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Lord Chief Justice Wilmot's Speech on passing sentence of Death on the Criminals at Exeter Midsummer Assize 1757

My Fellow Creatures.

You all stand here convicted of crimes, for wch the Law deems you guilty of Death. When the habitable parts of the Earth were reduced into Empires Kingdoms + Provinces, the legislature thought it necessary to Establish Laws for the regulation and conduct of Mankind, and to preserve the community, in harmony and good order; and the offenders who violated those laws, were always subject to the penalties such laws inflicted; And was there to be no regulation made, no law or order to be observed, Confusion (underline) Murder (underline), Bloodshed (underline), Tyranny (underline), and Oppression (underline) from the rudest part of mankind, may be expected. And instead of setting down quietly, and Eating the fruit of our own fig tree, we should meet