facts show how much reliance can be placed in written
constitutions, to control the action of the government, and preserve the
liberties of the people.

If the real trial by jury had been preserved in the courts of the United
States--that is, if we had had legal juries, and the jurors had known
their rights--it is hardly probable that one tenth of the past
legislation of Congress would ever have been enacted, or, at least,
that, if enacted, it could have been enforced.

Probably the best mode of appointing jurors would be this: Let the names
of _all_ the adult male members of the state, in each township, be kept
in a jury box, by the officers of the township; and when a court is to
be held for a county or other district, let the officers of a sufficient
number of townships be required (without seeing the names) to draw out a
name from their boxes respectively, to be returned to the court as a
juror. This mode of appointment would guard against collusion and
selection; and juries so appointed would be likely to be a fair epitome
of "the country."

[Footnote 79: On the English Constitution.]

[Footnote 80: Although all the freemen are legally eligible as jurors,
any one may nevertheless be challenged and set aside, at the trial, for
any special _personal_ disqualification; such as mental or physical
inability to perform the duties; having been convicted, or being under
charge, of crime; interest, bias, &c. But it is clear that the common
law allows none of these points to be determined by the court, but only
by "_triers_."]

[Footnote 81: What was the precise meaning of the Saxon word, which I
have here called _elderly_, I do not know. In the Latin translations it
is rendered by _seniores_, which may perhaps mean simply those who have
attained their majority.]

[Footnote 82: In 1483 it was enacted, by a statute entitled "Of what
credit and estate those jurors must be which shall be impanelled in the
Sheriff's Turn."

"That no bailiff nor other officer from henceforth return or impanel
any such person in any shire of England, to be taken or put in or
upon any inquiry in any of the said Turns, but such as be of good
name and fame, and having lands and tenements of freehold within the
same shires, to the yearly value of _twenty shillings_ at the least,
or else lands and tenements holden by custom of manor, commonly
called _copy-hold_, within the said shires, to the yearly value of
twenty-six