Atrocious Judges : Lives of Judges Infamous as Tools of Tyrants and Instruments of Oppression

Atrocious Judges : Lives of Judges Infamous as Tools of Tyrants and Instruments of Oppression

Hume observes, in his History of England, that among a people who lived in so simple a manner as the Anglo-Saxons, the judicial power is always of greater importance than the legislative. The same comparison will hold good even in communities far more advanced in civilization than the Anglo-Saxons. It has indeed been well said that the great end of the complicated machinery of the existing British government is to get twelve men into a jury box. It might even be laid down as a general principle that the freedom or servitude of a people will mainly depend upon the sort of administration of justice which they haveespecially of criminal justice. The whole course of British history will serve to justify this observation, since it has not been so much by the aid of mercenary soldiers, as by the assistance of lawyers and judges, that tyranny has sought to introduce itself into that country. It is in the history of the English courts, still more than in the history of the English Parliament, that we are to trace the origin and growth of those popular rights and of that idea of public liberty, propagated from England to America,[Pg 10] and upon which our Anglo-American free institutions are mainly founded. The origin of British liberty, by an ancient, constant, and affectionate tradition, has uniformly been traced back to the times of the Anglo-Saxons. It was, however, by judicial, far more than by legislative institutions, that among those progenitors of ours private rights and public liberty were guarantied. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 40076
Author: Campbell, John Campbell
Release Date: Jun 24, 2012
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Hildreth, Richard, 1807-1865