will entirely remove from their bailiwicks the kinsmen of Gerard de Atyes, so that henceforth they shall hold no bailiwick in England, Engelard de Cygoyney, Andrew, Peter, and Gyon de Cancelles, Gyon de Cygoyney, Ralph de Martiny and his brothers, Philip Marc [el] and his brothers, and Ralph his grandson, and all their followers, and directly after the restoration of peace We will dismiss out of our kingdom all foreign soldiers, bowmen, serving men, and mercenaries, who come with horses and arms to the nuisance thereof. If any one shall have been disseised or deprived by Us, without the legal judgment of his peers, of lands, castles, liberties, or rights, We will instantly restore the same, and if any dispute shall arise thereupon, the matter shall be decided by judgment of the twenty-five barons mentioned below for the security of peace. With regard to all those things, however, whereof any person shall have been disseised or deprived, without the legal judgment of his peers, by King Henry Our Father, or Our Brother King Richard, and which remain in Our hands or are held by others under Our warranty, We will have respite thereof till the term commonly allowed to the crusaders, except as to those matters on which a plea shall have arisen, or an inquisition have been taken by Our command prior to Our assumption of the Cross, and immediately after Our return from Our pilgrimage, or if by chance We should remain behind from it We will do full justice therein. We will likewise have the same respite and in like manner shall justice be done with respect to forests to be disafforested or let alone, which Henry Our Father or Richard Our Brother afforested, and to wardships of lands belonging to another's fee, which We have hitherto held by reason of the fee which some person has held of Us by knight's service, and to abbies founded in another's fee than Our own, whereto the lord of that fee asserts his right. And when We return from Our pilgrimage, or if We remain behind therefrom, We will forthwith do full justice to the complainants in these matters. No one shall be taken or imprisoned upon a woman's appeal for the death of any other person than her husband. All fines unjustly and unlawfully made with Us, and all amercements levied unjustly and against the law of the land, shall be entirely condoned or the matter settled by judgment of the twenty-five barons of whom mention is made below, for the security of peace, or the majority of them, together with the aforesaid Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, if he himself can be present, and any others whom he may wish to summon for the purpose, and if he cannot be present the business shall nevertheless proceed without him. Provided that if any one or more of the said twenty-five barons be interested in a plaint of this kind, he or they shall be set aside, as to this particular judgment, and another or others elected and sworn by the rest of the said barons for this purpose only, be substituted in his or their stead. If We have disseised or deprived the Welsh of lands, liberties or other things, without legal judgment of their peers, in England or Wales, they shall instantly be restored to them, and if a dispute shall arise thereon the question shall be determined on the Marches by judgment of their peers according to the law of England with regard to English tenements, the law of Wales respecting Welsh tenements, and the law of the Marches as to tenements in the Marches. The same shall the Welsh do to Us and Ours. But with regard to all those things whereof any Welshman shall have been disseised or deprived, without legal judgment of his peers, by King Henry Our Father or Our Brother King Richard, and which We hold in Our

hands or others hold under Our warranty, We will have respite thereof till the term commonly allowed to the crusaders, except as to those matters whereon a plea shall have arisen or an inquisition have been taken by Our command prior to Our assumption of the Cross, and immediately after Our return from Our pilgrimage, or if by chance We should remain behind from it We will do full justice therein, according to the laws of the Welsh and the parts aforesaid. We will immediately give up the son of Lewellyn and all the Welsh hostages, and the charters which were delivered to Us for the security of peace. We will do the same with regard to Alexander, King of the Scots, in the matter of giving up his sisters and hostages, and of his liberties and rights, as We would with regard to Our other barons of England, unless it should appear by the charters which We hold of William his father, late King of the Scots, that it ought to be otherwise, and this shall be done by judgment of his peers in Our Court. All which customs and liberties aforesaid, which We have granted to be enjoyed, as far as in Us lies, by Our people throughout our kingdom, let all Our subjects, clerks and laymen, observe, as far as in them lies, towards their dependants. And whereas We, for the honour of God and the amendment of Our realm, and in order the better to allay the discord arisen between Us and Our barons, have granted all these things aforesaid, We, willing that they be for ever enjoyed wholly and in lasting strength, do give and grant to Our subjects the following security, to wit, that the barons shall elect any twenty-five barons of the kingdom at will, who shall, with their utmost power, keep, hold, and cause to be holden the peace and liberties which We have granted unto them, and by this Our present Charter confirmed, so that, for instance, if We, Our Justiciary, bailiffs, or any of Our ministers, offend in any respect against any man, or shall transgress any of these articles of peace or security, and the offence be brought before four of the said five and twenty barons, those four barons shall come before Us, or Our Chief Justiciary if We are out of the kingdom, declaring the offence, and shall demand speedy amends for the same. And if We or in case of Our being out of the kingdom, Our Chief Justiciary, fail to afford redress within the space of forty days from the time the case was brought before Us or Our Chief Justiciary, the aforesaid four barons shall refer the matter to the rest of the twenty-five barons, who, together with the commonalty of the whole county, shall distrain and distress Us to the utmost of their power, to wit, by capture of Our castles, lands, possessions, and all other possible means, until compensation be made according to their decision, saving Our person and that of Our Queen and children, and as soon as that be done they shall return to their former allegiAny one whatsoever in the kingdom may take oath that, for the accomplishment of the aforesaid matters, he will obey the orders of the said twenty-five barons, and distress Us to the utmost of his power; and We give public and free leave to every one wishing to take such oath to do so, and to none will We deny the same. Moreover We will compel all such of Our subjects who shall decline to swear to, and together with the said twenty-five barons to distrain and distress Us of their own free will and accord, to do so by Our command as is aforesaid. And if any one of the twenty-five barons shall die or leave the country, or be in any way hindered from executing the said office, the rest of the said twenty-five barons shall choose another in his stead, at their discretion, who shall be sworn in like manner as the others. And in all

