52. If any one has been dispossessed or deprived by us, without the
lawful judgment of his peers, of his lands, castles, liberties, or
right, we will forthwith restore them to him; and if any dispute arise
upon this head, let the matter be decided by the five-and-twenty
barons hereafter mentioned, for the preservation of the peace. And for
all those things of which any person has, without the lawful judgment
of his peers, been dispossessed or deprived, either by our father King
Henry, or our brother King Richard, and which we have in our hands, or
are possessed by others, and we are bound to warrant and make good,
we shall have a respite till the term usually allowed the crusaders;
excepting those things about which there is a plea depending, or
whereof an inquest hath been made, by our order before we undertook
the crusade; but as soon as we return from our expedition, or if
perchance we tarry at home and do not make our expedition, we will
immediately cause full justice to be administered therein.

53. The same respite we shall have, and in the same manner, about
administering justice, disafforesting or letting continue the forests,
which Henry our father, and our brother Richard, have afforested; and
the same concerning the wardship of the lands which are in another's
fee, but the wardship of which we have hitherto had, by reason of a
fee held of us by knight's service; and for the abbeys founded in any
other fee than our own, in which the lord of the fee says he has a
right; and when we return from our expedition, or if we tarry at home,
and do not make our expedition, we will immediately do full justice to
all the complainants in this behalf.

54. No man shall be taken or imprisoned upon the appeal[43] of a woman,
for the death of any other than her husband.

[Footnote 43: An _Appeal_ here means an "accusation." The appeal
here mentioned was a suit for a penalty in which the plaintiff was a
relation who had suffered through a murder or manslaughter. One of the
incidents of this "Appeal of Death" was the Trial by Battle. These
Appeals and Trial by Battle were not abolished before the passing of
the Act 59 Geo. III., c. 46.]

55. All unjust and illegal fines made by us, and all amerciaments
imposed unjustly and contrary to the law of the land, shall
be entirely given up, or else be left to the decision of the
five-and-twenty barons hereafter mentioned for the preservation of
the peace, or of the major part of them, together with the aforesaid
Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and others
whom he shall think fit to invite; and if he cannot be present, the
business shall notwithstanding go on without him; but so that if one
or more of the aforesaid five-and-twenty barons be plaintiffs in
the same cause, they shall be set aside as to what concerns this
particular affair, and others be chosen in their room, out of the said
five-and-twenty, and sworn by the rest to decide the matter.

56. If we have disseised or dispossessed the Welsh of any lands,
liberties, or other things, without the legal judgment of their peers,
either in England or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to
them; and if any dispute arise upon this head, the matter shall be
determined in the Marches by the judgment of their peers; for tenements
in England according to the law of England, for tenements in Wales
according to the law of Wales, for tenements of the Marches according to
the law of the Marches: the same shall the Welsh do to us and our
subjects.


57. As for all those things of which a Welshman hath, without the lawful
judgment of his peers, been disseised or deprived of by King Henry our
father, or our brother King Richard, and which we either have in our
hands or others are possessed of, and we are obliged to warrant it, we
shall have a respite till the time generally allowed the crusaders;
excepting those things about which a suit is depending, or whereof an
inquest has been made by our order, before we undertook the crusade: but
when we return, or if we stay at home without performing our expedition,
we will immediately do them full justice, according to the laws of the
Welsh and of the parts before mentioned.

58. We will without delay dismiss the son of Llewellin, and all the

Welsh hostages, and release them from the engagements they have
entered into with us for the preservation of the peace.

59. We will treat with Alexander, King of Scots, concerning the
restoring his sisters and hostages, and his right and liberties, in
the same form and manner as we shall do to the rest of our barons
of England; unless by the charters which we have from his father,
William, late King of Scots, it ought to be otherwise; and this shall
be left to the determination of his peers in our court.

60. All the aforesaid customs and liberties, which we have granted to
be holden in our kingdom, as much as it belongs to us, all people of
our kingdom, as well clergy as laity, shall observe, as far as they
are concerned, towards their dependents.

