They are related to each other as oral tradition and the Bible are in theology. The Common Law
embodies the ancient general and local customs of the English people, handed down by word of
mouth from time immemorial, and afterwards recorded in the decisions of judges who are regarded
as the living oracles of interpretation and application, and whose decisions must be adhered to in
similar cases of litigation. It is Anglo-Saxon in its roots, and moulded by Norman lawyers, under
the influence of Christian principles of justice and equity. Blackstone, the standard expounder of
English law, says, "Christianity is a part of the Common Law of England."^417 Hence the laws against
religious offences, as blasphemy, profane swearing, desecration of the Lord’s Day, apostasy from
Christianity, and heresy.^418
The Christian character of English legislation is due in large measure to the piety of the
Anglo-Saxon kings, especially Alfred the Great (849–901), and Edward III., the Confessor
1004–1066, canonized by Alexander III., 1166), who prepared digests of the laws of the realm.
Their piety was, of course, ascetic and monastic, but enlightened for their age and animated by the
spirit of justice and charity. The former is styled Legum Anglicanarum Conditor, the latter Legum
Anglicanarum Restitutor.
Alfred’s Dome-Book or Liber justicialis was lost during the irruption of the Danes, but
survived in the improved code of Edward the Confessor. Alfred was for England what Charlemagne
was for France and Germany, a Christian ruler, legislator, and educator of his people. He is esteemed
"the wisest, best, and greatest king that ever reigned in England." Although he was a great sufferer
from epilepsy or some similar bodily infirmity which seized him suddenly from time to time and
made him despair of life, he performed, like St. Paul in spite of his thorn in the flesh, an incredible
amount of work. The grateful memory of his people ascribed to him institutions and laws, rights
and privileges which existed before his time, but in many respects he was far ahead of his age.
When he ascended the throne, "hardly any one south of the Thames could understand the ritual of
the church or translate a Latin letter." He conceived the grand scheme of popular national education.
For this end he rebuilt the churches and monasteries which had been ruined by the Danes, built
new ones, imported books from Rome, invited scholars from the Continent to his court, translated
with their aid Latin works (as Gregory’s Pastoral Care, Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, and Boethius’s
Consolations of Philosophy) into the Anglo-Saxon, collected the laws of the country, and remodelled
the civil and ecclesiastical organization of his kingdom.
His code is introduced with the Ten Commandments and other laws taken from the Bible.
It protects the stranger in memory of Israel’s sojourn in Egypt; it gives the Christian slave freedom
in the seventh year, as the Mosaic law gave to the Jewish bondman; it protects the laboring man in
his Sunday rest; it restrains blood thirsty passions of revenge by establishing bots or fines for
(^417) Comment. Bk IV. ch. 4. The same may be said of the United States as far as they have adopted the Common Law of
the mother country. It is so declared by the highest courts of New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, and by many eminent
judges, but with this essential modification that those parts of the Common Law of England which imply the union of church
and state are inapplicable to the United States where they are separated. Justice Strong (l.c. p. 32) says: "The laws and institutions
of all the States are built on the foundation of reverence for Christianity." The court of Pennsylvania states the law in this
manner: "Christianity is and always has been a part of the Common Law of this State. Christianity without the spiritual artillery
of European countries—not Christianity founded on any particular religious tenets—not Christianity with an established church
and titles and spiritual courts, but Christianity with liberty of conscience to all men."
(^418) The statute de haeretico comburendo, passed in 1401 (Henry IV. c. 15), was still in force under Elizabeth when two
Anabaptists were burned alive, and under James I. when two Arians were burned.