certificate, and found 2001. a-year to be as much as the lands were worth. Hereupon the Lord Chancellor gave a day to shew cause, why the cause should not be decreed, which was the Order, quarto Maii, 1610. After this the lord Hobart, then Attorney, in the presence of the master of the rolls himself, did set down the defects of his own report. Lord-Treasurer. My lords, this is contrary to all course, this must not be; for we mean not to enter into the merits of the cause. Mr. Attorney Yelverton. Mr. Wraynham, for you to shift it off, doth but aggravate your offence; for when you say, you used the rest of your phrases as synonymies to injustice, that implieth a taxation of his lordship in point of justice; and so likewise do your words imply, when you say, by the greatness of his wit and eloquence he doth palliate the injustice of the cause therefore tax my lord particularly with one point of injustice. Here Mr. Wraynham would not instance in any one particular. Wrayn. Had I thought his majesty would not have heard my cause, I would have sat down in silence, and have devoured my sorrow. I have formerly set down to your lordships, that my decree was reversed without a bill. Mr. Attorney. That is, when the bill is absolute and constant, for there it must have a bill of revivor; but when it depends upon subsequent acts, and is qualified and conditional, there it may be reversed without bill. of the time; and my living lord attributes very much unto him, whom God hath also inriched with great ornaments of nature; for no man, no magistrate, hears with more attention, nor no magistrate of justice attends with more understanding and patience. You then, Mr. Wraynham, thus to traduce my lord, is a foul offence, with that black mouth of yours: you cannot traduce him of corruption, for thanks be to God, he hath always despised riches, and set honour and justice before his eyes; and where the magistrate is bribed, it is a sign of a corrupted estate. For the justice of the cause; my lords, I was of counsel with Fisher, and I knew the merits of the cause; for my Lord Chancellor seeing what recompence Fisher ought in justice to have received, and finding a disability in Wraynham to perform it, was inforced to take the land from Wraynham to give it to Fisher, which is hardly of value to satisfy Fisher's true debt and damages. And this, my lords, was the true course of it; so it stands upon these parts your lordships have heard. I am glad at last to hear Mr. Wraynham's Submission, and do humbly crave your lordship's censure. 6 Sir Edward Coke. The cause before you, my lords, is a very great cause, for a man must tread in this course upon a very slender bridge: I will single out, as near as I can, the state of the question, and then I will show you in others, upon what words, and in what I shall ground my sentence: for a complaint to the king's maWrayn. I humbly submit myself in all things jesty, or a petition by any man that thinks himto your honourable and clement censure: for self wronged, I hold that regularly to be no the manner, I beseech your lordships pardon; offence. God forbid it should be so: I can and for the matter, I humbly crave compassion. make no hedge between the sovereign and the Mr. Serjeant Crew. May it please your subject; nay, in some kingdoms, Querelas lordships, the prisoner at the bar hath made a 'subditorum detrahere in principe deserentur good submission at the last, I would he had capitale est:' And that would be derogation begun with it. My lords, the flux of foul from a monarch, that no subject should commouths must be stopped, otherwise the greatest plain unto him; yet upon the statute of Westmagistrates will be traduced and slandered to ininster, and at common law, I make no quesmajesty himself; and though it be not treason, tion, but to shew you, that where petitions were yet I have heard it from a great and honour-made to the king in an unfit manner, they have able person sitting in this place, that it is eri-been severely punished. Our case is now parmen læse majestatis. My lords, for the two lords, the one that lives, the other that is dead, and their demeanor in this case, in honour of him that is dead, and without flattery to him that is alive; I say, they both judged according to their consciences. The Lord Chancellor that is dead, gave his judgment according to his conscience, and not according to the conscience of another man, but according to the integrity of his own heart: for the judges are to judge secundum æquum et bonum in foro 'conscientiæ. And this lord also judged out of his noble conscience and integrity of his heart; for, my lords, there was no binding decree. As for the merits of the cause, it must not be examined of the one side, nor of the other, for both lords have done according to conscience coram Deo et hominibus. And each hath delivered his own sense according to their consciences. The lord which