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Mich. 10 Jac. Regis.
1. The Attorney-General informed against Thomas Good∣rick Gent. Sir Richard Cox Kt. Henry Vernon Gent. Henry Minors, Thomas Lake Gent. and James Ingrum Merchant, ore t••nus, in the Star-Chamber; and charged Goodrick, that he had spoken and published of the E. of Northampton, a Peer of the Realm, &c. divers false and horrible Scan∣dals, scil. That more Jesuits, Papists, &c. have come into
England, since the Earl of Northampton was Guardian of the Cinque-Ports, then before.
2. That the said Earl had writ a Book openly against Garnet, &c. but secretly had writ a Letter to Bellarmine, intimating, that he writ the said Book, ad placandum re∣gem sive ad faciendum populum; and requested, that his Book ••ight not be answered: and that the Archbishop of Canterbury had told it the King: and that the said Goodrick told it to one Deusbery, who acquainted the Earl with it. Goodrick being examined, vouches Sir Richard Cox for Author; Sir Richard Cox vouched the said Ver∣non; Vernon cited Lake; Lake, that he heard it from Sergeant Nichols; Nichols said one Speaket related it to him, and that he heard it from James Ingrum; and James Ingrum said, that in October he heard the said words of two English Fugitives at Ligorn; but never published them till the Earl of Salisbury's death, in May last: And all the Defendants conf••ssed at Bar, all that they were charged with; and at the Hearing of this Case were 11 Judges, Fleming being absen•• propter aegritudinem.
And so it was Resolved, That the publishing of false Rumours, concerning the King or the Peers, was in some Cases punishable by the Common-Law: But of this were divers Opinions;
1. And first, as to Rumors themselves.
1. They ought to be fase and horrible. 2. Such of which Discord may arise betwixt the King and his People, &c. West. 2. c. 24. 2 R. 2. cap. 53. 3. The Subversion and Destruction of the Realm, ibidem.
2. As to Persons, they declared to be Prelates, Dukes, Earls, Barons, &c. Justice of the one Bench or other, or any great Officers, &c. 2 R. 2. c. 5. And the King is con∣tained within West. 1. c. 34. as appears in Dyer, 5 Mary 155.
3. As to the third Point, it was Resolved, That if one hear such false and horrible Rumors, it is not lawful
to relate them to others: And this appears by the Stat. viz. That the Party shall be imprisoned, until he find out the party who spoke them. Which proves, it was an Of∣fence, else he should not be punish'd by Fine and Impri∣sonment.
It was also Resolved, That the Offenders at the Bar, if against them the Proceedings had been by Indictment, upon these Statutes, no Judgment could be had against them, that they should be imprisoned, till they found their Author: for Goodrick did not relate to Deusbery, that he heard from Sir Richard Cox; but he related the same as of himself: and for this he ought to be indicted for the words which he himself spake: and then De non appa∣rentibus & non existentibus eadem ratio.
And it was Resolved, That if A. say to B. Did you not hear that C. is guilty of Treason, &c. This is tanta∣mount to a Scandalous Publication. If J. S. publish, that he hath heard generally, without a certain Author, that J. G. was a Traytor or Thief; there an Action, Sur le case, lyeth against J. S. And a Record was vouched, Mich. 33 and 34 Ed. 3. and in the 30 Ass. pl. 10. and in the Exchequer, Mi••h. 18. Ed. 1. Rot. 4.
The Defendants, in the Case at Bar, for publication of the said words, all the Defendants were punish'd by all the presence, una voce, nullo contradicente, by Fines and Imprisonment; Goodrick and Ingrum were Fined the most, because one could find no Author for the Words, con∣cerning the Cinque-Ports; nor the other, any other than unknown persons of Ligorn; and therefore 'twas taken as a Fiction of his own.