Note 57 — Chapter VI
Max Farrand translation
"And whereas the laws of England are the birthright of the people thereof." Act of Settlement IV, Stubbs, Select Charters, 7th ed., 1890, p. 531. Birthright = right by birth, the rights, privileges or possessions to which one is entitled by birth; inheritance, patrimony (specifically used of the special rights of the first-born). Murray, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, s. h. v.