<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2010-04-05</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>TCP Staff Michigan</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B100310.pdcc.</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B01409">
<STC T="W">a3462b</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">52211672</BIBNO>
<VID>175405</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="answers">
<PB N="1" REF="1">
<HEAD>ANSWERS For <HI>Aeneas Mcleod</HI> Town Clerk of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> to the Petition pre&s;ented by &s;ome particular per&s;ons, in name of the Council and Community of the &s;aid Burgh, to his Grace His Maje&s;ties High Commi&s;|&s;ioner and the right honourable the E&s;tates of Par|liament.</HEAD>
<P>THe &s;aid <HI>Aeneas</HI> having Legally Acquired a Gift for Life of his Office, from the Magi&s;trats and Town Council of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> (to whom that Power does unque&s;tionably belong) upon payment of <HI>19000 Merks:</HI> And having been in Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion by vertue of his Right, for more than &s;even years, whereby he hath the benefit of a Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ory Judgment: And having ever &s;ince his Admi&s;&s;ion, been mo&s;t faithful to his Tru&s;t, and more exact than his Prede|ce&s;&s;ors in Office, and keeped the Registers as well in order, as any other in the Kingdom: It is confidently relyed on, that his Grace and the honourable Estates, will not &s;ustain Proce&s;s against him before the Parliament. Becau&s;e</P>
<P N="1"><HI>1.</HI> That he is not obliged to an&s;wer upon a &s;ummar Complaint, in a matter of &s;o great Con&s;equence, being in effect, the annulling of his Right for Life, which according to the Acts of Regulation <HI>1672,</HI> can onely be by a Reduction, wherein Terms will be granted to produce, and the Rea&s;ons debate <HI>in prae&s;entia</HI> of the Lords of Se&s;&s;ion: E&s;pecially, &s;eing he hath a Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ory Judgment, which gives him this Priviledge of time to prepare him&s;elf, for defending his Gift as afore&s;aid.</P>
<P N="2"><HI>2.</HI> The Complaint being pre&s;ented by the Town Council of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> there ought no Proce&s;s to be &s;u&s;tained thereupon, unle&s;s there had been an antecedent Act of the &s;aid Town Council and Community warranting the &s;ame; By the want of which, it appears that this Pur&s;uit is onely rai&s;ed by particular per&s;ons upon privat de&s;igns to &s;urpri&s;e the &s;aid <HI>Aeneas</HI> and overturn his Right, when the Parliament cannot allow a full Hearing, being otherways taken up with the great Concerns of the Nation. E&s;pecially</P>
<P N="3"><HI>3.</HI> The Ground of the Complaint, being &s;everal matters of Fact, In&s;pection of Registers, and Examination of the Warrants thereof; which can onely be cleared by Cognition of the <HI>Forms</HI> and <HI>Practicks</HI> relative to the &s;aid Office: It cannot be &s;uppo&s;ed, that the High Court of Parliament, can &s;pare &s;o much time as is nece&s;|&s;ary, for &s;o tedious a Cognition as will be requi&s;ite, before this Affair can be De|termined. Hence</P>
<P N="4"><HI>4</HI> The wi&s;dom of the Nation hath determined by repeated Acts of Parlia|ment, that all Civil Actions &s;hall be fir&s;t brought before, and decided by the Judge Ordinary, <HI>particularly</HI> Act <HI>45.</HI> Parl. <HI>2d.</HI> Ja. <HI>1. In the&s;e words, anent Bills
<PB N="2" REF="2">of Complaint, whilks may not be determined in Parliament, for divers Cau&s;es belonging to the common profit of the Realm: it is Ordained, that the &s;aids Bills be execute, and determined by the Judges&punc; and Officers of the Courts, whom to they pertain of Law,</HI> &amp;c. Where the Parliament Declares, that the common profit of the Realm, will not permit their medling in Civil Actions, in the first In&s;tance: <HI>As al&s;o by</HI> Act. <HI>26.</HI> Parl. <HI>5.</HI> Ja. <HI>3. It is Statute, that the Partie Complaining, in any part of the Realm, &s;hall fir&s;t come to his Judge Ordinary,</HI> &amp;c. As it cannot be denyed, but this is a Civil Cau&s;e, and either can be Remeided by Law, in which ca&s;e the ordinary Judicatories are Patent: or the Clerks Right can not be overturned by the Laws and Cu&s;toms of this King|dom, as being his Legal Propertie and Free-hold; in which ca&s;e, it is certain the Parliament will not deprive him thereof, in their J&V;DICATIVE Capacity.</P>
<P N="5"><HI>5.</HI> The Remead by Parliament is extraordinary, when the Supream ordinary Judge hath committed Iniquity, &s;o that there remains no other means of Redre&s;s: <HI>&s;ed non recurrendum e&s;t ad Remedium extraordinarium quamdiu locus e&s;t ordinario,</HI> E&s;pecially &s;eing the Kings Leidges can run no Hazard of being Pre|judged, &s;ince there is always recour&s;e to the Parliament by Prote&s;tation for Re|mead of Law which is now cleared: whereas the bringing in Actions in the fir&s;t in&s;tance to that High Court would ob&s;truct publick bu&s;ine&s;s, and be a greater expence upon the Nation then the value of any &s;uch Actions.</P>
<P N="6"><HI>6.</HI> The Clerk will not trouble his Grace, and the right Honourable, the E&s;tates, with an particular an&s;wer to the pretended Malver&s;ations lybelled; &s;ince, as he is confident, the Parliament will remit the &s;ame to the Judge ordinary: &s;o he will make it appear before the &s;aid Judge, that he hath behaved in all points of the &s;aid Office, as a mo&s;t faithful, Exact, and dutyful Clerk, and that even in all the particulars Lybelled on.</P>
<P><HI>La&s;tly,</HI> The Town has no rea&s;on to complain anent the Act of Council, <HI>1678.</HI> Seing it is in their power, to Re&s;cind the &s;ame in all time coming, without pre|judice to the &s;aid <HI>Aeneas,</HI> to whom it is already <HI>jus que&s;itum,</HI> and cannot be changed to his Prejudice, without a manifest Violation of privat Rights, and the known and e&s;tabli&s;hed Rules of Law, whereby all Rights are Regulat, by the Laws standing the time of the acquiring the Right, and no Laws are drawn back to Regulate the pa&s;t: and as this is a known Rule in the Law univer&s;allie received; &s;o it is more e&s;pecially our Laws, as appears by the <HI>Act 19.</HI> Par. <HI>10 Ja. 6.</HI> And &s;eing the &s;aid <HI>Aeneas,</HI> did upon the faith of that Act, and Gift founded upon it, purcha&s;e his Imployment at a dear Rate; as al&s;o, that the Act in it &s;elf contains nothing but what is Ju&s;t, and was enacted upon occa&s;ions equally hurtful to the Town and their Clerks, as is well known, to &s;uch as know any thing of the Affairs of the Town of <HI>Edinburgh:</HI> and that the Gift contains nothing &s;ingular, but what can be Ju&s;tified by abundance of in&s;tances, when the matter comes to be Di&s;cu&s;&s;ed be|fore the Judge Ordinary. Therefore the de&s;ire of the Petitioner ought to be refu&s;ed, and the whole matter remitted to the Judge Ordinary, as accords, e&s;pecially &s;eing the &s;aid <HI>Aeneas</HI> has rai&s;ed a Summons of Declarator, anterior to the &s;aid Com|plaint.</P>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
