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Rights in Criminal Trials
Then call them to our presence: face to face
And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear
The accuser and the accused freely speak.
RICHARD II
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Benjamin Lee Lilly
v.
Virginia
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Rights in Criminal Trials
Justice Breyer Concurrence
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June 10, 1999
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Excerpt:
The right of an accused to meet his accusers face-to-face is mentioned in, among other things, The Bible, Shakespeare, and 16th and 17th century British statutes, cases, and treatises. See The Bible, Acts 25:16; W. Shakespeare, RICHARD II, Act I, Scene 1; W. Shakespeare, HENRY VIII, Act II, Scene 1; 30
Text Excerpt:
THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND, Act I, William Shakespeare
King Richard:
Then call them to our presence: face to face
And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear
The accuser and the accused freely speak.
High-stomach'd are they both and full of ire,
In rage, deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.
THE FAMOUS HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF HENRY THE EIGHTH, Act II, William Shakespeare
First Gentleman:
I'll tell you in a little. The great Duke
Came to the bar; where to his accusations
He pleaded still not guilty and alleged
Many sharp reasons to defeat the law.
The King's attorney on the contrary
Urg'd on the examinations, proofs, confessions
Of divers witnesses; which the Duke desir'd
To have brought viva voce to his face;
At which appear'd against him his surveyor;
Sir Gilbert Peck his chancellor; and John Car,
Confessor to him, with that devil-monk,
Hopkins, that made this mischief.
Second Gentleman:
That was he
That fed him with his prophecies?
First Gentleman:
The same.
All these accus'd him strongly; which he fain
Would have flung from him, but, indeed, he could not.
And so his peers, upon this evidence,
Have found him guilty of high treason. Much
He spoke, and learnedly, for life; but all
Was either pitied in him or forgotten.
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