manner
aforesaid, without more favor showing to one than to another, we have
ordained and caused our said justices to be sworn, that they shall
not from henceforth, as long as they shall be in the office of
justice, take fee nor robe of any man, but of ourself, and that they
shall take no gift nor reward by themselves, nor by other, privily
nor apertly, of any man that hath to do before them by any way,
except meat and drink, and that of small value; and that they shall
give no counsel to great men or small, in case where we be party, or
which do or may touch us in any point, upon pain to be at our will,
body, lands, and goods, to do thereof as shall please us, in case
they do contrary. And for this cause we have increased the fees of
the same, our justices, in such manner as it ought reasonably to
suffice them."--_20 Edward III._, ch. 1. (1346.)

Other statutes of similar tenor have been enacted, as follows:

"It is accorded and established, that it shall not be commanded by
the great seal, nor the little seal, to disturb or delay _common
right_; and though such commandments do come, the justices shall not
therefore leave (omit) to do right in any point."--_St. 2 Edward
III._, ch. 8. (1328.)

"That by commandment of the great seal, or privy seal, no point of
this statute shall be put in delay; nor that the justices of
whatsoever place it be shall let (omit) to do the _common law_, by
commandment, which shall come to them under the great seal, or the
privy seal."--_14 Edward III._, st. 1, ch. 14. (1340.)

"It is ordained and established, that neither letters of the signet,
nor of the king's privy seal, shall be from henceforth sent in damage
or prejudice of the realm, nor in disturbance of the law" (the common
law).--_11 Richard II._, ch. 10. (1387.)

It is perfectly apparent from these statutes, and from the oath
administered to the justices, that it was a matter freely confessed by
the king himself, that his statutes were of no validity, if contrary to
the common law, or "common right."

The oath of the justices, before given, is, I presume, the same that has
been administered to judges in England from the day when it was first
prescribed to them, (1344,) until now. I do not find from the English
statutes that the oath has ever been changed. The Essay on Grand Juries,
before referred to, and supposed to have been written by _Lord So