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then duke of Lancaster'; whose heiress being married to John of Gant the king's fon, the franchise was greatly enlarged and confirmed in parliament', to honour John of Gant himself, whom, on the death of his father-in-law, the king had also created duke of Lancaster'. Counties palatine are fo called a palatio; because the owners thereof, the earl of Chester, the bishop of Durham, and the duke of Lancaster, had in thofe counties jura regalia, as fully as the king hath in his palace; regalem poteftatem in omnibus, as Bracton expreffes it". They might pardon treasons, murders, and felonies; they appointed all judges and juftices of the peace; all writs and indictments ran in their names, as in other counties in the king's; and all offences were faid to be done against their peace, and not, as in other places, contra pacem domini regis". And indeed by the antient law, in all peculiar jurifdictions, offences were faid to be done against his peace in whofe court they were tried: in a court-leet, contra pacem domini; in the court of a corporation, contra pacem ballivorum ; in the fheriff's court or tourn, contra pacem vice-comitis3. These palatine privileges (fo fimilar to the regal independent jurifdictions ufurped by the great barons on the continent, during the weak and infant state of the first feodal kingdoms in Europe) were in all probability originally granted to the counties of Chester and Durham, because they bordered upon inimical countries, Wales and Scotland: in order that the inhabitants, having justice administered at home, might not be obliged to go out of the county, and leave it open to the enemy's incurfions; and that the owners, being encouraged by fo large an authority, might be the more watchful in it's defence. And upon this account alfo there were formerlytwo other counties palatine, Pembrokeshire and Hexhamshire; the latter now united with Northumberland: but these were abolifhed by parliament, the former in 27 Hen. VIII, the latter in 14 Eliz. And in 27 Hen. VIII, likewife, the powers before mentioned of owners of counties palatine were abridged; Pat. 25 Edw. III. p. 1. m. 18. 215. 7 Rym. 138. Seld. ibid. Sandford's gen. hift. 112. 4 Inft. 204.

Cart. 36 Fdw. III. n. 9.
Pat. 51 Edw. III. m. 33. Plowd.

ul. 3. c. 8. §. 4.
w 4 Inst. 204.

x Seld. in Heng, magn, c. 2.
y Robertfon. Cha. V. i. 60.

the

the reason for their continuance in a manner ceasing: though still all writs are witnessed in their names, and all forfeitures for treafon by the common law accrue to them2.

Of these three, the county of Durham is now the only one remaining in the hands of a subject. For the earldom of Chester, as Camden teftifies, was united to the crown by Henry III, and has ever fince given title to the king's eldest fon. And the county palatine, or duchy, of Lancaster, was the property of Henry of Bolingbroke, the son of John of Gant, at the time when he wrested the crown from king Richard II, and affumed the ftile of king Henry IV. But he was too prudent to fuffer this to be united to the crown; left if he lost one, he should lose the other alfo. For, as Plowden and fir Edward Cokeb obferve, "he knew he had the duchy "of Lancaster by fure and indefeasible title, but that his "title to the crown was not fo affured: for that after the "decease of Richard II the right of the crown was in the " heir of Lionel duke of Clarence, fecond fon of Edward III; "John of Gant, father to this Henry IV, being but the "fourth fon." And therefore he procured an act of parlia ment, in the first year of his reign, ordaining that the duchy of Lancaster, and all other his hereditary estates, with all their royalties and franchifes, fhould remain to him and his heirs for ever; and should remain, defcend, be adminiftered, and governed, in like manner as if he never had attained the regal dignity: and thus they defcended to his fon and grandson, Henry V and Henry VI; many new territories and privileges being annexed to the duchy by the former. Henry VI being attainted in 1 Edw. IV, this duchy was declared in parliament to have become forfeited to the crown", and at the same time an act was made to incorporate the duchy of Lancaster, to continue the county palatine (which might otherwise have determined by the attainder) and to make the fame parcel of the duchy: and, farther, to veft the whole in king Edward IV and his heirs, kings of England, for ever; but under

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a feparate guiding and governance from the other inheritances of the crown. And in 1 Hen. VII another act was made, to refume fuch part of the duchy lands as had been dismembered from it in the reign of Edward IV, and to veft the inheritance of the whole in the king and his heirs for ever, as amply and largely, and in like manner, form, and condition, separate from the crown of England and poffeffion of the fame, as the three Henries and Edward IV, or any of them, had and held the fame'.

