Studies in Scottish History; Chiefly Ecclesiastical

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1892. Excerpt: ... SAMUEL KUTHEKFUKD. HEN you explore an island, it is sometimes an advantage to step ashore at a point opposite to that at which previous voyagers have landed. Most men who know Samuel Rutherfurd at all know him as the author of Rutherfurd!8 Letters. When I knew him first, I knew him as the author of Lex Rex. Lex Rex is one of the few important books on constitutional law which Scotland has produced. Bearing the sub-title of A Dispute far the Just Prerogative of King and People, it is really a discussion of the then pressing question of absolutism. Whether the King be above the Law, or no, involved in those days the practical questions whether he could modify the law and dispense with its exercise on the one hand, and whether the people, on the other hand, could resist him in defence of it. To solve these questions Rutherfurd had to go to the foundations of politics. Government in general, he lays it down, is from God, and is by His authority. But the particular form of government is by the voluntary choice of men; and the aptitude and temper of every commonwealth to monarchy rather than to democracy or aristocracy, is God's warrant and call to determine the wills and liberty of the people to pitch upon a monarchy, hie et nunc, rather than any other form of government, though all the three be from God. It follows that there remains a certain sovereignty in the people, and a right to modify or limit, and, in case of necessity, to recall the power already given, while that power must, of course, be always kept within the law. The right of the king is therefore a fiduciary right: he is trustee for the people whom God, by their own choice, has committed to him. And he is in trust in order to administer the law, not to break it, nor to dispense with it, nor ...