Note 16 — Chapter II

Perhaps the assertion in the text should be made with this qualification—that the words "per legem terræ," (according to the law of the land,) and the words "per legale judicium parium suorum," (according to the legal judgment of his peers,) imply that the king, before proceeding to any executive action, will take notice of "the law of the land," and of the legality of the judgment of the peers, and will execute upon the prisoner nothing except what the law of the land authorizes, and no judgments of the peers, except legal ones. With this qualification, the assertion in the text is strictly correct—that there is nothing in the whole chapter that grants to the king, or his judges, any judicial power at all. The chapter only describes and limits his executive power.