are laws made obiter, or by the by; such as orders and constitutions of corporations for the governing of their members, of court-leets, and courts baron, commoners, or inhabitants in vills, &c. made by common assent, for the good of those that make them, in particular cases whereunto the public law doth not extend; so that they bind further than the common or statute law; guilds and fraternities of trades, by letters patents of incorporation, may likewise make by-laws for the better regulation of trade among themselves or with others. In Scotland these laws are called laws of birlaw or burlaw: which are made by neighbours elected by common consent in the birlaw-courts, wherein knowledge is taken of complaints betwixt neighbour and neighbour; which men so chosen are judges and arbitrators, and styled birlaw-men. And birlaws, according to Skene, are leges rusticorum, laws made by husbandmen, or townships, concerning neighbourhood among them. All by-laws are to be reasonable, and for the common benefit, not private advantage of particular persons, and must be agreeable to the public laws in being.