JAMES OTIS

OF MASSACHUSETTS. (BORN 1725, DIED 1783.)


ON THE WRITS OF ASSISTANCE--BEFORE THE SUPERIOR COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS,
FEBRUARY, 1761.


MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONORS: I was desired by one of the court to look
into the books, and consider the question now before them concerning
Writs of Assistance. I have accordingly considered it, and now appear
not only in obedience to your order, but likewise in behalf of the
inhabitants of this town, who have presented another petition, and out
of regard to the liberties of the subject. And I take this opportunity
to declare, that whether under a fee or not (for in such a cause as this
I despise a fee), I will to my dying day oppose with all the powers and
faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one
hand, and villainy on the other, as this writ of assistance is.

It appears to me the worst instrument of arbitrary power, the most
destructive of English liberty and the fundamental principles of law,
that ever was found in an English law-book. I must therefore beg your
honors' patience and attention to the whole range of an argument, that
may perhaps appear uncommon in many things, as well as to points of
learning that are more remote and unusual: that the whole tendency of my
design may the more easily be perceived, the conclusions better descend,