184? LAW AND POLITICS. 



Common Law. 



This has two different significations ; one, proper ; 

 the other figurative. In the first it designates that 

 collection of customs made and digested by King 

 Alfred ; in its figurative sense we intend those prin- 

 ciples of reason, which would govern in the absence 

 of positive authority. 



Infraction of Old Rules. 



It hath been an ancient observation in the law of 

 England, that whenever a standing rule of law, of 

 which the reason could not be remembered or dis- 

 cerned, hath been wantonly broken in upon by new 

 statutes and resolutions, the wisdom of the rule hath 

 in the end appeared, from the inconveniences that re- 

 sulted from the innovation.* 



Writs. 



The names given to the different kinds of writs are 

 usually derived from the first Latin words with 

 which they began when they were written in Latin ; 

 or at least from some remarkable word in them. 

 Thus, 



A Pone is a writ to oblige a person, in certain 

 cases, to give sureties (pone per vadum, and salvos 

 plegios). A writ of subpoena is to oblige witnesses, 

 and sometimes other classes of persons, to appear 

 before a court. 



An action of Qui tarn is that which is brought to 

 sue for a proportional share (of a fine established by 

 some penal statute) by the person who laid the infor- 

 mation. The words in the writ are Qui tarn pro 

 domino rege, quam pro se ipso in hac parte sequitur, 

 &c. &c. 



* It is impossible to foresee all the changes on an existing sys- 

 tem, which may result from any change. 



