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Show 260 ATROCIOUS JUDGES. [A. D. 1683 " Several titnes have we met and had conference about this matter, and we have waited on n1y Lord SaunU.ers Juring his sickne~s often; anu upon deliberation, we are unanimously of opinion that a corporation aggregate, sueh as the city of London, 1nay be forfeited and eized in to tlle king's h~mcb, on a breach of the tru ~ t repo ed in it for the good government of the king'::; subject· ; that to a sun1e the power of 1naking bylaw:-; to leYy money is a just can e of forfeiture; and that the petition in the pleadings n1entioned. is so scandalou"' to the l::ing and his govcrntnent that it is a ju ·t cau~e of forfeiture. Therefore, this court doth a ward that the liberties and franchises of Lhe city of Lonuon be ·eizcd into the king'::; hand." Thi judgment was considered a prodigiou , triumpl1, but it led directly to tbe misgovcrntnent which in little 1nore than fiyc years brought about the Rt volution and the estal>li hment of a new Jyna:ty. To guanl against t;imilar attempts in all time to con1e, the charters, liberties, and customs of the city of London were then confirrned, and for ever e tabli.:;bcd, by act of Parliament. Saunden; was chief justice . o short a tirne, and this was o completely occupied with the great Quo JVarranto case, that I bave little n1ore to say of hin1 us a judge. 'Ve are told that "while he sat in the Court of 1\:iug's Bench he gnxe the rule to the general sati sf~tetion or the lawyers." 'Ve have the account of only one trial before hin1 at nisi prins, that of Pil!.:-ington, Lord Grey de 1VerX:e and others, for a riot. Before the city of London was takr'n by a regular ~i cge, an attempt had been made upon it Ly a coup de main. The Bclu.·n1e was to prevent the regular election of heriffs, and to force upon the city the bvo court candidate~, who haJ only a smRll minority of electors in their favor. In spite of violence A. D. 1683.) ED:.\IUND SAUNDER:-3. 2Gl used on their beJ1alf, the poll was going jn fayor of the liberal candidates, when the lord n1ayor, who had been gained over by the government, pretended to adjourn the election to a future day. The exi ting heriff~, who were the proper officers to preside, continued the poll, and declared the liberal candidates duly elected.. N evertheles , the court candidate were sworn in as heriff.~, and those who had i1ri ted on continuin ry 0 the election after the pretended adjournment by the lord mayor were prosecuted for a riot.* They pleaded not guilty, and a jury to try them haYing been ummonecl uy the new sheriffs, the trial came on at Gu ilclhall before Lonl Chief Justice Saunder . He was then n1uch enfeebled in hcnlth, and the exciternent produced by it was supposed to haYe been the cause of the fatal malady by which he wa struck a. few days after. The jury being called, the counsel for the defcnclants put in a challenge to tlte array, on the gronncl that the "'uppo..:ed hcriffs, by whom the jury had been returned, were not the lawful sheriffs of the city of London, and had an interest in the question. L. G. J. Saunde1·s.-" Gentlctncn, I am sorry yon hould have so bad an opinion of n1e, and think n1c so little of a lawyer, as not to know that this is but triflincr and has nothinrr in , O l b It. Pray, gentlemen, do not put the e things upon me.'' Jlfr. Thompson.- " I desire it may be read, 1ny lord." L. G. J. Saunders.-" You would not have done this Lefore another judge; you would not have done it if Sir l\latthew IIale had been here. Tl1 ere I·S no 1a w 1· n 1· t." JiYl..rJ.. r. 71,,w mpson.-" .,'. V e ~ So we have lately seen fiyc inhabitants of Philadelphia prosecuted for a not for a·d· . . . 1 ' 1 mg to gn·e effect to a sta tutc of that state abohshmg negro s avery.-Ed. |
