Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/20

xiv man, of what eſtate or condition that he be, ſhould be put out of his lands or tenements, nor taken nor impriſoned, nor diſinherited, nor put to death without being brought to anſwer by due proceſs of law.

“, againſt the tenour of the ſaid ſtatutes, and other, the good laws and ſtatutes of your realm, to that end provided divers of your ſubjects have of late been impriſoned, without any juſt cauſe ſhewed; and when for their deliverance they were brought before your juſtices, by your majeſty’s writs of Habeas Corpus, there to undergo and receive as the court ſhould order, and their keepers commanded to certify the cauſes of their detainer; no cauſe was certified, but that they were detained by your majeſty’s ſpecial command, ſignified by the lords of your privy council, and yet were returned back to ſeveral priſons without being charged with any thing to which they might anſwer according to law.

“ whereas of late great companies of ſoldiers and mariners have been diſperſed into divers counties of the realm, and the inhabitants againſt their wills have been compelled to receive them into their houſes, and there to ſuffer them