interpretation of the phrase "per legale judicium parium suorum."

In giving this interpretation, I leave out, for the present, the word
legale, which will be defined afterwards.

The true meaning of the phrase, per judicium parium suorum, is,
according to the sentence of his eers. The word judicium,
judgment, has a technical meaning in the law, signifying the
decree rendered in the decision of a cause. In civil suits this
decision is called a judgment; in chancery proceedngs it is called a
decree; in criminal actions it is called a sentence, or judgment,
indifferently. Thus, in a criminal suit, "a motion in arrest of
judgment," means a motion in arrest of sentence. [16]
In cases of sentence, therefore, in criminal suits, the words
sentence and judgment are synonymous terms. They are, to this
day, commonly used in law books as synonymous terms. And the
phrase per jndicium parium suorum, therefore, implies that the
jury are to fix the sentence.

The word per means according to. Otherwise there is no sense in
the phrase per judicium paruim suorum. There would be no sense
in saying that a king might imprison, disseize, outlaw, exile, or
otherwise punish a man, or proceed against him, or send any one
against him, by force or arms, by a judgment of his peers; but there
is sense in saying that the king may imprison, disseize, and punish
a man, or proceed against him, or send any one against him, by
force or arms, according to a judgment, or sentence, of his peers;
because in that case the king would be merely carrying the
sentence or judgment of the peers into execution.