is against an administrator, &c. the plaintiff should also swear to his belief of assets come to the defendant's hands (a). This writ may issue against a feme covert executrix, whose husband is out of the jurisdiction. (b)

The affidavit must also state, that the plaintiff has reason to believe the defendant intends to go out of the kingdom before the conclusion of the suit, and that in such case the debt might be lost. (c) It should seem on principle to be just and proper, that the plaintiff should state his reasons for supposing that the defendant intends to leave the country, in order that the Court may judge of their sufficiency, (d) and it is usual in practice to do so.

If the defendant has given out that he intends to go abroad, that will suffice: (e) nor need it appear that the defendant intends to leave his Majesty's dominions; it will be a sufficient cause to detain him, if he purpose to get out of the jurisdiction of the Court. (f)

It was formerly considered, that on the defendant's putting in a full answer to the bill, the writ should be discharged; but it is now held that he must give security to abide the order on hearing, before the Court will discharge the writ. This security is taken by recognizance before a Master in the penalty of what is sworn to be due; and the Sheriff takes bail accordingly, when he arrests the party thereon; the debt sworn to being indorsed on the writ as a guide to the Sheriff in taking bail. (g) Indeed as the object of the writ, when applied to private concerns, is to compel the defendant to abide the event of the suit; and, as that is effected in substance, as well by his finding security, as by his being personally within the jurisdiction of the Court, it is but just that he should be permitted when taken on the writ to give such security, and thereupon the writ will be discharged. (h)

The writ should be always under the great or privy seal, or signet; (2) and may be directed either to the subject himself;

(a) 2 Vez. 489. 3 Atk. 501. 16 Ves. 471.

(b) 3 Atk. 409. Ambl. 62. S. C. (c) 5 Bac. Ab. 22. tit. Prerogative C. 3. Beames, 26 to 28.

(d) And see Beames, 25.

(e) 77 Ves. 410, 417. 8 Ibid. 597. 11 Ibid. 54. 16 Ibid. 470.

(f) See 1 P. Wms. 263.pl 60. Cas.

Temp. Talb. 196. 1 Wooddn. 187. 3 Mod. 127. 11 Ves. 43. Beames, 52. (g) 5 Bac. Ab. tit. Prerogative C. 3. (h) 2 Atk. 409. Ambl. 62. 177. 3 Bro. Ch. R. 218. 1 Ves. Jun. 96. Beames, 40, 59.

(i) F. N. B. 85, a. Lane, 29. 2 Co. 17. 11 Co. 92.

or

or to the Sheriff, or Justices of the Peace, or both, commanding them that they take sureties of the party quod ne exeat; and if he refuse to commit him to prison. (a) When used in aid of a debt the latter course is proper.

As the King may command his subjects to remain in the country, so he may recal them when abroad by his great or privy seal; and this prerogative extends over all descriptions of his Majesty's subjects. (b) Various instances in which this royal right has been exercised and acted upon, are to be met with in the antient books. (c) The contempt is incurred from the time when the notice by the King's messenger of his Majesty's command is received by the absent subject. (d) His Majesty receives the answer of the subject, and is judge of the contempt. (e)

It is laid down in a book of good authority, that a licence granted by the Crown to a subject, enabling him to remain abroad for a certain specified time, cannot be revoked, (ƒ) but this has been denied; (g) and it seems more consistent with legal principles that such licences should be countermandable, as they are merely granted ex gratiá, and circumstances might be discovered or transpire, after the licence is granted, which would render it dangerous to permit the subject to continue abroad. (h)

If the subject to whom the King's command to remain in or return to this country is directed, disobey it, he is guilty of a contempt of the royal prerogative, and on proof thereof on oath, his property may be seized under a commission issued out of the Exchequer, until he return. (i) In the mean time, the King has a greater interest in the property seized than a mere perception of the profits, and may assign or grant the effects quamdiu in manibus suis fore contingerint; and his Majesty (or his patentee) is it seems entitled to woodfalls, may make leases and grant copyholds, being dominus pro tempore. (k) The King's right is not affected by a fraudulent and pre

tended assignment, of the party's property, before he was guilty of disobedience to the King's command. (a) On the return of the offender he is liable to be fined; (b) but is enti-` tled to a return of his lands, as a matter of right. (c)

CHAP. III.

Where the Prerogatives are exerciseable; and herein of the Prerogative as it respects the British Colonies.