ance.

cases which are referred to the said twenty-five barons to execute, and in which a difference shall arise among them, supposing them all to be present, or that all who have been summoned are unwilling or unable to appear, the verdict of the majority shall be considered as firm and binding as if the whole number should have been of one mind. And the aforesaid twenty-five shall swear to keep faithfully all the aforesaid articles, and, to the best of their power, cause them to be kept by others. And we will not procure, either by Ourself or any other, anything from any man whereby any of the said concessions or liberties may be revoked or abated; and if any such procurement be made let it be null and void; it shall never be made use of either by Us or any other. We have also wholly remitted and condoned all ill-will, wrath, and malice which have arisen between Us and Our subjects, clerks and laymen, during the disputes, to and with all men; and We have moreover fully remitted, and as far as in U's lies, wholly condoned to and with all clerks and laymen all trespasses made in consequence of the said disputes from Easter in the sixteenth year of Our reign till the restoration of peace; and, over and above this, We have caused to be made in their behalf letters patent by testimony of Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry, Archbishop of Dublin, the Bishops above mentioned, and Master Pandulph, upon the security and concession aforesaid. Wherefore We will, and firmly charge, that the English Church be free, and that all men in Our Kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably, freely, quietly, fully, and wholly, to them and their heirs, of Us and Our heirs, in all things and places for ever, as is aforesaid. It is moreover sworn, as well on Our part as on the part of the Barons, that all these matters aforesaid shall be kept in good faith and without malengine. Witness the above-mentioned Prelates and Nobles and many others. Given by Our hand in the meadow which is called Runnymede between Windsor and Staines, on the Fifteenth day of June in the Seventeenth year of Our reign.

Petition of Right

1628

NOTE

THE STRUGGLE in England between the monarchy and the Parliament as representative of the people began at about the time the colonists were first settling in America, holding themselves possessed of "all the rights of Englishmen." This struggle occupied most of the seventeenth century and produced, among other things, a series of great state papers that are the immediate predecessors of the American ones. The first of these was the Petition of Right. This was a statement of grievances in the form of a petition by Parliament, to which the House of Commons demanded the assent of Charles I previous to any grant of supplies. It will be noticed that here, as in Magna Carta, the petition is essentially a demand for the recognition of rights previously established and now disregarded. The king was finally forced to assent on June 7, 1628, but with no intention of acting in accordance with its principles. The text is from Statutes at Large (1811), 2. 727 (3 Car. I. c. 1).

TEXT

TO THE King's Most Excellent Majesty.

HUMBLY shew unto our Sovereign Lord the King, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in Parliament assembled, That whereas it is declared and enacted by a Statute made in the time of the Reign of King Edward the First, commonly called Statutum de Tallagio 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 the Authority of Parliament holden in the Five and twentieth Year of the Reign of King Edward the Third, 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 the 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 to make Appearance and give Attendance 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 Customs of this Realm.

III. And where 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 disseised 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 the Third, 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 disherited, 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 shewed; and when for their Deliverence 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 any Thing 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 the Third, 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 times divers Commissions under Your Majesty's Great Seal have issued forth, by which certain Persons have been assigned and appointed Commissioners, with Powers and Authority to proceed within the Land, according to the Justice of Martial Law, against such Soldiers and