Introduction

Blackstone states that these commentaries will systematically explain English law by dividing its objects into rights and wrongs, with rights further subdivided into rights of persons and rights of things.

Municipal law commands what is right and prohibits what is wrong, making rights and wrongs the primary objects worthy of examination.

Rights are subdivided into rights of persons (jura personarum) and rights of things (jura rerum), with wrongs similarly divided into private wrongs and public wrongs.

The commentaries will follow four parts: rights of persons, rights of things, private wrongs, and public wrongs, corresponding to the natural objects of law.

Rights due to individuals and civil duties owed by individuals are distinct but reciprocal; though some matters are more easily considered as duties rather than rights.

Persons are either natural (formed by nature) or artificial (created by human law), the latter being corporations or bodies politic.

Absolute rights belong to individuals in their private capacity, while relative rights arise from their membership in society and relationships with others.

Human laws concern only social or relative duties, not absolute duties that affect only the individual in private, unless those duties become public through bad example.

The primary purpose of human laws is to protect and regulate the absolute rights vested in individuals by natural law, from which all relative rights and duties derive.

Natural liberty is the power to act as one thinks fit without restraint or control, except by the law of nature—an inherent right from God given at creation.

Civil or political liberty is natural liberty restrained by human laws only as far as necessary and expedient for the public advantage.

Laws that restrain men from harming others diminish natural liberty but increase civil liberty; restraints on indifferent matters are tyrannical unless serving public advantage.

Edward IV's statute against pike shoes was oppressive constraint on indifference; Charles II's statute requiring woolen burial was consistent with liberty through public advantage to trade.

England's laws are peculiarly adapted to preserve civil liberty, which flourishes most vigorously in these kingdoms and is nearly perfect except through subject's own folly.

The moment a slave or negro lands in England, they fall under the protection of the laws and become a freeman regarding natural rights.

Though England's absolute rights are founded on nature and reason, they have fluctuated over time, being depressed by tyranny or excessive under anarchy, yet the constitution regularly restores proper balance.

English liberties have been repeatedly declared and confirmed through Magna Carta, confirmatory statutes, the Petition of Right, habeas corpus, the Bill of Rights, and the Act of Settlement.

The absolute rights of Englishmen consist of three principal articles: personal security, personal liberty, and private property, since these alone can be infringed by tyranny.

Personal security consists of legal enjoyment of life, limbs, body, health, and reputation without violation.

Life, as a legal right, begins in contemplation of law as soon as an infant is able to stir in the womb, making injury to a pregnant woman a serious offense.

An infant in the womb is treated in law as born for many purposes, including receiving legacies, having guardians assigned, and taking estates for its use.

Man's limbs, the members useful in defense, are given by the creator and cannot be wantonly destroyed or disabled without breach of civil liberty.

The law pardons homicide committed in self-defense or to preserve life or limb, as this is done under highest necessity and compulsion.

Duress is constraint under fear of death or mayhem; it comprises duress of imprisonment and duress per minas, both of which excuse certain legal acts if sufficiently grounded in reasonable fear.

Duress must be grounded in sufficient reason, not mere suspicion; it must be fear that could affect a constant man, containing threat to life or cruel bodily punishment.

The law furnishes every man with necessary support through statutes for poor relief, a humane provision dictated by principles of society though rejected by Roman law.

Life may be determined by civil death, which occurs upon banishment or entry into monastic profession, making the person dead in law for purposes of succession.

A monk professed is accounted civilly dead because he renounces secular concerns and is cut off from society; his heir may succeed to his estate.

Life cannot legally be destroyed except through law; the constitution forbids magistrates destroying subjects' lives without legal process or just cause.

Arbitrary power to destroy life or limb is the highest tyranny; arbitrary imprisonment is a more subtle and dangerous form, as it is less public.

Secret imprisonment is a more dangerous engine of arbitrary government than public violence; the constitution requires that only parliament may authorize suspension of habeas corpus in true emergency.

Any confinement of a person against his will—whether in private house, stocks, or forcible detention—constitutes imprisonment under the law.

A man under duress of imprisonment who seals a bond to procure his release may avoid the bond; but lawful imprisonment does not excuse subsequent acts.

Imprisonment is lawful only by judicial process or legal warrant from a magistrate, which must be in writing under seal and express the causes to be examined on habeas corpus.

Every Englishman may claim the right to abide in his country as long as he pleases and not be driven out except by law's sentence, subject only to the king's power to issue ne exeat regnum.

Exile or transportation is a punishment unknown to common law and only inflicted by parliamentary statute or as a criminal's alternative to capital punishment.

The habeas corpus act prohibits sending any English subject prisoner into Scotland, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, or beyond the seas; violations incur heavy penalties and liability.

The law forbids the king from sending any subject out of the realm even for public service; he cannot even constitute a man lord deputy or ambassador against his will.

Property consists in free use, enjoyment, and disposal of one's acquisitions without control except by law, though its modifications derive entirely from society.

Magna Carta declares that no freeman shall be disseised of his freehold or liberties except by judgment of peers or law of the land.

The law will not authorize violation of private property even for the public good; only the legislature may compel alienation for compensation through established legal process.

No subject can be compelled to pay taxes except by his own consent or that of his representatives in parliament, established by statute and the Petition of Right.

In addition to the three principal absolute rights, the law establishes certain auxiliary subordinate rights serving as barriers to protect and maintain the primary rights inviolate.

The constitution, powers, and privileges of parliament serve as the first auxiliary right, keeping the legislative power in proper health and vigor to prevent tyrannical laws.

The king's prerogative is bounded by certain and notorious limits to make it impossible for the king to exceed them without the people's consent, serving as a guard on executive power.

Since law is the supreme arbiter of life, liberty, and property, courts must always be open to the subject for redress of injuries with justice duly administered.

Magna Carta declares that the king will sell, deny, or defer justice to none; every subject may seek remedy in courts for injuries from any other subject.

Justice depends on permanent fixed laws not dependent on arbitrary will of judges; no commands or letters under the seals shall disturb the law or deny common right.

Both substance and form of law can only be altered by parliament; the crown may erect new courts but they must proceed according to established common law forms.

For uncommon injuries the law protects the right to petition the king or either house of parliament for redress of grievances, with regulations preventing riots or tumult.

A public allowance under due restrictions exists for subjects to have arms suitable to their condition for defense, when sanctions of society prove insufficient against oppression.

English liberties, though often talked of but not understood, consist of three principal rights in their primary aspect and five auxiliary rights protecting them; all are necessary to prevent tyranny.

Blackstone invokes Montesquieu's authority that England is the only nation where political and civil liberty is the direct end of the constitution.