174 ENGLAND. 



France, and Italy ; who had all of them a tribunal composed of twelve 

 good men and true, equals or peers of the party litigant. In England 

 we find actual mention made of them so early as the laws of kingj 

 Ethelred, and that not as a new invention. 



Before the introduction of Christianity, we know not whether the 

 Saxons admitted of juries in criminal matters ; but we are certain 

 that there was no action so criminal as not to be compensated for by 

 money.* A mulct was imposed, in proportion to the guilt, even if it 

 was murder of the king, upon the malefactor ; and by paying it he 

 purchased his pardon. Those barbarous usages seem to have ceased 

 soon after the Saxons were converted to Christianity ; and cases of 

 felony and murder were then tried, even in the king's court, by a 



jury. 



Royalty, among the Saxons, was not, strictly speaking, hereditary, 

 though, in fact, it came to be rendered so through the affection which 

 the people bore for the blood of their kings, and for preserving the 

 regularity of government. Even estates and honours were not strict" 

 ly hereditary, till they were made so by William the Norman. 



In many respects, the first princes of the Norman line afterwards 

 did all they could to efface from the minds of the people the remem- 

 brance of the Saxon constitution ; but the attempt was to no pur- 

 pose. The nobility, as well as the people, had their complaints 

 against the crown ; and, after much war and bloodshed, the famous 

 charter of English liberties, so well known by the name of Magna 

 Charta, was forcibly, in a manner, obtained from king John, and con- 

 firmed by his son Henry III, who succeeded to the crown in 1216. It 

 does not appear that, till this reign, and after a great deal of blood- 

 had been spilt, the commons of England were represented in parlia- 

 ment, or the great council of the nation ; so entirely had the barons 

 engrossed to themselves the disposal of property. 



The precise year when the house of commons was formed is not 

 known : but we are certain there was one in the reign of Henry III, 

 though we shall not enter into any disputes about their specific pow- 

 ers. We therefore now proceed to describe the constitution, as it 

 stands at present. 



In all states there is an absolute supreme power, to which the right 

 of legislation belongs ; and which, by the singular constitution of 

 these kingdoms, is here vested in the king, lords, and commons. 



Of the king. ...The supreme executive power of Great Britain 

 and Ireland is vested by our constitution in a single person, king or 

 queen : for it is indifferent to which sex the crown descends ; the 

 person entitled to it, whether male or female, is immediately intrust- 

 ed with all the ensigns, rights, and prerogatives of sovereign power. 



The grand fundamental maxim, upon which the right of succession 

 to the throne of these kingdoms depends, is, " that the crown, by 

 common law and constitutional custom, is hereditary, and this in a 

 manner peculiar to itself; but that the right of inheritance may, 

 from time to time, be changed, or limited, by act of parliament : un- 

 der which limitations the crown still continues hereditary." 



The principal duties of the king are expressed in his oath at the 

 coronation, which is administered by one of the archbishops or bish- 

 ops of the realm, in the presence of all the people, who, on their 



* Called by the Saxons Guelt; and thence the word guilty, in criminal trials. 



