SECTION IV.

OF THE COUNTRIES SUBJECT TO THE LAWS OF ENGLAND.

THE kingdom of England, over which our municipal laws have jurisdiction, includes not, by the common law, either Wales, Scotland, or Ireland, or any other part of the king's dominions, except the territory of England only. And yet the civil laws and local customs of this territory do now obtain, in part or in all, with more or less restrictions, in these and many other adjacent countries; of which it will be proper first to take a review, before we consider the kingdom of England itself, the original and proper subject of these laws.

Wales had continued independent of England, unconquered and uncultivated, in the primitive pastoral state, which Cæsar and Tacitus ascribe to Britain in general, for many centuries; at length, in the reign of Edward the First, who may justly be stiled the conqueror of Wales, the line of their ancient princes was abolished, and the king of England's eldest son became, as a matter of course, their titular prince; the territory of Wales being then entirely re-annexed (by a kind of feodal resumption) to the dominion of the crown of England. But the finishing stroke to their independency was given by the statute 27 Hen. VIII. c. 26, which at the same time gave the utmost advancement to their civil prosperity, by admitting them to a

thorough communication of laws with the subjects of England.

Thus were this brave people gradually conquered into the enjoyment of true liberty; being insensibly put upon the same footing, and made fellow citizens with their conquerors.

It is enacted by this statute 27 Hen. VIII. that the laws of England, and no other, shall be used in Wales.

The kingdom of Scotland, notwithstanding the union of the crowns on the accession of their king James VI. to that of England, continued an entirely separate and distinct kingdom for above a century.

Sir Edward Coke, and the politicians of that time, conceived great difficulties in carrying on the projected union but these were at length overcome, and the great work was happily effected on the first of May, 1707, and for ever after the kingdoms of England and Scotland were united into one kingdom, by the name of Great Britain, when twentyfive articles of union were agreed to by the parliaments of both nations.

"Scotland deputes 16 peers to the Upper House, and 45 members to the Lower House."

The other peers of Scotland enjoy the same privileges as those of England, except sitting in the House of Lords, and voting on the trial of a peer.

The town of Berwick-upon-Tweed was originally part of the kingdom of Scotland. Its constitution was new modelled, and put upon an English footing by a charter of king James I. and all its liber

ties, franchises, and customs, were confirmed in parliament by the statutes 22 Edw. IV. c. 8. and 2 Jac. I. c. 28. Though therefore it hath some local peculiarities, derived from the ancient laws of Scotland, yet it is clearly a part of the realm of England, being represented by burgesses in the house of commons, and bound by all acts of the British parliament, whether specially named or otherwise. And though certain of the king's writs or processes of the courts of Westminster do not usually run into Berwick, any more than the principality of Wales, yet it hath been solemnly adjudged that all prerogative writs (as those of mandamus, prohibition, habeas corpus, certiorari, &c.) may issue to Berwick as well as to every other of the dominions of the crown of England, and that indictments and other local matters arising in the town of Berwick may be tried by a jury of the county of Northumberland.

As to Ireland, that is still a distinct kingdom; though a dependent subordinate kingdom. It has, since the death of Sir William Blackstone, been united to England by 39 and 40 Geo. III. c. 67, that the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland shall, on the first day of January, 1801, and for ever after, be united into one kingdom, by the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: and that the royal style and titles of the imperial crown, and their ensigns, armorial flags, and ban‣ ners, shall be such as should be appointed by his Majesty's royal proclamation.

Ireland sends 4 lords spiritual by rotation of ses

sions, and 28 lords temporal, elected for life by its peers, to sit in the House of Lords; and 100 commoners, to be the number to represent the people in the House of Commons.

With regard to the other adjacent islands which are subject to the crown of Great Britain, some of them (as the isle of Wight, of Portland, of Thanet, &c.) are comprised within some neighbouring county, and are therefore to be looked upon as annexed to the mother island, and part of the kingdom of England. But there are others which require a more particular consideration.

And, first, the isle of Man is a distinct territory from England, and is not governed by our laws : neither doth any act of parliament extend to it, unless it be particularly named therein; and then an act of parliament is binding there.

The islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, Alderney, and their appendages, were parcel of the dutchy of Normandy, and were united to the crown of England by the first princes of the Norman line. They are governed by their own laws. The king's writ, or process from the courts of Westminster, is there of no force; but his commission is. They are not bound by common acts of our parliaments, unless particularly named. All causes are originally determined by their own officers, the bailiffs and jurats of the islands; but an appeal lies from them to the king in council, in the last resort.

Besides these adjacent islands, our more distant plantations in America, and elsewhere, are also in some respect subject to the English laws. With

respect to their interior polity, our colonies are properly of three sorts; 1. Provincial establishments; 2. Proprietary governments; 3. Charter governments. The form of government in most of them is borrowed from that of England. They have a governor named by the king, who is his representative or deputy. They have courts of justice of their own, from whose decisions an appeal lies to the king and council here in England.

We come now to consider the kingdom of England in particular, the direct and immediate subject of those laws, concerning which we are to treat in the ensuing commentaries. And this comprehends not only Wales and Berwick, of which enough has been already said, but also part of the sea. The main or high seas are part of the realm of England, for thereon our courts of admiralty have jurisdiction, as will be shewn hereafter; but they are not subject to the common law. This main sea begins at the low-water-mark. But between the highwater-mark and the low-water-mark, where the sea ebbs and flows, the common law and the admiralty have divisum imperium, an alternate jurisdiction; one upon the water, when it is full sea; the other upon the land, when it is an ebb.

The territory of England is liable to two divisions; the one ecclesiastical, the other civil.

1. The ecclesiastical division is, primarily, into two provinces, those of Canterbury and York. A province is the circuit of an archbishop's jurisdiction. Each province contains divers dioceses, or sees of suffragan bishops; whereof Canterbury