Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/64

 52 a high hand all the rigours of the feodal doctrines: but their ucceor, Henry I, found it expedient, when he et up his pretenions to the crown, to promie a retitution of the laws of king Edward the confeor, or antient Saxon ytem; and accordingly, in the firt year of his reign, granted a charter, whereby he gave up the greater grievances, but till reerved the fiction of feodal tenure, for the ame military purpoes which engaged his father to introduce it. But this charter was gradually broken through, and the former grievances were revived and aggravated, by himelf and ucceeding princes; till in the reign of king John they became o intolerable, that they occaioned his barons, or principal feudatories, to rie up in arms againt him: which at length produced the famous great charter at Runing-mead, which, with ome alterations, was confirmed by his on Henry III. And, though it's immunities (epecially as altered on it's lat edition by his on ) are very greatly hort of thoe granted by Henry I, it was jutly eteemed at the time a vat acquiition to Englih liberty. Indeed, by the farther alteration of tenures that has ince happened, many of thee immunities may now appear, to a common oberver, of much les conequence than they really were when granted: but this, properly conidered, will hew, not that the acquiitions under John were mall, but that thoe under Charles were greater. And from hence alo aries another inference; that the liberties of Englihmen are not (as ome arbitrary writers would repreent them) mere infringements of the king's prerogative, extorted from our princes by taking advantage of their weaknes; but a retoration of that antient contitution, of which our ancetors had been defrauded by the art and finee of the Norman lawyers, rather than deprived by the force of the Norman arms.

given this hort hitory of their rie and progres, we will next conider the nature, doctrine, and principal laws of feuds; wherein we hall evidently trace the groundwork of many parts of our public polity, and alo the original of uch of our Rh