These Cities and Vills were under the Protection of King Edgar and Edward the Confessor, before the Norman Conquest; and these Easterlings in Ancient Record are called Ostmanni: And therefore when H. 2. upon the first Conquest, after their Apostacy, thought fit to People those Cities and Vills with English Colonies drawn from Exeter, Bristol and Chester, &c. he assigned to them a certain Proportion of Land, next adjoining to each of those Cities: Which Portion, is called in the Records in Ancient Time, Cantreda Ostmannorum. Davis 25. says further that Ireland is a Member of England, & Inhabitantes ibidem legibus Angliæ subjiciuntur & utuntur.
In the Statute of Faculties, 28 Hen. 8. cap. 19. 'tis mentioned to be the King's Land of Ireland, and that this the King's Land of Ireland is a Member Appendant, and rightfully belonging to the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England, and united to the same. And in the 33 H. 8. cap. 1. by which the Stile and Title of King of Ireland was given to H. 8. his Heirs and Successors, 'tis further Enacted, that the King shall enjoy this Stile and Title, and all other Royal Preeminences, Prerogatives and Dignities, as united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of England.
Nay, It may be compared to a County Palatine, created by the King of England; for Davis 62. speaking of that, he says, that a County Palatine hath in it Jura regalia, which consists in Royal Jurisdiction and Royal Seignory. By the first, it hath all its High Courts and Officers of Justice which the King hath; and by the latter, it hath Royal Services and Royal Escheats, as the King hath: And therefore in some Respects, 'tis separated and disjoined from the Crown, as is Plow. 215. yet 'tis subordinate and dependant. Though it be said, that breve Dom' Regis non Currit there, yet the Writ of Error, which is the dernier Resort, and in like Manner an Appeal, is excepted out of their Charters. So is Dyer 321. and 345. 34 H. 6. 42. and it would be excepted, if it were not so expressed. For to have the ultimate Judgment, is that which the King cannot grant; for such Grant would (if allowed) alter [80] the fundamental Constitution of the Realm. So, in Ireland, which is a Realm of it self, as Consisting of many Counties, Erroneous Judgments given in the chief Place there shall be reversed in the King's Bench in England. Davis quotes Bracton, lib. 3. tit' Coron', cap. 8. that Comites Palatini habent regalem jurisdictionem in omnibus, Salvo Dominio Regi sicut principi; so that by his Opinion, they are much the same: And no Man will deny, but that in all Proceedings in Law or Equity, the last Resort is to the Parliament of England. There it is that the King's supreme Authority is exercised.
It must not be said to be a conquered Country, for the Earl of Strafford's sake, though Coke and Vaughan have affirmed it so: But it may be called a Plantation or Colony, dependant upon England, and to many Purposes Parcel of it. This hath not only the same Person for their King, but 'tis under the Crown and Government of England: There must be in all these Cases a Superiority or Superintendency over inferior Dominions, for otherwise, (as Vaughan puts it, 401.) the Law appointed or permitted to such Places might be insensibly changed within it self, without the Assent of the Dominion Superiour. And, 2, Judgments or Decrees might be there made or given to the Disadvantage or of lessening that Superiority: Which cannot be reasonable; or to make the Superiority to be only in the King, not in the Crown of England, (as King Jac. 1. would have it, and consulted Selden upon the Point.)
Now, though the Writ of Error be only mentioned, yet the same Reason holds to both. And the true Cause, why we have not so many ancient Precedents of Equity Cases as of Law ones, is, for that in ancient Time the Equity Courts were not so high, meddled with few Matters, and in a Summary way: But since their Authority is so advanced, and their Jurisdiction so enlarged, that most Questions of Property are become determinable there, and almost every Suit begins or Ends with them, to the intire Subversion of the old Common Law; it is and must now be reasonable to have the Examination of their final Sentences in the Parliament of England as well as of the other.
Suppose Non-residence in Ireland should be pretended a Forfeiture of the Estate to the next Remainder Man or to the King: Can it be safe for to intrust
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