The court of judicature does not make the laws, neither can it alter them; it only acts in conformity to the laws made: and the government is in like manner governed by the constitution.
Expanding on an analogy in "Rights of Man," Paine explains how government is bound by the constitution, just as a court is bound by laws.
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They had a cause at stake, on which depended their freedom or their slavery.
The Parliaments on their part insisted that they had not only a right to remonstrate, but to reject; and on this ground they were always supported by the nation.
He writes neither in the character of a Frenchman nor an Englishman, but in the fawning character of that creature known in all countries, and a friend to none--a courtier.