m of one's
_natural_ life[d].

[Footnote z: Co. Litt. 133.]

[Footnote a: This was also a rule in the feodal law, _l._ 2. _t._ 21.
_desiit esse miles seculi, qui factus est miles Christi; nec
beneficium pertinet ad eum qui non debet gerere officium_.]

[Footnote b: Litt. Sec. 200.]

[Footnote c: Co. Litt. 133 _b._]

[Footnote d: 2 Rep. 48. Co. Litt. 132.]

THIS natural life being, as was before observed, the immediate
donation of the great creator, cannot legally be disposed of or
destroyed by any individual, neither by the person himself nor by any
other of his fellow creatures, merely upon their own authority. Yet
nevertheless it may, by the divine permission, be frequently forfeited
for the breach of those laws of society, which are enforced by the
sanction of capital punishments; of the nature, restrictions,
expedience, and legality of which, we may hereafter more conveniently
enquire in the concluding book of these commentaries. At present, I
shall only observe, that whenever the _constitution_ of a state vests
in any man, or body of men, a power of destroying at pleasure, without
the direction of laws, the lives or members of the subject, such
constitution is in the highest degree tyrannical: and that whenever
any _laws_ direct such destruction for light and trivial causes, such
laws are likewise tyrannical, though in an inferior degree; because
here the subject is aware of the danger he is exposed to, and may by
prudent caution provide against it. The statute law of England does
therefore very seldom, and the common law does never, inflict any
punishment extending to life or limb, unless upon the highest
necessity: and the constitution is an utter stranger to any arbitrary
power of killing or maiming the subject without the express warrant of
law. "_Nullus liber homo_, says the great charter[e], _aliquo modo
destruatur, nisi per legale judicium parium suorum aut per legem
terrae._" Which words, "_aliquo modo destruatur_," according to sir
Edward Coke[f], include a prohibition not only of _killing_, and
_maiming_, but also of _torturing_ (to which our laws are strangers)
and of every oppression by colour of an illegal authority. And it is
enacted by the statute 5 Edw. III. c. 9. that no man shall be
forejudged of life or limb, contrary to the great charter and the law
of the land: and again, by statute 28 Ed. III. c. 3. that no man
shall be put to death, without being brought to answer by due process
of l