his or her consent, soe as they be not unfaithfull to the Lord Proprietary, or molest or conspire against the civill Governement established or to bee established in this Province under him or his heires. And that all and every person and persons that shall presume Contrary to this Act and the true intent and meaning thereof directly or indirectly either in person or estate willfully to wrong disturbe trouble or molest any person whatsoever within this Province professing to beleive in Jesus Christ for or in respect of his or her religion or the free exercise thereof within this Province other than is provided for in this Act that such person or persons soe offending, shalbe compelled to pay trebble damages to the party soe wronged or molested, and for every such offence shall also forfeit 20s sterling in money or the value thereof, half thereof for the use of the Lord Proprietary, and his heires Lords and Proprietaries of this Province, and the other half for the use of the party soe wronged or molested as aforesaid, Or if the partie soe offending as aforesaid shall refuse or bee unable to recompense the party soe wronged, or to satisfy such fyne or forfeiture, then such Offender shalbe severely punished by publick whipping and imprisonment during the pleasure of the Lord Proprietary, or his Lieutenant or cheife Governor of this Province for the tyme being without baile or maineprise.
And bee it further alsoe Enacted by the authority and consent aforesaid That the Sheriff or other Officer or Officers from time to time to bee appointed and authorized for that purpose, of the County Towne or precinct where every particular offence in this present Act conteyned shall happen at any time to bee committed and whereupon there is hereby a forfeiture fyne or penalty imposed shall from time to time distraine and seise the goods and estate of every such person soe offending as aforesaid against this present Act or any part thereof, and sell the same or any part thereof for the full satisfaccion of such forfeiture, fine, or penalty as aforesaid, Restoring unto the partie soe offending the Remainder or overplus of the said goods or estate after such satisfaccion soe made as aforesaid.
The freemen have assented.
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Magna
Carta (1217)
Preamble:
John, by
the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy
and Aquitaine, andcount of Anjou, to the archbishop, bishops,
abbots, earls, barons, justiciaries, foresters, sheriffs,stewards,
servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects, greetings.
Know that, having regard toGod and for the salvation of our soul,
and those of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honor
of
God
and the advancement of his holy Church and for the rectifying
of our realm, we have granted asunderwritten by advice of our
venerable fathers, Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate
of allEngland and cardinal of the holy Roman Church, Henry, archbishop
of Dublin, William of London,Peter of Winchester, Jocelyn of
Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of Worcester,
William
of Coventry, Benedict of Rochester, bishops; of Master Pandulf,
subdeacon and member ofthe household of our lord the Pope, of
brother Aymeric (master of the Knights of the Temple inEngland),
and of the illustrious men William Marshal, earl of Pembroke,
William, earl of Salisbury,William, earl of Warenne, William,
earl of Arundel, Alan of Galloway (constable of Scotland),
Waren
Fitz Gerold, Peter Fitz Herbert, Hubert De Burgh (seneschal of
Poitou), Hugh de Neville,Matthew Fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset,
Alan Basset, Philip d'Aubigny, Robert of Roppesley, JohnMarshal,
John Fitz Hugh, and others, our liegemen.
1. In the
first place we have granted to God, and by this our present charter
confirmed for us and ourheirs forever that the English Church
shall be free, and shall have her rights entire, and her liberties
inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; which is apparent
from this that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned most
important and very essential to the English Church, we, of our
pure
and unconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter confirm
and did obtain the ratification of the same from our lord, Pope
Innocent III, before the quarrel arose between us and our barons:
and this we will observe, and our will is that it be observed
in good faith by our heirs forever. We have also granted to all
freemen of our kingdom, for us and our heirs forever, all the
underwritten
liberties,
to be had and held by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs
forever.
2. If any
of our earls or barons, or others holding of us in chief by military
service shall have died, and at the time of his death his heir
shall be full of age and owe "relief", he shall have
his inheritance by the old relief, to wit, the heir or heirs
of an earl, for the whole baroncy of an earl by L100; the heir
or heirs of a baron, L100 for a whole barony; the heir or heirs
of a knight, 100s, at most, and
whoever
owes less let him give less, according to the ancient custom
of fees.
3. If, however, the heir of any one of the aforesaid has been under age and in wardship, let him have his inheritance without relief and without fine when he comes of age.
4. The
guardian of the land of an heir who is thus under age, shall
take from the land of the heir
nothing
but reasonable produce, reasonable customs, and reasonable services,
and that without
destruction
or waste of men or goods; and if we have committed the wardship
of the lands of any
such
minor to the sheriff, or to any other who is responsible to us
for its issues, and he has made
destruction
or waster of what he holds in wardship, we will take of him amends,
and the land shall be
committed
to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall be responsible
for the issues to us or
to
him to whom we shall assign them; and if we have given or sold
the wardship of any such land to anyone
and he has therein made destruction or waste, he shall lose that
wardship, and it shall be
transferred
to two lawful and discreet men of that fief, who shall be responsible
to us in like manner
as
aforesaid.
5. The
guardian, moreover, so long as he has the wardship of the land,
shall keep up the houses,
parks,
fishponds, stanks, mills, and other things pertaining to the
land, out of the issues of the same land;
and he shall restore to the heir, when he has come to full age,
all his land, stocked with ploughs and
wainage, according as the season of husbandry shall require,
and the issues of the land can
reasonable
bear.
6. Heirs shall be married without disparagement, yet so that before the marriage takes place the nearest in blood to that heir shall have notice.
