The answer to this objection is, that, since Magna Carta, judges have had more than six centuries in which to invent and promulgate pretended maxims to suit themselves; and this is one of them.
Spooner critiques the historical evolution of legal maxims as tools for judicial manipulation.
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And whenever any number of men, calling themselves a government, do anything to another man, or to his property, which they had no right to do as individuals they thereby declare themselves trespassers, robbers, or murderers, according to…
It was simply, that they would neither convict the innocent, nor acquit the guilty.
What else than ignorance of the law is it that excuses persons under the years of discretion, and men of imbecile minds?
But there is no reason why a judge should have the power of punishing, for contempt, any more than for any other offence.