c. Unto which every man must answer But no man can be brought to answer for Publick Crimes at the King's Suit otherwise than by Indictment of a Grand Jury The whole Course of doing Justice upon Crimina's from the beginning of the process unto the Execution of the Sentence is and ever was esteemed to be the Kingdoms concernment as is evidenced by the frequent Complaints made in Parliament that Capital Offenders were pardon'd to the Peoples damage and wrong In the 13 Rich. 2. it is said that the King hearing the grievous Complaints of his Commons in Parliament of the outragious mischiefs which happened unto the Realm for that Treasons Murders and Rapes of Women be commonly done and committed and the more because Charters of pardon had been easily granted in such cases And thereupon it was enacted that no pardon for such crimes should be granted unless the same were particularly specified therein and that if a pardon were otherwise granted for the death of a man the Judges should notwithstanding enquire by a Grand Jury of the Neighbourhood concerning the death of every such person and if he were found to have been wilfully murdered such Charter of Pardon to be disallowed and provisions were made by imposing grievous Fines upon every person according to his Degree and Quality or Imprisonment who should presume to sue to the King for any pardons of the aforesaid crimes and that such persons might be known to the whole Kingdom their names were to be upon several Records The like had been done in many Statutes made by several Parliaments as in the 6 Ed. 1.9 the 2 Ed. 3.2 the 10 Ed. 3.2 and the 14 Ed. 3.15 wherein it was acknowledged by the King in Parliament That the Oath of the Crown had not been kept by reason of the Grant of Pardons contrary to the aforesaid Statutes and enacted that any such Charter of Pardon from thenceforth granted against the Oath of his Crown and the said Statutes the same should be holden for none In the 27 Edw. 3.2 It is further provided for preventing the Peoples damage by such pardons That from thenceforth in every Charter of Pardon of Felony which shall be granted at any mans suggestion the said suggestion and the name of him that maketh the suggestion shall be comprised in the same Charter and if after the same suggestion be found untrue the Charter shall be disallowed and holden for none And the Justices before whom such Charter shall be alledged shall enquire of the same suggestion and that as well of Charters granted before this time as of Charters which shall be granted in time to come and if they find them untrue then they shall disallow the Charter so alledged and shall moreover do as the Law demandeth Thus have Parliaments from time to time declared that the Offences against â—he Crown are against the publick welâ—are and that Kings are obliged by â—heir Oath and Office to cause Justice to â—e done upon Traitors and Felons â—or the Kingdoms sake according to â—he ancient common Law declared by Magna Charta in these â—ords Nulli negabimus 9 Hen. 3.29 nulli vendemus nulli difâ—remus Justitiam We will sell to no â—an we will not deny or defer to any â—an either Justice or Right And as the publick is concerned that the due and legal Methods be observed in the Prosecution of Offenders so likewise doth the security of every single man in the Nation depend upon it No man can assure himself he shall not be accused of the highest crimes Let a mans Innocence and prudence be what it will yet his most inoffensive Words and Actions are liable to be misconstrued and he may by Subornation and Conspiracy have things laid to his charge of which he is no ways guilty Who can speak or carry himself with that circumspection as not to have his harmless Words or Actions wrested to another sence than he intended Who can be secure from having a Paper pur into his Pockets or laid in his house of which he shall know nothing till his Accusation History affords many Examples of the detestable practices in this kind of wicked Court Parasites among which one may suffice for Instance out of Polibius an approved Author Polib lib. 5. Hermes a powerful Favourite under Antiochus the younger but a man noted to be a favourer of Liars was made use of against the innocent and brave Epigenes He had long watcht to kill him for that he found him a man of great Eloquence and Valour having also favour and Authority with the King He had unjustly but unsuccessfully accused him of Treason by false glosses put upon his faithful advice given to the King in open Council â—his not prevailing he by artifice got him put out of his Command and to retire from Court which done he laid 〈◊〉 Plot against him with the help and Counsel of one of his Complices Alexâ—s and writing Letters as if they had been sent from Molon who was then in open Rebellion against his Prince â—or fear amongst other Reasons of the Cruelty and Treachery of Hermes and corrupted one of Alexis's Servants with â—reat Promises who went to Epigenes â—o thrust the Letters secretly amongst â—is other Writings which when he had â—one Alexis came suddenly to Epigenes â—emanding of him if he had received any Letter from Molon and when he said he had none the other said he was confident he should find some wherefore entring the House to search he found the Letters and taking this occasion slew him lest if the Fact had been duly examined the Conspiracy had been discovered These things happening thus the King thought that he was justly slain in this manner the worthy Epigenes ended his days But this great mans designs did not rest here for