Note 405 — Chapter XVI · ON THE STATE OF THE CONSTITUTION IN THE REIGNS OF ANNE, GEORGE I., AND GEORGE II. (continued 2)

This effect of continual new statutes is well pointed out in a speech ascribed to Sir William Wyndham in 1734: "The learned gentleman spoke (he says) of the prerogative of the Crown, and asked us if it had lately been extended beyond the bounds prescribed to it by law. Sir, I will not say that there have been lately any attempts to extend it beyond the bounds prescribed by law; but I will say that these bounds have been of late so vastly enlarged that there seems to be no great occasion for any such attempt. What are the many penal laws made within these forty years, but so many extensions of the prerogative of the Crown, and as many diminutions of the liberty of the subject? And whatever the necessity was that brought us into the enacting of such laws, it was a fatal necessity; it has greatly added to the power of the Crown, and particular care ought to be taken not to throw any more weight into that scale." Parl. Hist. ix. 463.

Among the modern statutes which have strengthened the hands of the executive power, we should mention the riot act (1 Geo. I. stat. 2, c. 5), whereby all persons tumultuously assembled to the disturbance of the public peace, and not dispersing within one hour after proclamation made by a single magistrate, are made guilty of a capital felony. I am by no means controverting the expediency of this law; but, especially when combined with the aid of a military force, it is surely a compensation for much that may seem to have been thrown into the popular scale.