1. OF this nature, in the firft place, is the obligation of civil ſubjection, whereby the inferior is conſtrained by the ſuperior to act contrary to what his own reaſon and inclination would ſugge{ls}}t: as when a legiſlator eſtabliſhes iniquity by a law, and commands the ſubject to do an act contrary to religion or ſound morality. How far this excuſe will be admitted in foro confcientiae, or whether the inferior in this cafe is not bound to obey the divine, rather than the human law, it is not my buſineſs to decide ; though the queſtion I believe, among the caſuiſts, will hardly bear a doubt. But, however that may be, obedience to the laws in being is undoubtedly a ſufficient extenuation of civil guilt before the municipal tribunal. The ſheriff, who burnt Lativner and Ridley, in the bigotted days of queen Mary, was not liable to puniſhment from Elizabeth, for executing ſo horrid an office; being juſtified by the commands of that magiſtracy, which endeavoured to reſtore ſuperſtition under the holy auſpices of it's mercileſs ſiſter, perſecution.
As to perſons in private relations; the principal caſe, where conſtraint of a ſuperior is allowed as an excuſe for criminal miſconduct, is with regard to the matrimonial ſubjection of the wife to her huſband: for neither a ſon or a ſervant are excuſed for the commiſſion of any crime, whether capital or otherwiſe, by the command or coercion of the parent or maſter[1]; though in ſome cafes the command or authority of the huſband, either expreſs or implied, will privilege the wife from puniſhment, even for capital offences. And therefore if a woman commit theft, burglary, or other civil offences againſt, the laws of ſociety, by the coercion of her huſband; or merely by his command, which the law conſtrues a coercion; or even in his company, his example being equivalent to a command ; ſhe is not guilty of any crime : being conſidered as acting by compulſion and not of her own will[2]. Which doctrine is at leaſt a thouſand years old in this kingdom, being to be found among the laws of
