[When] private men begin once to presume to give law to themselves, and to right their own wrongs, no man can foresee the dangers and inconveniences that may arise and multiply thereupon. It may cause sudden storms in Court, to the disturbance of his Majesty, and unsafety of his person.The spelling has been modernized.
1613, Francis Bacon, “A.D. 1613, July–December. Ætat. 53. The Charge of Sir Francis Bacon, Knight, His Majesty’s Attorney-General, Touching Duels; […].”, in James Spedding, editor, The Works of Francis Bacon, […]: The Letters and the Life of Francis Bacon […], volume IV, London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, published 1858, page 400