ENGLAND. 183 



subject, without trial, and the persons being first chargeable with a 

 capital crime, as treason, murder, felony, or some other act inju- 

 rious to society ; nor can any subject be deprived of his liberty, lor 

 the highest crime, till some proof of his guilt be given upon oath 

 before a magistrate ; and he has then a right to insist upon his be- 

 ing brought, the first opportunity, to a fair trial, or to be restored to 

 liberty on giving bail for his appearance. If a man is charged with 

 a capital offence, he must not undergo the ignominy of being tried 

 for his life till the evidences of his guilt are laid before the grand jury 

 of the town or county in which the fact is alleged to be committed, 

 and not unless twelve of them agree to a bill of indictment against 

 him. If they do this, he is to stand a second trial before twelve 

 other men, whose opinion is definitive. By the 28 Edward III, it is 

 enacted, that where either party is an alien born, the jury shall be 

 one half aliens, and the other denizens, if required, for the more 

 impartial trial ; a privilege indulged to strangers in no other country 

 in the world, but which is as ancient with us as the time of king 

 Etheldred.* In some cases, the prisoner (who is always supposed 

 innocent till there be sufficient proof of his guilt) is allowed a copy of 

 the indictment, in order to assist him to make his defence. He is 

 also furnished with the pannel, or list of the jury, who are his true 

 and proper judges, that he may learn their characters, and discover 

 whether they want abilities, or whether they are prejudiced against 

 him. He may in open court peremptorily object to twenty of the 

 number ;f and to as many more as he can give reason for their not be- 

 ing admitted as his judges; till at last twelve unexceptionable men, 

 the neighbours of the party accused, or living near the place where 

 the supposed fact was committed, are approved of, who take the fol- 

 lowing oath, that they shall well and truly try, and true deliverance 

 make between the king and the prisoner, whom they shall have in 

 charge, according to the evidence. By challenging the jury, the 

 prisoner prevents all possibility of bribery, or the influence of any 

 superior power ; by their living near the place where the fact was 

 committed, they are supposed to be men who knew the prisoner's 

 course of life, and the credit of the evidence. These only are the 

 judges from whose sentence the prisoner is to expect life or death ; 

 and upon their integrity and understanding the lives of all that are 

 brought in danger ultimately depend ; and from their judgment there 

 lies no appeal : they are therefore to be all of one mind, and, after 

 they have fully heard the evidence, are to be confined, without meat, 

 drink, or candle, till they are unanimous in acquitting or condemning 

 the prisoner. 



Of punishments. ...The law of England includes all capital crimes 

 under high treason, petty treason, and felony. The first consists in 

 plotting, conspiring, or raising up in arms against the sovereign, or 

 in counterfeiting the coin. The traitor is punished by being drawn 

 on a sledge to the place of execution, when, after being hanged upon 

 a gallows for some minutes, the body is cut down alive, the heart ta- 

 ken out and exposed to public view, and the entrails burnt ; the head 

 is then cut off, and the body quartered ; after which it has been usual 

 to fix the head on some conspicuous place. All the criminal's lands 



* Statuta de Monticolis Wallije. 



f The party may challenge thirty -five in case of treason. 



