judged of informally by the king himself.

The word "legale"clearly did not mean that the judicium parium
suorum (judgment of his peers) should be a sentence which any
law (of the king) should require the peers to pronounce; for in that
case the sentence would not be the sentence of the peers, but only
the sentence of the law, (that is, of the king); and the peers would
be only a mouthpiece of the law, (that is, of the king,) in uttering
it.

"Per legem terrae."

One other phrase remains to be explained, viz., "per legem terrae,"
"by the law of the land."

All writers agree that this means the common law.Thus, Sir
Matthew Hale says:

"The common law is sometimes called, by way of eminence, lex
terrae,as in the statute of Magna Carta,chap. 29, where certainly
the common law is principally intended by those words, aut per
legem terrae;as appears by the exposition thereof in several
subsequent statutes; and particularly in the statute of 28 Edward
III., chap. 3, which is but an exposition and explanation of that
statute. Sometimes it is called lex Angliae,as in the statute of
Merton, cap. 9, "olurnus leqes Angliae mutari,"&c;., (We will that
the laws of England be not changed). Sometimes it is called lex et
consuetudo regni(the law and custom of the kingdom); as in all
commissions of oyer and terminer; and in the statutes of 18
Edward I., cap. , and de quo warranto,and divers others. But most