"Wherefore the said Lords of Parliament, there present, as judges
in Parliament, in this case, by assent of the king, pronounced their
sentence, and did adjudge the said archbishop, duke, and earl, with
Robert Tresilian, so appealed, as aforesaid, to be guilty, and
convicted of treason, and to be drawn and hanged, as traitors and
enemies to the king and kingdom; and that their heirs should be
disinherited forever, and their lands and tenements, goods and
chattels, forfeited to the king, and that the temporalities of the
Archbishop of York should be taken into the king's hands."
Also, in the same case, Sir John Holt, Sir William Burgh, Sir John
Cary, Sir Roger Fulthorpe, and John Locton, "were by the lords
temporal, by the assent of the king, adjudged to be drawn and
hanged, as traitors, their heirs disinherited, and their lands and
tenements, goods and chattels, to be forfeited to the king."
Also, in the same case, John Blake, "of council for the king," and
Thomas Uske, under sheriff of Middlesex, having been convicted
of treason, "The lords awarded, by assent of the king, that they
should both be hanged and drawn as traitors, as open enemies to
the king and kingdom, and their heirs disinherited forever, and
their lands and tenements, goods and chattels, forfeited to the king."
Also, "Simon Burleigh, the king's chamberlain," being convicted
of treason, "by joint consent of the king and the lords, sentence
was pronounced against the said Simon Burleigh, that he should be
drawn from the town to Tyburn, and there be hanged till he be
dead, and then have his head struck from his body."
Also, "John Beauchamp, steward of the household to the king,
James Beroverse, and John Salisbury; knights, gentlemen of the
privy chamber, were in like manner condemned." 1 Hargrave's
State Trials, first case.
Here the sentences were all fixed by the peers, with the assent of
the king. But that the king should be consulted, and his assent
obtained to the sentence pronounced by the peers, does not imply
any deficiency of power on their part to fix the sentence
independently of the king. There are obvious reasons why they
might choose to consult the king, and obtain his approbation of the
sentence they were about to impose, without supposing any legal
necessity for their so doing.
So far as we can gather from the reports of state trials, peers of the
realm were usually sentenced by those who tried them, with the
assent of the king. But in some instances no mention is made of
the assent of the king, as in the case of "Lionel, Earl of Middlesex,
Lord High Treasurer of England," in 1624, (four hundred years
after Magna Carta,) where the sentence was as follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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