Page:Letters of Junius, volume 2 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/134

124 themselves to determine the law, they might do it, but they must be very sure that they determined according to law; for it touched their consciences, and they acted at their peril."—If I understand your first proposition, you meant to affirm, that the jury were not competent judges of the law in the criminal case of a libel; that it did not fall within their jurisdiction; and that with respect to them, the malice or innocence of the defendants intentions would be a question coram non judice.—But the second proposition clears away your own difficulties, and restores the jury to all their judicial capacities . You make the competence of the court to depend upon the legality of the decision. In the first instance you deny the power absolutely; in the second, you admit the power, provided it be legally exercised. Now, my Lord, without pretending to reconcile the distinctions of Westminster-hall with the simple information of common sense, or the integrity of fair argument, I