of the Lord High Steward, the Earl of Nottingham, "whether it would be
proper here [in open court] to ask the question of your Grace, or to
propose it to the Judges?" The Lord High Steward answered,--"If your
Lordships doubt of anything whereon a question in law ariseth, the
latter opinion, and the _better_ for the prisoner, is, _that it must be
stated in the presence of the prisoner, that he may know whether the
question be truly put_. It hath _sometimes_ been practised otherwise,
and the Peers have sent for the Judges, and have asked their opinion in
private, and have come back, and have given their verdict according to
that opinion; and there is scarcely a precedent of its being otherwise
done. There is a later authority in print that doth settle the point so
as I tell you, and I do conceive _it ought to be followed_; and it
being safer for the prisoner, my humble opinion to your Lordship is,
that he ought to be present at _the stating of the question_. Call the
_prisoner_." The prisoner, who had withdrawn, again appearing, he
said,--"My Lord Cornwallis, my Lords the Peers, since they have
withdrawn, have conceived a doubt in some matter [of law arising upon
the matter] of fact in your case; and they have that tender regard of a
prisoner at the bar, _that they will not suffer a case to be put up in
his absence_, lest it should chance to prejudice him by being _wrong
stated_." Accordingly the question was both put and the Judges' answer
given publicly and in his presence.

Very soon after the trial of Lord Cornwallis, the impeachment against
Lord Stafford was brought to a hearing,--that is, in the 32d of Charles
II. In that case the lord at the bar having stated a point of law,
"touching the necessity of two witnesses to an overt act in case of
treason," the Lord High Steward told Lord Stafford, that "all the Judges
that assist them, _and are here in your Lordship's presence and
hearing_, should deliver their opinions whether it be doubtful and