Abridgment of Blackstone's Commentaries |
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Page 3
... is still a more unreasonable method than this , which is called making of laws ex post facto ; when after an action ( indifferent in itself ) is committed , the legislator then for the first time declares SEC . II . ] 3 THE NATURE OF LAWS .
... is still a more unreasonable method than this , which is called making of laws ex post facto ; when after an action ( indifferent in itself ) is committed , the legislator then for the first time declares SEC . II . ] 3 THE NATURE OF LAWS .
Page 4
William Blackstone, William Cyrus Sprague. committed , the legislator then for the first time declares it to have been a crime , and inflicts a punishment upon the person who has committed it . All laws should be therefore made to ...
William Blackstone, William Cyrus Sprague. committed , the legislator then for the first time declares it to have been a crime , and inflicts a punishment upon the person who has committed it . All laws should be therefore made to ...
Page 5
... commit any public wrongs , and transgress or neglect their duty . THE DECLARATORY PART . With regard to the first of these , the declaratory part of the municipal law , this depends not so much upon the law of revelation or of nature ...
... commit any public wrongs , and transgress or neglect their duty . THE DECLARATORY PART . With regard to the first of these , the declaratory part of the municipal law , this depends not so much upon the law of revelation or of nature ...
Page 9
... committed all their laws as well as learning to memory . But , with us , at present , the monuments and evidences of our legal customs are con- tained in the records of the several courts of justice in books of reports and judicial ...
... committed all their laws as well as learning to memory . But , with us , at present , the monuments and evidences of our legal customs are con- tained in the records of the several courts of justice in books of reports and judicial ...
Page 18
... committed to the charge of one parson or vicar , or other minister having cure of souls therein .. These districts are computed to be near ten thousand in number . 2. The civil division of the territory of England is into counties , of ...
... committed to the charge of one parson or vicar , or other minister having cure of souls therein .. These districts are computed to be near ten thousand in number . 2. The civil division of the territory of England is into counties , of ...
Common terms and phrases
act of parliament action afterwards alienation antient attainted bill breach called cause CHAPTER chattels civil committed common law consider contract conveyance corporations court of chancery court of equity court-leet coverture crime crown custom damages death debt declared deed defendant descend determined detinue distrained ecclesiastical emblements escheat execution executor fee-simple felony feodal feoffment forfeiture former freehold grant hath heirs held hereditaments husband imprisonment indictment inheritance injury issue joint-tenants judges judgment jurisdiction jury justice king king's bench knight-service lands law of England lease liberty lord manor marriage matter ment nature oath offence original owner party peace person plaintiff plea plead possession principal prisoner prosecution punishment reason recover remainder remedy rent rule seised seisin sheriff Sir Edward Coke species statute suit tenant tenements tenure therein thing tion trespass trial unless usually verdict vested villein villenage whereby wife words writ
Popular passages
Page 78 - By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband...
Page 438 - The liberty of the press is indeed essential to the nature of a free state ; but this consists in laying no previous restraints upon publications — and not in freedom from censure for criminal matter when published. Every freeman has an undoubted right to lay what sentiments he pleases before the public ; to forbid this is to destroy the freedom of the press : but if he publishes what is improper, mischievous, or illegal, he must take the consequence of his own temerity.
Page 438 - But, to punish (as the law does at present) any dangerous or offensive writings, which, when published, shall, on a fair and impartial trial, be adjudged of a pernicious tendency, is necessary for the preservation of peace and good order, of government and religion, the only solid foundations of civil liberty.
Page 37 - It hath sovereign and uncontrollable authority in the making, confirming, enlarging, restraining, abrogating, repealing, reviving, and expounding of laws, concerning matters of all possible denominations, ecclesiastical or temporal, civil, military, maritime, or criminal: this being the place where that absolute despotic power, which must in all governments reside somewhere, is intrusted by the constitution of these kingdoms.
Page 100 - THERE is nothing which so generally strikes the imagination, and engages the affections of mankind, as the right of . property ; or that sole and despotic dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world} in total exclusion of the right of any other individual in the universe.
Page 10 - ... sworn to determine, not according to his own private judgment, but according to the known laws and customs of the land ; not delegated to pronounce a new law, but to maintain and expound the old one.
Page 4 - Municipal law, thus understood, is properly defined to be a 'rule of civil conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a state, commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong.
Page 80 - Yet the lower rank of people, who were always fond of the old common law, still claim and exert their ancient privilege: and the courts of law will still permit a husband to restrain a wife of her liberty, in the case of any gross misbehaviour.
Page 35 - In the legislature the people are a check upon the nobility, and the nobility a check upon the people, by the mutual privilege of rejecting what the other has resolved; while the king is a check upon both, which preserves the executive power from encroachments. And this very executive power is again checked and kept within due bounds by the two houses, through the privilege they have of inquiring into, impeaching, and punishing the conduct (not indeed of the king, which would destroy his constitutional...
Page 451 - when a person of sound memory and discretion unlawfully killeth any reasonable creature in being, and under the king's peace, with malice aforethought, either express or implied.