Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/70

54 another, directory; whereby the ubject is intructed and enjoined to oberve thoe rights, and to abtain from the commiion of thoe wrongs: a third, remedial; whereby a method is pointed out to recover a man’s private rights, or redres his private wrongs: to which may be added a fourth, uually termed the anction, or vindicatory branch of the law; whereby it is ignified what evil or penalty hall be incurred by uch as commit any public wrongs, and trangres or neglect their duty. regard to the firt of thee, the declaratory part of the municipal law, this depends not o much upon the law of revelation or of nature, as upon the widom and will of the legilator. This doctrine, which before was lightly touched, deerves a more particular explication. Thoe rights then which God and nature have etablihed, and are therefore called natural rights, uch as are life and liberty, need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually inveted in every man than they are; neither do they receive any additional trength when declared by the municipal laws to be inviolable. On the contrary, no human legilature has power to abridge or detroy them, unles the owner hall himelf commit ome act that amounts to a forfeiture. Neither do divine or natural duties (uch as, for intance, the worhip of God, the maintenance of children, and the like) receive any tronger anction from being alo declared to be duties by the law of the land. The cae is the ame as to crimes and midemenors, that are forbidden by the uperior laws, and therefore tiled undefined, uch as murder, theft, and perjury; which contract no additional turpitude from being declared unlawful by the inferior legilature. For that legilature in all thee caes acts only, as was before oberved, in ubordination to the great lawgiver, trancribing and publihing his precepts. So that, upon the whole, the declaratory part of the municipal law has no force or operation at all, with regard to actions that are naturally and intrinically right or wrong. ,