The liberties of England cannot but subsist so long as this
palladium remains sacred and inviolate, not only from all open,
attacks, which none will be so hardy as to make, but also from
all secret machinations which may sap and undermine it." [9]
"The trial by jury ever has been, and I trust ever will be,
looked upon as the glory of the English law... It is the most
transcendent privilege which any subject can enjoy or wish for,
that he cannot be affected in his property, his liberty, or his
person, but by the unanimous consent of twelve of his neighbors
and equals."[10]
Hume calls the Trial by Jury "An institution admirable in itself,
and the best calculated for the preservation of liberty and the
administration of justice, that ever was devised by the wit of
man." [11]
An old book, called "English Liberties," says:"English
Parliaments have all along been most zealous for preserving this
Great Jewel of Liberty, Trials by Juries having no less than
fifty-eight several times, since the Norman Conquest, been
established and confirmed by the legislative power, no one
privilege besides having been ever so often remembered in
parliament.
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