lived under other written Lawes, and afterwards govern them by the
same Lawes, by which they were governed before; yet those Lawes are the
Civill Lawes of the Victor, and not of the Vanquished Common-wealth, For
the Legislator is he, not by whose authority the Lawes were first made,
but by whose authority they now continue to be Lawes. And therefore
where there be divers Provinces, within the Dominion of a Common-wealth,
and in those Provinces diversity of Lawes, which commonly are called the
Customes of each severall Province, we are not to understand that such
Customes have their Force, onely from Length of Time; but that they were
antiently Lawes written, or otherwise made known, for the Constitutions,
and Statutes of their Soveraigns; and are now Lawes, not by vertue of
the Praescription of time, but by the Constitutions of their present
Soveraigns. But if an unwritten Law, in all the Provinces of a Dominion,
shall be generally observed, and no iniquity appear in the use thereof;
that law can be no other but a Law of Nature, equally obliging all
man-kind.
Some Foolish Opinions Of Lawyers Concerning The Making Of Lawes