disputable or not." Accordingly the Judges delivered their opinion, and
each argued it (though they were all agreed) _seriatim_ and _in open
court_. Another abstract point of law was also proposed from the bar, on
the same trial, concerning the legal sentence in high treason; and in
the same manner the Judges on reference delivered their opinion _in open
court_; and no objection, was taken to it as anything new or
irregular.[19]

In the 1st of James II. came on a remarkable trial of a peer,--the trial
of Lord Delamere. On that occasion a question of law was stated. There
also, in conformity to the precedents and principles given on the trial
of Lord Cornwallis, and the precedent in the impeachment of Lord
Stafford, the then Lord High Steward took care that the opinion of the
Judges should be given in open court.

Precedents grounded on principles so favorable to the fairness and
equity of judicial proceedings, given in the reigns of Charles II. and
James II., were not likely to be abandoned after the Revolution. The
first trial of a peer which we find after the Revolution was that of the
Earl of Warwick.

In the case of the Earl of Warwick, 11 Will. III., a question in law
upon evidence was put to the Judges; the statement of the question was
made in open court by the Lord High Steward, Lord Somers:--"If there be
six in company, and one of them is killed, the other five are afterwards
indicted, and three are tried and found guilty of manslaughter, and upon
their prayers have their clergy allowed, and the burning in the hand is
respited, but not pardoned,--whether any of the three can be a witness
on the trial of the other two?"