ceived for its publication, and in particular from the noble and learned lord who presides over the department of the law in this country, served to reanimate a spirit which had almost sunk under the weight of the undertaking. For the last three years I have applied myself, almost exclusively, to the revision of the work, and the correction of the press. But it little concerns the public to know the time that it has employed, or the other sacrifices I have made for its accomplishment. Suffice it to say that I have devoted many and the best years of my life to the undertaking, and, without private assistance or public aid, have arrived at its conclusion, by a slow and silent progress through a course of solitary abstraction and irksome labour. Yet " its hardships may be without honour, and its labours without reward." But I am not without hope, that

it

may be deemed by the public to be a meritorious service, and that those high authorities who have already approved of it as a "good desire," may think that it has been "brought to a good effect." I shall not however be unrewarded, if this effort to redeem time, and to do something useful, shall recommend me to the esteem of the Irish bar, and of "that little platoon in society" in which I live. I have this further hope, that this incorporate union of the English and Irish statutes may tend to the amendment and amelioration of our laws, and serve to cement the alliance, and promote the harmony between Great Britain and Ireland, so that these countries " may grow into one nation, whereby & 13 Jac. 1. there may be an utter oblivion and extinguishment of all former differences and discord betwixt them."

Vide 11, 12,

c. 5. Ir.

CHAP. I.

Of the Absolute Rights

OF

INDIVIDUALS.

THE Great Charter made in the 9th year of the reign

Book I.

§. 1.

rights of perso

private property,

Great Charter.

E. & 1.

of king Henry III. having incorporated the previous charters of liberties, may not only be regarded as the most an- The primary cient statute on record, but also as the first which con- nat e urity pertains provisions asserting the absolute rights of indivi-sonal liberty, and duals, by protecting every person living under the British asserted by the constitution, in the free enjoyment of his life, his liberty, 9 Hen. 3. c. 29, and his property. The 29th chapter of this capitulary declares or enacts, that no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his freehold, or liberties, or free customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or otherwise destroyed, [†nor shall any man be condemned at the king's suit, either before the king in his bench, or before any other commissioner or judge,] but by lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land; and further in the name of the king declares, that to no man shall right or justice be sold, denied, or delayed. This statute contained also a confirmation of the liberties of the church, and of the privileges of the city of London, and other corporate

#VOL. I.

B

As this chapter of Magna Charta is so often referred to as the basis of the British constitution, it seems to be proper to state it in the very word:: Nullus liber homo capiatur vel imprisonetur, aut disseisiutur de libero tenemento suc vel libertatibus, vel liberis consuetudinibus suis, aut ullagetur, aut exulct, aut aliquo modo destruatur, nec super eum ibimus, nec super eum mittemus, nisi per legale judicium parium suurum, vel per legem terræ: Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus aut differemus rectum vel justitiam. The charter granted to the people of Ireland in the first year of this reign, as also that granted to the people of England in the year following, contained also a similar clause.

This translation is according to Sir Edw. Coke's exposition of the words "nec super eum ibimus, nec super cum mittemus." 2 Ins, 46,

#21nst. Proem. 5 Co. Rep. 64.a.

Great Charter.

c. 2.

c. 3.

porate towns, redressed many grievances then incident to feodal tenures, protected the subject against the abuses of purveyance, and other oppressions and exactions common in that day, and contains many other provisions with respect to private rights, as well as concerning the public police, and the administration of justice, several of which are now obsolete, but others will be found in the subsequent pages of this work. This charter hath been confirmed above 30 times, but the following statutes are its principal confirmations. By the 25 Edw.1.st.1. 25 Edw. 1. st. 1. c. 11. E. & I. it is directed to be sent c. 11. E & I. under the king's seal, to all sheriffs of shires, and to all Confirmation of other the king's officers, and to all cities throughout the realm, together with writs commanding the said charter (as well as the charter of the forest) to be published, and declared to be confirmed. And all justices, sheriffs, mayors, and other ministers, are thereby required to allow the said charters, when pleaded, in all points. And by this statute (c. 2.) if any judgment be given contrary to the Great Charter, it shall be void. By c. 3. the said charters are required to be sent, under the king's seal, to the cathedral churches, and to be read before the people twice in the year. And by c. 4. all archbishops and bishops shall pronounce sentence of excommunication against all those that by word, deed, or counsel, do contrary to said charters, or that in any point break them; and the said curses shall be twice a year denounced ; and if the said prelates, or any of them, be remiss in the denunciation of the sentences, the archbishops of Canterbury and York shall compel them to the execution of 5 Edw. 3. c.9. their duties. The 5 Edw. 3. c. 9. E. & I. further enacts, that no man shall be attached by any accusation, nor forejudged of life or limb, nor his lands, tenements, goods, or chattels, seized into the king's hands, against the form of the Great Charter, and the law of the land. And by the 25 Edw. 3.st.5. 25 Edw. 3. st. 5. c. 4. E. & I. none shall be taken by petition or suggestion made to the king or his council, unless it be by indictment or presentment of lawful people of the same neighbourhood, or by process made by writ original at the common law. And none shall be put

