Sec. 246. Law no respecter of persons.

"King. Happy am I, that have a man so bold,
That dares do justice on my proper son:
And not less happy having such a son,
That would deliver up his greatness so,
Into the hands of justice."

These lines have reference to the impartial enforcement. of the laws without respect to persons, although the person against whom the law is enforced shall be the son of a king. This quotation of the words of the King's father, shows that the King himself, realized the necessity of a strict and impartial enforcement of the laws for the protection of his own rights.

Justice, being in itself, confined to things simply good or evil, in its enforcement each man must take such proportion as he ought to take, regardless of the person upon whom the law operates, for in no other way can distributive justice operate, in the distribution of rewards or punishments according to the merits of each person, without inequality or partiality.2

of this king, for, according to the version of the story commonly given in history, the offence, that of striking a judge, was committed by the prince, and nobly attoned for by the king, seeing that on his accession he received with marked respect the judgeChief Justice Gascoigne-whom he is said to have struck." (III Reeve's History, Eng. Law, p. 458.) And this is as the Poet presents it.

King Henry V directs the duke of Exeter: "K. Hen. Uncle of Exeter, enlarge the man committed yesterday, that rail'd against our person." (Act II, Scene II.)

Gloster was committed, in 2' Henry VI, as follows: "Suff. .. I do arrest you, in his highness name; and here commit you to my lord cardinal to keep, until your further time of trial." (Act III, Scene II.)

Gardiner tells Cranmer, in King Henry VIII, in the Council Chamber: "Gar. . . 'Tis his highness pleasure, And our consent, for better trial of you, From hence, you be committed to the Tower." (Act V, Scene II.)

12' Henry IV, Act V, Scene II.

22 Coke, 2' Inst., 56; Touillier, Droit, Civ. Fr. tit. prel. n. 5.

Sec. 247. Falstaff's commitment to prison.-
"Ch. Jus. Go carry Sir John Falstaff to the Fleet.
Take all his company along with him."1

This is the Chief Justice's sentence against the "Fat Knight," that he be taken and incarcerated in the Fleet street prison, which takes its name from the river Fleet, that flows by it, and upon which a gate of the prison opened. The Fleet Prison was first used by those who were condemned by the Star Chamber, but it was used before its destruction, as a prison for all kinds of offenders.3

12' Henry IV, Act V, Scene V.

'Rolfe's 2' Henry IV, pp. 254, 255,

Ante idem.

Sec. 248.

249.

CHAPTER XX.

"KING HENRY THE FIFTH."

Seditious and insurrectionary bills.

Bills against Ecclesiastics.

250. Henry the Fifth's favor toward Ecclesiastics.

251. Salic Law and Henry the Fifth's Claim to France. Lex terra salica explained.

252.

261.

Respondeat superior not applicable to King and subject. 262. Bearing testimony.

263. Martial Law.

Sec. 248. Seditious and insurrectionary bills.

"Cant. My lord, I'll tell you,-that self bill is urg'd,
Which, in the eleventh year o' the last king's reign,
Was like, and had indeed against us passed,
But that the scrambling and unquiet time

Did push it out of further question."

This has reference to the attempt, on the part of those called heretics or Lollards, to stir up an insurrection against the established church, by laws forbidding the holding of lands and property by the church. Certain sectaries, during the reign of Henry IV, held language of the most extreme character and "described an established church as unlawful and told the people not to pay their tithes." The lords and commons presented a petition to the king, stating that the secretaries excited the

1 Henry V, Act I, Scene I.

III Reeve's History Eng. Law, p. 426.

people to take away the possessions of the church, of which the clergy were as assuredly endowed, as the temporal lords were of their inheritances and that if these evil purposes were not resisted, they would move the people to take away the property of the latter and have all things in common, to the open commotion of the people and the subversion of the realm.1

Sec. 249. Bills against ecclesiastics.

"Cant.

If it pass against us,

We lose the better half of our possession;

For all the temporal lands, which men devout
By testament have given to the church,

Would they strip from us; being valued thus,-
As much as would maintain, to the king's honour,
Full fifteen earls, and fifteen hundred knights;
Six thousand and two hundred good esquires;
And, to relief of lazars, and weak age,
Of indigent faint souls, past corporal toil,
A hundred alms houses, right well supplied;
And to the coffers of the king beside,

A thousand pound by the year; thus runs the bill."

The growing devices practiced by ecclesiastics for the enlargement of the domains of the church, which originally led to the enactment of the statute of mortmain and the later statute (15 Richard II, c. V) preventing the purchase of lands, for the use of the church, by lay cor

'III Rot. Parl. fol. 583; III Reeve's History Eng. Law, p. 427.

The bill referred to, led to the passage of an act, of which Mr. Reeves said: "The meeting of heretics in their conventicles and schools are stigmatized in this act with the name of confederacies to stir up sedition and insurrection; the very pretence that had been made use of by the Romans against the primitive Christians, and which had been adopted by the Romish church ever since, to suppress all opposition to inquiry into its errors." III Reeve's History English Law, p. 426.

2 Henry V, Act I, Scene I.

3 III Reeve's History Eng. Law, 365.

porations, or others, for its benefit, led to the agitation and attempt to enact into statutory law, other edicts to limit the growing covetousness of the church, during the reign of Henry V. During this period parliament was apprehensive not only of heresy, but of communism, revolution and spoilation.

An open revolt was threatened, about the time to which the Archbishop addresses himself, and the commons, in their address to the king, stated that "the insurgents attempted to destroy the faith, the king, the temporal and spiritual power and all manner of policy and law;" to which the king replied, that "they meant to destroy him, and the lords, to confiscate the possessions of the church, to secularize the religious orders, to divide the realm into confederate districts and to appoint a president of the commonwealth."1

Sec. 250. Henry V's favor toward ecclesiastics.—

"Ely. But what prevention?

Cant. The king is full of grace and fair regard.
Ely. And a true lover of the holy church."2

These lines indicate an accurate knowledge, by the Poet, of the history of the legislation favorable to the ecclesiastics, during the early period of the reign of Henry V, as detailed by the histories of the statutes of this reign. Speaking of these acts, Reeves said: "The whole secular power seems, at the beginning of this reign, to have been made subservient to the ends of the prelates in suppressing

1

Wols, 385; Rot. Parl. iv, 24; Rym, ix, 89, 193; III Reeve's History Eng. Law, p. 427.

It was the belief of this age that revolution was threatened and the statutes passed at this period, against the Lollards and heretics, were not the result of the agitation of the clergy alone, but also of the nobility and commonalty of the realm. (See, 2' Henry V, st. 1, c. vii.)

2 Henry V, Act I, Scene I.