Part I. Denison, fhe is iplo fatto fo too. If a Freeman marry a Bondwoman, fhe is alio Free during the Coverture; whereof alfo it is faid as before, Uxor fulget radiis Mariti.

All Women in England are comprifed under Noble or Ignoble.

Noble Women are fo three manner of Ways; by Creation, by Defcent, and by Marriage.

The King, the Fountain of Honour, may, and oft hath created Women to be Baroneffes, Counteffes, Dutcheffes, and the like.

As by Richard the Second's Creation, Margaret, Countess of Norfolk, was made Dutchefs of Norfolk for Life; fo Ann Boleyne, afterwards Wife to Hen. VIII. was made Marchionefs of Pembroke; the Lady Mary Compton in King James the Firft's time, was made Countess of Buckingham for Life; the faid King James made the Lady Finch Viscountess of Maidfione, and afterwards Countess of Winchelfca, to her and her Heirs Male of her Body, with a fpecial Claufe, that fuch her Heirs Male fhould have Voice and Place in Parliament, & inter alios Vicecomites & ante Barones, ut Vicecomites Maidstone.

By Defcent all thofe Women are Noble, to whom Lands holden by fuch Dignity, do defcend as Heirs.

By Marriage all Women are Noble, who take to their Hufbands, any Baron or Peer of the Realm; but if afterwards they marry to Men not Noble, in the fenfe of the Law they lofe their former Dignity, and follow the Condition of their latter Husband; for eodem modo diffolvitur earum Nobilitas, quo conftituitar But Women Noble by Creation or Defcent, or Birthright, remain Noble, tho' they marry Husbands under their Degree; for fuch Nobility is accounted Character indelebilis. Here note, that by the Courtefie of England, a Woman Noble only by Marriage, always retaineth her Nobility; and fo the Widow of a Knight, married to an inferior Perfon, retaineth by Courtefie the Title and Name gotten by her former Husband; but if the King's Daughter marry a Duke or an Earl, illa femper dicitur Regalis, as well by Law as Courtefie.

Note alfo, That any Woman who is Noble by Birth, if the be married to a Baron, takes place according to the Degree of her Husband, tho' fhe be a Duke's Daughter: But if the marry to one under thofe of the higher Nobility, as to a Knight, or Gentleman, then, by Courtefie, place is given according to her Birth, and not her Husband's.

Noble-Women in the Eye of the Law, are Peers of the Realm, and are to be tried by their Peers, and to enjoy moft other Priviledges, Honour and Refpect, as their Husbands; only they can't in the Opinion of fome great Lawyers, main

tain an Action upon the Statute de Scandalo Magnatum, the Makers of that Statute meaning only to provide in that Cafe for the Great Men, and not for the Women, as the Words of that Statute feem to import: Likewife if any of the King's Servants within his Check-Roll, fhall confpire the Death of any Noble Woman, this were not Felony, as it is, if like Confpiracy be against a Noble Man.

None of the Wife's Dignities can come by Marriage to their Husband, altho' all their Goods and Chattels do; only the Wife's Dignities with the Lands are to defcend to her next Heir: Yet is the Courtefie of England fuch, that as the Wife for her Dowry hath the third part of her Husband's Land's during her Life, fo the Husband for the Dignity of his Sex, and for getting his Wife with Child, (which must appear by being born alive) fhall have all his Wife's Lands for his Dowry, if it may be fo called) during his Life: But if a Foreign Lady or Gentlewoman marry an English Man, and fhe her felf. be not denizen'd, fhe is barr'd all Priviledges and Titles due to Her Husband, nor can fhe claim any Dowry by the Laws of England.

The Wife in England is accounted fo much one with her Husband, that he can't be produc'd as Witness for or against her Husband; unless in Criminal Cafes, where her felf is concern'd, as in Affaults, Rapes, &c.

If an English Woman, marry a French, Spanish, or other Foreign Duke, tho' he be made a Denizen, yet fhe fhall not bear his Title and Dignity in legal Proceedings.

The like if fhe marry an Irish Peer, by reason fuch an ones Husband is not a Peer in England by Law.

Children.

HE Condition of Children in England is different from thofe in our Neighbour Countries.

As Husbands have a more abfolute Authority over their Wives and their Eftates, fo Fathers have a more abfolute Authority over their Children. Fathers may give all their Estates unintailed from their own Children, and all to any one Child, and none to the reft.

Children by the Common-Law of England, are, at certain Ages, enabled to perform certain Acts.

A Son, at the Age of 14 may chufe his Guardian, may confent to Marriage.

At 21 he is faid to be at full Age, may then make any Coneract, may pafs not only Goods, but Lands by Will, and is of Age to fit in either Houfe of Parliament (which in other Countries may not be done, till the Annus Confiftentia, the Age of 25.

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A Daughter at 12 is able to Consent to Matrimony; and if at that Age the diffent not, fhe is bound for ever.

At 21 he is enabled to Contract or Alienate her Lands by Will, or otherwise.

The eldest Son commonly Inherits all Lands, and to the younger Children are difpofed Goods and Chattels, and befides, they are carefully educated in fome Profeffion or Trade.

If there be no Son, the Lands, as well as Goods are equally divided amongst the Daughters; yet in fome Mannors, as that of Bray in Berkshire, the eldest Daughter fucceeds, like the eldest Son, to the whole Inheritance.

Of Servants.

