se and substance the very same with that which the Saxon kings
used to take at their coronations_. * * And at Barkhamstead, in the
fourth year of his reign, in the presence of Lanfranc, Archbishop of
Canterbury, for the quieting of the people, he swore that he would
inviolably observe the good and approved ancient laws which had been
made by the devout and pious kings of England, his ancestors, and
chiefly by King Edward; and we are told that the people then departed
in good humor."--_Kelham's Preliminary Discourse to the Laws of
William the Conqueror._ See, also, _1 Hale's History of the Common
Law_, 186.

Crabbe says that William the Conqueror "solemnly swore that he would
observe the good and approved laws of Edward the Confessor."--_Crabbe's
History of the English Law_, p. 43.

The successors of William, up to the time of Magna Carta, probably all
took the same oath, according to the custom of the kingdom; although
there may be no historical accounts extant of the oath of each separate
king. But history tells us specially that Henry I., Stephen, and Henry
II., confirmed these ancient laws and customs. It appears, also, that
the barons desired of John (what he afterwards granted by Magna Carta)
"_that the laws and liberties of King Edward_, with other privileges
granted to the kingdom and church of England, might be confirmed, as
they were contained in the charters of Henry the First; further
alleging, _that at the time of his absolution, he promised by his oath
to observe these very laws and liberties_."--_Echard's History of
England_, p. 105-6.

It would appear, from the following authorities, that since Magna Carta
the form of the coronation oath has been "_to maintain the law of the
land_,"--meaning that law as embodied in Magna Carta. Or perhaps it is
more probable that the ancient form has been still observed, but that,
as its substance and purport were "_to maintain the law of the land_,"
this latter form of expression has been used, in the instances here
cited, from motives of brevity and convenience. This supposition is the
more probable, from the fact that I find no statute prescribing a change
in the form of the oath until 1688.

That Magna Carta was considered as embodying "the law of the land," or
"common law," is shown by a statute passed by Edward I., wherein he
"grants," or concedes,

"That the Charter of Liberties and the Charter of the Forest * *
shall be kept