within a while heightened with success he so arrogantly abused His Masters Authority as he grew dangerous to the King himself as well as to those about him insomuch as Antiochus was sorced for that he hated and feared Hermes to take away his Life by Stratagem thereby to secure himself By these and a thousand other ways the most unblemisht Innocence may be brought into the greatest dangers Since then every man is thus easily subject to question and what is one mans case this day may be another man 's to morrow it is undoubtedly every mans concern to see as far as in him lies in every case that the accused Person may have the benefit of all such provisions as the Law hath made for the defence of Innocence and Reputation Now to this end there is nothing so necessary as the secret and separate examination of Witnesses for though perhaps as hath been already observed it may be no very difficult thing for several persons who are permitted to discourse with each other freely and to hear or be told what each of their fellows had been asked and answered to agree in one story especially if the Jury may not ask what
are bound to enquire they ought firâ—â— and principally to enquire of one another mutually what knowledge each of theâ— hath of any matters in question before them the Law presumes that some at leaâ—â— of so many sufficient men of a County must know or have heard of all notable things done there against the public peace for that end the Juries are by the Law to be of the Neighborhood to the place where the crimes are committed If the parties and the facts whereof they are accused be known to the Jury or any of them their own knowledge will supply the room of many Witnesses Next they ought to enquire of all such Witnesses as the Prosecutors will produce against the Accused they are bound to examine all fully and prudently to the best of their skill every Jury Man ought to ask such questions by the Fore-man at least as he thinks necessary to resolve any doubt that may arise in him either about the fact or the Witnesses or otherwise if the Jury be then doubtful they ought to receive all such further Testimony as shall be offered them and to send for such as any of them do think able to give Testimony in the case depending If it be asked how or in what manner the Juries shall enquire the answer is ready according to the best of their understandings They only not the Judges are sworn to search diligently to find out all Treasons c. within their charge and they must and ought to use their own discretion in the way and manner of their Enquiry No directions can legally be imposed upon them by any Court or Judges An honest Jury wilâ— thankfully accept good Advice from Judges as they are Assistants but they are bound by their Oaths to present the Truth the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth to the best of their own not the Judges knowledge Neither caâ— they without breach of that Oath resign their Consciences or blindly submit to the dictates of others and therefore ought to receive or reject such Advices as they judge them good or bad If the Jury suspect a Combination oâ— Witnesses against any mans Life which perhaps the Judges do not discern and think it needful to examine them privately and separately the discretion of the Juries in such a case is their only best and lawful guide though the example of all Ages and Countries in examining suspected Witnesses privately and separately may be a good direction to them Nothing can be more plain and express than the words of the Oath are to this purpose The Jurors need not search the Law Books nor tumble over heaps of old Records for the explanation of them Our greatest Lawyers may from hence learn more certainly our ancient Law in this case than from all the Books in their Stueids The Language wherein the Oath is penned is known and understood by every man and the words in it have the same signification as they have wheresoever else they are used The Judges without assuming to themselves a Legislative Power cannot put a new sense upon them other than according to their genuine common meaning They cannot Magisterially impose their Opinions upon the Jury and make them forsake the direct words of their Oath to pursue their glosses The Grand Inquest are bound to observe alike strictly every part of their Oath and to use all just and proper ways which may enable them fully to perform it otherwise it were to say that after men had sworn to enquire diligently after the Truth according to the best of their Knowledge they were bound to forsake all the natural and proper means which their Understandings suggest for the Discovery of it if it be commanded by the Judges And therefore if they are jealous of a Combination of the Witnesses or that Corruption and Subornation hath been made use of they cannot be restrained from asking all such Questions as may conduce to the sifting out of the Truth nor from examining the Witnesses privately and separately Fort. D. Land Leg. Ang. cap. 26. lest as Fortescue says The saying of one should provoke or instruct others to say the like Nor are the Jury tied up to enquire only of such Crimes as the Judges shall think fit to give them directly in charge much less of such Bills only as shall be offered to them but their Enquiry ought to extend to All other Matters and Things which shall come to their Knowledge touching the present Service If they have ground to suspect that any Accusation before them proceeds from a Conspiracy they are obliged by their Oaths to turn the Enquiry that way and if