Читать книгу Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John. With an Historical Introduction онлайн

179 страница из 194

I. Provisions classified according to the various prerogatives of the Crown which they affect.

Dr. Gneist^[194] adopts this principle of division, and arranges the chapters of Magna Carta into five groups according as they place legal limitations (1) on the feudal military power of the Crown, (2) on its judicial power, (3) on its police power, (4) on its financial power, or (5) furnish a legal sanction for the enforcement of the whole. In spite of Dr. Gneist’s high authority, it is doubtful whether an analysis of Magna Carta upon these somewhat arbitrary lines throws much light on its main objects or results. Such a division, if convenient for some purposes, seems artificial and unreal, since it is founded on distinctions which were not clearly formulated in the thirteenth century. The adoption of such a principle of classification with reference to a period when the various functions of the executive were still blended together indiscriminately is somewhat of an anachronism.^[195]

II. Provisions classified according as they are of a progressive, reactionary, or declaratory nature.