Reasons against erecting a court of conscience within the city and liberty of Westminster This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A58221 of text R217780 in the English Short Title Catalog. Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 4KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 2 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2018 A58221 Wing R466B ESTC R217780 99829423

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 Early English books online text creation partnership. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 2, no. A58221) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 33862) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1979:02) Reasons against erecting a court of conscience within the city and liberty of Westminster 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [London : 1685?] Imprint from Wing. With a docket title. Reproduction of the original in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.

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 eng Westminster (London, England) -- Early works to 1800. eebo Reasons against erecting a court of conscience within the city and liberty of Westminster. n/a 1685 2 608 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A This text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2014-06 Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2014-08 Sampled and proofread 2014-08 Text and markup reviewed and edited 2015-03 Batch review (QC) and XML conversion
REASONS against Erecting a Court of Conscience within the City and Liberty of Westminster .

THIS Bill speciously names Artificers and Labourers , but goes on to subject all Persons of what Degree or Quality soever , to a Commitment without Bail or Mainprise , upon his Servants , Shooemakers , or other Tradesman , or even any Hackney-Coachman , Chairman , or Porter's own Oath , if he do not immediately pay whatever he swears to , or if he do not appear upon their summoning of him . And as the Nobility and Gentry are more numerous in this City of Westminster , than in any other Place in the Kingdom , it must needs be thought the most unfit and dangerous Place for such a Court of Conscience .

It is observable , That this intended Court of Conscience , pretending to give Ease to the Subject , doth indeed take away the Difficulty of finding Bail , but the Remedy is worse than the Grievance , for it makes the mean Process like an Execution , a Commitment without Bail or Mainprise , which is a Severity not known at the Common-Law , in any Case before Judgment , except in Capital Offences , and yet a Court of Conscience must be Useless without it .

In the County Courts , and Courts Baron , there is no Process which touches the Body ; the First Process is a Summons , and afterwards only Distress by his Goods . There is an Ancient Court of this Nature , within the Liberty of Westminster , where Remedy for Debts , under 40 s . in this way of Proceeding is afforded without Arrests , which is Humbly Conceived to be an Easier way of Proceeding for the Subject in such small Causes , than the Trusting to such an Arbitrary Power , as must be reposed in the intended commissioners of this Court of Conscience ; besides the unforeseen Hardships , that must and do constantly attend such Innovated Judicatures , which Infringe upon the Common-Laws of this Kingdom , so long , and so happily enjoyed by the People .

If a Court of Conscience be of that great Use and Benefit , as is pretended , why should it not be generally establish'd in every County , City , and Corporation in England ? This possibly is not Attempted , because it would have made all People look farther into it , when it was like to be brought so near Home , and have destroyed the Particular Interests of the Managers of this Bill .

'T is Evident in Trials by Juries , ( Notwithstanding the great Care of the Judges , and the strict Examinations by the Counsel , who do very often detect Perjuries , tho' very closely concealed ) that Perjuries are too frequently committed , and that such Perjuries , when discovered , appear to be by the Subornation of the Party ; much greater Hazard must necessarily follow by admitting such Parties to put those Perjuries in Practice themselves , which at this time they meet with so much Difficulty to do , by the present Constitutions of Trials at Law , where by the Ancient Wisdom of our Laws for the Presumption of a Man's being Byassed by his own Interest , 't is a known and constant Reason to reject any Man's Evidence , if the Matter he is to Prove doth appear to tend to his own Advantage .

REASONS Against Erecting A Court of Conscience WITHIN The City and Liberty of Westminster .