those who went or should have gone in the procession.

The streets of the

city of Edinburgh and the Canongate being cleared of all coaches and carriages, and a lane formed by railing the streets on both sides; within which none were permitted to enter but those who formed the procession, the captains, lieutenants, and ensigns of the trained bands excepted. Without the rails, the streets westward were lined with the horse guards from the palace of Holyrood house; after them, with the horse grenadiers; next with the foot guards, who covered the streets up to the Netherbow, and thence to the parliament square by the city trained bands; from the parliament square to the parliament house, by the lord high constable's guards; and from the parliament house to the bar, by the earl marshall's guards; the lord high constable being seated in an elbow chair at the door of the parliament house; the officers of state having ridden up before in their robes; and the members of parliament with their attendants, being assembled at Holyrood house, the rolls of parliament were called by the lord Register, lord Lyon, and heralds from the windows and gates of the palace, from which the procession moved to the parliament house in the following order :

Two trumpets in coats and banners, bareheaded, riding
Two pursuivants in coats and foot mantles, riding
Sixty-three commissioners for burghs on horseback,
covered, two and two, each having a lacquey
attending on foot, the odd member
walking alone.

Seventy-seven commissioners for shires on horseback,
covered, two and two,

each having two lacqueys attending on foot.
Fifty-one lords, barons, in their robes, riding
two and two

each having a gentleman to support his train and three
lacqueys on foot, wearing above their liveries velvet
surtouts, with the arms of their respective lords
on the breast and back, embossed on plate
or embroidered with gold and silver;
Nineteen viscounts as the former.

Sixty earls as the former, four lacqueys attending on each;
Four trumpets, two and two;

Four pursuivants, two and two;

And sixty heralds, two and two, bareheaded.

Lord Lyon king at arms, in his coat, robe, chain, batoon,
and foot mantle

THE DUKE OF QUEENSBERRY, LORD HIGH COMMISSIONER,

with his servants, pages,

and footmen.

Four Dukes, two and two;
Gentlemen bearing their trains,
and each having eight lacqueys;
Six marquisses,

each having six lacqueys;

The duke of Argyle;

Captain of the horse guards;
The horse guards.

The lord high commissioner, was received by the lord high constable, and by him conducted to the earl marshall, between whom his grace, ushered by the lord high chancellor, was conveyed to the throne.

Before the abolition of episcopacy the two archbishops and the other bishops walked in this procession, as the first estate of the parliament. The archbishops had each eight footmen, and every other bishop three; and if they pleased might have each a gentleman to hold up his train. The great officers of state rode up from the palace in their robes about half an hour before the procession, attended by their friends on horseback, waiting in the parliament house. When the king was present, the lord chancellor received his majesty at the door of the house, and conducted him to the throne. All the members were obliged to wait on the high commissioner in the great hall, the noblemen being in their robes. They returned to the palace in the same order they came, only the constable and marshall rode on the commissioner's right and left hand, in permission caps: the lord chancellor and lord privy seal remained till all were departed, and then returned to the palace in the same state they came to the parliament house. When the king or queen rode in person, the lord chancellor rode carrying the great seal; but not before a commissioner. When the king or queen regnant was present, the marquises and dukes rode after the earls; but if his majesty's commissioner was present, they followed him at some distance on his right or left hand. After the king or his commissioner was received by the lord chancellor, he was seated on a throne six steps high with a canopy of state over it. On the first step under him the lord chancellor sat on a bench with the other officers of state on both sides of him. On the next step under him sat the lords of session or judges. On the right hand of the throne the bishops sat, rising up in two rows of benches: the archbishops sat on the two highest, and the bishops on the lower according to the dignity of their sees or the dates of their consecration. On the left of the throne was another great bench of three steps, and as many rows of benches on which the nobility sat according to their precedence. In the middle of the four were two tables, upon one of which the regalia were deposited; and then beside them in two great chairs the constable and marshall sat: at the other table the lord

clerk register sat, with his deputy clerks, who were the clerks of parlia

ment.

There were also benches placed on the floor: on those on the right sat the commissioners of shires, and on the left the commissioners of burghs. After all the members had taken their seats in the order just named, the parliament was fenced in the king's name; then the king, if present, or if not, his commissioner, and afterwards the chancellor more copiously, declared the cause for which they were called together; which being concluded, the lords spiritual (that is, the bishops) retired apart and chose eight of the lords temporal; the lords temporal likewise chose as many of the lords spiritual: these altogether nominated eight barons, and as many commissioners of burghs, which made in all thirty-two, who were called THE LORDS OF THE ARTICLES, and with the chancellor, treasurer, privy-seal, the king's secretary, &c., admitted or rejected all matters proposed to the states after they had been first proposed to the king. After the bills were approved by the whole assembly of the states, those that passed by a majority of votes were presented to the king, who by touching them with his sceptre declared his confirmation of them; whereas, if he refused them, they were of no force. The members gave their votes distinctly in these words, I approve or not approve; only those who were not satisfied either way, answered non liquet no dissents or protests were allowed to public acts; but in private acts relative to men's rights and properties, any one might have protested for his interest. When all business was ended, the king, or his commissioner, made a speech, and the parliament was adjourned or dissolved, for there was no such thing as a prorogation in Scotland.

