corded in writing, and are usually collected and
published in books. The word _statute_ is from the Latin _statuo_, to
set, fix, or establish.

Sec.3. The _common law_ is not a code of written laws enacted by a
legislature, but consists of rules of action which have become binding
from long usage and established custom. It is said to be founded in
reason and the principles of justice. The common law of England was
brought over by our ancestors, and established here before the
revolution. Some of the states, in their constitutions, adopted after
the revolution, declared it to be the law of their respective states;
and it has continued to be law in all the states, and is still so
considered, except such parts as have been altered or repealed by
constitutional or legislative enactments, or by usage.

Sec.4. The most valuable rights protected by law are the rights of personal
security and personal liberty. The right of _personal security_ is the
right to be secure from injury to our persons or good names. By
_personal liberty_ is meant the freedom of our bodies or persons from
restraint or confinement. Provisions guarantying these rights have been
incorporated into our national constitution, and the constitutions of
the several states.

Sec.5. The right of personal security is also protected by the law, by
which a man, on showing reasonable cause of danger of personal injury,
may require his adversary to be bound with sureties to keep the peace.
And for violence committed, the offender may be prosecuted in behalf of
the state and punished, and is liable also to the party aggrieved in a
civil suit for damages.

Sec.6. This right is further protected by the law which permits a man to
exercise the natural right of self-defense. In defending his person in
case of a felonious assault, he may lawfully take the life of his
assailant. This is by law pronounced justifiable homicide, and is
allowed also in defense of one's property against felonious and violent
injury. But homicide (man-killing) is not justifiable in case of a
private injury, nor upon the pretense of necessity when the party is not
free from fault in bringing that necessity upon himself.

Sec.7. The right to be secure in our good names, which is included in the
right of personal security, is protected by the law against slander and
libel. A _slander_ is a false and malicious report or statement tending
to injure another in his reputation or business, and which,