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Thus, that great Lawyer, Lord Somers, being most pointedly against the destructive doctrine of libels, I shall quote another paragraph from Judge Blackstone. "Such public or open verdict may be either general, guilty, or not guilty; or special, setting forth all the circumstances of the case, and praying the judgment of the court, whether, for instance, on the facts stated, it be for murder, manslaughter, or no crime at all. This is where they doubt the matter of law, and therefore chuse to leave it to the determination of the court, though they have an unquestionable right of determining upon all the circumstances, and finding a general verdict, if they think proper so as to hazard a breach of their oaths; and, if their verdict be notoriously wrong, they may be punished, and the verdict set aside by attaint, at the suit of the King, but not of the prisoner. But the practice heretofore in use of fining, imprisoning, or otherwise punishing jurors, merely at the discretion of the court, for finding their verdict contrary to the direction of the Judge, was arbitrary, unconstitutional, and illegal; and,
