These restrictions, or indeed any one of them, of the right of eligibility as jurors, was, in principle, a complete abolition of the English constitution; or, at least, of its most vital and valuable part.
Spooner asserts that restricting juror eligibility fundamentally undermines the English constitution.
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And the right is practically established only when and because the government, no longer exists to call it in question.
But there is no reason why a judge should have the power of punishing, for contempt, any more than for any other offence.
It was simply, that they would neither convict the innocent, nor acquit the guilty.
The people considered their jurisprudence as a part of their inheritance.