fcattered them over the pave ment. Thus in the fifty-third year of his age, was affaffinated Thomas Becket; a man of great talents, of elevated thoughts, and of invincible courage; but of a moft violent and turbulent fpirit; exceffively paffionate, haughty, and vain-glorious; in his refolutions inflexible, in his refentments implacable. It cannot be denied that he was guilty of a wilful and premeditated perjury: that he oppofed the neceffary courfe of public juftice, and acted in defiance of the laws of his country; laws which he had moft folemnly acknowledged and confirmed: nor is it lefs evident, that, during the heat of this difpute, he was in the highest degree ungrateful to a very kind mafter, whofe confidence in him had been boundlefs, and who from a private condition had advanced him to be the fecond man in his kingdom. On what motives he acted can be certainly judged of by him alone, to whom all hearts are open. He might be mined by the prejudices of a bigotted age, and think he was doing an acceptable fervice to God, in contending, even death, for the utmost excefs of ecclefiaftical and papal authority. to came the champion of the church the ftrength of his underftanding, his converfation in courts and camps, among perfons whofe notions were more free and enlarged, the different colour of his former life, and the fuddennefs of the change which feemed to be wrought in him upon his election to Canterbury, would make one fufpect, as many did in the times wherein he lived, that he only be L that it was a light to the eyes of the undertanding, which impart ed wisdom to the moft fimple. It were much to be wished, that what David thus faid of the laws of God, could, almoft with any allowance, be faid of the laws of men; fo that while the univerfal juftice, and extenfive principles, on which they were founded,, fhould enlighten and enlarge the underftanding of the wifet, their comprehenfive clearness and perfpicuity fhould give immediate information and knowledge to the moft fimple; and that mankind fhould fear to break them, from a confcioufness of their apparent and undoubted equity, and a reverential fenfe of the benefits which they continually imparted. If even or dinary rulers, who are invefted with an authority merely judicial and executive, pretend to claim some resemblance to the Deity, in the cafual difpenfation of law; it fhould certainly be the part of great legiflators of nations, to endeavour to refemble him in the permanent establishment of it. It is unfortunate, that few hu. man bodies of law, if any, can be faid to poffefs perfpicuity, together with a ftrict regard to univerfal juftice. Thofe in which the falus populi is, as it ought always a to be, principally confulted, are often exceedingly dark, doubtful, and intricate; whilft thofe, on the other hand, in which any degree of clearness is to be found, owe it chiefly to the will of the fovereign being prepofterously adopted, as a measure of the fubjects right. Of these two evils, want of perto aniverfal justice; the former fpicuity, and want of a ftrict re must be allowed to be the most tolerable, as it may be conquered by an extraordinary degree of application in fome of the members of the community, while the affluence confequent on fecurity and created by it, will furnifh others with the means, occafionally to purchafe their knowledge and advice. The latter evil nothing can compenfate for, except the temporary hope of an extraordinary degree of wifdom and goodness in the fovereign; endowments little to be expected and feldom to be found in men, liable from their cradles to imbibe the poifon of flattery, and the intoxication of power, It must not however be diffembled, but that in the former case, the neceffity of fuch a tedious and tirefome application, by one part of the members of the community, to acquire a knowledge of the laws of their country, and the confequent lofs of time and money, which the others must be at to pay for the fruits of their labours, which in fact, is to purchase the protection of thofe laws, are too apt to weaken, and in time totally to wear out of mens minds, that affection and reverential awe, which we ought to bear towards the laws of our country. This habitual affection and awe is infinitely prefe rable 3 able to the multiplicity of penal fanctions, which are the reproach of molt fyftems of laws. In this fituation of things, we muft owe no trivial obligation to any gentleman of abilities equal to the task, who will take the pains to remove any part of the obfcurity in which our fyftem of laws is involved, and thereby contribute to render the whole more intelligible. It will increase this obligation if we reflect, that the law has been long looked on, as the most difagreeable of all ftudies; and of fo dry, difgufting, heavy a nature, that ftudents of vivacity and genius were deterred from entering upon it, and thofe of a quite contrary caft were looked upon as the fittest to encounter the great difficulties which attended a fcience, which, however excellent in its principles, lay in fuch a ftate of rudeness and diforder. Thefe obligations we owe to Mr. Blackstone, who has entirely cleared the law of England from the rubbish in which it was buried; and now fhews it to the public, in a clear, concife, and intelligible form. This masterly writer has not confined himself to difcharge the task of a mere jurifconfult; he takes a wider range, and unites the hiftorian and politician with the lawyer. He traces the first establishment of our laws, developes the principles on which they are grounded, examines their propriety and efficacy, and fometimes points out wherein they may be altered for the better. It is not to be denied, but that many law-writers have before wrote treatifes, which were very much to the purpose; their infti tutes, their digefts, their abridgements, and their dictionaries, have all their ufe. But Mr. Blackftone is the first who has treated the law of England as a liberal science. His commentaries befides affording equal inftruction, are infinitely better calculated to render that inftruction agreeable. His book may vie with the purity and elegance of the writers of the Roman law in its beft age. They are not, therefore, the fubjects of England only, or those that underftand our language, that are likely to be benefitted by this work. It will probably be tranflated into others of the European languages; and become a diffufive benefit, by bringing other nations acquainted with the advantages of a free conftitution. Mr. Blackstone acquaints us in his preface, that he gave private lectures on the laws of England in the university of Oxford, before Mr. Viner had left funds to establish public ones; a circumstance greatly to his honour, as fo as fo able a lawyer could not fail of employing his talents to much greater advantage