Five Knights' case

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Five Knights' case, 1627. After the 1626 Parliament had been dissolved without granting subsidies, Charles I raised money by various means, including forced loans. In 1627 five knights, imprisoned for refusal to contribute, appealed for habeas corpus. Lord Chief Justice Hyde denied bail: ‘if no cause of the commitment be expressed, it is to be presumed to be for matters of state, which we cannot take notice of.’ As a means of alienating the propertied classes, Charles's policy was highly successful.

J. A. Cannon

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