is dead, when he was alive, was one of the oracles of the wisdom ticularly in a sentence given by my Lord Chancellor, an eminent Judge in this Court, and a sole Judge in the highest Court of Equity that is in this kingdom; yea, this case is after sentence, and against the sentence, and with many such scandalous and opprobrious terms against so high a Judge; and that not in paper, but in a book presented to the king; this book in my hand, which the king hath delivered to the attorney-general, that it might come before us for due punishment. Whether this Book be justifiable, or no; that is the question, It is a black Book, Est jam conveniens luctibus iste color.' And it is a strange Book for some things that I will shew you, for it is no petition; and yet I will confirm every word I say by ancient and modern authorities; whereof, I am sorry, very sorry in good faith," for the excellent and worthy parts that are in you, Mr. Wraynham. Now mark your own words in your Book; you call it a Review, or Revivor of the Report of the Master of the Rolls, Phillips, and the Decree of my Lord Chancellor the High Commissioners have sometimes a Commission of Review, but it is very rare and that is a Commission of Grace, not of Right: such a Review is presented unto his majesty by Wraynham, in which he deals not like a petitioner, but like a censurer, censuring every man that deals in the cause. Mark how the Common Law sets forth a petitioner: it gives no ill words, it toucheth not men of injustice; for take this from me, that what grief soever a man hath, ill words work no good; and learned counsel never use them. And therefore the petitioner at the Common Law, is, Si placet majestati,' &c. ❝et quod justitia et rectum fiat,' &c. Now in your Petition, see whether you have behaved yourself well: first, you make your major proposition; The unjust sentence of a Judge, is far worse than a particular murder: then your miner is, That my Lord Chancellor hath satisfied his majesty, that I have informed him falsely; but his majesty knoweth, that he that judgeth unjustly, must, to maintain it, speak untruly; and that your lordships and all logicians know, the conclusion followeth necessarily. First, he chargeth my Lord Chancellor with injustice, not complaining of any particular to be referred to examination; but saith in general, He hath done unjustly, and is worse than a murderer; and that he hath in'formed the king falsely." My Lords; You know, if a man put false metal into the king's coin, it is treason; and if my Lord Chancellor shall infuse poison and false information into the king's ear, it was an heinous offence. Yet this contents not Wraynham; but he fieth at all, saying, That the height of authority maketh men presume.' And hath a place of Scripture in his Book, "Woe be to them that write wicked Decrees: and in another place be saith, Oppression is palliated with wit and eloquence.' My Lords, ought these things to be in a petitioner? A petitioner must go meekly and humbly to work, without shew of touch of any man. I will not omit a dead man; for, though spoken of him, it is a living fault. As for this Master of the Rolls, never man in England was more excellent for the Chancery than that man; and for aught I heard, (that had reason to hear something of him) I never heard him faxed of corruption, being a man of excellent dexterity, diligent, early in the morning, ready to do justice for him to be taxed in such a high degree, as to omit some of the material proofs, to shift off others, to wrest the equity of the cause, and such-like and in another place, That the Master of the Rolls made an unjust and corrupt gloss upon a false text, &c. And in another place, he saith, That 'sir Edward Phillips's report was raised ab inferno! My Lords; You know that the slander of a dead man is punishable in this court, as Lewis Pickering is able to tell you, whom I caused VOL. II. here to be censured for a slander against an Archbishop that is dead; for justice lives, though the party be dead and such slanders do wrong the living posterity and alliance of the man deceased. But Mr. Wraynham spares not the king himself; for in one place of his Book he saith, assurgat rex,' &c. as if the king slept. And in another place he saith, That the Decree is reversed without precedent." But that is not so, as I will satisfy you anon. For Mr. Wraynham's censure, I will never judge a man without authority and reason: 18 E. 1, in Rotulo Parliament 3, my Lord-Abbot there complained that Solomon of Wragg, and Hugh Courtney then Chief-Justice, had confederated to give judgment against the Abbot. And the king answered, Shall we, upon this petition, call a judgment in question? And in the end, the answer is, Rex rogabit, et aliter facere non potest per legem terræ.' And my Lord-Abbot, because he was a lord, escaped punishment at that time. ` | 6 Another precedent I will shew you, is, Mich. 18 E. 3, Rot. 151, coram Rege. Thomas Wilbraham petitioned against the Justices of the King's-bench, That they had not done according to law and reason. And the petition was delivered to the representative body of the king and his council; for the which the said Wilbraham was indicted, convicted, fined, and ransomed in the King's-bench.