Scanner's Note: I have made two changes in this text. First I have removed the footnotes to the end of each chapter and I have placed note 9 at the end of chapter 6 noting that because of the ratification of the XIX amendment to the Constitution for the United States, August 20, 1920, women were fully enfranchised with all rights of voting and jury service in all states of the Union. Other than the lack of italics and bold in this text and the typos (may they be few) this is the complete first edition text. Let me know of any mistakes you have caught! My email address's for now is haradda@aol.com and davidr@inconnect.com. David Reed An Essay on the Trial By Jury By LYSANDER SPOONER Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by LYSANDER SPOONER In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. NOTICE TO ENGLISH PUBLISHERS The author claims the copyright of this book in England, on Common Law principles, without regard to acts of parliament; and if the main principle of the book itself be true, viz., that no legislation, in conflict with the Common Law, is of any validity, his claim is a legal one. He forbids any one to reprint the book without his consent. Stereotyped by HOBART & ROBBINS; New England Type and Stereotype Foundery,BOSTON. NOTE This volume, it is presumed by the author, gives what will generally be considered satisfactory evidence, though not all the evidence, of what the Common Law trial by jury really is. In a future volume, if it should be called for, it is designed to corroborate the grounds taken in this; give a concise view of the English constitution; show the unconstitutional character of the existing government in England, and the unconstitutional means by which the trial by jury has been broken down in practice; prove that, neither in England nor the United States, have legislatures ever been invested by the people with any authority to impair the powers, change the oaths, or (with few exceptions) abridge the jurisdiction, of juries, or select jurors on any other than Common Law principles; and, consequently, that, in both countries, legislation is still constitutionally subordinate to the discretion and consciences of Common Law juries, in all cases, both civil and criminal, in which juries sit. The same volume will probably also discuss several political and legal questions, which will naturally assume importance if the trial by jury should be reestablished. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE RIGHT OF JURIES TO JUDGE OF THE JUSTICE OF LAWS SECTION 1. SECTION 2. CHAPTER II. THE TRIAL BY JURY, AS DEFINED BY MAGNA CARTA SECTION 1. The History Of Magna Carta SECTION 2. The Language Of Magna Carta