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le influence with his fellows. 2. The next thing is to moisten this material thus trebly sifted, and mould it into such vessels of tyranny as he can fill with his private or judicial wrath and then empty on the heads of his personal foes or such as thwart his ambitious despotism or the purposes of his government. So he delivers his CHARGE TO THE GRAND-JURY. By way of introduction, he tells them-- (1.) That they are not the Makers of Law. Legislation is the function of Congress and the President; even the COURT, the "SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES" itself cannot make a law, or repeal one! (2.) That they are not the Declarers, or Judges of Law. To know and set forth the Law is the function of the COURT. It is true every man in his personal capacity, as private citizen, is supposed to know the law, and if he violates it, of his own presumption, or by the persuasion of some others who falsely tell him about the law, he must be punished; for "_ignorantia nemini excusat_," ignorance excuseth none; the private advice of the full bench of judges would be held no excuse. But in their official capacity of jurors they are supposed to know nothing of the Law whatsoever. It seems taken for granted that though one of the Jurors may be an old judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, and have sat on the bench for twenty years; nay, though he may be also an old legislator of twenty years' standing, and as legislator have made the very statute in question, and also as judge subsequently have explained and declared it, yet the moment he takes the oath as Grand-Juror, all this knowledge is "gone from him" as completely Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The court is the assembly of magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans to restore it. Congress might pass a law compelling ex-judges, ex-senators, and ex-representatives--who are so numerous nowadays, and continually increasing and likely to multiply yet more,--to serve as grand-jurors; soon as they take their oath, they are in law held and accounted to be utterly ignorant of law, and bound to accept as law whatsoever the court declares such. The acting judge may be young, blind, ignorant, ambitious, drunk with brandy or rage, he may have a personal interest in promoting [Transcriber's Note: for 'promoting' read 'perverting'; see Errata] the law, and may notoriously twist it so as to gratify his peculiar or familistic spleen, still the jury to accept the court's opinion fo
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