The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Notice to English Publishers.
• Note.
• Trial By Jury.
• Chapter I.: The Right of Juries to Judge of the Justice of Laws.
• Section I.
• Section II.
• Chapter II.: The Trial By Jury, As Defined By Magna Carta.
• Section I.: The History of Magna Carta.
• Section II.: The Language of Magna Carta.
• Chapter III.: Additional Proofs of the Rights and Duties of Jurors.
• Section I.: Weakness of the Regal Authority.
• Section II.: The Ancient Common Law Juries Were Mere Courts of Conscience.
• Section III.: The Oaths of Jurors.
• Section IV.: The Right of Juries to Fix the Sentence.
• Section V.: The Oaths of Judges.
• Section VI.: The Coronation Oath.
• Chapter IV.: The Rights and Duties of Juries In Civil Suits.
• Chapter V.: Objections Answered.
• Chapter VI.: Juries of the Present Day Illegal.
• Chapter VII.: Illegal Judges.
• Chapter VIII.: The Free Administration of Justice.
• Chapter IX.: The Criminal Intent.
• Chapter X.: Moral Considerations For Jurors.
• Chapter XI.: Authority of Magna Carta.
• Chapter XII.: Limitations Imposed Upon the Majority By the Trial By Jury.
• Appendix.: Taxation.

NOTE.

This volume, it is presumed by the author, gives what will generally be considered satisfactory evidence,—though not all the evidence,—of what the Common Law trial by jury really is. In a future volume, if it should be called for, it is designed to corroborate the grounds taken in this; give a concise view of the English constitution; show the unconstitutional character of the existing government in England, and the unconstitutional means by which the trial by jury has been broken down in practice; prove that, neither in England nor the United States, have legislatures ever been invested by the people with any authority to impair the powers, change the oaths, or (with few exceptions) abridge the jurisdiction, of juries, or select jurors on any other than Common Law principles; and, consequently, that, in both countries, legislation is still constitutionally subordinate to the discretion and consciences of Common Law juries, in all cases, both civil and criminal, in which juries sit. The same volume will probably also discuss several political and legal questions, which will naturally assume importance if the trial by jury should be reëstablished.