636 



LAW. 



And head 

 of the 

 church. 

 What if a 



throne? 



Queen reg- 

 nant. 



('. r.Mirt. 



I. aw been meritoriously serviceable to the state. He has 



of England. a i so t he power of conferring upon any one the privi- 



*"'" Y """"' lege of precedence, of converting aliens into denizens, 



&c. He can likewise erect corporations, is the arbiter 



of domestic commerce, by the establishment of markets, 



and the regulating of weights and measures, &c. 



18. The king is head, and supreme governor of the 

 church, regulating synods, nominating bishops, and 

 receiving appeals in all ecclesiastical causes. 



19. If an usurper obtains possession of the throne, 

 usurper ob- an( j takes the coronation oath, the people are bound to 

 ains the o bey him ; for by statute they are compelled to obey a 



king de facto, and not a king merely dejure. 



20. A queen regnant, is where a female holds the 

 crown in her own right, and such a one has the same 

 powers, prerogatives, rights, dignities, and duties, as 

 if a king. 



The queen consort enjoys divers prerogatives above 

 other women, and is considered a public person, ex- 

 empt from the king ; she can purchase lands, and con- 

 vey them, make leases, grant copy-holds, and do 

 other acts of ownership, without the concurrence of 

 her lord : she has separate courts and officers, distinct 

 from the king's ; may sue and be sued alone, without 

 joining her husband; but at her death, both her real 

 and personal estate go to the king, if she has not pre- 

 viously disposed of them by will, which she can do 

 without license from him. She is considered in all le- 

 gal proceedings as a feme sole. A queen dowager en- 

 joys the same privileges as a queen consort ; and 

 though an alien, is entitled to dower ; but she cannot 

 marry without the king's license, nor is it high-treason 

 to violate her person. 



21. Subordinate magistrates of the state are, 1. She- 

 riffs. 2. Coroners. 3. Justices of the Peace. 4. Con- 

 stables. 5. Surveyors of the highways. 6. Overseers 

 of the poor. 



22. Sheriffs are the keepers of each county, annually 

 appointed by the king ; who are said to be vitajusti- 

 tice, to serve process, and to return juries for the trial 

 of men's lives, liberties, lands, and goods ; vita li'gis, 

 to execute process, and make execution ; and vita 

 rei publicce, to keep the peace. A man nominated 

 sheriff, should have considerable landed property, that 

 he may be enabled to answer the king and his people 

 if he should be guilty of neglect. To execute his va- 

 rious duties, the sheriff has under him many inferior 

 officers ; as under sheriffs, bailiffs, and jailers ; who 

 must neither buy, sell, nor farm their offices, on forfei- 

 ture of 500. He has the power of calling out the 

 posse comitalus to defend his county against the king's 

 enemies, or to pursue and take felons and traitors. 



* Coroners. ^' Coroners are permanent officers of the crown in 

 each county, elected by the freeholders, as sheriffs 

 were formerly ; whose office is to make inquiry where 

 any one comes to a violent death ; to inquire of lands 

 and goods, and escapes of murderers, treasure trove, 

 wrecks, deodands, &c. ; and also in particular cases to 

 supply the office of sheriff. He is a conservator of the 

 peace. 



3. Justices 24. Justices of the peace are judges of record, (for 



of the none but justices of record can take a recognizance of 



peace. the peace) appointed by the king's commission within 



certain limits, for the conservation of the peace ; the 



principal of these is the custos rolulnrum, or keeper of 



the records of the county ; and two or more justices of 



the peace can inquire of, and determine felonies and 



other misdemeanors. They hold their sessions four 



Dowager. 



Subordi- 

 nate magis- 

 trates. 



1. Sheriffs. 



times in the year, and do other acts committed to their 

 charge, by a number of statutes. of I 



25. Constables are officer* of hundreds and town- 

 ships, sworn and appointed at the leet, whft. ought to b j e 

 possess honesty, knowledge, and ability, to perform 

 the office imposed upon them. They are empowered 



to preserve the peace, to keep watch and ward, and to 

 apprehend offenders. 



The king is the principal conservator of the peace, 

 and can delegate power to any one to preserve it. The 

 lord chancellor, lord treasurer, lord high steward, the 

 justices of the King's Bench, and master of the rolls, 

 are all conservators of the peace, and may commit the 

 breaker's thereof, or bind them in recognizances to 

 keep it. 



26. Surveyors of the highways are officers appointed J. Survey, 

 annually in every parish, to remove annoyances in and ors of high- 

 direct the reparation of the public roads. wa )' s 



27- Overseers of the poor are substantial house- 6. Overseer* 

 holders, appointed annually in every parish, to relieve of P or 

 such impotent, old, blind, and other persons, being poor 

 and not able to work, as are settled in each parish, by 

 birth, by parentage, by marriage, or by forty days re- 

 sidence, accompanied with notice, or with such circum. 

 stances as are held equivalent to notice. 



CHAP. II. Of the Clergy; of the Military and Maritime 

 Stales; and of the Piivate Relations of Husband and 

 Wife, Parent and Child, Guardian and Ward, Mas- 

 ter and Servant. 



1. The clergy comprehends all persons in holy or- clergy who, 

 ders, and in ecclesiastical offices. A clergyman cannot and their 

 be compelled to serve on a jury, nor to appear at a privileges. 

 court-leet or view of frank pledge, which almost every 

 other person is obliged to do : but if a layman is sum- 

 moned on a jury, and before the trial takes orders, he 

 shall, notwithstanding, appear and be sworn. Neither 

 can he be chosen to any temporal office, as bailiff, 

 reeve, constable, or the like, in regard of his own con- 

 tinual attendance on the sacred functions. During his 

 attendance on divine service, he is privileged from ar- 

 rests in civil suits : in cases also of felony, a clerk in 

 orders shall have the benefit of his clergy, without be- 

 ing branded in the hand ; and may likewise have it 

 more than once : in both which particulars he is dis- 

 tinguished from a layman. But as they have their 

 privileges, so also they have their disabilities, on ac- 

 count of their spiritual avocations. Clergymen, we 

 have seen, are incapable of sitting in the House of 

 Commons; and by statute 21. Henry V1I1. c. 13. they 

 are not (in general) allowed to take any lands or tene- 

 ments to farm, upon pain of lO per month, and total 

 avoidance of the lease ; nor upon like pain to keep 

 any tan-house or brew-house ; nor shall engage in any 

 manner of trade, nor sell any merchandise, under for- 

 feiture of treble the value. 



2. An archbishop or bishop, is elected by the chap- Archbi- 

 ter of his cathedral church, by virtue of a license from shops and 

 the crown, which is always to be accompanied with a bishops, 



letter missive from the king, containing the name of , w , ' 

 , . .,. whom elect' 



the person whom he would have them elect : and it ^ 



the dean and chapter delay their election above twelve 

 days, the nomination shall devolve to the king, who 

 may by letters patent appoint such person as he pleases. 

 This election or nomination, if it be of a bishop, must 

 be signified by the king's letters patent to the arch- 

 bishop of the province, if it be of an archbishop, to 

 the other archbishops and two bishops, or to four 



