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Show 100 ATROCIOUS JUDGES. [A. D. 1626. which a person was liable to be detained without bail; that the warrant should not only state the authority to imprison, but the cause of the impri::'onn1en t; nn<l that if thi return were held good, there would be a power of ~hutting up, till a liberaL ion by death any subject of the king, without trial and without accu .. ation. After going over all the common law cases and the act~ of Parliament upon the subjeet, frJm liAGNA CnARTA downwnrcl--, they conchHlcd with the dictwn of Paul the apostle, " I t is against r ea on to sen<l a man to pri .,on without showing a cause." Hyde, C. J.-" Thi · i"' a case of ycry great weight and great expectation. I am sure you look for jtrt1cc frmn hence, and God forbid we should sit here but to do ju::;t ice to all men, accordin 0 rr to our be~t skill and knowledrre · for it i our 0 ' oaths and dutie .. o to do. 'Ve are sworn to 1naintain all pre-rogatives of the king: that is one branch of our oath; but there is another-to admini ·ter ju. tice equally to all people. That. which i , now to be judged by us is thi <:: : '\Vhcthcr, where one is committed by the king', authority, and by cause declarecl of his commitn1ent, we ought to deliver him by bail, or to r emand him.'" From such a fair beginning,* there mu::;t have been a gen· cral anticipation of a just judgment; but, ala , ! his lordship, without combating the arp·ument", , tatutes, or texts of Scrip. ture relied upon, said, "The court rnu .J . be governed by prcce· dents;" t and then going over all the precedents which haJ * Similar ?retcnces of respect for l:l w and popular rights often serve ns preface herem America to judgments as atrocious as that of Chief Justice Hyde.-Ed. ! !his is the universal excuse for all sins, whether of omission or co!l1· miss~on, on the part of courts who pay but little regard to Bishop Burnet's sensible o?ser_v~tion that a precedent against reason "signifies no more but that the hke mJusticc has been done before.''- Ed. ~ D.l626.] NICHOLAS TIYDE. 101 been cited, he declared that there was not one where, there being a warrant pe1· speciale ?nanclatu7n dom,ini regis, the judges had inLerfcred and held it in nfftcient. lie said he had found a r · olu Lion of all the judge~ in the r eign of Qnecn Elizabeth, that if a 1nan be committed by the commandment of the king, he is not to be delivered by a habeas corpus in this court, "for we kuow not the cause of the co1n1nitinent." Thus he concluded :- " "\Vhat can \\'e llo but walk in the .. tep of our forefathers? ~fr. Attorney hath told you the king has done it for cause sufficient, and we trust him in great 1nattcrs. lie is bound by law, and he bids us proceed by law; we arc sworn o to do, and ... o is the king. 'Ve nwke no doubt the kinoo· ' he knowing the cause why you arc impri"'oned, will have mercy. On these ground· we cannot deliver you, but you 1nu t be remanded." -:r: Thia judgment wa violently attacked in both hou. es of I>arliament. In the Ilou "'e of Lords the ju<lge were summoned, and r equired to give their rca ·ons for it. Sir N ieholas IIyde en<lcavorecl to excu e l1inrelf and hi brethren frmn this task by r epre cnting it as a thincr tlley oucrht not to do . ~ ~ b ~lthout warrant from the king. Lord Say observed, " I f the Judges will not de dare themsel ve", \Ve must take into con- * Though the lawyers, both in England and America, haYc long since aband01tcd .t he proteiI cc, so 1. 1npu d en t 1y mam. tam. c d by H yde, of a rin h t in the exccutn -c au t1 wn.·t i·C s to I· mpn. son for contempt, into the groun;:d-, and nature of which th c cour t s h a d no n.g h t to m. q m-rc, they sti. ll cbirn for them_s el.v es ·' md foI. one ano~~1 1cr- at least 1-11 Pcnnsyham. a- a lt. kc rv. rht a" nclms· i ·t wiLll tl1 c s,· lmc nnct1· 0n upon the absolute uccessity of trusthi nn·' the courts " · tl 0 . m 1csc matters, and of rclyinrr upon their "mcrC)'·" Sec m the A e 1· N . . 0 a . PP nc IX, r o. 3, the opmwn of the Supreme Court of Pcnnsyhania,' b 8 dehvered by J udgc Black, of which the insolent conclusion was eYidcntly on·owcd from the above opinion of Chief Justice H yde. - Ed. 9* |