at the bar. Upon the death of Mr. Viner, the univerfitý elected him first Vinerian profeffor; and as this election was an honour to the university; fo it was a happiness to the memory of Mr. Viner, that they had fuch a man to elect, Mr. Blackstone introduces what he more immediately calls his commentaries or lectures, with four fections. The firft is on the ftudy of the law, in which after mentioning many motives of a private nature, for its being made more or lefs part of almost every man's education, he very judici oully ously points out one of a more public confideration. After remarking, that all gentlemen of fortune are in confequence of their property, liable to be called upon to eftablish the rights, to eftimate the injuries, to weigh the accufations, and fometimes to difpofe of the lives of their fellow-fubjects, by ferving upon juries: That in this fituation they have frequently a right to decide, and that upon their oaths, queftions of nice importance, in the solution of which fome legal fkill is requifite; efpecially where the law and the fact, as it often happens, are intimately blended together; he pertinently adds: "And the general incapacity, even of our beft juries, to do this with any tolerable proprie ty, has greatly debafed their authority; and has unavoidably thrown more power into the hands of judges, to direct, controul, and even reverse their verdicts, than perhaps the conftitution intended" This fection concludes with a curious hiftory of the many ftruggles, between our and the Roman (commonly called by way of excellence, the civil) law, and the great victory lately gained by the former, by its being put, in confequence of Mr. Viner's will, upon an equal footing with the latter in one of our universities. of England in general; and the fourth treats of the countries fubject to thofe laws. What Mr. Blackstone feems more properly to confider as his commentaries, is divided into two books; the first concerning the rights or duties of perfons; the fecond concerning the rights of things, or thofe rights which a man may acquire, in and to fuch external things, as are unconnected with his perfon. The first book treats, in as many different chapters, of the following fubjects. Of the abfolute rights of individuals; the parliament; the king and his title; the king's royal family; the councils ' belonging to the king; the king's duties; the king's prerogative; the king's revenue;-fubordinate magiftrates; the people, whether aliens, denizens, or natives; the clergy; the civil ftate; the mili-" tary and maritime ftates; maffers and fervants; husband and wifeƒ parent and child; guardian હરી તને ward; corporations. The fecond book treats, in fo many different chapters likewife, of property in general; of real property; and first of corporeal hereditaments; of incorporeal hereditaments; of the feodal fyftem; of the ancient English tenures; of the modern English tenures; of freehold eftates of inheritance of freeholds not of inheritance of eftates lefs than freehold; of eftates upon condition; of eftates in poffeffion, remainder, and reverfion; of eftates in feveralty, joint tenancy, coparcenary, and common; of the title to things' real in general of title by defcent; of title by purchafe; and The third section is on the laws ~ first, by escheat; of title by occu The fecond fection of the introduction, is on the nature of laws in general. In this fection, the British conftitution is proved to be the best for the bulk of the people; not only in fpite, but rather in confequence, of the fhare of monarchical power refiding in the prince, and of ariftocratical lodged in the nobles. pancy pancy of title by profcription; of title by forfeiture; of title by alienation; of alienation by deed; of alienation by matter of record; of alienation by fpecial cuftom; of alienation by devife; of things perfonal; of property in things perfonal; of title to things perfonal, by occupancy; of title by prerogative, and forfeiture; of title by cuftom; of title by fucceffion, marriage, and judgement; of title by gift, grant, and contract; of title by bankruptcy; of teftament, and administration. Thefe divifions will, we apprehend, be found to be what the author intended them, neither too large nor comprehenfive on the one hand, nor too trifling or minute on the other; both circumftances equally productive of confufion. It must be added, that no book perhaps was ever published, that brought down the matter of which it treated fo near the time of publication, without the allistance of notes, as this does. It now remains that we give fome fpecimens of the work. The judicious and elegant account he gives of the nature and origin of property, is fo curious, that we need make no apology for inferting it at length. "There is nothing which fo generally ftrikes the imagination, and engages the affections of mankind, as the right of property; or that fole and defpotic dominion which one man claims and exercifes over the external things of the world, in total exclufion of the right of any other individual in the universe. And yet there are very few that will give themfelves the trouble to confider the original and foundation of this right. Pleafed as we are with the VOL. I. poffeflion, we feem afraid to look back to the means by which it was acquired, as if fearful of fome defect in our title; or at best we reft fatisfied with the decifion of the laws in our favour, without examining the reafon or authority upon which thofe laws have been built. We think it enough that our title is derived by the grant of the former proprietor, by defcent from our ancestors, or by the laft will and teftament of the dying owner; not caring to reflect that (accurately and ftrictly speaking) there is no foundation" in nature or in natural law, why a fet of words upon parchment fhould convey the dominion of land; why the fon should have a right to excludehis fellow-creatures from a determinate spot of ground, because his father had done fo before him; or why the occupier of a particular field or of a jewel, when lying on his death-bed and no longer able maintain poffef-* fion, fhould be entitled to tell the reft of the world which of them fhould enjoy it after him. Thefe enquiries, it must be owned, would be ufelefs and even trouble. fome in common life. It is well if the mafs of mankind will obey the laws when made, without fcrutinizing too nicely into the reafons of making them. But when law is to be confidered not only as matter of practice but alfo as a rational fcience, it cannot be improper or useless to examine more deeply the rudiments and grounds of thefe pofitive conftitu→ tions of fociety. In the beginning of the world," we are informed by holy writ, the all-bountiful creator gave to man “ dominion over all the earth; and "over the fish of the fea, and U ❝ over |