Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/258

niſi tantum ſub Deo.” He is ſaid to have imperial dignity; and in charters before the conqueſt is frequently ſtiled baſileus and imperator, the titles reſpectively aſſumed by the emperors of the eaſt and weſt^[1]. His realm is declared to be an empire, and his crown imperial, by many acts of parliament, particularly the ſtatutes 24 Hen. VIII. c. 12. and 25 Hen. VIII. c. 28^[2]; which at the ſame time declare the king to be the ſupreme head of the realm in matters both civil and eccleſiaſtical, and of conſequence inferior to no man upon earth, dependent on no man, accountable to no man. Formerly there prevailed a ridiculous notion, propagated by the German and Italian civilians, that an emperor could do many things which a king could not, (as the creation of notaries and the like) and that all kings were in ſome degree ſubordinate and ſubject to the emperor of Germany or Rome. The meaning therefore of the legiſlature, when it uſes theſe terms of empire and imperial, and applies them to the realm and crown of England, is only to aſſert that our king is equally ſovereign and independent within theſe his dominions, as any emperor is in his empire^[3]; and owes no kind of ſubjection to any other potentate upon earth. Hence it is, that no ſuit or action can be brought againſt the king, even in civil matters, becauſe no court can have juriſdiction over him. For all juriſdiction implies ſuperiority of power: authority to try would be vain and idle, without an authority to redreſs; and the ſentence of a court would be contemptible, unleſs that court had power to command the execution of it: but who, ſays Finch^[4], ſhall command the king? Hence it is likewiſe, that by law the perſon of the king is ſacred, even though the meaſures purſued in his reign be completely tyrannical and arbitrary: for no juriſdiction upon earth has power to try him in a criminal way; much leſs to condemn him to puniſhment. If any foreign juriſdiction had this power, as was formerly claimed by the pope, the independence of the kingdom would be no more: and, if ſuch a power were veſted in any domeſtic

1. Seld. tit. of hon. 1. 2.
2. See alſo 24 Geo. II. c. 24. 5 Geo. III. c. 27.
3. Rex allegavit, quod ipſe omnes libertates haberet in regno ſuo, quas imperator vendicabat in imperio. (M. Paris, A. D. 1095.)
4. Finch. L. 83.

tribunal,