nomine nostro in premissis. In cujus rei Testimonium has Litteras Nostras fieri fecimus patentes. Teste meipso apud West
m̄ vicesimo septimo Januarii Anno Regni nostri 38°.—As by the same Commission affyled unto the said Bill more playnely also appeareth: By virtue of which Commission and at the Commandment of the said Commissioners in the Absence of the said late King there was entered in the hedd of the said Bill these Words following, viz. “Soit fait come il est desire:” And forasmuch, most gracious Sovereign Lady, as the Offence wherewith your said Suppliant and Subject was charged and whereof he was indited was for bearing of Arms which he and his Ancestors heretofore of long Time and Continuance had borne, as well within this Realm as without, and as well also in the Presence of the said late King as in the
p͛sence of divers of his
ꝓgenitors, [&c:] And forasmuch also as the said late King departed from this transient World in the Night next following after that the said Commission doth bear Date; and that by the Words contained in the said Commission it appeareth that the said late King did appoint the said Commissioners to give His Majesty’s Royal Assent to the said Bill, having no Words in the same whereby it may appear that the said late King did himself give his Royal Assent to the said Bill, and for that also the said Commission was not signed with his Highness’ Hand, but with his Stamp, put thereunto in the nether Part of the Writing of the said Commission, and not in the upper Part of the said Commission as His Highness was accustomed to do; nor that it appeareth of any Record that the said Commissioners did give his Royal Assent to the Bill aforesaid; therefore all that was done by virtue of the said Commission by the said Commissioners concerning the giving of the said late King’s Royal Assent and Consent was clearly void in the Law, and made not the same Bill to take effect or to be an Act of Parliament, nor Your Grace’s said Subject thereby is not nor yet standeth as a Man attainted in the Law: All which notwithstanding, divers and sundry
ꝑsons, taking Occasion by the Colour of the said Bill so assented unto as is aforesaid, do publish, say, and affirm, that Your Highness’ said Subject and Suppliant standeth and remaineth attainted of High Treason, to his great Slander, Infamy, and Disherison: and over that the said Persons by sinister Means and Practices have obtained certain Exemplifications under Your Highness’ Greate Seal of England to be made, of the said Bill only, as a Bill fully assented unto, as well by the said late King as by the Lords and Commons in the said Parliament assembled, making no mention in the said Exemplification of the same Commission (altho’ the same be affiled and annexed unto the same Bill, and made as Parcel of the Record and a Demonstration of the whole Truth of the Matter) nor of any the Circumstances thereof: By the Means whereof, and other such like Practices, which the Persons aforesaid do not cease daily to attempt, altho’ the said Bill remaineth in very Deed as no Act of Parliament, but as a Bill only exhibited in the said Parliament, and only assented unto by the said Lords and Commons, and not by the said late King, for the Considerations aforesaid, yet the same might happen hereafter by reason of the said Exemplifications, and such like untrue Practices, to be taken for a good and perfect Act, contrary to all Truth, whereby your said Suppliant and his Posterity may be hereafter in some Peril and Danger to be disinherited and shall be the less able to serve Your Highness and this Realm, if some convenient Remedy for the same, in this Time that the said untrue Practices do rise and manifestly appear in the Conscience and Knowledge of them that be now living, be not therefore had and declared by Authority of Parliament: For the true and perfect Declaration whereof it may please Your Highness that it be declared by the Authority of this present Parliament, That the Law of this Realm is and always hath been that the Royal Assent or Consent of the King or Kings of this Realm to any Act of Parliament ought to be given in his own Royal Presence, being personally present in the Higher House of the Parliament, or by his Letters Patent under his Great Seal, assigned with his Hand, and declared and notified in his Absence to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled together in the Higher House, according to the Statute made in the xxxiij
d Year of the Reign of the said late King Henry the Eighth in that Case ordained and provided
[1]; and that the said pretended Act, whereby it is supposed your said Suppliant to be attainted, is by the common Laws of this your Realm void and of none Effect, and by the Authority abovesaid shall be taken, adjudged, and deemed, to be no Act of Parliament, and that it never took any Effect as an Act of Parliament, and that the same, by the Authority of this Act, to all Intents and Purposes, is and shall be of no Value or Effect, for the Causes aforesaid.
And be it further enacted, that all and singular Exemplifications heretofore had, made, obtained, or exemplified, at the Suit, Request, or Petition of any Person or Persons, or hereafter to be made, had, or exemplified, under the Great Seal of England, of the Tenor of the said pretended Act, and wherein no Mention is or shall be contained or made of the Tenor of the said Commission and of the Entry of the Words of the Royal Assent entered by Authority of the said Commission, shall be utterlie void and of none Effect, and shall not be pleadable or answerable in any Court or Courts of Your Highness, Your Heirs or Successors, or elsewhere.
Anno 1 Car. I. – In the Parliament Office all the Acts of this Session, nine in Number, are fastened together by means of a Label passed through the Bottom of all the several Rolls and Sheets of Parchment on which the Acts are respectively written, and also through the Bottom of the Commission for giving the Royal Assent. Attached to this Label is the Great Seal; and the Grant of the Subsidy by the Clergy in Convocation is also authenticated by the Seal of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Attestation of a Notary Public. The Acts are in separate Rolls or Sheets of Parchment, but are united by Means of the Commission and the Label thereto. They are written very badly, except that for the Subsidy of the Clergy, and have many Erasures, Interlineations, and Riders. On the Roll of this Session in Chancery, which appears to have been made up with great Care and Accuracy, the Commission is entered at length, and the Acts are very fairly engrossed. The Roll is signed H. Elsynge; but without any Words or Form of Certificate.
