in a moral sense, is one of the four cardinal virtues, which gives every person his due.

Civilians distinguish justice into two kinds: communicative and distributive. The former establishes fair dealing in the mutual commerce between man and man; and includes sincerity in our discourse, and integrity in our dealings. The effect of sincerity is mutual confidence, so necessary among the members of the same community; and this mutual confidence is sustained and preserved by the integrity of our conduct.

Distributive justice is that by which the differences of mankind are decided, according to the rules of equity. The former is the justice of private individuals; the latter of princes and magistrates.

Fidelity and truth are the foundation of justice. As to be perfectly just is an attribute of the Divine Nature, to be so to the utmost of our ability is the glory of man.

The following examples of this virtue are extracted from various authors.

1. Among the several virtues of Ariadnes, that for which he was most renowned was justice; because this virtue is of most general use, its benefits extending to a greater number of persons, as it is the foundation, and in a manner the soul, of every public office and employment. Hence it was that Ariadnes, though in low circumstances, and of mean extraction, obtained the glorious surname of the Just; a title, says Plutarch, truly royal, or rather truly divine: but of which princes are seldom ambitious, because generally ignorant of its beauty and excellency. They choose rather to be called the conquerors of cities and the thunderbolts of war, preferring the vain honour of pompous titles, which convey no other idea than violence and slaughter, to the solid glory of those expressive of goodness and virtue. How much Ariadnes deserved the title given him, will appear in the following instances; though it ought to be observed, that he acquired it not by one or two particular actions, but by the whole tenor of his conduct.

Themistocles having conceived the design of supplanting the Lacedaemonians, and of taking the government of Greece out of their hands, in order to put it into those of the Athenians, kept his eye and his thoughts thoughts continually fixed upon that great project; and as he was not very nice or scrupulous in the choice of his measures, whatever tended towards the accomplishing of the end he had in view he looked upon as just and lawful.

On a certain day then he declared in a full assembly of the people, that he had a very important design to propose; but that he could not communicate it to the people, because its success required it should be carried on with the greatest secrecy: he therefore desired they would appoint a person to whom he might explain himself upon the matter in question. Arisides was unanimously fixed upon by the whole assembly, who referred themselves entirely to his opinion of the affair; so great a confidence had they both in his probity and prudence. Themistocles, therefore, having taken him aside, told him that the design he had conceived was to burn the fleet belonging to the rest of the Grecian states, which then lay in a neighbouring port; and by this means Athens would certainly become mistress of all Greece. Arisides hereupon returned to the assembly, and only declared to them that indeed nothing could be more advantageous to the commonwealth than Themistocles's project, but that at the same time nothing in the world could be more unjust. All the people unanimously ordained that Themistocles should entirely desist from his project.

There is not perhaps in all history a fact more worthy of admiration than this. It is not a company of philosophers (to whom it costs nothing to establish fine maxims and sublime notions of morality in the school) who determine on this occasion that the consideration of profit and advantage ought never to prevail in preference to what is honest and just; but the whole people who are highly interested in the proposal made to them, that are convinced it is of the greatest importance to the welfare of the state, and who, however, reject it with unanimous consent, and without a moment's hesitation; and for this only reason, that it is contrary to justice. How black and pernicious, on the other hand, was the design which Themistocles proposed to them, of burning the fleet of their Grecian confederates at a time of entire peace, solely to aggrandize the power of the Athenians! Had he a hundred times the merit ascribed to him, this single action would be sufficient to fully all his glory; for it is the heart, that is to say, integrity and probity, which constitute and distinguish true merit.

2. The government of Greece having passed from Sparta to the Athenians, it was thought proper under this new government to lodge in the isle of Delos the common treasure of Greece; to fix new regulations with regard to the public money; and to lay such a tax as might be regulated according to the revenue of each city and state, in order that the expenses being equally borne by the several individuals who composed the body of the allies, no one might have reason to murmur. The difficulty was to find a person of so honest and incorrupt mind, as to discharge faithfully an employment of so delicate and dangerous a kind, the due administration of which so nearly concerned the public welfare. All the allies cast their eyes on Arisides; accordingly they invested him with full powers, and appointed him to levy a tax on each of them, relying entirely on his wisdom and justice. The citizens had no cause to repent their choice. He presided over the treasury with the fidelity and disinterestedness of a man who looks upon it as a capital crime to embezzle the smallest portion of another's possessions, with the care and activity of a father of a family in the management of his own estate, and with the caution and integrity of a person who considers the public money as sacred. In fine, he succeeded in what is equally difficult and extraordinary, viz. to acquire the love of all in an office in which he who escapes the public odium gains a great point. Such is the glorious character which Seneca gives of a person charged with an employment of almost the same kind, and the noblest eulogium that can be given to such as administer public revenues. It is the exact picture of Arisides. He discovered so much probity and wisdom in the exercise of this office, that no man complained; and those times were considered ever after as the golden age; that is, the period in which Greece had attained the highest pitch of virtue and happiness.

