Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/172

156 All thee hold, or are uppoed to hold, certain antient baronies under the king: for William the conqueror thought proper to change the piritual tenure, of frankalmoign or free alms, under which the bihops held their lands during the Saxon government, into the feodal or Norman tenure by barony; which ubjected their etates to all civil charges and aements, from which they were before exempt : and, in right of ucceion to thoe baronies, which were unalienable from their repective dignities, the bihops and abbots obtained their eats in the houe of lords. But though thee lords piritual are in the eye of the law a ditinct etate from the lords temporal, and are o ditinguihed in mot of our acts of parliament, yet in practice they are uually blended together under the one name of the lords; they intermix in their votes; and the majority of uch intermixture binds both etates. And, from this want of a eparate aembly and eparate negative of the prelates, ome writers have argued very cogently, that the lords piritual and temporal are now in reality only one etate : which is unquetionably true in every effectual ene, though the antient ditinction between them till nominally continues. For if a bill hould pas their houe, there is no doubt of it’s validity, though every lord piritual hould vote againt it; of which Selden, and ir Edward Coke , give many intances: as, on the other hand, I preume it would be equally good, if the lords temporal preent were inferior to the bihops in number, and everyone of thoe temporal lords gave his vote to reject the bill; though this ir Edward Coke eems to doubt of.