Laws are arbitrary or positive, and na tural ; the last of which are essentially just and good, and bind every where and in all places where they are observed ; arbitrary laws are either concerning such matter as is in itself morally indifferent, in which case both the law and the matter, and subject of it, are likewise indifferent, or concerning the natural law itself, and the regulating thereof; and all arbitrary laws are founded in convenience, and de pend upon the authority of the legislative power which appoints and makes them, and are for maintaining public order ; those which are natural laws are from God ; but those which are arbitrary, are properly human and positive institu tions.
The laws of any country began, when there first began to be a state in the land ; and we may consider the world as one universal society, and then that law by which nations were governed, is called jus gentium; if we consider the world as made up of particular nations, the law which regulates the public order and right of them, is termed juspubticum; and that law which determines the private rights of men, is called jug civile.
No law can oblige a people without their consent; this consent is either verbis or factis, i. e. it is expressed by writing, or implied by deeds and actions ; and where a law is grounded on an implied assent, rebus et .1:zeds, it is either common law or custom ; if it is universal, it is common law; and if particular to this or that place, then it is custom.
The law in this land bath been varia ble; the Roman laws were in use ancient ly in Britain, when the Romans had seve ral colonies here, each of which was go verned by the Roman laws : afterwards we had the laws called Itlerchenlage, West Saxonlage, and Danelage ; all re duced into a body, and made one by King Edward the Confessor.
At present the laws of England are di vided into three parts : 1. The common law, which is the most ancient and gene ral law of the realm, and common to the whole kingdom; being appropriate there to, and having no dependence upon any foreign law whatsoever.
2 Statutes, or acts of parliament, made and passed by the King, Lords, and Commons, in Parliament ; being a reserve for the government to provide against new mischiefs arising through the cor ruption of the times. And by this the common law is amended where defective, for the suppression of public evils ; though where the common law and sta tute law concur or interfere, the common law shall be preferred.
3. Particular customs. These must be particular, for a general custom is part of the common law of the land.
Blackstone divides the municipal law of England into two kinds, lax non scripta, the unwritten or common law; and the lex scripta, the written, that is, the statute law.
The lex non seri pta, or unwritten law, includes not only general customs, or the common law, properly so called ; but also the particular customs of certain parts of the kingdom ; and likewise those particular laws, that are by custom observed only in certain courts and juris dictions.
There is another division of our laws, more large and particular ; as into the prerogative or crown law, the law and custom of parliament, the common law, the statute law, reasonable customs, the law of arms, war, and chivalry, ecclesias tical or canon law, civil law, in certain courts and cases, forest law, the law of marque and reprisal, the law of mer chants, the law and privilege of the stan naries, &c. But this large division may be reduced to the common division ; and all is founded on the law of nature and reason, and the revealed law of God, as all other laws ought to be.
The law of nature is that which God, at man's creation, infused into him, for his preservation and direction ; and this is lex vterna, and may not be changed ; and no laws shall be made or kept, that are ex pressly against the law of God, written in his scripture ; as to forbid what he com mandeth.
All laws derive their force a legenaturce; and those which do not, are accounted as no laws. No law will make a construc tion to do wrong ; and there are some things which the law favours, and some it dislikes ; it favoureth those things that come from the order of nature. Also our law lath much more respect to life, liberty, freehold, inheritance, matters of record, and of substance ; than to chat. tels, things in the personalty, matters not of record, on circumstances.
LAW of nations, is a system of rules de ducible, by natural reason, from the im mutable principles of natural justice, and established by universal consent amongst the civilized inhabitants of the world, in order to decide all disputes, and to insure the observance of justice and good faith, in that intercourse which must frequently occur between them and the individuals belonging to each ; or they may depend upon mutual compacts, treaties, leagues, and agreements between the separate, free, and independent communities. In the construction of these principles, there is no judge to resort to, but the general law of nature and of reason, being the only law with which the contracting par ties are all equally conversant, and to which they are all equally amenable. Laws have properly their effect only in the country where and for which they have been enacted. However, 1. Those which relate to the state, and to the personal condition of the subjects, are acknowledged in foreign countries. 2. A foreigner, who is plaintiff against a sub ject, must abide by the decisions of the law of the country in which he pleads. 3. When the validity of an act done in a foreign country is in question, it ought to be decided by the laws of that foreign country. 4. Sometimes the parties agree to the question being determined by par ticular laws of a %reign country. 5. A foreign law may have been received as a subsidiary law. 6. Foreigners sometimes obtain the privilege of having their dis putes with each other settled by the laws of their own country.