is now the only county palatine in the hands of a subject (m). The earldom of Chester was vested in the crown by Henry 3, and the duchy of Lancaster was united to the crown by Edward 4, and Henry 7.

The Isle of Ely is not a county palatine but a royal franchise. The Isle of The bishop having, by grant of Henry 1, regal rights within Ely. the island, whereby he exercises a jurisdiction over all causes, 4 Inst. 220. as well criminal as civil (n). Counties corporate are certain cities or towns with more or less territory to which the kings of England have granted the privilege of being counties of themselves, not being comprised in any other county, and being governed by their own sheriffs or magistrates, such are London, York, Bristol, Norwich, Coventry, and some others. (0)

BOOK THE FIRST.

OF THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS.

CHAPTER I.

OF THE ABSOLUTE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS.

As municipal law is a rule of civil conduct, commanding what Primary obis right and prohibiting what is wrong, it follows, that the jects of law. primary and principal objects of the laws are rights and wrongs.

the law.

Rights are either the rights of persons, or rights which may Division of be acquired over external objects, which are styled the rights of things.

Wrongs are divisible into private wrongs, which being an infringement merely of particular rights, concern individuals only, and are called civil injuries; and public wrongs, which

(m) By 6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 19, the palatine jurisdiction of the county palatine of Durham, and all regal rights in respect thereof, were separated from the bishoprick of Durham, and vested in the Crown.

(n) By 6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 87, the secular jurisdiction of the bishop of Ely was extinguished, and vested in the Crown.

(0) The others are the cities of Canterbury, Chester, Exeter, Gloucester, Lichfield, Lincoln, and Worcester, and the towns of Poole, Southampton, Nottingham, Kingston. upon-Hull, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

C

Rights of per

sons.

Absolute and

being a breach of general and public rights, affect the whole community, and are called crimes and misdemeanors.

The rights of persons which are commanded to be observed by the municipal law are such as are due from every citizen, called civil duties, and such rights as belong to him. Persons are divided by the law into either natural persons, or artificial. Natural are such as the God of nature formed us; artificial are such as are devised by human laws for the purposes of society and government, which are called corporations or bodies politic.

The rights of persons considered in their natural capacities are absolute and relative. Absolute are such as belong to parrelative duties. ticular men as individuals; relative are incident to them as members of society. Absolute duties, which man considered as a mere individual is bound to perform, are not, and cannot be explained or enforced by any human municipal laws, for the intent of such laws being only to regulate the behaviour of mankind as they are members of society, they have no concern with any other but social duties.

Civil liberty.

Inst. 1, 3, 1.

Assertion of the rights of Englishmen.

25 Edwd. 1.

Public sobriety is a relative duty, and therefore enjoined by our laws; private sobriety is an absolute duty; but whether performed or not, cannot be enforced by human tribunals.

Political and civil liberty is no other than natural liberty, so far restrained by human laws as is necessary for the advantage of the public, a definition which sufficiently distinguishes it from natural liberty, or the power of acting as one thinks fit without any restraint or controul, unless by the law of nature.

The absolute rights of Englishmen, usually called their liberties, have been from time to time asserted in parliament; first by magna charta, confirmed in parliament by Henry 3 (a), afterwards by the statute called confirmatio cartarum, whereby the great charter is directed to be allowed as the common law; 2 Inst. Proem. next, by many corroborating statutes, from Edward 1, to Henry 4; then by the petition of right assented to by Charles 1, and the habeas corpus act, passed under Charles 2; then the Bill of Rights of 1688; and lastly, by the act of settlement, 12 & 13 William 3, c. 2, whereby the crown was

(a) The great example was set of combining a grant of supply with a redress of grievances, out of which all reforms of the constitution have grown. In consequence of this constitutional bargain the great charter was on the 11th February, 1225, re-issued in parliament, and has ever since auspiciously held its place at the head of English statutes.-Mackintosh's England, vol. 1, 227.

limited to the present royal family, and provisions were added

for securing our religion, laws, and liberties, which the statute Plowd. 55. declares to be "the birthright of the people of England,” according to the ancient doctrine of the common law. These rights may be reduced to three primary articles. The right of personal liberty, the right of personal security, and the right of private property.

curity.

The right of personal security consists in a person's legal Personal seand uninterrupted enjoyment of his life, his limbs, his body, his health, and his reputation. Life is the immediate gift of God, a right inherent by Nature in every individual; and it begins in contemplation of law as soon as an infant is able to stir in the mother's womb. An infant in ventre sa mere, or in the mother's womb, is supposed in law to be born for many purposes. It is capable of having a legacy, or a surrender of a copyhold estate made to it, or to have an estate limited to its use, and to take afterwards by such limitation as if it were then actually born (b). Both the life and limbs of a man are 10 & 11 Wm. of such value in the estimation of the laws of England, that 3, c. 16.

it pardons even homicide if committed se defendendo; and if a

man through fear of death or mayhem is prevailed upon to

execute a deed it may be afterwards avoided. The constraint 2 Inst. 483. a man is under in these circumstances is called in law duress,

of which there are two sorts; duress of imprisonment, where a man loses his liberty, and duress per minas, where the hardship is only threatened. Duress per minas is either for

fear of loss of life or limb. These rights of life and member can only be determined by the death of the person, which was

formerly accounted to be either a civil or natural death. The Co. Litt. 133. civil death commenced if any man was banished or abjured the realm by the process of the common law, or entered a monastery and became a monk professed, in which cases he was dead in law, and his next heir took his estate.