they find cause not only to Reject the Bills offered upon such Testimony but to indict such Witnesses and all the Abettors of their Villany They are carefully to examine what sort of men the Witnesses are for 't is a Rule in all Laws that Turpes à Tribunalibus arcentur Vile Persons ought to be rejected by Courts of Justice Such Witnesses would destroy Justice instead of promoting it And the Grand Jury are to take care of admitting such They may and ought if they have no certain knowledge of them to ask the Witnesses themselves of their Condition and way of living and all other Questions which may best inform them what sort of men they are 'T is true it may be lawful for the Witnesses in many cases to refuse to give answer to some demands which the Jury may make as where it would be to accuse themselves of Crimes but yet that very refusal or avoiding to give direct Answers may be of great use to the Jury whose only business is to find out the Truth and who will be in a good measure enabled to judge of the Credit of such Witnesses as dare not clear themselves of Crimes which common Fame or the knowledge of some of the Grand Inquest has charged them with If the Witnesses which come before the Grand Jury upon an Indictment for Treason should discover upon their examination that they Concealed it a long tiâ—e without just Impediment The presumption of Law will be strong against them that no sense of honesty 〈◊〉 of their duty brought them at last to reveal it It appears by Bracton that ancient Writer of our Laws Brac. L. 3. c. 3. 〈◊〉 morari dâ—bet c. nâ—â— dâ—bet ad aliqua negâ—â—ia quaâ—â—is urgentissima so convertere quiâ— vix permittitur ei quòd retro aspiciat c. Si post intervallum accusare velit non erit de Jure aâ—diendus that in Cases of Treason the Juries were in his days advised as now they ought to be so severe in their Enquiry within what time the Witnesses discovered the Treason after it came to their knowledge That if it were not evident that they revealed it with as much expedition as was well possible for them they were not by Law no be heard as Witnesses It was scarce permitted them saith he to look back in
that Grand Juries have both a larger field for their Inquiry and are in many respects better capacitated to make a strict one than the Petit Juries These last are confined as to the Person and the Crime specified in the Indictment But They are at large obliged to search into the whole matter that any ways concerns every case before them and all the Offences contained in it all the Criminal Circumstances whatsoever and into every Thing howsoever concerning the same They are bound to inquire whether their Information of Suspected Treasons or Felonies brought by Accusers be made by Conspiracy or Subornation Who are the Conspirators or false Witnesses By whom abetted or maintained Against whom and how many the Conspiracy is layed When and how and in what course it was to have been prosecuted But none of these most intricate matters which need the most strict and diligent Inquiries can come under the Cognisance of the Petit Jury They can only examine so much as relates to the Credit of those Witnesses brought to prove the Charge against the Parties Indicted Wherein also they have neither Power nor convenient time to send for persons or Papers if they think them needful Nor to resolve any doubts of the Lawfulness and Credibility of the Testimonies Yet further if the Crimes objected are manifest 't is then the Grand Juries duty to inquire after all the Persons any ways concerned in them and the several Kinds of Offences whereof every one ought joyntly or separately to be indicted as they shall discover them to have been Principals or Accessories Parties or privy thereunto or to have comforted or Knowingly relieved either the Traitors or Felons or conceal'd the offences of others But the Inquisition into all these matters which require all possible strictness in searching as being of the highest importance unto the publick Justice and safety is wholly out of the Power Trust of the Petit Juries The guilt or Innocence of the Parties put upon their Tryals the Evidence thereof given is the only Objects of their Inquiries It is not their work nor within their trust to search into all the guilt or Crimes of the Parties whom they try They are bound to move within the Circle of the Indictment made by the Grand Jury who are to appoint and specify the offences for which the Accused shall be tried by the Petit Jury When a Prosecutor suggests that any Man is criminal and ought to be indicted it belongs to the Grand Jury to hear all the proof he can offer to use all other means they can whereby they may come to understand the Truth of the suggestion every thing or circumstance that may concern it Then they are carefully to examine the nature of the Facts according unto the Rules of the Com. Law or the express words of the Statutes whereby offences are distinguished and punishments allotted unto each of them T is true that upon heating the Party or his Witnesses the Petit Jury may acquit or judge the Facts in the Indictment to be less heinous or malitious then they were presented by the Grand Jury but cannot aggravate them which being considered it will Easily appear by the intent and Nature of the Powers given unto Grand Juries that they are by their Oaths obliged and their institution ordained to keep all injustice from entring the first gates of our Courts of Judicature and to secure the innocent not only from punishment but from all disgrace vexation Expence or danger To understand