While he was treasurer-general of the republic, he made it appear that his predecessors in that office had cheated the state of vast sums of money, and among the rest Themistocles in particular; for this great man, with all his merit, was not irreproachable on that head; for which reason, when Arisides came to pass his account, Themistocles raised a mighty faction against him, accused him of having embezzled the public treasure, and prevailed so far as to have him condemned and fined. But the principal inhabitants, and the most virtuous part of the citizens, rising up against so unjust a sentence, not only the judgment was reversed and the fine remitted, but he was elected treasurer again for the year ensuing. He then seemed to repent of his former administration; and by showing himself more tractable and indulgent towards others, he found out the secret of pleasing all that plundered the commonwealth; for as he neither reproved them nor narrowly inspected their accounts, all these plunderers, grown fat with spoil and rapine, now extolled Arisides to the skies. It would have been easy for him, as we perceive, to have enriched himself in a post of that nature, which seems, as it were, to invite a man to it by the many favourable opportunities it lays in his way; especially as he had to do with officers, who for their part were intent upon nothing but robbing the public, and would have been ready to conceal the frauds of the treasurer their master, upon condition he did them the same favour. These very officers now made interest with the people to have him continued a third year in the same employment: but when the time of election was come, just as they were on the point of electing Arisides unanimously, he rose up, and warmly reproved the Athenian people: "What (says he), when I managed your treasure with all the fidelity and diligence an honest man is capable of, I met with the most cruel treatment, and the most mortifying returns; and now that I have abandoned it to the mercy of these robbers of the republic, I am an admirable man and the best of citizens! I cannot help declaring to you, that I am more ashamed of the honour you do me this day, than I was of the condemnation you passed against me this time twelve months; and with grief I find that it is more glorious with Justice. with us to be complaissant to knaves than to save the treasures of the republic." By this declaration he silenced the public plunderers and gained the esteem of all good men.

3. In the Universal History we meet with the following remarkable instance of a scrupulous regard to justice in a Persian king named Noushirvan. Having been out hunting, and desirous of eating some of the venison in the field, several of his attendants went to a neighbouring village and took away a quantity of salt to season it. The king suspecting how they had acted, ordered that they should immediately go and pay for it. Then turning to his attendants, he said, "This is a small matter in itself, but a great one as it regards me: for a king ought ever to be just, because he is an example to his subjects; and if he swerves in trifles, they will become dissolute. If I cannot make all my people just in the smallest things, I can at least show them it is possible to be so."

These examples, to which many more might be added, are highly pleasing to a sagacious and virtuous mind; but the sensual and brutal part of mankind, who regard only the present moment, who see no objects but those which fall under the cognizance of the corporeal eye, and estimate the merit of every action by the gain which it produces, have always considered justice and utility as independent of each other. They put utility in the balance against honesty every day; and never fail to incline the beam in favour of the former, if the supposed advantage is thought to be considerable. They have no regard to justice but as they reckon to gain by it, or at least not to lose; and are always ready to desert it when it exposes them to any danger or threatens them with any loss. From this disposition of mind proceeds that avidity of wealth and that habitual fraud which perpetually embroil civil society: from this fatal source arises that deluge of iniquity which has overflowed the world; from this preference of interest to honesty proceed every unjust litigation and every act of violence. And yet nothing is more certain than that "Whatever is unjust must, upon the whole, be disadvantageous;" which might be proved thus:

Nothing is advantageous or useful but that which has a tendency to render us happy: the highest advantage, or absolute utility, is complete happiness; and to this happiness, whatever is advantageous or useful is relative as to an ultimate end; and nothing that is not thus relative to happiness can properly be said to be advantageous or useful. But whatever is unjust, is so far from tending to promote, that it destroys our happiness; for whatever is unjust is contrary to the Divine will: but it is not possible that we should become happy by resisting that will; because of this will our happiness is the immediate object. God is not a tyrant, proud of uncontrollable power, who imposes capricious laws only as tests of our obedience, and to make us feel the weight of his yoke; all his precepts are lessons which teach us how to be happy. But it is the will of God that we should be just; from whence it follows, that no true happiness can be acquired by those who are unjust. An action, therefore, which is contrary to the will of God, must be inconsistent with our true interest; and consequently, so far from being useful or expedient, it must inevitably produce ruin and misery. Injustice sometimes meets with the punishment it deserves in this world; but if it should escape here, it does not follow that it will forever escape. It proves, on the contrary, that there is another world in which the fates of mankind will be impartially decided.

