XXX Inaugural Address. 
the Parliaments have inflexibly refused to enregister an or- 
dinance which the King had determined to carry into execu- 
tion, the plenitude of the royal power has afforded a remedy 
for their refusal. Upon such occasions, the King repaired, 
in person, to the Parliament and held a ‘dit de Justice.” 
He took possession of that seat, which he was supposed at 
all times to occupy, and commanded the ordinance to be read, 
verified and registered in his presence—for, being the Sove- 
reign, and personally present, the Parliament was held then 
to have no authority, according to the principle, adveniente 
principe, cessat Magistratus, a principle which the constis 
tution of France seems to have recognized, and which most 
effectually defeated every effort of her Parliaments to limit 
and control the Crown, inthe exercise of a supreme legislas 
tive authority.(1) 
«¢ Ordonnance” is a generic term, comprehending, in its 
most extensive application, every rule of conduct prescribed 
by the Sovereign to his subjects ix person, as the Royal 
Edicts, Declarations, aod <Arréts du Roi en son Conseil, or 
by his authority, as the bye-laws of corporations and the Ar- 
rets of his superior or Sovereign Courts.(2) 
Ina narrower sense, it signifies all laws which emanate 
from the King directly, and those only ;(3) but, in its most 
limited import, it is confined to such general laws asare 
enacted by the Sovereign iu person, and are rather codes of 
regulations respecting one or more branches of Jurisprudence, 
than provisions for particular objects, and this is its proper 
signification.(4) 
In this sense the ordinance of John the I. of March 1356; 
(5) one of Charles the VIL. of July 1438, usually called the 
a pragmatic 
At) Rocheflavin, p. 928 & 929—Pasquier’s Recherches, vol. 2. p, 576, 
, and Ist. p. 61--Répert. “ Litde Justice,” vol. 36. p. 529. 
) Bornier’s Preface, p. 2. Couchot, prat. Univ, vol. Ist. p. 4 
3) Couchot, prat. Univ, vol. 1s. p. 4 
i) aes p- 3. Hericourt, Loix Ecclésiastique, cap. 16, 
cc. 3, Pp 5. 
(5) Neron, vol, 1. p. 2. 
a 