7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith and without difficulty have her marriage portion and inheritance; nor shall she give anything for her dower, or for her marriage portion, or for the inheritance which her husband and she held on the day of the death of that husband; and she may remain in the house of her husband for forty days after his death, within which time her dower shall be assigned to her.
8. No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she prefers to live without a husband; provided always that she gives security not to marry without our consent, if she holds of us, or without the consent of the lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.
9. Neither
we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent for any debt,
as long as the chattels of the
debtor
are sufficient to repay the debt; nor shall the sureties of the
debtor be distrained so long as the principal
debtor is able to satisfy the debt; and if the principal debtor
shall fail to pay the debt, having nothing
wherewith to pay it, then the sureties shall answer for the debt;
and let them have the lands
and
rents of the debtor, if they desire them, until they are indemnified
for the debt which they have
paid
for him, unless the principal debtor can show proof that he is
discharged thereof as against the said
sureties.
10. If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, die before that loan be repaid, the debt shall not bear interest while the heir is under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt fall into our hands, we will not take anything except the principal sum contained in the bond.
11. And
if anyone die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her dower
and pay nothing of that
debt;
and if any children of the deceased are left under age, necessaries
shall be provided for them in
keeping
with the holding of the deceased; and out of the residue the
debt shall be paid, reserving,
however,
service due to feudal lords; in like manner let it be done touching
debts due to others than
Jews.
12. No scutage not aid shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless by common counsel of our kingdom, except for ransoming our person, for making our eldest son a knight, and for once marrying our eldest daughter; and for these there shall not be levied more than a reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be done concerning aids from the city of London.
13. And the city of London shall have all it ancient liberties and free customs, as well by land as by water; furthermore, we decree and grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all their liberties and free customs.
14. And
for obtaining the common counsel of the kingdom anent the assessing
of an aid (except in
the
three cases aforesaid) or of a scutage, we will cause to be summoned
the archbishops, bishops,
abbots,
earls, and greater barons, severally by our letters; and we will
moveover cause to be
summoned
generally, through our sheriffs and bailiffs, and others who
hold of us in chief, for a fixed
date,
namely, after the expiry of at least forty days, and at a fixed
place; and in all letters of such summons
we will specify the reason of the summons. And when the summons
has thus been made,
the
business shall proceed on the day appointed, according to the
counsel of such as are present,
although
not all who were summoned have come.
15. We will not for the future grant to anyone license to take an aid from his own free tenants, except to ransom his person, to make his eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and on each of these occasions there shall be levied only a reasonable aid.
16. No one shall be distrained for performance of greater service for a knight's fee, or for any other free tenement, than is due therefrom.
17. Common pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in some fixed place.
18. Inquests
of novel disseisin, of mort d'ancestor, and of darrein presentment
shall not be held
elsewhere
than in their own county courts, and that in manner following;
We, or, if we should be out
of
the realm, our chief justiciar, will send two justiciaries through
every county four times a year, who shall
alone with four knights of the county chosen by the county, hold
the said assizes in the county
court,
on the day and in the place of meeting of that court.
19. And if any of the said assizes cannot be taken on the day of the county court, let there remain of the knights and freeholders, who were present at the county court on that day, as many as may be required for the efficient making of judgments, according as the business be more or less.
20. A freeman shall not be amerced for a slight offense, except in accordance with the degree of the offense; and for a grave offense he shall be amerced in accordance with the gravity of the offense, yet saving always his "contentment"; and a merchant in the same way, saving his "merchandise"; and a villein shall be amerced in the same way, saving his "wainage" if they have fallen into our mercy: and none of the aforesaid amercements shall be imposed except by the oath of honest men of the neighborhood.
21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced except through their peers, and only in accordance with the degree of the offense.
22. A clerk shall not be amerced in respect of his lay holding except after the manner of the others aforesaid; further, he shall not be amerced in accordance with the extent of his ecclesiastical benefice.
23. No village or individual shall be compelled to make bridges at river banks, except those who from of old were legally bound to do so.
24. No sheriff, constable, coroners, or others of our bailiffs, shall hold pleas of our Crown.
25. All counties, hundred, wapentakes, and trithings (except our demesne manors) shall remain at the old rents, and without any additional payment.
26. If
anyone holding of us a lay fief shall die, and our sheriff or
bailiff shall exhibit our letters patent of
summons for a debt which the deceased owed us, it shall be lawful
for our sheriff or bailiff to
attach
and enroll the chattels of the deceased, found upon the lay fief,
to the value of that debt, at the sight
of law worthy men, provided always that nothing whatever be thence
removed until the debt
which
is evident shall be fully paid to us; and the residue shall be
left to the executors to fulfill the will of
the deceased; and if there be nothing due from him to us, all
the chattels shall go to the deceased, saving
to his wife and children their reasonable shares.
27. If any freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall be distributed by the hands of his nearest kinsfolk and friends, under supervision of the Church, saving to every one the debts which the deceased owed to him.
28. No constable or other bailiff of ours shall take corn or other provisions from anyone without immediately tendering money therefor, unless he can have postponement thereof by permission of the seller.
29. No constable shall compel any knight to give money in lieu of castle-guard, when he is willing to perform it in his own person, or (if he himself cannot do it from any reasonable cause) then by another responsible man. Further, if we have led or sent him upon military service, he shall be relieved from guard in proportion to the time during which he has been on service because of us.
30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or other person, shall take the horses or carts of any freeman for transport duty, against the will of the said freeman.
31. Neither we nor our bailiffs shall take, for our castles or for any other work of ours, wood which is not ours, against the will of the owner of that wood.
