¶1The first statute passed in this State in •regard to lynching was ch. 461, Laws 1893. Each provision in that act has been brought forward and incorporated, with very slight verbal changes, under appropriate heads in the Revisal. Sec. 1 of said act, defining lynching and imposing the penalty, is now Revisal, 3698, and is in the chapter on “Crimes,33 under the subhead Public Justice, and is as follows:
¶2“3698. Lynching. If any person shall conspire to break or enter any jail or other place of confinement of prisoners
¶3*629charged with crime or under sentence, for the purpose of killing or otherwise injuring any prisoner confined therein; or if any person shall engage in breaking or entering any such jail or other place of confinement of such prisoners with intent to kill or injure any prisoners, he shall be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction, or upon a plea of guilty, shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars, and imprisoned in the State’s Prison or the county jail not less than two nor more than fifteen years.” 1893, ch. 461, sec. 1.
¶4Sec. 2 is now Revisal, 3200, and provides that the Solicitor shall prosecute and have the prisoners bound over to the Superior Court of an adjoining county.
¶5Sec 3 is as to witnesses testifying, and is Revisal, 3699.
¶6Sec. 4 of the said- Act of 1893 is Revisal, 3233, in the chapter on “Criminal Proceedings,” subhead Venue, and reads:
¶7XI. VeNue.
¶8“3233. Lynching. The Superior Court of any county which adjoins the county in which the crime of lynching shall be committed shall have full and complete jurisdiction over the crime and the offender, to the same extent as if the crime had been committed in the bounds of such adjoining county; and whenever the Solicitor of the district has information of the commission of such a crime, it shall be his duty to furnish such information to the grand juries of all adjoining counties to the one in which the crime was committed, from time to time, until the offenders are brought to justice.” 1893, ch. 461, sec. 4.
¶9Sec. 5, as to witnesses answering questions, is made Revisal, secs. 3201 and 1638. Secs. 6 and I are the same as Revisal, secs. 1288 and 2825. The whole of ch. 461, Laws 1893, is thus in the Revisal, and its force and effect is not impaired by the fact that it has been split up and its different sections placed under appropriate heads. It seems to us that the above *630provisions fully define the offense intended to be repressed, and designate the punishment and procedure. There are many offenses in this chapter on Grimes which, though not common-law offenses, are not defined save by using a term of common knowledge, as “abandonment,” “lynching,” etc. It is not necessary to prescribe that an' act is a misdemeanor or felony. The punishment affixed determines that. Revisal, 3291; State v. Fesperman, 108 N. C., 172.
¶10It was error to quash the bill on the ground that the offense was not committed in Union County, which is an adjoining county to Anson. . Owing to the prejudice or sympathy which in cases of lynching usually and naturally pervades the county where that offense is committed, the General Assembly, upon grounds of public policy, deemed it wise to transfer the investigation of the charge to the grand jury of an adjoining county. Without some such provision an indictment could rarely be found in such cases. We cannot concur with the argument that such provision (Revisal, 3233) is beyond the scope of the law-making power and unconstitutional.
¶11The Legislature of North Carolina has full legislative power, which the people of this State can exercise completely and as freely as the Parliament of England or any other legislative body of a free people, save only as there are restrictions imposed upon the Legislature by the State and Federal Constitutions. In the very nature of things there is no other power that can impose restrictions. When the Constitution uses the words “jury” and “grand jury” they are interpreted as being the same bodies, which were known and well recognized when the Constitution was adopted. But this is a rule of ascertaining the meaning of the words and not a restriction upon the power of the Legislature to make provisions as to venue and the like incidental matters, which in nowise affect the nature and composition of a jury and grand jury. Hence, the qualification of jurors, the number of challenges, *631venue, and other similar provisions as to procedure are in tbe discretion of the Legislature.
¶12The legislative power can be restrained only by constitutional provisions. It cannot be restricted and tied down by reference to the common law or statutory law of England. There is nothing in the common law or statute law of England which is not subject to repeal by our Legislature, unless it has been re-enacted in some constitutional provision.
¶13That the Federal Government is one of granted powers solely, and the State Government is one of granted powers as to the Executive and Judicial Departments, but of full legislative powers except where it is restricted by the State or Federal Constitution, is elementary law. This is nowhere more clearly stated than by Black Const. Laws, secs. 100 and 101, as follows:
¶14“Sec. 100. Under the system of government in the United States the people of each of the States possess the inherent power to make any and all laws for their own governance. But a portion of this plenary legislative power has been surrendered by each of the States to the United States. The remainder is confided by the people of the State, by their Constitution, to their representatives constituting the State Legislature. At the-same time they impose, by that instrument, certain restrictions and limitations upon the legislative power thus delegated. But State Constitutions are not to be construed as grants of power (except in the most general sense), but rather as limitations upon the power of the State Legislature.
