THE SALMON AND CHANNEL FISHERIES. %i3 



have been reprobated; — though I have such a work 

 ready for the press; — but, exclusively of the diffi- 

 culty of drawing convictions on penal statutes, the 

 minuteness and severity with which they are ex- 

 amined by the courts of law, who very properly 

 watch this kind of outlandish trial with a jealous 

 eye, and the number of them which we see quashed, 

 I consider that one person, who is made the judge 

 of the law, the fact, and the punishment, uniting 

 in the same person the several offices of judge, 

 jury, and executioner ; appointed by the crown, 

 removable by the crown, and, therefore, under the 

 influence of the crown, possesses a power much 

 too great to be held by one individual. It is in- 

 compatible with the natural and inherent privileges 

 of an Englishman, who, from the great fountain 

 of our liberties has a right to say, "nullus liber 

 homo capiatur vel imprisonetur, aut aliquo modo 

 destruatur, nisi per legale judicium parium suorum 

 vel per legem terrae." Such an almost unlimited 

 power of fine and imprisonment as the laws, upon 

 many occasions, give to one or two men, is truly 

 terrific. 



This is all I shall say upon this subject here, 

 having already, in my proposed bill, suggested that 

 all offenders be bound over to the court of sessions 

 in the first instance, and there tried by a jury like 

 other offenders. It is better to do this, than to 

 allow an appeal from a conviction, which, from its 

 intricacy and nicety, may be quashed ; by which 

 justice may be defeated, and the benefit of exem- 



