 Jenkins was brought before parliament in April 1647, but argued that it had no power to try him in the absence of the king.His arguments were expounded in his scholarly work, "Lex Terrae" which cited important authorities.The nub of his case, against the legitimacy of parliament in appointing justices and passing laws, was that such acts could only be performed with the explicit authority of the king and that the claim that the king was 'virtually' present in proceedings of the two Houses of Parliament was false.