Haxey's case (1397) Rotuli Parliamentorum (iii) 434, is a UK constitutional law case that established the right to free speech within Parliament.
In January 1397, Sir Thomas Haxey presented a petition to Parliament, criticising the costs of King Richard II of England's household. The king was affronted and, with the collusion of Thomas Arundel, insisted that Haxey be punished for treason. Haxey was deprived of his title and his possessions. However, the king went on to pardon Haxey, and it has been suggested that the case was deliberately orchestrated to criminalize criticism of the king.
On deposing Richard in 1399, Henry IV of England successfully petitioned Parliament to reverse its judgment against Haxey as "…against the law and custom which had been before in Parliament."
The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In September 1640, King Charles I issued writs summoning a parliament to convene on 3 November 1640. He intended it to pass financial bills, a step made necessary by the costs of the Bishops' Wars in Scotland. The Long Parliament received its name from the fact that, by Act of Parliament, it stipulated it could be dissolved only with agreement of the members; and those members did not agree to its dissolution until 16 March 1660, after the English Civil War and near the close of the Interregnum.
The Levellers were a political movement active during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms who were committed to popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law and religious tolerance. The hallmark of Leveller thought was its populism, as shown by its emphasis on equal natural rights, and their practice of reaching the public through pamphlets, petitions and vocal appeals to the crowd.
The Bill of Rights 1689 is an Act of the Parliament of England that set out certain basic civil rights and clarified who would be next to inherit the Crown. It remains a crucial statute in English constitutional law.
John Lilburne, also known as Freeborn John, was an English political Leveller before, during and after the English Civil Wars 1642–1650. He coined the term "freeborn rights", defining them as rights with which every human being is born, as opposed to rights bestowed by government or human law. In his early life he was a Puritan, though towards the end of his life he became a Quaker. His works have been cited in opinions by the United States Supreme Court.
Sir Edward Coke was an English barrister, judge, and politician. He is often considered the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras.
William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restrain foreign activity, and raise wages, with the goal of easing poverty among farm labourers and small land holders. Cobbett backed lower taxes, saving, reversing commons enclosures and returning to the gold standard. He opposed borough-mongers, sinecurists, bureaucratic "tax-eaters" and stockbrokers. His radicalism furthered the Reform Act 1832 and gained him one of two newly created seats in Parliament for the borough of Oldham. His polemics range from political reform to religion, including Catholic emancipation. His best known book is Rural Rides. He argued against Malthusianism, saying economic betterment could support global population growth.
Ship money was a tax of medieval origin levied intermittently in the Kingdom of England until the middle of the 17th century. Assessed typically on the inhabitants of coastal areas of England, it was one of several taxes that English monarchs could levy by prerogative without the approval of Parliament. The attempt of King Charles I from 1634 onwards to levy ship money during peacetime and extend it to the inland counties of England without parliamentary approval provoked fierce resistance, and was one of the grievances of the English propertied class in the lead-up to the English Civil War.
John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, was an English jurist, Whig statesman and peer. Somers first came to national attention in the trial of the Seven Bishops where he was on their defence counsel. He published tracts on political topics such as the succession to the crown, where he elaborated his Whig principles in support of the Exclusionists. He played a leading part in shaping the Revolution settlement. He was Lord High Chancellor of England under King William III and was a chief architect of the union between England and Scotland achieved in 1707 and the Protestant succession achieved in 1714. He was a leading Whig during the twenty-five years after 1688; with four colleagues he formed the Whig Junto.
Under the law of the United Kingdom, high treason is the crime of disloyalty to the Crown. Offences constituting high treason include plotting the murder of the sovereign; committing adultery with the sovereign's consort, with the sovereign's eldest unmarried daughter, or with the wife of the heir to the throne; levying war against the sovereign and adhering to the sovereign's enemies, giving them aid or comfort; and attempting to undermine the lawfully established line of succession. Several other crimes have historically been categorised as high treason, including counterfeiting money and being a Catholic priest.
The charge of high crimes and misdemeanors covers allegations of misconduct by officials. Offenses by officials also include ordinary crimes, but perhaps with different standards of proof and punishment than for non-officials, on the grounds that more is expected of officials by their oaths of office.
Strode's Case 3 Howell's State Trials 294 is one of the earliest and most important English cases dealing with parliamentary privilege.
Colonel Daniel Axtell, c. 1622 to 19 October 1660, was a grocer and religious radical from Hertfordshire who served with the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. He was in charge of security during the Trial of Charles I at Westminster Hall in January 1649, and as a result was excluded from the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion after the 1660 Stuart Restoration. He was hanged, drawn and quartered for treason on 19 October 1660.
The High Court of Justice was the court established by the Rump Parliament to try Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland. Even though this was an ad hoc tribunal that was specifically created for the purpose of trying the king, its name was eventually used by the government as a designation for subsequent courts.
Sir John Maynard KS was an English lawyer and politician, prominent under the reigns of Charles I, the Commonwealth, Charles II, James II and William III.
Sir John Bussy of Hougham in Lincolnshire was a member of parliament representing Lincolnshire or Rutland eleven times from 1383 to 1398 as a Knight of the Shire. He was also Speaker of the House of Commons at the three Parliaments between 1393 and 1398, during which he supported the policies of king Richard II. He was most famous for orchestrating the abdication of parliament's power to an eighteen-man subcommittee in order to concentrate power in the hands of the king's supporters.
Sir Nicholas Brembre was a wealthy magnate and a chief ally of King Richard II in 14th-century England. He was Lord Mayor of London in 1377, and again from 1384–5,6. Named a "worthie and puissant man of the city" by Richard Grafton, he became a citizen and grocer of London, and in 1372-3 purchased from the Malmains family the estates of Mereworth, Maplescomb, and West Peckham, in Kent. His ties to Richard ultimately resulted in his downfall, as the anti-Richard Lords Appellant effectively took control of the government and imprisoned, exiled, or executed most of Richard's court. Despite Richard's efforts, Brembre was executed in 1388 for treason at the behest of the Lords Appellant.
The Other House, established by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Humble Petition and Advice, was one of the two chambers of the parliaments that legislated for England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, in 1658 and 1659, the final years of the Protectorate.
The Treason Act 1397 was an Act of the Parliament of England. It was supplemented by six other Acts. The seven Acts together dealt with high treason.
Sir Jacob Bancks (1662–1724) was a Swedish naval officer in the British service. He settled in England and became a Tory Member of Parliament.
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