And having no right to say that you have any principals, you are bound, on every just principle of law or reason, to confess that you are mere usurpers, making laws, and enforcing them, upon your own authority alone.
He argues that without legitimate representation, those in power are merely usurpers.
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Practically speaking, no government knows any limits to its power, except the endurance of the people.
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.
There is no more absurdity in giving a jury a veto upon the laws, than there is in giving a veto to each of these other tribunals.
Therefore all their laws, as they call them,--that is, all the laws of their own making,--have no color of authority or obligation.