[Footnote c: The method of citing these acts of parliament is various. Many of our antient statutes are called after the name of the place, where the parliament was held that made them: as the statutes of Merton and Marlbridge, of Westminster, Glocester, and Winchester. Others are denominated entirely from their subject; as the statutes of Wales and Ireland, the _articuli cleri_, and the _praerogativa regis_. Some are distinguished by their initial words, a method of citing very antient; being used by the Jews in denominating the books of the pentateuch; by the christian church in distinguishing their hymns and divine offices; by the Romanists in describing their papal bulles; and in short by the whole body of antient civilians and canonists, among whom this method of citation generally prevailed, not only with regard to chapters, but inferior sections also: in imitation of all which we still call some of our old statutes by their initial words, as the statute of _quia emptores_, and that of _circumspecte agatis_. But the most usual method of citing them, especially since the time of Edward the second, is by naming the year of the king's reign in which the statute was made, together with the chapter, or particular act, according to it's numeral order; as, 9 Geo. II. c. 4. For all the acts of one session of parliament taken together make properly but one statute; and therefore when two sessions have been held in one year, we usually mention stat. 1. or 2. Thus the bill of rights is cited, as 1 W. & M. st. 2. c. 2. signifying that it is the second chapter or act, of the second statute or the laws made in the second sessions of parliament, held in the first year of king William and queen Mary.] FIRST, as to their several kinds. Statutes are either _general_ or _special_, _public_ or _private_. A general or public act is an universal rule, that regards the whole community; and of these the courts of law are bound to take notice judicially and _ex officio_; without the statute being particularly pleaded, or formally set forth by the party who claims an advantage under it. Special or private acts are rather exceptions than rules, being those which only operate upon particular persons, and private concerns; such as the Romans intitled _senatus-decreta_, in contradistinction to the _senatus-consulta_, which regarded the whole community[d]: and of these the judges are not bound to take notice, unless they be formally shewn and pleaded. Thus, to shew the distinction, the statute 13 Eliz. c. 10. to prevent spiritual persons from making leases for longer terms than twenty one years, or three lives, is a public act; it being a rule prescribed to the whole body of spiritual persons in the nation: but an act to enable the bishop of Chester to make a lease to A.B. for sixty years, is an exception to this rule; it concerns only the parties and the bishop's successors; and is therefore a private act. [Footnote d: Gravin. _Orig._ 1. Sec. 24.]