But to prevent the dreadful confusion which the mistaken notion of interest had introduced among mankind, it became necessary to have recourse to the innate principles of justice; to suspend the balance and display the sword, for the determination of differences and the punishment of guilt. This is the reason and origin of distributive justice, which became the necessary appendage of sovereignty. Accordingly, in ancient times, princes administered justice in person and without delay; but at length being embarrassed and oppressed by the multiplicity of business which increased with their dominions, or diverted from their attention to civil government by the command of armies, certain laws were established with great solemnity to adjust and determine the differences which might arise among the members of the same community, and to repress the insolence of those who dared to violate the public peace, by possessing them with the dread either of corporeal punishment or infamy. The execution of these laws was put into the hands of subordinate judges. These delegates of the sovereign power were called magistrates; and these are the persons by whom justice is at this time administered, except in particular cases, in which the sovereign himself interferes. But by whomsoever this kind of justice is administered, it ought to be done speedily, impartially, and without expense to the parties.

4. Aristides being judge between two private persons, one of them declared, that his adversary had greatly injured Aristides. "Relate rather, good friend (said he, interrupting him), what wrong he hath done thee; for it is thy cause, not mine, that I now sit judge of?"—Again: Being desired by Simonides, a poet of Chios, who had a cause to try before him, to stretch a point in his favour, he replied, "As you would not be a good poet if your lines ran contrary to the just measures and rules of your art; so I should neither be a good judge nor an honest man if I decided aught in opposition to law and justice."

5. Artabazanes, an officer of Artaxerxes king of Persia, begged his majesty to confer a favour upon him; which if complied with would be an act of injustice. The king being informed that the promise of a considerable sum of money was the only motive that induced the officer to make so unreasonable a request, ordered his treasurer to give him thirty thousand darics, being a present of equal value with that which he was to have received. Giving him the order for the money, "Here, take (says the king) this token of my friendship for you: a gift of this nature cannot make me poor; but complying with your request would make me poor indeed, for it would make me unjust."

6. Cambyses king of Persia was remarkable for the severity of his government and his inexorable regard to justice. The prince had a particular favourite whom he made a judge; and this judge reckoned himself so secure in the credit he had with his master, that without any more ado causes were bought and sold in the courts of judicature as openly as provisions in the market. But when Cambyses was informed of these proceedings, enraged to find his friendship so ungratefully abused, the honour of his government prostituted, and the liberty and property of his subjects sacrificed to the avarice of his wretched minion, he ordered him to be seized and publicly degraded; after which he commanded his skin to be stripped over his ears, and the seat of judgment to be covered with it as a warning to others. At the same time, to convince the world that this severity proceeded only from the love of justice, he permitted the son to succeed his father in the honours and office of prime minister.

7. When Charles duke of Burgundy, surnamed the Bold, reigned over spacious dominions, now swallowed up by the power of France, he heaped many favours and honours upon Claudius Rynault, a German, who had served him in his wars against the insults of his neighbours. The prince himself was a person of singular humanity and justice; and being prepossessed in favour of Rynault, upon the decease of the governor of the chief town of Zealand gave him that command. He was not long feated in that government before he cast his eyes upon Sapphira, a woman of exquisite beauty, the wife of Paul Danveld, a wealthy merchant of the city under his protection and government. Rynault was a man of a warm constitution, and violent inclination to women. He knew what it was to enjoy the satisfactions which are reaped from the possession of beauty; but was an utter stranger to the decencies, honours, and delicacies, that attend the passion toward them in elegant minds. He could with his tongue utter a passion with which his heart was wholly untouched. In short, he was one of those brutal minds which can be gratified with the violation of innocence and beauty, without the least pity, passion, or love for that with which they are so much delighted.