32. We will not retain beyond one year and one day, the lands those who have been convicted of felony, and the lands shall thereafter be handed over to the lords of the fiefs.
33. All kydells for the future shall be removed altogether from Thames and Medway, and throughout all England, except upon the seashore.
34. The writ which is called praecipe shall not for the future be issued to anyone, regarding any tenement whereby a freeman may lose his court.
35. Let there be one measure of wine throughout our whole realm; and one measure of ale; and one measure of corn, to wit, "the London quarter"; and one width of cloth (whether dyed, or russet, or "halberget"), to wit, two ells within the selvedges; of weights also let it be as of measures.
36. Nothing in future shall be given or taken for awrit of inquisition of life or limbs, but freely it shall be granted, and never denied.
37. If
anyone holds of us by fee-farm, either by socage or by burage,
or of any other land by knight's service,
we will not (by reason of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage),
have the wardship of the heir,
or
of such land of his as if of the fief of that other; nor shall
we have wardship of that fee-farm, socage,
or burgage, unless such fee-farm owes knight's service. We will
not by reason of any small
serjeancy
which anyone may hold of us by the service of rendering to us
knives, arrows, or the like,
have
wardship of his heir or of the land which he holds of another
lord by knight's service.
38. No bailiff for the future shall, upon his own unsupported complaint, put anyone to his "law", without credible witnesses brought for this purposes.
39. No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay, right or justice.
41. All
merchants shall have safe and secure exit from England, and entry
to England, with the right
to
tarry there and to move about as well by land as by water, for
buying and selling by the ancient and
right customs, quit from all evil tolls, except (in time of war)
such merchants as are of the land at war
with us. And if such are found in our land at the beginning of
the war, they shall be detained,
without
injury to their bodies or goods, until information be received
by us, or by our chief justiciar, how
the merchants of our land found in the land at war with us are
treated; and if our men are safe there,
the others shall be safe in our land.
42. It
shall be lawful in future for anyone (excepting always those
imprisoned or outlawed in
accordance
with the law of the kingdom, and natives of any country at war
with us, and merchants,
who
shall be treated as if above provided) to leave our kingdom and
to return, safe and secure by
land
and water, except for a short period in time of war, on grounds
of public policy- reserving
always
the allegiance due to us.
43. If anyone holding of some escheat (such as the honor of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats which are in our hands and are baronies) shall die, his heir shall give no other relief, and perform no other service to us than he would have done to the baron if that barony had been in the baron's hand; and we shall hold it in the same manner in which the baron held it.
44. Men who dwell without the forest need not henceforth come before our justiciaries of the forest upon a general summons, unless they are in plea, or sureties of one or more, who are attached for the forest.
45. We will appoint as justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs only such as know the law of the realm and mean to observe it well.
46. All barons who have founded abbeys, concerning which they hold charters from the kings of England, or of which they have long continued possession, shall have the wardship of them, when vacant, as they ought to have.
47. All forests that have been made such in our time shall forthwith be disafforsted; and a similar course shall be followed with regard to river banks that have been placed "in defense" by us in our time.
48. All evil customs connected with forests and warrens, foresters and warreners, sheriffs and their officers, river banks and their wardens, shall immediately by inquired into in each county by twelve sworn knights of the same county chosen by the honest men of the same county, and shall, within forty days of the said inquest, be utterly abolished, so as never to be restored, provided always that we previously have intimation thereof, or our justiciar, if we should not be in England.
49. We will immediately restore all hostages and charters delivered to us by Englishmen, as sureties of the peace of faithful service.
50. We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks, the relations of Gerard of Athee (so that in future they shall have no bailiwick in England); namely, Engelard of Cigogne, Peter, Guy, and Andrew of Chanceaux, Guy of Cigogne, Geoffrey of Martigny with his brothers, Philip Mark with his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, and the whole brood of the same.
51. As soon as peace is restored, we will banish from the kingdom all foreign born knights, crossbowmen, serjeants, and mercenary soldiers who have come with horses and arms to the kingdom's hurt.
52. If
anyone has been dispossessed or removed by us, without the legal
judgment of his peers, from
his
lands, castles, franchises, or from his right, we will immediately
restore them to him; and if a
dispute
arise over this, then let it be decided by the five and twenty
barons of whom mention is made
below
in the clause for securing the peace. Moreover, for all those
possessions, from which anyone
has,
without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed,
by our father, King Henry,
or
by our brother, King Richard, and which we retain in our hand
(or which as possessed by others, to
whom we are bound to warrant them) we shall have respite until
the usual term of crusaders;
excepting
those things about which a plea has been raised, or an inquest
made by our order, before
our
taking of the cross; but as soon as we return from the expedition,
we will immediately grant full
justice
therein.
53. We
shall have, moreover, the same respite and in the same manner
in rendering justice
concerning
the disafforestation or retention of those forests which Henry
our father and Richard our
brother
afforested, and concerning the wardship of lands which are of
the fief of another (namely,
such
wardships as we have hitherto had by reason of a fief which anyone
held of us by knight's
service),
and concerning abbeys founded on other fiefs than our own, in
which the lord of the fee
claims
to have right; and when we have returned, or if we desist from
our expedition, we will
immediately
grant full justice to all who complain of such things.
