Gentlemen of the Grand Jury, “You are brought together at this periodical return of our General Sessions of the Peace, to discharge a duty of great and vital importance to the county of Dublin, and the community at large: to call forth into life and action the criminal law; to deliberate upon, and weigh in the scale of equal and dispassionate justice, such charges as shall be submitted to you against divers of your fellow-subjects; to put such of them in a course of trial as shall be made out to your satisfaction, either upon the evidence of your own senses, or upon the viva voce, or written evidence of accusers; and thus to vindicate and promote the general police and good order of your county. I am sensible that the duration of each Session, and the frequent return of this duty in the county of Dublin, are attended with no inconsiderable inconvenience to country gentlemen; but you will reflect how small a price you pay in this occasional trouble, for the essential advantages derived upon yourselves and the [6] public, from a conscientious and diligent discharge of your duty. In order to impress you with a just sense of the importance of this trust, it may not be amiss, particularly at this critical juncture, to trace briefly, the criminal law of your country from its elementary principles.