queen is high treason, not only in him who commits the crime, but in the queen also if she be consenting; and it is equally treason to compass or imagine the death of the queen regnant.

It is, however, not high treason to conspire the death of a queen dowager, or to violate her chastity, because the succession to the throne is not thereby endangered; yet still, pro dignitate regali, no man can marry her without special licence from the king or queen regnant, under pain of forfeiting his lands and goods: if she marry again, and to a subject, she does not lose her regal dignity, as is the case with peeresses when they marry commoners (16).

By the statute 12 Geo. 3, c. 11, no descendant of the body of King George II. (other than the issue of princesses married into foreign families), is capable of contracting matrimony without the previous consent of the king signified under the great seal, and any marriage contracted without such consent is declared void; but it is provided that any such descendant above the age of twenty-five, may, after twelve months' notice given to the king's privy council, contract and solemnize marriage without the consent of the crown, unless prohibited within the twelve months by both houses of parliament; and all persons solemnizing, assisting, or being present at any such prohibited marriage, incur the penalties of præmunire.

(16) 2 Inst. 50.

CHAPTER IV.

SECTION I. Of the Legislative Power.

In almost all the States of Europe, the will of the 60 prince holds the place of law; and custom has so confounded the matter of right with the matter of fact, that their lawyers generally represent the legislative authority as essentially attached to the character of king; and the plenitude of his power seems to them necessarily to flow from the very definition of his title.

The English, placed in more favourable circum- 61 stances, have judged differently; they could not believe that the destiny of mankind ought to depend on a play of words, and on scholastic subtilties: they have therefore annexed no other idea to the word king or roy, a word known also to their laws, than that which the Latins annex to the word rex, and the Northern nations to cyning.

In limiting, therefore, the power of their king, they have acted more consistently with the etymology of the word; they have acted also more consistently with reason, in not leaving the laws to the disposal of the person who is already invested with the public power of the state, that is, of the person who lies under the greatest and most important temptations to set himself above them.

The basis of the English Constitution,-the capital principle on which all others depend, is, that the legis

lative power belongs to parliament alone; that is to say, the power of establishing laws, and of abrogating, changing, or explaining them.

The constituent parts of parliament are, the King, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons.

Blackstone, in his Commentaries (1), describes the Commons as consisting of all such men of property in the kingdom as have not seats in the House of Lords, every one of which has a voice in parliament, either personally or by his representative; and that it is a matter most essential, that such members be delegated to this important trust as are most eminent for their probity, their fortitude, and their knowledge; for it was a known apophthegm of Lord Treasurer Burleigh, "that England could never be ruined but by a parliament."

Sir Matthew Hale says (2), this being the highest and greatest court, over which none other can have jurisdiction, in the kingdom, if by any means a misgovernment should by any way fall upon it, the subjects of this kingdom are left without all manner of remedy.

The ancient constitution of the House of Commons has undergone a great change by the Reform Bill. Many abuses had long prevailed in the choice of members to serve in parliament, and the object of this bill is to deprive many inconsiderable places of the right of returning members, to grant such privileges to large, populous, and wealthy towns, to increase the number of knights of the shire, to extend the elective franchise, and to diminish the expense of elections.

(1) Of Parliaments, 49.

(2) 1 Comm. 16.

By the statute 2 Will. 4, c. 45, intitled "An Act to amend the representation of the people in England and Wales," the assembly of the representatives of England and Wales is now composed of the deputies from the different counties, cities, boroughs, and places, as hereafter shewn.

Such of the counties as are not otherwise specifically provided for by this bill, remain as before it passed, and return the same number of members. The following twenty-five counties are divided into two divisions, and return each four members, two for each division, viz.— Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumberland, Derbyshire, Devonshire, Durham, Essex, Gloucestershire, Kent, Hampshire, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Northumberland, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Somersetshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, and Worcestershire; the following seven counties return three members each, viz.-Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorsetshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, and Oxfordshire; and three Welsh counties - Carmarthen, Denbigh, and Glamorgan-return each two members; the county of York returns six members; Lincolnshire sends four members, two for the parts of Lindsey, and two for the parts of Kesteven and Holland. For the purpose of electing a county member, each of the following cities and towns, and counties thereof, are included in the counties at large in which they are situate, namely:- Carmarthen, Canterbury, Chester, Coventry, Gloucester, Kingston-upon-Hull, Lincoln, London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Poole, Worcester, York and Ainsty, Southampton.

The following boroughs, that formerly returned members to parliament, are disfranchised:-Old Sarum,

Newton, St. Michael's or Midshall, Gatton, Bramber, Bossiney, Dunwich, Ludgershall, St. Mawe's, Beeralston, West Looe, St. Germain's, Newport, Blechingley, Aldborough, Camelford, Hindon, East Looe, Corfe Castle, Great Bedwin, Yarmouth, Queenborough, Castle Rising, East Grinstead, Higham Ferrers, Wendover, Weobly, Winchelsea, Tregony, Haselmere, Saltash, Orford, Callington, Newton, Ilchester, Boroughbridge, Stockbridge, New Romney, Hedon, Plympton, Seaford, Heytesbury, Steyning, Whitchurch, Wootton Bassett, Downton, Fowey, Milbourne Port, Aldeburgh, Minehead, Bishop's Castle, Okehampton, Appleby, Lostwithiel, Brackley, and Amersham.

The following boroughs now return one member to parliament:-Petersfield, Ashburton, Eye, Westbury, Wareham, Midhurst, Woodstock, Wilton, Malmesbury, Liskeard, Reigate, Hythe, Droitwich, Lyme Regis, Launceston, Shaftesbury, Thirsk, Christchurch, Horsham, Great Grimsby, Calne, Arundel, St. Ives, Rye, Clitheroe, Morpeth, Helston, Northallerton, Wallingford, and Dartmouth.

The following places were created boroughs, which return two members:-Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Greenwich, Sheffield, Sunderland, Devonport, Wolverhampton, Tower Hamlets, Finsbury, Marylebone, Lambeth, Bolton, Bradford, Blackburn, Brighton, Halifax, Macclesfield, Oldham, Stockport, Stoke-upon-Trent, and Stroud.

The following places were created boroughs, which return one member:- Ashton-under-Line, Bury, Chatham, Cheltenham, Dudley, Frome, Gateshead, Huddersfield, Kidderminster, Kendal, Rochdale, Salford, South Shields, Tynemouth, Wakefield, Walsall, Warrington, Whitby, Whitehaven, and Merthyr Tydvil.