¶15“Sec. .101. Consequently, the Legislature of a State may lawfully enact any law, of any character, on any subject, unless it is prohibited, in the particular instance, either expressly or by necessary implication, by the Constitution of the 'United States or by that of the State, or unless it improperly invades the separate province of one of the other departments of the government, and provided that the statute in *632question is designed to operate upon subjects witbin the territorial jurisdiction of tbe State.”
¶16That eminent authority, Cooley Const. Lim. (7 Ed.), 126, says: “In creating a legislative department and conferring upon it the legislative power, the people must be understood to have conferred the full and complete power as it rests in, and may be exercised by, the sovereign power of any country, subject only to such restrictions as they may have seen fit to impose, and to the limitations which are contained in the Constitution of the United States. The legislative department is not made a special agency for the exercise of specifically defined legislative powers,' but is entrusted with the general authority to make laws at discretion.” On the next page he further says that “The American Legislatures may exercise the legislative powers which the Parliament of Great Britain wields, except as restrictions are imposed,” by some inhibition in the State or Federal Constitution, but the Legislature cannot exercise the judicial and executive functions of the British Parliament, which is supreme. This is a clear-cut and very exact statement.
¶17In State v. Matthews, 48 N. C., 458, Judge Pearson said: “With the exception of the powers surrendered to the United States, eách State is absolutely sovereign. With the exception of the restraints imposed by the Constitution of the State and the Bill of Rights, all legislative power is vested in the General Assembly.” This is quoted by Bynum, J., with approval, State v. Railroad, 73 N. C., 537.
¶18Our Legislature has the same legislative power as the British Parliament, except where some legislative power is expressly denied it by the Constitution of the State or Union, but, unlike Parliament, it cannot exercise judicial or executive functions, and that only because the Constitution has bestowed those functions upon the other two departments. If the State had adopted no Constitution, as was the case in Rhode Island, till 1843, the Legislature would have been su*633preme, as in England, subject only to tbe Federal Constitution, and there is now, and necessarily can be no limitations upon tbe Legislature, save tiróse expressly imposed by tbe State and Federal Constitutions, as Judge Cooley well says. Under tbe North Carolina Constitution of 1776 tbe Legislature elected all tbe executive officers of tbe State and created and modified at will the” judicial department and chose its officers.
¶19Tbe subsequent changes in tbe State Constitution have put tbe other two departments upon a more independent footing, but have not added any other limitations upon the legislative power of tbe General Assembly.
¶20It has long been tbe statute that in tbe interest of justice tbe Court can remove any cause, civil or criminal, to some adjacent county for trial. Revisal, 426-428. If tbe trial before tbe petit jury can by legislative authority be transferred to another county, tbe far less, important matter of tbe venue of tbe inquiry and finding by tbe grand jury can also be transferred. In fact, it has often been provided that tbe grand jury may find a true bill in certain cases where tbe offense was committed beyond tbe limits of tbe county, as will be seen by reference to other sections of tbe subhead in which Revisal 3233 is found, i. e., 3234: “When any offense is committed on waters dividing counties.” 3235 : “Where assault is in one county, death in another.” 3236: “Assault in this State, death in another.” 3238 : “Death in this State, ' mortal wound given elsewhere.” 3237: “Person in this State injuring one in another.” Also secs. 3403 and 3404 as to embezzlement and conspiracy by railroad officers, confer jurisdiction upon any county through which the railroad passes, and there are still other statutes giving the grand jury jurisdiction to inquire as to offenses committed out of their own county. The Legislature is not likely to increase needlessly the instances in which a grand jury can inquire into offenses committed out of its own county, but of the necessity of such statutes the General Assembly is sole judge.
¶21*634Up to 1739, indictments for offenses occurring anywhere in North Carolina were cognizable by a grand jury sitting in Chowan County, at Edenton. In that year the venue was changed to New Bern. From 1146 to 1806 — for sixty years — indictments were found in district courts, though the grand jury did not sit in the county where the offense was committed, unless that happened to be the county in which the Court was held, and this is the case still with all indictments in the Federal Courts.
