It professedly rested all its authority on a certain paper called a constitution; a paper, I repeat, that nobody had ever signed, that few persons had ever read, that the great body of the people had never seen.
Spooner critiques the constitution as a document that lacks genuine authority and widespread understanding.
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They cannot claim or expect that the whole people shall practise the folly of taking on trust their pretended superior knowledge, and of committing blindly into their hands all their own interests, liberties, and rights, to be disposed of…
Any restriction upon the exercise of this right is a restriction upon his rightful power of providing for, and accomplishing, his own well-being.
And the right is practically established only when and because the government, no longer exists to call it in question.
That the legislation of the king was of no authority over a jury, is further proved by the oath taken by the kings at their coronation.