Henry VIII. ECCLESIASTICAL AND CIVIL DIVISIONS. 51 འ Every diocese is divided into archdeaconries, whereof there are sixty in all; each archdeaconry into rural deaneries, which are the circuit of the archdeacons' and rural deans' jurisdiction. Every deanery is divided into parishes. A Parish is that circuit of ground the inhabitants of which are committed to the charge of one parson or vicar, or other minister having cure of souls therein. How ancient the division of parishes is may at present be difficult to ascertain. Mr. Camden says that England was divided into parishes by Archbishop Honorius, about the year 630; but Sir Henry Hobart lays it down that parishes were first erected by the Council of Lateran, which was held in 1179. These parishes were gradually formed, and parish churches endowed with the tithes that arose within the circuit assigned.* The CIVIL division of the territory of England is into counties, counties into hundreds, hundreds into tithings or towns. Tithings, towns, or vills have the same signification in law, and are said to have had each originally a church, and celebration of divine service, sacraments, and burials. The word town or vill is now become a generic term, comprehending the several species of cities, boroughs, and common towns. A City is a town incorporated, which usually is or has been the see of a bishop. A Borough is now understood to be a town either corporate or not, that sends burgesses to Parliament. These towns contained each originally but one parish and one tithing; but now by the increase of the inhabitants many of them are divided into several parishes and tithings. Shire is a Saxon word signifying a division. England is divided into forty counties or shires, Wales into twelve, and Scotland into thirty. Three of these counties, Chester, Durham, and Lancaster, are called counties palatine. The two former are such by prescription, or immemorial custom, or at least as old as the Norman Conquest; the latter was created by King Edward III. in favour of Henry Plantagenet, first Earl and then Duke of Lancaster, whose heiress *The affairs of a Parish, the mode of conducting the business of the Vestry, and other matters relating thereto, are now regulated by the General Vestry Act, 58 Geo. III., c. 69, amended by 59 Geo. III., c. 85, and by 16 & 17 Vict., c. 65. being married to John of Gaunt, the King's son, the franchise was greatly enlarged and confirmed in Parliament, to honour John of Gaunt himself, whom, on the death of his father-in-law, the King had also created Duke of Lancaster. The distribution into counties or shires is at present materially connected with the administration of justice; for trials both civil and criminal are periodically heard before the justices of the assizes which are held in each county twice a year, or oftener if necessary. In the Parliamentary representation of the people, each county sends county members, called knights of the shire; and where the county is divided, each portion forms a separate county, and each sends its separate representative. Each county is subject to a particular rate for the relief of the poor and purposes connected with prisons and criminal offenders.* Counties Palatine are so called a palatio; because the owners thereof, the Earl of Chester, the Bishop of Durham, and the Duke of Lancaster, had in those counties jura regalia, as fully as the King had in his palace. They appointed all judges and justices of the peace, and might pardon all treasons, felonies, and even murders. The proceedings and practice of the Courts of Durham and of Lancaster are now in general assimilated to those of the Courts of Westminster. The Isle of Ely is not a county palatine, but only a royal franchise, whereby the bishop exercised a jurisdiction over all causes, criminal as well as civil. By 6 & 7 Wm. IV., c. 87, the jurisdiction has been entirely taken from the bishop, and is now vested in the Crown. There are also Counties Corporate, which are certain cities and towns to which, out of special grace, the Kings of England granted the privilege to be counties in themselves, governed by their own sheriffs and other magistrates, so that no officers of the county at large have any power to intermeddle therein. Such were London, York, Bristol, Norwich, Coventry, and many others; but the regulation of these places is now provided for by the Municipal Corporation Act, 5 & 6 Wm. IV., c. 76; 2 & 3 Vict., c. 72; 24 & 25 Vict., c. 75; and 32 & 33 Vict., c. 55. * See 4 & 5 Wm. IV., c. 86; and 19 & 20 Vict., c. 16. CHAPTER VI. THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS. In order to consider with perspicuity the numerous and diverse laws of England, it will be necessary to lay down a suitable arrangement of the subject, to distribute it methodically under proper and distinct heads, and to avoid as much as possible divisions too large and comprehensive on the one hand, and too trifling and minute on the other. Having seen that Municipal Law is "a rule of civil conduct, commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong," let us first, then, consider the rights that are commanded, and the wrongs that are forbidden by the Laws of England. Explain the "Rights" that are "commanded" and the "Wrongs" that are "forbidden" by the laws of