-19 Ass, p. 3, Between sir William Scott and Humphrey Hunney, who complained to king Edw. 3. That sir William Scott, Chief-Justice, bad awarded an ass.ze contrary to law.' And the king sent it to the Judges; whereupon Hunney was imprisoned, judged, fined, and ransomed: yet he had no remedy but in parliament. The Statute hath made a sharp law against such as speak scandalous news of the Chancellor, justice of the King's-bench, &c. And because divers were punished for slanders, in petitions to his majesty; therefore, 13 R. 2, rot. parl. numb. 45, the commons desired they might not be troubled for any matter that should be contained in petitions to the king: and the king answered, Let every man complain, so it be with law and reason.' The Wraynham objected a place of Scripture for himself, where the Psalmist saith, I have said in my fury, that all men are lyars.' text is, Dixi in excessu :' so Wraynham saith, It was not in his fury, but in his excess.'--And another thing that Wraynham offered in his defence, was the king's words, where he saith, in his Book, Be bold to complain.' But of what? Of corruption? So likewise, in Rot. Parl. 24 Edw. 3, parl. 3, numb. 16. If any man mix corruption with his censures, Anathema sit.' So likewise it is extant in the Rolls of the Parliament de la plbe, that the great de la Pole was convicted of bribery, and put from his place; and Cardinal Wolsey was convicted of a foul corruption. But if man, according to sincerity, give judgment, though he differ from another Judge, this is no injustice. Famous Dyer gave judg 3Z ment in the Common Pleas, and this was re- | vilege shall the king my master have? For if versed in the King's-Bench; yet he discharged this humour should take a little head, will it his conscience: and although it was afterwards not carry both him and justice into the field? reversed, yet it was no injustice. The like in- And therefore I conclude, that this is severely stance might be made of sir Christ. Wray, and to be punished; and is not a petition, but a others. Now, in this case, my Lord-Chan-presumptuous challenge, and of so far a worse cellor that is living, differs from the Lord Chancellor that is dead. This is not strange, it hath ever been, and ever will be; but if a judge's conscience be oiled and moistened with corruption, then all is naught. nature beyond duels, as honour and universal justice is beyond particular right: and therefore I agree with him that went before me, leaving his good parts to mercy, and his ill parts to the censure of Foorth's Case. Lord Chief Baron, Sir Laurence Tanfield. This cause is a cause of a high nature, being a scandal of a great and principal officer of the kingdom, and of one that is an high and eminent person: which scandal is set forth in this Book, which certainly I cannot call a petition: for the petitioner hath presumed too far, that it is a plain revise of a decree. Every man knoweth, that the Chancellor hath the keeping of the great-seal, whereby is managed mercy and justice: and if this great person so trusted shall be thus traduced by every offender, how insufferable will this mischief be? The king hath the Pleas of the Crown, and upon every Judgment one of the parties is angry and displeased: but this must not presently produce a new hearing, for that will hinder all other businesses. For I will put you a great case between a nobleman here, and divers other noblemen that were trusted by the countess of Southampton, who were all Plaintiffs, and sir Moyle Finch Defendant: and this was Mich. 42 and 43 Eliz. The main point that was controverted in the cause, was upon an exception of a manor (as I remember) in the habondum of the deed, which my lordchancellor then thought void. And therefore decreed, 'That my lady of Southampton should have all.'. Whereupon sir Moyle Finch petitioned queen Elizabeth, that she should refer the examination of the decree to some of the judges; but the queen would never refer any thing to those that were named unto her, but she referred it to two other judges not named ip the petition, who attended my lord-chan-judge, sentencing his own cause. I can call cellor; and they then resolved it against the decree, and my lord reversed his own decree. I know I have held your lordships long; yet I cannot teil, in these critical days, whiether men will be satisfied, which hath made me longer than I would have been. Therefore, to conclude, I agree, in all things, with the sentence given in Foorth's Case of 2 Jac. I doubt not but that by a right way, you may, by a petition in an humble course, and