It is well known that the form of an
impeachment has very little resemblance to that of an indictment; and I
believe the Commons will endeavor to preserve the difference, by
adhering to their own precedents."
Sir William Thomson.--"We must refer to the forms and proceedings in the
Court of Parliament, and which must be owned to be part of the law of
the land. It has been mentioned already to your Lordships, that the
precedents in impeachments are not so nice and precise in form as in the
inferior courts; and we presume your Lordships will be governed by the
forms of your own court, (especially forms that are not essential to
justice,) as the courts below are by theirs: which courts differ one
from the other in many respects as to their forms of proceedings, and
the practice of each court is esteemed as the law of that court."
The Attorney-General in reply maintained his first doctrine. "There is
no uncertainty; in it _that can be to the prejudice of the prisoner_: we
insist, it is according to _the forms of Parliament_: he has pleaded to
it, and your Lordships have found him guilty."
The opinions of the Judges were taken in the House of Lords, on the 19th
of March, 1715, upon two questions which had been argued in arrest of
judgment, grounded chiefly on the practice of the courts below.
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