Tried for High Treason J.H.Tooke 1794
Acquitted by his Jury. Counsel Hon. T. Erskine V. Gibbs Esquires
John Horne Tooke was a founding member of the Society of Supporters of the Bill of Rights established in 1769 to aid John Wilkes and to press for parliamentary reform. He was a founding member of the Society for Constitutional Information and later wrote the Constitution for the London Corresponding Society.
He was held in high regard by Thomas Paine as the most trustworthy advocate of American independence and was the only British subject to be imprisoned for supporting the American Revolution.
Thomas Jefferson met John Horne Tooke and referred to him as an ‘associate in persecution’ of John Baxter.
During one of his several trials John Horne Tooke described the role of the jury as follows: “In the performance of this duty to our country, I must beg you to observe, and carefully to remember it to the end, that there are only three efficient and necessary parties… the Plaintiff… the Defendant; and you, gentlemen, the Jury. The judge and the cryer of the court attend alike in their respective situations; and they are paid by us for their attendance; we pay them well; they are hired to be the assistants and reporters, but they are not, and they never were intended to be the controllers of our conduct… A Jury not entitled to inquire into the merits of the question brought before them, nor into anything that relates to the merits, is no Jury at all.” (John Horne Tooke by Minnie Clare Yarborough, 1926, p.148-149)
He was held in high regard by Thomas Paine as the most trustworthy advocate of American independence and was the only British subject to be imprisoned for supporting the American Revolution.
Thomas Jefferson met John Horne Tooke and referred to him as an ‘associate in persecution’ of John Baxter.
During one of his several trials John Horne Tooke described the role of the jury as follows: “In the performance of this duty to our country, I must beg you to observe, and carefully to remember it to the end, that there are only three efficient and necessary parties… the Plaintiff… the Defendant; and you, gentlemen, the Jury. The judge and the cryer of the court attend alike in their respective situations; and they are paid by us for their attendance; we pay them well; they are hired to be the assistants and reporters, but they are not, and they never were intended to be the controllers of our conduct… A Jury not entitled to inquire into the merits of the question brought before them, nor into anything that relates to the merits, is no Jury at all.” (John Horne Tooke by Minnie Clare Yarborough, 1926, p.148-149)