Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/81

§. 3. book is aid to have been extant o late as the reign of king Edward the fourth, but is now unfortunately lot. It contained, we may probably uppoe, the principal maxims of the common law, the penalties for midemenors, and the forms of judicial proceedings. Thus much may at leat be collected from that injunction to oberve it, which we find in the laws of king Edward the elder, the on of Alfred. “Omnibus qui reipublicae praeunt etiam atque etiam mando, ut omnibus aequos e praebeant judices, perinde ac in judiciali libro (Saxonice, ) criptum habetur; nec quicquam formident quin jus commune (Saxonice, ) audacter libereque dicant.” the irruption and etablihment of the Danes in England, which followed oon after, introduced new cutoms, and caued this code of Alfred in many provinces to fall into diue; or at leat to be mixed and debaed with other laws of a coarer alloy. So that about the beginning of the eleventh century there were three principal ytems of laws prevailing in different ditricts.&ensp;1.&ensp;The Mercen-Lage, or Mercian laws, which were oberved in many of the midland counties, and thoe bordering on the principality of Wales, the retreat of the antient Britons; and therefore very probably intermixed with the Britih or Druidical cutoms.&ensp;2.&ensp;The Wet-Saxon-Lage, or laws of the wet Saxons, which obtained in the counties to the outh and wet of the iland, from Kent to Devonhire. Thee were probably much the ame with the laws of Alfred above-mentioned, being the municipal law of the far mot coniderable part of his dominions, and particularly including Berkhire, the eat of his peculiar reidence.&ensp;3.&ensp;The Dane-Lage, or Danih law, the very name of which peaks it’s original and compoition. This was principally maintained in the ret of the midland counties, and alo on the eatern coat, the part mot expoed to the viits of that piratical people. As for the very northern provinces, they were at that time under a ditinct government. Rh