:

From the Revolution to the Union, the nobility with the commissioners of shires and burghs, composed a parliament without the bishops, and in queen Anne's time, the committee of the lords of the articles was abolished by act of parliament. So that all the members of the house had the liberty of making and debating proposals.

CONVENTIONS OF THE ESTATES.-Before the union there was another meeting of the three estates in Scotland, known by the name of the CONVENTION OF ESTATES, which was indicted by the king on twenty days' notice; the members were chosen in the same way and their proceedings were the same as those of the parliament. The king was either present at that meeting, or sent his commissioner, who enjoyed the same dignity and respect as the commissioner to parliament; but at the opening of a convention, there was no riding or cavalcade as at a parliament. The difference betwixt a convention and a parliament consisted chiefly in this that parliament could both make laws and impose taxes; whereas, the convention of estates could only impose taxations, and make statutes for their collection, but could not make laws; and those statutes of the convention of estates were published in the same manner as acts of parliament. The

learned Sir George Mackenzie in his 'Institutions says, that by the records of the conventions it appears, that of old the conventions of estates consisted of any of the three estates summarily called off the streets by the king; and that they cried down or up money, and judged processes, which of later times they could not. These conventions were not called frequently; for the goodness and justice of the kings of Scotland were such, that they seldom required money from their subjects by imposing taxations, without giving them also an opportunity of redressing their grievances, and of making new laws for the weal and safety of the kingdom.*

OF THE ABSOLUTE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS.

As municipal law is a rule of civil conduct, commanding what is right, and prohibiting what is wrong, being in every Christian country based on the absolute rule of our obedience THE TEN COMMANDMENTS,—it follows, that the primary and principal objects of the law are RIGHTS and WRONGS. Rights are either, first, those which concern and are annexed to the persons of men, and are then called jura personarum, or the rights of persons; or, secondly, they are such as a man may acquire over external objects, or things unconnected with his person, which are styled jura rerum, or the rights of things. Wrongs are also divisible into first, private wrongs, which being an infringement merely of particular rights, concern individuals only, and are called civil injuries; and secondly, public wrongs, which being a branch of general and public rights, affect the whole community, and are called crimes and misdemeanors.

RIGHTS may be reduced to three principal or primary articles,—the right of personal security, the right of personal liberty, and the right of private property; because, as there is no other known method of compulsion, or of abridging man's natural free will, but by an infringement or diminution of one or other of these important rights, the preservation of these inviolate, may justly be said to include the preservation of our civil immunities, in their largest and most extensive sense.

I. The right of personal security consists in a person's legal and uninterrupted enjoyment of his life, his limbs, his body, his health, and his repu

tation.

1. Life is the immediate gift of God, a right (at least as far as his fellow creatures are concerned) inherent by nature in every individual; and it begins, in the contemplation of the law, as soon as an infant is born, or

* Blackstone's Commentaries; Chamberlayne's Magnæ Britanniæ Notitia, or present state of Great Britain.

even before its birth; for, even whilst still in the womb, an infant is supposed in law to be born for many purposes. It is capable of having a legacy, or a surrender of a copyhold estate made to it: it may have a guardian assigned to it; and it is enabled to have an estate limited to its use, and take afterwards by such limitation as if it were then actually born. 2. Both the life and limbs of a man are of such high value, in the estimation of the law of England, that it pardons even homicide, if committed se defendendo, or in order to preserve them. For whatever is done by a man to save either life or member, is looked upon as done upon the highest necessity and compulsion. Therefore, if a man through fear of death or mayhem, is prevailed upon to execute a deed or do any legal act, these, though accompanied by all the other requisite solemnities, may be afterwards avoided, if forced upon him by a well-grounded apprehension of losing his life, or even his limbs, in case of his non-compliance; and the same is also a sufficient excuse for the commission of any misdemeanors. No suitable atonement can be made for the loss of life or limb; and the law not only regards life and member, and protects every man in their enjoyment, but also furnishes him with every thing necessary for their support; for there is no man so indigent or wretched, but he may demand a supply sufficient for all the necessities of life from the more opulent part of the community, by means of the several statutes enacted for the relief of the poor, and detailed in another part of this work.

3. Besides those limbs and members that may be necessary to a man, for his own defence or his enemy's annoyance, the rest of his person or body is also entitled, by the same natural right, to security from the corporeal insults of menaces, assaults, beating, and wounding, though such insults do not amount to the destruction of life or member.

4. The preservation of a man's health from such practices as may prejudice or annoy it; and,

5. The security of his reputation or good name from the arts of detraction and slander, are also rights to which every man is entitled, by reason and natural justice; since, without these, it is impossible to have the perfect enjoyment of any other advantage or right.

II. Next to personal security, the law of England regards, asserts, and preserves the personal liberty of individuals. This personal liberty consists in the power of loco-motion, of changing situation, or removing one's person to whatsoever place one's own inclinations may direct, without imprisonment or restraint, unless by due course of law.

Personal confinement, in any way, is an imprisonment. So that the keeping a man against his will in a private house, putting him in the stocks, arresting or forcibly detaining him in the street, is an imprisonment. But if a man be lawfully imprisoned, this is no duress of imprisonment. To make imprisonment lawful, it must either be by process from the courts

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