“Inasmuch, my lord, as this indictment is grounded upon an Act of Parliament directly repugnant to the laws of God and His Holy Church, the supreme government of which, or of any part thereof, may no temporal prince presume by any law to take upon him, as rightfully belonging to the See of Rome, a spiritual preeminence by the mouth of our Savior Himself, personally present upon the earth, only to St. Peter and his successors, bishops of the same See , by special prerogative guaranteed, it is therefore in law among Christian men insufficient to charge any Christian man.”... “this realm, being but one member and small part of the Church, might not make a particular law [that was] disagreeable with the general law of Christ’s Universal Catholic Church any more than the city of London, being but one poor member in respect of the whole realm, might make a law against an Act of Parliament to bind the whole realm.”
Court Notes of the Trial of Thomas More July 1, 1535
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