Rynault being resolved to accomplish his will on the wife of Danveld, left no arts untried to get into a familiarity at her house; but he knew his character and disposition too well not to shun all occasions that might enflame her into his conversation. The governor, despairing of success by ordinary means, apprehended and imprisoned her husband, under pretence of an information that he was guilty of a correspondence with the enemies of the duke to betray the town into their possession. This design had its desired effect; and the wife of the unfortunate Danveld, the day before that which was appointed for his execution, presented herself in the hall of the governor's house, and as he passed through the apartment threw herself at his feet, and holding his knees, beseeched his mercy. Rynault beheld her with a dissembled satisfaction; and assuming an air of thought and authority, he bid her rise, and told her she must follow him to his closet; and asking her whether she knew the hand of the letter he pulled out of his pocket, went from her, leaving this admonition aloud: "if you would save your husband, you must give me an account of all you know, without prevarication; for every body is satisfied that he is too fond of you to be able to hide from you the names of the rest of the conspirators, or any other particulars whatsoever." He went to his closet, and soon after the lady was sent for to an audience. The servant knew his distance when matters of state were to be debated; and the governor, laying aside the air with which he had appeared in public, began to be the supplicant, and to rally an affliction which it was in her power easily to remove. She easily perceived his intention; and, bathed in tears, began to deprecate so wicked a design. Lust, like ambition, takes all the faculties of the mind and body into its service and subjection. Her becoming tears, her honest anguish, the wringing of her hands, and the many changes of her posture and figure in the vehemence of speaking, were but so many attitudes in which he beheld her beauty, and farther incentives of his desire. All humanity was lost in that one appetite; and he signified to her in so many plain terms, that he was unhappy till he polluted her, and nothing less should be the price of his husband's life; and she must, before the following noon, pronounce the death or enlargement of Danveld. After this notification, when he saw Sapphira enough distracted to make the subject of their discourse to common eyes appear different from what it was, he called his servants to conduct her to the gate. Loaded with intupportable affliction, she immediately repaired to her husband, and having signified to the gaolers that she had a proposal to make to her husband from the governor, she was left alone with him, revealed to him all that had passed, and represented the endless conflict she was in between love to his person and fidelity to his bed. It is easy to imagine the sharp affliction this honest pair were in upon such an incident, in lives not used to any but ordinary occurrences. The man was bridled by shame from speaking what his fear prompted upon so near an approach of death; but let fall words that signified to her, he should not think her polluted, though she had not confessed to him that the governor had violated her person, since he knew her will had no part in the action. She parted from him with this oblique permission, to save a life he had not resolution enough to resign for the safety of his honour.

The next morning the unhappy Sapphira attended the governor, and being led into a remote apartment, submitted to his desires. Rynault commended her charms; claimed a familiarity after what had passed between them; and with an air of gaiety, in the language of a gallant, bid her return and take her husband out of prison; but, continued he, my fair one must not be offended that I have taken care he should not be an interruption to our future affections. These last words foreboded what she found when she came to the gaol, her husband executed by the order of Rynault.

It was remarkable, that the woman, who was full of tears and lamentations during the whole course of her affliction, uttered neither sigh nor complaint, but stood fixed with grief at this consummation of her misfortunes. She betook herself to her abode; and, after having in solitude paid her devotion to Him who is the avenger of innocence, she repaired privately to court. Her person, and a certain grandeur of sorrow negligent of forms, gained her admittance to the duke her sovereign. As soon as she came into the presence, she broke forth into the following words: "Behold, O mighty Charles, a wretch weary of life, though it has always been spent with innocence and virtue." It is not in your power to redress my injuries, but it is to avenge them; and if the protection of the distressed, and the punishment of oppressors, is a talk worthy of a prince, I bring the duke of Burgundy ample matter for doing honour to his own great name, and of wiping infamy off mine." When he had spoken this, he delivered to the duke a paper reciting her story. He read it with all the emotion that indignation and pity could raise in a prince jealous of his honour in the behaviour of his officers and the prosperity of his subjects.

Upon an appointed day Rynsault was sent for to court, and in the presence of a few of the council confronted by Saphira. The prince asking, "Do you know that lady?" Rynsault, as soon as he could recover his surprise, told the duke he would marry her, if his highness would please to think that a reparation. The duke seemed contented with this answer, and stood by during the immediate solemnization of the ceremony. At the conclusion of it he told Rynsault, "Thus far you have done as constrained by my authority: I shall not be satisfied of your kind usage of her, till you sign a gift of your whole estate to her after your decease." To the performance of this also the duke was a witness. When these two acts were executed, the duke turning to the lady, told her, "It now remains with me to put you in quiet possession of what your husband has so bountifully bestowed on you;" and ordered the immediate execution of Rynsault.

8. One of the greatest of the Turkish princes was Mamood or Mahmud the Gaznawide. His name is still venerable in the east; and of the noble parts of his character a regard to justice was not the least. Of this the following example is related by Mr Gibbon in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.—As he sat in the divan, an unhappy subject bowed before the throne to accuse the insolence of a Turkish soldier who had driven him from his house and bed. "Suspend your clamours (said Mahmud); inform me of his next visit, and ourself in person will judge and punish the offender." The sultan followed his guide; invested the house with his guards; and extinguishing the torches, pronounced the death of the criminal who had been seized in the act of rapine and adultery. After the execution of his sentence, the lights were rekindled, and Mahmud fell prostrate in prayer; then rising from the ground, he demanded some homely fare, which he devoured with the voracities of hunger. The poor man, whose injury he had avenged, was unable to suppress his astonishment and curiosity; and the courteous monarch condescended to explain the motives of this singular behaviour. "I had reason to suspect that none except one of my sons could dare to perpetrate such an outrage; and I extinguished the lights that my justice might be blind and inexorable. My prayer was a thanksgiving on the discovery of the offender; and so painful was my anxiety, that I had passed three days without food since the first moment of your complaint."

