Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/107

§. 3. elf, ays he, you at the ame time repeal the prohibitory claue, which guards againt uch repeal ."

10.&ensp;, acts of parliament that are impoible to be performed are of no validity; and if there arie out of them collaterally any aburd conequences, manifetly contradictory to common reaon, they are, with regard to thoe collateral conequences, void. I lay down the rule with thee retrictions; though I know it is generally laid down more largely, that acts of parliament contrary to reaon are void. But if the parliament will poitively enact a thing to be done which is unreaonable, I know of no power that can control it: and the examples uually alleged in upport of this ene of the rule do none of them prove, that where the main object of a tatute is unreaonable the judges are at liberty to reject it; for that were to et the judicial power above that of the legilature, which would be ubverive of all government. But where ome collateral matter aries out of the general words, and happens to be unreaonable; there the judges are in decency to conclude that this conequence was not foreeen by the parliament, and therefore they are at liberty to expound the tatute by equity, and only  diregard it. Thus if an act of parliament gives a man power to try all caues, that arie within his manor of Dale; yet, if a caue hould arie in which he himelf is party, the act is contrued not to extend to that, becaue it is unreaonable that any man hould determine his own quarrel. But, if we could conceive it poible for the parliament to enact, that he hould try as well his own caues as thoe of other perons, there is no court that has power to defeat the intent of the legilature, when couched in uch evident and expres words, as leave no doubt whether it was the intent of the legilature or no.

are the everal grounds of the laws of England: over and above which, equity is alo frequently called in to ait, to moderate,