In settling the crown on the prince and princess of Orange, the wisest precautions were taken, that the religion, the laws, and the liberties of England should never more be in danger of being subverted. The limits of the prerogative were defined; the extent of the freedom of the people was ascertained; and the doctrine of resisting the prince, when he should presume to encroach on the rights of the subject, was explained and illustrated[35].
From the Saxon conquest, during a long succession of ages, this fortunate island has never degenerated from liberty. In the most inclement periods of its history, it despaired not of independence. It has constantly fostered that indignant spirit which disdains all subjection to an arbitrary sway. The constitution, prospering under the shocks it received, fixed itself at the highest point of liberty that is compatible with government. May it continue its purity and vigour! and give felicity and greatness to the most distant times!
March 1775.
LECTURES ON THE LAWS of ENGLAND.
LECTURE I.
The intention and purposes of political society—Customs and manners govern men before the enactment of positive Laws—Arts and property the sources of legislation—Peculiarities attending the institutions of Lycurgus and those of Moses—In the infancy of a state, laws are few and plain—In times of civility and refinement, they are numerous and complicated—The liberty of the people, a great cause of the multiplicity of laws—The difficulty of the study of the English law—The methods which have been followed in the study of it.
Since every political society was originally framed for the general benefit of the several individuals of which it was composed, in order that, supported by the united strength of the whole community, each person might have that security in his life, his liberty, his property, which, unassisted in a state of nature, he could not of himself attain unto; and that, instructed by the joint counsels and wisdom of the whole body, he might so direct his actions, as to promote the public welfare, with which his own safety and interest are necessarily connected; it follows, that, in such a state, every man must, even for his own sake, in many things, sacrifice his private judgment, and his natural liberty of action, to the will of that community to which he belongs; which will, acting uniformly for the same purposes, cannot fail of producing a number of fixed rules and regulations, to serve as directions to the subjects, in such cases as are common, and frequently occur.
Accordingly, we find, there never was a state or nation, even but one degree removed from barbarity, that subsisted without some general customs, at least, which supplied the place of positive laws, by which the conduct of the several members of the society was to be governed, and for the breach of which they were liable to punishment; and in such a submission the very essence of political freedom consists. For, as M. Montesquieu very justly observes, the liberty of man in a social state, different from that in a state of nature, consisteth not in a power of acting, in all things, according to his own judgment, but in acting according thereto, in subservience to the will of the public, in being free to do all things the law prohibits not, and to omit all things the law doth not enjoin[36].