Likewise âlawsâ and âchartersâ are taken promiscuously for the same thing. Yet charters are donations of the sovereign; and not laws, but exemptions from law. The phrase of a law is, jubeo, injungo , âI commandâ and âenjoinâ: the phrase of a charter is, dedi, concessi , âI have given,â âI have grantedâ: but what is given or granted to a man is not forced upon him by a law. A law may be made to bind all the subjects of a commonwealth: a liberty or charter is only to one man, or some one part of the people. For to say all the people of a commonwealth have liberty in any case whatsoever, is to say, that in such case there hath been no law made; or else having been made, is now abrogated.
Of Crimes, Excuses, and Extenuations