F. & I.

c. 4.

c. 4. E. & I.

out

out of his franchise or freehold, unless he be duly brought

E. & L.

& 3. F. & 1.

to answer, and forejudged by course of law; and if any thing be done to the contrary, it shall be redressed, and holden for none. The 28 Edw. 3. c. 3. E. & I. also enacts, 28 Edw. 3. c 3. that no man shall be put out of land or tenement, nor taken nor imprisoned, nor disinherited, nor put to death, without being brought in answer, by due process of law. And by the 42 Edw. 3. c. 3. E. & I. no man shall be put 42 Edw. 3 c. 1, to answer without presentment before justices, or matter of record, or by due process and writ original, according to the old law of the land, and if any thing be done to the contrary, it shall be void in law, and holden for error. And by c. 1. of this statute, the Great Charter (and the charter of the forest) shall be kept in all points, and if any statute be made to the contrary, it shall be holden for none.

the Petition of

The rights of personal security and personal liberty Right of persoare further asserted by the Petition of Right, 3 Car. 1. nal security, and personal liberty, Eng. which recites the 9 Hen. 3. c. 29. 25 Edw. 3. st. 5. vindicated by c. 4. and 28 Edw. 3. c. 3. supra, and that against the te- Right. nor of said statutes, and other the good laws and statutes 3 Car. 1. Eng. of this realm, divers subjects had of late been imprisoned without any cause shewn, and when for their deliverance they were brought before the justices by writs of habeas corpus, and their keepers commanded to certify the causes of their detainer, no cause was certified, but that they were detained by the king's special command, signified by the lords of the privy council, and yet were returned back to several prisons, without being charged with any thing to which they might make answer according to law: And further recites, that of late, divers commissions under the great seal had issued forth, by which certain persons were appointed commissioners, with power to proceed, within the land, according to martial law, against such soldiers or mariners, or other dissolute persons joining with them, as should commit any murder, robbery, felony, mutiny, or other outrage or misdemeanor, by pretext whereof some subjects had been by some of the said commissioners put to death; and sundry grievous offenders escaped the punishment due to them by the Jaws

B 2

sonments, and proceedings by marera law, prohibited.

Arbitrary impri- laws and statutes of the realm; it is therefore prayed and enacted, that no freeman in any such manner as is before mentioned, shall be imprisoned or detained; and that no commissions for proceeding by martial law, or of like nature, shall issue forth to any person to be executed 16 Car.1. c.10. as aforesaid. The 16 Car. I. c. 10. Eng. recites the 9 Eng.

Court of starchamber abohshed.

Hen. 3. c. 29. 5 Edw. 3. c. 9. 25 Edw. 3. st. 5. c. 4. 28 Edw. 3. c. 3. and 42 Edw. 3. c. 3. supra, as also the 36 Edw.3.st.1. c.15. by which all pleas before the king's justices, or in his other places, or before any of his other ministers, or in the courts and places of any other lords within the realm, were required to be entered and inrolled in Latin; and recites also the 3 Hen. 7. c. 1. E. & I. and 21 Hen. 8. c. 20. Eng. from which the authority of the court of star-chamber was derived; and forasmuch as the proceedings, censures, and decrees of that court, had by experience been found to be an intolerable burthen to the subjects, and the means to introduce an arbitrary power and government; and forasmuch as the council-table had of late assumed unto itself a power to intermeddle in civil causes, and matters only of private interest between party and party, and adventured to determine of the estates and liberties of the subject, contrary to the law of the land, and the rights and privileges of the subject; this statute therefore enacts (s. 3.) that the court called the star-chamber shall be dissolved, and neither the lord chancellor, ford treasurer, keeper of the privy seal, or president of the council, nor any bishop, temporal lord, privy counsellor or judge, shall have power to hear or determine any matter in the star-chamber, or to do any judicial or ministerial act in the said court; and all acts of parliament by which any jurisdiction is given to the star-chamber, shall, for so much, be repealed. And by s. 4. the like jurisdiction used in the Similar jurisdic- court before the president and council in the marches of tans in Wales, Wales, and in the court before the president and council in the northern parts, and also in the court of the duchy of Lancaster, and in the court of exchequer of the county palatine of Chester, held before the chamberlain and council of that court, shall be also repealed;

S. 4.

c. als alolined.

and