The Law and Facts


In England, the people had trouble remembering this right of judging the law and the facts. They had a poem to help them.

But a Lord Mansfield helped them remember it wrong, ending it with:

"For twelve honest men have decided the cause,
Who are judges of fact, though not judges of laws."

Thomas Erskine corrected the Lord by completing it thusly in 1791:

"For twelve honest men have determin'd the cause,
Who are judges alike of the facts, and the laws."

This is a right that can be found in Indiana's Bill of Rights (section 19) which is Article I of the Indiana Constitution.