\ 



44 HISTORr of the SOCJETr. 



Account of of thefe Judges, and thus often to facrifice the life of a fellow- 

 DunJas. citizcn, though convinced of his innocence, and earneftly defi- 



rous of his acquittal. 



Thus matters flood till the celebrated trial of Carnegie of 

 Finhaven, who, had the powers of a Scottifh jury remained thus 

 circumfcribed, muft have fufFered the punifliment due to the 

 fouleft malefadlor, for an a(5t on which it is fcarcely poffible to 

 affix a taint of blame *. The Court had found the fadts in the 

 indidtment relevant to infer the pains of law. The proof of thofe 

 fa(5ls was as clear as noon-day. There remained no hope for 

 the prifoner, unlefs the jury fhould be roufed to afTert a right 

 which they had long relinquifhed, and vindicate the privilege 

 of deciding on the guilt or innocence of the accufed. And this 

 great point was gained by the powerful eloquence of the pri- 

 foner's counfel. The jury found the prifoner Not Guilty. From 

 that time, the right of aScottifli jury to return a General Verdict, 

 is acknowledged to be of the very efTence of that inflitution. — 

 And God forbid ! a period fhould ever arrive, when that moft 

 valuable of rights fhall again be called in queftion. 



As a Judge, Lord Arntston diflinguifhed himfelf no lefs 

 by the vigour of his talents, and his knowledge of the laws, 

 than by his flricft principles of honour and inflexible integrity. 

 His own idea of the charadter, both of a Lawyer and of a 

 Judge, remains, penned by himfelf, in that admirable eulo- 

 gium on Lord Newhall, which ftands upon the records of 

 the Faculty of Advocates ; and thofe who yet remember the 

 man of whom we now fpeak, know that many of thofe vari- 

 ous 



» James Carnegie of Finhaven, was tried before the Court of Jurticiary in Scotland, 

 for the murder of Charles Earl of Strathmore, in 1728. At a meeting in the country, 

 where the company had drank to intoxication, Carnegie of Finhaven having received the- 

 mod abufive language, and fullained a perfonal outrage of the grolTert nature, from Lyon 

 of Bridgeton, drew his fword, and ftaggering forward to make a pafs at Bridgeton, 

 killed the Earl of Strathmore, a pcrfon for whom he had the highefl regard and efteem, 

 and who unfortunately came between him and his antagonift, apparently in the view of 

 feparating them. 



