To suppose that juries are something innate in the Constitution of Great Britain, that they have jumped, like Minerva, out of the head of Jove in complete armor, is a weak fancy, supported neither by precedent nor by reason.
Burke critiques the notion that juries are an innate part of the British Constitution, arguing it lacks historical and logical support.
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Rome, under her emperors, united the evils of both systems; and this unnatural combination was one great cause of her ruin.
In all this procedure I can discern neither the solid sense of plain dealing nor the subtle dexterity of ingenious fraud.
Never did a state, in any case, enrich itself by the confiscations of the citizens.
But when the Assembly were led, through a contempt of moral, to a defiance of economical principles, it might at least have been expected that nothing would be omitted on their part to lessen this difficulty, to prevent any aggravation of…
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