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390
CALVIN'S CASE
7 CO. REP. 11 b.

And this appeareth evidently by infinite precedents and book cases, as (taking one example in a case so clear for all) King Henry VI. was not crowned until the 8th year of his reign, and yet divers men before his coronation were attainted of treason, of felony, &c. and he was as absolute and complete a King, both for matters of judicature, as for grants, &c. before his coronation, as he was after, as it appeareth in the Reports of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 years of the same King. And the like might be produced for many other Kings of this realm, which for brevity in a case so clear I omit. But which it manifestly appeareth, that by the laws of England there can be no inter regnum within the same.[1] If the King be seised of land by a defeasible title, and dieth seised, this descent shall toll the entry of him that right hath, as it appeareth by 9 E. 4. 51.[2] But if the next King had it by succession, that should take away no entry, as it appeareth by Littleton, fol. 97. If a disseisor of an infant convey the land to the King who dieth seised, this descent taketh away the entry of the infant, as it is said in 34 H. 6. fol. 34.[3] 45. lib. Ass. pl. 6. Plow. Com. 234. where the case was; K. H. 3. gave a manor to his brother the Earl of Cornwall in tail (at what time the same was a fee-simple conditional) K. H. 3. died, the earl before the Statute of Donis Conditional' (having no issue) by deed exchanged the manor with warranty for other lands in fee, and died without issue, and the warranty and assets descended upon his nephew King Edward I.; and it was adjudged, that this warranty and assets, which descended upon the natural person of the King, barred him of the possibility of reverter. In the reign of Ed. 2. the Spencers, the father and the son, to cover the treason hatched in their hearts, invented this damnable and damned opinion, that homage and oath of ligeance was more by reason of the King's Crown (that is, of his politic capacity) than by reason of the person of the [11 b] King, upon which opinion they inferred execrable and detestable consequences: 1. If the King do not demean himself by reason in the right of his Crown, his lieges be bound by oath to remove the King. 2. Seeing that the King could not be reformed by suit of law that ought to be done by the sword. 3. That his lieges be bound to govern in aid of him, and in default of him. All which were condemned by two Parliaments, one in the reign of Ed. 2. called Exilium Hugonis le Spencer, and the other in Ann 1. Ed. 3. c. 1. Bracton, lib. 2. de Acquirendo Rerum Dominio, c. 24. f. 55, saith thus,

Est enim Corona Regis facere justitiam et judic', et tenere pacem, et sine quibus Corona consistere non potest nec tenere; hujusmodi autem jura sive jurisdictiones ad personas vel tenementa transferri non poterunt, nec a privatâ personâ possideri, nec usus nec executio juris, nisi hoc datum fuit ei desuper, sicut jurisdictio delegata delegari non poterit quin ordinaria remaneat cum ipso Rege.

Et lib. 3. De Actionibus, cap. 9. fol 107. Separare autem debet Rex, cum sit Dei vicarius in terrâ, jus ab injuriâ, æquam ab iniquo, ut omnes sibi subjecti honeste vivant, et quod nullus alium lædat, et quod unicuique quod suum fuerit rectâ contributione reddatur. In respect whereof one saith, that Corona est quasi cor ornans, cujus ornamenta sunt misericordio et justicia. And therefore a King's Crown is an hieroglyphic of the laws, where justice, &c. is administered; for so saith P. Val. l. 41. p. 400. Coronam dicimus legis judicium esse, propterea quod certis est vinculis complicata, quibus vita nostra veluti religata coercetur. Therefore if you take that which is signified by the Crown, that is, to do justice and judgment, to maintain the peace of the land, &c. to separate right from wrong, and the good from the ill that is to be understood of that capacity of the King, that in rei veritate hath capacity, and is adorned and endued with endowments as well of the soul as of the body, and thereby able to do justice and judgment according to right and equity, and to maintain the peace, &c. and to find out and discern the truth, and not of the invisible and immortal capacity that hath no such endowments; for of itself it bath neither soul nor body. And where divers books and Acts of Parliament speak of the ligeance of England, as 31 E. 3. tit. Cosinage 5. 52 Ed. 3. 2. 13 E. 3. tit. Brief 677. 25 Ed. 3. Stat. de Natis Ultra

  1. ↑ Q. If not so between K. J. 2. abdication and K. W. 3. succession? post 12 a.
  2. ↑ 4 Co. 58 b.
  3. ↑ 10 Co. 96 b. Co. Lit. 19 b. 370 b. Plowd. 234 a. 553 b. Fitz. Garranty 68. Br. Assets per Descent. 31. Br. Tail. 34. Br. Garranty 52. Br. Prærog. 52. Br. Serch. pur le Roy 5. 9 Co. 132 b. 1 H. P. C. 67.
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