Note 403 — Chapter XVI · ON THE STATE OF THE CONSTITUTION IN THE REIGNS OF ANNE, GEORGE I., AND GEORGE II. (continued 2)
Reading edition
"I am far from subscribing to all the latitude of the doctrine of attachments for contempts of the king's courts of Westminster, especially the King's Bench, as it is sometimes stated, and it has been sometimes practised." Hargrave, ii. 213.
"The principle upon which attachments issue for libels on courts is of a more enlarged and important nature: it is to keep a blaze of glory around them, and to deter people from attempting to render them contemptible in the eyes of the people." Wilmot's Opinions and Judgments, p. 270. Yet the king, who seems as much entitled to this blaze of glory as his judges, is driven to the verdict of a jury before the most libellous insult on him can be punished.