reckoned all peers, on account of their being counſellors of the crown; all knights, who were bound to defend the kingdom from invaſions; all eccleſiaſtics, who were expreſſly confined by cap. 4. of the conſtitutions of Clarendon, on account of their attachment in the times of popery to the ſee of Rome; all archers and other artificers, left they ſhould inſtruct foreigners to rival us in their ſeveral trades and manufactures. This was law in the times of Britton[1], who wrote in the reign of Edward I: and ſir Edward Coke[2] gives us many inſtances to this effect in the time of Edward III. In the ſucceeding reign the affair of travelling wore a very different aſpect: an act of parliament being made[3], forbidding all perſons whatever to go abroad without licence, except only the lords and other great men of the realm; and true and notable merchants; and the king's ſoldiers. But this act was repealed by the ſtatute 4 Jac. I. c. 1. And at preſent every body has, or at leaſt aſſumes, the liberty of going abroad when he pleaſes. Yet undoubtedly if the king, by writ of ne exeat regnum, under his great ſeal or privy ſeal, thinks proper to prohibit him from ſo doing; or if the king ſends a writ to any man, when abroad, commanding his return; and in either caſe the ſubject diſobeys; it is a high contempt of the king's prerogative, for which the offender's lands ſhall be ſeiſed till he return; and then he is liable to fine and impriſonment[4].
III. Another capacity, in which the king is conſidered in domeſtic affairs, is as the fountain of juſtice and general conſervator of the peace of the kingdom. By the fountain of juſtice the law does not mean the author or original, but only the diſtributor. Juſtice is not derived from the king, as from his free gift; but he is the ſteward of the public, to diſpenſe it to whom it is due[5]. He is not the ſpring, but the reſervoir; from whence right and equity are conducted, by a thouſand chanels, to every individual. The original power of judicature, by the fundamental prin-