61. And whereas, for the honour of God and the amendment of our
kingdom, and for the better quieting the discord that has arisen
between us and our barons, we have granted all these things aforesaid;
willing to render them firm and lasting, we do give and grant our
subjects the underwritten security, namely that the barons may choose
five-and-twenty barons of the kingdom, whom they think convenient; who
shall take care, with all their might, to hold and observe, and cause
to be observed, the peace and liberties we have granted them, and by
this our present Charter confirmed in this manner; that is to say,
that if we, our justiciary, our bailiffs, or any of our officers,
shall in any circumstance have failed in the performance of them
towards any person, or shall have broken through any of these articles
of peace and security, and the offence be notified to four barons
chosen out of the five-and-twenty before mentioned, the said four
barons shall repair to us, or our justiciary, if we are out of the
realm, and, laying open the grievance, shall petition to have it
redressed without delay: and if it be not redressed by us, or if we
should chance to be out of the realm, if it should not be redressed by
our justiciary within forty days, reckoning from the time it has been
notified to us, or to our justiciary (if we should be out of the
realm), the four barons aforesaid shall lay the cause before the rest
of the five-and-twenty barons; and the said five-and-twenty barons,
together with the community of the whole kingdom, shall distrain and
distress us in all the ways in which they shall be able, by seizing
our castles, lands, possessions, and in any other manner they can,
till the grievance is redressed, according to their pleasure; saving
harmless our own person, and the persons of our Queen and children;
and when it is redressed, they shall behave to us as before. And any
person whatsoever in the kingdom may swear that he will obey the
orders of the five-and-twenty barons aforesaid in the execution of the
premises, and will distress us, jointly with them, to the utmost of
his power; and we give public and free liberty to any one that shall
please to swear to this, and never will hinder any person from taking
the same oath.

62. As for all those of our subjects who will not, of their own
accord, swear to join the five-and-twenty barons in distraining and
distressing us, we will issue orders to make them take the same oath
as aforesaid. And if any one of the five-and-twenty barons dies, or
goes out of the kingdom, or is hindered any other way from
carrying the things aforesaid into execution, the rest of the said
five-and-twenty barons may choose another in his room, at their
discretion, who shall be sworn in like manner as the rest. In all
things that are committed to the execution of these five-and-twenty
barons, if, when they are all assembled together, they should happen
to disagree about any matter, and some of them, when summoned, will
not or cannot come, whatever is agreed upon, or enjoined, by the major
part of those that are present shall be reputed as firm and valid as
if all the five-and-twenty had given their consent; and the aforesaid
five-and-twenty shall swear that all the premises they shall
faithfully observe, and cause with all their power to be observed. And
we will procure nothing from any one, by ourselves nor by another,
whereby any of these concessions and liberties may be revoked or
lessened; and if any such thing shall have been obtained, let it be
null and void; neither will we ever make use of it either by ourselves
or any other. And all the ill-will, indignations, and rancours that
have arisen between us and our subjects, of the clergy and laity, from
the first breaking out of the dissensions between us, we do fully
remit and forgive: moreover, all trespasses occasioned by the said
dissensions, from Easter in the sixteenth year of our reign till the
restoration of peace and tranquillity, we hereby entirely remit to
all, both clergy and laity, and as far as in us lies do fully forgive.
We have, moreover, caused to be made for them the letters patent
testimonial of Stephen, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry, Lord
Archbishop of Dublin, and the bishops aforesaid, as also of Master
Pandulph, for the security and concessions aforesaid.

63. Wherefore we will and firmly enjoin, that the Church of England be
free, and that all men in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid
liberties, rights, and concessions, truly and peaceably, freely and
quietly, fully and wholly to themselves and their heirs, of us and our
heirs, in all things and places, forever, as is aforesaid. It is also
sworn, as well on our part as on the part of the barons, that all the
things aforesaid shall be observed in good faith, and without evil
subtilty. Given under our hand, in the presence of the witnesses above
named, and many others, in the meadow called Runingmede, between
Windsor and Staines, the 15th day of June, in the 17th year of our
reign.

