Now, as municipal law is a rule of civil conduct, commanding what is right, and prohibiting what is wrong; or, as Cicero[1] and after him our Bracton[2], have expreſſed it, ſanctio juſta, jubens honeſta et prohibens contraria; it follows, that the primary and principal objects of the law are rights, and wrongs. In the proſecution therefore of theſe commentaries, I ſhall follow this very ſimple and obvious diviſion; and ſhall in the firſt place conſider the rights that are commanded, and ſecondly the wrongs that are forbidden by the laws of England.
Rights are however liable to another ſubdiviſion; being either, firſt, thoſe which concern and are annexed to the perſons of men, and are then called jura perſonarum or the rights of perſons; or they are, ſecondly, ſuch as a man may acquire over external objects, or things unconnected with his perſon, which are ſtiled jura rerum or the rights of things. Wrongs alſo are diviſible into, firſt, private wrongs, which, being an infringement merely of particular rights, concern individuals only, and are called civil injuries; and ſecondly, public wrongs, which, being a breach of general and public rights, affect the whole community, and are called crimes and miſdemeſnors.
The objects of the laws of England falling into this fourfold diviſion, the preſent commentaries will therefore conſiſt of the four following parts: 1. The rights of perſons; with the means whereby ſuch rights may be either acquired or loſt. 2. The rights of things; with the means alſo of acquiring and loſing them. 3. Private wrongs, or civil injuries; with the means of redreſſing them by law. 4. Public wrongs, or crimes and miſdemeſnors; with the means of prevention and puniſhment.
We are now, firſt, to conſider the rights of perſons; with the means of acquiring and loſing them.
