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<DATE>2014-07-31</DATE>
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<NAME>TCP Staff (Michigan)</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140629.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<STC T="W">P4084a</STC>
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<VID>202059</VID>
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<HEAD>Some Pa&s;&s;ages ab&s;tracted out of a Book, entitled <HI>Minors no Senators,</HI> being a brief Di&s;cour&s;e, proving Infants under One and twenty years of Age to be incapable in point of Law of being Elected or Admitted Members of the High Court of PARLIAMENT; and that the Election of &s;uch Members are Meer Nullitites in Laws.</HEAD>
<BYLINE>Written by <HI>W. Prynn,</HI> E&s;q;</BYLINE>
<P N="1">1. FOR Parliaments are Summoned to treat and con&s;ult <HI>De quibu&s;dam arduis &amp; urgentibus Negotiis Statuum, ac Defen&s;ione Regni, &amp;c.</HI> and Infants for want of Judgment and Experience, are uncapable to debate and determine &s;uch grand Affairs concerning the Safety and Defence of the Kingdom.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Writ de&s;cribeth the quality of the Per&s;ons to be cho&s;en, <HI>viz. Eligi facias duos Milites Gladiis Cinctos Ma|gis Idoneos &amp; Di&s;cretos, &amp; de quolibet Burgo duos Burgen&s;es de Di&s;cretioribus &amp; Magis Sufficientibus Eligi facias.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. There is another Clau&s;e in the Writ, de&s;cribing what Per&s;ons mu&s;t be Elected to be Citizens and Burge&s;&s;es of Parliament, even &s;uch only <HI>Qui plenam &amp; &s;ufficientem pote&s;tatem pro &s;e &amp; Communitate Civitatum &amp; Burgorum prae|dict. ad faciendum &amp; con&s;entiendum, &amp;c.</HI> To con&s;ent to tho&s;e things concerning the weighty Affairs of the Church and State, which &s;hall be ordained by the Common Con&s;ent in Parliament.</P>
<P N="4">4. By the Common-Law and Civil-Law, Infants have no full power to do or con&s;ent to any thing for them|&s;elves: If they Levy a Fine, or Acknowledge a Statute or Recognizance, which are matters of Record, they may avoid them during their Minorities. The like of Feoffments, Grants, Relea&s;es, made or given by Infants, are either void, or voidable.</P>
<P N="5">5. And if an Infant cannot con&s;ent fully for him&s;elf, much le&s;s for others; being unable to be an Attorney or Proxy, to a&s;&s;ent for others in any Court of Ju&s;tice, much more then in a Parliament, the &s;upreme&s;t Court; and therefore for the defect of &s;uch a Power, and by rea&s;on of &s;uch an improvident Election of Infant-Citizens, and Infant-Burge&s;&s;es, &s;uch Elections are meerly void in Law.</P>
<P N="6">6. It is al&s;o &s;aid in <HI>Littleton,</HI> That an Infant before the Age of 21 years cannot be a Bayliff, or Receiver, for want of Skill and Ability, by intendment of Law to make any Improvement or profit of Lands or Goods; nor yet &s;worn at all in any Inque&s;t as a Juror: And the Rea&s;on is, becau&s;e Jurors are Judges of all matters of Fact, which Infants in the eye of the Law have no competent knowledge of, and therefore are not returned &s;uch <HI>Lega|les homines,</HI> as the <HI>Venire</HI> requires. Neither is an Infant capable of the Steward&s;hip of a Mannour, much more is he incapable of being a Judg in Parliament, the &s;upreme&s;t Court of Ju&s;tice, where the mo&s;t difficult Bu&s;ine&s;&s;es, the mo&s;t weighty Publick Cau&s;es are finally examined, debated and adjudged, without any further Appeal.</P>
<P N="7">7. It is of very dangerous Con&s;equence for Infants to be admitted Members, e&s;pecially in the&s;e times of greate&s;t Con&s;ultation, Action, and Danger. For fir&s;t, if any one Infant may <HI>de Jure</HI> be a Member of Parliament; then by con&s;equence a &s;econd, third, and &s;o <HI>in infinitum,</HI> till the Hou&s;e be filled with &s;uch. For &s;urely, if one Infant be ca|pable of being a Member, then another as well as he: And if an Infant of twenty years, then of twelve, ten, or le&s;s by like Rea&s;on; &s;ince if you once break the Rules of Law, you can &s;et no bounds to any number or age of Infants; and &s;o by con&s;equence in&s;tead of having <HI>Concilium Sapientum, Senatus Seniorum, &amp;c.</HI> as Parliaments were anciently &s;tiled, we &s;hall have <HI>Parliamentum Puerorum, Senatus Infantum,</HI> a Parliament of Children, a Senate of Babes; if all Cities, Boroughs were &s;o childi&s;h, &s;o fooli&s;h, and injurious to the Publick in their Elections of &s;uch, as &s;ome (through the importunity of Friends or Bribes) have been.</P>
<P>It was a prudent Speech of a blunt Burge&s;s when he was &s;olicited to give his Voice for a young Novice, <HI>This is no Parliament to enter Whelps in, therefore we mu&s;t think of &s;ome Graver Per&s;on.</HI></P>
<P>Object. 1. <HI>That the Elections of Members to Parliament belongs to the Free-holders, Burge&s;&s;es, and Free-men who elect them, and therefore their Election mu&s;t &s;tand good.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> They have no power to Elect what Members they plea&s;e, but only &s;uch as are mo&s;t fit, able, and di&s;|creet; and where they chu&s;e a Per&s;on that is uncapable by Law, the Election cannot make him capable of being a Member by their Election.</P>
<P>Object. 2. <HI>That &s;ome Infants under the Age of One and twenty years, have been admitted to fit as Members in former Par|liaments.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> No Infant ought <HI>de Jure</HI> to &s;it in any Parliament, nor ever &s;ate in former Parliaments of Right, but only by Connivance, when either the Hou&s;e took no notice, or el&s;e their Elections were not que&s;tioned. And Connivance of former Parliaments in this kind, is no Pre&s;ident to over-rule, or bind this pre&s;ent Parliament; be|cau&s;e there are more weighty and difficult Affairs to be debated and &s;etled in this Parliament than in any, yea, all the Parliaments of former Ages, there being at this time more labouring to make Parties to private ends than in any former Ages.</P>
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