Bail was denied to these men. Simpler people who refused
were threatened with impressment into the Navy, which included
being landed on shore to fight as marines and soldiers. They
sought to revive the old writ of habeas corpus [produce the body]
to get released, but to no avail. The old writ had been just to
bring to court those persons needed for proceedings, but Coke in
1614 had cited the writ with a new meaning "to have the body
together with the cause of detention". Charles billeted unpaid and
unruly soldiers in private homes, which they plundered. It was
customary to quarter them in inns and public houses at royal
expense. Martial law was declared and soldiers were executed. But
the citizens did not want martial law either.
The Magna Carta was now seen as a protector of basic liberties.
Both attorneys and laymen read "The Pastyme of People" written by
John Rastell in 1529, which described the history of the Magna
Carta from 1215 to 1225. Also read was the "Great Abridgment" of
the English law written by Rastell in 1527, and Coke's volume of
his Institutes which dealt with the Magna Carta, which the Crown
took to prevent being published until 1642, when Parliament
allowed it.
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