,
could or did obtain any general or speedy acquiescence among a people
who cared little for the authority of kings.

Maddox, writing of the period from William the Conqueror to John, says:

"The amercements in criminal and common pleas, which were wont to be
imposed during this first period and afterwards, were of so many several
sorts, that it is not easy to place them under distinct heads. Let them,
for method's sake, be reduced to the heads following: Amercements for or
by reason of murders and manslaughters, for misdemeanors, for
disseisins, for recreancy, for breach of assize, for defaults, for
non-appearance, for false judgment, and for not making suit, or hue and
cry. To them may be added miscellaneous amercements, for trespasses of
divers kinds."--_1 Maddox' History of the Exchequer_, 542.]

[Footnote 31: Coke, in his exposition of the words _legem terrae_, gives
quite in detail the principles of the common law governing _arrests_;
and takes it for granted that the words "_nisi per legem terrae_" are
applicable to arrests, as well as to the indictment, &c.--2 _Inst._,
51,52.]

[Footnote 32: I cite the above extract from Mr. Hallam solely for the
sake of his authority for rendering the word _vel_ by _and_; and not by
any means for the purpose of indorsing the opinion he suggests, that
_legem terrae_ authorized "judgments by default or demurrer," _without
the intervention of a jury_. He seems to imagine that _lex terrae_, the
common law, at the time of Magna Carta, included everything, even to the
practice of courts, that is, _at this day_, called by the name of
_Common Law_; whereas much of what is _now_ called Common Law has grown
up, by usurpation, since the time of Magna Carta, in palpable violation
of the authority of that charter. He says, "Certainly there are many
legal procedures, besides _trial_ by jury, through which a party's goods
or person may be taken." Of course there are _now_ many such ways, in
which a party's goods or person _are_ taken, besides by the judgment of
a jury; but the question is, whether such takings are not in violation
of Magna Carta.

He seems to think that, in cases of "judgment by default or demurrer,"
there is no need of a jury, and thence to infer that _legem terrae_ may
not have required a jury in those cases. But this opinion is founded on
the erroneous idea that juries are required only for determining
contested _facts_, and not for judging of the law. In case of defa