PREFACE.

THE following Sheets contain the fubftance of a courfe of lectures on the laws of England, which were read by the author in the university of OXFORD. His original plan took its rife in the year 1753: and, notwithstanding the novelty of fuch an attempt in this age and country, and the prejudices ufually conceived against any innovations in the established mode of education, he had the fatisfaction to find (and he acknowleges it with a mixture of pride and gratitude) that his endeavours were encouraged and patronized by thofe, both in the univerfity and out of it, whofe good opinion and efteem he was principally defirous to obtain.

The death of Mr. VINER in 1756, and bis ample benefaction to the university for promoting the study of the law, produced about two years afterwards a regular and public eftablishment of what the author had privately undertaken. The knowlege of our laws and conftitution was adopted as a liberal fcience by general academical authority;

a 3

rity; competent endowments were decreed for the Support of a lecturer, and the perpetual encouragement of Students; and the compiler of the enfuing commentaries had the honour to be elected the first Vinerian profeffor.

In this fituation he was led, both by duty and inclination, to investigate the elements of the law, and the grounds of our civil polity, with greater affiduity and attention than many have thought it neceffary to do. And yet all, who of late years have attended the public adminiftration of justice, must be fenfible that a masterly acquaintance with the general fpirit of laws and the principles of universal jurisprudence, combined with an accurate knowlege of our own municipal conflitutions, their original, reafon, and history, hath given a beauty and energy to many modern judicial decifions, with which our ancestors were wholly unacquainted. If, in the purfuit of thefe inquiries, the author hath been able to rectify any errors which either himself or others may have heretofore imbibed, his pains will be fufficiently anfwered: and, if in fome points he is still mistaken, the candid and judicious reader will make due allowances for the difficulties of a Search so new, fo extensive, and fo laborious.

2 Nov. 1765.

POSTSCRIPT.

NOTWITHSTANDING the diffidence expreffed in the foregoing Preface, no fooner was the work completed, but many of its pofitions were vehemently attacked by zealots of all (even oppofite) denominations, religious as well as civil; by fome with a greater, by others with a lefs degree of acrimony. To fuch of these animadverters as have fallen within the author's notice (for he doubts not but fome have efcaped it) he owes at leaft this obligation; that they have occafioned him from time to time to revife his work, in respect to the particulars objected to; to retract or expunge from it what appeared to be really erroneous; to amend or fupply it when inaccurate or defective; to illuftrate and explain it when obfcure. But, where he thought the objections ill-founded, he bath left and fhall leave the book to defend itfelf: being fully of opinion, that if his principles be falfe and bis doctrines unwarrantable, no apology from himfelf can make them right; if founded in truth and rectitude, no cenfure from others can make them wrong.

THE discharge of a duty fimilar to that to which

the world is indebted for the Commentaries on the Laws of England, led the Editor to prefume, that in the course of his researches he might be able to collect some observations which might be useful to the Public, and at the fame time it suggested the propriety of his endeavouring to contribute to the further improvement of that valuable production.

The extenfive fale of the laft Edition has abundantly proved that the defign has met with general approbation.

No alteration has been made in the Author's texts but the principal changes, which either the legislature or the decifions of the courts have introduced into the law fince the last corrections of the Author, are specified and explained by the Editor in the notes *.

The Commentaries on the Laws of England form an effential part of every Gentleman's library: the beautiful and lucid arrangement, the purity of the language, the claffic elegance of the quotations and

* The Editor's notes are separated from the text and notes of the Author by a line, and are referred to by figures, thus (1), and the pages of the former editions are preferved in the margin.

allufions,

allufions, the clear and intelligible explanation of
every fubject, must always yield the reader as much
pleasure as improvement; and wherever any confti-
tutional or legal question is agitated, they are the firft,
and, in general, the best authority referred to. In
order to add to their utility in this respect, the Editor
has annexed fuch exceptions and particular inftances
as he thought would render the information ftill fuller
and more complete. Where he has prefumed to
question any of the learned Commentator's doctrines,
he has affigned his reasons for his doubt or dissent;
but where he has difcovered an inaccuracy arifing
merely from inadvertence, he has ftated it without
fcruple or ceremony. We fhould expect more than
human excellence, if we imagined that a work, com-
prizing almost the whole system of English jurispru
dence, could be entirely free from mistakes. But
it is a matter of great concern to the Profeffion and
to the Public at large, that in an Author fo univerfally
read, fo deservedly admired, and in whom fuch con-
fidence is repofed, every fubject fhould be reviewed
with fcrupulous and critical precifion. It has been,
and it will continue to be, the Editor's peculiar study
and ambition to advance this learned performance to
as great a degree of accuracy and perfection as his
attention and ability can effect; and he will always
be grateful for any correction of his own errors, or
for any useful remarks which may not have occurred
to him in his examination of the Commentaries.