Sec. 184. Laws redress of wrongs. "Pand. There's law and warrant, lady, for my curse. Const. And for mine too; when law can do no right, Let it be lawful, that law bar no wrong: Law cannot give my child his kingdom here; 112 How can the law forbid my tongue to curse.”1 That the Poet understood the scientific definition of the term "law," is evidenced by this verse, as law is defined by the best authority as "a rule of civil conduct, commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong. "When law can do no right," it ceases to attain the sole and sufficient object of law, according to this approved definition, and if unable to enforce the right, the conclusion is analogous that the law should "bar no wrong." In other words, since the law, by the authority of the supreme power of state, whose function it is to enforce the law, had been perverted and from the enforcement of rights, it had descended to the enforcement or defense of wrongs, Constance concluded that the law had thus recognized the wrong, instead of the right, as the ultimate object of the law. Sec. 185. Keeping the peace. "Pem. Cut him to pieces. "Peace" imports, in a legal sense, not merely the repose and tranquility of a community or state, as opposed to violence and warfare, but it implies, as well, a state of The Hostess replies to Falstaff's charge of robbery in her house, as follows, in 1' Henry IV: "Host. Do you think I keep thieves in my house? I have searched, I have enquired, so has my husband, man by man, boy by boy, servant by servant: the tithe of a hair was never lost in my house before." (Act III, Scene III.) public order and decorum or a compliance with the laws.1 In reply to the insistence of Pembroke to "Cut him to pieces," which would be a violation of the law and a consequent disturbance of the peace, Philip enjoined upon them that they should "keep the peace." This rejoinder is not only a request to comply with the law, in legal terms, but is also an apt play upon the words used by Pembroke. Sec. 186. Source of sovereign power. "K. John. Thus have I yielded up into your hand the circle of my glory. Pand. Take again, from this my hand, as holding of the pope, Your sovereign greatness and authority."2 This ceremony of coronation is in keeping with that followed in the day and time to which the play relates, according to the forms of law then obtaining. The pope was regarded not only as the head of the Roman Catholic church, but as such, was the source for both temporal and spiritual power and while the ceremony of crowning a king whose adherents were sufficiently strong to give him the throne always seemed to accord with the will of the church, the pope, as the head of the church was supposed to ratify the granting of sovereignty to the king. 1 Bacon, Abr.; 2 Bentham, 319. 2 King John, Act V, Scene I. Bolingbroke, on taking the crown, in King Richard II, is made to say: "Boling. In God's name I'll ascend the regal throne." (Act IV, Scene I.) 209. Failure to speak, in criminal case-Standing mute. 210. Signories. 211. Under gage. 212. Day of trial. "Boling. First (heaven be the record of my speech:) In the devotion of a subject's love, Tendering the precious safety of my prince, Come I appellant to this princely presence." 1 King Richard II, Act I, Scene I. The appellant, in a lawsuit, is the party who appeals from one jurisdiction or forum to another, for the further prosecution of his cause.1 After making the charge or accusation against Norfolk, Bolingbroke followed it up by bringing the same charge before the king, when the right of trial by battle was invoked by the accused. Sec. 188. Accuser and accused. "K. Rich. Then call them to our presence; face to face, And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear, The accuser and accused, freely speak." The accuser is one who makes a criminal charge or accusation against another, and the accused is one against whom such charge or accusation is made. It is one of the rights guaranteed to an Englishman that when accused of a crime he has the right to have the witnesses brought before him, face to face, hence the king but recognized the lawful right of Norfolk to have his accuser face him in the charge of treason, in the above verse. Sec. 189. Impeachment.— "Nor. shame: My life thou shalt command, but not my The one my duty owes; but my fair name, 1 Bouvier's Law Dictionary. The Marshal, in this play, referring to Mowbray's readiness to meet Bolingbroke, said: "Mar. The duke of Norfolk, sprightfully and bold, Stays but the summons of the appellant's trumpet." The Marshal tell the King: "Mar. The appellant in all duty greets your highness, And craves to kiss your hand and take his leave." (Act I, Scene III.) In Antony and Cleopatra, Eros advises Enobarbus that "Cæsar, accuses him of letters he had formerly wrote to Pompey; upon his own appeal seizes him." (Act III, Scene V.) 2 King Richard II, Act I, Scene I. 3 Bouvier's Law Dictionary. 'Ante idem. To dark dishonour's use, thou shalt not have. I am disgrac'd, impeach'd, and baffled here."1 All civil officers at common law were liable to impeachment, which was a written accusation against the officer or person impeached, charging him with treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors.2 The term is also used when applied to the kind of evidence which destroys the credibility of a witness in a cause on trial. All witnesses are liable to be impeached by evidence of general reputation for truth or veracity and if one's general character is good, one is always supposed, in law, to be able to defend it. 3 Impeachment is used in this verse in the sense of its application to an officer, or a person charged with treason, as this was the charge brought against the duke of Norfolk by Bolingbroke. Sec. 190. Deposing, according to law. "K. Rich. Marshall, ask yonder knight in arms, Both who he is, and why he cometh hither Thus plated in habiliments of war; 1 And formally, according to our law, Depose him, in the justice of his cause." 1 King Richard II, Act I, Scene I. 2 Story, Const. Law, Sec. 795. Greenl. Evid. vol. 1. In the United States, the house of representatives has the sole power of impeachments and the senate of the United States is given, by organic law, the sole right of trying impeachments. (Con. U. S. Art. 1, Secs. 2, 3, c. 5, 6.) On discovering the treason of his own son, the Duke of York exclaims: "York. Now by mine honour, my life, my troth, I will appeach the villain." (Richard II, Act IV, Scene II.) Clarence's son, on speaking of his father's death, in Richard III, said: "Son. my good uncle Gloster told me, the king. provok'd to it, by the queen, devis'd impeachments, to imprison him." (Act II, Scene II.) 'King Richard II, Act I, Scene III. |