arliament issued a warrant against a public officer who had committed
an offence, and sometimes the proceedings were stopped by the authority
of the Crown, which enforced compliance with its absolute and despotic
will. It is painful to perceive how much lower we are sunk than our
forefathers, since we allow things to pass under the color of justice
and the sanction of the law which violence alone could impose upon them.

Chapter VII: Political Jurisdiction In The United States

Chapter Summary

Definition of political jurisdiction--What is understood by political
jurisdiction in France, in England, and in the United States--In America
the political judge can only pass sentence on public officers--He
more frequently passes a sentence of removal from office than a
penalty--Political jurisdiction as it exists in the United States
is, notwithstanding its mildness, and perhaps in consequence of that
mildness, a most powerful instrument in the hands of the majority.

Political Jurisdiction In The United States

I understand, by political jurisdiction, that temporary right of
pronouncing a legal decision with which a political body may be
invested.

In absolute governments no utility can accrue from the introduction of
extraordinary forms of procedure; the prince in whose name an offender
is prosecuted is as much the sovereign of the courts of justice as of
everything else, and the idea which is entertained of his power is of
itself a sufficient security. The only thing he has to fear is, that
the external formalities of justice should be neglected, and that his
authority should be dishonored from a wish to render it more absolute.
But in most free countries, in which the majority can never exercise the
same influence upon the tribunals as an absolute monarch, the judicial
power has occasionally been vested for a time in the representatives
of the nation. It has been thought better to introduce a temporary
confusion between the functions of the different authorities than to
violate the necessary principle of the unity of government.

England, France, and the United States have established this political
jurisdiction by law; and it is curious to examine the different
adaptations which these three great nations have made of the principle.
In England and in France the House of Lords and the Chambre des Paris *a
constitute the highest criminal court of their respective nations, and
although they do not habitually try