Any patent must be void, for Con had no estate in the country, which was held only by consent of the Lords and inhabitants.
By the law of the Pale no letters patent took effect without inquisition, which could not be held in Tyrone because it was no shire. If ‘the Queen’s law’ is to prevail, then I am heir-at-law.
R. The Baron’s son claims by letters patent, not by legitimation, and the freeholders were consenting parties. Shane’s Pale law is ‘used in shire-ground and not in the Irishry, where the Prince holdeth by conquest, and ever hath done, and the breach thereof overthrows all the new Earls’ states in Ireland.’
4. How he proves his title to be O’Neill, having never been admitted by the sovereign?
A. In Tyrone and most Irish countries the people assemble on the death of a chief and choose ‘the most ablest and the worthiest of the headmen.’ Shane was so elected without the usual contest. His ancestors never used to be confirmed by the Crown, ‘yet none the less do I mean to be as good and true a subject as though any such confirmation were had in that behalf.’
R. The eldest is not accounted the worthiest, but the strongest. Shane forced the country to elect him. There are many precedents for the admission of captains of countries by letters patent, and the practice should of right be universal.
5. What authority and jurisdiction does Shane claim by virtue of tribal election?
A. What my ancestors have always claimed and no more. Most of them have held the pre-eminence by indenture, and the old men of the country will not deny the extent of the jurisdiction.
R. The claim is bad, and more particulars are required.
Shane’s ‘Urraghs,’ according to himself.