Passages out of a Book Entitled No Senators
The source for this document is https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/B28527.0001.001
Project Note
This is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND. This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
The source of this document is the Early English Books Online (EEBO-TCP) website. Those books were transcribed in a character for character manner and can be very cumbersome to read since there was no standard spelling during that time. Many spelling variations such as "unlesse", "vnlesse", and "vnles" regularly appear.
This project was conceived to clean up those books as much as possible and make them more accessible to the interested reader, leading to the creation of a massive list of variant spellings and their corrections. This was used to clean up the text, but is of course only as complete as the list itself. Because of the nature of the original transcription, some words have missing characters or places where the original language (e.g., Greek) was not transcribed. This effort does not change that. Be aware that the original transcription can also be faulty and in some cases entire sentences may be missing.
Although this is no substitute for a properly compared, proofed, and scholarly edition, I believe that the result is a document which is far more accessible, particularly for searching for terms using standard spelling. The document has been cleaned and presented in what I hope is a pleasing and useful format for the vast majority of Christian brothers and sisters who just want access to read these spiritually nourishing works.
However, a word of warning: The Puritans were a very diverse group of people and their age was characterized with godliness, but also much upheaval, disputation and strife. They disagreed on many doctrines and some of these works contain less orthodox or Scriptural views than others. The reader is strongly advised to read with discernment, particularly if it is unknown whether author is trustworthy.
This project took a huge amount of time and skill to bring to fruition. I would particularly like to thank David Jonescue for the initial list of Puritans he found on EEBO and the concept behind this project as well as the continuous, unceasing efforts toward seeing this complete. Without his labor, this would not be available. Alex Sarrouf was invaluable in providing the initial list of over 7,000 spelling variations he had identified and corrected, as well as continuing to review more than 16,000 additions to that list for any typos.
Logan West
(with David Jonescue and Alex Sarrouf)
www.puritansearch.org
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.
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 Defense 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 anything 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 merely void in Law.
6. It is also said in Littleton, That an Infant before the Age of 21 years cannot be a Bailiff, 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 Manor, much more is he incapable of being a Judge in Parliament, the supremest Court of Justice, where the most difficult Businesses, the most weighty Public 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 styled, 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 Public 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 choose 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 sat 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 settled in this Parliament than in any, yea, all the Parliaments of former Ages, there being at this time more laboring to make Parties to private ends than in any former Ages.