LIB 
In the case of Gilbert Wakefield, and of 
Hart and White, recently, although the 
offences were committed, and the trials had 
in Westminster and London, the defendants 
were committed to Dorchester and Glou- 
cester gaols, to render tlieir confinement 
the more irksome and severe. 
We have thus briefly endeavoured to 
select the principal authorities under the 
law of England, with respect to libels, and 
we are free to confess that unless juries 
boldly assert the right of judging according 
to the general intention and honest view of 
the writer, rather than upon casual expres- 
sions, and the sjabtle inuendoes of an infor- 
mation, there will be found little actual 
liberty of the press, excepting what is allow- 
ed by the lenity of an attorney general. 
For the law is strictly, that any thing 
which affec ts the character of an individual, 
or reflects on the government, is a libel; 
and wdth such a restraint we hold the right 
of free discussion upon a frail tenure. The 
absolute freedom of tlie press can, we think, 
nevet be fully obtained while truth con- 
tinues to be a libel ; and it is remarkable, 
that in former times, libels were charged as 
false, scandalous, and malicious writings ; in 
the time of Lord Coke the doctrine w'as 
laid down that the falsehood of a libel was 
immaterial ; and very recently, the word 
“false,” has been omitted in the informa- 
tions filed by the present Attorney General 
Sir Vicary Gibbs. 
We admit that the point how far the 
press shall be uncontrolled is a nice question 
in politics , but it should be remembered 
that the press, that is the right of public 
complaint, and of exposing public delin- 
quents to public odium, is the peoples’ 
cheapest and best defence, and the oppres- 
sors’ greatest awe. Were that right uncon- 
trolled, no wicked government could last 
long ; and as the press is open to all, per- 
haps no just and good government could 
long continue to be misrepresented before 
an enlightened and just thinking people. In 
England, it must be acknowledged that the 
practical liberty of the press has been 
greater than in any counti-y in the world, 
but we attribute this more to the character 
of the government and the people, than to 
the law, which if rigidly exercised ^yould 
be severe. We have, it is true, not had 
veyy frequently informations for libels at the 
suit of government, but we have never 
known them fail to convict, except in the 
case of Mr. Reeves, for a libel on the House 
LIB 
of Commons, which was prosecuted by the 
popular party. 
We shall observe, that the law of libels 
is plainly derived to us from the imperial 
constitutions of Rome under the Constan- 
tines, not from the laws of republican Rome, 
and that it came recommended to us from 
the Star Chamber by Lord Coke. We have 
not here sufficient space to investigate, as 
a political question, what ought to be the 
law of libels ; and we must acknowledge, 
that many objections may occur to admit- 
ting truth to be a justification of a writing 
when it is aimed at government, and there is 
great difficulty in verifying charges of mis- 
conduct, even when they are confined to 
particular instances. It is only by long re- 
flection, and an ardent desire for the utmost 
liberty that is consistent with good govern- 
ment, that we are led to wish that the press 
should be uncontrolled. 
Libel, in the spiritual court, the origi- 
nal declaration of any action in the civil 
law. See statute 2 Edward VI, c. 13. 
The libel used in ecclesiastical proceed- 
ings consists of three parts : 1. The major 
proposition, which shows a just cause of the 
petition. 2. The narration, or minor propo- 
sition. 3. The conclusion, or conclusive peti- 
tion, which conjoins botli propositions, &c. 
' LIBERTY, in its most general signifi- 
cation, is said to be a power to do as one 
thinks fit ; unless restrained by the law 
of the land ; and it is well observed, that 
human nature is ever an advocate for this 
liberty; it being the gift of God to man 
in his creation. It is upon that acconni 
the laws of England in all cases favour 
liberty. According to Montesquieu, liberty 
consists principally in not being compelled 
to do any thing which the law does not re- 
quire; because we are governed by civil 
laws, and therefore we are free, living un- 
der those laws. 
The absolute rights of man, considered 
as a free agent, endowed with discernment 
to know good from evil, and with power of 
choosing those measures which appear to 
him to be most desirable, are usually sum- 
ed up in one general appellation, and de- 
nominated the natural liberty of mankind. 
This natural liberty consists properly in a 
power of acting as one thinks fit, without 
any restraint or controul, unless by the 
law of nature ; being a right inherent in us 
by birth, and one of the gifts of God to 
man at his creation, when he endowed him 
with the faculty of free will. 
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