THOUGH allegiance be due from every one within the territories subject to the British Crown, it is far from being a necessary inference, that all the prerogatives which are vested in his Majesty by the English Laws, are therefore exerciseable over individuals within those parts of his Majesty's dominions in which the English Laws do not as such prevail. Doubtless those fundamental rights and principles on which the King's authority rests, and which are necessary to maintain it, extend even to such of his Majesty's dominions as are governed by their own local and separate laws. The King would be nominally and not substantially a sovereign over such his dominions, if this were not the case. But the various prerogatives and rights of the sovereign which are merely local to England, and do not fundamentally sustain the existence of the Crown, or form the pillars on which it is supported, are not it seems prima facie extensible to the colonies or other British dominions which possess a local jurisprudence, distinct from that prevalent in and peculiar to England. To illustrate this distinction the attributes of the King, sovereignty, perfection and perpetuity, which are inherent in and constitute his Majesty's political capacity, prevail in every part of the territories subject to the English Crown, by whatever peculiar or internal laws they may be governed. The King is the head of the church (d); is possessed of a share of legislation; and is generalissimo throughout all his dominions: in every part of them his Majesty is alone entitled to make war and peace; but in countries which,

(a) See Lane, 42.

(b) 1 Bla. Com. 266. 1 Hawk. c. 22. 8.4.

(c) Per Tanfield, C. B. Lane, 48. (d) 1 Chalmers' Op. 12.

though

though dependent on the British Crown, have different and local laws for their internal governance, as for instance the plantations or colonies, the minor prerogatives and interests of the Crown must be regulated and governed by the peculiar and established law of the place. Though if such law be silent on the subject it would appear that the prerogative as established by the English law prevails in every respect: subject perhaps to exceptions which the difference between the constitution of this country and that of the dependent dominion may necessarily create. By this principle many difficulties which frequently arise as to the King's foreign prerogative may be readily solved. (a)

This distinction being admitted, it becomes material to consider in what countries dependent on England, the English laws as such prevail. By ascertaining this we shall perceive to what countries the royal prerogative as such extend; and how far they may be exercised therein.

Wales was not completely conquered by England until the reign of Edward the first. That sovereign abolished the line of their antient Princes; constituted his second son Edward Prince of Wales, (b) and reannexed the country by a kind of feudal resumption, to the dominion of the crown of England. (c) Edward the first treated the Welch territory as a conquest; and of his own authority and by virtue of his prerogative, made various regulations for its governance. (d) At last, however, in the reign of Henry 8. it was united to England, and was put and still remains on the same footing with respect to its rights, liberties and laws: (e) and all statutes made in England bind Wales also, though it be not specially named. (f) Therefore as the English laws extend to Wales, all his Majesty's prerogatives equally apply to both countries. (g)

By the 18th article of the Union of England and Scotland,

(a) See further, post. 32, &c.

(b) See Hume.

(c) 1 Bla. Com. 93, 94. Burr. R. 850, 851.

(d) Cowp. R. 210. And see Barrington on the Ancient Statutes, the Statute of Wales 12 Ed. 1. and Tomlin's note to that statute.

(e) 27 Hen. 8. c. 26; see further, 34 and 35 Hen. 8. c. 26. The general rule is, that where one country is

united to another in such a manner as that one keeps its government and states, and the other loses them, the latter entirely assimilates with or is melted down in the former, and must adopt its laws and customs. Puff. L. of N. and N. b. 8. c. 12. s. 6.

(f) 1 Bla. Com. 99. Burrow. R. 853.

(g) See Com. Dig. tit. Wales.

which was effected in the reign of Queen Ann (a), it is ordained that all the then existing Scotch laws should remain in force, alterable however by the united Parliament of Great Britain; so that the municipal or common laws of England, are generally speaking of no force or validity in Scotland; though, since the Union, all statutes passed in England bind and extend to Scotland, though that country be not particularly mentioned. (b)

The Town of Berwick upon Tweed was once part of Scotland, but is now part of England, and governed by English laws; and statutes made by British Parliament extend to it unless it be expressly excepted. (c)

The inhabitants of Ireland are for the most part, observes Sir Wm. Blackstone, (d) descended from the English; who planted it as a kind of colony, after the conquest of it by King Henry the 2d, and the laws of England were then received and sworn to by the Irish nation assembled at the council of Lismore. (e) The change made in the antient Irish laws was not effected by any English Parliament, but by the charters of Henry the 2d and other subsequent Sovereigns, who considered it as a dependent conquered dominion; and as such, possessed a legislative right over it. (f) So that it is, generally speaking, true that the English common law prevails in Ireland: (g) and it is clear that all statutes made in England before the 10 Hen. 7. were extended to Ireland, and rendered of equal force there, by one of Poyning's laws. (h) But before the union of the two kingdoms, acts of parliament made in England since the 10 Hen. 7. in which Ireland was not expressly comprehended, did not relate to that country. When that important event took place in the year 1800, and the two countries were incorporated together, it was expressly provided, (i) that all laws in force in Ireland at the time of the Union should remain as by law established, but subject to be altered by the united Parliament. Since the Union it should seem that statutes made by the Parliament of the united king