On the 2d of October, 1690, upon reading the Earl's petition,
setting forth that he had been a prisoner for a year and nine months in
the Tower, notwithstanding the late act of free and general pardon, and
praying to be discharged, the Lords ordered the Judges to attend on the
Monday following, to give their opinions whether the said Earl be
pardoned by the act. On the 6th the Judges delivered their opinions,
that, if his offence was committed before the 13th of February, 1688,
and not in Ireland or beyond the seas, he is pardoned. Whereupon it was
ordered that he be admitted to bail, and the next day he and his
sureties entered into a recognizance of bail, himself in ten thousand
pounds, and two sureties in five thousand pounds each; and on the 30th
he and his sureties were, after a long debate, discharged from their
recognizance.[91] It will not be material to inquire whether the House
did right in discharging the Earl without giving the Commons an
opportunity of being heard; since, in fact, they claimed and exercised a
right of judicature without an High Steward,--which is the only use I
make of this case.
They did the same in the case of the Earl of Carnwarth, the Lords
Widdrington and Nairn, long after the High Steward's commission
dissolved.
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