Irish Parliaments 1706-1713.
Chapter X. 1706-1713. On the Mode prescribed to appoint a Lord Justice - Statute 33 Henry VIII. - Contradictory Opinions thereon - How ...
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Chapter X. 1706-1713. On the Mode prescribed to appoint a Lord Justice - Statute 33 Henry VIII. - Contradictory Opinions thereon - How ...
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**Chapter X.
**1706-1713.
On the Mode prescribed to appoint a Lord Justice - Statute 33 Henry VIII. - Contradictory Opinions thereon - How disposed of - Parliament of 1707 - the Viceroy’s Conciliatory Address.
On the 28th January 1706, while the viceroy, the Duke of Ormonde, was absent in London, and the lord chancellor, Sir Richard Cox, and Lord Cutts, commander-in-chief, were lords justices, Lord Cutts died suddenly.
By statute 33 Henry VIII., on the avoidance of every the king’s lieutenant, deputy, or justices of the realm, by death, surrender, or departure out of the realm, it was required that the chancellor should write to the king’s counsellors to elect a governor, and upon the election he should seal letters patent; and such person being sworn, should have the same authority as the king, lieutenant, or deputy then next before him used to have, until the king do admit and authorise one to be his lieutenant or governor, and until he be sworn as accustomed.
Having met the Privy Council at the Castle, the lord chancellor requested their advice, which was that he should send writs, and proceed to a new election; and those most ready for this course declared their readiness to elect him sole governor, as had been done a few years previously, when, on the death of the viceroy, Lord Capel, the then chancellor, Sir Charles Porter, had been elected sole lord justice. The chancellor, it seems, had a suspicion that these advisers would not scruple to mislead, and expressed his doubts as to the propriety of this course. He considered the statute of Henry VIII. referred to head governor, and that he had no right to assume a power not warranted by the statute. The chancellor consulted precedents, - that most in point, when the viceroy, Earl of Strafford, was a prisoner in the Tower, and the Lord Justice Wandesford died, the council did not proceed to a new election, but used the words, *“that the Government was unsupplied.” *The chancellor then consulted the judges and law officers, who thought with the chancellor that writs ought not to be issued. The queen and her legal adviser in England also held the chancellor was right. The Duke of Ormonde was removed from the office of viceroy, and the chancellor with the primate, by letters patent dated 16th February 1706, were appointed lords justices. But this refusal of the lord chancellor to proceed with the election was the ground of a resolution of the House of Commons, for the House resolved - 1st, That by the death of Lord Cutts, on 26th January 1706, the kingdom became destitute of a governor residing in the same until 15th February following. 2nd, That no writ was issued by Sir Richard Cox, lord chancellor, for electing a justice pursuant to the statute of 33 Henry VIII. from 26th January to 15th February 1706, at which time the primate and lord chancellor were constituted lords justices under the Great Seal. 3rd, That it was, and is, the indispensable duty of the lord chancellor or lord keeper, when the kingdom is destitute, to issue writs to summon the privy councillors to elect a chief governor pursuant to the statute of Henry VIII. [*Lives of Lord Chancellors, *vol. i. p. 525.] These resolutions being affirmed by the precedents, 10 of the judges, the law officers of England and Ireland, the ex-chancellor did not suffer in his reputation, and no action was taken on the resolutions of the House of Commons.