Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/723

 19. ZANE: THE FIVE AGES 709 would improperly influence them, or which did not depend for its credibility upon the veracity of a sworn witness. Above all, the jury was required to proceed solely upon evi- dence offered in open court, which had been subjected to the test of a cross-examination. It was in the bad times of the Stuarts that these rules were settled. Singularly enough, the first case that is authentic, in excluding hearsay, is a decision by Lord Jeffreys. Although the rules of evidence were amplified by Lord Mansfield, they have not been changed, except by statute, from that day to this. The greatest of forensic orators said in Hardy's case : " The rules of evidence are founded in the charities of religion, in the philosophy of nature, in the truths of history, and in the experience of common life." Surely, a generation of lawyers which created and formulated these rules is en- titled to some grateful remembrance, and of that generation, the greatest common lawyer was, undoubtedly, the outlawed Jeffreys. V. The Period of Reform: From William III. to Victoria * As soon as the judges who had served under James II. had been removed, after the Revolution of 1688, a return was made to the old Lancastrian doctrine that judges hold their office during good behavior, not during the pleasure of the crown. Some of the judges who had refused to obey the mandates of the King, and in consequence had suffered dismissal, were now restored. Since the Revolution there has never been a removal of a judge by the executive power, Lord Campbell's Lives, both of Chief Justices and of I>ord Chnn'-ellors, are very full. His lives of Mansfield and Eldon are excellent; but bis Brougham and Lyndhurst are pitiable. Foss is reliable. Welsbv's Lives of Eminent Enplish Jndores. T^oscoe's T>ives of Eminent L'^wvers. Conk- sey's I>ife of Somers, Twiss' Life of Eldon, Brousrham's A utobiopranbv, Arnould's Memoir of Denman, Martin's Life of Lvndhurst, Atlay's Victorian Ch^n'^pllors. and Wnnlrvch's lives of Eminent Serieants, may be consulted. A Centurv of Law Reform summarizes the changes made in the law. while Dicov's T,rw ""d Oninion in EnHand chows the spirit underlying the legal changes. There are, of course, endless other fluthor'+'Vs fr,r this r>eriod, inrlndinp' almost innumerable maeazine arti- cles. Bowring's edition of Bentham's works, with his Memoirs prefixed. Is valuable.
 * The authorities for this period are too numerous to be named here.