54. No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman, for the death of any other than her husband.
55. All
fines made with us unjustly and against the law of the land,
and all amercements, imposed
unjustly
and against the law of the land, shall be entirely remitted,
or else it shall be done concerning them
according to the decision of the five and twenty barons whom
mention is made below in the
clause
for securing the pease, or according to the judgment of the majority
of the same, along with
the
aforesaid Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present,
and such others as he may
wish
to bring with him for this purpose, and if he cannot be present
the business shall nevertheless
proceed
without him, provided always that if any one or more of the aforesaid
five and twenty
barons
are in a similar suit, they shall be removed as far as concerns
this particular judgment, others
being
substituted in their places after having been selected by the
rest of the same five and twenty for this
purpose only, and after having been sworn.
56. If
we have disseised or removed Welshmen from lands or liberties,
or other things, without the
legal
judgment of their peers in England or in Wales, they shall be
immediately restored to them; and if
a dispute arise over this, then let it be decided in the marches
by the judgment of their peers; for the tenements
in England according to the law of England, for tenements in
Wales according to the law
of
Wales, and for tenements in the marches according to the law
of the marches. Welshmen shall do the
same to us and ours.
57. Further, for all those possessions from which any Welshman has, without the lawful judgment of his peers, been disseised or removed by King Henry our father, or King Richard our brother, and which we retain in our hand (or which are possessed by others, and which we ought to warrant), we will have respite until the usual term of crusaders; excepting those things about which a plea has been raised or an inquest made by our order before we took the cross; but as soon as we return (or if perchance we desist from our expedition), we will immediately grant full justice in accordance with the laws of the Welsh and in relation to the foresaid regions.
58. We will immediately give up the son of Llywelyn and all the hostages of Wales, and the charters delivered to us as security for the peace.
59. We
will do towards Alexander, king of Scots, concerning the return
of his sisters and his
hostages,
and concerning his franchises, and his right, in the same manner
as we shall do towards our
owher
barons of England, unless it ought to be otherwise according
to the charters which we hold
from
William his father, formerly king of Scots; and this shall be
according to the judgment of his
peers
in our court.
60. Moreover, all these aforesaid customs and liberties, the observances of which we have granted in our kingdom as far as pertains to us towards our men, shall be observed by all of our kingdom, as well clergy as laymen, as far as pertains to them towards their men.
61. Since,
moveover, for God and the amendment of our kingdom and for the
better allaying of the
quarrel
that has arisen between us and our barons, we have granted all
these concessions, desirous
that
they should enjoy them in complete and firm endurance forever,
we give and grant to them the
underwritten
security, namely, that the barons choose five and twenty barons
of the kingdom,
whomsoever
they will, who shall be bound with all their might, to observe
and hold, and cause to be
observed,
the peace and liberties we have granted and confirmed to them
by this our present
Charter,
so that if we, or our justiciar, or our bailiffs or any one of
our officers, shall in anything be at fault
towards anyone, or shall have broken any one of the articles
of this peace or of this security,
and
the offense be notified to four barons of the foresaid five and
twenty, the said four barons shall repair
to us (or our justiciar, if we are out of the realm) and, laying
the transgression before us,
petition
to have that transgression redressed without delay. And if we
shall not have corrected the
transgression
(or, in the event of our being out of the realm, if our justiciar
shall not have corrected it)
within
forty days, reckoning from the time it has been intimated to
us (or to our justiciar, if we should be
out of the realm), the four barons aforesaid shall refer that
matter to the rest of the five and twenty barons,
and those five and twenty barons shall, together with the community
of the whole realm,
distrain
and distress us in all possible ways, namely, by seizing our
castles, lands, possessions, and in any
other way they can, until redress has been obtained as they deem
fit, saving harmless our own
person,
and the persons of our queen and children; and when redress has
been obtained, they shall
resume
their old relations towards us. And let whoever in the country
desires it, swear to obey the
orders
of the said five and twenty barons for the execution of all the
aforesaid matters, and along
with
them, to molest us to the utmost of his power; and we publicly
and freely grant leave to
everyone
who wishes to swear, and we shall never forbid anyone to swear.
All those, moveover, in
the
land who of themselves and of their own accord are unwilling
to swear to the twenty five to help them
in constraining and molesting us, we shall by our command compel
the same to swear to the
effect
foresaid. And if any one of the five and twenty barons shall
have died or departed from the
land,
or be incapacitated in any other manner which would prevent the
foresaid provisions being
carried
out, those of the said twenty five barons who are left shall
choose another in his place
according
to their own judgment, and he shall be sworn in the same way
as the others. Further, in all
matters,
the execution of which is entrusted,to these twenty five barons,
if perchance these twenty
five
are present and disagree about anything, or if some of them,
after being summoned, are unwilling or
unable to be present, that which the majority of those present
ordain or command shall be held as fixed
and established, exactly as if the whole twenty five had concurred
in this; and the said twenty
five
shall swear that they will faithfully observe all that is aforesaid,
and cause it to be observed with all
their might. And we shall procure nothing from anyone, directly
or indirectly, whereby any part of these
concessions and liberties might be revoked or diminished; and
if any such things has been
procured,
let it be void and null, and we shall never use it personally
or by another.
62. And
all the will, hatreds, and bitterness that have arisen between
us and our men, clergy and lay,
from
the date of the quarrel, we have completely remitted and pardoned
to everyone. Moreover, all
trespasses
occasioned by the said quarrel, from Easter in the sixteenth
year of our reign till the
restoration
of peace, we have fully remitted to all, both clergy and laymen,
and completely forgiven,
as
far as pertains to us. And on this head, we have caused to be
made for them letters testimonial patent
of the lord Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, of the lord Henry,
archbishop of Dublin, of the
bishops
aforesaid, and of Master Pandulf as touching this security and
the concessions aforesaid.
