XXVI 5 This course of descent is subject to limitation by parliament...... ............. Page 195 6 Notwithstanding such limitations, the crown retains its descendible quality, and becomes hereditary in the prince to whom it is limited .. King Egbert, king Canute, and king 8. At the revolution, the convention of 10. On the impending failure of the Pro- CHAPTER IV. 196 198 213 214 215 ..227-230 2. In privy counsellors may be considered, CHAPTER VI. OF THE KING'S DUTIES..... .233 to 235 1. The king's duties are, to govern his people according to law, to execute judgment in mercy, and to maintain the established religion 2. These are his part of the original con- OF THE KING'S PREROGATIVE..... III. His 4. The king's dignity consists in the legal 240 .241-249 5. In the king's authority, or regal power, consists the executive part of govern 250 6. In foreign concerns, the king, as the representative of the nation, has the right or prerogative, I. Of sending and receiving embassadors. II. Of making treaties. III. Of proclaiming war or peace. IV Of issuing reprisals. V. Of granting safe..253-261 conducts.... 7. In domestic affairs, the king is, first, a constituent part of the supreme legislative power; hath a negative upon all new laws; and is bound by no statute, unless specially named therein...... 261 8 He is also considered as the general of the kingdom, and may raise fleets and armies, build forts, appoint havens, erect beacons, prohibit the exportation of arms and ammunition, and confine his subjects within the realm, or recall them from ...262-266 foreign parts......... 9. The king is also the fountain of justice, and general conservator of the peace; and therefore may erect courts, (wherein he hath a legal ubiquity,) prosecute offenders, pardon crimes, and issue proclamations. 10. He is likewise the fountain of honour, 12. The king is, lastly, the supreme head OF THE KING'S REVENUE..................281 to 280 2331. The king's revenue is either ordinary or extraordinary. And the ordinary is, I. Ecclesiastical. II. Temporal.......... Page 281 2. The king's ecclesiastical revenue consists in, I. The custody of the temporalities of vacant bishoprics. II. Corodies and pensions. III. Extraparochial tithes. IV. The first-fruits and tenths of benefices........ ............282-286 The king's ordinary temporal revenue consists in, I. The demesne lands of the crown. II. The hereditary excise; being part of the consideration for the purchase of his feodal profits, and the prerogatives of purveyance and pre-emption. III. An annual sum issuing from the duty on wine-licenses; being the residue of the same consideration. IV. His forests. V. His courts of justice. VI. Royal fish. VII. Wrecks, and things jetsam, flotsam, and ligan. VIII. Royal mines. IX. Treasure trove. X. Waifs. XI. Estrays. XII..! Forfeitures for offences, and deodands. XIII. Escheats of lands. XIV. The custody of idiots and lunatics..............286-306 4. The king's extraordinary revenue consists in aids, subsidies, and supplies granted to him by the commons in parlia 5. Heretofore these were usually raised by grants of the (nominal) tenth or fifteenth part of the movables in every township; or by scutages, hydages, and talliages; which were succeeded by subsidies assessed upon individuals with respect to their lands and goods......... 306 308 308 6. A new system of taxation took place about the time of the revolution: our modern taxes are, therefore, I. Annual. II. Perpetual.. 7. The annual taxes are, I. The land-tax, or the ancient subsidy raised upon a new assessment. II. The malt-tax, being an annual excise on malt, mum, cider, and perry ......308-313 8. The perpetual taxes are, I. The customs, or tonnage and poundage of all merchandise exported or imported. II. The excise duty, or inland imposition, on a great variety of commodities. III. The salt duty, or excise on salt. IV. The postoffice, or duty for the carriage of letters. V. The stamp duty on paper, parchment, tc. VI. The duty on houses and winJOWS. VII. The duty on licenses for hackney coaches and chairs. VIII. The duty on offices and pensions .... ....313-326 9. Part of this revenue is applied to pay the interest of the national debt, till the principal is discharged by parliament.... 326 10. The produce of these several taxes were originally separate and specific funds, to answer specific loans upon their respective credits, but are now consolidated by parliament into three principal funds, the aggregate, general, and South-Sea funds, to answer all the debts of the nation: the public faith being also superadded, to supply deficiencies and strengthen the security of the whole.......... 