419 power to be in the crown, though many of them very strongly imply it. The statute 2 Ric. II. c. 4. fpeaks of mariners being arrested and retained for the king's fervice, as of a thing well known and practised without difpute; and provides a remedy against their running away. By a later ftatute', if any waterman, who uses the river Thames, fhall hide himself during the execution of any commission of preffing for the king's service, he is liable to heavy penalties. By another", no fisherman shall be taken by the queen's commiffion to ferve as a mariner; but the commiffion fhall be firft brought to two justices of the peace, inhabiting near the fea coaft where the mariners are to be taken, to the intent that the juftices may [420] chufe out and return such a number of able-bodied men, as in the commiffion are contained, to serve her majesty. And, by others", efpecial protections are allowed to feamen in particular circumstances, to prevent them from being im preffed. And ferrymen are also faid to be privileged from being impreffed, at common law. All which do most evidently imply a power of impreffing to refide fomewhere; and, if any where, it muft from the fpirit of our conftitution, as well as from the frequent mention of the king's commiffion, refide in the crown alone (11). 1 Stat. 2 & 3 Ph. & M. c. 16. m Stat. 5 Eliz. c. 5. n See Stat. 7 & W. III. c. 21. 2 Ann. c. 6. 4 & 5 Ann. c. 19. 13 Geo. II. c. 17. 2 Geo. III. c. 15. 11 Geo. (11) The legality of preffing is fo fully established, that it will Dot now admit of a doubt in any court of juftice. In the cafe of the King v. Jubbs, lord Mansfield says, "the power of preffing " is founded upon immemorial usage, allowed for ages. If it be "fo founded and allowed for ages, it can have no ground to stand upon; nor can it be vindicated or juftified by any reason but the fafety of the ftate. And the practice is deduced from that "trite maxim of the conftitutional law of Engand, that private "mischief had better be fubmitted to, than public detriment and inconvenience fhould enfue.' And though it be a legal power, it may, like many others, be abused in the exercife of it." Cowp. 517. In that cafe, the defendant was brought up by 9 babeas BUT, besides this method of impreffing, (which is only defenfible from public necessity, to which all private confiderations must give way) there are other ways that tend to the increase of seamen, and manning the royal navy. Parishes may bind out poor boys apprentices to masters of merchant. men, who shall be protected from impreffing for the first three years; and if they are impreffed afterwards, the masters shall be allowed their wages: great advantages in point of wages are given to volunteer feamen in order to induce them to enter into his majesty's service; and every foreign seaman, who during a war shall serve two years in any man of war, merchantman, or privateer, is naturalized ipfo facto". About the middle of king William's reign, a scheme was fet on foot' for a register of seamen to the number of thirty thousand, for a constant and regular supply of the king's fleet; with great privileges to the registered men, and, on the other hand, heavy penalties in cafe of their non-appearance when called for: but this registry, being judged to be ineffectual as well as oppreffive, was abolished by statute 9 Ann. c. 21. 2. THE method of ordering feamen in the royal fleet, and keeping up a regular discipline there, is directed by certain express rules, articles, and orders, firft enacted by the autho rity of parliament foon after the restoration; but fince new[421] modelled and altered, after the peace of Aix la Chapelle, to remedy fome defects which were of fatal confequence in copducting the preceding war. In these articles of the navy almost every poffible offence is fet down, and the punishment thereof annexed: in which refpect the feamen have much the advantage over their brethren in the land fervice; whofe ar P Stat, 2 Ann. c. 6. q Stat. 31 Geo. II. c. 10. r Stat. 13 Geo. II. c. 3. s Stat. 7 & 8 W. III. c. 21. t Stat. 13 Car. II. ft. 1. c. 9. u Stat. 22 Geo. II. c. 23, amended by 19 Geo. III. c. 17. habeas corpus, upon the ground that he was entitled to an exemp tion; but the court held that the exemption was not made out, and he was remanded to the fhip from which he had been brought.. I ticles of war are not enacted by parliament, but framed from time to time at the pleasure of the crown. Yet from whence this distinction arofe, and why the executive power, which is limited so properly