9. In Bourgoanne's Travels in Spain, vol. iii. p. 364, the following anecdote is given of Peter III. of Castile. A canon of the cathedral of Seville, affected in his dress, and particularly in his shoes, could not find a workman to his liking. An unfortunate shoemaker, to whom he applied after quitting many others, having brought him a pair of shoes not made to please his taste, the canon became furious, and seizing one of the tools of the shoemaker, gave him with it so many blows upon the head as laid him dead upon the floor. The unhappy man left a widow, four daughters, and a son 13 years of age, the eldest of the indigent family. They made their complaint to the chapter: the canon was prosecuted, and condemned not to appear in the choir for a year. The young shoemaker having attained to man's estate, was scarcely able to get a livelihood; and overwhelmed with wretchedness, sat down on the day of a procession at the door of the cathedral of Seville in the moment the procession passed by. Amongst the other canons he perceived the murderer of his father. At the sight of this man filial affection, rage, and despair, so far got the better of his reason, that he fell furiously upon the priest, and stabbed him to the heart. The young man was seized, convicted of the crime, and immediately condemned to be quartered alive. Peter, whom we call the Cruel, and whom the Spaniards, with more reason, call the lover of justice, was then at Seville. The affair came to his knowledge; and after learning the particulars, he determined to be himself the judge of the young shoemaker. When he proceeded to give judgment, he first annulled the sentence just pronounced by the clergy; and after asking the young man what profession he was, "I forbid you (said he) to make shoes for one year to come."

10. In Gladwin's History of Hindostan, a singular fact is related of the emperor Jehangir, under whose father Akber the Mogul empire in Hindostan first obtained any regular form. Jehangir succeeded him at Agra on the 2nd of October, 1605; and the first order which he issued on his accession to the throne was for the construction of the golden chain of justice. It was made of pure gold, and measured 30 yards, consisting of 60 links, weighing four maunds of Hindostan (about 400 pounds avoirdupois). One end of this chain was suspended from the royal bastion of the fortres of Agra, and the other fastened in the ground near the side of the river. The intention of this extraordinary invention was, that if the officers of the courts of law were partial in their decisions, or dilatory in the administration of justice, the injured parties might come themselves to this chain; and making a noise by shaking the links of it, give notice that they were waiting to represent their grievances to his majesty.

Justice is also an appellation given to a person deputed by the king to administer justice to his subjects, whose authority arises from his deputation, and not by right of magistracy.

Of these justices there are various kinds in England, viz:

Chief Justice of the King's Bench, is the capital justice of Great Britain, and is a lord by his office. His business is chiefly to hear and determine all pleas of the crown; that is, such as concern offences against the crown, dignity, and peace of the king; as treasons, felonies, &c. This officer was formerly not only chief justice, but also chief baron for the exchequer, and master of the court of wards. He usually sat in the king's palace, and there executed that office, formerly Justice. merly performed per comitem palatii; he determined in that place all the differences happening between the barons and other great men. He had the prerogative of being viceregent of the kingdom whenever the king went beyond sea, and was usually chosen to that office out of the prime nobility; but his power was reduced by King Richard I. and King Edward I. His office is now divided, and his title changed from capitalis Anglie iustitarius, to capitalis iustitarius ad placa- cia coram regi tenenda, or capitalis iustitarius banei regii.

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, he who with his assistants hears and determines all causes at the common law; that is to say, all civil causes between common persons, as well personal as real; and he is also a lord by his office.

Justice of the Forest, is a lord by his office, who has power and authority to determine offences committed in the king's forests, &c., which are not to be determined by any other court of justice. Of these there are two; whereof one has jurisdiction over all the forests on this side Trent, and the other beyond it.

By many ancient records it appears to be a place of great honour and authority, and is never bestowed but on some person of great distinction. The court where this justice sits, is called the justice seat of the forest, held once every three years, for hearing and determining all trespasses within the forest, and all claim of franchises, liberties, and privileges, and all pleas and causes whatsoever therein arising. This court may fine and imprison for offences within the forest, it being a court of record; and therefore a writ of error lies from hence to the court of King's Bench. The last court of justice seat of any note was that held in the reign of Charles I. before the earl of Holland. After the Restoration another was held for form's sake before the earl of Oxford; but since the revolution in 1688, the forest laws have fallen into total disuse, to the great advantage of the subject.

This is the only justice who may appoint a deputy; he is also called justice in eyre of the forest.