Ervants in the Saxons Times, were properly Slaves, and very many Instances of their Manumiffions are ftill extant, with the Forms by which their Masters set them free. Now Slavery is entirely taken away, and every Servant, Man or Woman, excepting Apprentices, who are but for a Term of Years, are properly hired Servants. Ordinary Servants are hired commonly for one Year, at the end whereof they may be free, giving warning three Months before, and may place themselves with other Masters, only it is accounted difcourteous and unfriendly to take another Man's Servant, before leave given by his former Mafter; and unlawful (the Penalty being five Pound) to take a Servant without Certificate of his Diligence, and of his Faithfulness in his Service, to his former Mafter.

All Servants are fubject to be corrected by their Masters, or Miftreffes: And Refiftance in a Servant is punished with a fevere Penalty ; but for a Servant to take away the Life of his Mafter or Miftrefs, is accounted a Crime next to High-Treafon, and called Petit-Treafon, and hath a peculiar Capital Punishment.

Foreign Slaves in England there are none fince Christianity prevailed. A foreign Slave brought into England, is upon landing, ipfo facto free from Slavery, but not from ordinary

Service.

Some Lands in England were holden in Villenage, to do fome particular Services to the Lord of the Mannor; and fuck Tenants may be called the Lord's Servants, but this kind of Tenure is in a manner out of use.

С НА Р.

CH A P. VI.

Of the Laws of England.

HE particular Laws now in ufe, are, the

TH

Civil Law. Of this Law and the Canon Law, ufe is made in all Ecclefiaftical Courts of Bishops, Archdeacons, VicarsGeneral, Chancellors, and Commiffaries. So this Law is made. ufe of in the Court of Admiralty. Moreover ufe is made of the Civil-Law in the Court of the Earl Marshal. Of this Law much ufe is made in Treaties with Foreign Potentates, where many Points are to be determined and concluded, according to the direction of this moft excellent and generally approved Law, and for this Caufe Foreign Princes take efpecial care to choose fách Perfons for their Ambaffadors as are skill'd in the Civil-Law; and this Policy was heretofore duly obferv'd by our English Princes, with very good Succefs. Laftly, the two Universities of England ferve themselves of the Civil Law; for by their Priviledges, no Student is to be fued at Common Law, but in the Vice-Chancellor's Court, for Debts, Accompts, Injuries, &c.

Canon-Law.] The Canons of many ancient General Councils, of many National and Provincial English Synods, befides divers Decrees of the Bishop of Rome, and Judgments of ancient Fathers, had been received by the Church of England, and incorporated into the Body of the Canon Law, by which the always proceeded in the exercife of her Jurifdiction, and doth ftill by Virtue of the Statute 25 Hen. VIII. so far as the faid Canons and Conftitutions are not repugnant to the Holy Scripture, to the King's Prerogative, or the Laws, Statutes, and Cuftoms of this Realm.

Common Law.] The Common Law of England is a Compendium of the best and most ancient Saxon Laws, firft made by Ethelbert the firft Chriftian King. Venerable Bede fays thefe Laws were made according to the Example of the Romans Mio Enotepa Sepeace, with the Thought or Advice of his Wife Men, and the King commanded them to be wrote and publish'd in English.

King Alfred indeed is called Magnus juris Anglicani Conditor, the great Founder of the English Laws; but not that they were first made in his Reign, for there were Saxon Laws then in being, which had been made for above three hundred Years before his Reign; but the meaning was this only, that he being the First fole Monarch after the Heptarchy, collected the Sub

ftance

ftance of the Laws of all the former Saxon Kings, from King Ethelbert to his Time, (who were Kings only of part of the Land, into one Body) and fo form'd one entire Codex or Book of Laws. Now this Codex being made up of fuch variety of different Laws, enacted by the several Saxon Kings, reigning over diftin& parts of the Kingdom, being now reduced into one Body, and made to extend equally to the whole Nation, it was very proper to call it the Common Law of England: Which jus Commune, jus Publicum, or Common Law, was foon after called in Saxon the Folc-niz he or Peoples Right; and it is not very unlikely, but that this Collection of Laws, thus made by King Alfred, and fet down in one Codex, might be the fame with the Dom-bec, or Doom-Book, which is referr'd to in all the fubfequent Laws of the Saxon Kings, and was the Book of Laws or Statute Books, that they determin'd Caufes by; for before this King's Reign, that is King Alfred's, I no where find any mention made either of Folc-Right or Dome-Book ; but in the next Reign, you find King Edward the Eldest, commanding all his Judges to give nich. Domar, right or juft Judgment to all the People of England, to the best of their Skill and Understanding, rpa hit on pape Dom-bec reans, as it ftands in the Dome-Book, or Book of Laws, and further commands, that nothing make them afraid to declare and adminifter Folc Right, that is, the Common Law of England to all his loving Subjects.

Thefe Laws indeed were not much obferv'd in the Reigns of Harold the First and Hardicanute, because they were Ufurpers, of the Danish Race, and their Reigns very fhort, both of them not exceeding feven Years. But in the time of Edward the Confeffor, he being of the Saxon Race; all these Laws were again received and restored: And out of thofe Laws then extant, Edward the Confeffor made a Collection, as Alfred did before him, and then ordering those to be observed which were neglected in the fhort Reigns of Harold and Hardicanute, he may well enough be call'd the Reftorer of the English Laws. And as thofe Laws were then called the Folc-Right, and really were the Common Law of England, fo the prefent Common Law is in Subftance the fame, tho' it hath undergone divers Alterations.

The Normans, who invaded the Saxons, did not fo much alter the Subftance, as the Names of things: And notwithstanding the pretended Conqueft of William I. thefe Laws of good King Edward were not abolish'd by him; for when King William pub Jifh'd thofe Laws, he exprefly mentions them to be Edward the Confeffor's Laws, publish'd them as fuch, confirms and proclaims them to be the Laws of England, and took an Oath to

keep