1. The surpluses of these funds, after paying the interest of the national debt, 829 OF SUBORDINATE MAGISTRATES..........338 to 365 1. Subordinate magistrates, of the most general use and authority, are, I. Sheriffs. II. Coroners. III. Justices of the peace IV. Constables. V. Surveyors of the highways. VI. Overseers of the poor......338-339 2. The sheriff is the keeper of each county, annually nominated in due form by the king; and is (within his county) a judge, a conservator of the peace, a ministerial officer, and the king's bailiff ...... ...... 339 3. Coroners are permanent officers of the crown, in each county, elected by the freeholders; whose office it is to make inquiry concerning the death of the king's subjects, and certain revenues of the crown; and also, in particular cases, to supply the office of sheriff...... 4. Justices of the peace are magistrates in each county, statutably qualified, and commissioned by the king's majesty; with authority to conserve the peace, to hear and determine, felonies and other misdemeanours, and to do many other acts, committed to their charge by particular statutes 5. Constables are officers of hundreds and townships, appointed at the leet, and empowered to preserve the peace, to keep watch and ward, and to apprehend offenders....... 16 349 855 6. Surveyors of the highways are officers appointed annually in every parish; to remove annoyances in, and to direct the reparation of, the public roads....................... .857 7. Overseers of the poor are officers appointed annually in every parish; to relieve such impotent and employ such sturdy poor as are settled in each parish, by birth;-by parentage;-by marriage; -or by forty days' residence, accompanied with, I. Notice. II. Renting a tenement of ten pounds' annual value. III. Paying their assessed taxations. IV. Serving an annual office. V. Hiring and serving for a year. VI. Apprenticeship for seven years. VII. Having a sufficient estate in the parish CHAPTER X. ....359 -365 OF THE CLERGY .376 to 395 1. The people, whether aliens, denizens, or natives, are also either clergy, that is, all persons in holy orders, or in ecclesiastical offices; or laity, which comprehends the rest of the nation... 2. The clerical part of the nation, thus defined, are, I. Archbishops and bishops; who are elected by their several chapters, at the nomination of the crown, and afterwards confirmed and consecrated by each other. II. Deans and chapters. III. Archdeacons. IV. Rural deans. V. Parsons (under whom are included appropriators) and vicars; to whom there are generally requisite holy orders, presentation, institution, and induction. VI. Curates. To which may be added, VII. Churchwardens. VIII. Parish clerks and sextons. CHAPTER XII. 376 .377-395 OF THE CIVIL STATE ..... .............396 to 407 1. The laity are divisible into three states: civil, military, and maritime................ 396 2. The civil state, which includes all the nation except the clergy, the army, and the navy, (and many individuals among them also,) may be divided into the nobility, and the commonalty. 396 3. The nobility are dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons. These had anciently duties annexed to their respective honours; they are created either by writ, that is, by summons to parliament; or by the king's letters-patent, that is, by royal grant: and they enjoy many privileges exclusive of their senatorial capacity... ..... 396-402 4. The commonalty consist of knights of the garter, knights bannerets, baronets, knights of the Bath, knights bachelors, esquires, gentlemen, yeomen, tradesmen, artificers, and labourers........ ......... CHAPTER XIII. ........ .403-407 2. The more disciplined occasional troops of the kingdom are kept on foot only from year to year, by parliament, and, during that period, are governed by martial law, or arbitrary articles of war, formed at the pleasure of the crown.. Page 412 3. The maritime state consists of the officers and mariners of the British navy; who are governed by express and permanent laws, or the articles of the navy, established by act of parliament............ 417 CHAPTER XIV. OF MASTER And Servant.............. 