THE CABINET LAWYER. PART I. GOVERNMENT AND LAWS OF ENGLAND. Law is a rule of conduct, sanctioned by authority, by which certain acts are either enjoined or prohibited. The primary objects of law are the protection of individuals, of property, and the institutions of society. The origin of laws, the nature of the institutions from which they have emanated, and the relations subsisting between the Government and the People, naturally form the first objects of inquiry. These subjects will occupy the first division of this work, and be classed under the following heads : 1. Origin and Jurisdiction of the Laws of England. II. Constitution and Government of England. III. Rights of the People. CHAPTER I. Origin and Jurisdiction of the Laws of England. THE laws of England, like those of most countries, established in an early period of society, consist of a series of customs and obligations resulting from experience, and confirmed by judicial decisions, or framed and corrected by the legislature. The threa principal divisions of the laws, which are dispensed by the judges and magistrates, are the Common, Statute, and Equity Law. The Common or Unwritten Law comprises those customs and observances which have not been formally created and recorded by the legislature, but have acquired a binding force by imme. morial usage, and the strength of general accordance and reception. It is by general custom, or common law, that proceedings are guided in courts of justice; that the eldest son inherits from his father; that property may be purchased and transferred by writing; that a deed is void, if not sealed and delivered; that money lent upon bond is recoverable by action of debt; that the property of a woman by marriage becomes the property of the husband, and the husband liable for the debts of his wife; and that breaches of the peace are punishable by fine and imprisonment;-all these are doctrines not prescribed by any written statute or verbal ordinance, but depend on immemorial usage, or common law, for their support. By immemorial usage is not meant a period so remote as to be beyond historical record; the bounds of legal memory are limited by the 3 Edward 1, to the commencement of the reign of Richard I., from which time an uninterrupted custom acquires legal validity. But, as this rule has been often productive of injustice, it is provided by 2 & 3 W. 4, c. 71, that no right of common shall be defeated after thirty years' enjoyment, and after sixty years the right is deemed absolute and indefeasible, unless had by consent or agreement. In claims of right of way or other easements, the periods are twenty and forty years. Claims to the use of light to any dwelling-house or building enjoyed for twenty years, are indefeasible, unless shown to have been by consent. Besides general customs, there are local customs, whose jurisdiction is limited to the particular district in which they are found; such as the customs of the city of London, of copyhold manors, of gavelkind in Kent, and of borough-English at Stafford and other places. The Civil and Canon Laws, that govern the proceedings of the ecclesiastical, the admiralty, and the military courts, form branches of the Unwritten or Common Law, which have not been enacted by parliament. The Written or Statute Law consists of statutes, acts, or edicts, made by the sovereign, or by the two houses of parliament with the assent of the sovereign, of which the original authority is in writing. The oldest written law now extant, and printed in the statutebook, is Magna Charta; though, doubtless, there were many acts before that time, the records of which are lost, and the maxims of which have been gradually incorporated into the common law. The interpretation of the statutes and maxims of the common law is determinable by the judges, whose knowledge therein arises from study and experience, from the perusal of the statutes, records of pleas, books of reports, and the tractates of learned men. Where the common law and the statute differ, the common law |