An Essay On The Trial By Jury - Lysander Spooner (little red riding hood read aloud .TXT) 📗
- Author: Lysander Spooner
Book online «An Essay On The Trial By Jury - Lysander Spooner (little red riding hood read aloud .TXT) 📗». Author Lysander Spooner
Law, And Unless Juries And Judges Saw Fit To Enforce It, It May Be
Mentioned that It Is Probable That No Judge In england Was Ever
Sworn To Observe The Laws Enacted either By The King alone,
Or By The King with The Advice And Assent Of Parliament.
The Judges Were Sworn To "Do Equal Law, And Execution Of Right,
To All The King'S Subjects, Rich And Poor, Without Having
Regard To Any Person;" And That They Will "Deny No Man
Common Right;" [28] But They Were Not Sworn To Obey Or
Execute Any Statutes Of The King, Or Of The King and Parliament.
Indeed, They Are Virtually Sworn Not To Obey Any Statutes That
Are Against "Common Right," Or Contrary To "The Common Law,"
Or "Law Of The Land;" But To "Certify The King thereof" That Is,
Notify Him That His Statutes Are Against The Common Law;
And Then Proceed to Execute The Common Law, Notwithstanding
Such Legislation To The Contrary. The Words Of The Oath On This Point
Are These:
"That Ye Deny No Man Common Right By (Virtue Of) The King'S
Letters, Nor None Other Man'S, Nor For None Other Cause; And In
Case Any Letters Come To You Contrary To The Law, (That Is, The
Common Law, As Will Be Seen On Reference To The Entire Oath Given
In The Note,) That Ye Do Nothing by Such Letters, But Certify The
King thereof, And Proceed to Execute The Law, (That Is, The
Common Law,) Notwithstanding the Same Letters."
Where It Is Considered that The King was The Sole Legislative
Power, And That He Exercised this Power, To A Great Extent, By
Orders In council, And By Writs And "Letters" Addressed
Oftentimes To Some Sheriff, Or Other Person, And That His
Commands, When Communicated to His Justices, Or Any
Other Person, "By Letters," Or Writs, Under Seal, Had As Much
Legal Authority As Laws Promulgated in any Other Form
Whatever, It Will Be Seen That This Oath Of The Justices
Absolutely Required that They Disregard Any Legislation That
Was Contrary To "Common Right," Or "The Common Law,"
And Notify The King that It Was Contrary To Common Right,
Or The Common Law, And Then Proceed to Execute The
Common Law, Notwithstanding such Legislation. [29]
If There Could Be Any Doubt That Such Was The Meaning
Of This Oath, That Doubt Would Be Removed by A Statute
Passed by The King two Years Afterwards, Which Fully
Explains This Oath, As Follows:
"Edward, By The Grace Of God, Ect., To The Sheriff Of
Stafford, Greeting: Because That By Divers Complaints
Made To Us, We Have Perceived that The Law Of The Land,
Which We By Our Oath Are Bound To Maintain, Is The Less
Well Kept, And The Execution Of The Same Disturbed many
Times By Maintenance And Procurement, As Well In the
Court As In the Country; We Greatly Moved of Conscience
In This Matter, And For This Cause Desiring as Much For
The Pleasure Of God, And Ease And Quietness Of Our
Chapter 3 (Additional Proofs Of The Rights And Duties Of Jurors) Section 5 (The Oaths Of Judges) Pg 87Subjects, As To Save Our Conscience, And For To Save
And Keep Our Said Oath, By The Assent Of The Great Men
And Other Wise Men Of Our Council, We Have Ordained
These Things Following:
"First, We Have Commanded all Our Justices, That They
Shall From Henceforth Do Equal Law And Execution Of
Right To All Our Subjects, Rich And Poor, Without Having
Regard To Any Person, And Without Omitting to Do Right
For Any Letters Or Commandment Which May Come To
Them From Us, Or From Any Other, Or By Any Other Cause.
