BOSTON:
JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY.
CLEVELAND, OHIO:
JEWETT, PROCTOR & WORTHINGTON.
1852.
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 Lawprinciples, without regard to acts of parliament; and if the mainprinciple of the book itself be true, viz., that no legislation, inconflict with the Common Law, is of any validity, his claim is a legalone. 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 beconsidered satisfactory evidence,—though not all the evidence,—of whatthe Common Law trial by jury really is. In a future volume, if it shouldbe called for, it is designed to corroborate the grounds taken in this;give a concise view of the English constitution; show theunconstitutional character of the existing government in England, andthe unconstitutional means by which the trial by jury has been brokendown in practice; prove that, neither in England nor the United States,have legislatures ever been invested by the people with any authority toimpair the powers, change the oaths, or (with few exceptions) abridgethe jurisdiction, of juries, or select jurors on any other than CommonLaw principles; and, consequently, that, in both countries, legislationis still constitutionally subordinate to the discretion and consciencesof Common Law juries, in all cases, both civil and criminal, in whichjuries sit. The same volume will probably also discuss several politicaland legal questions, which will naturally assume importance if the trialby jury should be reëstablished.