he many salutary laws, particularly the
_habeas corpus_ act, passed under Charles the second. To these
succeeded _the bill of rights_, or declaration delivered by the lords
and commons to the prince and princess of Orange 13 February 1688; and
afterwards enacted in parliament, when they became king and queen:
which declaration concludes in these remarkable words; "and they do
claim, demand, and insist upon all and singular the premises, as their
undoubted rights and liberties." And the act of parliament itself[l]
recognizes "all and singular the rights and liberties asserted and
claimed in the said declaration to be the true, antient, and
indubitable rights of the people of this kingdom." Lastly, these
liberties were again asserted at the commencement of the present
century, in the _act of settlement_[m], whereby the crown is limited
to his present majesty's illustrious house, and some new provisions
were added at the same fortunate aera for better securing our
religion, laws, and liberties; which the statute declares to be "the
birthright of the people of England;" according to the antient
doctrine of the common law[n].

[Footnote h: 2 Inst. proem.]

[Footnote i: 25 Edw. I.]

[Footnote k: 2 Inst. proem.]

[Footnote l: 1 W. and M. st. 2. c. 2.]

[Footnote m: 12 & 13 W. III. c. 2.]

[Footnote n: Plowd. 55.]

THUS much for the _declaration_ of our rights and liberties. The
rights themselves thus defined by these several statutes, consist in a
number of private immunities; which will appear, from what has been
premised, to be indeed no other, than either that _residuum_ of
natural liberty, which is not required by the laws of society to be
sacrificed to public convenience; or else those civil privileges,
which society hath engaged to provide, in lieu of the natural
liberties so given up by individuals. These therefore were formerly,
either by inheritance or purchase, the rights of all mankind; but, in
most other countries of the world being now more or less debased and
destroyed, they at present may be said to remain, in a peculiar and
emphatical manner, the rights of the people of England. And these may
be reduced to three principal or primary articles; the right of
personal security, the right of personal liberty; and the right of
private property: because as there is no other known method of
compulsion, or of abridging man's natural free will, but by an
infringement or diminution of one or other of these impor