Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	action_n	bring_v	verdict_n	2,720	5	10.9719	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46904	The judge's authority or constitution a sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of St. Peter in York, upon Monday the 7th day of March 1669/70, at the assizes holden for that county before the Right Honourable Baron Littleton, the Right WOrshipfull Sr. Philip Monckton, Knight, being High-sheriff of Yorkshire / by James Johnson ...	Johnson, James, 1639 or 40-1704.	1670 (1670)	Wing J777; ESTC R3892	21,460	41

falsifies that which more lively than his coin bears his Royal impress on it to do thus is to make the Kings laws like the Pope's Canons plumbeas cereas as one speaks waxen and leaden laws to bend and bow this way or that and by perverting them besides or contrary to their genuine sence to make them become guilty of the same soloecism with that of the Canonist Statuimus id est abrogamus we command this that is we do the contrary And as Judgement is wrested by perverting the law so likewise by perverting those actions of which the law takes cognizance and this is too often done by Jurours who give in a verdict besides or contrary to the nature of the fact or matter that 's brought before them as though a verdict had its name given by an Antiphrasis like Diogenes his man manes à manendo because he would oft be running away so a verdict from verum dicere because they make it speak the contrary This is done too by those whose profession they think obliges or at least allows them to make the best they can of their Clients and the worst of their adversaries cause against whom upon some plausible pretence they usually run descant at pleasure perverting what is said or done either to make their matters ill when they are not or else aggravating them to make them seem worse than indeed they are and thus nimium altercando they are like that Rhetorician that could mirificè res exiguas verbis amplificare wonderfully amplifie small matters with great words for which Agesilaus thought he deserved no more commendation than the shoemaker that made great shoes for little feet and though these may count it the glory of their profession as Protagoras and the old Greek Sophisters were wont to do by dexterity of wit and volubility of tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make the worse side the better yet a good Oratour as well as good man which Cicero joyns together vir bonus dicendi peritus should make use of both the one and the other to decry injustice and defend equity to protect innocency and crush oppression to detect fraud and advance truth to succour the distressed and help them to right that suffer wrong They that make use of their rhetorick or eloquence reasons or arguments for or against any person should not be as the Roman Advocates of whom St. Bern. complains Hi sunt qui docuerunt linguam suam grandia loqui c. these are they that have taught their tongues to speak lies nimble-tongued against righteousness skilfull to defend falshood wise to do evil eloquent to oppose the truth but rather be as St. Paul able to do nothing against but for the truth The second prohibition is 2. Thou shalt not respect persons though a civil respect of persons be elsewhere commanded yet a judicial one is here forbidden though respect of persons is due in offices of humanity and overtures of love yet in the Gate in the seat of Judicature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not acknowledge or as the Syriac version thou shalt not honour faces The Septuagint changes the person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall not know a face or person The Greeks usually render it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word non personam significat sed personae attributa circumstantias it is properly verbum forense de judicibus propriè praedicatur as Zanchy Respecting persons is a sin incident to those who are conversant about matters of judicature and transactions of law and 't is to be feared is as frequently practised as 't is seldom rightly understood When Jurours consider not so much the cause as the persons betwixt whom it is depending when respect to the latter sways more than equity in the former when the verdict speaks the language of their affection not of their judgement and is the result of their malice or prejudice not of their knowledge or Conscience When the authority of the Foreman whom the rest usually follow as sheep or the awe of some great person or interest of some relation or suggestion from some friend or consciousness of self-guilt or hopes of favour in the like case prevails with any of them more than the justness and merits of the cause it self When witnesses swear home in one man's cause but nicely or not at all in another because they fear some men's persons or bear ill will to and maligne others making their love or hatred a rule of their evidence rather then the obligation of their oaths or sense of duty When an Advocate or pleader argues the cause of the indigent faintly and coldly but that of the rich with a great deal of zeal and ardour when the one is narrowly and strictly examined the other sleightly and perfunctorily passed over when all dilatory courses are used to protract and delay the one but all means made use of to expedite and dispatch the other When by him that passes sentence a cause is weighed in the balance not of equity but of favour and affection when the person commends the cause not the cause the person like that of Caesar Causa Cassii melior sed Bruto nil denegare possum such a mans cause is the better but the other is more my friend such a case is equitable but another's person is more considerable so that the respect and reverence which is due to right and equity is given to the rich and mighty and laws hereby as Zeleucus or Anacharsis complained of old become like cobwebs wherein the smaller flies are caught but great ones are not ensnared by them petty thieves wear chains of iron but grand robbers chains of gold manacles and halters lay hold on less transgressours whilst the great ones break these bonds asunder small offenders receive severe correction whilst the great ones escape unpunished To prevent which partiality and respect of persons the Areopagites the Athenian Judges had their judicatures in some dark rooms and passed their sentence in the night that they might not be byassed by prejudice or affection to those upon whom they passed judgement but that sentence might be given equally upon all poor or rich small or great In pursuance of which impartiality Torquatus a Roman and Zaleucus a Grecian spared not to sentence even their own sons Favour must not be shewed by any onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Heathen speaks onely to the altar so far as Religion and piety will admit and by the Magistrate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely to the Judgement seat so far as Justice which confines affection will give leave Exuat says the Oratour personam Judicis qui induit amici which likewise was the apophthegme of Pericles an eminent Judge and Chieftain in Athens that when he put on him the person of a Judge he put off the person of a friend the affection of a friend suits not the function of a Judge hence was

