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Identifier
KD 8350 .S66 1681
Creation Date
1681
Description
Somers, John. The Security of English-men's Lives, or the Trust, Power, and Duty of the Grand Jurys of England Explained According to the Fundamentals of the English Government, and the declarations of the Same Made in Parliament by Many Statutes. 1st ed. London: Printed by T. Mitchel, 1681.
Written early in the career of John Somers (1651–1716), this small treatise defends the use of grand juries as fundamental to the rights of Englishmen. In doing so, it stresses the preeminence of the common law over the authority of the crown. Somers, later Lord Chancellor under William and Mary and Anne, would be instrumental in creating the English Bill of Rights (1689).
Rights
Digital exhibit content is made available under CC BY-NC-SA.