If the people wish to have their rights respected and protected in courts of justice, it is manifestly of the last importance that they jealously guard the liberty of parties, counsel, witnesses, and jurors, against all arbitrary power on the part of the court.
He stresses the importance of protecting the rights of all court participants from arbitrary judicial power.
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Juries would refuse to enforce a tax against a man who had never agreed to pay it.
If the authority be vested in the government, the governmnt is absolute, and the people have no liberties except such as the government sees fit to indulge them with.
One answer is, that this power, which juries have of judging of the law, is not a power of absolute decision in all cases.
It was a principle of the Common Law, as it is of the law of nature, and of common sense, that no man can be taxed without his personal consent.