The Declaration of Independence – A Lawyer's Legacy

The year was 1776. It had been 169 years since the first British colonists founded Jamestown, Virginia. From England they had carried with them the rights set out in the Magna Carta, including that everyone is subject to the same rule of law. An independent judiciary and the right to trial by jury in criminal cases grew out of the Magna Carta.

With the ascension of King George III in 1760 to the English throne, the American colonists were no longer afforded the right to a fair and impartial judiciary or the entitlement to a trial by jury. This deprivation allowed the British government to unfairly influence the outcomes of court cases.

Also in the year 1760, ironically, a 16-year-old from an aristocratic Virginia family named Thomas Jefferson was sent to Williamsburg, Virginia, by his parents to attend The College of William and Mary, the academic center of the stirrings of democracy in the colonies.

There, young Jefferson was influenced by the rhetoric of attorney Patrick Henry and other patriotic lawyers. Jefferson soon came under the tutelage of law professor George Wythe who inculcated in him the importance of a judiciary independent from undue outside influence. Thomas Jefferson learned his lessons well and in 1767 gained admittance to the Virginia bar. Practicing in Virginia's colonial courthouses, Thomas Jefferson became a leader in the movement in the colonies to restore a fair and impartial judiciary and the right to trial by jury.

Asked by the Continental Congress in 1776 to draft the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson identified multiple grievances directed to the British Crown. In pertinent part, Thomas Jefferson wrote "he [King George III] has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. "He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices." "He has deprived us in many cases of the benefits of trial by jury."

These principles (and others) as set forth in the Declaration of Independence became the bedrock of American jurisprudence and were later enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, it's Bill of Rights and in the constitutions of the various states.

The principles of a fair and free judiciary and the right to a trial by jury that Thomas Jefferson articulated two and a half centuries ago are as relevant today as they were then. The canons of judicial ethics preclude judges from actively defending attacks on their independence. As officers of the court, it is the lawyer's responsibility to do so. Lawyers take a solemn oath to defend the Constitution. In fact, lawyers serve as its guardian. An independent court system including the right to a jury trial is the glue that holds the democracy together.

In honor of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, all lawyers should reaffirm their oath to protect and defend the right to a trial by jury as well as a free and independent judiciary, who will rule without fear and without favor.

It is the lawyer's legacy and duty to preserve those sacred words of the Declaration of Independence which are as vital today as they were 250 years ago.

Edward R. Blumberg practices with Deutsch Blumberg & Caballero in Miami. He is a former president of The Florida Bar (1997-98) and has served as chair of the National Judicial College. He has been continuously certified and re-certified in civil trial law by The Florida Bar and The National Board of Trial Advocacy.