nonymous terms. And the phrase _per judicium
parium suorum_, therefore, implies that the jury are to fix the
sentence.

The word _per_ means _according to_. Otherwise there is no sense in the
phrase _per judicium parium suorum_. There would be no sense in saying
that a king might imprison, disseize, outlaw, exile, or otherwise punish
a man, or proceed against him, or send any one against him, _by force or
arms, by_ a judgment of his peers; but there is sense in saying that the
king may imprison, disseize, and punish a man, or proceed against him,
or send any one against him, by force or arms, _according to_ a
judgment, or _sentence_, of his peers; because in that case the king
would be merely carrying the sentence or judgment of the peers into
execution.

The word _per_, in the phrase "_per_ judicium parium suorum," of course
means precisely what it does in the next phrase, "_per_ legem terrae;"
where it obviously means _according to_, and not _by_, as it is usually
translated. There would be no sense in saying that the king might
proceed against a man by force or arms, _by_ the law of the land; but
there is sense in saying that he may proceed against him, by force or
arms, _according to_ the law of the land; because the king would then be
acting only as an executive officer, carrying the law of the land into
execution. Indeed, the true meaning of the word _by_, as used in similar
cases now, always is _according to_; as, for example, when we say a
thing was done by the government, or by the executive, _by law_, we mean
only that it was done by them _according to law_; that is, that they
merely executed the law.

Or, if we say that the word _by_ signifies _by authority of_, the result
will still be the same; for nothing can be done _by authority of_ law,
except what the law itself authorizes or directs to be done; that is,
nothing can be done by authority of law, except simply to carry the law
itself into execution. So nothing could be done _by authority of_ the
sentence of the peers, or _by authority of_ "the law of the land,"
except what the sentence of the peers, or the law of the land,
themselves authorized or directed to be done; nothing, in short, but to
carry the sentence of the peers, or the law of the land, themselves into
execution.

Doing a thing _by_ law, or _according to_ law, is only carrying the law
into execution. And punishing a man _by_, or _according to_, the
sentence or judgment of his peers, is