for when ſuch truſt is abuſed, it is thereby forfeited, and devolves to thoſe who gave it.” But however juſt this concluſion may be in theory, we cannot adopt it, nor argue from it, under any diſpenſation of government at preſent actually exiſting. For this devolution of power, to the people at large, includes in it a diſſolution of the whole form of government eſtabliſhed by that people, reduces all the members to their original ſtate of equality, and by annihilating the ſovereign power repeals all poſitive laws whatſoever before enacted. No human laws will therefore ſuppoſe a caſe, which at once muſt deſtroy all law, and compel men to build afreſh upon a new foundation; nor will they make proviſion for ſo deſperate an event, as muſt render all legal proviſions ineffectual. So long therefore as the Engliſh conſtitution laſts, we may venture to affirm, that the power of parliament is abſolute and without control.
In order to prevent the miſchiefs that might ariſe, by placing this extenſive authority in hands that are either incapable, or elſe improper, to manage it, it is provided that no one ſhall ſit or vote in either houſe of parliament, unleſs he be twenty one years of age. This is expreſſly declared by ſtatute 7 & 8 W. III. c. 25. with regard to the houſe of commons; though a minor was incapacitated before from ſitting in either houſe, by the law and cuſtom of parliament[1]. To prevent crude innovations in religion and government, it is enacted by ſtatute 30 Car. II. ſt. 2. and I Geo. I. c. 13. that no member ſhall vote or ſit in either houſe, till he hath in the preſence of the houſe taken the oaths of allegiance, ſupremacy, and abjuration, and ſubſcribed and repeated the declaration againſt tranſubſtantiation, and invocation of ſaints, and the ſacrifice of the maſs. To prevent dangers that may ariſe to the kingdom from foreign attachments, connexions, or dependencies, it is enacted by the 12 & 13 W. III. c. 2. that no alien, born out of the dominions of the crown of Great Britain, even though he be naturalized, ſhall be capable of being a member of either houſe of parliament.
- ↑ 4 Inſt. 47.
