1783-12-04 (static/transcriptions/1783/12/009.jpg)
First establishment, of which I may not be so perfectly apprized, I will venture to assure You, that it has been continued for one obvious reason, that an extensive dominion, without a complete and independent judicature, would be a phenomena, of which the history of the world affords no example. Justice must be administered with effect, or society cannot long subsist. It is a truth coeval with human nature, and not peculiar to any age of country, that power in the hands of men will sometimes be abused, and ought always if possible, to be restrained, but the restrictions of general laws imply no particular blame. How many precautions have from time to time been used to render judges and jurors impartial, and to place them above dependence: Yet none of us conceive ourselves disgraced by such precautions. The object then of the court, thus continued with ample powers, though wisely circumscribed in its jurisdiction, is plainly
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