ich is a very great advantage. When
judges are very numerous, death is perpetually thinning the ranks of
the judicial functionaries, and laying places vacant for newcomers. The
ambition of the magistrates is therefore continually excited, and they
are naturally made dependent upon the will of the majority, or the
individual who fills up the vacant appointments; the officers of the
court then rise like the officers of an army. This state of things is
entirely contrary to the sound administration of justice, and to the
intentions of the legislator. The office of a judge is made inalienable
in order that he may remain independent: but of what advantage is it
that his independence should be protected if he be tempted to sacrifice
it of his own accord? When judges are very numerous many of them must
necessarily be incapable of performing their important duties, for a
great magistrate is a man of no common powers; and I am inclined to
believe that a half-enlightened tribunal is the worst of all instruments
for attaining those objects which it is the purpose of courts of justice
to accomplish. For my own part, I had rather submit the decision of a
case to ignorant jurors directed by a skilful judge than to judges a
majority of whom are imperfectly acquainted with jurisprudence and with
the laws.]

I turn, however, from this part of the subject. To look upon the jury as
a mere judicial institution is to confine our attention to a very narrow
view of it; for however great its influence may be upon the decisions
of the law courts, that influence is very subordinate to the powerful
effects which it produces on the destinies of the community at large.
The jury is above all a political institution, and it must be regarded
in this light in order to be duly appreciated.

By the jury I mean a certain number of citizens chosen indiscriminately,
and invested with a temporary right of judging. Trial by jury, as
applied to the repression of crime, appears to me to introduce an
eminently republican element into the government upon the following
grounds:--

The institution of the jury may be aristocratic or democratic, according
to the class of society from which the jurors are selected; but it
always preserves its republican character, inasmuch as it places the
real direction of society in the hands of the governed, or of a portion
of the governed, instead of leaving it under the authority of the
Government. Force is never more than a tr