JL HE adminiftration of juftice and the difcription of the laws?
The ftate is divided into counties. In every county are appointed magiftrates, called juftices of the peace, ufually from eight to thirty or forty in number, in proportion to the fize of the county, of the moft difcreet and honeft inhabitants. They are nominated by their fellow^s, but commiffioned by the governor, and ad:
without reward. Thefe magiftrates have jurifdidlion both criminal and civil. If the queftion before them be a queftion of law only, they decide on it themfelves: but if it be of fafl:, or of fatSl and law combined, it muft be referred to a jury. In the latter cafe, of a combination of law and fad, it is ufual for the jurors to decide the fa ft, and to refer the law arifing on it to the decifion of the judges. But this divifion of the fubjeft lies with their difcretion only. And if the queftion relate to any Kk [ ^5o ] point of public liberty, or if it be one of thofe in which the judges may be fufpefted of bias, the jury undertake to decide both law and faft. If they be miftaken, a decifion againft right, which is cafual only, is lefs dangerous to the ftate, and lefs affliding to the lofer, than one which makes part of a regular and uniform fyf- tem. In truth it is better to tofs up crofs and pile in a caufe, than to refer it to a judge whofe mind is warped by any mo- tive whatever, in that particular cafe.
But the common fenfe of twelve honeft men gives ftill a better chance of juft de- cifion, than the hazard of crofs and pile.
Thefe judges execute their procefs by the fheriff or coroner of the county, or by conftables of their own appointment. If any free perfon commit an offence againft the commonwealth, if it be below the de- gree of felony, he is bound by a juftice to appear before their court, to anfvver it on indiftment or information. If it amount to felony, he is committed to jail;