And if it appears,
from their ancient books, writings, and records, that the bishop, in
this case, according to the rules prescribed by these authorities, has
done what an ordinary would have done, in such case, then we should
adjudge it good, otherwise not.' To decide this question, they would
have to turn to the ancient writings and records of the canon law,
in which they would find evidence of the laws of advowsons, _quare
impedit_, the duties of bishops and ordinaries, for which terms Prisot
could never have meant to refer them to the Old or New Testament, _les
saincts scriptures_, where surely they would not be found. A license
which should permit 'ancien scripture' to be translated 'holy
scripture,' annihilates at once all the evidence of language. With such
a license, we might reverse the sixth commandment into 'Thou shalt not
omit murder.' It would be the more extraordinary in this case, where
the mistranslation was to effect the adoption of the whole code of the
Jewish and Christian laws into the text of our statutes, to convert
religious offences into temporal crimes, to make the breach of every
religious precept a subject of indictment, submit the question of
idolatry, for example, to the trial of a jury, and to a court, its
punishment, to the third and fourth generation of the offender. Do we
allow to our judges this lumping legislation?
The term 'common law,' although it has more than one meaning, is
perfectly definite, _secundum subjectam materiem_.
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