Their declaration was without reserve or exception, that "_all_
resolutions of the Judges are _always_ done in public." These Judges (as
should be remembered to their lasting honor) did not think it derogatory
from their dignity, nor from their duty to the House of Lords, to take
such measures concerning the publicity of their resolutions as should
secure them from suspicion. They knew that the mere circumstance of
privacy in a judicature, where any publicity is in use, tends to beget
suspicion and jealousy. Your Committee is of opinion that the honorable
policy of avoiding suspicion by avoiding privacy is not lessened by
anything which exists in the present time and in the present trial.
Your Committee has here to remark, that this learned Judge seemed to
think the case of Lord Audley (Castlehaven) to be more against him than
in truth it was. The precedents were as follow. The opinions of the
Judges were taken three times: the first time by the Attorney-General at
Serjeants' Inn, antecedent to the trial; the last time, after the Peers
had retired to consult on their verdict; the middle time _was during the
trial itself_: and here the opinion was taken in open court, agreeably
to what your Committee contends to have been the usage ever since this
resolution of the Judges.
Pages:
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55