422 to 481 1. The private, economical relations of persons are those of, I. Master and servant. II. Husband and wife. III. Parent and child. IV. Guardian and ward........ 422 2. The first relation may subsist between a master and four species of servants, (for slavery is unknown to our laws :) viz. I. Menial servants, who are hired. II. Apprentices, who are bound by indentures. III. Labourers, who are casually employed. IV. Stewards, bailiffs, and factors; who are rather in a ministerial state 3. From this relation result divers powers to the master, and emoluments to the 4. The master hath a property in the service of his servant, and must be answerable for such acts as the servant does by his express or implied command.......... CHAPTER XV. 422 427 431 OF HUSBAND AND WIFE.................... 433 to 442 1. The second private relation is that of marriage which includes the reciprocal rights and duties of husband and wife... 188 2. Marriage is duly contracted between persons, I. Consenting. II. Free from canonical impediments which make it voidable. III. Free also from the civil impediments,-of prior marriage ;-of want of age;-of non-consent of parents or guardians, where requisite ;-and of want of reason;-either of which make it totally void. And it must be celebrated by a clergyman in due form and place.......... 433-440 3. Marriage is dissolved, I. By death. II. By divorce in a spiritual court; not a mensa et thoro only, but a vinculo matrimoni, for canonical cause existing previous to the contract. III. By act of parliament, as, for adultery. ...... 440 4. By marriage the husband and wife become one person in law; which unity is the principal foundation of their respective rights, duties, and disabilities........ CHAPTER XVI. 44% OF PARENT and CHILD.............. ..................... ..446 to 459 1. The third, and most universal, private relation is that of parent and child....... 446 2. Children are, I. Legitimate; being those who are born in lawful wedlock, or within a competent time after. II. Bustards, being those who are not so.... 440 3. The duties of parents to legitimate children are, I. Maintenance. II. Protection. III. Education................... Page 447 4 The power of parents consists principally in correction, and consent to marriage. Both may, after death, be delegated by will to a guardian; and the former also, living the parent, to a tutor Gr master 6. The duties of legitimate children to parents are obedience, protection, and maintenance........ 6. The duty of parents to bastards is only that of maintenance.. 7. The rights of a bastard are such only as he can acquire; for he is incapable of inheriting any thing....... CHAPTER XVII. 452 453 458 459 460 OF GUARDIAN AND WARD..................460 to 464 1. The fourth private relation is that of guardian and ward, which is plainly derived from the preceding; these being, during the continuance of their relation, reciprocally subject to the same rights and duties......... 2 Guardians are of divers sorts: I. Guardians by nature, or the parents. II. Guardians for nurture, assigned by the ordinary. III. Guardians in socage, assigned by the common law. IV. Guardians by statute, assigned by the father's will. All subject to the superintendence of the court of Chancery.... ..... 461 3. Full age in male or female, for all purposes, is the age of twenty-one years, (different ages being allowed for different purposes;) till which age the person is an infant. 463 4. An infant, in respect to his tender years, hath various privileges, and various disabilities in law; chiefly with regard to suits, crimes, estates, and contracts....... 464 CHAPTER XVIII. 1. Bodies politic, or corporations, which are artificial persons, are established for preserving in perpetual succession certain rights; which, being conferred on natural persons only, would fail in process of time..... ............. Page 467 2. Corporations are, I. Aggregate, consisting of many members. II. Sole, consisting of one person only..... 3. Corporations are also either spiritual, erected to perpetuate the rights of the church; or lay. And the lay are, I. Civil; erected for many civil purposes. II. Eleemosynary; erected to perpetuate the charity of the founder. 469 470 4. Corporations are usually erected, and named, by virtue of the king's royal charter; but may be created by act of parliament........ 5. The powers incident to all corporations 6. The duty of corporations is to answer 8. Corporations may be dissolved, I. By act 472 475 479 480 484 .467 to 484 1 Things personal, or chattels; in which are considered XXIV. |