On the record
Trial by the country, and no taxation without consent, were the two pillars of English liberty, (when England had any liberty,) and the first principles of the Common Law.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “Trial by the country, and no taxation without consent, were the two pillars of English liberty, (when England had any…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner highlights trial by jury and consent to taxation as foundational principles of English liberty.
Share
More from Lysander Spooner
In this manner all unjust laws are established, and made operative against the rights of the people.
They were even allowed to grant pardon to criminals, and to correct by their clemency the rigors of justice.
Yet the codes of the most celebrated kings are very small, and were little more than compilations of immemorial customs.
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…