, _prepared upon their
oaths to declare whether A or B have the greater right to the land in
question_," indicate that the jurors judged of the whole matter on their
consciences only.

The language of Magna Carta, already discussed, establishes the same
point; for, although some of the words, such as "outlawed," and
"exiled," would apply only to criminal cases, nearly the whole chapter
applies as well to civil as to criminal suits. For example, how could
the payment of a debt ever be enforced against an unwilling debtor, if
he could neither be "arrested, imprisoned, nor deprived of his
freehold," and if the king could neither "proceed against him, nor send
any one against him, by force or arms"? Yet Magna Carta as much forbids
that any of these things shall be done against a debtor, as against a
criminal, _except according to, or in execution of_, "_a judgment of his
peers, or the law of the land_,"--a provision which, it has been shown,
gave the jury the free and absolute right to give or withhold "judgment"
according to their consciences, irrespective of all legislation.

The following provisions, in the Magna Carta of John, illustrate the
custom of referring the most important matters of a civil nature, even
where the king was a party, to the determination of the peers, or of
twelve men, acting by no rules but their own consciences. These examples
at least show that there is nothing improbable or unnatural in the idea
that juries should try all civil suits according to their own judgments,
independently of all laws of the king.

_Chap. 65._ "If we have disseized or dispossessed the Welsh of any
lands, liberties, or other things, without the legal judgment of
their peers, they shall be immediately restored to them. And if any
dispute arises upon this head, the matter shall be determined in the
Marches,[68] _by the judgment of their peers_," &c.

_Chap. 68._ "We shall treat with Alexander, king of Scots, concerning
the restoring of his sisters, and hostages, and rights and liberties,
in the same form and manner as we shall do to the rest of our barons
of England; unless by the engagements, which his father William, late
king of Scots, hath entered into with us, it ought to be otherwise;
_and this shall be left to the determination of his peers in our
court_."

_Chap. 56._ "All evil customs concerning forests, warrens, and
foresters, warreners, sheriffs, and their officers,