,
whenever he sees proper, of confining his subjects to stay within the
realm, or of recalling them when beyond the seas. By the common
law[s], every man may go out of the realm for whatever cause he
pleaseth, without obtaining the king's leave; provided he is under no
injunction of staying at home: (which liberty was expressly declared
in king John's great charter, though left out in that of Henry III)
but, because that every man ought of right to defend the king and his
realm, therefore the king at his pleasure may command him by his writ
that he go not beyond the seas, or out of the realm without licence;
and if he do the contrary, he shall be punished for disobeying the
king's command. Some persons there antiently were, that, by reason of
their stations, were under a perpetual prohibition of going abroad
without licence obtained; among which were reckoned all peers, on
account of their being counsellors of the crown; all knights, who were
bound to defend the kingdom from invasions; all ecclesiastics, who
were expressly confined by cap. 4. of the constitutions of Clarendon,
on account of their attachment in the times of popery to the see of
Rome; all archers and other artificers, lest they should instruct
foreigners to rival us in their several trades and manufactures. This
was law in the times of Britton[t], who wrote in the reign of Edward
I: and sir Edward Coke[u] gives us many instances to this effect in
the time of Edward III. In the succeeding reign the affair of
travelling wore a very different aspect: an act of parliament being
made[w], forbidding all persons whatever to go abroad without licence;
_except_ only the lords and other great men of the realm; and true and
notable merchants; and the king's soldiers. But this act was repealed
by the statute 4 Jac. I. c. 1. And at present every body has, or at
least assumes, the liberty of going abroad when he pleases. Yet
undoubtedly if the king, by writ of _ne exeat regnum_, under his great
seal or privy seal, thinks proper to prohibit him from so doing; or if
the king sends a writ to any man, when abroad, commanding his return;
and in either case the subject disobeys; it is a high contempt of the
king's prerogative, for which the offender's lands shall be seised
till he return; and then he is liable to fine and imprisonment[x].

[Footnote s: F.N.B. 85.]

[Footnote t: c. 123.]

[Footnote u: 3 Inst. 175.]

[Footnote w: 5 Ric. II. c. 2.]

[Footnote x: 1 Hawk.