12 REVIEW. 



be in effect what the whole inhabitants were in more ancient 

 times, i. e. the freemen or corporators of the borough, and but 

 for the limitations put on the authority of the crown by the end 

 of the 17th century, every borough at large would have become, 

 as most of them actually did become, subject to a few corporators, 

 created by the Crown, continued in being by its favor and pro- 

 tection, and subservient therefore to every object good or bad 

 the king might contemplate. 



It is impossible, in the compass of a brief notice, to do any 

 thing like justice to this laborious work. In a mere historical 

 point of view it is highly valuable, as every statement is authen- 

 ticated by records referred to, none of the conclusions therefore 

 are gratuitous, and even they who doubt are provided with the 

 means of confirming or correcting their own judgment. 



It must be confessed however, that the work places the Res 

 jesta both of the House of Commons and of the courts of justice 

 in a very unfavorable point of view. It appears that in the 

 majority of the parliamentary boroughs, committees of the house 

 have decided on one occasion, reversed their decision on a second, 

 and sometimes returned again to their first determination. There 

 is evidently no intention on the part of the authors of this work 

 to slander or misrepresent, but facts speak for themselves, and 

 when the contrary opinions of committees on occasions so similar 

 as to be all but identical are considered, one can only suppose 

 that party spirit must have had some influence in these deter- 

 minations, and that the views and wishes of the members must 

 in some cases have perverted their judgments, if they had no 

 influence on their integrity. 



*It should seem moreover as if the courts of justice, instead of 

 .looking into general principles, or taking cognizance of the general 

 history of corporations, had too often assumed that a very limited 

 usage was evidence of an immemorial right; the question of 

 corporate prescription could never arise before the courts till after 

 a considerable usage, and till after all living testimony against 

 the antiquity of such usage had ceased to exist, and as these 

 usurped usages were in general so favorable to the crown it is 

 not to be wondered at that judges were unwilling to disturb 

 them. 



And here we would pause to observe how baneful in the result 

 is sure to be the departure in any case from a strict line of duty. 

 The reiterated confirmations by the House of Commons and the 

 courts of justice of the usurpations of the select corporators, has 



