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[Page 12]
been for a long time in the habit of considering themselves as a Corporation & they now plead prescription as the Foundation of their Claim.
This was not however the Case when in the year 1697 * they were Required by the Commee [Committee] of the house of Commons to Produce their Charter, They first declared that their charter was in the hands of the executors of the Late Comptroller, & as this did not prove True they next declard that it had been left with the Lord Cheif Baron which was Likewise untrue, in the course of these proceedings the master of the mint de[c]lard to the Commee that he had always Considerd the moneyers to be a Corporation & the warden declard that he beleivd them to have no grant in Charter whatever, but the general Charter of the mint.
as these moneyers are Clearly a Part of the body Corporate which Consists of the whole of the mint officers, it appears Legaly impossible that they can be also considerd as a Separate body incorporation, Such an Imperium in Imperio is not likely to have been granted at any time, Especialy as no Reason for so Strange a Grant Can be adducd, but if the thing itself is unreasonable & no Proof of it having been done Can be adduced, will not the Courts
* See Journals of the house of Commons 1697 April 8th