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subject a guilty man, when, almost at the same moment, they are forbidden to enquire into the only circumstance which, in the eye of law and reason, constitutes guilt—the malignity or innocence of his intentions? But, if Judges could succeed in making the trial by jury useless and ridiculous, they might then with greater safety, introduce a bill into Parliament, for enlarging the jurisdiction of the Court, and extending the trial by interrogatories to every question, in which the life or liberty of an Englishman is concerned,"
All these quotations, my Lord, from great authorities, are most evidently against you. Sir William Blackstone, through the whole of his Commentaries, we see, dwells with rapture on the vast consequence attending the fair trial by jury. He speaks of it as the great bulwark of our liberties. He warns us to guard it against every encroachment and innovation. He affirms, that jurors have a right in all cases whatsoever, to decide upon the Law. He admonishes his fellow-subjects to pre