And If That Any Letters, Writs, Or Commandments Come
To The Justices, Or To Other Deputed to Do Law And Right
According to The Usage Of The Realm, In disturbance Of
The Law, Or Of The Execution Of The Same, Or Of Right To
The Parties, The Justices And Other Aforesaid Shall
Proceed and Hold Their Courts And Processes,
Where The Pleas And Matters Be Depending before
Them, As If No Such Letters, Writs, Or Commandments
Were Come To Them; And They Shall Certify Us And
Our Council Of Such Commandments Which Be
Contrary To The Law, (That Is, "The Law Of The Land,"
Or Common Law,) As Afore Is Said." [30] And To The
Intent That Our Justices, Shall Do Even Right To All
People In the Manner Aforesaid, Without More
Favor Showing to One Than To Another, We Have
Ordained and Caused our Said Justices To Be Sworn,
That They Shall Not From Henceforth, As Long As
They Shall Be In the Office Of Justice, Take Fee Nor
Robe Of Any Man, But Of Ourself, And That They Shall
Take No Gift Nor Reward By Themselves, Nor By Other,
Privily Nor Apertly, Of Any Man That Hath To Do Before
Them By Any Way, Except Meat And Drink, And That
Of Small Value: And That They Shall Give No Counsel
To Great Men Or Small, In case Where We Be Party,
Or Which Do Or May Touch Us In any Point, Upon
Pain To Be At Our Will, Body, Lands, And Goods, To
Do Thereof As Shall Please Us, In case They Do Contrary.
And For This Cause We Have Increased the Fees Of
The Same, Our Justices, In such Manner As It Ought
Reasonably To Suffice Them." 20 Edward Iii.,
Ch. L. (1346.)
Other Statutes Of Similar Tenor Have Been Enacted
As Follows:
"It Is Accorded and Established, That It Shall Not
Be Commanded by The Great Seal, Nor The Little Seal,
To Disturb Or Delay Common Right; And Though Such
Commandments Do Come, The Justices Shall Not
Therefore Leave (Omit) To Do Right In any Point."
St. 2 Edward Iii., Ch. 8. (1328.)
"That By Commandment Of The Great Seal, Or Privy
Chapter 3 (Additional Proofs Of The Rights And Duties Of Jurors) Section 5 (The Oaths Of Judges) Pg 88Seal, No Point Of This Statute Shall Be Put In delay;
Nor That The Justices Of Whatsoever Place It Be Shall
Let (Omit) To Do The Common Law, By Commandment,
Which Shall Come To Them Under The Great Seal, Or The
Privy Seal." 14 Edward Iii, St. 1, Ch. 14. (1340.)
"It Is Ordained and Established, That Neither Letters
Of The Signet, Nor Of The King'S Privy Seal, Shall Be
From Henceforth Sent In damage Or Prejudice Of The
Realm, Nor In disturbance Of The Law" (The Common Law).
11 Richard Ii., Ch. 10. (1387.)
It Is Perfectly Apparent From These Statutes, And From
The Oath Administered to The Justices, That It Was A
Matter Freely Confessed by The King himself, That His
Statutes Were Of No Validity, If Contrary To The Common
Law, Or "Common Right."
The Oath Of The Justices, Before Given, Is, I Presume,
The Same That Has Been Administered to Judges In
England From The Day When It Was First Prescribed to
Them, (1344,) Until Now. I Do Not Find From The English
Statutes That The Oath Has Ever Been Changed. The Essay
On Grand Juries, Before Referred to, And Supposed to Have
Been Written By Lord Somers, Mentions This Oath
(Page 73) As Being still Administered to Judges, That Is,
In The Time Of Charles Ii., More Than Three Hundred years
After The Oath Was First Ordained.
If The Oath Has Never Been Changed, It Follows That
Judges Have Not Only Never Been Sworn To Support Any
Statutes Whatever Of The King, Or Of Parliament, But That,
For Five Hundred years Past, They Actually Have Been
Sworn To Treat As Invalid All Statutes That Were Contrary
To The Common Law.
Chapter 3 (Additional Proofs Of The Rights And Duties Of Jurors) Section 6 (The Coronation Oath) Pg 89
That The Legislation Of The King was Of No Authority Over
A Jury, Is Further Proved by The Oath Taken By The Kings
At Their Coronation. This Oath Seems To Have Been
Substantially The Same, From The Time Of The Saxon Kings,
Down To The Seventeenth Century, As Will Be Seen From The
Authorities Hereafter Given.
The Purport Of The Oath Is, That The King swears To Maintain
Chapter 3 (Additional Proofs Of The Rights And Duties Of Jurors) Section 6 (The Coronation Oath) Pg 90The Law Of The Land That Is, The Common Law. In
Other Words, He Swears "To Concede And Preserve To
The English People The Laws And Customs Conceded to Them
By The Ancient, Just, And Pious English Kings, * * And
Especially The Laws, Customs, And Liberties Conceded to
The Clergy And People By The Illustrious King edward;" * *
And "The Just Laws And Customs Which The Common People
Have Chosen, (Quas Vulgus Elegit)."
These Are The Same Laws And Customs Which Were Called
By The General Name Of "The Law Of The Land," Or "The
Common Law," And, With Some Slight Additions, Were
Embodied in magna Carta.
This Oath Not Only Forbids The King to Enact Any Statutes
Contrary To The
Comments (0)