being separated from questions of fact. Arguments centered around questions like: Is a jury conclusion of 11 to 1 enough to convict for a crime? In 1468, Sir John Fortescue gives a picture of jury trials which is congruent with the modern form. The jury had come to be regarded as twelve men who could be of open mind. Witnesses were examined under oath. Parties or their counsel were presenting facts and evidence to the jury. A century later, Sir Thomas Smith gives a vivid account of the jury trial with examination, cross-examination, all in front of the judge and jury. The problem of maintenance and other corruptions of the jury system Shortly after the institution of the jury system, with its attendant seeking of evidence, based on testimony given by witnesses, the problem of maintenance developed. Maintenance was the practice of witnesses coming forward to provide testimony at trial, without being asked to do so. These were frequently well-meaning friends or family members who wanted to participate or help sway the verdict of the trial. The Statute of Westminster I (1275) had fifty-one chapters. One of these dealt with the issue of maintenance. There are numerous references indicating that there had developed a class of professional testifiers, quite apart from lawyers and advocates, who could be purchased to testify in jury trials. There was an effort to end this practice by providing punishment to whole categories of professional testifiers, such as serjeant-pleaders. Sir John Fortescue was of the opinion that anyone who came forward to volunteer to give testimony in a case should be tried for maintenance, since he should have waited to be issued a writ of subpoena. Sir Thomas Smith commented that the jury system in the time of Elizabeth could not exist without the ability to compel testimony using the writ subpoena. At this time, maintenance was viewed as the primary evil of the legal system. Political songs of the day evoked the problem: "At Westminster halle (Legis sunt valde scientes); Nevertheless for hem alle (Ibi vincuntur jura potentes...); His owne cause many a man (Nunc judicial et moderatur); Law helpeth noght than (Ergo lex evacuatur)." The strictness with which the courts interpreted the laws against maintenance was an expression of the censure of the common law. But the censure, overall, proved to be ineffectual. By the Fifteenth Century, the law had become corrupted, and was