Natural life being the immediate donation of the great Creator, cannot legally be disposed of or destroyed by any individual, not even by the person himself, yet it may by divine permission be forfeited by the breach of those laws of society which are enforced by the sanction of capital punishments. The statute of magna charta enacts, that " no freeman shal. be deprived of life but by the lawful judgment of his peers, or

c. 29.

(b) But the presumptive heir may enter and receive the profits for his own use till the birth of the child. 3 Wils. 526.

Personal liberty.

by the law of the land." By 5 Edward 3, c. 9, no man shall be forejudged of life or limb contrary to the great charter and the law of the land; and by 28 Edward 3, c. 3, no man shall be put to death without being brought to answer by due process of law.

Next to personal security, the law of England regards the personal liberty of individuals, which consists in the power of removing one's person to any place whatsoever, without restraint, unless by due course of law.

A writ of habeas corpus is provided by 16 Car. 2, for any person restrained of his liberty by order or decree of any illegal court, or by command of the king, or warrant of the privy council, to bring his body before the Court of King's Bench or Common Pleas, who shall determine whether the cause of his commitment be just, and thereupon do as to justice shall appertain; and by 31 Car. 2, c. 2, called the Habeas Corpus Habeas Corpus Act, the methods of obtaining this writ are explained, so that no Englishman can be detained in prison except in such cases in which the law justifies such detainer.

Act.

2 Inst. 482.

2 Inst. 482.

F. N. B. 85.

Right of property.

Duress of imprisonment means a compulsion by an illegal restraint of liberty of a man until he seals a bond, or the like, in which case he may avoid the extorted bond; but if he be lawfully imprisoned, and either to procure his discharge or on any other fair account seals a bond or a deed, this is not by duress of imprisonment, and he is not at liberty to avoid it.

To make imprisonment lawful, it must either be by process from the courts of judicature, or by warrant from some legal officer having authority to commit to prison; the warrant must be in writing, under the hand and seal of the magistrate, and express the causes of the commitment, in order to be examined into, if necessary, by a habeas corpus, and if there be no cause expressed, the jailer is not bound to detain the prisoner.

The king may by his prerogative issue out his writ ne exeat regno, and prohibit any of his subjects from leaving the kingdom without license, which may be necessary for the public service and safeguard of the commonwealth; but no power, except parliament, can send any subject of England out of the land against his will.

The third absolute right inherent in every Englishman is that of property, which consists in the free use, enjoyment, and disposal of all his acquisitions, without any controul or diminution, save only by the laws of the land.

The laws of England are in point of honour and justice extremely watchful in ascertaining and protecting this right, and will not authorize the least violation of it, not even for the general good of the whole community, as if a new road, for instance, were to be made through the grounds of a private person, though it might be beneficial to the public, the law permits no man, nor set of men, to do this without consent of the owner of the land. The legislature alone can compel the individual to acquiesce; and when it so interposes, it gives the party a full indemnification for the injury thereby sustained.

Nor is this the only instance in which the law of the land has postponed even public necessity to the sacred and inviolable rights of private property, for no subject of England can be constrained to pay any taxes but such as are imposed by his own consent, or that of his representatives in parliament; but in vain would these rights be declared if the constitution had provided no other method to secure their enjoyment. It has, Secured by therefore, established other subordinate rights of the subject to protect the former. These are, the constitution, powers, Parliament. and privileges of parliament; the limitation of the king's prerogative by bounds, so certain that it cannot be exceeded without the consent of the people; the right of applying to the courts of justice for redress; the right of petitioning the king or either house of parliament for the redress of grievances, and the right of having arms for self-defence suitable to Right to posour condition and degree.

By limitation of the king's prerogative.

The right of petitioning.

sess arms.

The emphatical words of magna charta spoken in the per- c. 29. son of the king, who in judgment of law, says Sir Edward Coke, is ever present, and repeating them in all his courts, are these, nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus, aut differemus rectum vel justiciam. And by 2 Edward 3, c. 8, and 11 Richard 2, c. 10, no commands or letters shall be sent in disturbance of the law, or to disturb or delay common right, and though such commandments should come, the judges shall not cease to do right, which is also made a part of their oath; and by 18 Edward 3, st. 4, and by 1 Wm. & Mary, st. 2, c. 2, the pretended power of suspending or dispensing with laws by regal authority, without consent of parliament, is declared illegal; and by 16 Car. 2, c. 10, neither the king or his privy council have any power to draw into question, or dispose of the lands or goods of any person, but the same must be tried and determined in the ordinary courts of justice and by course of law.