Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (4th ed, 1770, vol IV).djvu/54

42 to temporal cenures. The vice of lying, which conits (abtractedly taken) in a criminal violation of truth, and therefore in any hape is derogatory from ound morality, is not however taken notice of by our law, unles it carries with it ome public inconvenience, as preading fale news; or ome ocial injury, as lander and malicious proecution, for which a private recompence is given. And yet drunkennes and lying are in foro concientiae as thoroughly criminal when they are not, as when they are, attended with public inconvenience. The only difference is, that both public and private vices are ubject to the vengeance of eternal jutice; and public vices are beides liable to the temporal punishments of human tribunals.

the other hand, there are ome midemenors, which are punihed by the municipal law, that are in themelves nothing criminal, but are made o by the poitive constitutions of the tate for public convenience. Such as poaching, exportation of wool, and the like. Thee are naturally no offences at all; but their whole criminality conits in their diobedience to the upreme power, which has an undoubted right for the well-being and peace of the community to make ome things unlawful, which were in themelves indifferent. Upon the whole therefore, though part of the offences to be enumerated in the following heets are offences againt the revealed law of God, others againt the law of nature, and ome are offences againt neither; yet in a treatie of municipal law we mut conider them all as deriving their particular guilt, here punihable, from the law of man.

premied this caution, I hall next proceed to ditribute the everal offences, which are either directly or by conequence injurious to civil ociety, and therefore punihable by the laws of England, under the following general heads: firt, thoe which are more immediately injurious to God and his holy religion; econdly, uch as violate and trangres the law of nations; thirdly, uch as more epecially affect the Rh