Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/121

And, firſt, the iſle of Man is a diſtinct territory from England and is not governed by our laws; neither doth any act of parliament extend to it, unleſs it be particularly named therein; and then an act of parliament is binding there^[1]. It was formerly a ſubordinate feudatory kingdom, ſubject to the kings of Norway; then to king John and Henry III of England; afterwards to the kings of Scotland; and then again to the crown of England: and at length we find king Henry IV claiming the iſland by right of conqueſt; and diſpoſing of it to the earl of Northumberland; upon whoſe attainder it was granted (by the name of the lordſhip of Man) to ſir John de Stanley by letters patent 7 Hen. IV^[2]. In his lineal deſcendants it continued for eight generations, till the death of Ferdinando earl of Derby, A. D. 1594; when a controverſy aroſe concerning the inheritance thereof, between his daughters and William his ſurviving brother: upon which, and a doubt that was ſtarted concerning the validity of the original patent^[3], the iſland was ſeiſed into the queen’s hands, and afterwards various grants were made of it by king James the firſt; all which being expired or ſurrendered, it was granted afreſh in 7 Jac. I. to William earl of Derby, and the heirs male of his body, with remainder to his heirs general; which grant was the next year confirmed by act of parliament, with a reſtraint of the power of alienation by the ſaid earl and his iſſue male. On the death of James earl of Derby, A. D. 1735, the male line of earl William failing, the duke of Atholl ſucceeded to the iſland as heir general by a female branch. In the mean time, though the title of king had long been diſuſed, the earls of Derby, as lords of Man, had maintained a ſort of royal authority therein; by aſſenting or diſſenting to laws, and exerciſing an appellate juriſdiction. Yet, though no Engliſh writ, or proceſs from the courts of Weſtminſter, was of any authority in Man, an appeal lay from a decree of the lord of the iſland to the king of Great Britain in council^[4]. But, the diſtinct juriſdiction of this little ſubordinate

1. 4 Inſt. 284. 2 And. 116.
2. Selden. tit. hon. 1. 3.
3. Camden. Eliz. A. D. 1594.
4. 1 P. W^ms. 329.