cil: nor fhall any petition be presented by more than ten perfons at a time. But, under these regulations, it is declared by the statute W. & M. ft. 2. c. 2. that the subje&t hath a right to petition; and that all commitments and profecu tions for fuch petitioning are illegal.

5. THE fifth and laft auxiliary right of the subject, that I fhall at prefent mention, is that of having arms for their defence, fuitable to their condition and degree, and fuch as are [144] allowed by law. Which is alfo declared by the fame ftatute 1 W. & M. ft. 2. c, 2. and it is indeed a public allowance under due restrictions, of the natural right of refiftance and felf-prefervation, when the fanctions of fociety and laws are found infufficient to reftrain the violence of oppreffion.

IN these several articles confift the rights, or, as they are frequently termed, the liberties of Englishmen : liberties, more generally talked of than thoroughly understood; and yet highly neceffary to be perfectly known and confidered by every man of rank or property, left his ignorance of the points whereon they are founded should hurry him into faction and licentioufnefs on the one hand, or a pufillanimous indifference and criminal fubmiffion on the other. And we have feen that these rights confift, primarily, in the free enjoyment of perfonal fecurity, of perfonal liberty, and of private property. So long as these remain inviolate, the fubject is perfectly free; for every fpecies of compulfive tyranny and oppreffion must act in oppofition to one or other of thefe rights, having no other object upon which it can possibly be employed. To preserve these from violation, it is necessary that the conftitution of parliament be fupported in it's full vigour; and limits, certainly known, be fet to the royal prerogative. And, laftly, to vindicate these rights, when actually violated or attacked, the fubjects of England are entitled, in the first place, to the regular adminiftration and free courfe of juftice in the courts of law; next, to the right of petitioning the king and parliament for redress of grievances; and, lastly, to the right of having and ufing arms for felfpreferva

prefervation and defence. And all these rights and liberties it is our birthright to enjoy entire ; unless where the laws of Our country have laid them under neceffary restrain's. Reftraints in themfelves fo gentle and moderate, as will appear upon farther enquity, that no man of fenfe or probity would wish to see them flackened. For all of us have it in our choice to do every thing that a good man would defire to do; and are restrained from nothing, but what would be pernicious either to ourselves or our fellow citizens. So that this review of our fituation my fully jultify the observation of a learned [145] French author, who indeed generally both thought and wrote in the fpiri. of genuine freedom 2; and who hath not fcrupled to profefs, even in the very bosom of his native country, that the English is the only nation in the world where political or civil liberty is the direct end of it's conftitution. Recommending therefore to the ftudent in our laws a farther and more accurate search into this extenfive and important title, I fhall close my remarks upon it with the expiring with of the famous father Paul to his country, "ESTO PERPETUA !”

2 Montefq. Sp. L. xi. 5.

CHAPTER THE SECOND.

OF THE PARLIAMENT.

WE

7E are next to treat of the rights and duties of perfons, as they are members of fociety, and stand in various relations to each other. Thefe relations are either public or private and we will firft confider thofe that are public.

THE most univerfal public relation, by which men are connected together, is that of government; namely as governors and governed, or, in other words, as magiftrates and people. Of magiftrates fome also are fupreme, in whom the fovereign power of the ftate refides; others are fubordinate, deriving all their authority from the fupreme magiftrate, accountable to him for their conduct, and acting in an inferior fecondary sphere.

In all tyrannical governments the fupreme magiftracy, or the right both of making and of enforcing the laws, is vested in one and the fame man, or one and the same body of men; and wherever thefe two powers are united together, there can be no public liberty. The magistrate may enact tyrannical laws, and execute them in a tyrannical manner, fince he is poffeffed, in quality of difpenfer of justice, with all the power which he as legiflator thinks proper to give himself. But, where the legislative and executive authority are in distinct hands, the former will take care not to entrust the latter with fo large a power, as may tend to the fubverfion of it's own independence, and therewith of the liberty of the subject. With us therefore in England this fupreme power is divided into

two

two branches; the one legislative, to wit, the parliament, confifting of king, lords, and commous; the other executive, confifting of the king alone. It will be the bufinefs of this chapter to confider the British parliament; in which the legiflative power, and (of courfe) the fupreme and absolute authority of the state, is vested by our conftitution.

