Community Law Resource Group

Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Imperial Acts Application Act 1980 - SECT 8

Division 1-Elections [1275] 3 Edward I (State of Westminster the First) C.V.

And because elections ought to be free, the King commandeth upon great

forfeiture, that no man by force of arms, nor by malice, or menacing, shall

disturb any to make free election.

Division 2-Habeas corpus [1640] 16 Charles I c. X An Act for the regulating of

the privy council, and for taking away the court commonly called the

star-chamber. Whereas by the great charter many times confirmed in parliament,

it is enacted, That no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or disseised of

his freehold or liberties or free customs, or be outlawed or exiled or

otherwise destroyed, and that the King will not pass upon him, or condemn him;

but by lawful judgement of his peers, or by the law of the land: (2) and by

another statute made in the fifth year of the reign of King Edward the Third,

it is enacted, That no man shall be attached by any accusation, nor forejudged

of life or limb, nor his lands, tenements, goods or chattels seized into the

King's hands, against the form of the great charter and the law of the land:

(3) and by another statute made in the five and twentieth year of the reign of

the same King Edward the Third, it is accorded, assented and established, That

none shall be taken by petition or suggestion made to the King, or to his

council, unless it be by indictment or presentment of good and lawful people

of the same neighbourhood where such deeds be done, in due manner, or by

proceeds made by writ original at the common law, and that none be put out of

his franchise or freehold, unless he be duly brought in to answer, and

forejudged of the same by the course of the law, and if any thing be done

against the same, it shall be redressed and holden for none: (4) and by

another statute made in the eight and twentieth year of the reign of the same

King Edward the Third, it is amongst other things enacted, That no man of what

estate or condition forever he be, shall be put out of his lands or tenements,

nor taken, nor imprisoned, nor disinherited, without being brought in to

answer by due process of law: (5) and

by another statute made in the two and fortieth year of the reign of the said

King Edward the Third, it is enacted, That no man be put to answer, without

presentment before justices, or matter of record, or by due process and writ

original, according to the old law of the land, and if any thing be done to

the contrary, it shall be void in law, and holden for error: (6) and by

another statute made in the six and thirtieth year of the same King Edward the

Third, it is amongst other things enacted, That all pleas which shall be

pleaded in any courts before any of the King's justices, or in his other

places, or before any of his other ministers, or in the courts and places of

any other lords within the realm, shall be entered and enrolled in Latin: (7)

and whereas by the statute made in the third year of King Henry the Seventh,

power is given to the chancellor, the lord treasurer of England for the time

being, and the keeper of the King's privy seal, or two of them, calling unto

them a bishop and a temporal lor d of the King's most honourable council, and

the two chief justices of the King's bench and common pleas for the time

being, or other two justices in their absence, to proceed as in that act is

expressed, for the punishment of some particular offences therein mentioned:

(8) and by the statute made in the one and twentieth year of King Henry the

Eighth, the president of the council is associated to join with the lord

chancellor and other judges in the said statute of the Third of Henry the

Seventh mentioned: (9) but the said judges have not kept themselves to the

points limited by the said statute, but have undertaken to punish where no law

doth warrant, and to make decrees for things having no such authority, and to

inflict heavier punishments than by any law is warranted.

II. And for asmuch as all matters examinable or determinable before the said

judges, or in the court commonly called the star-chamber, may have their

proper remedy and redress, and their due punishment and correction, by the

common law of the land, and in the ordinary course of justice elsewhere: (2)

and forasmuch as the reasons and motives inducing the erection and continuance

of that court do now cease: (3) and the proceedings, censures and decrees of

that court, have by experience been found to be an intolerable burthen to the

subjects, and the means to introduce an arbitrary power and government: (4)

and forasmuch as the council-table hath of late time assumed unto itself a

power to intermeddle in civil causes and matters only of private interest

between party and party, and have adventured to determine of the estates and

liberties of the subject, contrary to the law of the land and the rights and

privileges of the subject, by which great and manifold mischiefs and

inconveniencies have arisen and happe ned, and much incertainty by means of

such proceedings hath been conceived concerning mens rights and estates; for

settling whereof, and preventing the like in time to come.

