ENGLISH CONSTITUTION, LEGISLATION AND GOVERNMENT. * A USEFUL Manual of the
English Constitution, from its rise and progress to its maturity, and most recent modification, originating in a lecture delivered in 1854, has now been given to the public by Mr. Rowland, after a well-spent retirement of three years from the profession of the Law. It may be briefly defined as a legal history of England. In its plan it follows the course of our Parliamentary career and legislation. In the earlier periods those events and circumstances are selected for narration which elu- cidate constitutional progress, but in describing the reigns of the Tudor and Stuart Sovereigns, the history has been expanded in order to give some idea of the nature of the struggle, and the mo- tives and conduct of the contending powers. In treating the Con- stitution, both as Civil and Ecclesiastical, Mr. Rowland conceives himself justified by the fact that the progress of Civil Government and Legislation in a great degree depended "on the prevailim, Ecclesiastical policy of the Sovereign or the Parliament." shows that from the time of Henry II. to that of Henry VIII. frequent protests had been made against the " annoyances of Rome," or the power of the Church by the Kings of England, notably by Edward I., Edward III., Richard II., and Henry IV. The relation of the Church to the State, however, in the old feudal times, is not perhaps very philosophically estimated. The treatise begins with a short sketch of the principles of the English Constitution and a notice of the Anglo-Saxon polity. The division of the kingdom into shires, often attributed to King Al- fred, was really of more ancient date. Trial by jury " was not introduced until after the Conquest." The Government was then a monarchy, controlled by the aristocracy of the Wittena-Gemote, and of the Earls and higher nobility. The feudal system, with its consequents, Parliamentary representation, the law of landed property, and that of primogeniture, was founded by William I. All land, lay and Church alike, was held by military ser- vice. Those who held directly of the King were tenants in chief: and from the words in the act of homage by which each declared himself to be the man, l'homme, or in law Latin, baro, of the King, they acquired the appellation of barons.. They were a military hereditary aristocracy ranking next to the bishops and abbots, and having the exclusive right of attending the King's Court. Till the reign of Edward III. Baron was the only title of nobility, except that of earl, an official dignity connected with the counties. The first duke created in England was Edward the Black Prince, on whom his father conferred the title of Duke of Cornwall. Richard II. introduced that of:if:ars, and Henry VL that of Viscount. Though the Conquest monarchy in the • A Manual of the English Conotitatir -witirseeview of its nussj.inw-th. and Present State. By David Rowland. Published by Morr5,- aseendant, "the genius of the Saxon polity could not be repressed, and the aristocratic principle gradually assumed a controlling in- fluence." Hence concessions from the Sovereign, in the form of Charters of Liberties, one perhaps from the Conqueror himself, one from Henry I., two from Stephen, while from John came the Great Charter, the issue of the long struggle of the Barons with the Norman Kings, which was not however established as settled Iaw until eighty-five years of contest bad elapsed.
After analyzing this noteworthy document, Mr. Rowland de-
scribes the rise of the representative system, and its triumphant inauguration by Simon de Montfort, 1265. "In the Parliament held at Gloucester in 1407, we find the Constitution of Parliament finally settling into its present form." The progress of the Statute Law during .a period of one hundred and eighty-eight years (1295-1483), independently of the rise and growth of Par- liamentary procedure and privilege, the machinery for the ad- ministration of the law provided in the courts of justice, and the statutes passed to give effect to the advancing constitution, form the subject matter of the two next chapters. Under Edwai:c1 Magna Charta was confirmed ; the Exchequer Chamber insti- tuted; taxation made dependent on the common consent of the realm ; and an Act passed for the annual assembling of Parlia- ment. Under Henry VII., the principle of allegiance to a King de facto was established as a constitutional principle. The Court of Star Chamber was reconstituted in this reign. In that of Henry VIII., the Papal supremacy was abolished ; the King was declared the Head of the Church ; the monasteries were dissolved and their wealth and lands appropriated by the Crown, or distri- buted among the nobility and gentry. In this reign also an Act
was passed constituting the Court of Wards. In that of Elizabeth, an Act for the Relief of the Poor " conferred on the people the constitutional right of being fed and supported when reduced to extreme poverty." " The Petition of Right," the confirmation and extension of the Magna Charta, was the distinguishing sta- tute of Charles I.'s reign. In describing the contest between the King and the Parliament during this reign, Mr. Rowland writes moderately, certainly not justifying the proceedings of Charles, or condemning those of the Parliament down to the epoch of the Grand Remonstrance. Under Charles II. arbitrary taxation was declared to be illegal; the Act of Uniformity, the new Triennial Act, the Test Act, and Habeas Corpus Act, were then passed. The abdication of James II. resulted in the embodiment of the oelebrated Declaration of Rights, "which continue to this day as fundamental principles of the Constitution." " The Revolu- tion terminated the contest between prerogative and freedom." Mr. Rowland now passes on to a review of the present state of the English Constitution, describing the rights, duties, and mu- tual action of its various political dogmas, " modified by changes in the laws and by Parliamentary Government and procedure since the Revolution." The information contained in the second part of his manual is as valuable as it is various, and will proba- bly be found sufficiently minute to satisfy the ordinary wants of a general reader. Such topics as the obligations and prerogatives of the Crown and the functions and privileges of the two Houses of Parliament, the rights of the people in their electoral capacity, with a large amount of elucidatory matter relating to bills, acts, House of Commons business and ceremonial, the system of regis- tration, petitions, public meetings, and personal liberty, are com- prised in a space of about one hundred and fifty pages. Mr. Rowland's Manual has an additional recommendation in its com- prehensive index.
