★ Find a new page on our Untranscribed Manuscripts list.
JURIES 3Prelud. declamator
.
being so deluged by a flood of gibberish, that as not to be capable of being purified from it by
any other than the Judges [who appropriate to themselves] by an of their own: The Indictment therefore after having been
mumbled over for form sake at the opening of the cause is heard no more of; nor are is
the attention of the more directed to Jury permitted to keep in mind that charge which by their verdict it is expected they are
to declare themselves of opinion to be true or false than to any other noise which
Is it to be wondered then, if that having
nothing else to no judgment to resort to that pronounces
for them the guilt or
innocence of the accused, consequent
to the determination of
the fact,they should be found
to resort often to the judgment of
their own hearts? happens in the Court: and vain indeed should they be directed to attend to what
as they will, it is impossible they should understand: Here then as is often happens that there <add it is that it will happen </add> after having given
their verdict of Guilty, it no body knows whether the convict is or is not to suffer: Nobody
knows what "guilty" means; for it means nothing of itself - it must be guilty of
something - & what is that something? It is a something in the Indictment viz; all that is in the Indictment and
And if they do it to their prejudice
of the accused, there is
that which might may contrive them a new Trial may be granted
but if to the prejudice of the
public, there is no relief. the Indictment contains they know not what. But that is not enough - it is of all that
is charged in the Indictment that they find him Guilty - And every body draws
that pleases; & every body provided he will take care to put in what is enough, &
In the meantime, neither then
Jury should pronounce that
Guilt or that innocence,
the Judge, but the Law only:
and that not afterwards, but
aforehand: some choice stuff which is more than enough but which cannot be spared, may
in what more he pleases: And the Jury find that to be true which he puts in & if he charges (as he must sometimes do ) that the convict acted by
the instigation of the Devil, the Jury find that he acted by the of the devil
tho' neither he nor they thought any thing about the devil: and if the charges
that he did it without not having the fear of God before his eyes, as he must also sometimes do they find that he did it not having
The verdict comes into the hands
of the Judges in form of a Carte
Blanche.the fear of God before his eyes, tho' perhaps theyare persuaded perhaps that it was that very fear which put him </lb/> Judges get into possession of their verdict
like a promissory note signed for a
Blank form: over wich they write
what they please. - They are mnade to
affix the stamp of their authority to that
of which they have had no participation. upon doing as he did - And if the crime consists in writing something and the penner
calls it false which he may do or not as he pleases, they find it false, tho' perhaps very likely
they believe it to be true; & if he does not call it false they do not find it false,
Itis a fundamental maxim of the Law
As if that a Man was to clap always clapped his
Sword on to his side & his Pistols
int his Pockets to drop a little
Aresenic into a Partridge sport. which is the same thing; & if he does not call it scandalous they find it scandalous, tho' neither
he nor they know what they mean by scandalous; & if he calls it malicious, they
find it to be malicious, tho' it signifies not [a rash] whether it is it be or be not malicious [or no] ; &
It is a fundamental maxim of
the Law, that a man does the same
thing when he goes to pick a pocket
at the same time that the caharctrtistic
difference between this crime & that
of Robbery is, that in the latter he does
so in whereas the former he does not. But the Law
for one purpose presumes that he does,& for another
tht he does not - And what is it which the
Law may not presume? if he calls it treasonable traiterous they find it traiterous, tho' it has nothing to do with Treason & tho' they believe it written in the
spirit of a good citizen; & if he find calls it none of all these, they do not find it to be any
of all these; & if he calls it what else he pleases, they find it to be what else he
pleases: & all this they find, though they know nothing of the matter:
It is a fundamental maxim of the Law
that a man does the same thing is constantly
in the same manner while he sleeps
with his neighbours Wife And tho' they find all this, it sometimes happens that the Judges cannot like what it is they
do find: And the Counsel will ask them the Judges to find for them & it will long be a very doubtful matter.
|
Identifier: | JB/050/171/001"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 50. |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
050 |
procedure code |
||
|
171 |
juries |
||
|
001 |
|||
|
text sheet |
1 |
||
|
recto |
c3 |
||
|
jeremy bentham |
[[watermarks::j honig & zoonen [lion with vryheyt motif]]] |
||
|
cc1 |
|||
|
16162 |
|||