submissive manner, desire his majesty that he would be pleased to review a Sentence in Chancery, or else grant a commission to others to review the same. But doth this man observe this course? No, but he will be his own . this Book no better, than a scandalous and malicious invective against the Lord Chancellor; and that not without great bitterness, as I have heard. First, he taxeth him with injustice: then mark the circumstances; he saith, My Lord Chancellor hath reversed the Decree, without cause, without new matter, without legal proceeding, without precedent, and upon a bare suggestion.' Then he goeth Sir Fulke Greville, Chancellor of the Exche- further, saying, Injustice is worse than murquer. This Court hath no intent to discourage der; for this Decree hath devoured him and the meanest subject of his lawful appeal unto his whole family.' And, not content with his prince; for that were to disinherit the peo-this, chargeth him with oppression, and palliatple of law, and the king of the intelligence of ing it with greatness, wit, and eloquence; than the oppression that might fall upon his people. which, a greater and heavier scandal cannot be ! But this case I suppose not to be within the You shall not be barred of access to his mafirst. The matter in such cases, is but a re-jesty; but that by a petition you may desire view of an inferior sentence of a superior magistrate, my Lord Chancellor of England and that before he be heard, making the king his speedy executioner. But examine the nature of these accusations, and you shall find them mere scandals, and impossibilities; as breaking decrees, rewarding frauds and perjuries, palliating oppressions with greatness, wit, and eloquence. Why, my lords, if this liberty should spread, then I desire the indifferent hearers to see in what a miserable case the subject stands, when the right of every good man shall stand in the malignity, and unquiet nature of every turbulent spirit? And, my lords the judges, in what a case stand they, if by such clamours every delinquent shall be made judge over them? and what pri to have a Decree reviewed, and that his majesty would grant a commission to review it. But these things must be done legally, and then the law protects us, though it be against a nobleman. Sir Richard Crofts did sue an action for forgery of false deeds against the lord Beauchamp; whereupon my lord Beauchamp sued an action upon the statute de Scand. Magnat. But that would bear no action, because it was done legally: for a man may suppose in his writ such a fact, by the use of the said writ; but he must beware that he prove it well, or else he shall be well fined in the same court. But much more shall he deserve a fine, if he shall do it without writ, or without ground or proof, as Wraynham hath done. And therefore, because I must be short, I think him fully worthy of the censure before given, in all points. Lord Hobart, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Mr. Attorney hath very worthily and like himself, according to his place, brought this man into this court, to give answer for the greatest and most outrageous offence that of this kind hath been committed; in which case, I will first tell you, what I do not question, and then what I do question. ` For the first, Petitions may be exhibited to the king without controversy; nay, in some cases they must be exhibited; and God forbid, that any man's way should be locked up, or that any subject should be barred of access to his majesty; for when appeals fail, and when ordinary remedy is wanting, so that there is no judge above the highest judge; yet, you may still resort unto your sovereign for extreme remedy this is proper to a king, Cessas regnare, si cessas judicare;' for is an inherent quality to his crown. So that without controversy a man may petition against a sentence; for God forbid, that we that are judges, should draw that privilege to ourselves, to give sentence, and not to hear it examined. But it is true, it must be presented as a supplication, and you must go formally to work: ordinarily you must go to the proper courts of justice; if that fails, the extraordinary course is open by the king: and this is no more than to shew to his majesty, now you find yourself grieved, and then remit the cause and form to the king's wisdom. But now see what this man hath done, he hath made neither the matter nor form of a petition. First, for matter, he pretends, that is not saying that my lord-chancellor hath expressly infringed two decrees, when he hath done nothing, only crossed an order, than which, there is nothing more common, for they are but interlocutory, and not definitive.