Ch. IX. Sec. L] Parens Patrice. — Infants. 1 55 and in default of their doing so, the inquisition cannot be ta- ken by the grand jury under their general charge from the Judge of Assize {a). It seems, however, that on the coroner^s default, it may be taken by the Justices of Oyer and Terminer, or of the Peace, or of the King's Bench [h). These inquisi- tions appear to be traversable {c). This forfeiture might, if strictly enforced, be ruinous to an innocent individual, and being founded on the superstition of darker ages, it has been gradually discountenanced. The coroner's jury usually find the value of the article to be as small as possible, and sometimes find the value of a part only of an entire article occasioning death ; a practice which the Court of King's Bench have tacitly sanctioned, by refusing to reform it, on application by the Crown or its grantee {d). CHAP. IX. Of the King as Parens Patriae. Sect. I. — As to Infants, Idiots, and Lunatics. The King is in legal contemplation the guardian of his peo- ple ; and in that amiable capacity is entitled, (or rather it is his Majesty's duty, in return for the allegiance paid him,) to take care of such of his subjects, as are legally unable, on ac- count of mental incapacity, whether it proceed from 1st. non- age : 2. idiocy : or 3. lunacy : to take proper care of tliem- selves and their property {e). 1. This superintending power over infants was originally in the King by the common law, and was by his Majesty dele- gated to the Lord Chancellor, who seems to exercise it as a (a) 1 Burr. 17. (<?) Staundf. Prerog. 37. 2 Inst. 14. {b) Ibid. 2 Hale, P. C. 59. 4 Co. 12, b. Bac. Ab. Idiots, C. 1 (c) Ibid. 19. Bla. C6m. 463. 1 Fonbl. Tr. Eq. 3 ed. (rf) Foster of Horn. 266. 1 Bla. Com. 52 and 53. 2 Ibid. 223, 227, note (a). 302. 2 Baraardiston's R. 82. 3d ed. branch
