Volume 1
The trial of Elizabeth Duchess Dowager of Kingston for bigamy, before the Right Honourable the House of Peers, in Westminster-Hall, in full Parliament, on Monday the 15th, Tuesday the 16th, Friday the 19th, Saturday the 20th, and Monday the 22d of April, 1776. On the last of which days the said Elizabeth duchess dowager of Kingston was found guilty / Published by order of the House of Peers.
- Elizabeth Pierrepont, Duchess of Kingston-upon-Hull
- Date:
- 1776
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The trial of Elizabeth Duchess Dowager of Kingston for bigamy, before the Right Honourable the House of Peers, in Westminster-Hall, in full Parliament, on Monday the 15th, Tuesday the 16th, Friday the 19th, Saturday the 20th, and Monday the 22d of April, 1776. On the last of which days the said Elizabeth duchess dowager of Kingston was found guilty / Published by order of the House of Peers. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![[ *62 ] Now, l'uch a Conftrudion your Lordfhips would never fuffer, nor any Court of Juftice in this Country would fuffer to take Place, unlefs there fhould fomething be found in the Law which necefTarily requires it: And taking the feveral Statutes together relating to thisSubjed, I apprehend your Lordfhips will be of Opinion, that thefe Statutes do not only not require, but that they exclude, fuch Abfurdity, fuch Inhumanity. My Lords, The Statute upon which the Whole muft be founded, as I conceive, is that oF the 20th of King Henry the Vlth which, as well as I recoiled from my Memory, is Chap, ii, which'firfi: provides exprefsly, though I believe it is confidered only as a Declaration of the Common Law, but provides, that Peereffes, fhould be tried, and, if 1 recoi¬ led the Words rightly, fhould not only be tried, but fhould be judged in the fame Manner as Leers *, and remembering what has happened upon that Statute, 1 muft put your Lordfhips in Mind, that fuch has been the Benignity of the Conftrudion upon it, that though only Three Ranks of Peereffes are named, it has been clearly held in Conftrudion to extend to all. The Three that are mentioned, I think, are Ducheffes, Counteffes, and Baroneffes ; the Conftrudion is, that it extends to Marchioneffes and Vicounteffes, becaufe they are intitled in the Spirit and Meaning of the Law to the fame Privilege, which is given to the other Ladies by Name. The clear Refult and Effed of this Statute is, to fay in general Terms, that Women of that high Rank fhould be tried and fhould be judged in the fame Manner as Men. The Terms ufed in the Ad are general. Whoever reads that Law, will be aftonifhed to hear any Man contending, that in impofing Judgment upon a Peerefs your Lordfhips are to be guided by a different Rule from that, which you would follow if you were paffing Judg¬ ment upon a Peer. The next Statute to be confidered after this, as a general Statute upon the Subjed, is that of the 3d and 4th of King William the Third. Did that Statute mean •, were the Legiflators that made it fo forgetful of what was due to Humanity, and to themfelves and their own Charaders, as to mean, that a Diftindion in Punifhment fhould prevail between one Sex and the other to the Prejudice of that, which is intitled to the greater Indulgence and Compaffjon ? Moft certainly not ; becaufe the exprefs Provifion of that Statute is, that Women convided of Offences intitled to the Benefit of Clergy fhould fuffer in the fame Manner as Men would fuffer convided of the fame Offences. My Lords, No Man, who can read that Statute, and reafon upon it, can help concluding that it was the Objed of that Law to fay, that where Women were convided of Clergyable Offences, they fhould be in as good a Situation as Men, who were convided of the like. My Lords, Taking thefe Two Statutes of the 20th of Henry the Sixth providing for the Trial and Judgment of Peereffes, and the general Statute of the 3d and 4th of William the Third giving the Benefit of Clergy to Women, I fhould think it impoffible to fay, that Peereffes convided of a Clergyable Offence were not to have precifely the fame Privi- ledges as Peers convided of fuch Offences. My Lords, If there be any Rule of Conftrudion in the Law, which is indif- putable, for expounding Statutes, it is this, that Statutes, as we fay, in ■pari materia, relaing to one Subjed, are to be confidered as one Law, taken and interpreted toge¬ ther as throwing Light one upon the other: No Rule of Conftrudion is better eflablifhed. Foliovv that Rule of Conftrudion here : Take Firfi: the general Law for the Trial of Peereffes and the Judgment of Peereffes in the fame Manner as of Peers ; then take the general Law, giving the Benefit of Clergy to Women in the fame Manner as to Men ; and who will not fay, that that Rule of Conftrudion does not necefTarily tend to put both, upon the Rank of Men and Women, in the fame Condition, when convided of the fame Species of Offence ? But what are the particular Ads of Parliament, which have been referred to as requiring a different Conftrudion ? By the Firfi of Edward the Sixth, it is extremely clear, that Peers are not to undergo the ignominious Punifhment of Burning. The Statute, that follows that of Edward the Sixth, is the 18th of Elizabeth, which takes away the Delivery to the Ordinary, fubftitutes Burning in its Place, and then gives a Power to imprifon. Whoever reads that Ad, will fee that it certainly was confined to Cafes, where Punifhment was to be inflided by Juftices upon Perfons of an ordinary Defcription, not Perfons of the Rank of Peers ; and the Statute ftridly and clearly relates only to Perfons fo having Clergy allowed, as is prefcribed by that Statute: And if the 18th of Elizabeth is to have the Conftrudion which is contended for, I underftand it muft have Effed alfo to inflid the Punifhment of Burning upon Peers. So much, my Lords, for the Statute of the 18th of Elizabeth. The 21 ft of King James was mentioned as firfi in Part giving Clergy to Women: The 3d and 4th of King William the Third, is mentioned as alluding to it; it does fo, but the Provifions of the 3d and 4th of King William the Third are general, that is, a general Law extending the Benefit of Clergy to Women in all Cafes:](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30458961_0001_0172.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
