We also know, generally, that, at the time of Magna Carta, all acts intrinsically criminal, all trespasses against persons and property, were crimes, according to lex terra, or the common law.
This quote outlines the broad definition of crimes under common law during the time of Magna Carta.
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But there is no reason why a judge should have the power of punishing, for contempt, any more than for any other offence.
It would be a solecism and absurdity in government to allow such consequences as these.
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…
Yet the codes of the most celebrated kings are very small, and were little more than compilations of immemorial customs.