to his life, his liberty, nor his property,--shall be determined
by any such standard as the mere will and pleasure of majorities; but
only by the unanimous verdict of a tribunal fairly representing the
whole people,--that is, a tribunal of twelve men, taken, at random from
the whole body, and ascertained to be as impartial as the nature of the
case will admit, _and sworn to the observance of justice_. Such is the
difference in the two kinds of corporations; and the custom of managing
by majorities the mere discretionary matters of business corporations,
(the majority having no power to determine the _rights_ of any member,)
furnishes no analogy to the practice, adopted by political corporations,
of disposing of all the _rights_ of their members by the arbitrary will
of majorities.

But further. The doctrine that the majority have a _right_ to rule,
proceeds upon the principle that minorities have no _rights_ in the
government; for certainly the minority cannot be said to have any
_rights_ in a government, so long as the majority alone determine what
their rights shall be. They hold everything, or nothing, as the case may
be, at the mere will of the majority.

It is indispensable to a "_free_ government," (in the political sense of
that term,) that the minority, the weaker party, have a veto upon the
acts of the majority. Political liberty is liberty for the _weaker
party_ in a nation. It is only the weaker party that lose their
liberties, when a government becomes oppressive. The stronger party, in
all governments, are free by virtue of their superior strength. They
never oppress themselves.

Legislation is the work of this stronger party; and if, in addition to
the sole power of legislating, they have the sole power of determining
what legislation shall be enforced, they have all power in their hands,
and the weaker party are the subjects of an absolute government.

Unless the weaker party have a veto, either upon the making, or the
enforcement of laws, they have no power whatever in the government, and
can of course have no liberties except such as the stronger party, in
their arbitrary discretion, see fit to permit them to enjoy.

In England and the United States, the trial by jury is the only
institution that gives the weaker party any veto upon the power of the
stronger. Consequently it is the only institution, that gives them any
effective voice in the government, or any guaranty against oppression.

Suffra