ſubjects. But all the ſtrength that either the papal or imperial laws have obtained in this realm (or indeed in any other kingdom in Europe) is only becauſe they have been admitted and received by immemorial uſage and cuſtom in ſome particular caſes, and ſome particular courts; and then they form a branch of the leges non ſcriptae, or cuſtomary law: or elſe, becauſe they are in ſome other caſes introduced by conſent of parliament, and then they owe their validity to the leges ſcriptae, or ſtatute law. This is expreſſly declared in thoſe remarkable words of the ſtatute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 21. addreſſed to the king’s royal majeſty.—“This your grace’s realm, recognizing no ſuperior under God but only your grace, hath been and is free from ſubjection to any man’s laws, but only to ſuch as have been deviſed, made, and ordained within this realm for the wealth of the ſame; or to ſuch other as, by ſufferance of your grace and your progenitors, the people of this your realm have taken at their free liberty, by their own conſent, to be uſed among them; and have bound themſelves by long uſe and cuſtom to the obſervance of the ſame: not as to the obſervance of the laws of any foreign prince, potentate, or prelate; but as to the cuſtomed and antient laws of this realm, originally eſtabliſhed as laws of the ſame, by the ſaid ſufferance, conſents, and cuſtom; and none otherwiſe.”
By the civil law, abſolutely taken, is generally underſtood the civil or municipal law of the Roman empire, as comprized in the inſtitutes, the code, and the digeſt of the emperor Juſtinian, and the novel conſtitutions of himſelf and ſome of his ſucceſſors. Of which, as there will frequently be occaſion to cite them, by way of illuſtrating our own laws, it may not be amiſs to give a ſhort and general account.
The Roman law (founded firſt upon the regal conſtitutions of their antient kings, next upon the twelve tables of the decemviri, then upon the laws or ſtatutes enacted by the ſenate or people, the edicts of the praetor, and the reſponſa prudentum or opinions of learned lawyers, and laſtly upon the imperial decrees, or con-
