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Show l 9l the Commiflions or the Judges, but wholly from m (inflation/,7, or Co Low; and therefore to deny the l..awflzlnefs of their (lollllllVlll‘NlS, cannor, confident either with Truth or Reafon, be called n Dental (f the Hang {if [/56 Supremn Court. q 19. Theleentlemen havebeenfounhappy, as either to have no Precedent to warrant theirProceedings, or, only fuch as are taken from the worll of Men, in the word of Times. The Bilhop of London's Exception, or Plea to theJurifdicé'tion of the High Commiflion Court, was indeed rejeéletl and eoni'lenmezl un‘ heard: The Vice Chancellor of Cambridge was fufpended from his Oliice, q 17. Now the Exceptions deny only the Legality Of‘tl‘te Judfzes Commit". and the Difioleafure of the Court is afligned as a Rmfon of that Sentence. Doctor fions, and neither afiirm or deny any Thtnfz, w1th relpec‘t to the Supream Court. But both fpecial Matter pleaded, and the Conclulioii, are exprefs to that Commillion, whereof Hearing was given, as wtll appear to any one that reads them. We inlilled, that the Exceptions didnot deny the bins of the Fairfax, a Fellow of a Collcdge' at Oxford, .for vim ooce (not by Council) difputing the Authority of the High Commiflioners, boldly to their Faces in Court, was firfl fufpended, and afterwards When no, Arts or Threats, in publick or private, could perfwade or force him to fubniit to their Authority, they [hue/i out his Nome from among the Fellow: of the Fol/edge, and gave this for Supream Court, at theTimethat the Order was publilhed, and tho' Mail/1 .L/L'lt't'? was pleafed then to acknowledge (with great Truth) That the Court might well exill, tho' the Commillions of the Judges Were unlawful ‘, yet when we prayed, that the Order might be amended in that Point, out Reqnell was not granted, but the Order was lhlfered to remain as it had been cntted. \‘i'liicli Conduct in thefe Gentlemen, lirlt in declaring that the Exception (e'llt't'tl the firing of the .S‘n/n'enni Court, when it ri'itl not, and making it a Ground of to lbvereaSentence, and afterwards, when this Matter was Objec‘led to them, and it was admitted, 'l‘liat the COurt might exilt, tho' all the Com- millions were unlawful (which of it felf plainly implys, that the Denial of the Legality of the Coniiiiitlions, was no Deniol a," the Being of the Sit/)t'eomConrt) we lay, after all this, {till to continue that plainly repugnant to Truth, as a Reafon of their Sentence, Sumcllion, fo carries with it a more heavy Imputation, than we wilh we had Occafion to talte Notice of: it 18. Again, in the next place, we Would humbly allt, whether any Thing can be more Arbitrary, than thefe Csntlenien's pretending to make the Nonacation of their Inf/i/eofztre to be the Rule of our Conduit P ls not, or rather, ought not the Law to be the only Rule of their and our Duty ? Indeed, had they received their Commillions from the French King, who alligns no other Reafon s for his Mandates, Writs, or Commands, than, (for re] ell notre Ploi/[i-,or for fm‘h is our Pleofm'e‘, they might in this Point have been excul‘c d liy the Example of their Mallet, and the Arbitrarinefs of his Government. But for Judges,_ pretending to act by Commillion from the Kingr of Great Britain, who could give no Author ity, but to ac‘t according to Law, and who themfe lves were, or ought to have been fworn, to judge accordi ng: to that Rule ,for them, we fay, to fet up their Pleofure or Difpleofm'e, as a Rule of Conduct, in the Supream Court of Common Law in this Countr y, and avowedly to make that any part of the Reafon of lb fevere a Sentence, we believe is not to be paralleled by one Example within the Brit/"fl; Domini ons, unlefs in fuch Rei'zns as that of K109", fame; the fecond, and in fuch Courts as the High (‘omrrzi/fz‘on Conrt,or StrirChomber, and by fuch Judges as