It was, in principle, an assertion of a right, on the part of the government, to select the individuals who were to determine the authority of its own laws, and the extent of its own powers.
Spooner critiques the government's claim to select jurors, which he sees as a violation of individual rights.
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Proud from victory, and with their swords in their hands, would they surrender their liberties to a private man?
That the legislation of the king was of no authority over a jury, is further proved by the oath taken by the kings at their coronation.
The people considered their jurisprudence as a part of their inheritance.
And whenever any number of men, calling themselves a government, do anything to another man, or to his property, which they had no right to do as individuals they thereby declare themselves trespassers, robbers, or murderers, according to…