9. Acts of Parliament derogatory from the power of subsequent Parliaments bind not.

10. Acts of Parliament that are impossible to be performed are of no validity, and if there arise out of them collaterally any absurd consequences manifestly contradictory to common reason, they are with regard to those collateral circumstances void.

In addition to these rules of interpretation and construction, EQUITY is sometimes called in to assist, to moderate, and to explain them. Courts of Equity* are, however, only cognizant of matters of property; for the freedom of our Constitution will not permit that, in criminal cases, a power should be lodged in any judge to construe the law otherwise than according to the letter. A man cannot suffer more punishment than the law assigns, but he may suffer less; for the law cannot be strained by partiality to inflict a penalty beyond what the letter will warrant; and in cases where the letter induces any apparent hardship, the Crown has the power to pardon.

* The powers, business, and jurisdiction of the Equity Courts will, in due course, be discussed.

CHAPTER V.

THE COUNTRIES SUBJECT TO THE LAWS OF ENGLAND.

Having considered the nature of Laws in general, let us now direct our inquiries respecting the countries that are under the jurisdiction of the Laws of England.

State the Countries to which the Laws of England extend. The Kingdom of England, over which our municipal laws have jurisdiction, does not, by the common law, include Wales, Scotland, or Ireland, Berwick-upon-Tweed, or any other part of the Queen's dominions, except the territory of England only; and yet the civil laws and local customs of this territory now prevail in part, or in all, with more or less restrictions, in these and in many other adjacent countries.

By stat. 27 Henry VIII. it is enacted that all Welshmen born shall have the same liberties as other the Queen's subjects; that lands in Wales shall be inheritable according to the English tenures and rules of descent; and that the laws of England, and no other, shall be used in Wales. Wales and Berwick-uponTweed are comprehended in the word "England," when used in any Act of Parliament.

Since the Union with Scotland, May 1, 1707, all statutes of a general nature extend to that kingdom; or if not included, the method is expressly to declare that the Act does not extend to Scotland. The Municipal Laws of Scotland continue in full force, unless altered by the Imperial Legislature.

In like manner, since the Union with Ireland, January 1, 1801, all statutes of a general nature extend to that kingdom, unless expressly excepted, or the intention to except it be otherwise plainly shown.

The Isle of Wight, the Isle of Portland, the Isle of Thanet, &c., are comprised within some neighbouring county, and are,

therefore, to be looked upon as annexed to the mother island, and part of the kingdom of England.

The Isle of Man is a distinct territory from England, and is not in general governed by our laws; neither does any Act of Parliament extend to it, unless specially named therein; nor does any ordinary process run there from the English courts, except the writ of habeas corpus.

Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and their appendages are not comprehended in a statute, unless specially mentioned. They are governed by their own laws, which are, for the most part, the Ducal Customs of Normandy, being collected in an ancient book of very great authority, entitled Le Grand Coustumier.

Besides these adjacent islands, our more distant settlements or colonies in America, Australia, the West Indies, and elsewhere are also, in some respects, subject to the English laws, but this must be understood with very many and very great restrictions. Such colonists carry with them only so much of the English law as is applicable to their own situation and condition of an infant colony; but in conquered or ceded countries that have already laws of their own, Parliament may alter and change those laws; but the ancient laws of the country remain, unless such of them as are against the laws of God, as in the case of an infidel country.

The main or high seas are in one sense part of the realm of England, over which our Courts of Admiralty have jurisdiction. The main sea begins at the low-water mark, but between the high-water mark and the low-water mark, where the sea ebbs and flows, the common law and Admiralty have alternate jurisdiction, one upon the water when it is full tide, the other upon the land when it is an ebb.

INDIA.

Give a brief account of the Past and Present Forms of the Indian Government, and explain also our Territorial Possessions in India.

Previously to 1708, two trading associations existed in England, and in that year they were amalgamated and consolidated by Act of Parliament,* and thenceforth traded under the name of "The United Company of Merchants of England Trading to

* See 6 Anne, c. 17.

the East Indies." Very exclusive commercial privileges were thereby granted to the Company.

The East India Company from time to time acquired, by treaty and conquest, vast territorial dominions, subject, it is true, to the supremacy of the British Crown; but it was virtually the sovereign of the greater part of India. Great abuses crept in, till at length its constitution was rearranged in 1784, by Act of Parliament (24 Geo. III., c. 25), which considerably restricted the powers of the Company.

Before that time there were three supreme courts of law constituted at the three Presidencies-Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras -presided over by English judges sent out from England.

The laws promulgated by the Company from time to time were termed "Regulations," and were collected in Codes appertaining to each of these Presidencies, which had the force of laws. Courts had also been created for the administration of law between natives, presided over by judges appointed by the Company, generally chosen from their civil servants, assisted by natives skilled in the Hindoo and Mohammedan law.

These exclusive privileges, modified by degrees, continued until their total abolition in 1832, by stat. 3 & 4 Wm. IV., c. 85; and the administration of law in India is now regulated by 21 & 22 Vict., c. 26, by which the Crown is now entrusted with the sole dominion over the territories acquired and possessed by the East India Company, and the administration of affairs is regulated by its various provisions.*

The Territory of England being liable to two divisions, the one "Ecclesiastical," and the other "Civil," give a brief outline of each.

The ECCLESIASTICAL division is primarily divided into two provinces, those of Canterbury and York. A province is the circuit of an archbishop's jurisdiction, and each province contains divers dioceses or sees of suffragan bishops, whereof Canterbury includes twenty, and York six, besides the bishopric of the Isle of Man, which was annexed to the province of York by King

* See 33 & 34 Vict., c. 3, an Act to make better provision for making laws and regulations for certain parts of India; also chapter 69, an Act to render valid contracts informally executed in India.

Henry VIII. Every diocese is divided into archdeaconries, whereof there are sixty in all; each archdeaconry into rural deaneries, which are the circuit of the archdeacons' and rural deans' jurisdiction. Every deanery is divided into parishes.

A Parish is that circuit of ground the inhabitants of which are committed to the charge of one parson or vicar, or other minister having cure of souls therein. How ancient the division of parishes is may at present be difficult to ascertain. Mr. Camden says that England was divided into parishes by Archbishop Honorius, about the year 630; but Sir Henry Hobart lays it down that parishes were first erected by the Council of Lateran, which was held in 1179. These parishes were gradually formed, and parish churches endowed with the tithes that arose within the circuit assigned.*

The CIVIL division of the territory of England is into counties, counties into hundreds, hundreds into tithings or towns. Tithings, towns, or vills have the same signification in law, and are said to have had each originally a church, and celebration of divine service, sacraments, and burials. The word town or vill is now become a generic term, comprehending the several species of cities, boroughs, and common towns. A City is a town incorporated, which usually is or has been the see of a bishop. A Borough is now understood to be a town either corporate or not, that sends burgesses to Parliament. These towns contained each originally but one parish and one tithing; but now by the increase of the inhabitants many of them are divided into several parishes and tithings.

Shire is a Saxon word signifying a division. England is divided into forty counties or shires, Wales into twelve, and Scotland into thirty. Three of these counties, Chester, Durham, and Lancaster, are called counties palatine. The two former are such by prescription, or immemorial custom, or at least as old as the Norman Conquest; the latter was created by King Edward III. in favour of Henry Plantagenet, first Earl and then Duke of Lancaster, whose heiress

* The affairs of a Parish, the mode of conducting the business of the Vestry, and other matters relating thereto, are now regulated by the General Vestry Act, 58 Geo. III., c. 69, amended by 59 Geo. III., c. 85, and by 16 & 17 Vict., c. 65.