Again, Mr. Hallam says, if the word vel, be rendered by and,, "the meaning will be, that no person shall be disseized, &c., except upon a lawful cause of action.", This is true; but it does not follow that any cause of action, founded on statute only,, is therefore a "lawful, cause of action," within the meaning of legem terrae, , or the Common Law., Within the meaning of the legem terrae, of Magna Carta, nothing but a common law, cause of action is a "lawful", one. CHAPTER III. ADDITIONAL PROOFS OF THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF JURORS If any evidence, extraneous to the history and language of Magna Carta, were needed. to prove that, by that chapter which guaranties the trial by jury, all was meant that has now been ascribed to it, and that the legislation of the king was to be of no authority with the jury beyond what they chose to allow to it, and that the juries were to limit the punishments to be inflicted, we should find that evidence in various sources, such as the laws, customs, and characters of their ancestors on the continent, and of the northern Europeans generally; in the legislation and customs that immediately succeeded Magna Carta; in the oaths that have at different times been administered to jurors, &c;., &c;. This evidence can be exhibited here but partially. To give it all would require too much space and labor SECTION I Weakness of the Regal Authority. Hughes, in his preface to his translation of Horne's "Mirror of Justices," (a book written in the time of Edward I, 1272 to 1307,) giving a concise view of the laws of England generally, says: "Although in the Saxon's time I find the usual words of the acts then to have been edictum, (edict,) constitutio, (statute,) little mention being made of the commons, yet I further find that, tum demum Leges vim et vigorem habuerunt, cum fuerunt non modo institutae sed firmatae approbatione communitatis." (The laws had force and vigor only when they were not only enacted, but confirmed by the approval of the community.) The Mirror of Justices itself also says, (ch. 1, sec. 3,) in speaking "Of the first Constitutions of the Ancient King." "Many ordinances were made by many kings, until the time of the king that now is (Edward I.); the which ordinances were abused, or not used by many, nor very current, because they were not put in writing, and certainly published." Mirror of Justices, p. 6. Hallam says: "The Franks, Lombards, and Saxons seem alike to have been jealous of judicial authority; and averse to surrendering what concerned every man's private right, out of the hands of his neighbors and equals." 1 Middle Ages, 271. The "judicial authority," here spoken of, was the authority of the kings, (who at that time united the office of both legislators and judges,), and not of a separate department of government, called the judiciary, like what has existed in more modern times. [1] Hume says: