On the record
All the other free British subjects are excluded; whereas, at common law, all such subjects are eligible to sit in juries, whether they be freeholders or not.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “All the other free British subjects are excluded; whereas, at common law, all such subjects are eligible to sit in…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner highlights the exclusion of non-freeholders from juries, contrasting it with common law eligibility.
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More from Lysander Spooner
They do not attempt to deceive us, or mislead us, or reconcile us to their doings, by any such pretences, impostures, or insults as these.
For all these reasons, they are not only modest and sensible, but really frank, honest, and honorable villains, contrasted with these courts of injustice, and the lawmakers by whom these courts are established.
They do not tell us that all liberty and order would be destroyed, that society itself would go to pieces, and man go back to barbarism, if it were not for the care, and supervision, and protection, they lavish upon us.
They do not carry their heads high, above all other men, and demand our reverence and admiration, as statesmen, patriots, and benefactors.