-And for form, this is no petition, no book, as he would call it, but an express, peremptory and audacious libel. Then the manner offends yet more: for whereas a supplication imports, that a man should speak it upon his knees, for as it is in some realmes, men attempt nothing against law, but they must do it with a rope about their necks: so that he that goeth about to attempt any thing against a decree, he doth it with a rope of the king's censure about his neck: but mark the carriage of this man, how insolently he proceeds in this case! First, for the king, as hath been well observed, he saith, assurgat Rex ;' as if he should bid the king arise and take revenge. Therefore for the Decree, he saith, that the foundation of it came from hell: if that be so, then this sentence must needs be hellish, when he falls upon a poor man, the master of the rolls: I call him poor man, because he is not living to answer for himself, but yet he was a worthy minister of justice, (for I had much cause to know him) and he was of as much dexterity and integrity, as ever man that sat in his place, and I believe the chancery will find want of such a man. But not content with this, he scorus my lord-chancellor's courtesies, and carries himself, as if he would trample all under foot. So much for the manner: as for the matter, it is odious: the person with whom he hath to do, is the principal officer and magistrate of justice in the kingdom, one that hath the nomination of all the justices of peace, and the principal that names all the sheriffs: one that keeps and carries the seal, and sits chief judge in this court, and sole judge in the chancery.And shall we think that this man is bought and. sold to corruption, to injustice, to murder? What more tends to the king's dishonour, than that he should place in the judicature such an unworthy man? a man infinitely the more wronged, because he deserves his place, as well as any man that went before him: and yet his last predecessor was very excellent, and deserved no small commendations. But Wraynham I condemn, as a man barbarous both toward the living and the dead: wherefore, there is a justice and tribute due to the master of the rolls deceased. I would have mention made of it in the decree, and with that addition to the sentence, I concur in all things with the president of the court. Sir Edward Mountague, Lord Chief-Justice. My lords, it is a true saying, Judicium non redditur nisi in invitum.' For I yet never saw any man sit down satisfied with a sentence that went against him. I would not so far have blamed Wraynham as to have censured him for complaining to the king: yet this restraint I find in law, which any man may see in king Edgar's law. "Let no man complain to the king in inatters of variance, except he connot have right at home, or that right be too heavy for him. Then let him complain to the king." Whereby it is meant, that if the laws be so strict, he shall complain in a court of equity to the king himself. Then, to complain is not denied to any man, for all justice comes from the king, and though he distribute his justice to be ministered in several courts, yet the primitive power resides still in his person. Therefore, to the justice of his majesty may any subject have resort: but this must be humbly as a petitioner, not as Mr. Wraynham hath done here, who is not a suitor, but a censurer : and doth not complain, but proudly rails upɔn a high judge. Can you, Mr. Wraynham, charge your judge with corruption, through fear or affection? (for I make them both alike ;) Spare not the chief judge nor highest counsellor: I say, spare us not, whenever you can take us. a But judgment is pronounced from the sincerity of our consciences, and warranted, by our judgment and learning: shall we then undergo the censure of every suitor? No state, at no time, ever suffered this.--My lords, it lies upon us Judges as a duty, to restrain this boldness: our places as Judges, give us no privilege to do what we list, nor have suitors liberty to speak as they list of judges: God, and order, hath set bounds to both. For the matter heretofore handled in the be spoken of a Lord-Chancellor, to be offered Chancery, it is not a work of this day to to a king. And, my Lords, this man's fault deal with that; we meddle not with your goeth one step higher, touching the person of Decrees, we censure you only for your scan- majesty itself. I am a judge of crown-matters; dals. I saw in your Book a smooth pen, and in this libel, I think he hath scandalized and from your tongue I have heard fair the king in four things: First, he saith, The speeches; but in both I see a fiery spirit. Forking is but a man, and so may err;' implying you would raise up dissention between the two Lord-Keepers of the king's conscience, him that now is, and him that was, and now is, with God: of these two worthies I shall not say much; I will neither wrong the dead, nor flatter the living. The matter of difference, for any thing I can see, or you can say, is but an order against an order, wherein judginent may be varied by occasions, and through circumstances: true attributes are no flatteries. This honour let me give to these two great men of greater parts, better fitted for that place, never sat in this place: nay, a man may truly say, that the world hath scarce yielded two such men of so excellent gifts, in ths latter age of the world. 