¶22If it were possible to hold that the Legislature cannot shape the criminal procedure of this State to provide remedies required by the exigencies of the present time, unless the same remedies had been found to be necessary in England and had occurred to and been adopted by those administering its laws in years long gone by, we find that in fact this same necessity of providing for the investigation by the grand jury of another county had been there provided for as to many offenses. In 4 Bl. Com., 303, we find that while a grand jury could not usually inquire as to offenses committed out of their county, by legislative authority this could be done in very many instances, among others, “Offenses against the Black Act, 9 Geo. I., ch. 22, may be inquired of and tried in any county in England at the option of the prosecutor”; “So felonies in destroying turnpikes, etc. (8 Geo. II. and 13 Geo. III., ch. 84), maybe inquired of and tried in any adjacent-county”; and “murders, whether committed in England or foreign, parts,” may, by virtue of 33 Henry VIII., be inquired of and tried in any shire in England; “any felonies committed in Wales may be indicted in any adjoining county in England.26 Henry VIII., ch. 6. -And there are very many similar statutes there mentioned which were enacted, like the above, long prior to the American Revolution, thus showing that the venue of offenses cognizable before any grand jury is a matter of legislative enactment.
¶23*635In 1 Stephen History Crim. Law in England, 277, it is pointed out that there are eighteen exceptions by statute to the rule requiring an indictment to be found by a grand jury of the county (the first having been enacted as far back as 2 and 3 Edw. VI.), and he says their very number proves “that the general principle which requires so many exceptions is wrong.” And on page 278 that distinguished Judge and author adds: “A rule which requires eighteen statutory exceptions and such an evasion as the one last-mentioned in the case of theft — the commonest one — is obviously indefensible. It is obvious that all courts otherwise competent to try an offense should be competent to try it, irrespectively of the place where it was committed, the place of trial being deter; mined by the convenience of the Court, the witnesses, and the person accused. Of course, as a general rule, the county where the offense was committed would be the. most convenient place for the purpose.” England.has about the same area as North Carolina, forty counties and a far denser population — ■ now more than thirty millions. North Carolina has nearly two and a half times as many counties (97) and about two millions people. The population of the average English county is therefore forty times that of an average county in this State. If, nevertheless, the public interest requires that even in England the finding of an indictment shall not be restricted always to a grand jury in the county where an offense is committed, for a stronger reason the Legislature here must have power in its judgment to change the venue in the interest of justice, with our smaller counties and sparse population.
¶24The venue of a grand jury “is a matter under the control of the Legislature.” State v. Woodard, 123 N. C., 710. State v. Patterson, 5 N. C., 443, is put on the express ground that the statute did not give the grand jury -jurisdiction of an offense committed in an adjacent county, as had been the case under the previous district system. Besides, if there had *636been a defective venue the remedy was by a plea in abatement (which is practically a motion to remove to the proper county) and not a motion to quash. Revisal, 3239; State v. Carter, 126 N. C., 1012; State v. Lytle, 117 N. C., 801.
¶25' It was also error to quash the first count. The indictment is against Lewis, and in charging that he “conspired with others” the bill fully complies with Revisal, 3698, which simply provides that, “If any person shall conspire to break,” etc. It was not required to name the others, or to charge that they were unknown. The words “with others” is tautology and mere surplusage. The “con” in the word “conspire” embraces the idea that it is an act done “with” another ‘or others. Even if the statute had used the words “with others,” it would have been sufficient to recite in the' bill “with others” without charging their names, or that they were unknown. Revisal, 3250; State v. Hill, 79 N. C.; 658; State v. Capps, 71 N. C., 96..
¶26Reversed.