63. Wherefore
we will and firmly order that the English Church be free, and
that the men in our
kingdom
have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions,
well and peaceably, freely
and
quietly, fully and wholly, for themselves and their heirs, of
us and our heirs, in all respects and in all
places forever, as is aforesaid. An oath, moreover, has been
taken, as well on our part as on the
art
of the barons, that all these conditions aforesaid shall be kept
in good faith and without evil intent. Given
under our hand - the above named and many others being witnesses
- in the meadow which is
called
Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day
of June, in the seventeenth
year
of our reign.
ASCII
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1996 The Avalon Proj
Gottlieb Mittelberger, On the Misfortune
of Indentured Servants (1754)
Both in Rotterdam and in Amsterdam the people are packed densely, like herrings so to say, in the large sea-vessels. One person receives a place of scarcely 2 feet width and 6 feet length in the bedstead, while many a ship carries four to six hundred souls; not to mention the innumerable implements, tools, provisions, water-barrels and other things which likewise occupy much space.
On account of contrary winds it takes the ships sometimes 2, 3 and 4 weeks to make the trip from Holland to.. . England. But when the wind is good, they get there in 8 days or even sooner. Everything is examined there and the custom-duties paid, whence it comes that the ships ride there 8, 10 to 14 days and even longer at anchor, till they have taken in their full cargoes. During that time every one is compelled to spend his last remaining money and to consume his little stock of provisions which had been reserved for the sea; so that most passengers, finding themselves on the ocean where they would be in greater need of them, must greatly suffer from hunger and want. Many suffer want already on the water between Holland and Old England.
When the ships have for the last time weighed their anchors near the city of Kaupp [Cowes] in Old England, the real misery begins with the long voyage. For from there the ships, unless they have good wind, must often sail 8, 9, 10 to 12 weeks before they reach Philadelphia. But even with the best wind the voyage lasts 7 weeks.
But during the voyage there is on board these ships terrible misery, stench, fumes, horror, vomiting, many kinds of sea-sickness, fever, dysentery, headache, heat, constipation, boils, scurvy, cancer, mouth-rot, and the like, all of which come from old and sharply salted food and meat, also from very bad and foul water, so that many die miserably.
Add to this want of provisions, hunger, thirst, frost, heat, dampness, anxiety, want, afflictions and lamentations, together with other trouble, as . . . the lice abound so frightfully, especially on sick people, that they can be scraped off the body. The misery reaches the climax when a gale rages for 2 or 3 nights and days, so that every one believes that the ship will go to the bottom with all human beings on board. In such a visitation the people cry and pray most piteously.
When in such a gale the sea rages and surges, so that the waves rise often like high mountains one above the other, and often tumble over the ship, so that one fears to go down with the ship; when the ship is constantly tossed from side to side by the storm and waves, so that no one can either walk, or sit, or lie, and the closely packed people in the berths are thereby tumbled over each other, both the sick and the well - it will be readily understood that many of these people, none of whom had been prepared for hardships, suffer so terribly from them that they do not survive it.
I myseif had to pass through a severe illness at sea, and I best know how I felt at the time. These poor people often long for consolation, and I often entertained and comforted them with singing, praying and exhorting; and whenever it was possible and the winds and waves permitted it, I kept daily prayer-meetings with them on deck. Besides, I baptized five children in distress, because we had no ordained minister on board. I also held divine service every Sunday by reading sermons to the people; and when the dead were sunk in the water, I commended them and our souls to the mercy of God.
Among the
healthy, impatience sometimes grows so great and cruel that one
curses the other, or himself
and
the day of his birth, and sometimes come near killing each other.
Misery and malice join each other, so
that they cheat and rob one another. One always reproaches the
other with having persuaded him to undertake
the journey. Frequently children cry out against their parents,
husbands against their wives and wives
against their husbands, brothers and sisters, friends and acquaintances
against each other. But most
against
the soul-traffickers.
Many sigh and cry: "Oh, that I were at home again, and if I had to lie in my pig-sty!" Or they say: "O God, if I only had a piece of good bread, or a good fresh drop of water." Many people whimper, sigh and cry piteously for their homes; most of them get home-sick. Many hundred people necessarily die and perish in such misery, and must be cast into the sea, which drives their relatives, or those who persuaded them to undertake the journey, to such despair that it is almost impossible to pacify and console them.
No one can have an idea of the sufferings which women in confinement have to bear with their innocent children on board these ships. Few of this class escape with their lives; many a mother is cast into the water with her child as soon as she is dead. One day, just as we had a heavy gale, a woman in our ship, who was to give birth and could not give birth under the circumstances, was pushed through a loop-hole [port-hole] in the ship and dropped into the sea, because she was far in the rear of the ship and could not be brought forward.
Children from 1 to 7 years rarely survive the voyage. I witnessed misery in no less than 32 children in our ship, all of whom were thrown into the sea. The parents grieve all the more since their children find no resting-place in the earth, but are devoured by the monsters of the sea.
That most
of the people get sick is not surprising, because, in addition
to all other trials and hardships, warm
food is served only three times a week, the rations being very
poor and very little. Such meals can hardly
be eaten, on account of being so unclean. The water which is
served out on the ships is often very black,
thick and full of worms, so that one cannot drink it without
loathing, even with the greatest thirst. Toward
the end we were compelled to eat the ship's biscuit which had
been spoiled long ago; though in a
whole
biscuit there was scarcely a, piece the size of a dollar that
had not been full of red worms and spiders
nests .
