The Petition of Right
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.
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. |