THE ifle of Ely is not a county palatine, though fometimes erroneously called fo, but only a royal franchise: the bishop having, by grant of king Henry the first, jura regalia within the ifle of Ely; whereby he exercises a jurifdiction over all caufes, as well criminal as civile.

THERE are alfo counties corporate: which are certain cities and towns, fome with more, fome with less territory annexed to them; to which out of fpecial grace and favour the kings of England have granted the privilege to be counties of themfelves, and not to be comprized in any other county; but to be governed by their own fheriffs and other magiftrates, so that no officers of the county at large have any power to intermeddle therein. Such are London, York, Bristol, Norwich, Coventry, and many others. And thus much of the countries fubject to the laws of England.

f Some have entertained an opinion (Plowd. 220, 1, 2. Lamb. Archeion. 233. 4 Inft. 206.) that by this act the right of the duchy vefted only in the natural, and not in the political perfon of king Henry VII, as formerly in that of Henry IV; and was defcendible to his natural heirs, independent of the fucceffion to the crown. And, if this notion were well founded, it might have become a very curious question at the time of the revolution in 1688, in whom the right of the duchy remained after king James's abdication, and previous to the attainder of the pretended prince of Wales. But it is obfervable, that in the fame at the duchy of Cornwall is alfo vested in king Henry VII and his heirs; which could never be intended in any event to be feparated from the inheritance of the crown. And indeed it

feems to have been understood very early after the ftatute of Henry VII, that the duchy of Lancaster was by no means thereby made a feparate inheritance from the rest of the royal patrimony; fince it defcended, with the crown, to the halfblood in the inftances of queen Mary and queen Elizabeth: which it could not have done, as the estate of a mere duke of Lancafter, in the common course of legal defcent. The better opinion therefore feems to be that of those judges, who held (Plowd. 221) that notwithstanding the ftatute of Hen. VII (which was only an act of refumption) the duchy ftill remained as established by the act of Edward IV; feparate from the other poffeffions of the crown in order and government, but united in point of inheritance.

€ 4 Inft. 220.

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T

HE objects of the laws of England are so very numerous and extenfive, that, in order to confider them with any tolerable ease and perfpicuity,

it will be neceffary to distribute them methodically, under proper and diftinct heads; avoiding as much as poffible divifions too large and comprehenfive on the one hand, and too trifling and minute on the other; both of which are equally productive of confufion.

Now,

Now, as municipal law is a rule of civil conduct, commanding what is right, and prohibiting what is wrong; or as Cicero, and after him our Bracton ", have expreffed it, fanctio jufta, jubens honefta et prohibens contraria; it follows, that the primary and principal objects of the law are RIGHTS and WRONGS. In the profecution therefore of these commentaries, I fhall follow this very fimple and obvious divifion; and fhall in the first place confider the rights that are commanded, and fecondly the wrongs that are forbidden, by the laws of England.

RIGHTS are however liable to another fubdivifion: being either, first, those which concern and are annexed to the perfons of men, and are then called jura perfonarum or the rights of perfons; or they are, fecondly, such as a man may acquire over external objects, or things unconnected with his perfon, which are ftiled jura rerum or the rights of things. Wrongs alfo are divisible into, firft, private wrongs, which, being an infringement merely of particular rights, concern individuals only, and are called civil injuries; and fecondly, public wrongs, which, being a breach of general and public rights, affect the whole community, and are called crimes and mifdemefnors.

THE objects of the laws of England falling into this fourfold divifion, the prefent commentaries will therefore confift of the four following parts: 1. The rights of perfons; with the means whereby fuch rights may be either acquired or loft. 2. The rights of things; with the means also of acquiring and lofing them. 3. Private wrongs, or civil injuries; with the means of redreffing them by law. 4. Public wrongs, or crimes and misdemefnors; with the means of prevention and punishment.

We are now, first, to confider the rights of perfons; with the means of acquiring and lofing them.

a 11 Philipp. 12,

b f. x, c. 34

Now

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