our Law clearly herein the Jurors must first know the lawful grounds whereupon they may and ought to indict and then what truly and justly ought to be taken for the ground of an Indictment The principal and most certain is the Jurors personal knowledge by their own Eyes or Ears of the Crimes whereof they indict Or so many pregnant concurring Circumstances as fully convince them of the guilt of the Accused When these are wanting the Depositions of Witnesses and their Authority are their best guides in finding Indictments When such Testimonies make the charge manifest and clear to the Jury they are called Evidence because they make the guilt of the Criminal evident and are like the Light that discovers what was not seen before All Witnesses for that reason are usually called the Evidence taking their name from what they ought to be Yet Witnesses may swear directly and positively to an Accusation and be no Evidence of its truth to the Jury sometimes such Remarks may be made upon the Witnesses as well in relation to their Reputation and Lives as to the Matter Manner and Circumstance of their Depositions that from thence the falshood may appear or be strongly suspected It is therefore necessary to know what they mean by a probable Cause or Evidence who say that our Law requires no more for an Indictment Probable is a Logical Term relating to such propositions as have an appearance but no certainty of Truth shewing rather what is not than what is the matter of Syllogisms These may be allowed in Rhetorick which worketh upon passions and makes use of such Colors as are fit to move them whether true or false but not in Logick whose Object is Truth as it principally intends to obviate the Errours that may arise from the credit given unto appearances by distinguishing the uncertain from the certain verisimile à vero it cannot admit of such Propositions as may be false as well as true it being as impossible to draw a certain conclusion from uncertain premises as to raise a solid Building upon a tottering or sinking Foundation This ought principally to be considered in Courts of Justice which are not erected to bring men into condemnation but to find who deserves to be condemned and those Rules are to be followed by them which are least liable to deception For this Reason the Council of the Areopagites and some others of the best Judicatures that have been in the World utterly rejected the use of Rhetorick looking upon the Art of persuading by uncertain probabilities as little differing from that of deceiving directly contrary to their ends who by the knowledge of truth desired to be led into the doing of Justice But if the Art that made use of their probabilities was banisht from uncorrupted Tribunals as a hindrance unto the discovery of Truth they that would ground Verdicts totally upon them declare an open neglect of it and as it is said that uno absurdo dato mille sequuntur if Juries were to be guided by probabilities the next question would be concerning the more or less probable or what degree of probability is required to persuade them to find a Bill This being impossible to fix the whole Proceedings would be brought to depend upon the Fancies of Men and as nothing is so slight but it may move them there is no security that innocent Persons may not be brought every day into danger and trouble By this means certain
mischiefs will be done whilst it is by their own confession uncertain whether they are any ways deserved by such as suffer them to the utter overthrow of all Justice If the word Probable be taken in a common rather than a nice Logical sense it signifies no more than likely or rather likely than unlikely When a matter is found to be so the Wager is not even there is odds upon one side and this may be a very good ground for betting in a Tennis Court or at a Horse race but he that would make the Administration of Justice to depend upon such Points seems to put a very small value upon the Fortunes liberties and reputation of men and to forget that those who set in Courts of Justice have no other business there than to preserve them This continues in force tho in a Dialogue between a Barrister and a Grand Jury man published under the Title of the Grand Jury Mans Oath and Office it be said p. 8. and 9. That their work is no more than to present Offences fit for a Tryal and for that Reason give in only a Verisimilar or probable charge and others have affirmed that a far less Evidence will warrant a Grand Juries Indictment than a petit Juries Verdict For Nothing can be more opposite to the Justice of our Laws than such Opinions All Laws in doubtful Cases direct a suspension of Judgment or a sentence in favour of the Accused person But if this were hearkened unto Grand Juries should upon their Oaths affirm they judge him Criminal when the Evidence is upon such uncertain grounds that they cannot but doubt whether he is so or not It cannot be hereupon said that no Evidence is so clear and full but it may be false and give the Jury occasion of doubts so as all Criminals must escape if no Indictment ought to be found unless the proofs are absolutely certain for it is confessed that such Cases are not capable of an infallible Mathematical demonstration but a Jury that Examines all the Witnesses that are likely to give any Light concerning the business in question and all Circumstances relating to the fact before them with the Lives and Credit of those that testify it and of the Person accused may and do often find that which in their Consciences doth fully perswade them that the