n view, are laws destructive
of liberty: whereas if any public advantage can arise from observing
such precepts, the control of our private inclinations, in one or two
particular points, will conduce to preserve our general freedom in
others of more importance; by supporting that state, of society, which
alone can secure our independence. Thus the statute of king Edward
IV[d], which forbad the fine gentlemen of those times (under the
degree of a lord) to wear pikes upon their shoes or boots of more than
two inches in length, was a law that savoured of oppression; because,
however ridiculous the fashion then in use might appear, the
restraining it by pecuniary penalties could serve no purpose of common
utility. But the statute of king Charles II[e], which prescribes a
thing seemingly as indifferent; viz. a dress for the dead, who are all
ordered to be buried in woollen; is a law consistent with public
liberty, for it encourages the staple trade, on which in great measure
depends the universal good of the nation. So that laws, when prudently
framed, are by no means subversive but rather introductive of liberty;
for (as Mr Locke has well observed[f]) where there is no law, there is
no freedom. But then, on the other hand, that constitution or frame of
government, that system of laws, is alone calculated to maintain civil
liberty, which leaves the subject entire master of his own conduct,
except in those points wherein the public good requires some direction
or restraint.

[Footnote c: _Facultas ejus, quod cuique facere libet, nisi quid jure
prohibetur._ _Inst._ 1. 3. 1.]

[Footnote d: 3 Edw. IV. c. 5.]

[Footnote e: 30 Car. II. st. 1. c. 3.]

[Footnote f: on Gov. p. 2. Sec. 57.]

THE idea and practice of this political or civil liberty flourish in
their highest vigour in these kingdoms, where it falls little short
of perfection, and can only be lost or destroyed by the folly or
demerits of it's owner: the legislature, and of course the laws of
England, being peculiarly adapted to the preservation of this
inestimable blessing even in the meanest subject. Very different from
the modern constitutions of other states, on the continent of Europe,
and from the genius of the imperial law; which in general are
calculated to vest an arbitrary and despotic power of controlling the
actions of the subject in the prince, or in a few grandees. And this
spirit of liberty is so deeply implanted in our constitution, and
rooted even