*       *       *       *       *

The translation here given is that published in Sheldon Amos's work
on _The English Constitution_. The translation given by Sir E.
Creasy was chiefly followed in this, but it was collated with another
accurate translation by Mr. Richard Thompson, accompanying his
_Historical Essay on Magna Charta_, published in 1829, and also
with the Latin text. "The explanation of the whole Charter," observes
Mr. Amos, must be sought chiefly in detailed accounts of the Feudal
system in England, as explained in such works as those of Stubbs,
Hallam, and Blackstone. The scattered notes here introduced have
only for their purpose to elucidate the most unusual and perplexing
expressions. The Charter printed in the Statute Book is that issued
in the ninth year of Henry III., which is also the one specially
confirmed by the Charter of Edward I. The Charter of Henry III.
differs in some (generally) insignificant points from that of John.
The most important difference is the omission in the later Charter of
the 14th and 15th Articles of John's Charter, by which the King is
restricted from levying aids beyond the three ordinary ones, without
the assent of the 'Common Council of the Kingdom.' and provision is
made for summoning it. This passage is restored by Edward I. Magna
Charter has been solemnly confirmed upwards of thirty times. See the
chapter on the Great Charter, in Green's _History of the English
People_. See also Stubbs's _Documents Illustrative of English
History_. "The whole of the constitutional history of England,"
says Stubbs, "is a commentary on this Charter, the illustration of
which must be looked for in the documents that precede and follow."

*       *       *       *       *

"CONFIRMATIO CHARTARUM" OF EDWARD I.

1297.

I. Edward, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, and
Duke Guyan, to all those that these present letters shall hear or see,
greeting. Know ye that we, to the honour of God and of holy Church,
and to the profit of our realm, have granted for us and our heirs,
that the Charter of Liberties and the Charter of the Forest, which
were made by common assent of all the realm in the time of King Henry
our father, shall be kept in every point without breach. And we will
that the same Charters shall be sent under our seal as well to our
justices of the forest as to others, and to all sheriffs of shires,
and to all our other officers, and to all our cities throughout the
realm, together with our writs in the which it shall be contained that
they cause the foresaid Charters to be published, and to declare to
the people that we have confirmed them in all points; and that our
justices, sheriffs, mayors, and other ministers, which under us have
the laws of our land to guide, shall allow the said Charters pleaded
before them in judgment in all their points; that is to wit, the Great
Charter as the common law, and the Charter of the Forest according to
the assize of the Forest, for the wealth of our realm.

II. And we will that if any judgment be given from henceforth,
contrary to the points of the Charters aforesaid, by the justices or
by any other our ministers that hold plea before them against the
points of the Charters, it shall be undone and holden for naught.

III. And we will that the same Charters shall be sent under our seal
to cathedral churches throughout our realm, there to remain, and shall
be read before the people two times by the year. IV. And that all
archbishops and bishops shall pronounce the sentence of great
excommunication against all those that by word, deed, or counsel do
contrary to the foresaid Charters, or that in any point break or undo
them. And that the said curses be twice a year denounced and published
by the prelates aforesaid. And if the prelates or any of them be
remiss in the denunciation of the said sentences, the Archbishops of
Canterbury and York for the time being, as is fitting, shall compel
and distrain them to make that denunciation in form aforesaid.

V. And for so much as divers people of our realm are in fear that the
aids and tasks which they have given to us beforetime towards our wars
and other business, of their own grant and goodwill, howsoever they
were made, might turn to a bondage to them and their heirs, because
they might be at another time found in the rolls, and so likewise the
prises taken throughout the realm by our ministers; we have granted
for us and our heirs, that we shall not draw such aids, tasks, nor
prises into a custom, for anything that hath been done heretofore, or
that may be found by roll or in any other manner.

VI. Moreover we have granted for us and our heirs, as well to
archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, and other folk of holy Church,
as also to earls, barons, and to all the commonalty of the land, that
for no business from henceforth will we take such manner of aids,
tasks, nor prises but by the common consent of the realm, and for the
common profit thereof, saving the ancient aids and prises due and
accustomed.

VII. And for so much as the more part of the commonalty of the realm
find themselves sore grieved with the matelote of wools, that is to
wit, a toll of forty shillings for every sack of wool, and have made
petition to us to release the same; we, at their requests, have
clearly released it, and have granted for us and our heirs that we
shall not take such thing nor any other without their common assent
and goodwill; saving to us and our heirs the custom of wools, skins,
and leather, granted before by the commonalty aforesaid. In witness
of which things we have caused these our letters to be made patents.
Witness Edward our son, at London, the 10th day of October, the
five-and-twentieth of our reign.

And be it remembered that this same Charter, in the same terms, word
for word, was sealed in Flanders under the King's Great Seal, that is
to say, at Ghent, the 5th day of November, in the 52th year of the
reign of our aforesaid Lord the King, and sent into England.

