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Browsing: Legal Papers of John Adams, Volume 2

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See this volume's table of contents

This foot note contained in document LJA02d035
 
20. That is, the courts of justice, which “execute” the law. See Quincy, Reports (Appendix) 474 note; No. 46, text at note 15 92 . Compare Hutchinson's Charge to the Grand Jury, March Term, Suffolk, 1769:
“We, Gentlemen, who are to execute the Law, are not to enquire into the Reason and Policy of it, or whether it is constitutional or not. . . . We, and you, Gentlemen, as the Executive Body, are to enquire what is Law, and see that the Laws are inforced. If we step over this Line, and judge of the Propriety or Impropriety, the Justice or Injustice of the Laws, we introduce the worst sort of Tyranny:—the most absolute Despotism being formed by a Union of the Legislative and Executive Power.”
Quincy, Reports 307–308.
Cite web page as: Founding Families: Digital Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the Adamses, ed.C. James Taylor. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2007.
http://www.masshist.org/ff/