and independence of the judges in the superior courts, it is
enacted by the statute 13 W. III. c. 2. that their commissions shall
be made (not, as formerly, _durante bene placito_, but) _quamdiu bene
se gesserint_, and their salaries ascertained and established; but
that it may be lawful to remove them on the address of both houses of
parliament. And now, by the noble improvements of that law in the
statute of 1 Geo. III. c. 23. enacted at the earnest recommendation of
the king himself from the throne, the judges are continued in their
offices during their good behaviour, notwithstanding any demise of the
crown (which was formerly held[a] immediately to vacate their seats)
and their full salaries are absolutely secured to them during the
continuance of their commissions: his majesty having been pleased to
declare, that "he looked upon the independence and uprightness of the
judges, as essential to the impartial administration of justice; as
one of the best securities of the rights and liberties of his
subjects; and as most conducive to the honour of the crown[b]."

[Footnote z: 2 Hawk. P.C. 2.]

[Footnote a: Ld Raym. 747.]

[Footnote b: Com. Journ. 3 Mar. 1761.]

IN criminal proceedings, or prosecutions for offences, it would still
be a higher absurdity, if the king personally sate in judgment;
because in regard to these he appears in another capacity, that of
_prosecutor_. All offences are either against the king's peace, or his
crown and dignity; and are so laid in every indictment. For, though in
their consequences they generally seem (except in the case of treason
and a very few others) to be rather offences against the kingdom than
the king; yet, as the public, which is an invisible body, has
delegated all it's power and rights, with regard to the execution of
the laws, to one visible magistrate, all affronts to that power, and
breaches of those rights, are immediately offences against him, to
whom they are so delegated by the public. He is therefore the proper
person to prosecute for all public offences and breaches of the peace,
being the person injured in the eye of the law. And this notion was
carried so far in the old Gothic constitution, (wherein the king was
bound by his coronation oath to conserve the peace) that in case of
any forcible injury offered to the person of a fellow subject, the
offender was accused of a kind of perjury, in having violated the
king's coronation oath; _dicebatur fregisse jura