*       *       *       *       *

The words of this important document, from Professor Stubbs's
translation, are given as the best explanation of the constitutional
position and importance of the Charters of John and Henry III. See
historical notice in Stubbs's _Documents Illustrative of English
History_, p. 477. This is far the most important of the numerous
ratifications of the Great Charter. Hallam calls it "that famous
statute, inadequately denominated the Confirmation of the Charters,
because it added another pillar to our constitution, not less important
than the Great Charter itself." It solemnly confirmed the two Charters,
the Charter of the Forest (issued by Henry II. in 1217--see text in
Stubbs, p. 338) being then considered as of equal importance with Magna
Charta itself, establishing them in all points as the law of the land;
but it did more. "Hitherto the king's prerogative of levying money by
name of _tallage_ or _prise_, from his towns and tenants in
demesne, had passed unquestioned. Some impositions, that especially on
the export of wool, affected all the king's subjects. It was now the
moment to enfranchise the people and give that security to private
property which Magna Charta had given to personal liberty." Edward's
statute binds the king never to take any of these "aids, tasks, and
prises" in future, save by the common assent of the realm. Hence, as
Bowen remarks, the Confirmation of the Charters, or an abstract of it
under the form of a supposed statute _de tallagio non concedendo_
(see Stubbs, p. 487), was more frequently cited than any other enactment
by the parliamentary leaders who resisted the encroachments of Charles I.
The original of the _Confirmatio Chartarum_, which is in Norman French,
is still in existence, though considerably shriveled by the fire which
damaged so many of the Cottonian manuscripts in 1731.


THE GRANT OF THE GREAT CHARTER.

An island in the Thames between Staines and Windsor had been chosen as
the place of conference: the King encamped on one bank, while the
barons--covered the marshy flat, still known by the name of Runnymede,
on the other. Their delegates met in the island between them, but the
negotiations were a mere cloak to cover John's purpose of unconditional
submission. The Great Charter was discussed, agreed to, and signed in a
single day. One copy of it still remains in the British Museum, injured
by age and fire, but with the royal seal still hanging from the brown,
shrivelled parchment. It is impossible to gaze without reverence on the
earliest monument of English freedom which we can see with our own eyes
and touch with our own hands, the great Charter to which from age to age
patriots have looked back as the basis of English liberty. But in itself
the Charter was no novelty, nor did it claim to establish any new
constitutional principles. The Charter of Henry the First formed the
basis of the whole, and the additions to it are for the most part formal
recognitions of the judicial and administrative changes introduced by
Henry the Second. But the vague expressions of the older charters were
now exchanged for precise and elaborate provisions. The bonds of
unwritten custom which the older grants did little more than recognize
had proved too weak to hold the Angevins; and the baronage now threw
them aside for the restraints of written law. It is in this way that the
Great Charter marks the transition from the age of traditional rights,
preserved in the nation's memory and officially declared by the Primate,
to the age of written legislation, of Parliaments and Statutes, which
was soon to come. The Church had shown its power of self-defence in the
struggle over the interdict, and the clause which recognized its rights
alone retained the older and general form. But all vagueness ceases when
the Charter passes on to deal with the rights of Englishmen at large,
their right to justice, to _security of person and property, to good
government_. 'No freeman,' ran the memorable article that lies at the
base of our whole judicial system, 'shall be seized or imprisoned, or
dispossessed, or outlawed, or in any way brought to ruin; we will not go
against any man nor send against him, save by legal judgment of his
peers or by the law of the land.' 'To no man will we sell,' runs
another, 'or deny, or delay, right or justice.' The great reforms of the
past reigns were now formally recognized; judges of assize were to hold
their circuits four times in the year, and the Court of Common Pleas was
no longer to follow the King in his wanderings over the realm, but to
sit in a fixed place. But the denial of justice under John was a small
danger compared with the lawless exactions both of himself and his
predecessor. Richard had increased the amount of the scutage which Henry
II. had introduced, and applied it to raise funds for his ransom. He had
restored the Danegeld, or land tax, so often abolished, under the new
name of 'carucage,' had seized the wool of the Cistercians and the plate
of the churches, and rated movables as well as land. John had again
raised the rate of scutage, and imposed aids, fines, and ransoms at his
pleasure without counsel of the baronage. The Great Charter met this
abuse by the provision on which our constitutional system rests. With
the exception of the three customary feudal aids which still remained to
the crown, 'no scutage or aid shall be imposed in our realm save by the
Common Council of the realm;' and to this Great Council it was provided
that prelates and the greater barons should be summoned by special writ,
and all tenants in chief through the sheriffs and bailiffs, at least
forty days before. But it was less easy to provide means for the control
of a King whom no man could trust, and a council of twenty-four barons
was chosen from the general body of their order to enforce on John the
observance of the Charter, with the right of declaring war on the King
should its provisions be infringed. Finally, the Charter was published
throughout the whole country, and sworn to at every hundred-mote and
town-mote by order from the King.--_Green's Short History of the English
People_, p. 123.

