1863.] 211 [Price. 



that trial by twelve jurors existed in bis time, and that an unanimous 

 finding; was then required. The Mirror of Justice, written long be- 

 fore the Norman conquest of 1066, reports the following doings by 

 that renowned monarch : " He hanged Cadwine, because that he 

 judged Hackway to death without the consent of all the jurors; and 

 whereas he stood upon the jury of twelve men, and because that 

 three would have saved him against the nine, Cadwine removed the 

 three, and put others upon the jury, upon whom Hackway put not 

 himself." '' He hanged Freehurne, because he judged Hai-pin to 

 die, whereas the jury were in doubt of their verdict; for in doubtful 

 causes, one ought rather to save than condemn." Here, a thousand 

 years ago, in distinct lineaments, is seen the jury of our day, with 

 the feature of unanimity of decision, and a sternly purposed immu- 

 nity from judicial encroachment. (Mirror, 839-40.) 



John Reeves, a high Tory historian, ascribes the trial by twelve 

 jurors to Norman introduction after 1066 ; admits that it had obtained 

 in Scandinavia, at a, very early period; went into disuse, was revived 

 about 820, carried by Hollo into Normandy, and thence by the Nor- 

 man conquest into England. He speaks of a lost act of Henry II, 

 enacting that all questions of seisin of land should be tried by twelve 

 good and lawful men, sworn to speak the truth. (1 Reeves, 84, 86.) 

 But the Mirror of Justice shows that it existed in full vigor nearly 

 two hundred years before, and it is probable that it existed there 

 long before King Alfred's reign. 



Hallam says, "It has been justly remarked by Hume, that among 

 a people who lived in so simple a manner as the Anglo-Saxons, the 

 judicial power is always of more consequence than the legislative. 

 The liberties of these Anglo-Saxon thanes were chiefly secured, next 

 to their swords and their free spii'its, by the inestimable right of de- 

 ciding civil and criminal suits in their own County Court; an insti- 

 tution which, having survived the conquest, and contributed in no 

 small degree to fix the liberties of England upon a broad and popu- 

 lar basis, by limiting the feudal aristocracy, deserves attention in fol- 

 lowing the history of the British Constitution." (2 Mid. Ages, 9.) 



Magna Charta was extorted from successive kings of England, 

 in the thirteenth century, and they were made to declare that, " No 

 freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or disseized of his freehold or 

 liberties, or free customs; or be outlawed or exiled, or any otherwise 

 destroyed; nor will we pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by 

 lawful judynicnt of his jJec/is, or by the law of the land." (Chap. 

 29.) '' By lawful judgment of his peers," means a trial by those of 



