Excerpt from A Discourse on the English Constitution: Extracted From a Late Eminent Writer, and Applicable to the Present Times Of England are bound not to refif't with force the King, or thofe commifiioned by him, in any cafe, or upon any pretence whatfoever. This is to be alledged as a fundamental principle in arguing from' pofitive law; and hence it flows, and is a 'known maxim of the Englifh law, that the perfon of the {overeign is not punilha able nor coercible by force; and in the practicable forms of proceeding, trauf greflions againft this law arejudged Upon B accuaccufations after the form of high treae fon. This confequence oflaw, the main tainers of refii'tance fcarce deny for they feem to go of? From, and furmount poli tive law, fuppofing a power, which they call the people, fuperior to all law, hav ing it in their hands to reduce laws and law-makers all together; and fo they think they argue upon fure grounds. But this eludes the hypothefis, which is, that the people are fubjeet, and bound by the laws: for it is the fame as faying that there is no law but in active force, which force is not coul'tant for {ome times one, and fometimes another divi fion or faction of the people proves to be firongel't; and then the laws, if there may be any, are changeable, and that, which men call right and wrong, is con tingent, as a weather-cock that varies with the air: all which is ridiculous to affirm in difcourfe. Butin a nation that hath ef'tablilhed laws, all quef'tions ofright and wrong are referred to executive power. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.