LIBERTY. 
ner than the same is or shall be granted, is 
illegal. 
The above is a short view of the princi- 
pal absolute rights which appertain to every 
Englishman ; and the constitution has pro- 
vided for the security of their actual enjoy- 
ment, by establishing certain other auxiliary, 
subordinate rights, which serve principally 
as out-works or barriers to protect and 
maintain those principal rights inviolate. 
These are. 
The constitution, powers, and privileges 
of parliament. The limitation of the King’s 
prerogative. The right of applying to 
courts of justice for redress of injuries. The 
right of petitioning the King or parliament. 
The right of having arms for defence. 
This last auxiliary right of the subjects of 
having arms for their defence, suitable to 
their condition and degree, and such as are 
allowed by law, is declared by the Bill of 
Eights; and it is, indeed, apublic allowance, 
under due restrictions of the natural right of 
resistance and self-preservation, when the 
sanctions of society and laws are found 
insufficient to restrain the violence of op- 
pression. 
As to the first and second of the subordi- 
nate rights above mentioned. See Parlia- 
ment, King. 
With respect to the third and fourth, 
some short information is here subjoined. 
Since the law is, in England, the supreme 
arbiter of every man's life, liberty, and pro- 
perty, courts of justice must at all times be 
open to the subject, and the law be duly ad- 
ministered therein. The emphatical words of 
Magna Charta, c. 29, spoken in the person 
of the King, who, in judgment of law (says 
Sir Edward Coke) is ever present, and re- 
peating them in all his courts, are these, 
“ Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus, aut dif- 
ferennis rectum vel justitiam.” To none 
will we sell, to none will we deny, or delay, 
right or justice. 
It is also ordained by Magna Charta, 
c. 29, that no freeman shall be outlawed, 
that is, put out of the protection and benefit 
of the law, but according to the laws of the 
land. By statutes 2 Edward III. c. 8. 
11 Richard II.- c. 10, it is enacted, that no 
commands or letters shall be sent under 
the Great Seal, or the Little Seal, the Sig- 
net or Privy Seal, in disturbance of the 
law ; or to disturb or delay common right, 
and though such commandments should 
come,' the judges shall not cease to do 
right. This is also made a part of their 
oath, by statute 11 Edward III. stat. 4. 
And by the Bill of Rights it is declared, 
that the pretended power of suspending or 
dispensing with laws, or the execution of 
laws, by regal authority, without consent of 
parliament, is illegal. Not only the sub- 
stantial part, or judicial decisions of the 
law, but also the formal part, or method of 
proceeding, cannot be altered but by par- 
ifament ; for, if once those outworks were 
demolished, there would be an inlet to all 
manner of innovation in the body of the law 
itself. The King, it is true, may erect new 
courts of justice ; but then they must pro- 
ceed according to the old established forms 
of the common law. For which reason it is 
declared in the statute, 16 Charles I. c. tO, 
upon the dissolution of the court of star- 
chamber, that neither his Majesty nor his 
Privy Council have any jurisdiction, power, 
or authority, by English bill, petition, arti- 
cles, or libel, (which were the course of 
proceeding in the Star-chamber borrowed 
from the civil law), or by any other arbitrary 
way whatsoever, to examine or draw into 
question, determine or dispose of the lands 
or goods of any subjects of this kingdom j 
but that the same ought to be tried -and de- 
termined in the ordinary courts of justice, 
and b^ course of law. 
The right of j)etitioning the King, or ei- 
ther house of parliament, for the redress of 
grievances, appertains to every individual 
in cases of any uncommon injury, or in- 
fringement of the rights already particula- 
rized, which the ordinary course of law is 
too defective to reach. The restrictions, 
for some there are, which are laid upon this 
right of petitioning in England, while they 
promote the spirit of peace, are no check 
upon that of liberty ; care only must be 
taken, lest, under the pretence of petition- 
ing, the subject be guilty of any riot or tu- 
mult ; as happened in the opening of the 
memorable parliament in 1640. And to 
prevent this, it is provided by statute, 
13 Charles II. stat. 1. c. 5, that no petition 
to the King, or either house of parliament, 
for any alteration in church or state, shall 
be signed by above twenty persons, unless 
the niatter thereof be approved by three 
justices of the peace, or the major part of 
the grand jury in the county ; and in Lon- 
don by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and 
Common Council ; nor shall any petition 
be presented by more than ten persons at a 
time. But under these regulations, it is de- 
clared by the Bill of Rights, that the subject 
hath a right to petition ; and that all com- 
mitments and prosecutions for such peti- 