the cruel ‘7EFFERT‘SS, and others wliofe Names will be tranfmitted to the latell l'ot'leritiy with Infinity and Re: prOach. What can be more aftonitliin;T in a free the Seat of Julliee, executing the molt facred (:OLIDYU‘, than for Judqcs in Trult that is delegated'hy h'lan- kind, who in the Execution of their Offices, ought to be divelltetl of all Mctives CltlICI‘. from Pier/fore or le/JlEfl me, Foronr or Fear, who cannot hitlier the lcal'l Mixture of tliele, _to fway their Judgments, or influence their Determinations, wrtliout Violation oftheir Oath and facred Trull: ', for Men under fuch folemn Obligations, to do riglitt o every Man, according ?o l ,a w, for fuch Men to mako either their Flo/(furl: or Diffilcnrfit7'e, the Rule Of their Conduct l - - Iii aggritoi'iiiigiiniifl:mfg SYRETHOFE l - - - - nay, to record it in the Supreaiii . _ , t t on of fo fevere a Sentence! ----- - lt feenis to us fo lhocking as to leave no Room for an Apology l 63' to. Reafon of their f0 doing, viz. For M much as you have denyed the Authority of the Court, (17ch have refufed to obey the Bi/hop of Oxon, 6%. And thefe are the nearelt Precedents that we have hitherto found of fuch Proceedings. But he mull be a great Stranger to the Hil'tory of‘Engl/zml, who does not know how the lnjul'tice ofthefe Proceedings was refented, and what an _lnfluence they had upon the Revolution which foon followed : Yet in neither of the Cafes cited, were the Council filenced or debarred of their Praétice, for figning fuch Pleas or Exceptions. In this Point, our Judges feeni to have acted beyond Example, and have done, perhaps, what no Judge of Common Law ever ventured to do before. 1 20. Thefe Gentlemen, in that Point, we believe are truly an Original, they feem to have found out fome new Law for this Young Country, and fucli as its ancient Mother Country has never heard of: They Will not fulfer their Cotiiinitfions to be difputed or tryed, whether they are legal or. not, tho the Law requires their Commiflions to be publilhed, and the Hearing thereof given, for that very End : Indeed in this they acled not Without a Precedent -, The High Cominillion Judges, and fume Others that we could mention,_ acted in the fame Mariner. Sometime our Judges can fay, that they have their Au- thority by the Low, (fee Mr. De Loney'r Charge, 15th fforiztrzry, 1733.) But then they infill upOn it, that we thuld take their Word for it, for they will let no Man examine that Point but themfelVes. q 2 1. Is not this in confequcncc to fay, We know our Authority.» be fo good, that We are incapable of erring in that Point .3 lVe know We are‘fa Impartial, the in our own Cafe, that all the Proviflom for Appeal to fuperzour fi'uoéger, as to Us an this Point, are z'mpertinent, needlefi and ufelefi ‘, (Incl to Doubt of thzr, ‘and to £112an the Mean: of Appeal, which is the Right of the Snbjeéh from all other fudge: ( m: the dernier Refort, which We pretend not to be) is fo high a Contempt of Our Kim]:ledge, that it defirver (z Punifliment next to Death, which deprzwng (ll/111m of t e Meant of Living We know to be .3 22. Thus the Ri ht and Liberty of the Subject, _in one of Its nigfi elfen- tialqArticles, is brokegin upon -, and that Remedynwhich, by Law, is in evgry Man's Power, againft an illegal Authority, entirely taken away : For, 1 ba Commillion ilftte to try my Life, not according to the Law ofthe Land, btiilt y the Difcretion or will of my Judges, and I may not except to that Commi ioni and lhew it to be unlawful, what Security have I by the G'W" Charter, {hilt fliall not loofe my Life, but by the Verdiéh of my Peers P If a Commiflion Ifl‘ue to take away my Eflare, by the Diferetion or Eleafure ofa Court, .!f I ma}l not except to that Commilfion, and fliew it to be illegal, what Security can have of a Tryal‘ by Jury, and the Law 82f the Land ? Many fuch Comftirginl; ‘ |