This law-history of England may be advantageously studied in the light of those first principles of government and legislation of which Lord Wrottesley has furnished an elementary exposition.} His treatise does not pretend to be " new or original." It may be described rather as a short sketch of the doctrines of the most philosophical writers on the rationale of government and legisla- tion with some notes on kindred subjects." The essay commences with an inquiry into the nature of ethics, which is said to consist of two parts, the science of Morals and the science of Government. The happiness of the community is the end for which Government is instituted. As Lord Bacon says of Law, its " finis et scopus non alius est qum ut dyes feliciter degant." " Utility," however, is only the proximate test of the i value of a law. It is neither the source of duty nor necessarily the determining motive of conduct. Sanctions, penalties, and 'itical institutions are briefly reviewed and illustrated in the
chapter of this treatise. The second chapter on National Happiness treats of liberty, the influence of civilization, govern- ment action, and education secular and scientific. Lord Wrottes- ley considering that it is the duty of the State to impart secular instruction suggests that the efforts of Government should be directed to the encouragement of institutions resembling the " Gymnasia " of Germany, superior schools where systematic in- struction in ancient and modern languages and the elements of the sciences is attainable. A third chapter discusses the rationale of Government, its essentials and varieties, constitutional law, punishment, and impolitic legislation ; instances of which last are, in our author's judgment, the Act of 1854 for the protection of dogs used in drawing carts, the Act to restrain the assumption of certain titles by Roman Catholic prelates, the Chimney Sweepers A4 and the Maine Liquor Law of the United States. The In- fbilisce of Time and Place on Government and Legislation is the taddeot of the next chapter. That of the studies and qualifica- + vfsoiegi Goverment and Legislation. By Lord Wrottesley, F.B.S. Pub- jetted by tions of legislators is examined in the fifth, vihichtreaHlts of tte—p'11-(' losophyof history, political economy, social scienee, and the " Art" i
of Life in the three departments of the right, the expedient„efitt the beautiful or noble in human conduct," in close conforthiti fii the views of Mill and Comte, as chiefly indicated by the fornief in his Treatise on Logic. In the last chapter the present condition of England is con- sidered with reference to moral and intellectual culture, wealth, and its distribution, popular beliefs, trade and commerce, &c. The education of the upper classes is said to be such that the ma- jority of young men receive their degrees while ignorant of the commonest truths in Natural Philosophy, Physics, the elements of pure Mathematics, and destitute of the Ladies' 1:warding school standard of information in Modern History, Geography, and general Literature. Alike defective is the middle class system of education, which too often omits to teach any foreign language, or to communicate the elements of mathematics or physics, or give instructions in drawing or geography. The education of the lower daises, " though the prospect in this case is brighter," is also pronounced defective. The duty of the State to educate is then briefly adverted to, and objections to the communication of know- ledge are met, partly on the philosophical ground that where all are equally raised to a higher intellectual eminence, none can be too conceited to perform the work of their station ; partly on the historical ground that manual labour is cheerfully performed by men of superior accomplishments in the wilds of Australia and the Cape.
Lord. Wrottesley next notices our moral condition, asserting a general improvement under this head, evidenced in the decrease of drunkenness in the higher class, the abandonment of duelling
and. refinement of manners, but admitting an apparently para- doxical increase of crime. Such increase, however, applies chiefly
to offences against property committed without violence. The re- laxation of severity in the criminal code has nothing to do with the increase of crime, for in the five remaining classes out of the six into which offences are distributed, there is either no increase of importance or a positive decrease, between 1834 and 1845, amounting to more than 15 per cent. The proportion of criminals to committals has, however, been raised from 58.8 per cent in the five years 1805-9 to 79.15 per cent in the five years 1841-5. This increase is in part to be attributed to an improved system of police, partly also to the allowance of expenses to prosecutors and witnesses, to the simplification and successive mitigations of the criminal law, all which arrangements stimulate and facilitate the discovery and exposure of offences, and thus necessarily augment
the catalogue of committals. Lord Wrottesley contends that it is the ignorant that fa our gaols. In the ten years ending with
1845 inclusive out of 252,544 persons committed, and whose amount of instruction was ascertained, there were 229,300 "in- structed," and only 1085 had advanced beyond the elements of reading and writing. On the other hand " only 44 in 10,000 in England, and only 180 in 10,000 in Scotland, of those who commit crime belong to classes who have re- ceived superior education." We must not, however, con- clude that crime would disappear with the advance of edu- cation, for if all were equally instructed, the qualified claimants would then be too numerous for all to share in those lucrative employments which are now the monopoly and the moral safeguard of the educated few. This view, we may remark, as- sumes that employment would not increase with the general pro- gress in intelligence, whereas Industrial Science is ever opening up fresh vistas of operative enterprise. Statistical tables relating to the Income-tax returns, occupations of the people, religious opinions, with a glance at the state of our foreign trade and com- merce, including the Indian revenue, complete this rapid survey of England's present condition. Lord Wrottesley's interesting little volume may be regarded as an aid to reflection to those who are beginning to think on the principles of government and legislation. The more philosophical element in it is derived from the writings of Bentham, Austin, John Stuart Mill. Though it represents the Lvaneed thoughts of the period, it is however a strictly auxiliary or rudimentary work.
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