rvile and implicit obedience, permitted the compact to be dissolved in
case of its violation by either party. This extended as much to the
sovereign as to inferior lords. * * If a vassal was aggrieved, and if
justice was denied him, he sent a defiance, that is, a renunciation of
fealty to the king, and was entitled to enforce redress at the point of
his sword. It then became a contest of strength as between two
independent potentates, and was terminated by treaty, advantageous or
otherwise, according to the fortune of war. * * There remained the
original principle, that allegiance depended conditionally upon good
treatment, and that an appeal might be _lawfully_ made to arms against
an oppressive government. Nor was this, we may be sure, left for extreme
necessity, or thought to require a long-enduring forbearance. In modern
times, a king, compelled by his subjects' swords to abandon any
pretension, would be supposed to have ceased to reign; and the express
recognition of such a right as that of insurrection has been justly
deemed inconsistent with the majesty of law. But ruder ages had ruder
sentiments. Force was necessary to repel force; and men accustomed to
see the king's authority defied by a private riot, were not much shocked
when it was resisted in defence of public freedom."--_3 Middle Ages_,
240-2.]

CHAPTER II.

THE TRIAL BY JURY, AS DEFINED BY MAGNA CARTA.

That the trial by jury is all that has been claimed for it in the
preceding chapter, is proved both by the history and the language of the
Great Charter of English Liberties, to which we are to look for a true
definition of the trial by jury, and of which the guaranty for that
trial is the vital, and most memorable, part.

SECTION I.

_The History of Magna Carta._

In order to judge of the object and meaning of that chapter of Magna
Carta which secures the trial by jury, it is to be borne in mind that,
at the time of Magna Carta, the king (with exceptions immaterial to this
discussion, but which will appear hereafter) was, constitutionally, the
entire government; the sole _legislative_, _judicial_, and executive
power of the nation. The executive and judicial officers were merely his
servants, appointed by him, and removable at his pleasure. In addition
to this, "the king himself often sat in his court, which always attended
his person. He there heard causes, and pronounced judgment; and though
he was assisted by the advice of other membe