Page:John Adams - A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America Vol. I. (1787).djvu/118

80 opinion in all matters of importance, o that he could not iue any decree without their conent. Another fatal blow was given to the prerogative in 1578, by taking from the king the upreme juridiction of the caues of the nobles: it was enacted, that without the concurrence of the king, each palatinate hould elect in their dietines their own judges, who hould form upreme courts or jutice, called tribunalia regni, in which the caues of the nobles hall be decided without appeal, a mode which prevails to this day.

In the reign of John Caimir, in 1652, was introduced the liberum veto, or the power of each nuncio to interpoe a negative, and break up a diet, a privilege which the king himelf does not enjoy. When the diet was debating upon tranactions of the utmot importance, which required a peedy deciion, a nuncio cried out, "I top the proceedings," and quitted the aembly: and a venal faction, who upported his protet, unheard of as it was, obtained the majority, and broke up the aembly in confuion. The contitution was thus wholly changed, and an unlimited cope given to faction. The innovation was upported by the great officers of tate, the general, treaurer, and marhal, who being once nominated by the king, enjoyed their offices for life, reponible only to the diets, concious that they could at all times engage a nuncio to protet, and thus elude an enquiry into their adminitration; it was alo upported by the adherents of many nobles accued of capital crimes before the diet, the only tribunal before which they could be tried: all the nuncios who oppoed the raiing of additional ubidies by taxes, which the exigencies of the tate then demanded, econded the propoal of putting an end to the aembly. But the principal caue