*       *       *       *       *





APPENDIX D.




A PART OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS.

AN ACT FOR DECLARING THE RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES OF THE SUBJECT, AND
SETTLING THE SUCCESSION OF THE CROWN. 1689.

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 [o.s.],[44]
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.:

[Footnote 44: In New Style Feb. 23, 1689.]

Whereas the late King James II., 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:

1. By assuming and exercising a power of dispensing with and
suspending of laws, and the execution of laws, without consent of
Parliament.

2. By committing and prosecuting divers worthy prelates for humbly
petitioning to be excused from concurring to the said assumed power.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. By raising and keeping a
standing army within this kingdom in time of peace, without consent of
Parliament, and quartering soldiers contrary to law.

6. By causing several good subjects, being Protestants, to be
disarmed, at the same time when Papists were both armed and employed
contrary to law.

7. By violating the freedom of election of members to serve in
Parliament.

8. By prosecutions in the Court of King's Bench for matters and causes
cognizable only in Parliament, and by divers other arbitrary and
illegal causes.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. And excessive fines have been imposed; and illegal and cruel
punishments inflicted.

12. 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 II. 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,[45] 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 have been accordingly made.

[Footnote 45: In New Style Feb. 1, 1689.]

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 representation 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:


1. That the pretended power of suspending of laws, or the execution of
laws by regal authority, without consent of Parliament, is illegal.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. _That levying money for or to the use of the Crown by pretence
and prerogative, without grant of Parliament, for longer time or in
other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal._[46]

5. _That it is the right of the subjects to petition the King,
and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are
illegal._[47]

6. _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._[48]

7. _That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their
defence suitable to their conditions, and as allowed by law._[49]

8. That election of members of Parliament ought to be free.

9. _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._[50]

10. _That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive
fines imposed; nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted._[51]

11. _That jurors ought to be duly impanelled and returned, and
jurors which pass upon men in trials for high treason ought to be
freeholders._[52]

[Footnote 46: Compare this clause 4 with clauses 12 and 14 of Magna
Charta, and with Art. I. Section vii. clause 1 of the Constitution of
the United States.]

[Footnote 47: Compare clause 5 with Amendment I.]

[Footnote 48: Compare clause 6 with Amendment III.]

[Footnote 49: Compare clause 7 with Amendment II.]

[Footnote 50: Compare clause 9 with Constitution, Art. I. Section vi.
clause 1.]

[Footnote 51: Compare clause 10 with Amendment VIII.]

[Footnote 52: Compare clause 11 with Amendments VI. and VII.]

12. That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of
particular persons before conviction are illegal and void.

13. And that for redress of all grievances, and for the amending,
strengthening, and preserving of the laws, Parliament 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:

II. 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 of 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 said 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.

The act goes on to declare that, their Majesties having accepted the
crown upon these terms, 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 times to come.

The act then declares that William and Mary are and of right ought
to be King and Queen of England, etc.; and it goes on to regulate the
succession after their deaths.


The passing of the Bill of Rights in 1689 restored to the monarchy
the character which it had lost under the Tudors and the Stuarts. The
right of the people through its representatives to depose the King,
to change the order of succession, and to set on the throne whom they
would, was now established. All claim of divine right, or hereditary
right independent of the law, was formally put an end to by the
election of William and Mary. Since their day no English sovereign has
been able to advance any claim to the crown save a claim which rested
on a particular clause in a particular Act of Parliament. William,
Mary, and Anne were sovereigns simply by virtue of the Bill of Rights.
George the First and his successors have been sovereigns solely by
virtue of the Act of Settlement. An English monarch is now as much the
creature of an Act of Parliament as the pettiest tax-gatherer in his
realm.--_Green's Short History_, p. 673.

