The Sun.
London, England, 1801-02-02 00:00:00

quarter, and which to compute the interest; giv.
ing him credit for turning his Capital into use
every 24 hours, in this thrifty manner, was a
little more than 30001. per cent. " What
might. to be the Law' pf the Land," said his
Lordship, '" I. will not pretend to inquire, or
even to think. The Legislature is called together
for .great and arduous purposes, rand among such
'purposes, is the subject which is now before us, un-:
der the head of Scarcity, or High Price of Provi--
sions.l have the utmost confidence that theLegisla.
ture will do that which 'is best to be done upon
this as well as other subjects ; but we have in
the mean time thrown upon us; the painful, for it
is a painful duty when a case bears hard upon .a
party; or where any body may think so, to,pro
nounce the Law;, but it must be remembered that
Judges are not to inquire or speculate what the
Law ought to he, but , what the Law
,is. My
Lord Cone, a great Judge, and, I think, standard
of the Common Lacir.ot this Realm, states it as
his Opinion, and to have been the opinion of
learned men before his time, Elea Regrating was
.an Offence at Common Law. I think we ought'
to see What intelligence we can obtain from this
source.
.The Common Law of the Land is talk-
ed of in a Way- that, if it be light, I know. not
how to take it. I shOuld have thought that a
majority of the Gentlemen of the Bar had held
this to he'an offence at the Common Law : this'.
appears 'to • have always been the prevailing opi-•
mon, as we colleet Refrom the best Text Writers,'
nor do I think :that what we .find stated as the
Common Law in COKE or in BLACKSTONE upon
this subjetteis to be laid aside, because we cannot
find it iii BiteceroN, who, by the bye, echs a Ci-
vilian, I think;': or in Gees:met, or some
others of the oldest Writers. I value highly the
labors of these men, for they were-very learned,
and they. conferred great favours en..theierpeete-
rity ; but whoever reads and examines them with
the greatest care, will return from his studies
without possessing great information on the point
now before us, namely, how the Law ought to,be
administered upon this Indictment. Why, then,
what is the 'state of the case, and by what test
are we to judge of the question I I have said al-
ready, that the text is to be ,colleaed from the
best Writers, and I have said what that text is ;
to this we must add the declaration of Parliament
itself; and that declaration is to be found in the
Mt of Edward the Sixth; for although that An
is repealed, yet we are at liberty still to look in -,
to that Mt, to see whaher it was _declaratory of
what was then understood to be the Common Law,
and that is manifest by its using the word ". de-
dare," and the Legislature in those dab's threw
no words away. My Brother Basr has argued
this case most ingeniously and ably.. I 'should .
'not be doing justice to my feelings if I were not
to say so ; 'but I think he has gone beyond the
point where his own real judgment would have
direaed.him to stop. He said, that a Statute
cannot be considered as a Declaratory Statute,
unless it be so named,' and that the usual course
.was, in Declaratory Statutes, first to state what
the Law was, and then to declare it, and that
there is no other Declaratory Statute among else
ancient Rolls of Parliament. Now, I verily be,
lieve there are many. Lord COIOE tells us, and
every Lawyer whose name appears in our books
to deserve the name. of a Lawyer, tells us, that
the Legislature using the word " declare," is to
be understood as making that Statute a Pecla-
ratory Law ; for at the time of Edward VI. and
before it, there was not that verbiagc.which haS
found its way into modern Statutes—Every' word
had a meaningre-Every'word was weighed almost
like gold dust before the Legislature adopted it,and
allowed it a place in its ads. Mr.LAve, with great
earnestness, for to great abilities, he sometimes,
does add great earnestness, challenged the whole:
Bar to shew a single-Record, except the repealed
Statute of Edward the Vlth, in which Regrating
is stated as a Crime. This. has been.well answer.'
ed by his Learned Coadjutor, my,. Brother BEST,
himself." Here his Lordship quoted the Roll
which had been alluded to Ay Mr. Serjeant BEST.
"I-laving thus gone ,through the written Law ;'
let us come to the opinioni of learned men, and'
here we are in a miserable state indeed.—l do
not blame Mr. LAW for chargitig what I stated
to, the jury to be iniperfea; for I dare say, I did
not with pedal accuracy state it ; but I cannot
help observing, that the Learned Gentlemen who
have argued for the arrest of this judgment, have'
not quite agreed in all points. , I do not know
whether Or notehey held a consultation, I rather
think . they did not upon this occasion ; for Mr.
Jew/ is clear there is no. Common Law by which
Regrating is deemed an Offence, end he defies any
body to prdve there is. My 'Brother •BEO', with,
I think, a better aim at the Case, adMits. that
Regrating 'may be an offence at Common Law,
provided it be with intent to raise the Price of
the ArtiCle; 'or- to produce any public mischief ;
but he contends there should he no Judgmeot in
this Case, beCause there is no such Averment
upon this Record. Now I say, we have the
opinions of learned men from the earliest tines,
stating that Regrating is an offence by., the,Cont-
' mon:Law -of this Land ; and here I beg to be
understood as grounding myself mainly upon my
Lord Comic. It is invidious to remember what
has been said, Ithiek unadvisedly, flippantly,
and rashly, -of that, great Lawyer, and I do not
know what would become of my Lord COKE'S
eharaaer, if what liras said of him :of late years
had all the weight it was intended to .have ; for
some body or other (an. allusion .to Mr. Brirke)
who has not. given us his name, who dates his
observations from Beaconsfield, (but it is not
every one who chases to date his Works from
Beaconsfield, that is entitled to the same venera-
don as the great ,Statesman who
:once resided
there) has told us, that the Labours of the Legis-
lature, and those who afterwards supported them,
'were very improperly 'rescued from the. moth that
ought eo have Aestroyed. them. I, do not think
that this is a' sentence which wOUld• becomeethe
Professor's Chair, ,nor does it exhibit much
knowledge .of either the Common or Civi