accused Person is guilty This is as much as the Law or their Oath doth require and such as find bills after having made such a Scrutiny are blamless before God and Man if through the fragility inseparable from humane nature they should be led into Error For they do not swear that the bill is true but that they in their Consciences believe that it is so And if they write Ignoramus upon the Bill it is not thereby declared to be false nor the Person accused acquitted but the matter is suspended until it can be more clearly proved as in doubtful Cases it alwaies ought to be Our Ancestors took great Care that suspicious and probable Causes should not bring any Mans Life and Estate into danger For that reason it was ordained by the Stat. 37. Ed. 3. Cap. 18. That such as made suggestions to the King should find surety to pursue and incur the same pain that the other should have had if he were attainted in case their suggestion be found evil that then process of the Law should be made against the Accused This manner of Proceeding hath its root on eternal and universal Reason The Law given by God unto his People Deut. 19. allotted the same Punishment unto a false witness as a Person convicted The best disciplined Nations of the world learnt this from the Hebrews and made it their Rule in the administration of Justice The Grecians generally observed it and the Romans according to their Lex Talionis did not only punish death with death but the intention of committing Murther by false Accusations with the same severity as if it had been effected by any other means This Law was inviolably observed as long as any thing of regularity or equity remained amongst them and when through the wickedness of some of the Emperours or their favourites it came to be overthrown all Justice perished with it A Crew of false Informers brake out to the destruction of the best men and never ceased until they had ruined all the most eminent and antient Families Circumvented the Persons that by their Reputation Wealth Birth or Virtue deserved to be distinguished from the common sort of People and brought desolation upon that victorious City Tac. Ann. 3. Tacitus complains of this as the cause of all the mischiefs suffered in his Time and Country By their means the most Savage Cruelties were committed under the name of Law which thereby became a greater Plague than formerly crimes had been No remedy could be found when those Delatores whom he calls genus hominum Publico exitio repertum Tac. Ann. 4. poenis quidem nunquam satis coercitum were invited by impunity or reward and the Miserable People groaned under this calamity until those instruments of iniquity were by better Princes put to the most cruel though well deserved deaths The like hath been seen in many Places and the domestick quiet which is now enjoyed in the Principal parts of Europe proceeds chiefly from this that every man knows the same Punishment is appointed for a false Accusation and a proved crime It is hardly seven years since Monsieur Courboyer a man of quality in Brittany suborned two of the King of France his Guards to swear Treasonable Designs against La Motte a Norman Gentleman The matter being brought to Monsieur Colebert he caused the Accused Person and the witnesses to be secured until the fraud was discovered by one of them whereupon he was pardoned La Motte released Courboyer beheaded and the other false Witness hanged by the Sentence of the Parliament of Paris Though this Law seems to be grounded upon such foundation as forbids us to question the equity of it our Ancestors for Reasons best known unto themselves thought fit to moderate its Severity by the Statute of 38. Ed. 3. Cap. 9. yet then it was enacted and the Law continues in force unto this day That whosoever made complaints to the King and could not prove them against the defendant by the process of Law limited in former Statutes which is first by a Grand Jury he should be imprisoned until he had made gree to the Party of his damages and of the slander he suffered by such occasion and after shall make fine and ransom to the King which is for the Common damage that the King and his People suffer by such a false accusation and defamation of any Subject And in the 42. Ed. 3. Cap 3. To eschew the Mischiefs and damage done by false Accusers 'T is enacted that no man be put to answer such suggestions without presentment before the Justices i. e. by the Grand Jury It
cannot surely be imagined that the suggestions made to the King and his Council had no probability in them Or that there was no colour cause or Reason for the King to put the party to answer the Accusation but the grievance and complaint was that the People suffered certain damage and vexation upon untrue and at best uncertain accusations and that therein the Law was perverted by the King and his Councils taking upon them to judge of the certainty or Truth of them which of right belonged to the Grand Jury only upon whose Judgment and Integrity our Law doth wholly rely for the indemnity of the Innocent and the punishment of all such as do unjustly molest them Our Laws have not thought fit so absolutely to depend upon the Oaths of Witnesses as to allow that upon Two or Ten mens swearing positively Treason or Felony against any Man before the Justices of peace or all the Judges or before the King and his Council that the party accused be he either Peer of the Realm or Commoner should without further Inquiry be thereupon arrained and put upon his Tryal for his Life Yet none can doubt but there is something of probability in