England. RIGHTS are, first, those which concern and are annexed to the persons of men, and are then called jura personarum, or the rights of persons; or they are, secondly, such as a man may acquire over external objects or things unconnected with his person, and are designated jura rerum, or the rights of things. WRONGS also are divisible into, first, private wrongs, which, being an infringement of particular rights concerning individuals, are called civil injuries; and, secondly, public wrongs, which being a breach of general and public rights, affect the whole community, and are called crimes and misdemeanors. Thus the objects of the laws of England fall into this fourfold division :— 1. The RIGHTS OF PERSONS, with the means whereby such rights may be either acquired or lost. 2. The RIGHTS OF THINGS, with the means also of acquiring and losing them. 3. PRIVATE WRONGS, or civil injuries, with the means of redressing them by law. 4. PUBLIC WRONGS, or crimes and misdemeanors, with the means of prevention and punishment. First, then, as to the rights of persons, with the means of acquiring and losing them. The rights of persons that are commanded to be observed by the municipal law are of two sorts; first, such as are due from every citizen, which are usually called civil duties; and, secondly, such as belong to him, which is the more popular acceptation of rights or jura. Both may, indeed, be comprised in this latter division, for as all social duties are of a relative nature, at the same time they are due from one man or set of men, they must also be due to another. Thus, for instance, allegiance is considered the duty of the people, and protection as the duty of the magistrate; and yet they are reciprocally the rights as well as the duties of each other. Persons also are divided by the law into either natural or artificial persons. Natural persons are such as God has formed us; artificial are such as are created and devised by human laws for the purposes of society and government, which are called corporations, or bodies politic. The rights of persons, considered in their natural capacities, are also of two sorts, absolute and relative. Absolute, which are such rights as appertain and belong to particular men merely as individuals or single persons; relative, which are incident to them as members of society, and standing in various relations to each other. Absolute rights of individuals are those which are so in their primary and strictest sense, such as would belong to their persons merely in a state of nature, and which every man is entitled to enjoy whether out of society or in it; but with absolute duties which man is bound to perform, considered as a mere individual, it is not to be expected that any human municipal law should at all explain or enforce them, for the end and intent of such laws being only to regulate the behaviour of mankind as they are THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS. 55 members of society and stand in various relations to each other, they have consequently no concern with any other but social or relative duties. Let a man therefore be ever so abandoned in his principles or vicious in his practice, provided he keeps his wickedness to himself and does not offend against the rules of public decency, he is out of the reach of human laws; but if he makes his vices public, though they be such as seem principally to affect himself, they then become, by the bad example they set, offensive to society, and therefore it is thus the business of human laws to correct them. Public sobriety is a relative duty, and therefore enjoined by our laws; private sobriety is an absolute duty, which, whether it be performed or not, human tribunals can never know. But with respect to rights the case is different; for human laws define and enforce as well those rights which belong to a man considered as an individual, as those which belong to him considered as related to others. The principal aim of society is to protect individuals in the enjoyment of those absolute rights which are the first and primary end of human laws; but which could not be preserved in peace without that mutual assistance and intercourse which is gained by the institution of friendly and social communities. The rights of the people of England may be reduced to three principal or primary articles : : 1. THE RIGHT OF PERSONAL SECURITY. 2. THE RIGHT OF PERSONAL LIBERTY. 3. THE RIGHT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY. I. The right of personal security consists in a person's legal and uninterrupted enjoyment of his life, his limbs, his body, his health, and his reputation. Life is the immediate gift of God, a right inherent by nature in every individual, and it begins in contemplation of law as soon as an infant is able to stir in the mother's womb; so if a woman is quick with child, and by a potion or otherwise designedly kills it in her womb; or, if anyone else gives it to her, or beats her with a like design, whereby the child dies in her body, and she is delivered of a dead child, it is treated in law as if actually born. A man's limbs are also the gift of the Creator, to enable him to protect himself from external injuries in a state of nature; and a man's life and limbs are held of such value by our law, |