At length, when, after a long and tedious voyage, the ships come in sight of land, so that the promontories can be seen, which the people were so eager and anxious to see, all creep from below on deck to see the land from afar, and they weep for joy, and pray and sing, thanking and praising God. The sight of the land makes the people on board the ship, especially the sick and the half dead, alive again, so that their hearts leap within them; they shout and rejoice, and are content to bear their misery in patience, in the hope that they may soon reach the land in safety. But alas!
When the ships have landed at Philadelphia after their long voyage, no one is permitted to leave them except those who pay for their passage or can give good security; the others, who cannot pay, must remain on board the ships till they are purchased, and are released from the ships by their purchasers. The sick always fare the worst, for the healthy are naturally preferred and purchased first; and so the sick and wretched must often remain on board in front of the city for 2 or 3 weeks, and frequently die, whereas many a one, if he could pay his debt and were permitted to leave the ship immediately, might recover and remain alive.
The sale of human beings in the market on board the ship is carried on thus: Every day Englishmen, Dutchmen and High-German people come from the city of Philadelphia and other places, in part from a great distance, say 20, 30, or 40 hours away, and go on board the newly arrived ship that has brought and offers for sale passengers from Europe, and select among the healthy persons such as they deem suitable for their business, and bargain with them how long they will serve for their passage money, which most of them are stffl in debt for. When they have come to an agreement, it happens that adult persons bind themselves in writing to serve 3, 4, 5 or 6 years for the amount due by them, according to their age and strength. But very young people, from 10 to 15 years, must serve till they are 21 years old.
Many parents must sell and trade away their children like so many head of cattle; for if their children take the debt upon themselves, the parents can leave the ship free and unrestrained; but as the parents often do not know where and to what people their children are going, it often happens that such parents and children, after leaving the ship, do not see each other again for many years, perhaps no more in all their lives.
It often happens that whole families, husband, wife, and children, are separated by being sold to different purchasers, especially when they have not paid any part of their passage money.
When a husband or wife has died at sea, when the ship has made more than half of her trip, the survivor must pay or serve not only for himself or herself, but also for the deceased.
When both parents have died over half-way at sea, their children, especially when they are young and have nothing to pawn or to pay, must stand for their own and their parents' passage, and serve tffi they are 21 years old. When one has served his or her term, he or she is entitled to a new suit of clothes at parting; and if it has been so stipulated, a man gets in addition a horse, a woman, a cow.
When a serf has an opportunity to marry in this country, he or she must pay for each year which he or she would have yet to serve, 5 to 6 pounds. But many a one who has thus purchased and paid for his bride, has subsequently repented his bargain, so that he would gladly have returned his exorbitantly dear ware, and lost the money besides.
If some one in this country runs away from his master, who has treated him harshly, he cannot get far. Good provision has been made for such cases, so that a runaway is soon recovered. He who detains or returns a deserter receives a good reward.
If such
a runaway has been away from his master one day, he must serve
for it as a punishment a week,
for
a week a month, and for a month half a year.
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THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW OF 1793
Courtesy
of the U.S. Historical Documents Archive
ART. 4.
For the better security of the peace and friendship now entered
into by the contracting parties, against all
infractions
of the same, by the citizens of either party, to the prejudice
of the other, neither party shall proceed to the infliction
of punishments on thecitizens of the other, otherwise than by
securing the offender, or offenders,by imprisonment, or any other
competent means, till a fair and impartialtrial can be had by
judges or juries of both parties, as near as can be, to the laws,
customs, and usage's of the contracting parties, and natural
justice: the mode of such trials to be hereafter fixed by the
wise men of the United States, in congress assembled, with the
assistance of such deputies of the Delaware nation, as may be
appointed to act in concert
with
them in adjusting this matter to their mutual liking. And it
is further agreed between the parties aforesaid, that neither
shall
entertain,
or give countenance to, the enemies of the other, or protect,
in their respective states, criminal fugitives, servants, or
slaves, but the same to apprehend and secure, and deliver to
the state or states, to which such enemies, criminals, servants,
or slaves, respectively below.
