Some Passages abstracted out of a book, entitled Minors no senators, being a brief discourse, proving infants under one and twenty years of age to be incapable in point of law of being elected or admitted members of the High Court of Parliament; and that election of such members are meer nullities in law. / Written by W. Prynn, Esq. Prynne, William, 1600-1669. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription B28527 of text R182238 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. 6KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2018 B28527 226317604 Wing P4084A ocn 226317604

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 Early English books online text creation partnership. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 2, no. B28527) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 202059) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books; Tract supplement ; D2:1[102]) Some Passages abstracted out of a book, entitled Minors no senators, being a brief discourse, proving infants under one and twenty years of age to be incapable in point of law of being elected or admitted members of the High Court of Parliament; and that election of such members are meer nullities in law. / Written by W. Prynn, Esq. Prynne, William, 1600-1669. Prynne, William, 1600-1669. Minors no Senators. 1 sheet ([1] p.). s.n., [London? : 1661]. Imprint suggested by Wing. Reproduction of original in the British Library.

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 eng Youth -- Political participation -- Early works to 1800. Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1660-1714 -- Early works to 1800. Broadsides -- England -- 17th century. eebo Some Passages abstracted out of a book, entitled Minors no senators, : being a brief discourse, proving infants under one and twenty years of age to b Prynne, William, 1600-1669. 1661 1 1006 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 2014-07 Sampled and proofread 2014-07 Text and markup reviewed and edited 2015-03 Batch review (QC) and XML conversion
Some Passages abstracted out of a Book , entitled Minors no Senators , being a brief Discourse , proving Infants under One and twenty years of Age to be incapable in point of Law of being Elected or Admitted Members of the High Court of PARLIAMENT ; and that the Election of such Members are Meer Nullitites in Laws . Written by W. Prynn , Esq ;

1. FOR Parliaments are Summoned to treat and consult De quibusdam arduis & urgentibus Negotiis Statuum , ac Defensione Regni , &c. and Infants for want of Judgment and Experience , are uncapable to debate and determine such grand Affairs concerning the Safety and Defence of the Kingdom .

2. The Writ describeth the quality of the Persons to be chosen , viz. Eligi facias duos Milites Gladiis Cinctos Magis Idoneos & Discretos , & de quolibet Burgo duos Burgenses de Discretioribus & Magis Sufficientibus Eligi facias .

3. There is another Clause in the Writ , describing what Persons must be Elected to be Citizens and Burgesses of Parliament , even such only Qui plenam & sufficientem potestatem pro se & Communitate Civitatum & Burgorum praedict . ad faciendum & consentiendum , &c. To consent to those things concerning the weighty Affairs of the Church and State , which shall be ordained by the Common Consent in Parliament .

4. By the Common-Law and Civil-Law , Infants have no full power to do or consent to any thing for themselves : If they Levy a Fine , or Acknowledge a Statute or Recognizance , which are matters of Record , they may avoid them during their Minorities . The like of Feoffments , Grants , Releases , made or given by Infants , are either void , or voidable .

5. And if an Infant cannot consent fully for himself , much less for others ; being unable to be an Attorney or Proxy , to assent for others in any Court of Justice , much more then in a Parliament , the supremest Court ; and therefore for the defect of such a Power , and by reason of such an improvident Election of Infant-Citizens , and Infant-Burgesses , such Elections are meerly void in Law .

6. It is also said in Littleton , That an Infant before the Age of 21 years cannot be a Bayliff , or Receiver , for want of Skill and Ability , by intendment of Law to make any Improvement or profit of Lands or Goods ; nor yet sworn at all in any Inquest as a Juror : And the Reason is , because Jurors are Judges of all matters of Fact , which Infants in the eye of the Law have no competent knowledge of , and therefore are not returned such Legales homines , as the Venire requires . Neither is an Infant capable of the Stewardship of a Mannour , much more is he incapable of being a Judg in Parliament , the supremest Court of Justice , where the most difficult Businesses , the most weighty Publick Causes are finally examined , debated and adjudged , without any further Appeal .

7. It is of very dangerous Consequence for Infants to be admitted Members , especially in these times of greatest Consultation , Action , and Danger . For first , if any one Infant may de Jure be a Member of Parliament ; then by consequence a second , third , and so in infinitum , till the House be filled with such . For surely , if one Infant be capable of being a Member , then another as well as he : And if an Infant of twenty years , then of twelve , ten , or less by like Reason ; since if you once break the Rules of Law , you can set no bounds to any number or age of Infants ; and so by consequence instead of having Concilium Sapientum , Senatus Seniorum , &c. as Parliaments were anciently stiled , we shall have Parliamentum Puerorum , Senatus Infantum , a Parliament of Children , a Senate of Babes ; if all Cities , Boroughs were so childish , so foolish , and injurious to the Publick in their Elections of such , as some ( through the importunity of Friends or Bribes ) have been .

It was a prudent Speech of a blunt Burgess when he was solicited to give his Voice for a young Novice , This is no Parliament to enter Whelps in , therefore we must think of some Graver Person .

Object . 1. That the Elections of Members to Parliament belongs to the Free-holders , Burgesses , and Free-men who elect them , and therefore their Election must stand good .

Answ . They have no power to Elect what Members they please , but only such as are most fit , able , and discreet ; and where they chuse a Person that is uncapable by Law , the Election cannot make him capable of being a Member by their Election .

Object . 2. That some Infants under the Age of One and twenty years , have been admitted to fit as Members in former Parliaments .

Answ . No Infant ought de Jure to sit in any Parliament , nor ever sate in former Parliaments of Right , but only by Connivance , when either the House took no notice , or else their Elections were not questioned . And Connivance of former Parliaments in this kind , is no President to over-rule , or bind this present Parliament ; because there are more weighty and difficult Affairs to be debated and setled in this Parliament than in any , yea , all the Parliaments of former Ages , there being at this time more labouring to make Parties to private ends than in any former Ages .