Page:Smith v. United States (2023).pdf/13

Rh Congress and colonial legislatures forcefully objected to trials in England before loyalist juries, characterizing the practice as an affront to the existing “common law of England, and more especially to the great and inestimable privilege of being tried by … peers of the vicinage.” The Declaration of Independence also denounced these laws, under which, it said, British soldiers were “protect[ed] … by a mock Trial” and colonists were “transport[ed] … beyond the Seas to be tried for pretended offences.” As States declared independence, most incorporated some form of a venue or vicinage clause in their governing documents, but none of these provisions specified a particular remedy for violations.