III.-Of Principals and Accessories............ 621 IV.-Of Offences against God and Religion 626 ing the King and Government ...... 652 X.-Of Offences against Public Justice...... 658 XI.-Of Offences against the Public Peace... 668 XVII.-Of Offences against Private Property... 710 XVIII. Of the Means of Preventing Offences... 725 INTRODUCTION. SECTION I. ON THE STUDY, NATURE, AND EXTENT OF THE LAWS OF ENGLAND. I THINK it an undeniable position, that a competent knowledge of the laws of that society, in which we live, is the proper accomplishment of every gentleman and scholar; a highly useful, I had almost said essential, part of liberal and polite education. And in this I am warranted by the example of ancient Rome; where, as Cicero informs us, the very boys were obliged to learn the twelve tables by heart, as a carmen necessarium or indispensable lesson, to imprint on their tender minds an early knowledge of the laws and constitution of their country. And first, to demonstrate the utility of some acquaintance with the laws of the land, let us only reflect a moment on the singular 'frame and polity of that land, which is governed by this system of laws; a land, perhaps the only one in the universe, in which political or civil liberty is the very end and scope of the constitution. This liberty, rightly understood, consists in the power of doing whatever the laws permit; which is only to be effected by a general conformity of all orders and degrees to those equitable rules of action, by which the meanest in B dividual is protected from the insults and oppression of the greatest. As, therefore, every subject is interested in the preservation of the laws, it is incumbent on every man to be acquainted with those at least, with which he is immediately concerned ; lest he incur the censure, as well as inconvenience, of living in society without knowing the obligations which it lays him under. And thus much may suffice for persons of inferior condition, who have neither time nor capacity to enlarge their views beyond that contracted sphere in which they are appointed to move. But those, on whom nature and fortune have bestowed more abilities and greater leisure, cannot be so easily excused. These advantages are given them, not for the benefit of themselves only, but also of the public: and yet they cannot, in any scene of life, discharge properly their duty either to the public or themselves, without some degree of knowledge in the laws. But that a science, which distinguishes the criterions of right and wrong; which teaches to establish the one, prevent, punish, or redress the other; which employs in its theory the noblest faculties of the soul, and exerts in its practice the cardinal virtues of the heart: a science, which is universal in its use and extent, accommodated to each individual, yet comprehending the whole community; that a science like this should ever have been deemed unnecessary to be studied in a university, is matter of astonishment and concern. Surely if it were not before an object of academical knowledge, it was high time to make it one. Aristotle himself has |