Yet the Act of Settlement had no operation to legalise a Patent such as Lord Donegall’s. The Chancellor was entirely mistaken on this point. As to the Charter, the lack of the Great Seal was felt to be so serious that a Bill was rushed through Parliament a few weeks later to mend the flaw. Both of Lord Pery’s objections, therefore, struck at the marrow of the case; and the Chancellor’s way of meeting them showed that he was sapping for a channel of escape from the political perplexities they presented. Perhaps, too, he sought to screen his blunder at Armagh in failing to raise the question of Lord Donegall’s title, for the Act of Settlement offered no obstacle to his doing so. It merely legalized Patents of property vested in the Crown, which had been confiscated because of the Rebellion of 1641. The “special verdict” indicated (wrongly) that it was by virtue of a confiscation then made that the Crown obtained the fisheries, whereas such title as it possessed (if any) was enjoyed previously. Equally erroneously the “special verdict” alleged that the fisheries were sequestered by Cromwell. They were given away by Cromwell, but had not been seized by him. Only Patents to property seized in consequence of the Rebellion were “ratified and confirmed” by the Act of Settlement, and Lord Donegall’s grant was not in that category. The fisheries were given up by his ancestor a year before 1641, and were, therefore, not “sequestered” owing to the Rebellion. The Lord Chancellor, unaware of this, allowed the special verdict to be misframed at Armagh, and then misapplied the law on the Woolsack. His pronouncement that the Act of Settlement “confirmed” the Donegall grant, coming from one who had been retained as counsel to oppose it, silenced Lord Pery. These high clashes between the Law Lords almost caused the fate of the “traps” to be lost sight of, and probably helped to bring about the rejection of the Londoners’ appeal. The House held unanimously in favour of Lord Donegall, whose victory was the sweeter because it had been won without provoking any challenge to the validity of his Patent. His well-judged tactics won for it the sanctity of a legal baptism. Soon afterwards he applied in Chancery for an order to prostrate the traps. The Londoners fought on; and, under the intricate procedure of that epoch, brought the matter from Court to Court.