It is allowed that a man attainted of felony cannot ſit in Parliament, and the Commons probably judged, that not being bound to the forms of law, they might treat theſe as felons, whoſe crimes were in their opinion equivalent to felony; and that as a known felon could not be choſen, a man ſo like a felon, that he could not eaſily be diſtinguiſhed, ought to be expelled.
The firſt laws had no law to enforce them, the firſt authority was conſtituted by itſelf. The power exerciſed by the Houſe of Commons is of this kind, a power rooted in the principles of government, and branched out by occaſional practice; a power which neceſſity made juſt, and precedents have made legal.
It will occur that authority thus uncontrolable may, in times of heat and conteſt, be oppreſſively and injuriouſly exerted,
