January 1642/3
[21 January, 1642/3.]
The Lords and Commons, having taken into their serious
Consideration a Proclamation dated at Oxon, the 27th of
December last, for the adjourning of the Court of Chancery, the
Court of Wards and Liveries, the Dutchy of Lancaster, the Court
of Requests, the Receipt of His Majesty's Exchequer, and of the
First Fruits and Tenths, from the City of Westm'r, unto the City
of Oxon, and for adjourning the Courts of King's Bench, Common
Pleas, and Exchequer, unto the Return Crastino Purificationis,
found it to tend much to the Prejudice of the Commonwealth.
to remove the said Courts and Receipts to Oxon, where the Body
of an Army, raised against the Parliament and the Authority
thereof, now resides; and therefore, in Performance of their
Duty, and Trust reposed in them by the Kingdom whom they
represent, did exhibit their humble Advice and Petition to His
Majesty, with the Reasons inducing them thereunto, to revoke
the said Proclamation, and with all Humility desire that the
said Courts and Receipts might be kept at their several usual
Places and Times, and not at Oxon. But His Majesty, giving
still more Credit to the Suggestions of those wicked and malignant Persons that yet encompass Him than to His Highest and
most Faithful Counsel, returned His Negative Answer, and
expressly denied to repeal His Proclamation: Now the Lords
and Commons, clearly discovering the great Inconveniency and
Mischiefs that necessarily must happen to His Majesty's most
faithful and best-affected Subjects, in Case those Courts
and Receipts be removed to Oxon, where such of
them as have Occasion to attend, cannot with any Safety to
their Persons or Estates repair, His Majesty having in Effect
declared all Persons that have contributed any Thing in Aid or
Defence of the Parliament and the Privileges thereof to be guilty
of High Treason; and, in Pursuance thereof, by the Force and
Power of the Army there remaining, have seized upon many of
their Persons, where they are detained Prisoners, and some proceeded against as Traitors, having nothing laid to their Charge
but their assisting the Parliament, and opposing that Army
raised to destroy it and the Kingdom; and finding that divers,
both Judges and others, whose Attendance upon the said Courts
and Receipts will be necessary, consist of Persons that are Members and Assistants to both Houses of Parliament, whose Presence at this Time cannot be spared; and that, if the Records
necessary to be used in the said Courts should be removed from
the usual Places towards Oxon, in a Time when Two Armies are
residing near thereabouts, it would endanger the Miscarriage of
them, which might ruin many of His Majesty's Subjects, whose
Estates depend thereupon; and that so long a Distance between
the said Courts of Law and Equity, which have necessary
Dependance one upon another, would prove exceeding prejudicial
to many; thought it their Duty, in Discharge of the Trust reposed in them by the Commonwealth, as much as in them lieth,
to prevent the said Inconveniencies; and therefore do hereby
Declare and Order, That no Judge, Minister, or other Person
belonging to any of the said Courts or Receipts, shall repair to
the said City of Oxon, or do or execute any Thing belonging to
their said Offices and Employments, but in the Places usual for
the doing and executing thereof; and that no Member of, or
Assistant to, any of the two Houses of Parliament, that have any
Place, Office, or Employment, about any of the said Courts or
Receipts, shall presume to depart from their Attendance upon
the Parliament, without the special Leave of that House whereof
they are Members or Assistants; and that no Person shall
remove, or cause to be Removed, any Records or Writings of any
the said Courts or receipts, to or towards the City of Oxon: And
the Lords and Commons do Declare, That, if any Person shall
disobey this Order, they will proceed against them as wilful
Contemners of the Authority of Parliament, and Disturbers of
the Peace of the Kingdom: And it is further Declared and
Ordered, by the said Lords and Commons, That no Judgement, Decree, Order, and Proceedings whatsoever, that shall
be given, made, or had, by or in any of the said Courts or
Receipts, out of the usual Places where the said Courts and
Receipts have been accustomed to be held and kept, shall
bind any Person that shall or may be concerned therein,
without his own voluntary Consent; and that the said Lords
and Commons will, by the Authority of both Houses of Parliament, protect and keep indemnified all Judges, Officers, and
other Persons, from any Danger or Inconvenience that may or
can happen to them, for yielding Obedience to this Ordinance.