XPost: alt.history.british, alt.politics.british, soc.history.medieval   
   From: william.black@hotmail.co.uk   
      
   "Normandy"  wrote in message   
   news:46ded4ac$0$5111$ba4acef3@news.orange.fr...   
   >   
   > "William Black"  a écrit dans le message de   
   > news: fbma65$uac$1@registered.motzarella.org...   
      
   >> I know that a bit earlier Lord (Thomas) Fairfax and his father Lord   
   >> (Ferdinando) Fairfax both had men imprisoned for 'refusing to uncover'.   
   >>   
   >> Charles II probably had more sense than the Fairfaxes, who were 'new   
   >> money'.   
   >>   
   >   
   > William Penn made British legal history.  The judge asked if he was guilty   
   > as charged. Penn replied: 'The question is not whether I am guilty but   
   > whether the indictment is legal!'  He then asserted that a law denying the   
   > God-given right of a man to obey his conscience was not valid.   
   >   
   > Sir Samuel Starling, who was also Lord Mayor of London, ordered the jury   
   > to return a guilty verdict.   Penn shouted 'You are Englishmen. Mind your   
   > privilege. Don't give away your right!'   
   >   
   > The jury pronounced Penn and co-defendant Mead not guilty.  Sir Samuel   
   > Starling first threatening the jurors and then incarcerated them for   
   > contempt of court.   
   >   
   > The jurors then produced a writ of habeas corpus.   Chief Justice Vaughan   
   > upheld the right of juries to give a verdict according to their   
   > convictions.   
   >   
   > The large marble plaque which commemorates the trial of Penn and Mead is   
   > preserved in the original entrance lobby of the Central Criminal Court.   
   > The building stands on the site of Newgate prison, which was adjacent to   
   > the Sessions House where the trial was held.   
   >   
   > It was during this trial, I think, William Penn said, "I am a freeborn   
   > Englishman and call no man my master save God and my king."   
      
   It wasn't that unique.   
      
   John Lilbourne's trial had a similar end with the judge instructing the jury   
   to give a guilty verdict and the jury returning a not guilty decision.   
      
   --   
   William Black   
      
      
   I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.   
   Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland   
   I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate   
   All these moments will be lost in time,  like icecream on the beach   
   Time for tea.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)