Justices of Assize, were such as were wont by special commission to be sent into this or that county to take assizes for the ease of the subjects. For, whereas these actions pass always by jury, so many men might not without great damage and charge be brought up to London; and therefore justices, for this purpose, by commissions particularly authorized, were sent down to them. These continue to pass the circuits by two and two twice every year through all England, except the four northern counties, where they go only once, despatching their several business by several commissions; for they have one commission to take assizes, another to deliver gaols, and another of oyer and terminer. In London and Middlesex a court of general gaol-delivery is held eight times in the year.

All the justices of peace of any county wherein the assizes are held, are bound by law to attend them, or else are liable to a fine; in order to return recognizances, &c., and to assist the judges in such matters as lie within their knowledge and jurisdiction, and in which some of them have been probably concerned, by way of previous examination. See Assizes and Jury.

Justices in Eyre, (justiciarii itinerantes, or errant), were those who were anciently sent with commission into divers counties to hear such causes especially as were termed pleas of the crown; and that for the ease of the subject, who must else have been hurried to the courts of Westminster, if the causes were too high for the county courts.

According to some, these justices were sent once in seven years; but others suppose that they were sent oftener. Camden says, they were instituted in the reign of King Henry II. A.D. 1184; but they appear to be of an older date.

They were somewhat like our justices of assize at this day, though for authority and manner of proceeding very different.

Justices of Gaol-Delivery, those commissioned to hear and determine causes appertaining to such as for any offence are cast into prison. Justices of gaol-delivery are empowered by the common law to proceed upon indictments of felony, trespasses, &c., and to order execution or reprieve; and they have power to discharge such prisoners as upon their trials shall be acquitted; also all such against whom, on proclamation made, no evidence appears to indict; which justices of oyer and terminer, &c., may not do. 2 Hawk. 24, 25. But these justices having nothing to do with any person not in the custody of the prison, except in some special cases; as if some of the accomplices to a felony may be in such prison and some of them out of it, the justices may receive an appeal against those who are out of the prison as well as those who are in it; which appeal, after the trial of such prisoners, shall be removed into B.R. and proceeds thence to them against the rest. But if those out of prison be omitted in the appeal, they can never be put into any other; because there can be but one appeal for the felony. In this way the gaols are cleared, and all offenders tried, punished, or delivered, in every year.—Their commission is turned over to the justices of assize.

Justices of Nisi Prius, are now the same with justices of assize. It is a common adjournment of a cause in the common pleas to put it off to such a day, nisi prius justiciarii venerint ad caus partes ad copiendas affissiones; from which clause of adjournment they are called justices of nisi prius, as well as justices of assize, on account of writ and actions they have to deal in.

Justices of Oyer and Terminer, were justices deputies on some special occasions to hear and determine particular causes.—The commission of oyer and terminer is directed to certain persons, upon any infraction, heinous demeanour, or trespass committed, who must first inquire, by means of the grand jury or inquest, before they are empowered to hear and determine by the help of the petit jury. It was formerly held that no judge or other lawyer could act in the commission of oyer and terminer, or that of gaol-delivery, within the county where he was born or inhabited; but it was thought proper by 12 Geo. II. cap. 27, to allow any man to be a justice of oyer and terminer and general gaol-delivery within any county of England.

Justices of the Peace are persons of interest and credit, appointed by the king's commission to keep the peace of the county where they live.

Of these some for special respect are made of the quorum, so as no business of importance may be dispatched. spatched without the presence or assent of them or one of them. Every justice of peace has a separate power, and his office is to call before him, examine, issue warrants for apprehending, and commit to prison all thieves, murderers, wandering rogues; those that hold conspiracies, riots, and almost all delinquents which may occasion the breach of the peace and quiet of the subject; to commit to prison such as cannot find bail, and to see them brought forth in due time to trial; and bind over the prosecutors to the affizes. And if they neglect to certify examinations and informations to the next gaol-delivery, or do not bind over prosecutors, they should be fined. A justice may commit a person that doth a felony in his own view without a warrant; but if on the information of another, he must make a warrant under hand and seal for that purpose. If complaint and oath be made before a justice of goods stolen, and the informer, suspecting that they are in a particular house, shows the cause of his suspicion, the justice may grant a warrant to the constable, &c., to search in the place suspected, to seize the goods and person in whose custody they are found, and bring them before him or some other justice. The search on these warrants ought to be in the daytime, and doors may be broke open by constables to take the goods. Justices of peace may make and persuade an agreement in petty quarrels and breaches of the peace, where the king is not entitled to a fine, though they may not compound offences or take money for making agreements. A justice hath a discretion power of binding to the good behaviour; and may require a recognizance, with a great penalty of one for his keeping of the peace, where the party bound is a dangerous person, and likely to break the peace, and do much mischief; and for default of sureties he may be committed to gaol. But a man giving security for keeping the peace in the king's bench or chancery, may have a superfedeer to the justices in the county not to take security; and also by giving surety of the peace to any other justice. If one make an assault upon a justice of peace, he may apprehend the offender, and commit him to gaol till he finds sureties for the peace; and a justice may record a forcible entry on his own petition; in other cases he cannot judge in his own cause. Contempts against justices are punishable by indictment and fine at the sessions. Justices shall not be regularly punished for any thing done by them in felony as judges; and if a justice be tried for any thing done in his office, he may plead the general issue, and give the special matter in evidence; and if a verdict is given for him, or if the plaintiff be nonsuit, he shall have double costs; and such action shall only be laid in the county where the offence is committed, 7 Jac. 5.; 21 Jac. cap. 12. But if they are guilty of any misdemeanor in office, information lies against them in the king's bench, where they shall be punished by fine and imprisonment; and all persons who recover a verdict against a justice for any wilful or malicious injury, are entitled to double costs. By 24 Geo. II. cap. 44, no writ shall be sued out against any justice of peace, for any thing done by him in the execution of his office, until notice in writing shall be delivered to him one month before the suing out of the same, containing the cause of action, &c., within which month he may tender amends; and if the tender be found sufficient, he shall have a verdict, &c. Nor shall any action be brought against a justice for any thing done in the execution of his office, unless commenced within six months after the act committed.

