nity: wherefore, although the true prince regain the ſovereignty, yet ſuch attempts againſt the uſurper (unleſs in defence or aid of the rightful king) have been afterwards puniſhed with death; becauſe of the breach of that temporary allegiance, which was due to him as king de facto. And upon this footing, after Edward IV recovered the crown, which had been long detained from his houſe by the line of Lancaſter, treaſons committed againſt Henry VI were capitally puniſhed, though Henry had been declared an uſurper by parliament.
This oath of allegiance, or rather the allegiance itſelf, is held to be applicable not only to the political capacity of the king, or regal office, but to his natural perſon, and blood-royal: and for the miſapplication of their allegiance, viz. to the regal capacity or crown, excluſive of the perſon of the king, were the Spencers baniſhed in the reign of Edward II[1]. And from hence aroſe that principle of perſonal attachment, and affectionate loyalty, which induced our forefathers (and, if occaſion required, would doubtleſs induce their ſons) to hazard all that was dear to them, life, fortune, and family, in defence and ſupport of their liege lord and ſovereign.
This allegiance then, both expreſs and implied, is the duty of all the king's ſubjects, under the diſtinctions here laid down, of local and temporary, or univerſal and perpetual. Their rights are alſo diſtinguiſhable by the ſame criterions of time and locality; natural-born ſubjects having a great variety of rights, which they acquire by being born within the king's ligeance, and can never forfeit by any diſtance of place or time, but only by their own miſbehaviour: the explanation of which rights is the principal ſubject of the two firſt books of theſe commentaries. The ſame is alſo in ſome degree the caſe of aliens; though their rights are much more circumſcribed, being acquired only by reſidence here, and loſt whenever they remove. I ſhall however here endeavour to chalk out ſome of the principal lines, whereby they
- ↑ 1 Hal. P. C. 67.
