[S]uch a Tradition [i.e., oral tradition] were incompetent without written Monuments to derive to us, at ſo long a diſtance, the Original Laws and Conſtitutions of the Kingdom, becauſe they are of a complex Nature, and therefore not orally traducible to ſo great a Diſtance of Ages, unleſs we had the Original or Authentick Tranſcript of thoſe Laws, […]