¶27I concur in the opinion of the Court in this case with much hesitation. I do not concur in some of the reasons which are given to sustain it. The Court held, in a well-considered and able opinion by Mr. Justice Shepherd in State v. Barker, 107 N. C., 913, that, although the term grand jury is not found in our Constitution, the section of the Bill of Rights guaranteeing immunity from criminal prosecutions, except upon “Presentment, Indictment, or Impeachment,” must be construed to mean “Indictment by a grand jury,” as defined by the common law, citing with approval the language of Judge Cooley in that connection. Const. Lim., 59. It was held, in that case, because, at common law, “the concurrence of twelve jurors was absolutely necessary” to find a bill of indictment, it was equally so in North Carolina, and that the Legislature had no power to dispense with such “absolute necessity.” English v. State, *63731 Ela., 340. If my investigation bad led me to tbe conclusion that tbe venue entered into and was an essential element, in tbe term “indictment” at common law, at tbe time of tbe “separation from tbe Mother Country,” I could not hesitate to declare that, in my opinion, it was not within tbe power of tbe Legislature to abrogate tbe common law in that respect. I cannot concur in tbe suggestion that such power is vested in tbe Legislature. Tbe people, with whom alone is political sovereignty, have'expressly declared that their governmental agencies must act and move within the. orbit assigned to them by tbe Constitution. There is no place for arbitrary power in our governmental system of checks and balances. I do not sympathize with tbe suggestion that no part of tbe common law is imbedded in our Constitution. Speaking of tbe common law, after noting some of its defects, Judge Cooley wisely says: “But, on tbe whole, tbe system was tbe best foundation on which to erect an enduring structure of civil liberty which tbe world has ever known. It was tbe peculiar excellence of tbe common law of England that it recognized tbe worth, and sought expressly to protect tbe rights and privileges of tbe individual man. Its maxims were those of a sturdy and independent race, accustomed, in an unusual degree, to freedom of thought and action, and to a share in tbe administration of public affairs, .and arbitrary power and uncontrolled authority were not recognized in its principles, … and, if tbe criminal code was harsh, it, at least, escaped tbe inquisitorial features which were apparent in tbe criminal procedure of other civilized countries, and which have been ever fruitful of injustice, oppression and terror.” That those who came to this colony and “builded” our institutions well knew and jealously guarded these great principles, every page of our early history illustrates. The language of Judge Cooley applies with special force to them. “Erom the first, the colonists in America claimed the benefit and protection of the common law. In some particulars, *638however, the common law, as then existing in England, was not suited to their condition and circumstances in the new country, and those particulars they omitted as it was put in practice by them. … Did Parliament order offenders against the laws in America to be sent to England for trial, every American was. roused to indignation and protested against the trampling under foot of that time-honored principle, that trials for crime must be by a jury of the vicinage.” When the courts in this and other States have been called upon to approve departures from common-law principles and procedure, in criminal trials, they have steadily refused to do so. In State v. Branch, 68 N. C., 186, it was shown that a Judge on the circuit had directed the witnesses to be examined by the grand jury in open court. Chief Justice. Pearson, sustaining a motion to quash the bill for that reason, said: “This procedure is opposed to the principles of the common law, which means ‘common sense.’ ” He further says: “There is not the slightest reason to believe that the practice of examining witnesses before a grand jury in public was ever in force and in use in the colony of North Carolina; very certainly such has not been the practice in the State of North Carolina, - and it must be rejected as inconsistent with the genius of a republican government.” In Lewis v. Comrs., 74 N. C., 194, Bynum, J., in a very strong opinion,' denying the right of a Solicitor to be present when the grand jury are discharging its duties, finds authority for the decision in the common law. After noticing the English practice,»as described by Blackstone and others, he says: “It is more consonant to justice and the principles of personal liberty. The powers of the grand jury, therefore, should not be extended further beyond these conservative and salutary principles than is clearly warranted by public necessity and the most approved precedents.” In State v. Miller, 18 N. C., 500, while the Judges differed in respect to the law, both the Chief Justice and Judge Gaston *639concurred that in considering questions pertaining to tbe rights of the accused, in trial by jury, recourse must be had to the ancient common law. The same is true in every case where the question has come into debate and the citizen has asserted his rights in respect to the maimer in which he could, be called to answer, and put upon trial, for a criminal offense. Millingan, ex-parte, 71 U. S., 2. In Byrd v. State, 1 How. (Miss.), 176, Sharkey, G. J., said: “The right of trial by jury, being of the highest importance to the citizen, and essential to liberty, was not left to the uncertain fate of legislation, but was secured by the Constitution of this and all other States as sacred and inviolable. The question naturally arises, How was it adopted by the Constitution ? That instrument is silent as to the number and qualifications of jurors; we must, therefore, call in to our aid the common law for the purpose' of ascertaining what was meant by the term ‘jury.’ It is a rule that when a statute or the Constitution contain terms used in the common law without defining particularly what is meant, then the rules of the common law must be applied in the explanation.” The Opinion of the Judges, 41 N. H., 550,-strongly states the law in this respect. Brucker v. State, 16 Wis., 356; People v. Powell (Cal.), 11 L. R. A., 75. I agree, of course, that there is much of the common law which is in force in this State by virtue of the Eevisal 1905,-ch. 15, sec.-932, which is but the re-enactment of the Acts of 1715 and 1778, and, as to this, the Legislature may, as it has in many instances done, repeal or modify it.
