Minors No Senators; Or A Briefe Discourse, Proving, That Infants...
Prynne Weighs In on "Infant" MPs [Prynne, William (1600-1669)]. Minors No Senators. Or A Briefe Discourse, Proving, That Infants Under the Age of 21. Yeares, Are Uncapable, In Point of Law, Of Being Members of Parliament, And that the Elections of Any Such are Meere Nullities; Yea, Injurious, Prejuditiall, Dishonourable to the Whole Parliament and Kingdome, In Sundry Respects. Written by a Common-Lawyer (A True Lover of His Country, And Honourer of the Parliament) To a Friend and Client of His, For His Private Satisfaction, And Published for the Common-Good. London: [s.n.], 1646. 16 pp. Quarto (8-1/2" x 6-1/4"). Stab-stitched pamphlet bound in recent quarter calf over marbled boards, blind fillets to calf edges, gilt-edged lettering piece to spine, edges rouged. Light toning, faint horizontal crease, trimming to bottom margin with loss to catchword and "Finis" on pp. 15-16 only. $750. * First edition. Prynne was a contentious and erudite Puritan attorney and legal antiquarian who wrote several books and pamphlets about legal history, religion and politics. Here, he advocates for the restriction of the age of candidacy to 21 for Members of Parliament on both legal and philosophical grounds. Though Prynne often tended to antagonize others, his ideas about the age of candidacy were borne out by history: the Parliamentary Elections Act of 1695 established 21 as the minimum age for both voters and candidates, a restriction maintained for over three hundred years until the age for candidates was lowered to 18 in 2006. An enlarged second edition and a subsequent excerpted edition appeared in 1661. English Short-Title Catalogue R205590.
Price: $750.00
Book number 74252