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Power Independence > National Liberty Alliance > NLA General Discussion > The Security of Englishman |
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Power Independence > National Liberty Alliance > NLA General Discussion > The Security of Englishman |
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| The Security of Englishman | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Mon May 19th, 2014 07:38 pm |
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1st Post |
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Joe Kelley Administrator
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The Security of Englishmen's lives, or, The trust, Power and Duty of Grand Jury By Baron John Somers https://archive.org/details/securityenglish00somegoog http://books.google.com/books?id=uMs0AAAAIAAJ&pg=PR1&focus=viewport&dq=The+security+of+Englishmen%27s+lives%2C+or%2C+The+trust%2C+power+and+duty+of+grand+jury+By+Baron+John+Somers+Somers&output=html_text http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Somers,_1st_Baron_Somers Somers published anonymously The Security of Englishmen's Lives, or, The Trust, Power, and Duty of the Grand Juries of England in 1681. Selected quotes: Our ancestors thought it not best to trust this great concern of their lives and interests in the hands of any officer of the king’s, or in any judges named by him, nor in any certain number of men during live, lest they should be awed or influenced by great men, corrupted by bribes, flatteries, or love of power, or become negligent, or partial to friends and relations, or pursue their own quarrels or private revenges, or connive at the conspiracies of others, and indict thereupon. But this trust of enquiring out, and indicting all the criminals in a country, is placed in men of same county, more at least than twelve of the most honest, and most sufficient for knowledge, and ability of mind and estate, to be from time to time at the sessions of assizes, and all other commissions of Oyer and Terminer, names and returned by the chief sworn officer of the sheriff, who was also by express law anciently chosen annually by the people of every county, and trusted with the execution of all writs and processes of the law, and with the power of the county to suppress all violences, unlawful routs, riots, and rebellions. Yet our laws left not the election of these grand inquests absolutely to the will of the sheriffs, but have described in general their qualifications, who shall inquire and indict either lord or commoner. They ought, by the old common law, to be lawful liege people, of rope age, not over aged or inform, and of good fame amongst their neighbours, free from all reasonable suspicion of any design for himself or others, upon the estates or lives of any suspected criminals, or quarrel, or controversy with them: They ought to be indifferent and impartial, even before they are admitted to be sworn, and of sufficient understanding and state for so great a trust. The Ancient law book, called Briton, of great authority, says, The sheriffs bailiffs ought to be sworn to return such as know best how to inquire, and discover all breaches of the peace; and lest any should intrude themselves, or be obtruded by others, they ought to be returned by the sheriff, without the denomination of any, except the sheriff’s officers. And agreeable hereunto was the statue of 11 H. IV. In these words: Item, “Because of late, inquests were taken at Westminster of persons named to the justices, without due return of the sheriff, of which persons some were outlawed, &c. and some fled to sanctuary for treason and felony, &c. against the course of the common law, &c. It is therefore granted, for the save and quietness of the people, that the same indictment, with all its dependencies, be void, and holden for none forever; and that from henceforth, no indictment be made by any such persons, but by inquest of the king’s liege people, in the manner as was used, &c. returned by the sheriffs, &c. without any denomination to the sheriffs, &c. according to the law of England, and if any indictment be made hereafter, in any point to the contrary, the same be also void, and holden for none for ever.” See also statute of Westm. 2d cap. 38. And Articul. Super Cortas, ch. 9. So careful have our parliaments been, that the power of grand inquests might be placed in the hands of good and worthy men, that if one man of a grand inquest, though they be twenty-three or more, should not be liber et legalis bomo, or such as the law requires, and duly returned without denomination to the sheriff, all the indictments found by such a grand jury, and the proceedings upon them, are void and null. So it was adjudged in Scarlet’s café. http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/assizes Assizes http://thelawdictionary.org/court-of-oyer-and-terminer/ Court of Oyer and Terminer http://thelawdictionary.org/lieges-or-liege-people/ Lieges http://www.lawandjustice.org.uk/LJmemorial.htm liber et legalis homo http://definitions.uslegal.com/l/legalis-homo/ Legal people? free and "liber et" from Latin
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