Page:The English Reports v1 1900.pdf/1012

William Francis, Theodorus Aldcroft, Richard Brett, Thomas Holland, Matthew Anderton, Thomas Johnson, John Warrington, Nathaniel Bullen, Charles Pindar, Hugh Bartley, Griffith Trygan, John Hale, Robert Moulson, Ralph Poole, and Edward Crough-[359]-ton, in manner and form as the said Coroner and Attorney hath by that plea above in reply pleaded, alledged, and of this he puts himself upon the country, etc. And the said Coroner and Attorney of our said Lord the King, for our said Lord the King, doth so likewise. And the said Thomas Amery, as to the said plea of the said Coroner and Attorney, by him secondly above in reply pleaded, saith, that our Lord the King ought not, by reason of any thing therein alledged, further to prosecute the said information against him the said Thomas Amery, because he saith that such further proceedings were had upon the said information in that replication mentioned in the said court of the said Lord the late King Charles the Second, before the King himself; that afterwards, (to wit,) in the term of the Holy Trinity, in the 36th year of the reign of the said Lord the late King, it was considered by the said court of the said Lord the late King before the King himself, that the said liberties, privileges, and franchises, in the said last-mentioned information specified, should be seized into the hands of the said Lord the King, and the said Mayor and Citizens be excluded and amoved therefrom; the record of which said last-mentioned judgment is lost or destroyed, and is not now remaining in the said court of our Lord the now King, before the King himself. And the said Thomas further saith, that the said last-mentioned judgment always, from the time of giving thereof, until now, was, and still is, in full force, strength, and effect; not reversed, annulled, vacated, or made void; by reason whereof the said community and body corporate of the Mayor and Citizens of the said city of Chester, in that replication mentioned became and was totally dissolved and destroyed, long before, and until and at the time of, the supposed granting and acceptance of the said supposed letters patent of the said late King James the Second, in that replication mentioned, (to wit,) at the city of Chester aforesaid. And this the said Thomas Amery is ready to verify. Wherefore he prays judgment, and that the aforesaid office, liberties, privileges, and franchises in form aforesaid, claimed by him the said Thomas Amery, may for the future be allowed to him, and that he may be dismissed and discharged by the court here of and from the premises aforesaid. And the said Coroner and Attorney of our said Lord the King, for our said Lord the King, as to the said rejoinder of the said Thomas Amery, by him made to the said plea of the said Coroner and Attorney, by him secondly above in reply pleaded to the said plea of the said Thomas Amery, says, that by reason of any thing by the said Thomas Amery in that same plea alledged, the said Lord the King ought not to be barred from prosecuting his aforesaid information against the said Thomas Amery, because protesting that the said rejoinder of the said Thomas Amery, and the matters therein contained, are not sufficient in law to bar the said Lord the King from having his aforesaid information against the said Thomas Amery, the said Coroner and Attorney of our said Lord the King, for our said Lord the King, for surrejoinder in this [360] behalf, says, That there was not any such record of such judgment as by the said Thomas Amery is above in pleading alledged. And this the said Coroner and Attorney of our said Lord the King, for our said Lord the King, prays may be inquired of by the country, etc. And the said Thomas Amery doth the like.

This cause was tried by a special jury, before Mr. Justice Grose, at the assizes holden for the county of Salop, in March 1787, when the jury found the following verdict:

That the sovereign Lord Charles the Second, late King of England, by his letters patent under the great seal of England, bearing date the 4th day of February, in the thirty-seventh year of his reign, did grant in manner and form as the said Thomas Amery hath in his plea alledged.—That the aforesaid letters patent, of the said late King Charles the Second, were duly accepted and agreed to by the citizens and inhabitants of the said city of Chester, as by the said Thomas Amery in his plea alledged.—That the said Thomas, at the time in the said plea in that behalf mentioned, was, by the major part of the then Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the said city of Chester, then and there in the Common-hall, of the said city in due manner assembled and met together, lawfully and in due manner elected and made one of the Aldermen of the said city, in manner and form as by the said Thomas is in pleading alledged.—That the said Thomas was duly admitted into the office