Page:The Laws and Acts of Parliament of Scotland.djvu/684

This page needs to be proofread.

no ACT refcindine two ACTS. the honour , freedom and gravity of Parliaments , to all former praclifes , and to the rules of common Juftice ; every man , even thefe of the greater! merit , being thereby rendered unfecure of their honour, eftates, liberties and lives; his Majefties Officers of State and thofe 'of heareft. relation to him, being expofed to infamy and ruine . to be , by colour of his Authority withoufHis knowledge , torn from Him-, and his Royal Prerogative, in the choife of his' Chancellors and fervants, aflerted in this prefent Par- liament, violated and made contemptible , and all his Majefties good Subjects made lyable to cenfures, without being accufed , heard, or legally condemned. In regard of all which, Our Soveraign Lord, with confent, and by fpecial advice of his Eftates in Parliament, Doth* hereby Refcind andAnnuiltwo Ads paft in thelaft Seffion of this Parliament on the ninth of September , one thoufand, fix hundred, and fixty two; the one intituled, Kcl appointing tBe manner of voting by Billets, and die other Enti- tuled , Aft concerning perfons to be excepted from public k Trusl, together with the Claufes relating thereto in the KB of Indempnity and in the cAEi of Fines; and Declares the faids two Acts, with the Claufes aforefaids relating thereto, to have been from the beginning, to be now, and in all time coming, void and null; and Ordains the fame to be expunged and razed out of the Records. Likeas accordingly, the faids principal Acts being called for and prefented in Parliament , were publickly torn and deftroyed; and the Act of Indempnity and Aft for Fines, 'with the Records of the minutes of Par- liament being alfo called for, the Claufes contained therein, relating to the excepting of perfons from publick Truft, and the voting of it by Billets , were expunged out of the fame: And the Clerk-Re- gifter is hereby Ordained to take care, that from henceforth the Act of Indempnity and Act for Fines be extracted and recorded according to thefe amendments, and that any extracts already given out, be void and null , as to the Claufes thus amended. Likeas Our Soveraign Lord , to evidence His juft diflike of fo pernicious a courfe, Doth with advice and confent forefaid, Difcharge all voting by Billets for the future. And forafmuch, as the Parliament," in obedience to His Majesties Commands, did tranfmit to His Majefty, the originall Depofitions of thofe who were examined, concerning this whole bufinefs, to the end he might declare his further pleafure ; his Majefty Declares , that having taken all that relates t© thebufinefi of Billeting into ferious confideration, He will, in convenient time, make known His pleafure " therein. f I N I THE