such depositions nevertheless the Law Refers those matters unto Grand Juries and no man can be brought to Tryal until upon such strict Inquiries as is before said the Indictment be found The Law is so strict in these Inquiries that tho the Crime be never so notorious may if Treason should be confessed in Writing under hand and seal before Justices of Peace Secretaries of State or the King and Council yet before the party can be arrained for it the Grand Jury must inquire and be satisfied whether such a Confession be clear and certain Whether there was no collusion therein Or the party induced to such confession by promise of pardon Or that some pretended partakers in the Crime may be defamed or destroyed thereby They must inquire whether the Confession was not extorted by fear threatnings or force and whether the party was truly Compos mentis of sound mind and Reason at that Time The Stat. 5. Eliz. Cap. 1. declares the antient Common Law concerning the Trust and duty of Juries and Enacts that none should be indicted for assisting aiding comforting or abelting Criminals in the Treasons therein made and declared unless he or they be thereof lawfully accused by such good and sufficient Testimony or proof as by the Jury by whom he shall be indicted shall be thought good lawful and sufficient to prove him or them guilty of the Said Offences Herein is declared the only True Reason of Indictments i. e. the Grand Juries Judgment that they have such Testimonies as they esteem sufficient to prove the party indicted guilty of the Crimes whereof he is accused and whatsoever the Indictment doth contain they are to present no more or other Crimes than are proved to their satisfaction as upon Oath they declare it is when they present it This exactness is not only required in the Substance of Crimes but in the Circumstances and any doubtfulness or uncertainty in them makes the Indictment all proceedings upon it by the Petit Jury to be insufficient and void and holden for none as appears by the following Cases In Youngs Case in the Lord Cooks Reports Lib. 4. Fol. 40. An Indictment for Murther was declared void for its incertainty because the Jury had not layed certainty in what part of the body the mortal wound was given saying only that 't was about his breast the words were Vnam Plagam mortalem circiter pectus In like manner in Vaux Case Cooks Rep. Lib. 4. Fol. 44. he being indicted for poisoning Ridley the Jury had not plainly and expresly averred that Ridley drank the Poison tho other words implyed it and thereupon the Indictment was judged insufficient for saith the book the matter of an Indictment ought to be full express and certain and shall not be maintained by argument or implication for that the Indictment is found by the Oath of the Neighborhood In the 2d part of Rolls Reports p. 263. Smith and Malls Case the Indictment was quashed for incertainty because the Jury had averred that Smith was either a servant or Deputy Smith Existens servus sive Deputatus are the words It was doubtless probably enough proven to the Jury that he was Either a Deputy or servant but because the Indictment did not absolutely and certainly aver his condition Either of servant or Deputy it was declared void If there be any defect of certainty in the Grand Juries Verdict no proof or Evidence to the Petit Jury can supply it so it was judged in Wrote and Wigs Case Coke 4. Rep. Fol. 45 46 47. It was layed that Wrote was killed at Shipperton but did not aver that Shipperton was within the Verge tho in truth it was and no Averment or Oath to the Petit Jury could supply that small faileur of certainty to support the Indictment and the reason is rendred in these words viz. The Indictment being Veredictum id est dictum Veritatis a Verdict That is a saying of Truth and matter of Record ought to contain the whole Truth which is requisite by the Law for when it doth not appear 't is the same as if it were not and every material part of the Indictment ought to be found upon the Oath if the Indicters and cannot be supplied by the Averment of the Party The Grand Juries Verdict is the foundation of all judicial proceeding against Capital Offenders at the King suit if that fail in any point of certainty both convictions and acquittals thereupon are utterly void and the proceedings against both may begin agen as if they had never been tried as it appears in the Case last cited Fol. 47. Now as the Law requires from the Grand Jury Particular certain and precise affirmations of Truth so it expects that they should look for the like and accept of no other from such as bring accusations to them For no man can certainly affirm that which is uncertainly delivered unto him or which he doth not firmly believe The witnesses that they receive for good are to depose only absolute certaintys about the Facts committed That is what they have seen or heard from the accused parties themselves not what others have told them They are not to be suffered to make probable arguments and infer from thence the guilt of the accused Their depositions ought to be positive plain direct and full The Crime is to be sworn without any doubtfulness or obscurity Not in words qualified limited to belief conceptions or apprehensions This absolute certainty required in the deposition of the Witnesses is one principal ground of the Juries most rational assurance of the Truth of their Verdict The credit also of the Witnesses ought to be free from all blemish that good and Conscientious men may rationally rely upon them in matters of so great moment as the bloud