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soever, the office of an Alderman of the said city of Chester; and for and during all the time last above-mentioned, hath there claimed, and yet doth there claim, without any legal warrant, royal grant, or right whatsoever, to be one of the Aldermen of the said city of Chester, and to have, use, and enjoy, without any legal warrant, royal grant, or right whatsoever, all the liberties, privileges, and franchises to the office of an Alderman of the said city of Chester belonging and appertaining; which said office, liberties, privileges, and franchises, he the said Thomas Amery, for and during all the time last aforesaid, upon our said present sovereign Lord the now King, hath usurped, and still doth usurp, (that is to say,) at the city of Chester aforesaid, in the county of the same city; in contempt of our said present sovereign Lord the King, and to the great damage and prejudice of his royal prerogative, and also against his crown and dignity: whereupon, the said Coroner and Attorney of our said present sovereign Lord the King, for our said present sovereign Lord the King, prayeth the consideration of the court here in the premises, and that due process of law may be awarded against him the said Thomas Amery, in this behalf, and to make him answer to our said present sovereign Lord the King, and shew by what warrant he claimeth to have, use, and enjoy the office, liberties, privileges, and franchises aforesaid, in manner aforesaid, etc.

And now, that is to say, on Friday next after the morrow of the Holy Trinity aforesaid, before our said Lord the King at Westminster, cometh the said Thomas Amery, by Gabriel Lepipre, his attorney, and having heard the said information, complains, that he is by colour thereof grievously vexed and disquieted, and this unjustly, because protesting that the information aforesaid, and the matters therein contained, are not sufficient in law; to which said information, he the said Thomas Amery is not bound by the law of the land to answer; yet for plea in this behalf, the said Thomas Amery saith, that true it is that the city of Chester is an ancient city, and that the Mayor and Citizens of the said city now are, and for the space [338] of ten years now last past have been, and long before were, a body corporate and politic, in deed, fact, and name, by the name of the Mayor and Citizens of the city of Chester. And the said Thomas Amery further saith, that our sovereign Lord Charles the Second, late King of England, by his letters patent under the great seal of England, bearing date at Westminster, the 4th day of February, in the thirty-seventh year of his reign, (and now brought here into court,) by reason of the great affection which he had and bore to his said city of Chester, and the Citizens of the same city, and in consideration of the good behaviour and great costs and expences of the Citizens of the same city, and also the generous services to him and his dearly beloved father of blessed memory, by them, against his the said late King's adversaries and rebels, diversly employed, and being desirous of the improvement of his said city of Chester, and of the Citizens thereof, and especially to provide for their benefit and quiet, out of his special favour, and of his certain knowledge and mere motion, he the said late King Charles the Second willed, and by the said last-mentioned letters patent, for himself, his heirs and successors, did declare, ordain, constitute, and grant, that the said city, and all the ground within the ditch of the same city, with its suburbs and hamlets in the precinct and circuit of the same, and all the ground in the precinct and circuit of the same city of Chester, and of its aforesaid suburbs and hamlets, (his castle of Chester, within the walls of the same city situated, and his liberty within the boundaries commonly called Le Gloverstone, altogether excepted,) should be from the county of Chester thenceforth exempt, separate, and in all things, and by all things, wholly exempt and separate, as well by land as by water; and that the said city and suburbs, and hamlets thereof, and all the ground within the precinct and circuit of the same, (except as before excepted,) should be thenceforward a county by itself, in itself distinct from the county of Chester, and be thenceforth named and called the county of the city of Chester for ever; and that the Citizens and inhabitants of the city aforesaid, (Roger Whitley, Esq. Thomas Whitley, son of the said Roger, John Mainwaring, Esq. William Williams, then late Recorder of the city aforesaid, George Booth, Esq. William Street, George Mainwaring, and Michael Johnson, alone, excepted,) should be by themselves one community and body corporate and politic, in deed, name, and fact, and be for ever thereafter named and called by the name of the Mayor and Citizens of the city of Chester; and that by the same name of the Mayor and Citizens of the city of Chester,