And as to the conduct of the officers of the revenue, the provision in
favor of trial by jury in criminal cases, will afford the security aimed
at. Wilful abuses of a public authority, to the oppression of the
subject, and every species of official extortion, are offenses against
the government, for which the persons who commit them may be indicted
and punished according to the circumstances of the case.
The excellence of the trial by jury in civil cases appears to depend on
circumstances foreign to the preservation of liberty. The strongest
argument in its favor is, that it is a security against corruption. As
there is always more time and better opportunity to tamper with a
standing body of magistrates than with a jury summoned for the occasion,
there is room to suppose that a corrupt influence would more easily find
its way to the former than to the latter. The force of this
consideration is, however, diminished by others. The sheriff, who is the
summoner of ordinary juries, and the clerks of courts, who have the
nomination of special juries, are themselves standing officers, and,
acting individually, may be supposed more accessible to the touch of
corruption than the judges, who are a collective body.
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