"It is accorded and established, that it shall not be commanded by the great seal, nor the little seal, to disturb or delay _common right_; and though such commandments do come, the justices shall not therefore leave (omit) to do right in any point."--_St. 2 Edward III._, ch. 8. (1328.) "That by commandment of the great seal, or privy seal, no point of this statute shall be put in delay; nor that the justices of whatsoever place it be shall let (omit) to do the _common law_, by commandment, which shall come to them under the great seal, or the privy seal."--_14 Edward III._, st. 1, ch. 14. (1340.) "It is ordained and established, that neither letters of the signet, nor of the king's privy seal, shall be from henceforth sent in damage or prejudice of the realm, nor in disturbance of the law" (the common law).--_11 Richard II._, ch. 10. (1387.) It is perfectly apparent from these statutes, and from the oath administered to the justices, that it was a matter freely confessed by the king himself, that his statutes were of no validity, if contrary to the common law, or "common right." The oath of the justices, before given, is, I presume, the same that has been administered to judges in England from the day when it was first prescribed to them, (1344,) until now. I do not find from the English statutes that the oath has ever been changed. The Essay on Grand Juries, before referred to, and supposed to have been written by _Lord Somers_, mentions this oath (page 73) as being still administered to judges, that is, in the time of Charles II., more than three hundred years after the oath was first ordained. If the oath has never been changed, it follows that judges have not only never been sworn to support any statutes whatever of the king, or of parliament, but that, for five hundred years past, they actually have been sworn to treat as invalid all statutes that were contrary to the common law. SECTION VI. _The Coronation Oath._ That the legislation of the king was of no authority over a jury, is further proved by the oath taken by the kings at their coronation. This oath seems to have been substantially the same, from the time of the _Saxon_ kings, down to the seventeenth century, as will be seen from the authorities hereafter given. The purport of the oath is, that the king swears _to maintain the law of the land_--that is, _the common law_. In other words, he swears "_to concede and preserve to the English people the laws and customs conceded to them by the ancient, just, and pious English kings, * * and especially the laws, customs, and liberties conceded to the clergy and people by the illustrious king Edward;" * * and "the just laws and customs which the common people have chosen, (quas vulgus elegit)_." These are the same laws and customs which were called by the general name of "_the law of the land_," or "_the common law_," and, with some slight additions, were embodied in _Magna Carta_.