Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	according_a	law_n	write_v	2,359	5	5.6279	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66940	An appendix to the Life of the Right Revd Father in God Seth, Lord Bishop of Salisbury written by Dr. Walter Pope ... in a letter to the author.	Wood, Thomas, 1661-1722.	1697 (1697)	Wing W3407; ESTC R21051	12,308	38

the Committee for the Reformation of that University and as the Clerk belonging to that Committee inform'd Mr. Wood and others many Years since Vindication of the Oxford Historiographer c. p. 27. You have added further That he went not to his Grave unpunish'd for he liv'd to see his Book censur'd and burnt himself expell'd the University obliged to recant and give Security not to offend any more in that kind And this he underwent for writing too lavishly concerning a Great Man c. I will not question the Legality of that Sentence I shall content my self to tell you that a Writer may relate a matter of fact upon an evidence sufficient for History which cannot amount to a Justification in a Court of Law There may be many things true in your Account of the Life of Bishop Ward but I believe you can hardly bring Two Witnesses that will swear to the truth of every particular Paragraph If the Sentence was legal and if a Person deceased many years ago can properly speaking suffer by a Reflection in History and the Heir bring an Action of Defamation for it History must be laid aside all Enquiries into the Characters of Great Men in the Ages before us and all controversial Discourses where the Opinions Conduct and Behaviour of our Fore-Fathers of necessity must be examined The Virtues of Men ought to be display'd and their Vices exposed for our instruction And if the Historian is mistaken his Punishment is to be despised and neglected for a bad Writer Postulatur novo ac tunc primum audito Crimine says Tacitus of Cremutius Cordus quod editis Annalibus laudatogue M. Bruto C. Cassium Romanorum ultimum dixisset He goes on a little further Libros per aediles cremandos censuêre Patres sed manserunt occultati editi Quo magis socordiam eorum irridere libet qui praesenti potentiâ credunt extingui posse sequentis aevi Memoriam nam contrà punitis ingeniis gliscit autoritas c. Tacit. Annal. lib. 4. But perhaps you or some other would willingly have this Question discuss'd viz. Whether an Injury real or by Word or Writing may be offered to a Deceas'd Person terminating the Injury there according to the Civil Law of the Romans as Mr. Wood's Case was and by which Law Mr. Wood's Book was condemned so as an Action may be brought by the Heir or Articles exhibited by way of Indictment by him or any other I shall readily give my thoughts upon this Question provided what I say is not construed to extend to arraign the Legality of the Sentence against Mr. Wood. For I thank God I have learned so much Sense and Manners as to know that the Determinations of Courts of Judicature ought to be respected and revered or that a Sentence may be just tho you or I do not understand it To prevent Confusion in the Laws and Cases throughout the Books of the Civil Law which may delude some unwary Persons I shall first acknowlege that a real Injury as opposed to a verbal one may be offered to a dead Person and that it is punishable by way of Articles if it affects the Heir in Reputation or Inheritance and that an Action then also shall accrue to the Heir for Recompence For there the Estate and Reputation of the Heir himself is concerned But if the Injury for the Propriety of the Word thus applied shall not yet be questioned terminates in the deceased Person only and is so pleaded without any regard to or for the Heir I cannot find any thing in that Law sufficient to support the Assertion For Et si fortè Cadaveri defuncti fit injuria cui Haeredes bonorumve Possessores extitimus Injuriarum NOSTRO nomine habemus Actionem Spectat enim ad Existimationem nostram that is Haeredis siqua ei fiat Injuria IDEMque si fama ejus cui Haeredes extitimus lacessatur Dig. Lib. 47. tit 10 De Injuriis famosis Libellis And further in the sixth Paragraph Quoties autem funeri Testatoris vel cadaveri fit injuria si quidem post aditam Haereditatem fiat dicendum est Haeredi quodammodo factam Semper enim interest Defuncti Existimationem purgare quoties autem ante Haereditatem magis Haereditati sic Haeredi per Haereditatem acquiri Denique Iulianus scribit si Corpus Testatoris ante aditam Haereditatem detentum est acquiri Haereditati Actiones non esse Dubium I say the Injury in these cases follows the Inheritance and is terminated in the Heir in the Person living and upon his account only is the Complaint to be heard And this seems very reasonable for if the Estate and Inheritance is given to him it ought to be his Duty to bury the Testator to defend his Body while above-ground from the Rudeness of Creditors and from the barbarous usage of any other Persons and that according to his quality a Monument should be erected in his memory and afterwards preserved by him c. Secondly I conceive that a Verbal Injury or Injury by Word or Writing cannot be offer'd to a deceas'd Person by this Law terminating the Injury there so as an Action may be brought by the Heir for it or that there is any such Crime or Punishment Lest the contrary may be thought to be inferred from the foregoing Laws those parts must be explained which seem to look that way As Spectat enim ad Existimationem Haeredis siqua Defuncto fiat injuria Idemque si fama ejus cui Haeredes extitimus lacessatur for there also spectat ad Existimationem sive famam Haeredis I say the Text does not mean that this can be done by Discourse or Writing A real Injury affecting the Reputation or Estate of the Heir himself is to be understood throughout the whole Law as appears by the leading and subsequent Expressions in it The leading instances are Offering an Injury to the Dead Carcass whereby an Action does accrue to the Heir in his own name upon this Account Spectat ENIM ad existimationem Haeredis if an Injury of that Nature is offered to it The Reason being given upon that Instance the Discredit coming upon the Heir must be referred to that Act or to some other real Injury that is like it Then follows with reference to the Injury offered to the Heir IDEMque si fama ejus cui Haeredes extitimus lacessatur not by Words or Writing but by some Real Act as the Gloss upon the Word lacessatur intimates and gives Directions for an Instance to the Institutions in the Title Qui ex quibus causis Man par 1. licet autem Where because the General Law of Aelius Sentius hinder'd the Manumising of Bond-men if it was in fraud to the Creditors an Exception is introduced and Provision is made that a Bond-man shall be made free to act as Heir to the deceased notwithstanding that the Creditor suffer by his Freedom and this as the