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to buy or sell any kind of merchandise, with any other foreigner within this town, or the franchises thereof, contrary to the statute against forestalling, regrating, and ingrossing, but you shall warn the Bailiff, Aldermen, and Chamberlains of the said town thereof without delay; you shall take no apprentice but such as you may justify by the laws of this realm of England, and for no less tern than for seven years; you shall keep the King's Majesty's peace within the said town, to the best of your power; you shall presently repair with your staff, sallet, or other wea-[301]-pon, to the officers of this town, upon the ringing of a bell, or other notice given unto you for that purpose, when any fray, or other outrage is made, committed, or offered, or like to be made, committed, or offered against the peace; and do your endeavour with the said officers to appease the same, and to apprehend all felons, murderers, and traitors and in all other things behave yourself as a true and lawful Burgess ought to do. So help you God;

was taken by every common person admitted into the place or office of a Burgess or Freeman of the said town; and that the following clause or paragraph only, viz.

First, You shall swear that from henceforth you shall bear faith and true allegiance to the King's Majesty that now is, his heirs and lawful successors; you shall be obedient to the Bailiff, Recorder, and Aldermen of this town, in all their lawful commandments; this town and the franchises and lawful customs you shall maintain, save, and keep harmless to your power and industry, and in all other things behave yourself as a true and lawful Burgess ought to do. So help you God;

and no other part of the said oath was, throughout the time aforesaid, taken by every gentleman admitted into the place or office of a Burgess or Freeman of the said borough. And the jury further found, that the said Hugh Powell, being a gentleman, on the 29th day of September, in the 6th year of the reign of Queen Ann, and long before and continually afterwards, lived at Castlemadock, in the hundred of Mirthir, four miles from the said borough, and out of the said borough. And that the said Hugh, living in Castlemadock aforesaid, on the said 29th day of September, in the said 6th year of the reign of Queen Ann, was chosen by the then Bailiff, Aldermen, and Common Council of the said borough, duly assembled, into the place and office of a Freeman or Burgess of the said borough of Brecon. That on the 21st day of May 1708, at the borough aforesaid, before the then Bailiff. Aldermen, and Common Council of the said borough, being duly assembled, he took the clause or paragraph of the said oath, intitled, "The Oath of a Burgess or Freeman," before mentioned, which was usually administered to gentlemen, in manner and form aforesaid; and that he was thereupon admitted to be a Burgess of the said borough. That the said Hugh Powell on the 27th day of September 1708 aforesaid, at a chamber held at the said borough, in and for the said borough, by the Bailiff, Aldermen, and major part of the capital Burgesses and Counsellors of the said borough, then and there being duly assembled, was named and elected into the place of a capital Burgess, or Counsellor of the said borough; and that he took his oath before the Bailiff and Aldermen of the said borough, for the due execution of the office of a capital Burgess of the said borough, and thereupon was admitted into the said office that the said Hugh Powell after that time, in two several years, was twice elected, chosen, and sworn into the office of Bailiff of the said borough of Brecon, and throughout the said years respectively, exercised the said office of Bailiff of the said borough. That from the 15th year of [302] the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and continually hitherto without interruption, it was usual within the said borough, to elect, nominate, and choose Freemen or Burgesses of the said borough, out of men inhabiting as well without as within the said borough; and that such persons inhabiting without the said borough, and being elected and chosen into the said place or office of a Burgess of the said borough, throughout the whole time aforesaid, did exercise the aforesaid place and office of a Burgess of the said borough: but upon the whole, the jury submitted it to the judgment of the Court, whether the said Hugh Powell, at the time of his being elected into the office of a capital Burgess, was a Burgess or not.

This special verdict being argued before the Court of King's Bench, in Michaelmas term 1727, the court were pleased to give judgment of ouster against the plaintiff in error; and that the relator should recover costs against him, according to the statute of the 9th of Queen Ann.

To reverse this judgment, the plaintiff brought a writ of error in parliament;