English
Bill of Rights 1689
An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown
Whereas
the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster,
lawfully, fully and freely representing all the
estates
of the people of this realm, did upon the thirteenth day of February
in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred
eighty-eight
[old style date] present unto their Majesties, then called and
known by the names and style of William and Mary,
prince
and princess of Orange, being present in their proper persons,
a certain declaration in writing made by the said Lords and
Commons
in the words following, viz.:
Whereas
the late King James the Second, by the assistance of divers evil
counsellors, judges and ministers employed by him, did
endeavour
to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion and the laws
and liberties of this kingdom;
By assuming
and exercising a power of dispensing with and suspending of laws
and the execution of laws without consent of
Parliament;
By committing
and prosecuting divers worthy prelates for humbly petitioning
to be excused from concurring to the said assumed
power;
By issuing
and causing to be executed a commission under the great seal
for erecting a court called the Court of Commissioners
for
Ecclesiastical Causes;
By levying
money for and to the use of the Crown by pretence of prerogative
for other time and in other manner than the same
was
granted by Parliament;
By raising
and keeping a standing army within this kingdom in time of peace
without consent of Parliament, and quartering soldiers
contrary
to law;
By causing
several good subjects being Protestants to be disarmed at the
same time when papists were both armed and employed
contrary
to law;
By violating the freedom of election of members to serve in Parliament;
By prosecutions
in the Court of King's Bench for matters and causes cognizable
only in Parliament, and by divers other arbitrary
and
illegal courses;
And whereas
of late years partial corrupt and unqualified persons have been
returned and served on juries in trials, and particularly
divers
jurors in trials for high treason which were not freeholders;
And excessive
bail hath been required of persons committed in criminal cases
to elude the benefit of the laws made for the liberty
of
the subjects;
And excessive fines have been imposed;
And illegal and cruel punishments inflicted;
And several
grants and promises made of fines and forfeitures before any
conviction or judgment against the persons upon whom
the
same were to be levied;
All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known laws and statutes and freedom of this realm;
And whereas
the said late King James the Second having abdicated the government
and the throne being thereby vacant, his
Highness
the prince of Orange (whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make
the glorious instrument of delivering this kingdom
from
popery and arbitrary power) did (by the advice of the Lords Spiritual
and Temporal and divers principal persons of the
Commons)
cause letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal
being Protestants, and other letters to the several
counties,
cities, universities, boroughs and cinque ports, for the choosing
of such persons to represent them as were of right to be
sent
to Parliament, to meet and sit at Westminster upon the two and
twentieth day of January in this year one thousand six
hundred
eighty and eight [old style date], in order to such an establishment
as that their religion, laws and liberties might not again
be
in danger of being subverted, upon which letters elections having
been accordingly made;
And thereupon
the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, pursuant to
their respective letters and elections, being now
assembled
in a full and free representative of this nation, taking into
their most serious consideration the best means for attaining
the
ends aforesaid, do in the first place (as their ancestors in
like case have usually done) for the vindicating and asserting
their
ancient
rights and liberties declare
That the
pretended power of suspending the laws or the execution of laws
by regal authority without consent of Parliament is
illegal;
That the
pretended power of dispensing with laws or the execution of laws
by regal authority, as it hath been assumed and
exercised
of late, is illegal;
That the
commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical
Causes, and all other commissions and courts
of
like nature, are illegal and pernicious;
That levying
money for or to the use of the Crown by pretence of prerogative,
without grant of Parliament, for longer time, or in
other
manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal;
That it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal;
That the
raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time
of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against
law;
That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law;
That election of members of Parliament ought to be free;
That the
freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought
not to be impeached or questioned in any court or
place
out of Parliament;
That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted;
That jurors
ought to be duly impanelled and returned, and jurors which pass
upon men in trials for high treason ought to be
freeholders;
That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before conviction are illegal and void;
And that
for redress of all grievances, and for the amending, strengthening
and preserving of the laws, Parliaments ought to be
held
frequently.
And they
do claim, demand and insist upon all and singular the premises
as their undoubted rights and liberties, and that no
declarations,
judgments, doings or proceedings to the prejudice of the people
in any of the said premises ought in any wise to be
drawn
hereafter into consequence or example; to which demand of their
rights they are particularly encouraged by the declaration
of
his Highness the prince of Orange as being the only means for
obtaining a full redress and remedy therein. Having therefore
an
entire
confidence that his said Highness the prince of Orange will perfect
the deliverance so far advanced by him, and will still
preserve
them from the violation of their rights which they have here
asserted, and from all other attempts upon their religion,
rights
and liberties, the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons
assembled at Westminster do resolve that William and
Mary,
prince and princess of Orange, be and be declared king and queen
of England, France and Ireland and the dominions
thereunto
belonging, to hold the crown and royal dignity of the said kingdoms
and dominions to them, the said prince and princess,
during
their lives and the life of the survivor to them, and that the
sole and full exercise of the regal power be only in and executed
by
the said prince of Orange in the names of the said prince and
princess during their joint lives, and after their deceases the
said
crown
and royal dignity of the same kingdoms and dominions to be to
the heirs of the body of the said princess, and for default of
such
issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the heirs of her body,
and for default of such issue to the heirs of the body of the
said
prince of Orange. And the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons
do pray the said prince and princess to accept the
same
accordingly.
And that
the oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all persons of whom
the oaths have allegiance and supremacy might be
required
by law, instead of them; and that the said oaths of allegiance
and supremacy be abrogated.
I, A.B.,
do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful and bear
true allegiance to their Majesties King William and Queen
Mary.
So help me God.
I, A.B.,
do swear that I do from my heart abhor, detest and abjure as
impious and heretical this damnable doctrine and position,
that
princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope or any authority
of the see of Rome may be deposed or murdered by their
subjects
or any other whatsoever. And I do declare that no foreign prince,
person, prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have
any
jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or authority,
ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm. So help me God.
Upon which
their said Majesties did accept the crown and royal dignity of
the kingdoms of England, France and Ireland, and the
dominions
thereunto belonging, according to the resolution and desire of
the said Lords and Commons contained in the said
declaration.
