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Group 42 Sells Out (Group 42) (1996).iso
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petright.txt
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1995-11-28
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1628
PETITION OF RIGHT
A. D. 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.