A justice is to exercise his authority only within the county where he is appointed by his commission, not in any city which is a county of itself, or town corporate, having their proper justices, &c., but in other towns and liberties he may. The power and office of justices terminates in six months after the demise of the crown, by an express writ of discharge under the great seal, by writ of superfedeer, by a new commission, and by accession of the office of sheriff or coroner.

The original of justices of the peace is referred to the fourth year of Edward III. They were first called conservators or wardens of the peace, elected by the county upon a writ directed to the sheriff; but the power of appointing them was transferred by statutes from the people to the king; and under this appellation appointed by 1 Edward III. cap. 16. Afterwards the statute 24 Edw. III. cap. 1, gave them the power of trying felonies, and then they acquired the appellation of justice. They are appointed by the king's special commission under the great seal, the form of which was settled by all the judges, A.D. 1393; and the king may appoint as many as he shall think fit in every county in England and Wales, though they are generally made at the discretion of the lord chancellor, by the king's leave. At first the number of justices was not above two or three in a county, 18 Edw. III. cap. 2. Then it was provided by 34 Edw. III. cap. 1, that one lord, and three or four of the most worthy men in the county, with some learned in the law, should be made justices in every county. The number was afterwards restrained first to six and then to eight, in every county, by 12 Ric. II. cap. 10. and 14 Ric. II. cap. 11. But their number has greatly increased since their first institution. As to their qualifications, the statutes just cited direct them to be of the best reputation and most worthy men in the county; and the statute 13 Ric. II. cap. 7, orders them to be of the most sufficient knights, esquires, and gentlemen of the law; and by the 2 Hen. V. stat. 1, cap. 4, and flat. 2, cap. 1, they must be resident in their several counties. And by 18 Hen. VI. cap. 11, no justice was to be put in commission, if he had not lands to the value of 20l. per annum. It is now enacted by 5 Geo. II. cap. 11, that every justice shall have 100l. per annum, clear of all deductions; of which he shall make oath by 18 Geo. II. cap. 20. And if he acts without such qualification, he shall forfeit 100l. It is also provided by 5 Geo. II. that no practising attorney, solicitor, or proctor, shall be capable of acting as a justice of the peace.

Justices of the Peace within Liberties, are justices of the peace who have the same authority in cities or other corporate towns as the others have in counties; and their power is the same; only that these have the affizes of ale and beer, wood, and victuals, &c. Justices of cities and corporations are not within the qualification act, 5 Geo. II. cap. 18.

Fountain of Justice, one of the characters or attributes of the king. See Prerogative.

By the fountain of justice the law does not mean the Justice. author or original, but only the distributor. Justice is not derived from the king as from his free gift; but he is the steward of the public, to dispense it to whom it is due. He is not the spring, but the reservoir, from whence right and equity are conducted, by thousand channels, to every individual. The original power of judicature, by the fundamental principles of society, is lodged in the society at large: but as it would be impracticable to render complete justice to each individual, by the people in their collective capacity, therefore every nation has committed that power to certain select magistrates who with more ease and expedition can hear and determine complaints: and in England this authority has immemorially been exercised by the king or his substitutes. He therefore has alone the right of erecting courts of judicature: for though the constitution of the kingdom hath intrusted him with the whole executive power of the laws, it is impossible, as well as improper, that he should personally carry into execution this great and extensive trust: it is consequently necessary that courts should be erected, to assist him in executing this power; and equally necessary, that, if erected, they should be erected by his authority. And hence it is that all jurisdictions of courts are either immediately or immediately derived from the crown; their proceedings run generally in the king's name; they pass under his seal, and are executed by his officers.

