It was formerly doubted, whether, in the case of an impeachment for
treason, and in the case of an indictment against a peer for any capital
crime, removed into Parliament by _Certiorari_, whether in these cases
the court can proceed to trial and judgment without an High Steward
appointed by special commission from the Crown. This doubt seemeth to
have arisen from the not distinguishing between a proceeding in the
Court of the High Steward and that before the King in Parliament. The
name, style, and title of office is the same in both cases: but the
office, the powers and preeminences annexed to it, differ very widely;
and so doth the constitution of the courts where the offices are
executed. The identity of the name may have confounded our ideas, as
equivocal words often do, if the nature of things is not attended to;
but the nature of the offices, properly stated, will, I hope, remove
every doubt on these points.
In the Court of the High Steward, he alone is judge in all points of law
and practice; the peers triers are merely judges of fact, and are
summoned by virtue of a precept from the High Steward to appear before
him on the day appointed by him for the trial, _ut rei veritas melius
sciri poterit_.
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