The tryal of Thomas Earl of Macclesfield, in the House of Peers, for high crimes and misdemeanors; upon an impeachment. By the knights citizens and burgesses in Parliament assembled, in the name of themselves and of all the commons of Great-Britain. Begun the 6th day of May 1725, and from thence continued by several adjournments until the 27th day of the same month / Published by order of the House of peers.
- Macclesfield, Thomas Parker, Earl of, 1666?-1732
- Date:
- 1725
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The tryal of Thomas Earl of Macclesfield, in the House of Peers, for high crimes and misdemeanors; upon an impeachment. By the knights citizens and burgesses in Parliament assembled, in the name of themselves and of all the commons of Great-Britain. Begun the 6th day of May 1725, and from thence continued by several adjournments until the 27th day of the same month / Published by order of the House of peers. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![phien pur leRoy co>ne pur Itiy Alefmes & at la tierce partie de fome de qi le parties foit duemtnt conviB. Le Roy le Voet. E. of Mac. What is there in the Margin ? Mr. Holmes, RefpeEiuatur per Dominum Principem iy Concilium. E. oi Mac. That I may not be mifunderftood in this Matter, and accufed of going to quibble away an A6t of Parliament; Your Lordfhips will give me leave to obferve in the firft Place, That fup- pofing this to be an Aft of Parliament, it relates to Cafes where Judgments are given, or where the Parties have a Right, and not any way to me or to my Cafe ; and having premis’d this, Your Lord- Ihips will fee how this Matter ftands. Here are two Rolls, the one is in the Nature of a Journal, wherein an Entry is made of the feveral Proceed¬ ings, and there are in it great Numbers of Peti¬ tions to the King by the Commons j whereby they pray, That Afts may be made, and the King’s Anfwers upon them : The Anfwer it may be is agreeing to fome part of what they pray, or fome- times to no part, but a Provifion made quite diffe¬ rent from what they pray. At that Time the Judges drew up the Aft's afterwards in Form, and thence then thofe Afts were entred upoo the Sta¬ tute Roll; and they were promulgarted at that Time by Proclamation on Writs iffued to the She¬ riffs of the fev'^eral Counties. Now this hath in the Margin of the Parliament Roll, RefpeEiuatur per Domimcm Principem tP Concilium. When the Judges came afterwards to draw tip the Statutes of this Parliament, in order to publilh them,There being a Re fpeEiuatur fet .upon this in the Parliament Roll j they forbore todraw it up amongft the reft, and it ■ is not entred upon the Statute Roll at all, nor ever printed in any Statute Book fince, nor was it ever publilh’d by the Sheriffs, nor confequently ient to the feveral Courts of Juftice, nor ever ta¬ ken Notice of by them as a Law ; 'for the Reafon of thatMaxim,That theCourts of Juftice are bound to take Notice, ex officio, of publick Laws, and not of private Laws, was becaufe rhe'.publick Laws were tranfmitted to them under the Great Seal. The Faft then in this Cafe doth appear to be, that when the Afts of this. Parliament of 11 Hen. 4. came to be drawn up and promulgated, this hav¬ ing a RefpeEiuatur enter’d upon it, was- not entred upon the Stature Roll, and fo not publiftied ; this is the Faft. However it doth not concern me, nor doth it relate to the prefent Cafe at all, as I obferved to Your Lordfhips before; If I had made a Decree for Money ; if I had refufed a Writ or Subpana, unlefs the Party had paid me Money, then I had been'within the .Statute, but not in this Cafe. Mr. Lutvjych'e, We fay this Statute doth concern him: But as to what'he faith, that there is an Entry in the Margin, RefpeEiuatur per Dtjminum Princi¬ pem ; this is taken Notice of in *the 3d Inftitutes, where my Lord'CcLe particularly affirms, that this is an Aft of Parliament in force, and is upon the Parliament Roll, and takes notice oiRefpeEiu- .ntur, &c. that it was in Faft done by the Prince, the Son of King Henry the 4th, but without Au¬ thority j and that notwithftancfing fuch Refpite, this Aft of Parliament*!s in full force. Islx.lVeJl, Suppoling it to be an Aft of Parlia¬ ment it extends to tire Earl’s Cafe; but whether it be an Aft of Parliament or no, is a Queftion that the Noble Earl now makes. I thoug had been the common Learning, that all th Laws were Petitions from the Commons, an King’s Anfwer to them ; and that they entred upon the Parliament Roll ; and tha Parliament Roll was only a Voucher to the tute Roll. I could give many Inftances wheix Voucher was not purfued, and the Statute drawn up different from the Parliament Roll; that was the very Reafon of altering the ma of paffing Laws into the Method that is now This is my Lord Chief Juftice Hales\ Accou one of the Modern Reports. Mr. Plummer. The Earl Impeach’d hath cipally infifted on two Things, the one istl; king a lefs Sum of Money for a Mafter’s when Vacant, when he had a greater Sum ol him ; and that therefore it follows that he hat made corrupt Adv^antages in order to rail' own Fortune, and that he is Innocent, He called the Negotiator in this Affair to prove, when he was offer’d 6000 1. he took jooo/. Commons have by their Witnefs explain’d it; this Matter is now fully cle..r’d, and Your I flips have the whole before you; and I will i no further Obfervation upon it. The fecond Thing that he lays great W upon is, that he called for the Accounts o Matters, notwithftanding the <>00/. apiece paid in. Upon examining the. Witnefles, it riot appear that any of the now Matters knev^ thing of it. I leave it to Your Lordffiips C deration, whether, if the Earl oi Macclesfiela been in earneft, he would not hare had a Re of that Order. It doth not appear there was '.any Account given in ; therefore when thefe Points are made plainer againft him now than were on our firft making good the Charge, he feems to fay the Sting of the Impeachme taken out, yet it is plain tire Sting is not take: of it, but it ftill remains; and Your Lord will give fuch Judgment as is jnft .and legal. Then the Managers for the Houfe of ( mons and the Council withdrew, and then Houfe adjourned. . Tuefday, 25 May, 1725. Tfhe luhDay, the being feat ed in their Hafe, and the Managers come, and feattd as bej'ore, the ufual Proclan was made for Silence. L. Ch. Juft. King, ]\ ^Y Lords, Your Lord IVT having heard the dence in tliis Cafe, have agreed upon a Qiie: which is feverally to be put to Your Lordlhi the ufual OMer. The (^eftion isthis. Is Tl Earl of Maccleffield guilty of high Crimes Mifeiemeanors charged upon him by the Imp nient of the Houfe of Commons, or not G upon your Honour ? L, Ch. Juft. King, Robert Lord Walpole, \ fays your Lordfiiip ? Is Thomas Earl of Mazcl guilty of High Crimes and Mifdemeanc.*-<;^ upon him by the Impeachmf Commons, or not Guilty ? . Lord Walpole, Gr The fame Oueflion was fe”- Names and Vo‘ Nicholas Lord Lechmere Matthew Lord Dude, Thomas Lore Onflow,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b3045864x_0284.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