It is probable, and almost certain, that in very early times, before our constitution arrived at its full perfection, our kings in person often heard and determined causes between party and party. But at present, by the long and uniform usage of many ages, our kings have delegated their whole judicial power to the judges of their several courts; which are the grand depository of the fundamental laws of the kingdom, and have gained a known and stated jurisdiction, regulated by certain and established rules, which the crown itself cannot now alter but by act of parliament. And in order to maintain both the dignity and independence of the judges in the superior courts, it is enacted by the stat. 13 W. III. c. 2. that their commissions shall be made, not, as formerly, durante beneplacito, but quamdiu bene se gesserint, and their salaries ascertained and established; but that it may be lawful to remove them on the address of both houses of parliament. And now, by the noble improvements of that law in the statute of Geo. III. c. 23. enacted at the earnest recommendation of the king himself from the throne, the judges are continued in their offices during their good behaviour, notwithstanding any demise of the crown (which was formerly held immediately to vacate their seats), and their full salaries are absolutely secured to them during the continuance of their commissions; his majesty having been pleased to declare, that he looked upon the independence and uprightness of the judges, as essential to the impartial administration of justice; as one of the best securities of the rights and liberties of his subjects; and as most conducive to the honour of the crown."

In criminal proceedings or prosecutions for offences, it would still be a higher absurdity, if the king personally sat in judgment; because, in regard to these, he appears in another capacity, that of prosecutor. All offences are either against the king's peace, or his crown and dignity; and are so laid in every indictment. For though in their consequences they generally seem (except in the case of treason and a very few others) to be rather offences against the kingdom than the king; yet, as the public, which is an invisible body, has delegated all its power and rights, with regard to the execution of the laws, to one visible magistrate, all affronts to that power, and breaches of those rights are immediately offences against him, to whom they are delegated by the public. He is therefore the proper person to prosecute for all public offences and breaches of the peace, being the person injured in the eye of the law. And this notion was carried so far in the old Gothic constitution (wherein the king was bound by his coronation oath to conserve the peace), that in case of any forcible injury offered to the person of a fellow subject, the offender was accused of a kind of perjury, in having violated the king's coronation oath; dicebatur fregisse juramentum regis juratum. And hence also arises another branch of the prerogative, that of pardoning offences; for it is reasonable that he only who is injured should have the power of forgiving. See PARDON.

In this distinct and separate existence of the judicial power in a peculiar body of men, nominated indeed, but not removable at pleasure, by the crown, consists one main preservative of the public liberty; which cannot subsist long in any state, unless the administration of common justice be in some degree separated both from the legislative and also from the executive power. Were it joined with the legislative, the life, liberty, and property of the subject would be in the hands of arbitrary judges, whose decisions would be then regulated only by their own opinions, and not by any fundamental principles of law; which, though legislators may depart from, yet judges are bound to observe. Were it joined with the executive, this union might soon be an overbalance for the legislative. For which reason, by the statute of 16 Car. I. c. 10. which abolished the court of star-chamber, effectual care is taken to remove all judicial power out of the hands of the king's privy-council; who, as then was evident from recent instances, might soon be inclined to pronounce that for law which was most agreeable to the prince or his officers. Nothing therefore is more to be avoided in a free constitution, than uniting the provinces of a judge and a minister of state. And indeed, that the absolute power, claimed and exercised in a neighbouring nation, is more tolerable than that of the eastern empires, is in a great measure owing to their having vested the judicial power in their parliaments; a body separate and distinct from both the legislative and executive; and if ever that nation recovers its former liberty, it will owe it to the efforts of those assemblies. In Turkey, where everything is centered in the sultan or his ministers, despotic power is in its meridian, and wears a more dreadful aspect.

A consequence of this prerogative is the legal ubiquity of the king. His majesty, in the eye of the law, is always present in all his courts, though he cannot personally distribute justice. His judges are the mirror by which the king's image is reflected. It is the regal office, and not the royal person, that is always present in court, always ready to undertake prosecutions, or pronounce judgment, for the benefit and protection of the subject. And from this ubiquity it follows, that the king can never be nonsuit; for a nonsuit is the defection of the suit or action by the non-appearance of the plaintiff in court. For the same reason also in the forms of legal proceedings, the king is not said to appear by his attorney, as other men do; for he al- ways appears, in contemplation of law, in his own pro- per person.

From the same original, of the king's being the fountain of justice, we may also deduce the prerogative of issuing proclamations, which is vested in the king alone. See Proclamation.

JUSTICE Seat. See Forest Courts.