4 But you, Mr. Wraynham, wronged both the living and the dead. Of the Master of the Rolls, that is dead, you spake your pleasure: but all that hear you, and know him, will be - ready to give you the lye. You say that he❘ should omit some of the proofs, and wrest othersome, and ground himself upon witnesses that swore impossibilities, and absurdities, &c. Whoever knew that man, knows him to be a true reporter, and a judicious collector upon proofs, as ever was. I will not dissemble what others thought a fault in him, to be over-swift in judging but this was the error of his greater experience, and riper judgment, than others had. Now, for my Lord-Chancellor, by the words you use, you lay four of the greatest crimes upon him, that can be laid upon a judge: Presumption, Oppression, Falsity, and Injustice: all these you utter, with one breath, charging him with all in one sentence: for you say, Height of authority makes great men presume: there is presumption and oppression. And in these words, Ile that judges unjustly, must, to maintain it, speak untruly:' there you accuse him of falsity and injustice. Ex ore tuo te judico, serve nequam.' For in your book you say, Let me suffer as a traitor, if all that I say prove not an entire truth, if I should dare to slander so great a judge to so wise a king.' Therefore, out of your own mouth I pronounce sentence against you, læse majestātis; and though not as a traitor, yet as a great scandalizer. And if all were true that is said in your book, yet would I cen-ure you for your quarrel with my Lord-Chancellor for form; and yet yourself use no form, no, n ́t common civility. So that if it were again-t a common man, it were punishable, to offer such words to the eye of a King, as here you give to my LordChancellor, calling him a rewarder of frauds and perjuries, an afflicter of the afflicted, a racker of things out of joint, a confounder of your estate, and the like. These are not words fitting a Petitioner, to an error in the king. Secondly, That my Lord-Chancellor defends himself by secret means, and that you are not called to answer.' Than which, what greater tax unto so high a majesty, to condemn and not to hear! Thirdly, That my Lord-Chancellor doth cover his injustice with wit and eloquence.' When we all know, that we have a sovereign of those high and excellent gifts, that it is not rhetorick, or eloquence, that can cast dust in the king's eyes, or cause him any ways to turn aside from justice. Lastly, you say, 'That a man may distaste truth, and suspect judgment;' applying it unto his majesty. Which offences reaching so high, my censure shall be the heavier upon you. Now it will rest, what shall be done with this man? As I give my sentence from his own mouth, so I will take advice from himself; he saith, State super viis antiquis,' Look what our ancestors have done of old, so let us do. In this then, you shall see what they did in like cases.-Mich. 13. of the queen, Rot. 39. Henry Blaunsford, a counsellor at law, was committed to the Fleet, and fined for false reporting the opinion of the lord Leicester, and secretary Cecil, with these words, Humanum est errare.' So likewise, 19 Ilen. 8. my lord Stourton was committed by the court, and fined, for saying these words, I am sorry to see rhetorick rule where law should.'-Sir Rowland Flaxing was committed, and fined, for reporting to the king, "That he could have no indifferency before the lords of the council: For which he was deeply fined, 7 Feb. 18 H. 8.-So likewise, in the time of Hen. 7 sir R. Terres was committed, fined, sent to the pillory, and adjudged to lose both his ears for his slanderous complaint exhibited to the king in a written Book; and that against the chief-justice Fitz-James: the punishment of him that depraved the good judge sir James Dyer, is fresh in memory. So that party which said judge Carlyne was an unjust judge, 8 Eiz. Rot. 10. whose name was Thomas Welch, of London, who was indicted in the King's-Bench for this as for an offence against the commonlaw. His 'words that were delivered, were these: My Lord-Chief-Justice Catlyne is incons:d a_ainst me, I cannot have justice, nor can be heard; for that court now is made a court of conscience.' This Indictment was found, and the record was, that it was in magnum contempt. Dominæ Reginæ ac cur' suæ, ac in inagn' scandalum, ac ignominian legis Angliæ, ac in scandalum cap talis just. ac in malum exemplum omnium subdit rum,' So it is that this offence of Wrayohm's is against the law, the commonwealth, and the justice of the kingdom'; and therefore, according to the last judgment in law, and with the sentence that was pronounced against Foorth, |