The judge is criminally and civilly liable, by the English common law for judicial acts willfully and maliciously done; for acts clearly in excess of his proper jurisdiction and for the wrongful exercise of a mere ministerial act, whether honestly done or not,[52] but this was the full limit of his liability and for honest mistakes in the performance of his duty, he was responsible to no one and could be troubled only by an accusing conscience for a mistake in the performance of a proper judicial function. Since the placing of the English judiciary upon this high plane where the courts are wholly above and beyond the spoils of party or the favoritism or fears of sovereignty, the respect paid to the majesty of the law in that country, has challenged the admiration of the world. English procedure is the pattern for the best governed countries on the earth and the decisions of her courts have come to be ideals to be followed by courts of other nations, seeking the attainment of justice. The patriot fathers, familiar with the mistakes of the ancients and the reasons for the establishment of the judicature of England, upon an independent foundation, in the establishment of the judicial system in the United States, adopted the method that history had commended to England, of life tenure, with the power of removal for actual misfeasance in office. It was therefore provided in the Federal Constitution that judges of the courts of the United States should hold their offices during good behavior and they were subject to removal, only by impeachment, like other civil officers of the Government.[53] The first Congress, in 1789, enacted the first federal judiciary act, formulated by Oliver Ellsworth, a member of the convention which framed the Constitution and afterwards Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Speaking of this earnest patriot, Mr. Webster said that he was “possessed of the clearest intelligence and deepest sagacity as well as the utmost purity and integrity of character.” Upon the relative functions of the different branches of government and the necessity for an independent judiciary, Chief Justice Ellsworth said: “If the general legislature should, at any time, overleap their limits, the judicial department is a constitutional check. If the United States go beyond their powers; if they make a law, which the Constitution does not authorize, it is void; and the judiciary power, the national judges, who, to secure their impartiality, _are to be made independent_, will declare it to be void. On the other hand, if the States go beyond their limits, if they make a law which is a usurpation upon the general Government, the law is void, and upright, _independent judges_ will declare it to be so.”