*       *       *       *       *





APPENDIX E.



THE FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF CONNECTICUT.

1638(9).

_The first written constitution that created a government._

Forasmuch as it hath pleased the Allmighty God by the wise disposition
of his diuyne pruidence so to Order and dispose of things that we the
Inhabitants and Residents of Windsor, Harteford and Wethersfield are
now cohabiting and dwelling in and vppon the River of Conectecotte and
the Lands thereunto adioyneing; And well knowing where a people are
gathered togather the word of God requires that to mayntayne the peace
and vnion of such a people there should be an orderly and decent
Gouerment established according to God, to order and dispose of the
affayres of the people at all seasons as occation shall require; doe
therefore assotiate and conioyne our selues to be as one Publike State
or Comonwelth; and doe, for our selues and our Successors and such as
shall be adioyned to vs att any tyme hereafter, enter into Combination
and Confederation togather, to mayntayne and p'rsearue the liberty and
purity of the gospell of our Lord Jesus w'ch we now p'rfesse, as also
the disciplyne of the Churches, w'ch according to the truth of the
said gospell is now practised amongst vs; As also in o'r Ciuell
Affaires to be guided and gouerned according to such Lawes,
Rules, Orders and decrees as shall be made, ordered & decreed, as
followeth:--

1. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that there shall be yerely two
generall Assemblies or Courts, the one the second thursday in Aprill,
the other the second thursday in September, following; the first shall
be called the Courte of Election, wherein shall be yerely Chosen from
tyme to tyme soe many Magestrats and other publike Officers as shall be
found requisitte: Whereof one to be chosen Gouernour for the yeare
ensueing and vntill another be chosen, and noe other Magestrate to be
chosen for more than one yeare; p'ruided allwayes there be sixe chosen
besids the Gouernour; w'ch being chosen and sworne according to an Oath
recorded for that purpose shall haue power to administer iustice
according to the Lawes here established, and for want thereof according
to the rule of the word of God; w'ch choise shall be made by all that
are admitted freemen and haue taken the Oath of Fidellity, and doe
cohabitte w'thin this Jurisdiction, (hauing beene admitted Inhabitants
by the maior p'rt of the Towne wherein they liue,) or the mayor p'rte of
such as shall be then p'rsent.

2. It is Ordered, sentensed and decreed, that the Election of the
aforesaid Magestrats shall be on this manner: euery p'rson p'rsent
and quallified for choyse shall bring in (to the p'rsons deputed to
receaue them) one single pap'r w'th the name of him written in
yet whom he desires to haue Gouernour, and he that hath the greatest
number of papers shall be Gouernor for that yeare. And the rest of
the Magestrats or publike Officers to be chosen in this manner: The
Secretary for the tyme being shall first read the names of all that
are to be put to choise and then shall seuerally nominate them
distinctly, and euery one that would hane the p'rson nominated to be
chosen shall bring in one single paper written vppon, and he that
would not haue him chosen shall bring in a blanke: and euery one that
hath more written papers then blanks shall be a Magistrat for that
yeare; w'ch papers shall be receaued and told by one or more that
shall be then chosen by the court and sworne to be faythfull therein;
but in case there should not be sixe chosen as aforesaid, besids the
Gouernor, out of those w'ch are nominated, then he or they w'ch haue
the most written pap'rs shall be a Magestrate or Magestrats for the
ensueing yeare, to make vp the foresaid number.

3. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that the Secretary shall not
nominate any p'rson, nor shall any p'rson be chosen newly into the
Magestracy w'ch was not p'rpownded in some Generall Courte before, to
be nominated the next Election; and to that end yt shall be lawfull
for ech of the Townes aforesaid by their deputyes to nominate any two
whom they conceaue fitte to be put to election; and the Courte may
ad so many more as they iudge requisitt.

4. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed that noe p'rson be chosen

Gouernor aboue once in two yeares, and that the Gouernor be always
a member of some approved congregation, and formerly of the
Magestracy w'th this Jurisdiction; and all the Magestrats Freemen of
this Comonwelth: and that no Magestrate or other publike officer shall
execute any p'rte of his or their Office before they are seuerally
sworne, w'ch shall be done in the face of the Courte if they be
p'rsent, and in case of absence by some deputed for that purpose.

5. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that to the aforesaid Conrte