"The common law is sometimes called, by way of eminence, lex terrae,as in the statute of Magna Carta,chap. 29, where certainly the common law is principally intended by those words, aut per legem terrae;as appears by the exposition thereof in several subsequent statutes; and particularly in the statute of 28 Edward III., chap. 3, which is but an exposition and explanation of that statute. Sometimes it is called lex Angliae,as in the statute of Merton, cap. 9, "olurnus leqes Angliae mutari,"&c;., (We will that the laws of England be not changed). Sometimes it is called lex et consuetudo regni(the law and custom of the kingdom); as in all commissions of oyer and terminer; and in the statutes of 18 Edward I., cap. , and de quo warranto,and divers others. But most commonly it is called the Common Law, or the Common Law of England; as in the statute Articuli super Chartas,cap. 15, in the statute 25 Edward III., cap. 5, (4,) and infinite more records and statutes." 1 Hale's History of the Common Law, 128. This common law, or "law of the land," the king was sworn to maintain.This fact is recognized by a statute made at Westminster, in 1346, by Edward III., which commences in this manner: "Edward, by the Grace of God, &c;., &c;., to the Sheriff of Stafford, Greeting: Because that by divers complaints made to us, we have perceived that the law of the land, which we by oath are bound fo maintain,"&c;. St. 20 Edward III The foregoing authorities are cited to show to the unprofessional reader, what is well known to the profession, that legem terrae, the law of the land,mentioned in Magna Carta, was the common, ancient, fundamental law of the land, which the kings were bound by oath to observe; and that it did not include any statutes or laws enacted by the king himself, the legislative power of the nation. If the term legem terraehad included laws enacted by the king himself, the whole chapter of Magna Carta, now under discussion, would have amounted to nothing as a protection to liberty; because it would have imposed no restraint whatever upon the power of the king. The king could make laws at any time, and such ones as he pleased. He could, therefore, have done anything he pleased, by the law of the land,as well as in any other way, if his own laws had been "the law of the land."If his own laws had been "the law of the land," within the meaning of that term as used in Magna Carta, this chapter of Magna Carta woold have been sheer nonsense, inasmuch as the whole purpot of it would have been simply that "no man shall be arrested, imprisoned, or deprived of his freehold, or his liberties, or free customs, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner destroyed (by the king); nor shall the king proceed against him, nor send any one againist him with force and arms, unless by the judgment of his peers, or uness the king shall please to do so."