they cannot have the benefit and protection of the common law) but that all ſuch impriſonments ſhall be illegal; that the perſon, who ſhall dare to commit another contrary to this law, ſhall be diſabled from bearing any office, ſhall incur the penalty of a praemunire, and be incapable of receiving the king’s pardon: and the party ſuffering ſhall alſo have his private action againſt the perſon committing, and all his aiders, adviſers and abettors, and ſhall recover treble coſts; beſides his damages, which no jury ſhall aſſes at leſs than five hundred pounds.
The law is in this reſpect ſo benignly and liberally conſtrued for the benefit of the ſubject, that, though within the realm the king may command the attendance and ſervice of all his liegemen, yet he cannot ſend any man out of the realm, even upon the public ſervice; excepting ſailors and ſoldiers, the nature of whoſe employment neceſſarily implies an exception: he cannot even conſtitute a man lord deputy or lieutenant of Ireland againſt his will, nor make him a foreign embaſſador[1]. For this might in reality be no more than an honorable exile.
III. The third abſolute right, inherent in every Engliſhman, is that of property: which conſiſts in the free uſe, enjoyment, and diſpoſal of all his acquiſitions, without any control or diminution, ſave only by the laws of the land. The original of private property is probably founded in nature, as will be more fully explained in the ſecond book of the enſuing commentaries: but certainly the modifications under which we at preſent find it, the method of conſerving it in the preſent owner, and of tranſlating it from man to man, are entirely derived from ſociety; and are ſome of thoſe civil advantages, in exchange for which every individual has reſigned a part of his natural liberty. The laws of England are therefore, in point of honor and juſtice, extremely watchful in aſcertaining and protecting this right. Upon this principle the great charter[2] has declared that no freeman ſhall be diſſeiſed, or diveſted, of his freehold, or of his liberties, or free