III. Be it ordained and enacted by the authority of this present parliament,

That the said court commonly called the star-chamber, and all jurisdiction,

power and authority belonging unto, or exercised in the same court, or by any

of the judges, officers or ministers, thereof, be from the first day of August

in the year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred forty and one, clearly

and absolutely dissolved, taken away and determined: (2) and that from the

said first day of August neither the lord chancellor, or keeper of the great

seal of England, the lord treasurer of England, the keeper of the King's privy

seal, or president of the council, nor any bishop, temporal lord, privy

counsellor or judge, or justice whatsoever, shall have any power or authority

to hear, examine or determine any matter or thing whatsoever, in the said

court commonly called the star-chamber, or to make, pronounce or deliver any

judgement, sentence, order or decree, or to do any judicial or ministerial act

in the said court: (3) a nd that all and every act and acts of parliament, and

all and every article, clause and sentence in them, and every of them, by

which any jurisdiction, power or authority is given, limited or appointed unto

the said court commonly called the star-chamber, or unto all or any of the

judges, officers or ministers thereof, or for any proceedings to be had or

made in the said court, or for any matter or thing to be drawn unto question,

examined or determined there, shall for so much as concerneth the said court

of star-chamber, and the power and authority thereby given unto it, be from

the said first day of August repealed, and absolutely revoked and made void.

IV. And be it likewise enacted, That the like jurisdiction now used and

exercised in the court before the president and council in the marches of

Wales: (2) and also in the court before the president and council established

in the northern parts: (3) and also in the court commonly called the court of

the duchy of Lancaster, held before the chancellor and council of that court:

(4) and also in the court of exchequer of the county palatine of Chester, held

before the chamberlain and council of that court: (5) the like jurisdiction

being exercised there, shall from the said first day of August one thousand

six hundred forty and one, be also repealed and absolutely revoked and made

void; any law, prescription, custom or usage, or the said statute made in the

third year of King Henry the Seventh, or the statute made in one and twentieth

of Henry the Eighth, or any act or acts of parliament heretofore had or made,

to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding: (6) and that from

henceforth no court, council

or place of judicature, shall be erected, ordained, constituted or appointed

within this realm of England, or dominion of Wales, which shall have, use or

exercise the same or the like jurisdiction as is or hath been used, practised

or exercised in the said court of star-chamber.

V. Be it likewise declared and enacted by authority of this present

parliament, That neither his Majesty, nor his privy council, have or ought to

have any jurisdiction, power or authority, by English bill, petition,

articles, libel or any other arbitrary way whatsoever, to examine or draw into

question, determine or dispose of the lands, tenements, hereditaments, goods

or chattels of any of the subjects of this kingdom, but that the same ought to

be tried and determined in the ordinary courts of justice, and by the ordinary

course of the law.

VI. And be it further provided and enacted, That if any lord chancellor, or

keeper of the great seal of England, lord treasurer, keeper of the King's

privy seal, president of the council, bishop, temporal lord, privy counsellor,

judge or justice whatsoever, shall offend, or do any thing contrary to the

purport, true intent and meaning of this law, then he or they shall for such

offence forfeit the sum of five hundred pounds of lawful money of England unto

any party grieved, his executors or administrators, who shall really prosecute

for the same, and first obtain judgement thereupon, to be recorded in any

court of record at Westminster, by action of debt, bill, plaint or

information, wherein no essoin, protection, wager of law, aid prayer,

privilege, injunction or order of restraint, shall be in any wise prayed,

granted, or allowed, nor any more than one imparlance: (2) and if any person

against whom any such judgement or recovery shall be had as aforesaid, shall

after such judgement or recovery offend aga in in the same, then he or they

for such offence shall forfeit the sum of one thousand pounds of lawful money

of England unto any party grieved, his executors or administrators, who shall

really prosecute for the same, and first obtain judgement thereupon, to be

recorded in any court of record at Westminster, by action of debt, bill,

plaint or information, in which no ession, protection, wager of law, aid

prayer, privilege, injunction or order of restraint shall be in any wise

prayed, granted or allowed, nor any more than one imparlance: (3) and if any

person against whom any such second judgement or recovery shall be had as

aforesaid, shall after such judgement or recovery offend again in the same

kind, and shall be thereof duly convicted by indictment, information, or any

other lawful way or means, that such person so convicted shall be from

thenceforth disabled, and become by virtue of this act incapable ipso facto,

to bear his and their said office and offices respectively: (4) and shall be

likewise disa bled to make any gift, grant, conveyance, or other disposition

of any of his lands, tenements, hereditaments, goods or chattels, or to take

any benefit of any gift, conveyance or legacy to his own use.