¶28In respect to those elementary principles and provisions upon which the security of life, liberty and property depend, guaranteed by Magna Oharta, which was engrafted either in express terms or by necessary implication into- our Bill of Eights,' I do not concede that the power exists, in either department of the government, to abrogate or modify them. To do this is among “the reserved rights” to be exercised only by the people themselves, in convention. This is one of *640“the powers not delegated” to the legislative department of the government. I cannot, therefore, assent to the proposition, sometimes found in judicial opinions, that the Legislature has all of the -powers of the British Parliament, except when expressly restricted. In the discussion of this very important and delicate question, Judge Cooley says : “But to guard against being misled by a comparison between the two, we must bear in mind the important distinction … that with the Parliament rests, practically, the sovereignty of the country, so that it may exercise all the powers of the government, if it will do so; while, on the other hand, the Legislatures of the American States are not the sovereign authority, and though vested with the exercise of one branch of the sovereignty, they are nevertheless, in wielding it, hedged in on all sides by important limitations, some of which are imposed in express terms, and others by implications which are equally imperativeConst. Lim., 105. He further says : “So long as the Parliament is recognized as rightfully exercising the sovereign authority of the country, it is evident that the resemblance between it and American Legislatures, in regard to their ultimate powers, cannot be traced very far. The American Legislatures only exercise a certain portion of the sovereign power. The sovereignty is in the people; and the Legislatures which they haye created are only to discharge a trust of which they have been made a depository, but which has been placed in their hands with well-defined restrictions.” This, I think, the sound view. Nichols v. McKee, 68 N. C., 430.
¶29The difficulty which I have experienced in arriving at a conclusion in this case is to fix the line at which the Legislature may change or abrogate the procedure, venue, etc., in regard to indictments as they were by the common law recognized and administered by the courts in England. That it may not lessen the number required to concur in finding a bill or permit witnesses to be examined before the grand jury *641in public or to permit tbe prosecuting officer to remain with the grand jury while in session, is settled upon the ground that such things were not permissible by the common law. The only decided case which was cited by counsel, or I have been able to find in this country, in point, is Swart v. Kimball, 43 Mich., 443. There, the statute provided that for cutting timber on the public lands the person charged could be proceeded against in the county where the offense was committed or such other county as the Attorney-General should direct. The defendant in error was prosecuted, under the act, in a county oi;her than that in which the offense was committed. He was arrested upon a capias and upon habeas corpus, was discharged. He brought the action against plaintiff in error who procured the information and arrest and recovered judgment for false imprisonment. Several irregularities in the proceedings were alleged.
¶30In regard to the validity of the statute authorizing the change of venue, Qooley, J., said that the act was “manifestly in conflict with one of the plainest and most important provisions of the Constitution.” Now, that in jury trials it is implied that the trial shall be by jury of the vicinage, is .familiar law.
¶31Blackstone says the jurors must be of the visne or neighborhood ; which is interpreted to be of the county. 4 Black. Com., 350. This is an old rule of the common law, citing Hawk P. C., b., 2 c., 40; 2 Hale P. 0., 264. He refers to certain statutory changes made by Parliament prior to the separation of the colonies, saying: “But it is well known’ that the existence of such statutes, with the threat to enforce them, was one of the grievances which led to the separation of the American Colonies from the British Empire. If they were forbidden by the unwritten Constitution of England, they are certainly unauthorized by the written constitutions of the American States, in which the utmost pains have been *642taken to preserve all the securities of individual liberty. … But no one doubts that the right to a trial by jury of the vicinage is as complete and certain now as it ever was; and that, in America, it is indefeasible.” After pointing out in strong language the injustice and oppression to which the citizen may be subjected, if compelled to answer an indictment in a county otherwise than that in which the offense was alleged to have been committed, he concludes: “We have not the slightest hesitation in declaring that the act, so far as it undertakes to authorize a trial in some other county than that of the alleged offense, is oppressive, unwarranted by the Constitution and utterly void.”
¶32I find a number of cases, cited by counsel, denying the right of the State to remove a criminal trial from the county of the alleged offense for local prejudice. It is so held in a strong opinion by the Supreme Court of California, People v. Powell, supra. Judge Cooley says: “But this may be pressing the principle too far.” It was so held in Kirk v. State, 41 Tenn., 344, and Osborne v. State, 24 Ark., 629. But in both these States the Constitution expressly guaranteed a trial in the county in which the offense was alleged to have been committed.
