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§. 6.
Oath of
Supremacy. |
Justices of the Peace.
I Michael Dalton do utterly testifie and declare
in my conscience, That
the Kings highness is the only Supream Governour of this Realm, and
of all other his Highness Dominions and Countries, as well in all Spiritual
or Ecclesiastical things (or causes) as temporal; and that no forein Prince,
Person, Prelate, State, or Potentate, hath, or ought to have, any Jurisdiction,
Power, Superiority, Pre-eminence, or Authority, Ecclesiastical or
Spiritual, within this Realm: And therefore I do utterly renounce
and
forsake all forein Jurisdiction, Powers, Superiorities, and Authorities,
and
do promise, That from henceforth I shall bear Faith and true Allegeance
to
the Kings Highness, his Heirs and lawful Successors, and (to my power)
shall assist and defend all Jurisdiction, Priviledges, Pre-eminences and
Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highness, his Heirs and Successors,
or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of the Realm. So
help me God, and by the contents of this Book. |
Chap. 4. |
§. 6.
Crom. 11.
P. Crown
5. vide. |
The Justices of the Peace ought to take this Oath
for the Supremacy in
the open Court of Sessions where they shall serve, by the Statute 5 Eliz.
1.
(as M. Crompton holdeth:) and it were very fitting so to be:
or else to be
taken at the Assizes by the Judges, lest (by indirect practice) it be neglected. |
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| See 1 E. 1. |
Ye it is most usual that both of these Oaths are
taken by a special
Commission, (viz, by a Writ of Dedimus Potestatem, directed
out of the
Chancery to som ancient Justice of Peace to take the same Oaths) which
by them is to be certified into the same Court, at such day as the Writ
commandeth.
The form of which Certificate, see hic postea. |
|
| 1 El. 1. |
" And the words of that Statute being, that the
Oath shall be taken before
" such person or persons, as the Queen her Heirs and Successors under
" the Great Seal of England, assign and name, by that it seemeth
that it
" must be taken before Commissioners under the Great Seal only, unless
" the taking thereof be by any later Statute directed to be before other
" persons. |
|
| §. 7. |
The Justice of Peace (or other person) to whom a
Dedimus Potestatem
shall be directed, to take the Oaths of a new Justice of Peace, if
he shall
return the Commission, and the Oaths to be taken, when they were not
taken, he is fineable in the Star chamber. |
|
| Co. 8. 98 |
" But at this day, in as much as the Star-chamber
is taken away by the
" Stat. of 17 Car. 1 c. 10, the proceedings against such
Commissioner
" for his miscarriage herein, or against a Justice of Peace for execution
" of his Authority, not having first taken Oaths required of him, may
" be in the Court of Kings Bench, as is declared by that Statute they
might
" have been before, for it is thereby recited that all matters examinable
or
" determinable 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, which was a very great reason of taking away the
" said Court. |
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|
So if the new Justice of Peace shall exercise this
Office before he hath
taken both these Oaths, he is likewise fineable in the Star-chamber. |
|
Crom. 11.
Co. 11.98. |
Also if a Justice of Peace shall not perform his
Oath (concerning his
Office,) it seemeth he is fineable in the Star-Chamber, &c.
Yet see Co. 11.
98.a. That a man shall not be charged in any Court Judicial
for the breach
of a general Oath, which he taketh when he is made an Officer or Minister,
&c. But if he do a thing contrary to his Oath, that aggravates
his
offence. |
|
|
There is a third Oath tending to the Declaration
of such duty as every
well affected Subject by bond of Allegiance, and by the Law of God, |
The Oath of
Allegiance. |
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