COMMENTARIES
ON THE
LAWS of ENGLAND,
Book the third.
Of PRIVATE WRONGS.
Chapter the first.
Of the REDRESS of PRIVATE WRONGS by the mere act of the PARTIES.
AT the opening of theſe commentaries[1] municipal law was in general defined to be, "a rule of civil conduct, preſcribed by the ſupreme power in a ſtate, commanding what is right, and prohibiting what is wrong[2]." From hence therefore it followed, that the primary objects of the law are the eſtabliſhment of rights, and the prohibition of wrongs. And this occaſioned[3] the distribution of theſe collections into two general heads; under the former of which we have already conſidered the rights that were defined and eſtabliſhed, and under the latter are now to confider the wrongs that are forbidden and redreſſed, by the laws of England.