with regard to the navy, should be fo extenfive with regard to the army, it is hard to assign a reafon unless it proceeded from the perpetual establishment of the navy, which rendered a permanent law for their regulation expedient; and the temporary duration of the army, which fubfifted only from year to year, and might therefore with lefs danger be fubjected to difcretionary government. But, whatever was apprehended at the first formation of the mutiny act, the regular renewal of our standing force at the entrance of every year has made this diftinction idle. For, if from experience past we may judge of future events, the army is now laftingly ingrafted into the British constitution ; with this fingularly fortunate circumftance, that any branch of the legislature may annually put an end to it's legal exiftence, by refusing to concur in it's continuance. 3. WITH regard to the privileges conferred on failors, they are pretty much the fame with thofe conferred on foldiers; with regard to relief when maimed, or wounded, or fuperannuated, either by county rates, or the royal hospital at Greenwich; with regard alfo to the exercife of trades, and the power of making nuncupative teftaments: and farther, no feaman aboard his majcfly's fhips can be arrested for any debt, unless the fame be fwern to amount to at least twenty pounds; though, by the annual mutiny acts, a fol. dier may be arrested for a debt which extends to half that value, but not to a lefs amount (12). w Stat. 31 Cco. II. c 10. (12) But by the late mutiny acts, a foldier, like a feaman, cannot be arrested or taken in execution for any debt lefs than zo 1. The ftatutes except any criminal matter, and thereupon it has been decided, that a foldier may be committed for refufing to indemnify the parish against a baftard child; or for difobeying an order of justices to pay a weekly allowance for it. 5 T. R. 156. 2 T. R. 270. Here Here it may not be improper to add, that fince the time of Queen Anne, a variety of statutes have been passed to encourage attempts to discover the longitude at fea; and by the 14 Geo. III. c. 66. which has repealed the former ftatutes, it is enacted, that the author of any useful and practicable plan to discover the longitude at fea, either by time-keepers or aftronomical calcula tions, fhall be entitled to a reward of 5000/. if the longitude can be determined at fea within a degree of a great circle, or fixty geographical miles; to 7500l. if within of a degree; and to 10,000l. if within a degree. And if any ufeful difcovery shall be made refpecting the longitude, though not entitled to thofe great rewards, or if any beneficial improvement fhall be introduced into navigation, the commiffioners of the longitude may award fuch lefs fum as they may think the ingenuity or industry of the author deferves. And by 16 Geo. III. c. 6. if any fhip difcovers a paffage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, beyond the 52d degree North latitude, the owner or commander, if a king's fhip, fhall receive 20,000 l.; and 50col. fhall be given in like manner to the firft fhip that fhall approach within ohe degree of the North pole. CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH. OF MASTER AND SERVANT. HAV AVING thus commented on the rights and duties of perfons, as standing in the public relations of magiftrates and people, the method I have marked out now leads me to consider their rights and duties in private oeconomical relations. THE three great relations in private life are, 1. That of mafter and fervant; which is founded in convenience, whereby a man is directed to call in the affiftance of others, where his own skill and labour will not be fufficient to answer the cares incumbent upon him. 2. That of husband and wife ; which is founded in nature, but modified by civil fociety: the one directing man to continue and multiply his fpecies, the other prefcribing the manner in which that natural impulfe must be confined and regulated. 3. That of parent and child, which is confequential to that of marriage, being it's principal end and design: and it is by virtue of this relation that infants are protected, maintained, and educated. But, fince the parents, on whom this care is primarily incumbent, may be snatched away by death before they have completed their duty, the law has therefore provided a fourth relation; 4. That of guardian and ward, which is a kind of artificial parentage, in order to fupply the deficiency, whenever it happens, of the natural. Of all thefe relations in their order. |