Lectures on the constitution and laws of England With a commentary on Magna Charta, and illustrations of many of the English statutes

LECTURES
                                  ON THE
                          CONSTITUTION AND LAWS
                                    OF
                                 ENGLAND:

                           WITH A COMMENTARY ON
                             _MAGNA CHARTA_,

                        AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF MANY
                                  OF THE
                            ENGLISH STATUTES.

                               BY THE LATE
                   FRANCIS STOUGHTON SULLIVAN, _LL. D._
        Royal Professor of COMMON LAW in the UNIVERSITY of DUBLIN.

                           THE SECOND EDITION.

             To which AUTHORITIES are added, and a DISCOURSE
             is prefixed, concerning the LAWS and GOVERNMENT
                               of ENGLAND.

                       BY GILBERT STUART, _LL. D._

                                _LONDON_:
         Printed for EDWARD and CHARLES DILLY in the Poultry; and
                JOSEPH JOHNSON in St. Paul’s Church-yard.
                               M,DCC,LXXVI.




                         TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
                          FREDERICK LORD NORTH,
              KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER,
                       FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY,
                       CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER,
                                   AND
                 CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD,


MY LORD,

I am ambitious of giving dignity to this Work by inscribing it to your
Lordship; and I conceive that it has a natural claim to your protection.
It regards those laws and that constitution which, at a most critical
period, you were called to defend; and of which the important purposes
are the security and the happiness of a free people.

In this illustrious rank which divides your cares between prerogative
and liberty, and in which you support the lustre of the Crown, while
you guard the independence of the subject; the greatest occasions are
afforded to distinguish the generosity of public virtue, and to employ a
capacity enlarged alike by reflection and experience.

But it does not become me to say with what honour to yourself, and
with what advantages to the nation, you sustain the arduous charge of
government. To posterity, which will not be suspected of flattery, it
must be left to celebrate the merits of an Administration, too vigorous
to yield under difficulties, and of which the glory has increased with
danger.

                     I am, with the greatest respect,

                                 MY LORD,

                             Your Lordship’s

                              Most obedient,

                         And most humble servant,

                                                           GILBERT STUART.




ADVERTISEMENT.


The following LECTURES were delivered in the University of DUBLIN, and
procured a very high Reputation to their Author. The Researches they
contain into the Nature and History of the FEUDAL LAWS, were esteemed
extensive and ingenious; and the Description they exhibit of the ENGLISH
CONSTITUTION, will be allowed to be particularly interesting. These
Advantages have occasioned their Publication. It was thought, that
Papers, which had done so much Honour to DR. SULLIVAN, when alive, ought
to illustrate his Memory; and that they might prove of Use to the present
Age, and to Posterity.

THE Authorities assigned for DR. SULLIVAN’S Opinions and Reasonings
are furnished by the EDITOR. They are not, perhaps, in every Instance
those to which he himself would have appealed. This could not have been
expelled. They are such, notwithstanding, as will assist the Student; and
the Preliminary DISCOURSE, it is hoped, will not be thought an useless or
improper Addition to his LECTURES. It will be a Pleasure to the EDITOR
to reflect that he has endeavoured to pay a Tribute of Respect to the
Writings of a virtuous Man and an ingenious Lawyer, whom an immature
Death had ravished from his Friends and from Society.




CONTENTS.


                           _LECTURE_ I.

    _The intention and purposes of political society—Customs and
    manners govern men before the enactment of positive laws—Arts
    and property the sources of legislation—Peculiarities attending
    the institutions of Lycurgus and those of Moses—In the infancy
    of a state, laws are few and plain—In times of civility and
    refinement, they are numerous and complicated—The liberty of
    the people, a great cause of the multiplicity of laws—The
    difficulty of the study of the English law—The methods which
    have been followed in the study of it._

                            _LECT._ II.

    _The plan of the present undertaking—The particulars in which
    it differs from that adopted by Mr Blackstone—The different
    situations of the Universities of Oxford and Dublin—The chief
    o