Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/260

244, as to caes of ordinary public oppreion, where the vitals of the contitution are not attacked, the law hath alo aigned a remedy. For, as a king cannot miue his power, without the advice of evil counellors, and the aitance of wicked miniters, thee men may be examined and punihed. The contitution has therefore provided, by means of indictments, and parliamentary impeachments, that no man hall dare to ait the crown in contradiction to the laws of the land. But it is at the ame time a maxim in thoe laws, that the king himelf can do no wrong: ince it would be a great weaknes and aburdity in any ytem of poitive law, to define any poible wrong, without any poible redres.

, as to uch public oppreions as tend to diolve the contitution, and ubvert the fundamentals of government, they are caes which the law will not, out of decency, uppoe; being incapable of ditruting thoe, whom it has inveted with any part of the upreme power; ince uch ditrut would render the exercie of that power precarious and impracticable. For, whereever the law exprees it’s ditrut of abue of power, it always vets a uperior coercive authority in ome other hand to correct it; the very notion of which detroys the idea of overeignty. If therefore (for example) the two houes of parliament, or either of them, had avowedly a right to animadvert on the king, or each other, or if the king had a right to animadvert on either of the houes, that branch of the legilature, o ubject to animadverion, would intantly ceae to be part of the upreme power; the ballance of the contitution would be overturned; and that branch or branches, in which this juridiction reided, would be completely overeign. The uppoition of law therefore is, that neither the king nor either houe of parliament (collectively taken) is capable of doing any wrong; ince in uch caes the law feels