Yorke and Charles Talbot, and it is inter
esting to observe their conception of the
liberty of the press. "The liberty meant,"
said Yorke, "is to be understood of a legal
one: he may lawfully print and publish what
belongs to his own trade; but he is not to
publish anything reflecting on the charac-
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LORD CHIEF JUSTICE RAYMOND.
ter, the reputation and administration of his majesty or his ministers; nor yet .to stain the character or reputation of any of his subjects; for, as I said before, that to scan dalize and libel people is no part of his trade, so I say that it is only that liberty of the press which he is to use that is regulated by law and subjected to it; and if he breaks
that law, or exceeds that liberty of the press, he is to be punished for it as well as for breaking other laws or liberties." The de fense was confined mainly to the small ques tion whether the expression "certain ministers" meant the king's ministers, for Lord Chief Justice Raymond ruled in explicit
terms that the jury were to judge only of the fact of publication and the application of the language; the question of libel was for the court alone. Owen's case (18 St. Tr. 1203), in 1752, is significant as the first case (unless the case of the Seven Bishops be so regarded) in which an English jury exercised their power