misdemeanours makes offendours and as the Royal Psalmist speaks frames mischief by a law this is rather to stifle and suppress the law than to execute it and to make it partial in its proceedings than to judge according to just judgement which is the third thing proposed 3. Judicandi modus the manner of its execution and that 1. Positively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judicio justitiae with the judgement of justice summâ aequitate as Vatablus or as the Syriac version may be rendred that he may teach the people the judgement of equity That is just or equitable which is regulated according to the law proportioning punishments to the nature of the offence neither giving more nor less than that deserves to punish less gives too much encouragement to others to offend to punish more gives too great cause of complaint of injustice to the offendour for innocency it self suffers so far as any is punished beyond the demerits of the offence The Romans had their fasces or bundle of rods with an axe in the midst to signifie the equity of the Magistrates in punishing some onely with a rod others with an axe the one for petty the other for capital crimes and the Poet in the Greek Epigram taught the silver axe of justice carried before the said Roman Magistrates to proclaim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If thou be an offender I am an axe to punish thee but if innocent I am onely silver not to affright thee When judgement is justly executed there is no fear of punishment to the innocent nor flattering hopes of escaping justice to the delinquent when Judgement is thus laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet when every fact is laid to the rule of the law and sentenced according to its rectitude or obliquity to it when every action is weighed in the balance of justice and receives sentence according as it is found wanting then the people are judged with just Judgement This is that which is both the peoples safety and the laws security it is that which both conveys and entails a blessing upon a State or Nation it is both columna corona reipublicae a prop to make it firm in it self and a crown to render it glorious in the eyes of others this is that which as the Psalmist speaks when the foundations of the earth are out of course upholds the pillars of it it is as the cement in a building to unite and hold together the several parts of it Jus aequitas as the Oratour phrases it sunt vincula civitatum it is in the body politick as joynts and ligaments as nerves and sinews in the body natural by this is its strength derived and preserved for by righteousness according to that of the wise man is a nation exalted and by judgement is the Throne established Justice and Judgement are such inseparable adjuncts of the Throne and Nations happiness that they who subvert and undermine the one do thereby necessarily destroy and raze the very basis and foundation of the other and there can be no greater enemies to a King or Kingdom than those that by thus doing set themselves against both nor scarce can there be any sadder symptoms of a declining and decaying nation than when justice is thus obstructed and Judgement is turned backward No wonder therefore that Moses the King in Jesurun strengthens his command concerning Judgement with a threefold caution that like a threefold cord it might not easily be broken which is the Negative part of the injunction Thou shalt not wrest Judgement nor respect persons nor take a gift All which prohibitions were so necessary to be observed in Judgement that as Simeon de Muis notes from some of the Rabbins when Solomon ascended the several steps of his Throne mentionned 1 Kings 10. 19. there was a praeco or herald appointed to cry when he entred upon the first step 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not wrest Judgement when he ascended upon the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not respect persons when he ascended upon the third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not take a gift The first prohibition is 1. Thou shalt not wrest Judgement The Septuagint renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall not decline Judgement so the vulgar Latine nec in alteram partem declinent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Chaldee paraphrase thou shalt not pervert or according to the Syriac thou shalt not bend Judgement nec prece nec precio as Lyra. Wresting of Judgement is here immediately opposed to just judgement which seeing it is that which proceeds according to the standard of justice viz. the law which is the rule of right and wrong when that rule is distorted then is Judgement wrested And to do this as it is contrary to the nature of the law so to the office of those to whose protection the law is committed Judices as one descants on the word are juris indices they must jus dicere as their name signifies and jus dare too as their office imports The Judge is the laws interpreter he must not make it speak but what it means to do otherwise is to make it act a part of Jesuitism to declare one thing and by a mental reservation to understand another Jus wrested is turned into vis the letters transposed and justice perverted the former of which is not so obvicus as the latter is pernicious for this does not onely enervate and weaken the law but thwarts and crosses the very end and design of it it makes it patronize that which it chiefly opposes and contradicts and under a pretence of justice to do the greater injustice more plausibly and securely This was one of those great evils which Solomon saw under the sun that in the place of judgement wickedness was there and in the place of righteousness that iniquity was there This is so much the greater iniquity by how much it shrowds it self more closely under the covert and pretext of equity simulata aequitas duplex iniquitas This is to make the sword of Justice turn its edge and do execution upon those whom it should protect and defend it is to make the law instead of being an hedge of defence become as so many thorns and briars to rend those whom it should preserve it is to convert a medicine into poyson to turn the rod into a serpent to make that an instrument of cruelty which is the rule of equity and is so much the more intollerable by how much it cuts off all the means and methods of redress Scepters born by Kings and the Maces of Magistrates are all straight emblems of that justice which is held forth by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scepter carrieth a kind of instruction with it the straightness thereof should be a memento to shun crooked and perverted judgement he that wrests the law crooks the Kings Scepter and