146 Hungerjord. 



both died in the same year, and that immediately upon the death 

 of Richard II., the son of John 0. Gaunt ascended the throne by 

 the title of Henry lY. It is therefore indisputable, that although 

 John 0, Gaunt was the son of Edward III., the uncle of Richard 

 II., and the father of Henry lY. he himself never ascended the 

 throne. How then, I ask, could he perform regal acts? How 

 could he alienate the possessions of the Crown without a kingly 

 prerogative, or the authority of Parliament ? And how therefore 

 could he make the grant of the rights, liberties and privileges in 

 question ? No Act of Parliament appears to have been ever passed 

 or is stated to have been passed making or authorising such a grant ; 

 and although tradition attributes it to a Charter, yet we have seen 

 that the Duke had no right or power to grant one. If therefore 

 tradition be just in the attribute of the person, it is erroneous in 

 the nature of the instrument ; but if on the other hand it be cor- 

 rect with respect to the instrument, it follows that it is wrong as 

 regards the person. It is moreover extremely probable that the 

 Charter was granted about the time the Duke was first possessed 

 of the Dutchy of Lancaster (which was presented to him by his 

 father), and that he assuming that kingly jurisdiction with which 

 he was invested therein — a power greater than that of any other 

 subject, might in later times be not perhaps unreasonably — supposed 

 to have been the onl}' person who could grant the bounty in 

 question. The only way therefore to reconcile this inconsistency 

 appears to me to be this; to assume that the father who had the 

 power, and not the son who lacked the power, was the real donor ; 

 and this conclusion will perfectly agree with what will be hereafter 

 stated. Secondly, with respect to the nature of the grant to the 

 Duke himself, attention to which will enable us to see more clearly 

 that the conclusion last suggested is the true one. John 0. Gaunt 

 who was early trained to arms, and as Froissart informs us " acted 

 valiantly in many hard-fought battles," became the favorite of his 

 spirited and war-like father, who in reward for his son's services 

 in the French war, conferred upon him the county of Lancaster 

 with jura regalia; i.e. the privilege of having a chancery and 

 writs issuing therefrom, and the appointment of Justices both civil 