VII. And every person so offending shall likewise forfeit and lose unto the

part grieved, by any thing done contrary to the true intent and meaning of

this law, his treble damages which he shall sustain and be put unto by means

or occasion of any such act or thing done, the same to be recovered in any of

his Majesty's courts of record at Westminster, by action of debt, bill, plaint

or information, wherein no ession, protection, wager of law, aid prayer,

privilege, injuction or order of restraint, shall be in any wise prayed,

granted or allowed, nor any more than one imparlance.

VIII. And be it also provided and enacted, That if any person shall hereafter

be committed, restrained of his liberty, or suffer imprisonment, by the order

or decree of any such court of star-chamber, or other court aforesaid, now or

at any time hereafter, having or pretending to have the same or like

jurisdiction, power or authority to commit or imprison as aforesaid: (2) or by

the command or warrant of the King's majesty, his heirs or successors, in

their own person, or by the command or warrant of the council board, or of any

of the lords or others of his Majesty's privy council: (3) that in every such

case every person so committed, restrained of his liberty, or suffering

imprisonment, upon demand or motion made by his counsel, or other imployed by

him for that purpose, unto the judges of the court of King's bench or common

pleas, in open court, shall without delay, upon any pretence whatsoever, for

the ordinary fees usually paid for the same, have forthwith granted unto him a

writ of habeas corpus, to

be directed generally unto all and every sheriff, gaoler, minister, officer or

other person in whose custody the party committed or restrained shall be: (4)

and the sheriff, gaoler, minister, officer or other person in whose custody

the part so committed or restrained shall be, shall at the

return of the said writ, and according to the command thereof, upon due and

convenient notice thereof given unto him, at the charge of the party who

requireth or procureth such writ, and upon security by his own bond given, to

pay the charge of carrying back the prisoner, if he shall be remanded by the

court to which he shall be brought, as in like cases that been used, such

charges of bringing up and carrying back the prisoner to be always ordered by

the court, if any difference shall arise thereabout, bring or cause to be

brought the body of the said party so committed or restrained unto and before

the judges or justices of the said court from whence the same writ shall

issue, in open court: (5) and shall then likewise certify the true cause of

such his detainer or imprisonment, and thereupon the court, within three court

days after such return made and delivered in open court, shall proceed to

examine and determine whether the cause of such commitment appearing upon the

said return be just and legal, or n ot, and shall thereupon do what to justice

shall apertain, either be delivering, bailing or remanding the prisoner: (6)

and if any thing shall be otherwise wilfully done or omitted to be done by any

judge, justice, officer or other person afore-mentioned, contrary to the

direction and true meaning hereof, that then such persons so offending shall

forfeit to the party grieved his treble damages, to be recovered by such

means, and in such manner as is formerly in this act limited and appointed for

the like penalty to be sued for and recovered.

IX. Provided always, and be it enacted, That this act and the several clauses

therein contained shall be taken and expounded to extend only to the court of

star-chamber: (2) and to the said courts holden before the president and

council in the marches of Wales: (3) and before the president and council in

the northern parts: (4) and also to the court commonly called the court of the

duchy of Lancaster, holden before the chancellor and council of that court:

(5) and also in the court of exchequer of the county palatine of Chester, held

before the chamberlain and council of that court: (6) and to all courts of

like jurisdiction to be hereafter erected, ordained, constituted or appointed

as aforesaid, and to the warrants and directions of the council board, and to

the commitments, restraints and imprisonment of any person or persons made,

commanded or awarded by the King's majesty, his heirs or successors, in their

own person, or by the lords and others of the privy council, and every one of

them.

X. And lastly, provided, and be it enacted, That no person or persons shall be

sued, impleaded, molested or troubled for any offence against this present

act, unless the party supposed to have so offended shall be sued or impleaded

for the same within two years at the most after such time wherein the said

offence shall be committed.