“For hence hath arisen much misery in the Nations under Kingly Government, in that the man called the Judge hath been suffered to interpret the Law.  And when the mind of the Law, the Judgement of the Parliament and the Government of the Land, is resolved into the breasts of the Judges, this hath occasioned much complaining of Injustice in Judges, in Courts of Justice, in Lawyers, and in the course of the Law itself, as if it were an evil Rule.  Because the Law which was a certain Rule was varied, according to the will of a covetous, envious or proud Judge.  Therefore no marvel though the Kingly Laws be so intricate, and though few know which way the course of the Law goes, because the sentence lies many times in the breast of a Judge, and not in the letter of the Law.  And so the good Laws made by an industrious Parliament are like good eggs laid by a silly goose, and as soon as she hath laid them, she goes her way and lets others take them, and never looks after them more, so that if you lay a stone in her nest, she will sit upon it as if it were an egg.  And so, though the Laws be good, yet if they be left to the will of a Judge to interpret, the execution hath many times proved bad.”

     “WHAT IS THE JUDGE’S COURT?

“In a County or Shire there are to be chosen—­A Judge, the Peacemakers of every Town within that Circuit, the Overseers, and a band of Soldiers attending thereupon:  and this is called the Judge’s Court or the County Senate.  The Court shall sit four times in the year, or oftener if need be....  If any disorder break in among the people, this Court shall set things to right.  If any be bound over to appear at this Court, the Judge shall hear the matter, and pronounce the letter of the Law, according to the nature of the offence.  So that the alone work of the Judge is to pronounce the Sentence and mind of the Law:  and all this is but to see the Law executed and the Peace of the Commonwealth preserved.”

     “WHAT IS THE WORK OF A COMMONWEALTH’S PARLIAMENT IN GENERAL?”

Winstanley then sketches, first in broad outline and then in detail, what he deemed the work of a Commonwealth’s Parliament should be; and for our own part we know not where to find a higher ideal of the duties incumbent upon the chosen Representatives of the People:  an ideal that no Parliament to this day has ever attained, and which probably is only attainable when there shall be a strong body of educated public opinion, loving Justice and deserving Justice, inspiring and supporting their endeavours.  He commences as follows: 

“A Parliament is the highest Court of Equity in a Land; and it is to be chosen every year....  This Court is to oversee all other Courts, Officers, persons, and actions, and to have a full power, being the Representative of the whole Land, to remove all grievances, and to ease the people that are oppressed.”

A PARLIAMENT IS THE FATHER OF THE COMMONWEALTH.