inder of the people, by the passage and
enforcement of laws that shall be partial, unequal, and unjust in their
operation? That is the great question. And the trial by jury answers it.
And how does the trial by jury answer it? It answers it, as has already
been shown throughout this volume, by saying that these mere agents and
attorneys, who are chosen by a part only of the people, and are liable
to be influenced by partial and unequal purposes, shall not have
unlimited authority in the enactment and enforcement of laws; that they
shall not exercise _all_ the functions of government. It says that they
shall never exercise that ultimate power of compelling obedience to the
laws by punishing for disobedience, or of executing the laws against the
person or property of any man, without first getting the consent of the
people, through a tribunal that may fairly be presumed to represent the
whole, or substantially the whole, people. It says that if the power to
make laws, and the power also to enforce them, were committed to these
agents, they would have all power,--would be absolute masters of the
people, and could deprive them of their rights at pleasure. It says,
therefore, that the people themselves will hold a veto upon the
enforcement of any and every law, which these agents may enact, and that
whenever the occasion arises for them to give or withhold their
consent,--inasmuch as the whole people cannot assemble, or devote the
time and attention necessary to the investigation of each case,--twelve
of their number shall be taken by lot, or otherwise at random, from the
whole body; that they shall not be chosen by majorities, (the same
majorities that elected the agents who enacted the laws to be put in
issue,) nor by any interested or suspected party; that they shall not be
appointed by, or be in any way dependent upon, those who enacted the
law; that their opinions, whether for or against the law that is in
issue, shall not be inquired of beforehand; and that if these twelve men
give their consent to the enforcement of the law, their consent shall
stand for the consent of the whole.

This is the mode, which the trial by jury provides, for keeping the
government within the limits designed by the whole people, who have
associated for its establishment. And it is the only mode, provided
either by the English or American constitutions, for the accomplishment
of that object.

But it will, perhaps, be said that if the minorit