Norfolk County Archives Reel 191/4 -Grand Jury Charges 1749–1767. MC 36/171, 484 x 1

Extract

I am desird by the Court & in the Absence of the Recorder it is my Duty to give you in Charge those Matters referr'd to in ye Oath you have just now taken & to remind you of the Duty & nature of ye Service you are now ingag'd in, & of such Parts of our Constitution as relate thereto & this present [p.1 v] Assembly in Conformity to an Ancient Custom which does great Honour to his Majesty & his Government by permitting thus publickly & in his own Courts the Equity Justice & Extent of it to be inquir'd into, & a Sort of Appeal to be made to you & all here present for the Reasonableness of our Subjection & Correspondance betwixt the Government & Governed People [f. 2.] not to be found in any other Country or indeed practicable in any, but where the Extent of ye Royal Prerogative & the Obedience of the Subject is Limitted & Ascertain'd by the Law of the Land & where the King holds his Authority by the glorious noblest Tenure that of Protecting the Rights & Liberty's of his People, that this was always intended by our [f. 2 v] Constitution is Evident from the Nature of it, but never three together hardly two & seldom any one of our former Kings or rather their profligate Minions have been contented with this Sacred & Most Honorable Post appears from all our Historys agree in so that it is owing to the Glorious Brave Struggles of our Ancestors in former Ages particularly in the last & more especially in the latter part of it [f.3] that we have had this happiness during four successive Reigns & ever Since the Revolution continu'd in this happy Situation for they When on this Condition and for this very purpose they gave the Crown to our Glorious Deliverer and such of the then Royal Family as were coud answer this End & in default of the Issue by them to his Majesty & his descendants being the next Protestants in the Royal Line By that Act of Settlement referr'd to in our Oath of Allegiance and by which [f. 3 v] this Succession became & is the first Principle of our Constitution in Church & State, which can be preserv'd under none, if not under a Race of Kings made so for this express purpose, By our Constitution in Church I mean as well those Laws made for Restoring & preserving to our Dissenting Brethren the common Rights of Mankind to [f. 4] Worship Almighty God in such manner as appears to them most worthy of him, so as their principles and & practice be not dangerous to Society, & which are now happily a part of our Constitution, as well, as those made for the Honour & Protection of the Established ye most Excellent & pious Form of Worship Establish'd in our National Churches, By our Constitution in State no Body [f. 4. v] can mistake me that I mean the Body of Laws by which this Nation under his Majesty is Govern'd in its Civil consider'd distinct from its Religious concerns & particularly that part of them call'd the Crown Law which we are here assembled to inforce in this Jurisdiction as a Court of Oyer & Terminer & General Gaol Delivery.