Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/704

 690 V. BENCH AND BAR ency to the humors of the king had gained preferment, was sent to Fisher in the Tower. He told the Bishop that he came from the King, who desired to know for his own in- formation Fisher's real opinion upon the disputed point. The Bishop spoke of the danger arising from the act of Parliament, but Rich assured him that no advantage would be taken of him and gave him the promise of the King that his answer would never be divulged. Thereupon, the Bishop stated that he thought an act of Parliament could no more declare the King head of the church than it could declare that God was not God. Fisher was at once brought to trial ; Rich gave the sole evidence against him; and the judges allowed the Bishop to be convicted and executed. It is said that the judges shed tears when the saintly old man was condemned ; but that conduct simply adds to their infamy. Sir Thomas More was convicted and brought to the block upon the very same kind of testimony. Yet during this whole period the law provided even-handed justice as between one private citizen and another. The reports of Chief Justice Dyer, Chief Justice Anderson, and Serjeant Plowden, during the reign of Elizabeth, abundantly prove the fact. In ordinary criminal trials the law was growing much more lenient. It was only when the govern- ment was urging the prosecution that the tyranny of the Tudors and Stuarts Jieft the individual no hope against the Crown. Judicial tenure became dependent upon subservi- ency to the wishes of the executive. Judicial appointments were given solely to those who pledged themselves to the royal designs. The real history of the law is found in the bloody records of the State Trials. The processes of law are used by the government with almost cynical inde- cency. The baronage was destroyed, and the great mass of the people, the cities and the country gentry, eagerly supported the royal authority. Before passing from the reign of Henry VIII. we should notice Lord Chief Justice Montague, who founded a power- ful family, and is now represented by the Duke of Manches- ter, the Earl of Sandwich, and the Earl of Wharncliffe, An- other of Henry VIII.'s judges was John Spelman, the grand-