And thereupon their Majesties were pleased that the said Lords
Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, being the two
Houses
of Parliament, should continue to sit, and with their Majesties'
royal concurrence make effectual provision for the
settlement
of the religion, laws and liberties of this kingdom, so that
the same for the future might not be in danger again of being
subverted,
to which the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons did
agree, and proceed to act accordingly. Now in
pursuance
of the premises the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons
in Parliament assembled, for the ratifying,
confirming
and establishing the said declaration and the articles, clauses,
matters and things therein contained by the force of law
made
in due form by authority of Parliament, do pray that it may be
declared and enacted that all and singular the rights and
liberties
asserted and claimed in the said declaration are the true, ancient
and indubitable rights and liberties of the people of this
kingdom,
and so shall be esteemed, allowed, adjudged, deemed and taken
to be; and that all and every the particulars aforesaid
shall
be firmly and strictly holden and observed as they are expressed
in the said declaration, and all officers and ministers
whatsoever
shall serve their Majesties and their successors according to
the same in all time to come. And the said Lords Spiritual
and
Temporal and Commons, seriously considering how it hath pleased
Almighty God in his marvellous providence and merciful
goodness
to this nation to provide and preserve their said Majesties'
royal persons most happily to reign over us upon the throne of
their
ancestors, for which they render unto him from the bottom of
their hearts their humblest thanks and praises, do truly, firmly,
assuredly
and in the sincerity of their hearts think, and do hereby recognize,
acknowledge and declare, that King James the Second
having
abdicated the government, and their Majesties having accepted
the crown and royal dignity as aforesaid, their said
Majesties
did become, were, are and of right ought to be by the laws of
this realm our sovereign liege lord and lady, king and
queen
of England, France and Ireland and the dominions thereunto belonging,
in and to whose princely persons the royal state,
crown
and dignity of the said realms with all honours, styles, titles,
regalities, prerogatives, powers, jurisdictions and authorities
to
the
same belonging and appertaining are most fully, rightfully and
entirely invested and incorporated, united and annexed. And for
preventing
all questions and divisions in this realm by reason of any pretended
titles to the crown, and for preserving a certainty in
the
succession thereof, in and upon which the unity, peace, tranquility
and safety of this nation doth under God wholly consist and
depend,
the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do beseech
their Majesties that it may be enacted, established and
declared,
that the crown and regal government of the said kingdoms and
dominions, with all and singular the premises thereunto
belonging
and appertaining, shall be and continue to their said Majesties
and the survivor of them during their lives and the life of
the
survivor of them, and that the entire, perfect and full exercise
of the regal power and government be only in and executed by
his
Majesty in the names of both their Majesties during their joint
lives; and after their deceases the said crown and premises shall
be
and remain to the heirs of the body of her Majesty, and for default
of such issue to her Royal Highness the Princess Anne of
Denmark
and the heirs of the body of his said Majesty; and thereunto
the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do in
the
name of all the people aforesaid most humbly and faithfully submit
themselves, their heirs and posterities for ever, and do
faithfully
promise that they will stand to, maintain and defend their said
Majesties, and also the limitation and succession of the
crown
herein specified and contained, to the utmost of their powers
with their lives and estates against all persons whatsoever that
shall
attempt anything to the contrary. And whereas it hath been found
by experience that it is inconsistent with the safety and
welfare
of this Protestant kingdom to be governed by a popish prince,
or by any king or queen marrying a papist, the said Lords
Spiritual
and Temporal and Commons do further pray that it may be enacted,
that all and every person and persons that is, are or
shall
be reconciled to or shall hold communion with the see or Church
of Rome, or shall profess the popish religion, or shall marry
a papist,
shall be excluded and be for ever incapable to inherit, possess
or enjoy the crown and government of this realm and
Ireland
and the dominions thereunto belonging or any part of the same,
or to have, use or exercise any regal power, authority or
jurisdiction
within the same; and in all and every such case or cases the
people of these realms shall be and are hereby absolved of
their
allegiance; and the said crown and government shall from time
to time descend to and be enjoyed by such person or persons
being
Protestants as should have inherited and enjoyed the same in
case the said person or persons so reconciled, holding
communion
or professing or marrying as aforesaid were naturally dead; and
that every king and queen of this realm who at any
time
hereafter shall come to and succeed in the imperial crown of
this kingdom shall on the first day of the meeting of the first
Parliament
next after his or her coming to the crown, sitting in his or
her throne in the House of Peers in the presence of the Lords
and
Commons therein assembled, or at his or her coronation before
such person or persons who shall administer the coronation
oath
to him or her at the time of his or her taking the said oath
(which shall first happen), make, subscribe and audibly repeat
the
declaration
mentioned in the statute made in the thirtieth year of the reign
of King Charles the Second entitled, _An Act for the
more
effectual preserving the king's person and government by disabling
papists from sitting in either House of Parliament._ But if
it
shall happen that such king or queen upon his or her succession
to the crown of this realm shall be under the age of twelve
years,
then every such king or queen shall make, subscribe and audibly
repeat the same declaration at his or her coronation or the
first
day of the meeting of the first Parliament as aforesaid which
shall first happen after such king or queen shall have attained
the
said age of twelve years. All which their Majesties are contented
and pleased shall be declared, enacted and established by
authority
of this present Parliament, and shall stand, remain and be the
law of this realm for ever; and the same are by their said
Majesties,
by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled and by
the
authority of the same, declared, enacted and established accordingly.
II. And
be it further declared and enacted by the authority aforesaid,
that from and after this present session of Parliament no
dispensation
by _non obstante_ of or to any statute or any part thereof shall
be allowed, but that the same shall be held void and of
no
effect, except a dispensation be allowed of in such statute,
and except in such cases as shall be specially provided for by
one or
more
bill or bills to be passed during this present session of Parliament.
III. Provided
that no charter or grant or pardon granted before the three and
twentieth day of October in the year of our Lord one
thousand
six hundred eighty-nine shall be any ways impeached or invalidated
by this Act, but that the same shall be and remain of
the
same force and effect in law and no other than as if this Act
had never been made.
An Electronic
Publication of the Avalon Project - William C. Fray and Lisa
A. Spar, Co-Directors
Copyright 1996 The Avalon Project at http:\\www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon
Page last updated January 9, 2000