an and his
family would probably have been liable to starvation, if these means of
subsistence had been taken from him.

We also know, _generally_, that, at the time of Magna Carta, _all acts
intrinsically criminal_, all trespasses against persons and property,
were crimes, according to _lex terrae_, or the common law.

Beyond the points now given, we hardly know anything, probably nothing
_with certainty_, as to what the "_legem terrae_" of _Magna Carta_ did
authorize, in regard to crimes. There is hardly anything extant that can
give us any real light on the subject.

It would seem, however, that there were, even at that day, some common
law principles governing arrests; and some common law forms and rules as
to holding a man for trial, (by bail or imprisonment;) putting him on
trial, such as by indictment or complaint; summoning and empanelling
jurors, &c., &c. Whatever these common law principles were, Magna Carta
requires them to be observed; for Magna Carta provides for the whole
proceedings, commencing with the arrest, ("no freeman shall be
_arrested_," &c.,) and ending with the execution of the sentence. And it
provides that nothing shall be done, by the government, from beginning
to end, unless according to the sentence of the peers, or "_legem
terrae_," the common law. The trial by peers was a part of _legem terrae_,
and we have seen that the peers must necessarily have governed the whole
proceedings at the trial. But all the proceedings for arresting the man,
and bringing him to trial, must have been had before the case could come
under the cognizance of the peers, and they must, therefore, have been
governed by other rules than the discretion of the peers. We may
_conjecture_, although we cannot perhaps know with much certainty, that
the _lex terrae_, or common law, governing these other proceedings, was
somewhat similar to the common law principles, on the same points, at
the present day. Such seem to be the opinions of Coke, who says that the
phrase _nisi per legem terrae_ means _unless by due process of law_.

Thus, he says:

"_Nisi per legem terrae. But by the law of the land._ For the true sense
and exposition of these words, see the statute of 37 Edw. III., cap. 8,
where the words, _by the law of the land_, are rendered _without due
process of law_; for there it is said, though it be contained in the
Great Charter, that no man be taken, imprisoned, or put out of his
freehold, _without process of t