THE original or first inftitution of parliament is one of those matters which tie fo far hidden in the dark ages of antiquity, that the tracing of it out is a thing equally difficult and uncertain. The word, parliament, itfelf, (parliament or colloquium, as fome of our hiftorians tranflate it,) is comparatively of modern date; derived from the French, and fignifying an affembly that met and conferred together. It was first applied to general affemblies of the states under Louis VII. in France, about the middle of the twelfth century (1). But

Mod. Un. Hift. xxiii. 307. The in the preamble to the statute of Westm. first mention of it in our ftatute law is I. 3 Edw. I. A.D. 1272.

(1) The word parliamentum was not used in England till the reign of Hen. III. (Pryn. on 4 Inft. 2.) Sir Henry Spelman in his Gloffary, (voc. Parl.) says, Johannes rex haud dicam parliamentum, nam hoc nomẹn non tum emicuit, fed communis concilii regni formam et coactionem perfpicuam dedit.

It was from the use of the word parlimentum that Prynne difcovered lord Coke's manufcript, Modus tenendi parliamentum tempore regis Edwardi, filii regis Etheldredi,&c. to be fpurious. Lord Coke fet a high value upon it, and has affured us, "that certain it is, "this modus was rehearsed and declared before the conqueror at the "conqueft, and by him approved." (4 Infl. 12.) But for many reigns after this word was introduced, it was indifcriminately applied to a feffion and to the duration of the writ of fummons; we now confine it to the latter, viz. to the period between the meeting after the return of the writ of fummons and the diffolution. Etymology is not always frivolous pedantry; it fometimes may afford an useful comment upon the original fignification of a word. No inconfiderable pains have been bestowed by learned, men in analyfing the word parliament; though the following specimens will ferve rather to amufe than to inftruct: "The word parliament," faith

it is certain that, long before the introduction of the Norman language into England, all matters of importance were debated and fettled in the great councils of the realm. A practice, which feems to have been univerfal among the northern nations, particularly the Germans; and carried De minoribus rebus principes confultont, de majoribus omnes. Germ. c. II.

Tac. de mor.

one," is compounded of parium lamentum; because (as he thinks) "the peers of the realm did at these affemblies lament and com"plain each to the other of the enormities of the country, and "thereupon provided redrefs for the fame." (Lamb. Arch. 235.) "Whitelocke, in his notes (174.), declares, "that this derivation of "parliament is a fad etymology." Lord Coke and many others fay, that "it is called parliament, becaufe every member of that "court fhould fincerely and difcreetly parler la ment, speak his mind" "for the general good of the commonwealth." (Co. Litt. 110.) Mr. Lambard informs us, that "Lawrence Vallo mifliketh this "derivation." (Arch. 236.) And Lawrence Vallo is not fingular; for Mr. Barrington affures us, that "lord Coke's etymology of the "word parliament from fpeaking one's mind has been long ex. ploded. If one might prefume (adds he) to fubftitute another " in it's room after fo many gueffes by others, I should suppose "it was a compound of the two Celtic words parley and ment, or "mend. Both these words are to be found in Bullet's Celtic Dictionary published at Befançon in 1754. 3d vol. fol. He renders "parley by the French infinitive parier; and we use the word in

66

England as a fubftantive, viz. parley; ment or mend is rendered "quantité, abondance. The word parliament therefore being re"folved into it's constituent fyllables, may not improperly be faid "to fignify what the Indians of North America call a Great "Talk." (Ant. Stat. 48.)-I shall leave it to the reader to determine which of these derivations is most defcriptive of a parňament; and perhaps after fo much recondite learning it may appear prefumptuous in me to obferve, that parliament imported originally nothing more than a council or conference; and that ment in parliament has no more fignification than it has in impeachment, engagement, imprisonment, hereditament, and a thoufand others of the fame nature, though the civilians have adopted a fimilar derivation, viz. testament from teftari mentem. Tay. Civ. Law. 70.