period to flouriſh all at once; and became much more conſiderable in Europe, than when her princes were poſſeſſed of a larger territory, and her counſels diſtracted by foreign intereſts. This experience and theſe conſiderations gave birth to a conditional clauſe in the act[1] of ſettlement, which veſted the crown in his preſent majeſty’s illuſtrious houſe, “that in caſe the crown and imperial dignity of this realm ſhall hereafter come to any perſon not being a native of this kingdom of England, this nation ſhall not be obliged to engage in any war for the defence of any dominions or territories which do not belong to the crown of England, without conſent of parliament.”
We come now to conſider the kingdom of England in particular, the direct and immediate ſubject of thoſe laws, concerning which we are to treat in the enſuing commentaries. And this comprehends not only Wales and Berwick, of which enough has been already ſaid, but alſo part of the ſea. The main or high ſeas are part of the realm of England, for thereon our courts of admiralty have juriſdiction, as will be ſhewn hereafter; but they are not ſubject to the common law[2]. This main ſea begins at the low-water-mark. But between the high-water-mark, and the low-water-mark, where the ſea ebbs and flows, the common law and the admiralty have diviſum imperium, an alternate juriſdiction; one upon the water, when it is full ſea; the other upon the land, when it is an ebb[3].
The territory of England is liable to two diviſions; the one eccleſiaſtical, the other civil.
1. The eccleſiaſtical diviſion is, primarily, into two provinces, thoſe of Canterbury and York. A province is the circuit of an arch-biſhop’s juriſdiction. Each province contains divers dioceſes, or ſees of ſuffragan biſhops; whereof Canterbury includes twenty one, and York three: beſides the biſhoprick of the iſle
- ↑ Stat. 12 & 13 Will. III. c. 3.
- ↑ Co. Litt. 260.
- ↑ Finch. L. 78.
