and sealed by the Judges according to Law. And the Petitioner's Counsel, relying upon the said Act of Parliament as sufficient Proof of the King's Right, duly tendred a Bill of Exceptions before Judgment in the Assize, which the Judges upon the Trial said they would Seal, yet when tendred to them in Court before Judgment, would not Seal the same. Thereupon Judgment was entred against the Petitioner's Title in the Assize by Default of the Judges not allowing and sealing the said Bill, according to the Duty of their Office by Law; whereby they are hindred from making the Matter of the said Bill Part of the Record of the said Judgment now brought and depending before your Lordships, upon a Writ of Error in Parliament, for reversing [117] the said Judgment in the Assize; and so are precluded from having the full Benefit of the Law by the said Writ of Error, to examine, reverse and annul the said Judgment: Wherefore the Petitioners prayed that their Lordships would be pleased to order the said Judges, or some of them, to Seal the said Bill of Exceptions, to the End the said Case might (as by Law it ought) come intirely before their Lordships for Judgment, &c.
Upon reading this Petition, 'twas ordered that the Lord Chief Justice, and the rest of the Judges of the Court of King's Bench, should have Copies of the Petition, and put in their Answer thereunto in Writing on . . . . next.
At the Day appointed, there was delivered an Answer in these or the like Words:
The Answer of the three puisne Judges of the King's Bench.—These Respondents, by Protestation, not owning or allowing any of the Matters of the Petition to be True, as they are therein alledged, and saving to themselves the Benefit of all the several Statutes herein after mentioned, and all the Right they have, as Members of the Body of the Commons of England, to defend themselves upon any Trial that may be brought against them, for any Thing done contrary to their Duty, as Judges, according to the due Course of the Common Law, (which Right they hold themselves obliged to insist upon, in answer to the said Petition) think themselves bound to shew, and offer to your Lordships Consideration,
That the Petition is a Complaint against them for refusing to Seal a pretended Bill of Exceptions, contrary to a Statute in that Behalf, as the Petition pretends, without setting forth the Tenor of the said Statute, or what that pretended Bill was; whereas that Statute is the Statute of Westminster 2. cap. 31. and doth enact. That if any impleaded before any Justices, doth offer an Exception, and prays the Justices to allow the same, and they refuse so to do, the Party offering the Exception, is thereby to write it, and prays the Justices to Seal it, which they, or one of them, are thereby enjoined to do: So that if the pretended Bill was duly tendred to these Respondents, and was such as they were bound to Seal, these Respondents are answerable only for it by the Course of the Common Law, in an Action to be brought on that Statute, which ought to be tried by a Jury of Twelve honest and lawful Men of England, by the Course of the Common Law, and not in any other Manner.
[118] And the Respondents further shew, and humbly offer to your Lordships Consideration, That the Petition is a Complaint in the Nature of an Original Suit, charging those Respondents with a Crime of a very high Nature; in acting contrary to the Duty of their Office, and so altogether improper for your Lordships Examination or Consideration, not being any more triable by your Lordships than every Information or Action for Breach of any Statute Law is; all which Matters are by the Common Law, and Justice of the Land, of Common Right to be tried by a Jury.
And the Petition is wholly of a new Nature, and without any Example or Precedent, being to compel Judges, who are by the Law of the Land to act according to their own Judgments, without any Constraint or Compulsion whatsoever; and trenches upon all Men's Rights and Liberties, tending manifestly to destroy all Trials by Jury.
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