no quaint piece of antiquated phraseology when the clerk of the crown addressed the prisoner arraigned at the bar for high treason: “These good men that are now called, and here appear, are those which are to pass between you and our sovereign lord the king, upon your life and death”; it was a sober expression of vivid truth. The jury stood between the king’s life and the intrigues of a defeated malefactor. Of his innocence they were indeed ready to be convinced, but it would require strong evidence to convince them. In his guilt their belief was already strong. They can scarcely have refrained from regarding themselves less as agents employed in the cause of truth to examine without prejudice the merits of the case before them than as executors of an already predetermined justice. And here the weight of the judge’s authority was preponderant. He directed those heavy advantages which weighed on the side of the king and against the prisoner. The stringent system of preliminary procedure, which rendered extreme the difficulty of properly preparing his case beforehand, his isolation when actually upon trial, and the unsympathetic atmosphere by which he was surrounded, and of which the counsel for the prosecution were ready to take advantage to press every point home, combined to render the accused almost helpless against the crown. Even when administered with mercy the system was severely favourable to the prosecution; and the adverse rules which hemmed in the prisoner were generally worked to the utmost. To understand these clearly, it will be necessary to pass shortly in review the history of criminal procedure in the English courts of law, and the developments which led to its state at the time of the trials for the Popish Plot.[515] CHAPTER II CRIMINAL PROCEDURE The Reformation, as in almost all other branches of modern history, constitutes the starting-point at which the study of public procedure must be begun. Rather it would be true to say that in this as in other subjects it should form the starting-point. Unfortunately the necessary materials are here wanting. The State Trials, which afford not only the greatest quantity but the finest quality of evidence on the judicial history of England, are printed from reports which do not begin before the reign of Queen Mary in 1554. From that date until our own day they are continuous, and form the greatest collection of historical documents in the English language. From that date too the history of criminal procedure in modern England may be said to begin. Throughout the seventeenth century the courts of law occupy for the student of history a position of singular importance. They were the scenes not only of profound constitutional struggles, but of brilliant and deadly political contests.