¶33I have carefully examined the history of parliamentary legislation in England on the subject for the purpose of learning how far the venue in criminal proceedings has been regarded in that country, as fixed by Magna Charta. Fitz James Stephens in the “History of the Criminal Law,” vol. 1, 274, gives an interesting account of the statutory changes made in the law in regard to venue. Some of them are pointed out in the opinion of the Chief Justice. See, also, Mews’ Fisher’s Com. Law Dig., vol. 2, 2263.
¶34In Brucker v. State, supra, Dprovide that seventeen persons might compose the grand jury, said: “The foundation of the objection is, that this was the rule at common law (that *643tbe grand jury should consist of not more than twenty-three or less than twelve) recognized by the Constitution, against which the Legislature had no" power to provide. Upon an examination of the authorities, we find no such fixed common-law principle. The only inflexible rule, with-respect to numbers, seems to have been that there could not be less than twelve nor more than twenty-three. The concurrence of twelve was necessary to find a bill, and there could not be more than twenty-three, in order that twelve might form a majority. … We are of the opinion, therefore, that it is competent for the Legislature, within the limits prescribed' by the common law, to increase or diminish the number of grand jurors to be drawn and* returned without infringing the rights of the accused granted by the Constitution.” In Byrd v. State, supra, Sharkey, G. J., discussing the subject, says: “The Legislature cannot abolish or change substantially the panel or jury, but it may, it is presumed, prescribe the qualifications of the individuals composing it.”
¶35I have noted these cases to show that it is held by courts adhering to the principle that the guarantee of immunity from criminal prosecutions, otherwise than by indictment, that the Legislature may change the law in particulars nonessential, such as qualification of jurors, etc., but in regard to essentials, such as number, etc., the constitutional provisions must be read and construed in the light of the common law, and are not subject to legislative change.
¶36In the absence of express legislative enactment, there can be no question that the venue is the county in which the offense is alleged to have been committed. I incline to the opinion, at least to the extent of surrendering my doubts to the judgment of the majority of the Court, that the act is not violative of the right of the defendant. In doing so, I am also influenced by the wise and salutary principle so frequently announced by the greatest Judges who have sat upon the State and Federal benches, that every presumption should *644be made to support tbe constitutionality of a statute. While I am by no means certain that tbe beneficial results anticipated by tbe Legislature will be realized, I sympathize so strongly with the desire and purpose to provide all possible means for detecting and, after trial and conviction, punishing those engaged in the crime of lynching, hoping to suppress it, that I am the more willing to surrender my doubts to its best judgment. It is the first time in our history that the question has been presented, because it was not until the Act of 1893 that the grand jury of any other county than that of the offense was given power to find a bill of indictment.
¶37It would seem that in England it has been deemed necessary to change the venue and permit indictments to be found in counties other than those in which the offense was committed. Eor many years the statute permitting the Court, upon motion of the Solicitor, supported by affidavits, to remove a criminal case for trial to an adjoining county on account of local feeling, has been invoked without question. While the right to remove, after a judicial determination that a fair trial could not be had in the county of the offense, might be distinguished from the right to indict and try in the county of the Solicitor’s selection, I concede that the recognition of the validity of the removal statutes weighs in my mind in favor of the Act of 1893.
¶38I have felt impelled to say this much, because of the importance of the subject and a desire to proceed with the utmost caution in experimental legislation of this kind. While it is not for the judiciary to trench upon the domain of the Legislature, I trust that I may, without impropriety, express the hope that the occasion and condition which, in its judgment, called for this act, may soon pass away; and that we may return to the common-law way of securing to every man immunity from being called to answer for violation of the law otherwise than by indictment preferred by a grand *645jury summoned from tbe county where the crime is supposed to have been committed. Cooley, 392; Story Const., sec. 1769. In addition to the humane policy which protected a man in his hour of trial from being carried away from his home, deprived of the opportunity to have his witnesses, and the benefit of such reputation and character as he had made among his neighbors, this ancient way placed upon the people of each county or neighborhood the responsibility for securing a fair, firm, and just administration of the law, detection and punishment of the guilty and protection of the innocent. How far removing from the people of each county this stimulus and by carrying their citizens into adjoining counties for trial, will promote the end desired, is not clear to my mind.
¶39These are questions, however, committed to the wisdom of the Legislature. I disclaim any right to question the constitutionality of an act of the Legislature because it does not accord with my judgment. This would be to move out of the orbit assigned to the Judge. Judges must not be wiser than the law, but be content to construe and declare it in the light of principle, precedent and constitutional limitations.