The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-07 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—Will you permit me to direct your attention
to the folios% ing passage, which occurs in the third
section of the Introduction to Blackstone's Commen-
taries :—" At the dawn of the Reformation, in the
reign of King HenryVi I 1., it was enacted in Parl;ament
(stet. 25 Hen. 8, cap. 20, revived and confimed 6y
I Elizabeth, cap. 1) that a review should be had of the
Canon Law ; and till such review should be made, all
canons, constitutions, ordinances, and synodals provin-
cial being then already made, and not repugnant to the
law of the land, or the King's prerogative, should still
be used and executed. And as no such review has
yet been perfected, upon this statute now depends
the authority of the Canon Law in England."
Such being the case, would it not be advisable that Mr.
T. Duncombe, or some other Liberal Member of Par-
liament, should move for leave to bring in a Bill to repeal
the statute in question as the most effectual method of
preventing for the future the perpetration of
such acts of oppression as that of which
poor John Thorogood is the victim ? A motion of this
sort ought to command the support of all those who
profess to admire the wisdom of our ancestors. Our
forefathers invariably, up to the time of Henry VIII.,
resisted successfully every attempt to introduce the
eanon law into this country. Witness the famous de-
claration of the Parliament of 20 Henry 111.,
when the Prelates endeavoured to procure an Act re-
lating to the legitimacy of bastards, founded on the pro-
visions of the Canon Law, on which occasion, " says the
Parliament Roil, " all the Earls and Barons, with one
voice, answered that they would not change the laws of
England, which had hitherto been used and approved,"
" No/unius leges 4nglice niutarc." And again, in the
11th Richardll., in consequence of a similar attempt,
the Nobility declared " That the realm of England bath
never been unto this hour, neither by the consent of our
Lord the King, and the Lords of Parliament, shall it
ever be ruled or governed by the civil law," and in this
instance I trust that we shall for the future be guided
by tho wisdom of our ancestors.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
AN ENGLISHMAN.

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UNDER THE MANAGEMENT OF MADAME

VESTRIS.
THIS EVENING, MAY 7,
Willis' presented Shakspere's Comedy of
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